#leonard “lenny” summers

[st0lax]

just thinking about lenny died watching all the people who he thought cared about him running past him without looking back (minus 1)

[meeks-just-wants-to-scroll]

Could we maybe have Macsummers getting ready for bed, but Sean has a dadbod and Lenny is quite a lot bigger than a dadbod? I love your skill and art so much!

I need to enjoy more media about them.

[brainmoss]

Horseshoe Overlook

By the fires

[deerhymn]

lenny doodle as a filler cause I have two more not-so-happy art pieces to post later but take my baba .. . 🤗

[werewolfarthurmorganenjoyer]

I am having unspeakable thoughts about Lenny Summers today.

[entropyfox]

Lenny Summers, Clemens Point, 1899

[talgra]

It’s interesting to hear how a lot of the gang members themselves made it to the Van der Linde gang itself, in cases such as Lenny or Arthur or John or Javier, Dutch positioned the gang as being their only option - that they had to join because it was their only escape

From being wanted by people who wished him dead, from living on the streets as a kid, from being lynched by a mob, from being killed for loving a military man’s wife and fleeing the country, Dutch’s proposition to join his roving band of outlaws manipulates those he asks, because to them, it IS their only way out and Dutch knows it

Essentially in getting these people to join the gang, Dutch knows that they fall into a “moral debt” of sorts to him for saving their lives whether they had wanted it or not.

He never gave any of these men a fair option - the offer was weighed heavily in Dutch’s favor

Especially in John and Arthur’s cases when they join the gang in their younger ages, Dutch can personally see to it that he manipulates how they learn and grow for his own advantage

[crabjest]

♦️High Stakes ♠️

Im so good at this symbolism shit I pray one of you gets it

[roseghoul26]

Chapter 11: On Begged And Borrowed Time

Synopsis: A fic based off the song “ivy” by Taylor Swift. After a startling introduction to the man, Arthur Morgan became the most important part of your life. Married at a young age to an older, wealthy man to help your family, you were trapped in a loveless marriage, your only sense of escape with the rugged cowboy. Will you be able to keep your affair hidden, or will your husband find out, and destroy the last thing that made you happy? Tags: Fluff, Angst, Smut, Strangers To Lovers, Infidelity, Fem!Reader, She/Her Pronouns Used For Reader, Period Typical Misogyny, Emotional Manipulative Relationship (not with Arthur), Mostly Follows Timeline of Game, High Honor Arthur Morgan, Not Beta Read, Slow Burn, First Kiss, Arthur Is Bad At Emotions, Confessions, First Time Together, Cunnilingus, Missionary, Doggy Style, Handjobs, Mirrors, Party, Semi-Public Sex, Quickies, Unsafe Sex, Tags Updated Per Chapter Author's Note: sorry this took so long! Taglist: @lokiofasgard12 @ultraporcelainpig @that-one-beannnn @morethantheycansay@nn-hh192 @photo1030 @just-pure-trash @julialoopeezz @hqxee @salientseraph Chapter List

Failed Robbery in Saint Denis: 2 Dead, 1 Arrested, 6 Missing

You’d lost track of how many times you’d reread the article, the newspaper creased where your hands gripped it. You already knew what the article stated, yet you reread it at every free moment.

The Van Der Linde’s bank robbery had gone wrong. Terribly wrong. Pinkertons had been quick to arrive on the scene, resulting in a shootout that killed two members of the gang, as well as arresting John. 

There was a pang in your chest when you saw the sketch of Hosea provided. You hadn’t been close with him, not like Arthur was, but you respected him deeply and were quite thankful for him. To see him listed as nothing more than a failed bank robber and lowlife was disheartening; you knew better. 

There was another man pictured alongside Hosea, someone you didn’t recognize. You had been shocked when you first saw him, as he looked barely old enough to be an adult, let alone a part of the gang. Leonard “Lenny” Summers, his name read, and you took a mental note to ask Arthur about him later. 

A deep sadness washed over you when you thought of Arthur. Unimaginable relief had flooded you when you hadn’t seen his picture in the newspaper article, meaning he was one of the six on the run. You just hoped that wherever he was, he was alright. 

Glancing at the date at the top of the newspaper, you sighed deeply. It had been printed three weeks ago. Three weeks since you last saw Arthur, and possibly for the last time.

You quickly shook that thought from your mind. You refused to even entertain the idea that Arthur might’ve died. Until you saw his body, you didn’t let yourself think that he was anything other than alive. Worse for wear, but alive. 

“You reading that damn newspaper again?” Hans’ voice startled you, and you dropped the paper like it burned you. He stood in the doorway of your bedroom, arms crossed over his chest, staring disapprovingly at the newspaper that had fallen back onto the nightstand.

Hans’ demeanor had turned sour over the past three weeks. He was more irritable, a constant scowl on his face, barking at you instead of speaking evenly. You figured it was the stress of his moonshine operation falling apart, and from nearly entrusting his operation’s security into the hands of the failed robbers of Saint Denis.

“Sorry, it’s just…” you sighed. “It’s just so shocking. They seemed so nice!” 

“That’s what they want you to think. Can’t fault you for falling right into their trap.” 

You’re the one who fell into their trap, you fool. You nearly rolled your eyes, but you forced them to remain still. “It makes me wonder how many liars I’ve trusted.” Like you. 

Hans remained silent for a moment, the furrow in his brow deepening, making it almost look like he was glaring at you. “A thought that has passed my mind as well,” he finally said, sounding more like a threat than anything. He didn’t get to see your bewildered expression, though, because he disappeared from the doorway. 

His words unsettled you deeply, anxiety brewing in your mind. Did he know? Was he suspicious? Or was he just speaking in an angry tone, with no idea what you were up to?

Grabbing the newspaper, you decided to hide it from your sight, realizing it was doing you more harm than good. Out of the clear of your husband, you grabbed the lockbox, and it took quite a bit of forcing to fit both newspapers in there. Next time Hans left, you’d have to clip out the important parts and discard the rest. 

Your mother’s letter appeared as you were messing with the papers, a mixed sense of dread and happiness washing over you. You hadn’t told Hans about your letter. You couldn’t. You weren’t supposed to have reached out to your family, and a part of you dreaded that your mother was coming over because then you’d have to explain yourself to him. 

You had no idea when she was coming over, but you knew it had to be sometime soon. Ever since that letter arrived, you’d been expecting her arrival daily, just adding to the stress you were feeling because of Arthur. To say the last few weeks had been difficult would be an understatement, but you pushed through. 

Tucking the box away, you headed downstairs, the bedroom causing too many emotions for you to handle right now. You didn’t have to knock to know that Hans was in his office, the door locked shut when you passed.

Sitting on the couch, you picked up the embroidery you were working on, a hobby you’d taken up over the past two weeks to try and distract yourself, Hans permitting, of course. It barely worked, operating as more of a means to pass the time than anything. 

Your thoughts were always occupied with Arthur, your stomach constantly in knots. You hadn’t had much of an appetite, and it was starting to wear you down, the bags under your eyes prominent. 

It had been a startling discovery, seeing yourself in the mirror after these weeks. You looked how you did when you met Arthur, the sparkle of joy in your eyes that he brought vanishing. Your cheeks were gaunt, and you just looked exhausted. 

A light knock at the door startled you, nearly stabbing yourself with your needle. You waited for Hans to emerge from his office; maybe he was expecting someone today. 

But when a minute passed and he didn’t emerge, your heart hammered in your chest. Another light knock made you move, setting your embroidery on the couch. Shakily, you made your way to the front door, and you took a deep breath before opening it. 

On the other side stood your mother, looking a few years older, yet still the same woman all the same. People always joked when you were a child that you were just a younger version of your mother, but as your eyes fell on her, you realized how right they had been. 

A warm smile appeared on her face when she saw you, a smile that had brought you so much comfort. Even now, you feel like all the weight on your shoulders has been lifted. You couldn’t quite bring yourself to move, emotions rendering your legs useless, staring at your mother like you’d just seen a ghost. 

It was when she said your name softly that the spell you were under finally broke. A sob tore from your throat, and she had barely opened her arms before you were crashing into her, your own arms clinging to her. Right now, you weren’t Mrs. Kerrigan. You were just someone who needed the comfort of their mother. 

Immediately her hands were soothing you, one running through your hair, the other rubbing circles into your back. Your tears were staining her dress, but neither of you cared. For the first time in weeks, you finally let go of all the emotions that had bottled up inside of you, stress and sadness and grief pouring out, unable to hide them any longer. 

You’re not sure how long she held you for, letting you cry on her shoulder. You’re sure your commotion caught the attention of Hans, but that was an afterthought. Eventually, your sobs receded, and you pulled away, your eyes puffy and cheeks red.

Tears of her own flowed down her face, and you felt her gently wipe your cheeks. “My beautiful daughter…” she murmured, and your bottom lip trembled. “I’ve missed you.”

“Me too,” you sighed. “How… how is everyone?”

“They’re well. But sweetheart, are you well?” You felt one of her thumbs brush beneath your eyes. “You don’t look it.”

“These past weeks have been… tough,” you admitted. “But that’s a conversation for later.” Where Hans won’t be able to hear me. “Oh, where are my manners? Please, come inside.” You took a step back, gesturing to the still-open door. 

“Since when have you worried about manners?” Your mother teased, but you missed the slight bit of concern in her voice. “Before we head in, there is someone else who would like to see you. Margaret?” Your mother shouted to the carriage that you now saw behind her, and an even larger smile appeared on your face as you watched your sister step out.

If you looked exactly like your mother, then she was a carbon copy of your father. But when she smiled back at you, you swore you saw yourself. Her excitement was contagious as she practically ran to you, skirts bunched up in her hands as she bound up the stairs. YOu nearly toppled over as she barreled into you, and a fresh stream of tears poured down your face as you held her.

“Maggie!” You exclaimed, partially in shock. “You’ve grown so much!” It was true. Long gone was the young teenager you’d left back at home. In front of you was a grown woman, a maturity in her eyes that you weren’t expecting when she pulled away. But it was astounding to see she hadn’t lost her energy, her joy for life. A part of you almost felt envious, as much as you hated to admit. 

Your name was barely audible, muffled as she hugged you, making you laugh. “You should’ve seen her when she saw your letter,” your mother smiled. “We haven’t had a moment of peace since.” She didn’t sound upset about it. 

“Is that true?” 

Maggie nodded her head, leaning back to look at you, her arms still wrapped around your body. “I’ve missed you so much!”

“It ain’t a competition, but I think I’ve missed you more.” Maggie playfully rolled her eyes, and you pressed a kiss to the top of her head. She was still shorter than you, but you weren’t about to comment about that now. “Let’s get inside. We’ve got a lot to discuss!”

With your arm around Maggie, you led her and your mother into your house for the first time. Their eyes danced around the spacious downstairs, and although they were used to seeing wealth, they could still appreciate the beauty of your home. If only you felt the same. Even with your family in it, it still felt foreign. 

You led them to the living room, letting them sit on the couch before excusing yourself to the kitchen, going to grab drinks. Or at least you tried to until your mother stopped you with a gentle grasp of your hand. “Sit, sweetheart.”

“But-”

“You don’t have to bring out the formalities for us. We just want you, improper and perfect.”

Biting your trembling lip, you nodded, letting her sit you between her and Maggie. She didn’t let go of your hand, her other hand resting atop yours, and Maggie adjusted so that she was sitting closer to you. “You’ve got a beautiful house.” You nodded, an empty thanks leaving your lips. “Although it’s quite… empty.”

“If you’re asking about children,” you laughed, albeit bitterly, “I’m afraid me and my husband haven’t been blessed in that department.” Thank God. You weren’t opposed to children, no, but you did not want them with Hans. He’d make a terrible father, and you’d be stuck managing them by yourself. 

“Is your husband around?” Maggie asked, and you struggled to come up with a response. How could you say that he was, but he locked himself away in his office at every spare moment?

You didn’t have to respond, though, because a loud cough from the staircase behind you answered for you, all three of you turning to face the noise. “Her husband is around and is quite confused. Care to explain, dear?” The endearment was dripping with vitriol.

You instinctively grasped your mother’s hand tighter. Confusion and concern were written across her face, already not liking the confrontational tone Hans had adopted. “Hans, this is my mother, Irene, and my little sister Margarete. Mother, sister, this is my husband, Hans Kerrigan.”

“I know who they are,” Hans interjected, slowly stepping towards you all. You failed to notice the slight panic in his voice. “What are they doing here?”

Your mother opened her mouth to respond, but you cut her off, afraid that she would mention the letters. “I don’t know,” you lied, and you missed the look Maggie and Irene shared. “They just showed up. Isn’t it great?” 

If Hans believed you, you couldn’t tell. A forced smile found its way beneath his beard. “Great, yes.” If you thought your lying ability was terrible, his was even worse. “A pleasure, ladies.”

“Mr. Kerrigan, as lovely as it is to meet you, I’m afraid that we have… business in the city we must attend to.” Panic gripped you. “All three of us must attend to.” 

Your husband's expression was unreadable, and you had no idea if he’d let you go. “Can I?” You asked, hating that you sounded like a child asking their parents if they could play with their friends. This was your family, you didn’t have to ask anyone’s permission to be with them. 

It seemed your mother felt the same way, cutting your husband off before he could agree or disagree. “No daughter of mine needs permission from anyone. She’s going with me.”

A tense silence filled the room, making you shift uncomfortably. The look Irene gave Hans was deadly, her head cocked to the side like she was daring him to say something against it. Her actions confused you, though. She was advocating for your independence, yet she had no protest against a marriage against your will. Yet again, she had seemed surprised about your marriage, so maybe she didn’t have as much say as you thought. Just another thing you needed to ask her.

Hans’ eyes flicked to you, almost disbelieving. He didn’t respond, merely scoffing before retreating upstairs. You could feel the anger rolling off of him, and you knew you were in for it later. 

Your mother stood, rather abruptly, yanking you to your feet as well. “We’re leaving,” was all she said. 

