Sorry this took so long. Was busy with life and also, I was brainstorming and writing down some ideas for Penny's "final exam" ^^

I hope everyone is safe, especially my American readers, where the pandemic looks especially bad right now.

Enjoy :)

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters that appeared in the show.

For the past few years, sex has never been enjoyable for Penny. It was a job, forced on her by the man she has fallen for, a man who told her he loved her. A job she hated, a job she hated herself for having to do, a job that caused her to break contact with her family out of shame. She never got pleasure from her job, she had simply refused to do so. And every time it was done, she quickly got dressed, got her money and left, opting to shower at home.

But all that had changed when she had met Leonard, or rather, when he saved her by hiring her for something other than sex. Even though it had taken until their second meeting, when he had saved her life, for their relationship to progress to that level. And it was her who had decided to do it and she knew that he would have never coerced her into doing it.

She had almost forgotten who pleasurable it could be. Right now, she was bouncing on Leonard's manhood, her left breast pressed against his face and the nipple in his mouth while her fingers were intertwined with his. Her free day was halfway over. She had no idea how long would it take for her to get another one, so she was determined to get as much joy out of it as possible.

While she mused, she felt her core flare up in the telltale sign of an impending climax. She increased her efforts, slamming down on him with force until she could only scream as her body shook. Riding it out by grinding, she waited for the pulses of pleasure to subside before going back to what she been doing before. She had planned to continue doing so but then she heard a grunt from Leonard, a grunt that spoke more of pain than pleasure.

And suddenly, she understood that she was treating him the same as she had been treated by her clients. It had all been about her pleasure, her chasing her orgasms until he came, which she had, unknowingly, seen just as an inconvenience because it had stopped her from receiving pleasure. With a abruptness that caused Leonard to look at her confused, she stopped bouncing, stopped moving altogether as tears sprung up into her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Leonard asked concerned.

"I'm so sorry." she cried, hugging him hard.

"Uh... what for?" he wondered, still confused.

"Treating you like I was treated." she sniffed.

"What are you talking about?" he wanted to know, pushing her away so he could look into her eyes.

"I was using you for my pleasure." she admitted. "It was all I was interested in. Always on top until you were done."

"Penny, have you heard me complaining?" he chuckled. "And you weren't always on top."

"But I always initiated it." she said.

"Yes, because I was afraid how you would react if I did." he told her. "I didn't want to appear that I was using you."

"That still doesn't excuse my behavior." she sighed, and some part of her wondered how they could have this serious discussion while he was still buried inside her. "I was treating you the same way I was treated when I was a prostitute."

"Penny." he sighed. "If there's one thing you need to know about me, it's that I don't hold back when speaking my mind. So if I had been offended by you initiating sex and being on top, I would have told you."

"Okay." she nodded, feeling both relieved and a bit stupid for reacting that way.

"But, if you insist..." he shrugged and grabbed her around the waist before throwing her onto the couch, with her ending up on her back and him on to, still buried inside her, before he began to thrust.

A while later, Penny opened her eyes again to find herself covered with a heavy blanket. Her smile grew when she remembered how Leonard had made love to her, still making sure she received pleasure as he chased his own. She turned her head and saw the reason for the weight of the blanket, seeing Tyson's head next to her shoulder, half his body draped over her.

She took a deep breath and was rewarded with a pleasant smell of food, her stomach growling with hunger. As she moved, Tyson opened his eyes as well and jumped off the couch, looking at her excitedly as she disentangled herself from the blanket, the fabric rolling off her naked body. She looked down and noticed a small towel under her ass, rolling her eyes at Leonard but still smiling since he probably did it to avoid leakage on his couch.

She grabbed her clothes and put them back on before getting up, folding the blanket before heading to the bathroom to get cleaned up and then to the kitchen, following the smell, until she saw Leonard standing at the stove, stirring a sauce he was putting some herbs in. Her heart leaped in joy when she saw the spaghetti in the strainer and she giggled as she stepped behind him, putting her arms around his waist and her head on his shoulder.

"Cooking for me?" she asked and kissed him on the cheek.

"Yeah, dad told me you really enjoyed pasta, so I made some." he nodded.

"I love pasta." she confirmed. "And steak."

"Well, didn't make any of those." he chuckled. "Next time."

"You have no idea how nice the words next time sound." she hummed.

"Whenever they are." he nodded. "It's in dad's hands."

"Christmas?" she inquired.

"Not sure." he shrugged. "Our family never really celebrated Christmas even before... uhm, but if I'm not away on a job, we usually simply go out for dinner somewhere."

"Completely different for my family. My mom loves to go all out for Christmas, decorating the entire house." she giggled, not pushing him to tell her the part he stopped himself from saying. "Dad always jokes that he was afraid planes could land on our house because it glows brighter than airport runway guiding lights. When we were children, he sometimes said that Santa couldn't bring presents that year because he was blinded by the light."

"Was he joking about the presents?" he wondered.

"Of course, but he always got a kick of seeing our distraught faces for that moment." she smiled in recollection. "Looking back, I know it was kind of a mean thing to say to small children, but hey, that's my dad."

"Can you bring the plates and forks to the table?" he asked her, pointing to the objects in question.

"Certainly." she nodded and did as he had asked. "I woke up with Tyson perched on me."

"He likes you." Leonard winked. "Though I will have to give him a stern talking to, they're not allowed to get on the furniture without permission."

"Is that so bad?" she wanted to know.

"It's about boundaries." he explained. "If you don't tell dogs what they can and can't do, they simply do what they want, when they want it. Allowing them to sit on the couch or get into bed with you when you want it is telling them that you're the boss."

"I never thought about that." she admitted.

"Sometimes on the internet, when you see people posting videos of themselves with their pets, and you have women filming their dogs and you hear them say 'Wanna go to bed?' because the dog is standing at the door to the bedroom, I can only shake my head at that."

"Why?"

"Because they're letting their pet decide when to go to bed. They show their dogs already in the bed and they join them. That way, they're telling the dog that the bed is theirs."

"Do you let your dogs sleep in your bed?"

"Sometimes." he nodded. "Especially when it gets really cold. Their kennel is built in a way that it stays relatively warm but I don't force them to stay there when the temperatures go below the freezing point. They love lounging in front of the fireplace."

"I bet." she chuckled. "Food ready?"

"Hungry?"

"Very." she grinned as he placed the pot with the sauce on the table before getting the spaghetti.

Penny ladled a generous amount of pasta on her plate, then added the sauce. She dug in and hummed at the taste, his cooking as good as his dad's. She wondered if he learned to cook regardless or if he did to support himself after whatever had happened to his mom. Every time Leonard started talking about it and then stopped himself, her curiosity spiked but she knew that she could not ask him about it. He needed to want to tell her and she was willing to wait until he trusted her enough to do so.

"Delicious." she commented. "Even more so than what your dad made when he allowed me to eat pasta."

"Dad is more of a potato person." Leonard chuckled. "He can make some really good dishes with those."

"Really? Like what? So far, we ate mostly potatoes with some form of meat and vegetables." she said.

"Has he ever made stacked cabbage?" Leonard asked.

"No, what's that?"

"You take a head of cabbage, cut it into pieces and put a layer into a large pot. You put meatballs on top and cover those with another layer of cabbage. Then more meatballs and another layer and so on until all the cabbage is inside the pot. Put some broth into the pot and let it simmer for an hour, stirring regularly." Leonard described the recipe. "Then add some potatoes and you have a nice meal."

"That does sound delicious." Penny admitted, wondering if Albert would make that dish for her at some point. "Leonard, how long did you train before you were ready?"

"With my dad?"

"Yes." she nodded.

"Fourteen months."

"Jesus!" she cursed under her breath, since that would make her over a year away from being done.

"But that included everything." he added. "You're only doing the combat training with my dad, the rest will be done by someone else."

"Who?"

"Someone who I trust will teach you the right things that aren't combat." he said cryptically.

"In the last week or so, your dad hasn't taught me any new fighting techniques." she pointed out. "We're doing mostly sparring and then weapon combat. Is there any way to know when he's going to give me the final exam?"

"What makes you think he's not testing you right now?" he smiled. "Dad doesn't believe in setting a day for a test, since some people then put the work in for that particular day and slack off the rest of the time. Or some others get so nervous that they then fail the test."

"You mean he's for constant training." she understood.

"Well, as you can see, I'm not training constantly." he chuckled. "If you sharpen a blade too much, there won't be anything left when you need it. I'm awake for twenty hours every day and I spend a maximum of four hours training, and that includes both combat training and cardio exercises, as well as more mental challenges."