You knew there was no room for argument, but you tried anyway. “But we just sat down-”

“We are leaving.” You didn’t offer any further protests. The house was suffocating right now, and you needed to escape. After putting on your shoes, Irene brought you back outside, Maggie hot on your heels. The tense silence still hung in the air, even as you sat in the carriage, your sister sliding in beside you, your mother across you.

Even as the carriage began to move, heading anywhere but here, no one spoke for a good five minutes. You were the first to break the silence. “I’m sorry,” you began, “he’s usually more… amicable than that.” It wasn’t a complete lie. 

“You don’t need to apologize-”

“You left us for him?” Your sister interjected, not bothering to hide the hurt in her voice.

“Maggie,” your mother warned, but she just shook her head.

“No, I can’t believe it. You left us for him?” Her voice rose in anger. “Here I thought you ran away because you were in love, because you found someone who treated you well. But you ran away from us, from… me, for him? You ran away when I… I needed you. I needed my sister.”

So she also thought you ran away, and was rightfully angry at you for something you didn’t do. “I’m not sure I know what you’re sayin’. I didn’t run away.”

“Don’t lie to me. I found your note.”

“What note?” You were truly bewildered now, looking to your mother for clarification. You hated that she looked upset at you as well. 

“The night you disappeared, you left a note on your bed, detailing why you were leaving. That was the last time we ever heard from you. You don’t remember?”

You felt like you were losing it. “I’ve got no clue what you’re talking about.” You scoffed, “You of all people should know that I didn’t run away.”

Now it was her turn to be confused. “What do you mean?”

“You think I wanted this? To be stuck with a man that hates everything to do with me, who controls me like I’m just his goddamn toy? In no world would I run away from my family to be with someone like him.”

“Then why did you leave?” Maggie asked, her voice surprisingly soft. 

“I didn’t have much of a choice. Father set up this marriage to save the family from falling into financial ruin. I did this to help us. You know this, mother!”

You didn’t know if you should be relieved or concerned when you saw her shake her head, pure shock on her face. “He did what?” Her words were clipped, upset, but not at you anymore.

“You… you didn’t know? He officiated it and everything!”

She continued to shake her head, leaning back against her seat. “He wouldn’t…”

“But he did. He did it easily.”

Tears had begun to pool in her eyes, and a hand came to cover her mouth. “But why? How?”

So you told them. You told them how your father had woken you early in the morning, barely letting you get dressed before escorting you to the carriage that sat outside. Your belongings had already been packed, but he had not explained anything, not even during the few days of travel south. When you finally reached your destination, you had been whisked away, stuffed into a dress, and sent to the altar, where you met Hans for the first time, and then married. You realized now that the reason it had just been you, Hans, and your father at the wedding was because he wanted to keep the rest of the family in the dark. “I found out later it was done for financial security. We were about to lose everything.”

“Sweetheart, I don’t understand.”

“I don’t either.”

“No, I mean I don’t understand why.” Her next words made you pale. “We’ve never had financial troubles. At least not severe enough to warrant… this.”

“Maybe he didn’t tell you?” If your father had withheld the details of your marriage, then it was likely he kept the details of the family’s finances from them as well. But maybe you were desperate for the last two years to have any sort of meaning, for it to not all be in vain. 

“He couldn’t have hidden financial troubles from us. Not as well as he hid, well, you.”

“Then what was it all for?” You whispered, your voice on the verge of breaking. “These past two years, what were they for?”

“I wish I could tell you, sweetheart.”

“So I didn’t have to leave? So I could’ve stayed at home, where I was happy, where I would’ve taken over the family business, where my dreams wouldn’t have been put on hold?” You were rambling, but you didn’t care. Tears poured down your cheeks, mourning a life you could’ve had. “I could’ve had that?”

“Why didn’t you leave?” Your sister asked, her hand finding its way to yours. 

“I couldn’t. Mainly because I was under the impression that my marriage was what was keeping you well, and I couldn’t jeopardize that. But I didn’t have the means to leave either. And where would I go?”

“You could’ve come home!”

“I had no idea where you moved to, though. The only reason I was able to write to you was because I had a… friend find your new address. Why did you move, by the way?”

“Father didn’t say, although I’m beginning to suspect it was to keep you from finding us.”

“Why would he do that though? What would require such secrecy?”

“I have no idea.” Those words seemed to be the running theme of this conversation, and you sighed, your cheeks still damp. You had no idea how to process all this new information, anger and betrayal clouding your thoughts.

“You said you had a friend,” your mother began. She was trying to distract you, which you were grateful for, but thinking of Arthur just made your heart heavier. “Who’s she?”

“Well, he…” your mother and sister shared looks, “he’s kind. He’s helped me a lot over the past months. But… But I haven’t seen him in a while.”

“Do we know him?”

“How often do you read the newspaper?” You joked, with no humor in your voice. 

“Every Sunday. Why?” Maggie asked, hesitantly. 

“You’ll know him then. His name’s-”

Shouting from the carriage driver announcing you’d arrived in Saint Denis cut you off. It felt like no time had passed, and you weren’t expecting to be in the city already. The rest of your family seemed to be feeling the same way, a sense of wariness shared between the three of you. 

“Come. Let us forget about this, if just for a moment,” your mother wiped at her face, forcing a smile on her face. “Terrible revelations aside, I wish to spend the afternoon with my daughters.” She got out of the carriage first, a gentleman escorting her out. Maggie was next, and you took a moment to compose yourself before stepping out. 

The sound of the city hit you first, shouting and bells and whistles assaulting your ears. The stench was next, and your sister had a poorly hidden expression of disgust. “You’ll get used to it,” you whispered to her, remembering that she’d never been to Saint Denis. Glancing around, you saw that you were near the outskirts of the city, close to where Bronte lived.

Your mother extended an arm to each of you, and you both linked your arms with hers, walking beside her as she led you further into the city. You tried to distract yourself with the colorful imagery around you, yet your mind kept wandering to the words that had been spoken in the carriage.

You truly had no idea why your father would marry you off. You were his eldest daughter, set to be the heir of his business, his pride and joy second to his children. Your entire life, that is what you were led to believe would happen, and he seemed to believe it too. Why would he disrupt everything by sending you away? 

So caught up in your thoughts, you failed to notice the different atmosphere the city held today. It was lively, sure, but it seemed almost on edge. No one greeted you as you passed, even if they recognized you, and people seemed to be almost somber. 

“You’d think someone just died,” you heard Maggie mutter, pulling you from your mind. 

She hadn’t been quiet, though, and the couple walking in front of you shot her each a dirty look. “That’s because someone has, girl.”

Her eyes widened. “My apologies,” she stammered, embarrassed. “Who?”

“Angelo Bronte.” Your responding gasp didn’t deter them. “They found his body in the swamp, eaten by gators. Maybe read the paper before spewing such ignorant things.” 

Your mother and Maggie weren’t affected by their words, their attention was immediately on you and your reaction. “Did you know him?” Your sister asked, and you nodded.

“Not personally, but I’ve been to plenty of his parties. He was a prominent figure here, a rich one at that. He practically runs… ran this city.” You lowered your voice so only they could hear, “I’d say he got what was comin’ for him, though.”

“That bad?”

“That bad.” You sighed. “But let’s just hope the city doesn’t collapse without him.”

Your mother turned down a street, not having joined in on the conversation yet, but she was paying attention. You and Maggie continued to chat lightly, and for a moment you’d managed to successfully forget the worries in your mind. That was until you passed a wooden board, something you didn’t pay attention to until a familiar sketch caught your eye. 

You suddenly stopped, much to the confusion of your sister and mother. But you didn’t hear their concerned questions; the only thing you could focus on was the bounty poster in front of you, which contained a sketch of someone you now saw to be Arthur. His features were almost shaper, the artist making him look as intimidating as possible. He was depicted like he’d been described in the papers, a bloodthirsty bank robber, a ruthless vagrant, pure evil in the public eye. 

Yet even this depiction could not lessen the love you felt for him. 

“Sweetheart, what is it?” You finally heard your mother, who was shaking your arm gently.

“I… I know him.” You shook your head. “Sorry, it’s nothin’.”

“Arthur?” It was incredibly strange hearing his name from your mother’s mouth. Recognition flashed across her face, most likely having read about him in the paper. “Did he hurt you?”

“What? No! Never!” You rushed to say. “He’s my… friend that I was takin’ about.” You were certainly more than that, but you were not about to explain that to your mother.

That surprised her, and she didn’t have any words. Maggie stepped in for her. “The outlaw with the five-thousand-dollar bounty is your friend?” She was in just as much disbelief as your mother, and you shushed her. 

“Just tell the whole damn city while you’re at it,” you hissed. “Yes, he is my friend. Yes, I know it’s ridiculous. No, I will not go into further detail.” You spared one last glance at the poster before continuing down the road, dragging your family along beside you. Seeing him, even as just a sketch, made your heart ache. Maybe Arthur had hurt you, just not in the way you thought. 

You hoped your mother didn’t see the way you reacted when you saw him, an expression you’re sure that filled his longing. An expression that wouldn’t be appropriate for “just a friend”. You hoped your sister hadn’t seen the tears that had sprung to your eyes as you read Wanted: Dead or Alive sprawled across the top.

They both didn’t question you about it, even though you knew they were dying to. They left you in silence, letting you process your emotions, which you were grateful for. If they made you talk about him, you were certain you’d burst into barely contained tears. 

Your mother let you lead the way for a few more minutes, but she eventually took the reins again, steering you and a very curious Maggie to a tailor. She ushered your sister inside first but halted you when you tried to follow. Any protest died in your throat when you saw the adamant expression on her face, and so you let her take you by the arm to the narrow alleyway adjacent to the building. 

“Talk to me.” Her voice was demanding yet kind.

“Mother-”

“You love him, don’t you? Your ‘friend’.” You cast your gaze to the ground, fighting tears. Were you that easy to read? Hesitantly, you nodded, and she softened. “Sweetheart…”

That broke the dam, a stifled sob leaving you as she pulled you into a hug. “I’m sorry,” you managed to get out, and you felt her shake her head.

“Why are you sorry?”

“Because I love him.”

“That is nothing to be sorry about,” she nearly laughed, pulling you back to look you in the eye.

“But I’m married. I’m… we’ve… it’s not right.”

“Maybe not,” she agreed, “but perhaps it’s what’s best. You’re miserable with Hans, and I can’t blame you. Why your father would ever agree to marry you to him is beyond me…”

“Are you sayin’ I should leave him?”

“Yes,” she responded with no hesitation. “You’ve no reason to be married to him any longer, no? It’s terrifying, but is it not scarier to imagine a life where you’re stuck by Hans’ side for years to come?”

The idea did make you shudder, especially now that you had Arthur. How long would you be able to keep your affair hidden? How long would you be able to pretend like Hans’ very presence didn’t revolt you? You guessed a few more months, tops. “Would he even agree to a divorce?” You whispered.

“I can’t answer that. But when you’re ready to ask,” she took your hands, “I’ll be right there by your side. We all will.”

“And if I don’t ask?” You blurted out. “What if I just… ran?”

“Then you’ll be running for the rest of the time Hans is on this Earth. Although, it seems like you’d have someone beside you who is quite good at not getting caught.” She sighed. “I can’t tell you what would be the best decision. But just know that whatever choice you make, I’ll support you. All I wish is to see you happy.”

You nodded, a new sense of hope growing within, something that had been lacking for a while. “If Arthur returns, I’ll do it.”

“When he returns,” your mother corrected. “Have some faith. If he cares about you nearly as much as you do him, he’ll make his way back to you.”

“He always has…” you muttered under your breath. “When he returns, I’ll do it.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

She smiled warmly at you after planting a kiss on your damp cheek. “Now, let us join your sister before she comes looking. If you couldn’t tell, she’s not the best at being subtle.”

You laughed, wiping away your tears, letting your mother lead you to the store. “I’ve noticed.” 

The bell chimed as you stepped in, Maggie rushing to your sides as soon as you did. “What took you so long?” She whisper-shouted, making you laugh harder. She was as inconspicuous as a bull in a china shop. “What?”

“I told you.”

─•~❉᯽❉~•─

By the time the three of you had returned to the carriage, the sun had long since set, the moon washing the world in a cool white light. The vehicle was not only stuffed with you, Maggie, and your mother, but various bags and gowns from a successful shopping trip to the city. Your mother had not been lying when she said the family was not struggling financially, as she had easily paid for your new dresses and other items. Laughter flowed easily from the three of you, your minds fully distracted from the information of the morning. 

That cheery mood lasted the whole ride, up until the driver turned down the familiar road leading to your house. Your smile fell, and you felt your mother grab your hand, squeezing it reassuringly. “You won’t have to deal with him for much longer, sweetheart. You’ve got this.”

“Can it be over now?” You practically whined, anxiety bubbling in you. 

“Why can’t you just come home with us?” Maggie asked, having been informed about the conversation you’d had with your mother. 

“I’m not leavin’ without Arthur. Once he comes back, I’m gone.” You weren’t sure if you were convincing them or yourself. 

She didn’t let go of your hand, not until the carriage came to a halt. “It’s been wonderful seeing you both,” you began. “If I’m not gone in the next few weeks, come and get me. Please.”

“Gladly,” your mother responded. “If you and Arthur need a place to stay, to lie low, just know that our, your house is available. With or without your father’s permission.”

“Get some answers from him. And give my regards to everyone else.”

“I love you, sweetheart. Always remember that.” She kissed your cheek. “We’ll see you soon. That’s a promise.”

Hugging Maggie, at least as best you could, you left the carriage before your nerves rooted you in place. With your arms full of items, it took some careful steps, but you eventually made your way up the porch. You watched as the carriage drove away, smiling as brightly as you could at your sister through the window, before letting it fall away completely.

Taking a deep breath, you walked into your home, heading straight to the staircase. Climbing up the stairs with all the stuff was also difficult, cursing under your breath when you kept stepping on the skirts of your new dresses. It took longer than necessary, but you managed to stumble into your room. You’d only taken a single step in until an unseen force hit the back of your head. 

Your vision went black before you made contact with the floor. 

[oldstormyy]

Mr Leonard Lenny Summers ? :-)))

First impression: not exactly first impression but the first time I restarted the game and saw Lenny again I started crying becos I missed him so much

Impression now: he is such a fundamental character and truly represented the future of the gang. this intention is clear in the writing and yet it's more understated than it could be. thankfully benjamin byron davis talks about it regularly in interviews lest we forget

Favorite moment: his intellectual debates with Dutch <3 also his death is so so impactful. I second complaints that it's the only death scene that isn't framed in a cinematic cutscene, however the way it plays out is so visceral, that moment for sure did something to me. the direction is bonkers in the entire mission

Idea for a story: sometimes I wonder how much of a theatre kid Lenny would be

Unpopular opinion: i dont know what opinions people have on Lenny. but I often think about how he defends Sean when Arthur compares the two of them.... I love how eager he is to prove himself and contribute to the gang and I love that sometimes it makes him reckless (like in the stagecoach robbery...) ah another thing I think is interesting is that he's not against robbing the train in chapter 1 !!

Favorite relationship: i have to say his relationship with Dutch is a source of infinite entertainment to me. Dutch trying to be fatherly to Lenny but Lenny already had a good father so he doesn't need the emotional support. the fact that hes the only gang member who can actually talk about Evelyn miller constructively. wait you know what's fucking hilarious to me, the fact that Hosea didn't like Lenny at first. but that says more about Hosea than Lenny so I won't get into it here <3

again no headcanons so have this really old Sean and Lenny doodle

[reddeadreference]

Leonard "Lenny" Summers

(The above photo was taken at Clemen's Point)

(Warning: This post contains spoilers!)

About

Name: Leonard "Lenny" Summers

Age: 19 (the youngest member of the gang if you don't count Jack)

(Note: Even though the description states he joined 3 years after avenging his father when he was 15, Arthur states he's 19 so presumably Lenny had a birthday pass during the time he's been with the gang.)

Description: (official description from R*)

A fairly recent addition to the gang, young Lenny had spent the previous three years on the run for murder from every lawman and bounty hunter west of the Lannahechee River. Some drunks jumped and killed his father when he was walking home one night, so Lenny stole a gun and shot them all. He was only fifteen years old at the time. His father and uncle were well-educated and gave Lenny a good schooling when he was growing up. Smart, competent and ambitions, he is always ready to do his part, and is fairly happy living in a community where he his mostly judged for his ability not his appearance.

Quick Facts

He is one of the newer members of the gang. Arthur states he's been with them only six months.

His parents were slaves.

His father educated him.

He had been trying to teach Sean how to read. ("Trying" because Sean didn't want to learn.)

He sometimes has discussions with Dutch about Evelyn Miller, with whom he disagrees with because "[Miller] doesn't say much to [him]" and "...[Miller] speaks very prettily, but he doesn't say anything new."

During a campfire scene he tells how he lost the pocket watch given to him by his father during the escape from Blackwater. Arthur can buy/find/loot a replacement to give to him.

He was sweet on Jenny Kirk. (Mentioned once by Hosea and Arthur on the ride to Valentine in 'Exit Pursued by a Bruised Ego' and during a camp conversation between Hosea and Lenny. Lenny says "Was it that obvious?" in reply to Hosea saying "I know you were sweet on her".)

Outfits by chapter

Ch 1: Colter

Ch 2-4

Chapters 2 through 4 he has a few outfits that change in variation depending on the chapter. For instance, the first outfit under chapter 3 is the same as the first for chapter 4 only he doesn't have his union suit on underneath and pants are over his boots (also shown beside it as he does wear that union suit variation in chapter 4 too but again with pants over the boots). Some outfits shown are the same but with/without a hat or pants being over or under boots. Union suit is 'listed' under chapter 3 but can be seen in chapter 2 and 4 as well.

Outfit Details

Hat, knife and gun holsters, small details, and close up on fabric.

Bank Heist Outfit

Lenny is one of the four of the eight to use his bandana instead of a mask.

Life/Events

As stated in his description, his father was murdered when he was 15 and he took revenge on the men who did it. He had been on the run for three years before he joined the Van Der Linde gang.

Missions

Chapter 1: Colter -

Lenny is in two of the six missions in Chapter 1.

He's part of the assault on the O'Driscoll camp in Old Friends and the train robbery in Who the Hell is Leviticus Cornwall?

Chapter 2: Horseshoe Overlook -

His only mission in chapter 2 is A Quiet Time. Having been sent to scout ahead with Micah he later returns alone after escaping Strawberry where Micah had been arrested. Shaken, Dutch tells Arthur to take Lenny into town for a drink.

Chapter 3: Clemen's Point -

Lenny is part of 3 out of the 16 missions in Chapter 3.

In "Preaching Forgiveness as He Went" he and Arthur go to Shady Belle; the mission title is named so because Lenny 'pulls a Hosea' to trick the Lemoyne Raiders into coming closer for Arthur to fire on them. He joins Bill, Karen, and Arthur when they go back to Valentine to rob the bank in Sodom? Back to Gomorrah.

Chapter 4: Shady Belle -

While Lenny is also in Horsemen, Apocalypse so is everyone else so I'm only counting the other 4 out of 11 missions in chapter 4.

During The Gilded Cage Lenny is the one to drive the wagon for the others who are attending the Mayor's party. He, Dutch, and Arthur rob the trolley station in Urban Pleasures then goes along to confront Bronte in Revenge is a Dish Best Eaten for that set up. Lenny's final mission is Banking, The Old American Art where unfortunately he is gunned down on the roof.

Camp Life

Lenny's bed changes location and sleeping position depending on the camp much like many of the other members.

At Horseshoe Overlook he will sit in the center against a box between where Hosea and Bill sleep.

At Clemen's Point he'll sleep on his stomach at the main campfire.

At Shady Belle he sleeps on his back in the red tent on the bedroll furthest in the tent.

Lenny can be seen standing guard at each camp (Ch 1-4) and occasionally does the water bucket chore. At times he can be seen cleaning/checking his gun, smoking, reading either a newspaper or a book in various places in camp, or brushing one of the horses.

Death

Lenny is shot and killed in Banking, The Old American Art during the escape of the bank heist in chapter 4. After escaping to the roof he was the first to run forward and was shot by two lawmen who burst through a door. Arthur runs to his body and stays with him as long as he can. Charles is the only other member present to actually stop, Javier will hesitate and look back but the rest will simply run past without looking.

Lenny is later buried beside Hosea, under a tree in the swamp North East of Lakay.

-If there's something incorrect or something missing from this post you think is important or should be added please don't hesitate to either reply, reblog, or send in an ask about it.-

[wonderlandleighleigh]

She spends most of her time posted up at the gazebo, with her guitar. She plays and people watches and she takes requests from strangers, though most of the good people of Stars Hollow look at her with something like suspicion.

The town troubadour wanders by for a jam session every now and then. He doesn’t ask questions or get pissy about some girl usurping his territory. He can spot a lonely girl when he sees one, and she even picks up some technique from him. Sometimes some girl will wander by and ask “aren’t you Ella Bruce?” 

And she’ll say no, and they’ll move along. Without a hair and makeup team she’s just another blonde with a guitar. It’s nice.

There’s a piano at Miss Patty’s, and she noodles sound on it, when no one is there. The older woman doesn’t seem to mind. Sometimes she even sings along to what Ella is playing. 

One day a boy pokes his head in and sees her. He’s cute. Dark hair and eyes. Crooked lip.

“Any requests?” she asks. 

“Not much of a piano guy,” he admits. 

“Crocodile Rock, then,” Ella jokes. 

He groans and they both laugh.

“By far, Elton John’s worst song,” he says definitively. 

“It’s not good,” Ella concedes. “But it is catchy.” 

“Catchy doesn’t mean anything,” he argues. 

“Catchy always means something,” she counters. “Catchy makes money.” 

“Yeah, but-” 

She makes a snorty pig noise at him and accuses him of being a snob, and she shrugs with a grin.

“Guilty. I’m Jess.” 

“Ella.” 

“Lenny and Midge’s granddaughter, right?” 

“That’s what they tell me,” she confirms. “Hi.” 

“Hey. Lenny says you’re spending the summer here because you chose the wrong song at your school talent show.” 

Ella huffs out a breath. “Apparently it is frowned upon to sing ‘you were giving me head on the unmade bed’ when half your school is sitting in the audience. 

“Leonard Cohen.” 

“Mhm. So I’m spending some time staying out of trouble.” 

“How’s that going?” 

Ella shrugs. “I haven’t knocked over the local liquor store yet.” 

Jess smirks. “There isn’t one.” 

“Wow, fuck, really?” 

“Really.” 

“There go my Saturday night plans.” 

He laughs a little. “I work at the diner across the way. If you wanted to stop by sometime.” 

She shrugs. “Sure. It’s something to do.” 

***** 

She goes for breakfast the next morning and Jess is there, alright.

Eating the face of a girl much blonder than Ella. 

“Wow, it’s like a real life face hygge,” Ella comments, louder than necessary. “Ew.” 

The two part, and Jess looks vaguely sheepish. “Hey.”

“Hi,” Ella nods, smirking. “Nice lipstick.” 

Lenny chortles at that and JEss glowers and wipes his mouth a little. “Shane, this is Ella. Ella, Shane.” 

“Hey,” Ella nods as she sits with Lenny. 

Shane eyes her. “Hey. Aren’t you-” 

“No.” 

“Oh.” 

“Yeah.” 

**** 

The Summer is long.

When Jess isn’t sticking his tongue down Shane’s throat, he’s hanging out with Ella, listening to music and talking about bands and books.

They’re friends. Shane hates her, but whatever. The one time Ella attempted to have a real conversation with her, the other blonde only wanted to talk about Jess. 

“Sure, whatever,” Ella responds apathetically as she walks off. 

In New York, she has friends who are girls, who want to talk about other things like music and politics and books and art. Her cousin Nora can wax poetic about fashion trends and the history of couture and Ella can listen to her for hours. 

Shane only wants to talk about whether or not Jess and Ella have ever kissed. 

They haven’t. Ella is bored.

***** 

The day of whatever carnival is happening in town (there have been many. Ella has no idea why. She assumes because there isn’t a liquor store), everyone seems to be buzzing for another reason.

Lorelai’s daughter Rory is back from a summer spent doing school-related things in DC. She’s taller than Ella with brown hair and doe eyes, and she looks completely livid that Jess is kissing Shane.

“All summer,” Ella tells her, sidling up from behind. “So gross.” 

“Seriously,” Rory agrees in disgust. “Wait, who are you?” 

“Oh. Uh. I’m Ella. I’m Midge and Lenny’s granddaughter,” she tells her. “I got in trouble at home, so I’ve been spending the summer here.” 

“And you know Jess?” 

“Yeah. We’re friends. Unless Shane is around and then…well…his happens,” Ella explains. 

Rory suddenly gets awkward. “O-oh.” 

“Anyways, welcome home I guess,” Ella shrugs. “I’m here for another week and then it’s back to the city with me. Maybe I’ll see you around.” 

“Sure,” Rory says. “Yeah. Maybe.” 

***** 

Grandma Midge makes Rosh Hashanah dinner a few nights later, and Ella helps. Roast chicken and potato kugel. Tzimmes and a sweet, rich honey cake for dessert, drizzled in a peach sauce. 

The attendees are eclectic. Jess and his uncle, the diner owner, and Jess brings Shane and that’s weird. Lorelai and Rory and Rory’s boyfriend Dean, who acts like he’d rather be anywhere else, and that’s also weird. Lane from the antiques shop. Morey and Babette, who have been nice to Ella all summer long. Miss Patty shows up, too. 

“I don’t see why we had to come,” Dean mutters to Rory before dinner starts. 

“Jews make you that uncomfortable?” Ella asks, because Dean isn’t as stealthy as he seems to think. 

“I don’t!” Dean squeaks. “I don’t hate- I don’t!” 

“Then why didn’t you want to eat nice food with nice people?” Ella asks.

“Because Jess is here, and I hate that guy,” Dean snaps. “And anyways, why do you care?” 

“Because my grandmother put together this nice spread,” Ella explains. “And I don’t want some shithead to ruin her dinner.” 

“Ella,” Rory snaps, unhappy with the blonde’s choice of words. 

“You’re dating a shithead,” Ella shrugs, and walks away before anyone can argue with her.

She manages to sneak a little wine, and Jess wanders over, tilting his head. “Enough for one more?” he asks. 

“What, you don’t want to share with Shane?” 

“She went home,” Jess shrugs. “She didn’t wanna be here. She doesn’t like you or Rory.” 

“I know,” Ella says, handing him the wine glass. “I tried to talk to her once and she only wanted to know if you and I were hooking up.” 

“We’re not.” 

“Of course we’re not,” Ella smirks. “I know where you’ve been.” 

“Funny.” 

“I come by it honestly.” 

“I saw Dean’s here.” 

“Yeah, he kind of sucks,” she shrugs. “He doesn’t wanna be here either, because he hates you.” 

“...Yeah.” 

“What did you do to him?” 

Jess shrugs. “Nothin’. He uh…got in my way one time when I got in a fight, and apparently my having too much momentum means I’m an asshole.” 

“You kind of are,” Ella points out.

“Yeah.” 

“Is it because you both want to have sex with Rory?” Ella asks. 

Jess turns an interesting shade of red and drinks more of the wine. “No.” 

“She was mad when she saw you kissing Shane the other night,” Ella points out. 

“Whatever. Just- I don’t wanna talk about this.” 

“If you say so,” she shrugs. 

“Why are you always so blunt about this stuff?” Jess asks, annoyed. 

“Because it’s dumb,” Ella shrugs again. “It’s needlessly dramatic, and I guess Rory is pretty and smart or whatever, but it’s not worth all the stress. The tsuris.” 