"And the rest of the day?"

"I do what I want." he shrugged. "Take care of my dogs, my property, I read, watch TV, I even play video games. Anything I can to take my mind off of my job. When you deal in death, you need something to make you remember that life is worth living."

"That sounds... I don't know, bleak." she tried to find the right word.

"It's not as bad as it sounds." he chuckled. "Though it's safe to say that this profession has a toll on your psyche if you don't learn to compartmentalize. A whiskey barrel is a good metaphor."

"How so?" she wondered.

"Imagine the whiskey barrel full. The whiskey is all the sorrow and bad feelings that come from your job. If you take the entire barrel and upend it on your mouth, you can drink some but most will simply crash over you like a wave, making as mess and you would also get stinking drunk from the amount you manage to drink." he explained. "Instead, you put a spigot into the barrel and draw from it glass by glass, slowly emptying it."

"Ah, I get it." she understood. "You deal with everything piece by piece, otherwise it would overwhelm you."

"Exactly." he nodded. "The history of our business is filled with people who snapped and the world had to pay the price. It's even worse with people who have a strong ideology."

"Like who?"

"If historical records can be believed, Tomás de Torquemada." Leonard said.

"Who's that?"

"Torquemada is best known for being the first Grand Inquisitor of what became known as the Spanish Inquisition. He entered a monastery at a very young age and became a zealous advocate of church orthodoxy." Leonard explained. "After be was promoted to the rank of Prior, he met a young princess Isabella and the two, as we call it today, hit it off. Officially, he was her confessor and personal advisor. Unofficially however, he served as her personal assassin."

"For real?" Penny was baffled.

"Well, as the personal religious advisor to a royal, he could go lots of places and dispatch of unwanted individuals and who would suspect a monk to be an assassin? He did that for years, killed so many people but then, he was fed up with what he saw as sinful behavior and heresy." Leonard shrugged. "But if records are true, his religious zealotry took over and during the inquisition, he used the skills he learned to torture people."

"So wait, he learned how to kill in a monastery?" Penny wondered.

"Apparently." Leonard nodded. "But to be fair, that's what the assassin's have said through the ages. They didn't just appear in the sixteenth century, assassin's have existed long before that."

"Still, makes me wonder what other historical figure might have been an assassin." Penny chuckled. "Leonardo DaVinci?"

"I doubt that." Leonard laughed. "Though I could see Leonardo building some of the toys."

"Really?"

"Actually, that's a plot from a video game." Leonard chuckled.

"There's a video game about assassins?" she wondered.

"Yes, a whole series even a movie was made based on it." Leonard nodded. "Quite fun to play, and it has the added bonus of hiding what I do."

"How so?"

"If someone began ranting about a secret brotherhood of assassins, most people would think he's confusing real life with a video game or movie." Leonard shrugged.

"That's neat, I guess." Penny admitted. "Hey, lets say I finish training and pass all the tests."

"Yes?"

"How would I get jobs?" she asked. "I mean, do I get a brochure with all the information?"

"No, that would be done by someone who is already in the profession." Leonard grinned. "Usually, if you pass your last test, your trainer would introduce you to everything."

"So your dad would do that with me?"

"No." Leonard shook his head. "If you pass my dad's final tests and he releases you, I will take you to your next trainer for the theoretical side of this. And if you pass that, I will take you to someone who will outfit you with the things you need. Clothing, weapons, other gear and so on."

"How do I pay for all that?"

"I vaguely remember giving you five million dollars." he winked. "Don't tell me you already spent it all."

"Right." she nodded. "No, it's still at my parents' place. But what would someone do who doesn't have that money?"

"They would get credit and have to repay it after their first few jobs." Leonard replied. "I got my starting money from my dad and had paid him back after my first ten jobs."

"How much is all the gear?"

"Several sets of tailor made cameoline body gloves, guns, some other stuff, you should stay under a million." he shrugged. "Though you can choose any extras you want."

"Good to know." she nodded. "Should I choose lots of extras?"

"Depends on you." he shrugged again. "I didn't choose that much. And afterwards, you usually get your gear depending on the job you do. Everything I have I've gotten over almost ten years of work."

"Done." she pushed her plate away, patting her stomach. "What do you usually do after a lunch like this? Take a nap?"

"No, usually just taking a walk with my dogs." he said as he cleaned up the plates and putting the remaining spaghetti into a plastic box before putting them into the fridge, along with the remainder of the sauce.