“What’s that?” 

“Drama. It’s not worth the drama.” 

“You’re jealous of Shane,” Jess accuses. 

Ella thinks about that for a long moment, taking the wine glass back and having a drink. “I don’t really know. Maybe. You’re cute, and smart. You’re not very nice, though. You’d probably be fun to kiss, but you just seem mad about stuff. And snobby. So maybe I want to kiss you, to see what it would be like.” 

“We could do that.” 

“And again: I know where you’ve been,” Ella smirks. “Anyways. Dinner’s probably ready.” 

She walks off, knowing he’s watching her.

***** 

She leaves for home the next week. Back to her mother, and school and songwriting and recording on the weekends. The new album drops the week after she graduates high school, and then she’s on tour for the summer, before coming home and figuring out what she’d like to do next.

She’ll meet Cory Drew in the fall, around her birthday, and when she turns eighteen, they’ll have sex, and she’ll spend the next handful of years high and making a ton of good music and fucking up her life.

But for now, she says goodbye to her grandparents, hugging each of them tightly, before waving to Jess, who is reading on a bench near the bus station. He nods back, and then, like she was never there at all, she’s gone.

[hummingbird-of-light]

Against All Odds

Part 495

McCoy

McCoy was feeling much more like himself. Dr. Boyce had sent another hypo up with their dinner and he had reluctantly again let Scotty give it to him. In the morning he’d be ready to return to their studies and he’d even be willing to tolerate Leah and her jokes. He might even finally have responses, with his mind feeling less muddled.

A whole day to themselves had been wonderful, even if Scotty had declined his advances. McCoy smiled secretly to himself. He’d make sure they’d get another whole day to themselves before they were sent back to school. At school they’d never get the opportunity.

McCoy stretched out as Scotty set the PADD back down. His body was feeling restless from doing so much nothing.

“What’s wrong, love?”

“Tired of lying here I guess,” McCoy said.

“Must be feeling better then,” Scotty smiled.

McCoy nodded. “Much better.”

“Is there something ye want to do? Besides that.” Scotty rolled his eyes before McCoy’s grin was all the way across his face.

“Could we go to the pool? Not to swim,” McCoy added quickly as Scotty began to frown. “Maybe to soak in the hot tub? Sweat the last of this out? Might help me to relax for sleeping tonight.”

“Hmm, I guess,” Scotty said slowly. “I’ll send Granddad a message to change our chat to tomorrow.” He reached for the PADD as McCoy got up. “And ye change down there and dress warm. No point in ye relapsing.”

“Yes sir,” McCoy grinned at his fiancé. He went to his closet and pulled out a warm sweatshirt. “Good?”

Scotty looked up from typing and nodded.

A security member was standing outside the door to the pool when McCoy and Scotty turned down the hall.

“Your highness, sir” she greeted them as they walked up.

“Who’s here?” McCoy asked after greeting her back.

“The princess and Mr. Scott. The other Mr. Scott, sir,” she said with a smile at Scotty.

“Ugh,” McCoy said with an eyeroll. “Just what I need; Leah.”

“We can wait until later Len…”

“No, no,” McCoy said. “She isn’t scaring me off.”

McCoy pushed open the door, looking around as he did. The pool was empty and his eyes landed on the hut tub. Leah and Robbie were in the middle of kissing.

“Yuck,” he said loudly. Leah and Robbie broke apart in surprise.

“Shouldn’t you be in bed?” Leah demanded, trying to regain her composure. Robbie had flushed bright red.

“Why should I be there? I’m fine.”

“Leonard…” he heard Scott mumble.

“Fine,” he muttered back. “I’m better,” he told Leah as he walked to one of the changing stalls. “Not that I was anything but fine.”

“Sure,” he heard his sister say. Quickly he pulled off the clothes Scotty had insisted he wear to keep warm and slipped into his swim trunks.

“Did ye already talk to Granddad?” Robbie asked.

“Not really,” Scotty said as McCoy came back out. “He answered, but was at the hospital visiting Peggy.”

“One of Mum’s friends,” Robbie told Leah quickly.

“Is she alright?” Leah asked.

“Appendicitis,” Scotty shrugged. “I guess so?”

Scotty had already stepped into the hot tub and was getting comfortable across from Leah and Robbie. McCoy stepped down the stairs and sat next to him. He let out a quiet sigh as the hot water enveloped him. It felt so good around his tired, restless body.

“What’d you do today?” he asked his sister.

“Worked. With Father. Some council things we started when I stepped in this summer. What most of my days are turning into now.”

McCoy nodded. What better way for her to learn to rule.

“Won’t ye do more school? University?” Scotty asked.

“In time,” Leah told him. “It’s kind of my apprentice year.” She grinned. “I wanted at least a year off when I finished school. So I did. Next fall maybe I’ll start taking classes.”

“Have you and Father talked?” McCoy asked.

“We talk all the time, Lenny,” Leah laughed. “Be more specific.”

McCoy rolled his eyes. He reached for Scotty’s hand under the water.

“About you two,” he said bluntly.

Robbie’s face, which had finally regained its normal color, began to flush again.

“Some,” Leah said cryptically.

“We want to stay more quiet than you two,” Robbie said. “It’s easier to keep a low profile when we’re apart most of the time.”

McCoy squeezed Scotty’s hand as they both heard the sad undertone in Robbie’s voice.

“Once Robbie is of age it’ll be easier hopefully,” Leah said. “We’ll be more public about us then. But for now… All eyes will be on you two anyway.”

McCoy sighed. Leah wasn’t wrong about that.

“What a speech you’re going to give,” Leah chuckled. “The galaxy won’t know what hit them.”

“I’m going to ignore everything they write,” McCoy said firmly.

Part 496

Scotty

He still often forgot how hard it had to be on Robbie. Him and Leah could usually only talk on the PADD. No touching, no kissing, no cuddling.

Despite the current horrible circumstances, they were probably happy that they could spend their time together. It really was a blessing for them.

Scotty watched his brother closely. With Leah at his side he looked just so relaxed. The princess was able to calm him in ways no one else had ever been able to. And the older Scott brother was really grateful for it.

But Leah was right. The eyes of the public were all on Leonard and him. And they would certainly stay on them, especially when the prince would give his speech.

Scotty still was kinda scared of what was to come. How would people react to Leonard giving up the throne? And to him marrying a regular lad from Earth? Would they blame Scotty for it, saying that he'd seduced the prince?

Then again... it didn't matter. Leonard would always have his back. And he'd have his. They belonged together. No matter what people would think or write or say.

Scotty squeezed Leonard's hand. He just wanted to feel him close.

"So... where were ye two today? Missed ye at classes."

Robbie raised his brows curiously and Leonard shrugged.

"We... took a day off," he answered.

"Oh? Why is that? I thought ye weren't sick," Robbie mocked the prince with a grin and Scotty kicked his brother's leg.

"Oi! Stop it, Robbie."

Leah just chuckled and wrapped her arm around her boyfriend.

"See? That's the reason why I love him so much," she said, pressing a kiss to Robbie's cheek. The young Scotsman immediately blushed.

"Well, better safe than sorry. I don't wanna get sick, after all."

Leah just nodded her head at Leonard's reply.

"Oh, of course. Well... I think we better go and leave the two of you to yourselves."

She leaned over to Robbie and pretended to whisper the next words.

"I don't want us to get infected."

Robbie nodded quickly and the two of them got up.

"Yeah, go somewhere more private for making out," Leonard groaned. Leah blew him a kiss and winked.

"Says the one who can't keep his hands off of his boyfriend."

"Fiancé," Leonard corrected her and Leah just rolled her eyes, pulling Robbie along.

After their siblings had left, Scotty snuggled closer against Leonard and they sank deeper into the hot water. It felt good.

"Ye think they'll be okay?"

He couldn't help the question, a sudden wave of concern for Robbie and Leah washing over him.

Leonard looked at him in confusion.

"Yeah, sure... why shouldn't they?"

The Scotsman shrugged and shook his head.

"I... I don't know. It's just... if Leah will be Queen... then people will definitely expect a royal partner at her side. Will they ever except Robbie?"

Leonard moved a bit so that he could place his hand on Scotty's cheek.

"I told Robbie already and I'll tell you too: We will always find a way! If the line of succession can be altered, then we can also choose whatever partner we want. Father said so too."

Scotty sighed.

"I know, mo ghràdh. But... what will others think or write?"

"Who cares? They can write whatever they want. As long as Leah and Robbie are together and happy, nothing of it will matter."

The Scotsman smiled softly at his fiancé's words.

"Aye. I guess ye're right."

It would work out for everyone.

"So... what do you think we continue where they left off?" Leonard asked, wiggling his eyebrows at Scotty.

"Oh, ye mean the part where ye said 'yuck'?" he chuckled and Leonard shrugged.

"Well... it's disgusting when these two do it, but... with us..."

Leonard's face came closer and before Scotty could say anything the prince had caught his lips.

They sank deeper into the water and Scotty really hoped that no one else would decide on taking a bath too soon.

[storytelller-fanfics-english]

Epilogue

Notes:

I write in Russian and use a translator. If you find any errors, please let me know about it.

___

Two years have passed

It was a wonderful summer evening, the streets were unusually quiet and calm, of course, cars drove on the roads, but mostly Central City would resemble an ordinary village if it wasn't so big. Of course, the city criminals did not go away, on the contrary, they were becoming more and more, but Flash coped with them. He often worked in tandem with Captain Cold, who decided that he had had enough of robberies, began, like Flash, to wear a mask covering his face and not allowing villains to find out his identity, and bad people were afraid of the tandem of two heroes like fire.

There was a dim light burning in one of the houses, but it was enough to illuminate a room where three people were sitting quietly and peacefully leafing through an album.

"Look how small he was," Barry was touched, looking at a photo of a toddler in a small apron.

Leonard smiled with the corners of his lips, touching his lover's hair with one hand and ruffling it.

The couple officially registered their relationship only a year ago and took a double surname, at the same time the guys adopted a three-year-old boy from an orphanage and, after consulting with each other, gave him the name Henry Maxwell Allen-Snart. The first name was given in honor of his grandfather, Henry Allen, and in order to pick up the second, they thoroughly dug into their pedigrees. Basically, only Barry was digging, Leonard flatly refused this and Allen did not insist, but the guys consulted with each other about the name.

The Stein couple, Raymond, Ramon-Snart and Thawne often came to visit the guys, Joe sometimes came with his daughter and son-in-law. The latter threatened Leonard that if he offended Barry, West would make Snart go to jail for his past deeds.

At the moment, Barry and Snart climbed onto the sofa and looked at the album, along with their son, who was sitting in the arms of Leonard's dad.

"And here's another one," Bartholomew pointed to the photo where Henry was depicted on a family holiday. In the photo, the kid was smiling happily and pulling pens to the photographer, who was Barry.

The boy laughed and asked his father for permission to take this photo in his hands to take a closer look at it. Flash nodded and, carefully removing the desired photo from the album, handed it to his son. He grabbed her with his hands and, smiling, began to look at her curiously, leading a small finger along the color picture.

Allen looked at Henry with tenderness in his eyes, then turned his eyes to Lenny, and suddenly something ached in his chest, because the guy thought that all this could not have happened if Leonard hadn't woken up then. Feeling that a little more and he could not stand it, Barry abruptly jumped up from his seat and, muttering something about "burning cookies", rushed off to the kitchen. The former criminal looked suspiciously after the runaway husband, because he knew that they did not do any baking today.

Smiling at his son and putting his finger to his lips to urge him to sit quietly, Leonard also slipped into the kitchen and froze, hiding at the door jamb. Fortunately, Barry couldn't see him, so he could unabashedly stare at Allen. Captain Frost was frowning, trying to figure out why his partner's mood had changed so dramatically.

"Hey,Scarlet?" Cold called his beloved in a low voice, and he, startled by surprise, turned around.

"Lenny..." Bartholomew immediately muttered, pulling a fake smile to calm the man down, but that was not so easy to fool.

"What happened,Scarlet?" he came even closer and stared expectantly at the speedster, slightly raising an eyebrow.

"I..." the guy began and suddenly realized clearly that if he did not tell what was the matter, he might lose the trust of Snart-Allen, whom he treasured very much, "I suddenly thought what would have happened if you had died then, and then I just thought that..." quickly Barry rattled off. Leonard, in order to interrupt the flow of words pouring out of Flash's mouth, gently kissed him, and after a few seconds pulled away, he realized what Barry wanted to say even during his speech. Allen looked at the Cold with the eyes of a frightened fawn, but gradually love and tenderness appeared in his gaze.

"Lenny..." he breathed out, smiling broadly. His beloved smiled back and, leaning forward a little, kissed the scarlet speedster on the tip of his nose. Barry's cheeks flushed and Len laughed softly, feeling very, very, just indecently happy.

"But I'm alive," Leo said with a questioning intonation and continued when the scarlet runner nodded, "so everything is fine," he finished, hugging his husband, "don't worry,Scarlet, I won't leave you for anything," saying these words, Snart kissed his beloved on the lips and hugged him even tighter, burying his nose in his hair.

They could stand like this for a long time, just standing together, feeling their partner's breath and his strong embrace.

"Thank you," Leonard unexpectedly quietly thanked, whispering these words in Barry's ear and causing him to be covered with goosebumps.

"For what?" Flash was genuinely surprised, turning to face the man.

"For changing my life," Snart simply replied and involved Allen in a long, gentle kiss…

[demonhanabi]

The Lovecraft Configuration - One Shot

Originally posted to AO3 - July 2024

Night was falling quickly and Leonard grew anxious. He didn’t like driving at night, it made his hands itch and his brow sweat. He couldn’t understand how Penny actually preferred driving when it was dark

He stole a quick glance at the rearview mirror at said girl, she was talking something in a low voice with Bernadette as she cleaned her bat and his mind couldn’t help but come up with scenarios where she talked about all the boys she had slept with or who her new crush was.

His hands squeezed the steering wheel tightly and he focused on the road again.

He slowed down when darkness fell and he lowered the volume of the music as he squinted and bobbed his head side to side trying to find a sign to confirm that they were indeed on the right road. “Howard, are you sure we took the right exit?”

“Lenny, when have I ever gotten us lost?” Howard was riding shotgun, a map opened on his lap, he sounded confident but Leonard still side eyed him.

“How about during the “Empresario” case? Or on that corn maze in Nebraska while we ran away from what we thought was a zombie?” Penny quipped from the back of the van, still cleaning her metal bat.

“Or that time we just wanted to get McDonald’s and you kept promising we were two blocks away but we ended up in another state.” Bernadette didn’t even look up from the book she was reading. How could she read in a moving vehicle and not puke was a mystery to Leonard.

“Okay! So I make mistakes. I’m human, okay?” Howard threw his hands up dramatically. Raj quickly patted Howard’s shoulder and Howard didn’t hesitate to turn around to give the temporarily mute man a side hug. “I know buddy, I know. Girls are mean.” Howard said in a dramatically sad voice.

Penny and Bernadette giggled and Leonard wished he wasn’t stuck on driving duty. This was the last summer before they all went to college and he wanted to confess his feelings to Penny.

He was going to New Jersey because his mom was paying for college on the condition that he attends Princeton and it was too good of an offer to not accept it. His dad and his new wife were nice but they weren’t exactly swimming in money and Leonard didn’t want to take on the burden of student debt.

To make the situation worse, all of his friends were staying in California. Penny would be attending UCLA, Raj, Howard and Bernadette were excited to go to Caltech and he was trying to be happy for all of them but it was hard.

Life was unfair.

“You’re going to get wrinkles Lenny. You still haven’t told her?” Howard whispered to him and Leonard frantically turned to look behind him to make sure that Penny hadn’t heard Howard but she was engrossed in conversation with Bernadette, not paying attention to him. Somehow that made him feel bad as well.

“Shhhhh! Shut up. I’ll tell her…I just need to find the right time.” Leonard grumbled, quickly focusing back on the road.

“Tick tock Lenny. In no time at all she’s going to be at UCLA getting bang-heeeeeeeeeeeey Bernie! I almost didn’t see you there. What’s up?!” Howard’s voice was high, his own unrequited crush obvious to anyone.

Bernadette narrowed her eyes suspiciously at them, making them sweat for a moment before she spoke. “We’re getting hungry, please stop when you find a place to get food.”

“Oh, sure, sure.” Leonard agreed quickly and flashed her a quick smile. Bernadette moved to keep talking to Penny and he waited until she was all the way in the back before he glared at Howard. “See! She almost caught us because of your dumb-stupid-nonsensical loudmouth.”

“Woah, woah, calm down. Nothing happened. I’ve got Bernie wrapped around my finger.” Leonard didn’t miss how Howard’s voice was a low whisper and even Raj rolled his eyes. Howard could easily hit on a random girl but when it came to Bernadette he was as bad as Raj was with any woman.

“Leonard, where are we going anyway?” Penny suddenly called out from the back and he was more than happy to answer.

“We’re going to-uh-hold on.” Leonard reached across Howard to open the glove compartment, he rummaged for a moment before finding a crumpled piece of paper. He did his best to straighten it but it was useless. “We’re going to Wickenburg, Arizona. A Missy Cooper reported that her twin is missing after entering a supposedly haunted mansion. They both came in and she was the only one to make it out.” Damn, his handwriting was bad.

“Wait. Cooper. What’s the name of the missing twin?” Bernadette perked up.

“Uhhhh hold on…Sheldon. Sheldon Cooper.” Leonard turned the paper this and that way, trying to read his own handwriting, he really needed to take better notes.

“No way!” Bernadette jumped in place and made Penny flinch. “That’s Sheldon Cooper. THE Sheldon Cooper!”

“Sheldon Coop-Sheldon Cooper!!” Leonard finally made the connection and he almost swerved into a tree in excitement before he gained control.

Penny rubbed her head where she had hit it against the wall of the van. “For the normal people, can we get a rundown on why you’re freaking out about this guy?”

“He’s a world renowned physicist!” Leonard yelled. “He’s a famous paranormal investigator!” Bernadette yelled at the same time.

Leonard and Bernadette shared a look before he hesitantly started explaining. “Dr Cooper is the youngest physicist in the world. He currently holds the record for being the youngest laureate of the physics world, like he has won every award, I’m not joking. He is currently a teacher at Caltech and rumor has it they’ll give him tenure very soon.” He nodded towards Bernadette to let her know she should say her piece.

Bernadette adjusted her glasses. “Ahem, Sheldon Cooper is one half of the famous ‘Cooper Investigations’ team. Together with his twin, Melissa Cooper, they have unmasked and debunked the biggest paranormal cases in the last decade.”

“Wait, how old is this guy?” Penny interrupted.

“He’s only seventeen like us! That’s why he is such a big deal.” Bernadette said proudly.

“I think they might be referring to his scientific contributions when they say that Bernie.” Howard added.

“Shush Howie. Anyway, remember that case about the ghost truck? They were the ones to debunk it and bring the actual perp to justice. They also debunked the whole fish people cult thing and they’ve been doing this since they were seven!” Bernadette animatedly told the group.

“Well, he can’t be that good if he got stuck in some amateur’s haunted mansion.” Howard sniffed in disgust and Leonard thought he was probably jealous of how into Sheldon his crush was.

“Howie!” Bernadette looked appalled.

“Once we save him you can ask for a damn autograph.” Howard grumbled and focused back on the map on his lap.

Bernadette sighed dejectedly. “He doesn’t give out autographs.” She sounded heartbroken.

“Oh look, a Waffle House! Leonard take us there, please!” Howard smiled woodenly and Leonard was wise enough to stay quiet and start driving towards the restaurant. He couldn’t blame Howard for his attitude, so far Penny looked unimpressed with Sheldon Cooper and he was pretty damn happy about it.

He decided, right after this case, he would confess to her.

“You’re lucky Penny is our friend, any other girl would have called the cops due to how much you were staring at her during dinner.” Howard joked and Leonard flushed with shame.

Penny was beautiful, of course he couldn’t stop watching her.

***

Sheldon grabbed the side of his head. The headache was not going away and he could swear that somehow, in the pressure he was feeling there was a voice. Madness, he was losing it. It was just a headache, nothing more.

He kept moving down the hallway.

Sheldon had thought this was just another case but he had quickly realized there was something different about this house.

From the outside this house had seemed normal. A Queen Anne style house from 1895, well preserved and clean. Windows in almost every wall made it so the house looked bright and welcoming. Its muted baby blue paint job only added to the charm and if that wasn’t enough to declare the house as perfect for living in, the porch swing added a note of nostalgia…or at least that had been how Missy had described it.

This was a perfectly normal house, but as soon as he stepped in he knew there was something wrong. It was noon when they entered the house but inside there was no light. He didn’t need his eidetic memory to remember that just a moment ago he had seen sunlight enter through the huge windows, there was no reason for the house to be this dark.

“Shelly, let me enter.” Missy complained as he blocked the doorway, unable to move. Not backwards at least.

He wanted to take a step back, wanted to run away from this place. But his feet were rooted in place, without knowing how, he understood that he was in another plane and under the influence of something larger than him. He couldn’t allow his sister to enter.

Using the last of his freewill he pushed Missy back and whispered. “Run.” His body had then stepped fully into this accursed place against every instinct telling him otherwise.

The door slammed behind him and it marked the beginning of his torture.

He had tried to go back but the door had disappeared behind him and it didn’t matter what direction he moved towards, it all looked the same. The same wooden and darkened hallway, shadows played tricks on his eyes.

He had a flashlight with him but it only made the shadows flicker and dance in odd patterns. He jerked his face away from a grasping hand only to realize it was a shadow.

Light didn’t behave properly in this place. He turned off the flashlight.

Nothing behaved properly. By his count he had been trapped here for eight thousand five hundred and forty one minutes and yet he had not felt hunger nor the need to relieve himself. He still needed sleep but every time he closed his eyes, whispers in an unknown language would haunt him just right next to his ear and when he opened his eyes only revealed the darkness of the hallway.

He was all alone.

Finally, after an eternity of walking he found a door. The hallway ended into a regular wooden door, it had nothing special about it and yet apprehension grew in his chest.

Sheldon put his hand on the doorknob and he had half expected to feel some sort of pain or backlash from it but there was nothing. The doorknob felt solid under his hand. Cold and real.

Slowly he turned the doorknob but as soon as he did a feeling of dread assaulted him. He suddenly felt cold all over and his teeth chattered, despite not feeling the need to pee since entering this space he felt the warmth of urine stain his pants. The warmth of it added a layer of humiliation and shame to his already damaged psyche.

Gasping, he let go of the doorknob. He was sweating excessively and his body shook with what he knew was adrenaline. He had almost died. He was certain of it, whatever laid behind that door would kill him.

Gritting his teeth he quickly backed away from the door and started walking in the direction he had come from. The hallway was dark and he could only see a few feet in front of him but he would much rather face the darkness than whatever was behind that accursed door.

He walked and didn’t look back.

***

Missy Cooper was a wonderful girl and she and Penny hit it off right away. In fact, if it wasn’t for the looming issue of her missing twin, Penny was a hundred percent sure they would be out in a mall on a shopping spree.

“And that’s when he pushed me and told me to run.” Missy wasn’t crying but her voice still broke. “I opened the door and he was just gone! It couldn’t have been more than 3 seconds from when he closed the door. I searched all over the place but Sheldon wasn’t there. I don’t understand what happened.” She sounded lost and Penny sat next to her and held her in a tight one armed hug.

Bernadette was diligently taking notes as she always did. Howard and Raj were walking around the house as they sneaked peeks at Missy’s legs under the cute sundress the brunette was rocking.

Leonard shifted between asking questions and drooling when he thought Missy wasn’t looking. “Uh, why did you call us? I mean, we’re amateurs compared to you guys.” Leonard asked.

“I called everyone, every group that we knew about, you guys were just the closest.” Missy admitted with a shrug.

Leonard deflated a little. Penny knew that he was proud of their little investigation group and maybe was expecting a more flattering response.

“Did you notice anything weird when your brother entered the house?” Bernadette asked without looking up from her notebook.

“Not really, he was blocking the view with his back and the inside of the house was dark.”

Bernadette nodded before stopping and frowning, she leafed through her notes and bit the end of the pen she was using. “Wait, you said it was around noon when you entered the place?”

Missy nodded. “Yeah, we-”

“And yet it was dark inside the house?” Bernadette interrupted Missy who only nodded once again. “Were there curtains on the windows?”

Missy frowned in thought and hesitantly shook her head. “No…now that you mention it, when I entered the house to search for Sheldon the house was full of light, I didn’t even need to turn on the light switch.”

“Howie, Raj! Search if the house has a basement!” Bernadette quickly ordered before turning to face Missy again. “What if it was a trap set at the entrance? You couldn’t see any light because your brother was walking into a box designed to trap him!”

Missy’s face brightened and Penny was glad to see it, she could tell the girl hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in a while.

Nothing else was said as they waited for the guys to finish investigating.

“Bernie! No basement.” Howard panted as he ran towards them. “We checked and there’s a crawl space but nothing is there. Honestly it’s kind of impressive, it’s all covered in tarp and there’s even a dehumidifier installed. Someone spent a lot of money on this place.”

Missy slumped and laughed bitterly. Bernadette scratched her head with the pen and frowned at her notebook. “Okay. We need to start checking for possible traps. Lenny, Howie and Raj, check the house for any possible hidden rooms. Check for noises of big machinery or scratches on the floor. Go!”

The three boys ran towards the house and Penny knew there were no better people around to handle this.

“Don’t worry, we’ll help you find your brother.” Penny smiled confidently at Missy and was glad the other girl returned the smile.

Penny might not have the same smarts as the rest of her friends but once they found the culprit they would quickly learn why Penny’s nickname was ‘Slugger’.

***

Sheldon woke up with a start. He swatted at nothing as his brain caught up with the fact that he was awake. He wanted to cry seeing he was still in the hallway. A sob escaped him and he slammed his head against the wall twice.

It made the ever present headache worse but he didn’t care.

It had been ninety five thousand two hundred and sixty three minutes since he had entered this realm of nothingness and he was starting to feel his grasp on sanity slip. He had begun understanding some of the whispers but he refused to acknowledge it. This place was not normal, he had long come to accept that whatever this was, it was truly paranormal.

It was beyond his understanding and IT HATED HIM. No, not him in particular, it hated everything.

Shakily he stood up to continue walking, there was nothing else he could do but keep walking. One foot in front of the other. Step, step.

“I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain. One always finds one's burden again.” Sheldon recited out loud. He needed to hear someone’s voice, even if it was just his own.

“But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well.” He walked shakily, supporting himself with one hand on the wall as he slowly walked forward.

“This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night-filled mountain, in itself, forms a world.” Tears ran down his face, he didn’t bother cleaning them.

“The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart.” He laughed and cried.

“One must imagine Sisyphus happy.” He kept laughing as tears kept running down his face.

***

“No luck Bernie.” Howard said in a low voice. Missy was away from the group, calling her older brother.

“The house is clean, literally. Not a speck of dust.” Leonard had his glasses off as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. He always did that when frustrated.

Penny grimaced, she had hoped the guys would have found something. It had been a couple of hours and so far the house was just that, a house. No secret rooms, no hidden hallways, no hundred year old well with a cursed Japanese girl at the bottom of it.

In fact, why had the twins been investigating this house in the first place? Leonard had mentioned it was a haunted house but it looked just like any other house. She voiced her question to the group and no one had an answer.

They waited until Missy returned so she could tell them.

“The owner claimed that the house was growing.” Missy answered distractedly, looking at her phone. “He said that the house was bigger on the inside and that new doors and rooms were appearing at random.”