He grabbed two leashes and led her out the backdoor where he whistled for his dogs, who quickly came running. He handed one leash to Penny who was about to put it on Tyson when he shook his head.

"No, that's only if someone complains." he told her. "Most people here know me and those two and know they are no danger to them."

"Okay." she nodded and did a happy dance inside her head when Leonard took her hand.

They walked along his property line towards the forest Penny had jogged through so many times in the past months. Penny had never been able to enjoy the tranquility of the place, too busy with exerting herself to build up her stamina. She noticed several deer in the distance, running between the trees, making her wonder if there was a hunter after him.

When she didn't hear a gunshot, she relaxed, trying to shake the unwilling memory of her former life, when hearing a gunshot on the streets was a way too common occurrence. She heard birds calling, something that she also never heard in Los Angeles. Leonard sensed her tension and squeezed her hand in comfort, Penny squeezing it back when she snapped out of her thoughts. Just as she wanted to thank him, a ringing behind them made Leonard push her to the side of the path before a teenager on a bicycle rode past, letting a piece of wrapping paper drop.

"Hey, pick that up." Leonard called after the teen.

"Screw you, asshole!" the kid shouted back.

"You little shit." Leonard said through gritted teeth and took a small object from his jacket pocket, which looked like a tiny boomerang.

He threw it and Penny watched in awe as the small object first did a left curve before the flight path inverted and flying to the right, impacting right into the bicycle's front wheel spokes. The wheel locked and the momentum made it and the guy on it flip, the poor boy landing flat on his back on the, luckily for him, comparatively soft ground, moist as it was from the environment.

As he struggled to get back up, Leonard whistled and the dogs ran to the kid, Major putting a paw on the teen's chest and growling at him while Tyson just sat down and stared into his face. The kid whimpered as Leonard walked towards him and first took his boomerang back before turning to the kid, who looked up at him.

"What the hell, man?" the teenager complained, groaning in pain from his fall.

"I assume you can read and have seen at least one of the many signs that tell you that this forest is private property." Leonard said. "I own this forest and I do people like you a favor by letting you use it freely! So when I tell you to pick up your garbage, you will. I don't care if you take it home or put it in one of the garbage cans I have placed on the trail, but you will pick it up. IS. THAT. UNDERSTOOD?"

"Yes, sir." the young man nodded, terrified.

"Good, now get up, go back there and pick up that wrapping paper. Then you can move on. And if I find it again later..."

Leonard let the implied thread hang in the air as the teenager scrambled to get up and hop on his bike, going back to where he dropped the paper at a speed that should be impossible for a bicycle before he rode back into the direction he came from. Leonard shook his head in exasperation and took Penny's hand again, whistling for his dogs to follow him.

"How do your dogs know what you want when you whistle?"

"Because I have a different whistle for everything." he shrugged. "The differences are minute but the boys understand them."

"That is so cool how well trained they are." Penny smiled.

"It's also important to love them." Leonard added. "I hate it when people control dogs through fear and punishment."

"I believe anyone who is cruel to animals should die." Penny stated, seeing Leonard's shocked expression. "Not that I would kill them."

"Good." Leonard nodded. "It's not for us to decide."

"Still, I hope there's a special place in hell for animal abusers." Penny added.

"I remember reading something in a history book." Leonard began. "It was about something that happened in Nazi Germany, during the war, when the Nazis were already killing Jews."

"What?" she wondered, her interest piqued.

"There were several SS men standing around. Close to them, a few kids were torturing a cat, putting it into a dumpster and trapping its head between the lid and the dumpster, making the cat wail. The highest ranking of the SS men, a Major in rank comparison, walked over to the kids and slapped them all hard in their faces, telling them that, quote, you don't torture animals, end quote."

"So, a good thing?" she wondered about the point.

"As much as I agree with with that sentiment, I thought it was pretty telling that these men were angry at children abusing an animal while at the same time, they had no qualms about killing innocent people." Leonard said. "It has a certain similarity to what I do."

"What?" she gasped.

"Well, I hate animal abuse but at the same time, my job is killing other humans." he shrugged.

"But as you said before, you don't kill innocent ones." she argued. "And you certainly don't torture them."

"Not anymore." Leonard mumbled.

"What?" she asked, not having understood that.

"Nothing." he shook his head.