The group looked at each other and no one had a response.

“We ignored this case several times, until the owner sold it and the new owner reported something similar. The new owner claimed that the house was alive and that his daughter could hear the house breathe.”

Leonard put a hand to his chin in thought while Howard scratched at his head as he shared a look with Raj. Bernadette bit her lip and leafed through her notebook. Penny stayed quiet, this all sounded insane to her.

“Okay, how about we try the basics?” Bernadette finally said.

***

Sheldon covered his mouth with one hand as he stared at the door in front of him.

This was the second time he had encountered a door and the memory of it was still fresh, he could still taste death.

But he was tired of walking, so tired. He wanted to rest. He wanted to see Missy, he wanted to hug his Meemaw and he wanted to taste his mother’s spaghetti with hot dogs. He wanted to get out of this place.

He didn’t want to be alone anymore.

Hesitantly he put his hand on the doorknob, it was unnaturally cold and a sliver of fear ran down his spine. He looked back towards the endless darkness of the hallway and whimpered. He couldn’t go back.

He opened the door.

Pure and unforgiving darkness welcomed him. It was as if he was staring directly into the absence of everything. He thought of black holes and how they swallowed everything, light included. And even as ominous and terrifying as black holes were, they were nothing compared to the vast darkness in front of him.

He felt light headed and his chest hurt. He had to force himself to take a breath.

Sheldon didn’t know how long he had been standing there just looking at the sea of nothingness but now that he was breathing again he realized that his body wanted him to back away and close the door, to never see this again. Anything was better than this.

Before he could move away he noticed a blinking light in the middle of the darkness. Faint and weak at first until it grew little by little and Sheldon found that he couldn’t look away. Was he witnessing the big bang of another universe?

The light soon formed into an orb and it took him an uncomfortable amount of time to realize what he was looking at.

An eye.

A bright blue eye, a human eye watched him and for a moment Sheldon could have swore that he was both watching the darkness and watching himself from within the darkness. He blinked and the next moment there wasn’t just one eye watching him but many. All shapes and sizes, he recognized some as human eyes, some as animal eyes, rectangular pupils, w-shaped pupils and more observed him. But the ones that scared him the most were those that he didn’t recognize, even glancing at them brought him a feeling of discomfort from deep inside his chest.

He took a step back in fright and all eyes focused on him.

He should close the door, he begged his body to respond but it was useless, he was rooted to the spot. A bug in the sight of a predator.

An eternity passed like that and like extinguishing stars, one by one the eyes blinked closed and the darkness returned. All but one.

The blue eye blinked and Sheldon realized it was his own eye. He had seen it enough times in the mirror and something in his gut told him ‘This was yours’.

Blinding pain and a burst of warm blood forced him to his knees. He clawed at his left eye while screaming in desperation and anguish but the darkness simply kept watching, cold and uncaring.

Sheldon looked up and watched as the blue eye blinked into nothingness, joining the darkness and leaving him.

The door slammed closed in front of his face and he was left all alone in that damn hallway again.

He looked down at his bloody hands and he screamed in rage and impotence. He punched the wall over and over until he collapsed against it, sobbing.

With a grunt of pain he stood up and looked at the door.

Turning around he walked the other way in the direction he had just come from.

***

“Sheldon!!” Penny screamed to the top of her lungs and then stopped to listen.

Bernadette’s plan was simple: they would take turns yelling Sheldon’s name and then listen for any noises. He might be trapped or even tied down but by making noise he would know they were actively looking for him and maybe he would be able to make enough noise that they could follow it to wherever he was trapped or imprisoned.

He heard as Missy did the same in another part of the house. Then Leonard, Howard, Bernadette and then Raj outside the house.

“Sheldon!!” She yelled again as she walked by the hallway that connected the bedrooms to a storage room.

The hallway door rattled.

***

Sheldon sat with his head in between his legs.

He had decided to stop moving. Half of his face was caked in dried blood and he didn’t care anymore. He knew he would die here.

He just needed to wait.

Whatever it was that he had encountered here was far beyond his understanding, it was old and massive. It could eat universes and birth them at will. He was less than a speck of dust to it and the worst thing was that Sheldon wasn’t special or being tortured because he somehow knew something no one else did.

No.

Sheldon had just slipped into a crack. If this thing wanted him dead then Sheldon would be dead, it was as easy as that. But he wasn’t even a passing thought for whatever entity ruled this place.

Sheldon was a parasite lost in a stray piece of hair. Condemned to die and be forgotten. Too small and insignificant to matter.

He laid down on the floor to wait for his death.

Cursed voices whispered to him in tongues he was starting to understand. Seconds, minutes, years, eternities and eons he spent in that manner.

Finally, after the heat death of the universe something new broke through the eternal whispers.

“Sheldon!!” He had almost forgotten his own name. Was that his name still?

“Sheldon!!” The voice was closer now, he looked up and saw a door that hadn’t been there before. Some animal part of his brain forced him to move towards it and open it.

“Woah, careful there Cowbo…GUYS!” Was the last thing he heard before collapsing into something warm.

***

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.” Penny muttered to herself. “GUYS!” She yelled again.

She had found someone, she didn’t know if it was Sheldon or not but whoever this was, he was not doing great as she held him in her arms.

His face and body was covered in dried blood and he smelled like death. He was thin as a stick and his hair was wild and with patches of white and black hair seemingly at random.

“What’s wrong-oh god! Shelly!” Missy was the first one to arrive.

They couldn’t wait for an ambulance so they all jumped into their van and drove him to the nearest hospital. Penny was scared, this was not how things were supposed to go.

They were supposed to unmask some greedy asshole that somehow thought trying to scare people would get them what they wanted only to get thwarted by a group of teenagers.

Now they were driving to the hospital with a half dead boy.

In the middle of the drive Sheldon woke up, his good eye was wild and filled with fear, he looked around until he looked at her, he reached a hand out to her and she didn’t hesitate in taking it.

“Thank you.” His voice was hoarse and it must have hurt him to talk.

He lost consciousness again but his hand had a death grip on her. She squeezed back carefully but firmly and watched as his features softened in his sleep.

The rest was a blur, arriving to the hospital, nurses and doctors swarming them like angry bees and Sheldon being taken away. Missy left to call her older brother and Penny stayed behind, she didn't know why she stayed but she couldn't just leave this boy alone. Thankfully the staff quickly cleared him as being safe and he was moved to a room.

They must have bathed him or at least cleaned him, because he was no longer covered in blood and no longer smelled like a dead racoon. As she sat next to his bed Sheldon stirred awake once more in a panic, she stood up and grabbed his hand again, he looked at her and she could see a flash of recognition in his eye right before he calmed down and fell unconscious.

Missy was back soon after and was thrilled when Penny told her about Sheldon waking up. A new doctor was called to check on the sleeping teen and Penny left to give the siblings some privacy.

Maybe this town had a McDonald’s?

No, turns out this place did not have one. They had something called a ‘Capital Patty’ but it was already closed by the time they got there and so were all other places to get food. It seemed that life stopped in this town after six in the afternoon. With no other options they went back to the hospital and hoped the cafeteria was still open.

She sent the rest on the hunt for food and dropped by Sheldon’s room just to check on Missy.

The tall girl was sleeping on a chair and she was crashing, mouth open towards the ceiling and Penny felt bad waking her up but she was probably hungry herself and might need to step away from the room for a bit.

Of course that’s the moment yet another doctor chose to come in and check on Sheldon and Penny was the most awake of the two so she stayed.

When the doctor finally left Penny collapsed on one of the chairs next to the bed. They were exhausted, but Missy would not leave her brother’s side and Penny felt bad leaving her alone. The poor girl looked about ready to crash herself after the doctor’s visit woke her up.

Penny stared longingly at the door, the guys had probably already eaten something by now, it must have been crappy hospital food but she was jealous of them and she wondered if the cafeteria had coffee, it was probably the worst coffee ever made, but she needed a cup.

She shook herself and focused back on Missy and the boy in the bed. Missy was lovingly caressing her brother’s hair holding back tears.

The doctors had cleared him, he was dehydrated and exhausted but otherwise fine…if it weren’t for his missing eye of course. He had lost it but despite all the blood he wasn’t actually injured. It was as if his eye had simply liquified and ran down his face on its own, nothing they could do. He would need a prosthetic to avoid some issue with losing structural something.

She had been dead tired by that point to pay much attention if she was honest. Long story short, he needed to stay for a couple of days while he recovered fluids, spoke to the cops, etc. The doctor also mentioned that Sheldon would most likely need therapy of some kind to deal with whatever happened to him, not to mention the loss of his eye.

“Thank you Penny.” Missy finally stopped caressing her brother’s hair and took a seat on the other chair. Missy hadn’t stopped thanking her since they found Sheldon.

“I just wished we had gotten there sooner.” Penny was trying to not beat herself up but she couldn’t help but think about all the things they could have done differently. They shouldn’t have stopped at that Waffle House, she should have switched driving duties with Leonard so they didn’t have to sleep in a crappy motel, she could have driven all night, heck she had done that before just for fun.

Missy smiled sadly at her and patted her knee. “I will never be able to thank you enough.”

Penny felt uncomfortable, guilt ate at her conscience. “So when are your parents coming?” She needed to change the subject.

“Our parents died when we were thirteen.” Missy told her calmly and it took Penny’s sleepy brain an awfully long moment to fully understand what she had heard.

“Oh, oh! I’m so sorry, I didn’t kno-wow, okay. I’m sorry.” Penny rambled.

Missy smiled sadly at her. “It’s fine. Car accidents happen all the time. That’s life you know?” Missy shrugged in a way that did nothing to hide the obvious pain on her face.

“I should go get you a cup of coffee or something. You want coffee? I want coffee. No, we need something to eat, I’ll bring us something.” Penny had never lost a close family member and she couldn’t imagine the pain the other girl was feeling and the only way she could deal with this was by not being there.

“Okay.” Missy yawned. “But I need to go pee first, would you mind staying with him? I won’t take long.”

“I don’t mind, go.” Penny said quickly and felt her face heat up. She didn’t know about her parents but she still felt pretty bad about it.

Missy nodded and stood up, as she walked by her brother she touched his foot and said something but it was too low for Penny to understand.

The room was filled with the static and quiet beeps of the machine used to measure Sheldon’s vitals, after a moment Penny stood up and went to check on the sleeping boy.

He was clean and bandaged now, a far sight from the first time she had seen him. His sleeping face was gaunt and pale. Faint stubble dotted his cheeks in what her dad called ‘a bad lawn’ style and it would have been funny if it weren’t for the grimace of discomfort he had even when sleeping. He didn’t move around too much as he slept but it was obvious he was struggling with something even in his sleep.

Penny took a hold of his hand and was glad to see his face soften, his jaw unclenched and suddenly his face looked ten years younger.

If they had taken longer would have he died?

Even in the worst of their cases she never felt truly in danger. She was always able to come out on top somehow. But this experience brought the reality of it all to her face. She could have died. Hell, she and Bernadette could have suffered worse fates than just being tied to a chair for a couple of hours. She was going to college soon, she enjoyed spending time with her friends unmasking dumb people but she certainly didn’t want to do this for the rest of her life. She had larger dreams.

The next person lying on that hospital bed could be her.

Sheldon’s body suddenly lurched up from the bed with a gasp and it scared her to death. She let go of his hand and jumped back, her body unconsciously set into a fighting pose.

Sheldon looked around frantically, seeing but not actually seeing. He looked down at his body and at the electrodes connected to him and he frantically tried to rip them out but he was too frantic and scattered. His breathing was harsh and panicked.

“Hey, hey, no. Stop. You’re okay, we got you. We got you.” Penny moved to stop him and was surprised to find herself struggling to hold him, he was stronger than he looked.

Sheldon struggled for a moment longer before he finally focused on her face and she could see the recognition flash across his eye. “I’m out?” He whispered in hopeful disbelief.

Penny could see the fear plain on his face, the raw animal panic in his eye and it broke her heart. What had happened to him? “You’re out. We got you.” She reassured him.

Hesitantly, he stopped struggling, trying to calm his breathing but he was still looking around suspiciously, as if the room and everything in it would disappear if he blinked. She didn’t let go of him. He focused again on her. “I know you. I know your voice.” Awe in his voice.

“Yeah cowboy. You almost toppled me over.” She tried to smile but the memory of seeing him crumple in her arms was still too fresh so her smile came out more like a grimace.

Sheldon didn’t reply, he looked down at his body and moved his arms carefully, as if he was unsure on how to move. She finally let go of him but stayed close in case she needed to jump in again.

A sudden sob surprised her, he started crying, bawling and it was so raw that it brought tears to her eyes, she swiped at them and sniffed loudly.

The sniff made him notice her again and the look of pure awe and childish worship took her breath away. “Thank you.” He told her in a breathless whisper and it only made her cry harder.

She didn’t trust her voice so she simply nodded and smiled at him.

“I’mouti’mouti’mouti’mouti’mouti’mouti’mouti’mouti’mouti’mouti’mouti’mouti’mouti’mouti’mouti’mouti’mouti’mouti’mouti’mouti’mouti’mouti’mouti’mouti’mouti’mout” She couldn’t understand him at first but she soon realized he was muttering ‘I’m out’ over and over. As if trying to convince himself.

“I should go get a doctor.” Penny swiped at her eyes again.

“No!” His face was full of fear again and he stretched an arm towards her. “No. Don’t leave me.” He begged and she could see his whole body shake.

“I…okay.” She grabbed his hand, it was so cold. “Missy will be right back, she just went out for a moment.” She ran her thumb over his knuckles in what she hoped was a comforting gesture.

Sheldon nodded and yawned, his eyelid closing against his will and she could see him struggle to stay awake. “I don’t want to go back.” He muttered sleepy. “I don’t want to be alone.”

Penny had to hold back tears and she used her free hand to brush some of his hair off his forehead in the same way Missy had done before. “I got you. No one is getting to you without going through me first.” She promised.

Sheldon didn’t reply but he squeezed her hand twice before sleep claimed him.

Penny really wanted to hurt the person that had done this to him.

***

Cold.

That’s all he could feel. So cold.

It wasn’t the type of cold he was used to, no. This cold was wet and it stuck to him uncomfortably, it made his arms hurt from the inside out and made his legs feel brittle.

He kept walking.

He didn’t want to focus on the cold. His mind warned him against it, he knew that if he focused on it he would be able to feel the cold slither and coil around him like a living thing. For once he was thankful for the darkness of the hallway.

Sheldon kept walking.

***

Leonard shuffled awkwardly in place. He was debating whether to go in or not.

Penny. His Penny had pulled the chair up to the hospital bed and she was sleeping while holding Sheldon Cooper’s hand and it made his chest clench uncomfortably.

She was only supposed to go in and ask Missy if she wanted something to eat, she wasn’t supposed to stay there and sleep while holding another boy’s hand.

They should leave this place, they came and they did their thing. They saved the day. So why were they still here?

After a long and awkward moment he backed away from the doorframe and went back to the cafeteria.

He nodded at Missy as they passed each other in the hallway.

Returning to the cafeteria he found that Bernadette was still reading a book as she ate a cup of yogurt. Howard and Raj had put three chairs together and were sleeping as they held one another. Living in a van for months had made this sight far more common that anyone wanted to acknowledge. Especially for those two.

He sighed loudly as he took a seat across from Bernadette.

Without looking up Bernadette chided him. “If you don’t want her in that room, just tell her. She’s going to tell you go suck a lemon but at least you’d have an answer and can stop sulking, mister.”

“What? No, I-No, it’s not like that.” Leonard flinched like he had been slapped and he was thankful that the cafeteria was mostly empty. “I was just wondering when Missy would be back, that’s all.”

Bernadette sighed in the same way his mother did when she caught him lying and he could feel the familiar sting of shame spread into his whole body. “Leonard…cut the bullpoopy. You’ve had a crush on Penny since we all became friends in first grade. You think I haven’t noticed? You always act like this when she shows any interest in a boy or better said, when YOU think she’s interested in a boy.”

“I don’t-” He shouldn’t have bothered to try and speak because Bernadette just steamrolled through him.

Bernadette raised one finger “Kurt asked her to the Homecoming dance and you sulked for a week straight. Even though you never got the courage to ask her yourself.” Another finger raised. “Last year when we were on that case in Malibu and that hot surfer, Zach, asked her on a date, you sulked for a month.” Another finger raised. “When she was working as a waitress to buy that new pair of shoes she wanted and her mentor was a hot guy, you stopped talking to her until you finally noticed said guy was actually gay. Just because Penny hasn’t realized you have feelings for her, doesn’t mean the rest of us are blind.”

Leonard grimaced as his past behavior was thrown in his face. “I’m not sulking.” He sulked. “I’m just wondering why we’re still here. We saved the day, we’re the heroes, we can move on. There’s not a lot of time left before we have to go back and…” He shrugged and bunched his shoulders as he slumped in the chair.

“You’re wondering why we’re not leaving a pair of traumatized teenagers to deal with all this pain on their own?” Bernadette deadpanned.

Leonard refused to answer and shrugged as best as he could in his position. He knew he was being childish but he didn’t care. This summer was supposed to be for him and Penny to spend time together before he finally confessed his feelings.

“Okay mister, you’re not doing any favors for yourself. You better not let Penny hear this. She was the one that found him so of course she wants to make sure he’s okay. You better lose the attitude because no woman wants to date a toddler.” Bernadette glared at him and pointed with a finger.

Leonard pouted. Why couldn’t he get a break?

***

Sheldon woke up in a panic, flailing at nothing. His breathing was hard and he struggled to understand where he was.

He was lying on a bed, cables were attached to him and the only sound in the room was his loud breathing and the beeps of the machine next to his bed.

With one hand he roughly scrubbed at his face, fearful that it was an illusion but no, he was still in the same room. He moved his sore body and groaned, his back and feet hurt.

Half awake, he looked around the room again. It was a hospital room. He was out? He was alone.

Alone.

The thought made him curl into himself, his breaths came in rushed and hard. He struggled to get himself under control. Tears ran down his face as fear and panic wrecked his body. Sob after sob left his mouth, uncaring on who might hear him.

He didn’t want to be alone.

A shadow fell over him and he pushed himself against the mattress, an animal sound of pain escaped him. He felt light headed, he couldn’t breathe. The shadows were here as well!

Something touched his shoulder and he launched himself off the bed, pain flared all over his body but he didn’t care. Anything was better than being touched by those things. He struggled to get on his feet, he needed to keep walking. His legs refused to listen so he crawled away, away from whatever horror wanted to claim him.

A buzzing sound filled his ears, he could hear his blood pumping, begging him to move.

Something grabbed his face and forced him to look into green eyes. Familiar green eyes.

“Oh.” He said before passing out.

***

“Oh Shelly.” Missy sobbed as the nurses left the room.

Penny rubbed at her forehead in frustration. She had just left the room because Leonard wanted to tell her something and in the five minutes she had been away all hell broke loose.

Leonard had been fidgeting as he tried to tell her something when she heard Missy scream and ran back into the room only to find Sheldon on the floor crawling away from his sister.

Penny didn’t know what to do but her body acted, forcing Sheldon to look her in the face, he had calmed down before passing out.

Missy was a mess as well. She told them that she had come into the room after hearing a noise and found her twin curled up in bed sobbing loudly, she had tried to grab his shoulder but that only made things worse.

Penny really wanted to hurt the person that had hurt Sheldon and left him like this.

“Uh, Penny.” Leonard said quietly and she shook her head.

“Not now Leonard.” Her voice was sharp and angry. Not at him, but the whole situation. She went to sit with Missy and hugged the stuffing out of the crying girl.

***

Darkness.

It was all darkness.

It didn’t matter where he looked, he knew there would be nothing but darkness.

Nowhere was safe, he could see THEM in the dark. Slithering and undulating, the darkness hid their unknowable shapes. He felt them caress him, uncaring and sensual at the same time, he felt as they left a cold and slimy trail on his body. Darkness boiled and he could feel it all around him.

It didn’t matter if he closed his eyes. The darkness was everywhere.

Even inside of him. He couldn’t escape.

***

“I’m sorry.” The sheriff wiped sweat off his forehead with a handkerchief as he walked away.

“This is bullshit.” Penny muttered and Missy squeezed her hand. “How could they have not found anything?!” The sheriff was still close so she said it in a harsh whisper.

Missy shook her head and walked back into the room where Sheldon was sleeping. “Once he’s able to walk again we’re leaving this fucking place and never coming back.” Angry tears pooled in the corner of her eyes.

Penny sat next to Sheldon's bed and held his hand. Like magic his features softened and his breathing gradually became easier.

“Thank you for saving him, I think he knows.” Missy said, cleaning the corner of her eyes with a bunched up tissue.

Penny didn’t reply right away, staring at Sheldon’s sleeping form. “I think I’m done with this type of thing. I want to become an actress and I can’t do that if I’m lying dead in a ditch.”

Missy took a shuddering breath and nodded. “I get it. I was the one that pushed him to start doing this. We were kids and I found it fun how he could find a rational explanation for everything, it made momma mad.” She laughed a little. “And then we kept doing it and somehow Shelly was able to make it so we could make money doing it. After losing momma and daddy we got more into it. I think we were both trying to not focus on the loss so much…” Another shuddering breath. “But we’re done now. Once we’re back in California Shelly’s going to focus on science and I’ll be a waitress or something. Anything but this.” She gestured towards the bed.

“Do you guys have a car?” Penny asked.

“Yeah, we have a Winnebago Camper Van.” Missy rolled her eyes. “Shelly needs an actual mattress to sleep in.” She smiled but it turned watery after a moment.

“Do you think I can tag along with you guys? My group and I were supposed to go to Nevada after this case but…” Penny left the rest in the air.

“Of course. I will never be able to repay all you’ve done. This is the least I can do. Besides…I think it’ll do Shelly good to have you close.”

“Don’t mention it. And I really enjoy-” Penny was interrupted by Leonard clearing his throat at the door.

“Penny? Could I have a moment with you? We have a group meeting.” He backed out before quickly returning “At the van.” He added and left.

Penny looked at the boy lying on the hospital bed and she squeezed his hand twice, hoping that he knew she’d be back. She said a quick ‘Be right back’ to Missy and moved to go find her group. Stopping by a vending machine to grab a snickers bar.

She was still eating it when she got the van, the door was open and Bernadette and Howard were tracing something on a map while Raj was setting up his telescope right there in the parking lot. Leonard was pacing in front of the van.

Penny ruffled Raj’s hair and smiled at him and then said a quick hello to the rest before taking a seat by the open door of the van, her feet dangled slightly over the asphalt as she finished her candy bar.

“What’s up?” She said after a moment of waiting and when it became obvious that Leonard would not speak up.

“What? Oh yes. Penny, we all think that it’s time to move on. We have that case in Nevada waiting for us and I-I mean, we. We think that it’s also time to let the Coopers have time for themselves.” Leonard scrunched up his face and attempted to smile.

Penny said nothing for a long moment, she just looked down and watched her feet.

“Penny?” Leonard asked hesitantly.

“I heard you.”

An awkward silence filled the air. She could feel the rest of the group adjust and turn towards her.

“I heard you.” She repeated. “But I’m not going.” She nodded to herself, sure that this was the right path.

“Penny!” Leonard yelped. He looked frantically at the others but the rest stayed quiet. “Guys, a little help!”

“Why?” Bernadette asked her directly.

“I don’t know about you guys but after what happened here, this is no longer fun for me.” She shrugged and shook her head. “What happened to Sheldon could have happened to any of us. What are we doing guys? How many times were me and Bernadette captured by the bad guys? We have always brushed it off but the truth of it is that we got off lucky, what if next time we’re not so lucky?”

Bernadette looked thoughtful for a moment before she nodded. “Yeah…I…I never told you guys but…remember that zombie case in Nebraska? Well…I…” Bernadette's voice choked out and she trailed off, she cleared her throat but everyone could hear the tears about to burst. “Mr Higgins, when he captured me. He-” Sob. “He touched me.”

Penny didn’t hesitate before launching herself at the shorter girl and pulling her into a hug.

“What the fuck man!” Howard yelled before also hugging Bernadette.

“B-Bernie…” Penny looked up and saw it had been Raj who spoke, he was halfway into the van. His eyes were wide and misty as he looked hesitantly at Bernadette. Bernadette opened her arms as best as she could towards Raj and soon they were all in a hug pile.

Penny stopped hugging Bernadette for a moment to look into her face. “Why didn’t you tell us?” Her voice was raw with pain.

Sobbing, Bernadette did her best to answer. “He told me it was my fault, for being there and, and, and-” Penny crushed her into another hug and cried alongside her.

Penny had felt bad for Mr Higgins at first, she had blown out his knee with her bat and they had told her he would live in pain for the rest of his life. Now she hoped she had done the same to his other knee, and arms and head.

Leonard sat near the open door to the van and held his face in his hands as his shoulders shook.

***

Sheldon observed his reflection in the mirror and didn’t recognize himself.

Thanks to his eidetic memory he would never be able to forget his own face, but the face he saw in the mirror wasn’t ‘him’. He had always been aware of the boyish nature of his face but the face staring back at him couldn't be called a boy anymore.

Stress lines across his face made him look older. His one eye looked muted and sad all the time now. He was a shell of a person.

He moved his head side to side, trying to gauge how bad his hair looked. He had never been a frivolous man but the state of his hair roiled his stomach, it disgusted him to no end. Patches of white littered all around his head, as if a disgusting monochromatic ladybug had taken residence on his head.

Once he was back in his apartment he would research what was the best rated color treatment on the market.

And yet, all of that paled in comparison to the worst change he has suffered. He only had one eye now, the doctors had already removed the bandages off it and the first time he had seen himself in the mirror he had a panic attack. There was nothing in his eye socket.

Pure darkness.

A darkness he was familiar with. Darkness that gripped at his heart and eroded his soul. A darkness that waited for him every time he fell asleep. Missy and Penny had tried to cheer him up but he couldn’t tell them the full truth of why he felt this way.

Standing in front of the mirror he closed his eyes and everything turned to darkness. His heart rate spiked and it took active effort from him to not devolve into a nervous wreck. He opened his eyes again and was greeted by his face.

The doctor had warned him about struggles adapting to depth perception, and while he had nodded along he couldn’t really tell the doctor that he was able to see just fine.

Sheldon covered both his eyes with his hands while keeping them open. He lowered his right hand and was able to see his reflection, his regular blue eye and part of his nose. He raised his right hand again to cover his eye again and then lowered his left hand and was greeted by his reflection, a pool of darkness where his left eye was supposed to be.

The darkness inside his eye taunted him.

Somehow, he was still able to see. There was nothing there and yet he could see just fine. It was madness, total utter madness. No one would believe him, who could?

As soon as he got back to California he would order a custom prosthetic eye, something to cover up the darkness.

He sneered at his reflection and his hands gripped the sink. He wanted to break the mirror, he wanted to rip out the sink and hurl it at his reflection, he was shaking with impotence and anger.

He truly wasn’t the same man.

Sheldon wanted to growl but only a sob came out, defeated, he slumped against the sink. He was finding it very hard to modulate his emotions, he now hated being the dark with a passion and he overall felt lost and adrift.

Being around Missy and Penny helped him to return to a version of himself but things had changed, a massive shift in his universe.

He felt very tired and looked longingly at the bed through the bathroom’s open door, but he shook his head and focused on the mirror again. He still needed to shave, he had asked Penny for a favor and she would be here in half an hour.

Opening the cheap Gillette razor Missy had purchased for him, he began the slow process of cleaning himself up while looking himself in the mirror as little as possible.