They continued their walk, Leonard's dogs walking faithfully at their sides except when they had to take care of some business. She was once more marveled at the obedience of those two, how they heed every of Leonard's orders that usually came in the form of whistles. A few times, he prompted her to control Tyson and she managed to do a few things with some whistles of her own combined with hand movements.

After a few more minutes, they exited the forest area back into the treeless part of Leonard's property. Leonard produced two balls with different colors and handed her the blue one, throwing his green one which Major ran after. Throwing hers, Tyson sped forward to grab it and bring it back to her, Leonard explaining to her that a dog bringing a toy back to its master was another way of showing that it trusted them with it.

Penny smiled at the dog as he dropped the blue ball to the ground in front of her, looking at her expectantly. Penny picked it up and threw it as far as she could, Tyson speeding down the grass after it. He didn't even let it drop to the ground, catching it while still in the air before bringing it back once more.

"Seriously, those two are amazing." Penny commented.

"Oh yeah." Leonard smiled proudly. "They're called men's best friends for a reason."

"I often thought that if I ever had a pet, it would be a cat." Penny mused. "On the farm, we had cows and pigs and horses but those aren't animals you can cuddle with."

"I don't like cats." Leonard said. "I mean, I have no problem with them but as a pet? When I see some people interacting with their cats, I always get the feeling that the cat thinks things like 'Very well human, I will allow you to feed and house me'. Then they often won't even let you pet them. Dogs are different, they show you their love in their actions and are grateful when you show them affection."

"Cats don't do that." she argued.

"Oh really?" he smirked. "You can pet them only when they let you, otherwise they hiss at you or run away as soon as you touch them. Dogs, on the other hand, you can pet all the time except for when they're eating, they usually don't like to be disturbed then but they still wouldn't bite you unless they don't know you."

"Man, it's almost three already." Penny sighed when she looked at her watch after a few minutes of playing with the dogs some more.

"Still gives us at least six hours until I have to bring you back." he smiled.

"Not longer?"

"Depends on when you plan to go to bed." he shrugged. "Dad will make you get up at his regular time tomorrow."

"Ugh, that's one thing I'll never get used to , getting up before six." she groaned.

"It's not so bad." he chuckled.

"Easy for you to say, you're getting up at four in the morning." she huffed. "How that's possible is beyond me."

"It's easy simple, my eyes open and I get up." he laughed.

"If my eyes open at four in the morning, I close them again to get more sleep." she poked out her tongue. "Unless I really have to go to the bathroom but even then, I feel may way there and try not to open my eyes or turn on any lights. Though I have to say, the few times it happened here, I was surprised at how dark it is at night."

"What?" he looked at her confused.

"I mean, in Los Angeles at night, it's so bright due to all the street lights and other buildings with lights on, you never get real darkness." she clarified. "Here, I wake up and only the moon and stars illuminate the area except when it's cloudy."

"To be fair, if your windows were on the other side of the house, you'd see the glow from the street lights." he said.

"Leonard, can I ask you something serious?" she looked at him as they walked back towards the house. "It's something you mentioned and I haven't been able to shake it."

"Of course." he nodded.

"Would your dad really kill me if I failed his test?" she asked.

"Yes, he would." Leonard confirmed her fear.

"So, if I fail, how would he do it?"

"He'd snap your neck." Leonard shrugged. "But he won't do that with you."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because he and I made a deal." he told her. "He won't kill you even if you fail. But I will become responsible for you, so if you then told anyone about this, I'd have to kill you."

"And you would do that?" she looked wide-eyed at him.

"If I didn't, someone else would kill you and they would excommunicate me, which would make me a pariah." Leonard explained. "In essence, there would be a bounty on my head big enough to attract every assassin out there, even the ones who usually make more money with their normal jobs."

"Jesus!" she cursed under her breath. "So, I would basically become your possession?"

"Not in that sense. Though I'd have to keep an eye on you."

"Why did you make that deal then, if it has the danger of becoming such a danger to you?" she wanted to know.

"Because I like you more than I want to see you dead." he shrugged.

And with that, Penny couldn't hold back anymore. She stopped moving and turned him around by his arm before pressing her lips on his, wrapping her arms around his neck while his enveloped her body. And for several minutes, they stood kissing, with two dogs looking confused as to why their two masters tried to eat each other.

Chapter stops here. Otherwise I'm not finishing it until next week ^^

Review please :)