***

Penny watched the burning house with detached amusement. She then turned to her side to watch Sheldon and his reaction but he was stoic, if it weren’t for the subtle but constant shaking of his body she would have been fooled into thinking he was okay.

Flames danced in his eye.

Turning back to the house she stared until sirens sounded in the distance. “I think that’s our signal to leave.” She said softly. They were far enough from the raging inferno that no one should be able to connect them to it but she still would rather not be in the vicinity when emergency services arrived.

The only response she got was the distant crackling and popping of the fire. Sheldon hadn’t been satisfied just with burning the house down, the house and its surroundings were being scorched into nothing.

“Sheldon?” She asked softy.

Said man took a deep breath and nodded. “Let’s go. Thank you Penny.” His voice was subdued.

As they walked back to the van she wasn’t surprised by him reaching out to hold her hand. He had been doing that since waking up and she didn’t mind. She squeezed his hand twice.

“Penny, do you know how to dye hair?” She might be imagining things but his voice was a little lighter now.

“Oh! I help my mom all the time, we’ll stop by the grocery store before returning to the hospital. Your sister is probably freaking out by now.”

Penny had technically sneaked Sheldon out as he hadn’t been officially released yet but he had asked her to help him burn down this hell house and she couldn’t say no.

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk to the police again?” She knew he had already given a statement but as far as she knew the police were just sitting around playing with their guns and not doing any actual police work.

Sheldon shook his head. “They didn’t believe me and wanted me to put the blame on innocent people.”

And that was that.

They stopped by the only Target in town and she chose a L’oreal gray coverage dye for him that was pretty close to his original hair color. When they got back to the hospital Missy didn’t freak out, she hadn’t actually noticed that they had left, too busy fielding calls from her older brother.

“Georgie has more of Momma in him than he likes to admit.” Missy said while rolling her eyes in fond annoyance.

“Okay Cowboy, let’s cover up those gray hairs.” Penny was wearing plastic gloves and she kinda felt bad for the cleaning staff at the hospital, she personally knew how much it sucked to clean hair dye stains.

“Make sure you do his eyebrows as well.” Missy called from the room.

“My eyebrows?!” Sheldon looked surprised and Penny couldn’t help but laugh, it was good seeing him like this, without that constant worry on his face.

***

Leonard tried to stay calm, after Bernadette’s revelation they had all decided to just drive back to California, call his older sister who was a lawyer and see if they could get Mr Higgings to do more time for what he had done to Bernadette and then to make sure Bernadette got counseling.

He thought that was the perfect course of action. So why the hell was Penny not riding back with them?

“I don’t get it!” He was pacing right next to their van, only Howard and Raj were with him. The rest had gone to pick up the Cooper van from the hotel’s parking lot.

“Dude, the man is traumatized. You saw how he’s been having random panic attacks.” Raj was eating a cheeseburger and he passed a paper bag to Howard who grabbed a couple of fries from it and nodded.

“But that’s not Penny’s responsibility!” He felt like he was the only sane one. They had only met the Coopers a week ago and now everyone was acting as if they were their best friends.

“Buddy, that’s not cool.” Howard frowned at him and Leonard felt a pang of shame. “You know Sheldon feels safe around Penny, she saved him. We’re all driving back to California and she’s going to be riding with them. ‘Them’ His sister included. There’s nothing strange or suspicious going on.”

“I know! I know!” Leonard couldn’t stop pacing. “Which makes this so messed up. It’s not Sheldon’s fault but can’t I blame him a little?” He knew he sounded pathetic but he was feeling like time was running out.

Raj stopped eating his burger and gave him a hard stare. Leonard flinched, Raj was the sweetest guy and if he was looking at Leonard that way he knew he was in the wrong. “Dude…” Raj shook his head and the disappointed twist of his mouth was like a slap to Leonard. “That’s really not cool. You were the one that never told Penny anything for years! Howard and I told you that you needed to tell her at the start of the school year, you said no. We told you needed to tell her during winter break, you said no. We told you to tell her as soon as summer break started but you said no again. And now here you are, throwing a tantrum because Penny is being nice to a boy she saved.” Raj shook his head again and went back to eating.

“But…” Leonard had finally stopped pacing and he stood still watching his friends. “It’s our last summer together and we were supposed to be having fun but now it all went wrong and I feel like I’m losing her but if I say anything about it suddenly I’m the bad guy!” Leonard threw his hands in the air.

“It would be a whole different story if she was your girlfriend.” Howard chimed in. “But she isn’t, you can’t tell her that she can’t help Sheldon.”

Leonard nodded before he stopped himself. “Maybe I can?”

Both of his friends widened their eyes and shared a look. “Lenny…please tell me you’re not going to try anything dumb.” Howard pleaded.

“I can still confess right?” He asked them and looked for any sign of support. “Right?”

“Dude. I-” Raj ran a hand through his hair in frustration before turning to look at Howard. His friends shared a look that he couldn’t decipher.

“Look, Leonard. Buddy. Do you want Penny to hate you? Because that’s all you’re going to get.”

“But why! Why! Why have things changed?! Why are you all acting this way?!” Leonard begged, he truly wanted to understand.

“Leonard.” Raj said sharply. “We rescued a boy that was being tortured or something very close to it, he lost his eye and Penny was the one to find him. We also found out what happened to Bernie and none of us are exactly feeling like heroes at the moment. I don’t know about you but I feel like shit that Bernie thought she couldn’t come to us to tell us what happened.”

Howard nodded. “We were joking around while Bernie was suffering. I don’t know what to tell you man. Things have changed. Why can’t YOU see that?”

“I don’t want to lose you all!” Leonard wanted to scream. “Before you guys I had no one, now I’m going back to being alone in New Jersey while you guys stay together here! Why can’t you see that?” Leonard wanted to cry, he was angry and frustrated that none of his friends could see how much he was hurting.

“Dude, I don’t want to fight. You chose to go to New Jersey. You didn’t have to, but you did.” Raj threw his wrapper into the paper bag with more force than needed. Leonard wanted to call out Raj, to tell him not everyone had rich parents that could pay for any school they wanted but he stayed quiet. Howard, Bernadette and Penny were all taking loans to go to college.

“Besides, we can still play WoW. We’re still going to be chatting every Friday night. You’re not losing us.” Howard was kinder in his approach.

“It’s just not fair.” Leonard said, looking at the sky.

***

“Okay breathe, I got you. I got you.” Sheldon nodded as he held Penny’s hand. He was trying to slow down his breathing.

They had been waiting near the van for Missy and Bernadette to get back from checking out when Sheldon had another panic attack. This time it happened after a stranger touched him by accident. The man had been walking by Sheldon and for some reason he touched Sheldon’s arm, maybe the man had stumbled but the only thing he knew was that suddenly his arm was being pulled down and he couldn’t see why. It brought back horrible memories that made him feel as if he was stuck back in that darkness.

Damn his eidetic memory.

“Breathe.” Thankfully Penny had been there and she quickly moved him into the van to help him calm down.

Tears ran down his face, he felt weak and worthless because Penny’s hand was the only thing stopping him from fully breaking down.

“I’m sorry!” He sobbed out. “I’m sorry!” He wasn’t fully sure why he was apologizing but since waking up in that hospital bed he had felt like someone else, as if some stranger was wearing his skin and walking around in it.

“Hey, it’s fine. You’re fine. You’re going to be just fine.” He wanted to retort that nothing would ever be fine again, that she was a fool for thinking that.

But he wanted to believe in her words. He squeezed her hand twice.

***

“Penny.” She looked up from her bowl of chicken soup and found Leonard had taken Bernadette’s seat at some point.

“What’s up?” Penny didn’t wait for his answer, she dove right back into her soup.

“I just wanted to see how you were doing.” Leonard kept glancing at the side where Sheldon was speaking with the manager. Apparently his chicken soup didn’t have the right type of noodles. “Because you know, you haven’t been riding with us so we haven’t had a chance to talk.” He fidgeted with his glasses and couldn’t look her in the eye.

“It’s been okay.” She shrugged. Sheldon could be a little uptight when it came to her turn behind the wheel but she liked arguing with him, it brought him away from that dark and muted mood he sometimes slipped into. Maybe he didn’t notice but he was smiling a lot recently.

“Oh.” Leonard sounded disappointed but before she could question him further Bernadette returned from wherever she had gone and kicked him from her seat.

Leonard didn’t approach her again but she could swear he was sulking for some reason. Bernadette told her to not pay him any mind but she still didn’t like how he spoke to Sheldon sometimes. Just because he was in a bad mood didn’t mean he had to take it out on other people.

***

Sheldon woke up with a gasp but before he could even think beyond the fact he had woken up, a hand grabbed the side of his head.

“Hey, hey, it’s fine. We’re in the van.” Penny told him softly.

Breathing deeply he looked around, they were in the Winnebago. Missy was up front driving.

Sheldon blinked and he remembered, he had felt tired after lunch and went to the back to rest. He must have fallen asleep at some point.

Penny was on the mattress with him, she must have heard him about to freak out and was ready.

“Thank you Penny.” He smiled at her.

“You got it Cowboy.” She smiled back and squeezed his hand twice. Sheldon squeezed back.

***

“Leonard, you’re going to grind your teeth to dust.” Bernadette told him calmly and he turned to glare at her but she flicked him in the forehead. Hard. “Don’t look at me like that mister.”

Leonard rubbed at his forehead and stopped glaring at her. “What?”

“You could be sitting with them instead of being all alone in this corner while you eat your sandwich.” She didn’t look amused.

The group, which now included Sheldon and Missy, were eating lunch at a park table. They had stopped by a clearing that had some camping grounds and they all decided to stop and have lunch there, to appreciate nature.

But Leonard was sitting away from the group.

“So what? Am I supposed to stay there and watch as Penny holds someone else’s hand?” He couldn’t understand why Penny and Sheldon were holding hands. The rest of the group were acting as if this was the most normal thing in the world and it was making him go crazy.

“Oh Leonard.” Bernadette shook her head sadly and walked back to sit between Raj and Howard without saying anything else to him.

***

“I’ll call you so we can go shopping, or you can call me.” Missy told her and Penny smiled and nodded.

“Penny. I…” Sheldon kept opening and closing his mouth without any words coming out. “Thank you.” He finally said after a long moment, his words were heavy with meaning.

“You better call me as well Cowboy.” She grabbed his hand and squeezed twice. She smiled when he squeezed back.

They were in front of Bernadette’s house and soon everyone had said their goodbyes. Penny waved goodbye to Sheldon and Missy.

She stretched out her back and gasped as something popped.

“Want to order some Pizza?” Bernadette told her and Penny smiled and nodded. They had returned early but summer was still here. A couple of weeks lying around or going out shopping didn’t sound so bad.

“Here you go Bernie, we’ll go drop off the van at my house and then we’ll bike over here.” Howard said before Leonard jumped out the van.

“Actually, mind if I stay?” Leonard said and some weird communication happened in a moment but Howard didn’t look too happy as he sped off. “Ummm Bernie, do you mind? I want to talk to Penny for a moment.”

Bernadette narrowed her eyes at Leonard and raised a finger. “You have ten minutes, while I order the pizza.”

“BBQ Chicken with-” Penny started but Bernadette waved her off.

“I know, I know. Extra sauce.” She pointed at Leonard again. “Ten minutes.”

Leonard nodded and he fidgeted in place. He had a grim look on his face and Penny was worried.

“Penny, I…”

***

Leonard wanted to tell Penny how he felt. How he had loved her since he first saw her all those years ago. How much she meant to him, how her kindness had saved him more than she could ever know. He wanted to tell her so much.

Instead he put his foot in his mouth.

“So what was all that with Sheldon huh?”

As soon as the words left his mouth he knew he had screwed up. Fury filled Penny’s eyes.

“What is it to you Leonard? Last I checked, you were my friend not my dad.” Penny crossed her arms. “And don’t think I didn’t notice how rude you were to Sheldon.”

“Rude? Rude?! He’s the one that called me a monkey and that he was surprised I made it out of high school.” Leonard raised his voice.

“That’s after you made fun of him for having a panic attack. I’m not blind Leonard.”

This isn’t what he wanted. He didn’t want to fight with her. He wanted to tell her how he felt.

“You’re not blind? Please, what a joke. You’re so blind you don’t realize he wanted to sleep with you! Or maybe you were already sleeping with him? Is that why you slept in his van instead of with us?”

The slap rattled his brain. Penny wasn’t called ‘Slugger’ for nothing.

“How dare you?” She hissed in pure anger.

“Struck a nerve huh?”

Shut up Leonard, shut up. He could see any chances of a relationship with Penny crumble right in front of his eyes and yet he could do nothing about it.

“I don’t know what your problem is. I truly don’t.” Penny confessed and it only made him angrier.

I love you Penny. “Maybe if you weren’t making eyes at every single man you’d notice!” I want to be with you. “Sheldon is just going to leave you like Kurt, or Zach.” I don’t want to fight with you. “I’d mention more names but it would take me all day!”

Please love me.

***

Sheldon sighed in relief as he took a seat in his spot. Missy did the same with her armchair.

It finally made him think that things would be okay like Penny was so fond of saying. Feeling grimy after the long drive he decided to take a shower.

“I’m going to sleep on a real bed, don’t bother me.” Missy declared standing up and moving towards her room.

Entering his room for his shower supplies he immediately froze.

Sitting in the middle of his bed was a book. Nothing else was out of place. Just the book.

It wasn’t a book he recognized, the color was an odd choice. A violet so dark that it looked black at moments. The material was leathery and oddly warm to the touch. No words or pictures were on the cover or in the back.

Opening it he found a small piece of paper with a few words scrawled on it. ‘Knowledge is power.’

Curious, he began reading the book.

‘Norugthaisar The Observer. May his endless sight darken our world.’

Sheldon grimaced and scratched at what had been his left eye, it was hurting.

He kept reading.

[werewolfarthurmorganenjoyer]

“He should be in the club” Well he should be in a university with a full scholarship.