Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for Penny.

Zack's Penny

By Be Boring

Chapter 14: Farewells

*~* Zane

I'm not sure I've ever seen Zack any angrier than he was while he was standing in that doorway. I think anyone but an X5 would have run from the room pissing their pants at the mere sight of him, and that was without knowing what he was capable of. His eyes looked like they could shoot fire, and I could almost feel the flames while his gaze rested on me.

"There's no way I'm letting you two live together. It's bad enough that Syl and Krit constantly compromise us, I'm not about to let you two start in on it."

I couldn't help but think that that was a little unfair, we hadn't done anything so far to really get us in trouble, and the one time we had it had been partly his fault. If he hadn't interrupted us, we might have at least stayed in that hotel room for the rest of her heat cycle. Besides, we were sensible enough to not let anything like our last disaster happen again.

Apparently Penny was thinking along the same lines as me. "Zane and I are nothing like Krit and Syl, and you know it! Do you really think that we would go out and get ourselves caught? We'd be as careful as humanly possible."

"Humanly isn't good enough," he growled.

"It's just an expression, don't turn into an asshole on me now," she replied just as fiercely. It was amazing how she could match him glare for glare in an argument. Perhaps it would be better for me to just let her handle this situation, she had a much better relationship with our family monster.

"It's not being an asshole, it's being technical, which is what you could use! Some logical thinking wouldn't hurt you at all."

Now that confused me. Penny was as level-headed of a person as you're likely to meet these days. This was one point where I couldn't keep my mouth shut. "Aren't you going a bit too far? She hasn't done anything wrong, she just wants to make a life of her own. I don't see why you're making this so difficult."

For some reason this placed a thoughtful look on Penny's face. "Yeah Zack, why are you making this so difficult?"

He took a deep breath and rolled his eyes. "I don't mind you wanting a life of your own, but will it really be like that if you're living with him? You won't be able to make all of your own decisions."

"At least I'll get to make some of them," she snapped. That obviously took him by surprise, I doubt he'd ever pictured himself as a person who doesn't give out much of a leash. He looked uncertain for a moment, then he backed out of the room and stalked off. I knew he wasn't leaving this alone, he just wanted to blow off some steam.

I reached up and touched Penny's shoulder, which was shaking slightly in anger. "You know the real reason he's acting like this, don't you?"

She sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I do. He's been protecting me for practically my entire life, and now I want to go with someone else. I know there's no romantic feelings there, but he still feels like he's lost me to you."

"I guess it's kind of how a father feels when his daughter gets married. You're not going to be under his protection anymore, you'll be putting your life in someone else's hands."

She smiled ruefully. "Maybe that should be the other way around. I seem to remember that it wasn't me who came out of Manticore looking like a living bruise. In fact, I'm the only reason you're living at all."

I tried to pull myself up into a more dignified position. "I wouldn't say that exactly, I like to think that I would have been able to get away from Brin without your help."

She smirked playfully. "Keep on thinking that if it helps you sleep better. Seriously though, I should probably go talk to Zack. I don't want to end this with bad feelings between us. Besides, it's not like I'll be leaving him forever. I'm sure he'll be checking in every other week."

As she left the room, I couldn't help but feel a ripple of pleasure at the thought that she wanted to live with me. It wasn't for sure yet, but she seemed to be more open to the idea of it now. In all honesty, I cared a lot about her. She just had something about her that tugged at my heart. At least now it was all in the open, I just hoped she could get Zack's approval.

*~* Penny

Just by looking at Zack's back, I could tell he was spitting fire. I appreciated his love, but as I've said before, he loves too much. Did he really think that I would live with him forever? That wasn't even feasible. I had to get out on my own someday, why not now? Someone would think that he'd be happy I wouldn't be completely alone, at least I would have someone dependable with me.

I reached out and gripped his arm gently. I felt him stiffen at my touch, but after a slight squeeze he gave in and turned around. "I know what you're going to say, and I don't want to hear it."

I smiled warmly. "I love you, big brother." With that said, I stepped forward and dragged him into a hug. He was frozen in place for a moment, but then he grudgingly returned my embrace.

"Okay, so maybe that's not what I was expecting, but I don't want to hear the rest," he grumbled, but I could tell I had softened him a little. I was one of the few people with that talent.

"I know you're not happy about this, but short of knocking me out and locking me up for the rest of my natural life, you're not going to stop me and you know it."

He stepped back from the hug rather sharply, but his eyes didn't look angry. If anything, he just looked tired. "I know, you lived with me for way too long to just give in." Even though it didn't come out, I could see a tiny smile pulling at the corners of his lips.

"I'll get a cell phone that only you'll know the number to, and you can call me every day on it. Not to mention that I'm sure you'll be making a lot of personal visits."

He seemed to bristle a bit, but then changed his mind. "You know I don't like this. I would feel better if you were alone, at least then Manticore would be less likely to find you. You've seen how dangerous it is for Syl and Krit to live together."

"Like I said before, Zane and I are a completely different story. We're not going to be living right in the open." I hadn't noticed it while I was talking, but after I'd finished I realized that I had pretty much set my heart on living with Zane. It actually came as something of a surprise to me.

He frowned and cracked his knuckles. "I know, and I can see your point, but that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"You're right, it doesn't, but it still doesn't change a thing. You shouldn't have raised me, you've created a monster," I teased playfully. At that, he finally had to allow himself to smile a little. Then, he took on his C.O. face.

"There's a place in Eau Claire, Wisconsin that can keep you somewhat out of sight. So far none of us have really gone into Wisconsin, so hopefully that will put you far enough away from their eyes that they won't notice you living there. It's not a tiny city, so it's not like you'll have to travel a long distance just to have some fun. It's probably just what you would look for if I let you choose where to live."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Does that mean you'll let us...?"

He groaned and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you and Zane can live together. But--" He was cut off as I threw my arms around him and squeezed him as tightly as I could. He grunted uncomfortably, then managed to continue, having to struggle for every breath. "Don't...get...into...trouble." He finally managed to get it all out.

"Don't worry, we'll be good little soldiers," I teased as I stepped back and ruffled his hair. He swatted my hand away and reached up to smooth his hair back down, but by the time he had returned his hand to his side, I was already gone.

Zane nearly jumped out of his several casts as I came back into the room. Something about the look on my face must have given away the results of my conversation with Zack, because a smile broke out on his handsome face. "I take it you had a good talk?"

I pretended to look upset. "It went alright, but there's only one tiny problem. How much do you like Wisconsin?" I couldn't keep a straight face after his eyes lit up. He threw a pillow at me, rolling his eyes the entire time.

"Don't give me a scare like that again! Does that mean you agreed to my little proposal?"

"Yeah, I guess that's what it means. As long as you haven't changed your mind, that is."

His eyes widened. "Change my mind? Are you nuts? You're stuck with me, and there's no way in hell you're getting rid of me."

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 1 week later ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

*~* Penny

I grunted as I heaved the last of the boxes into the two-floor house Zack had bought for us at the edge of Eau Claire. I had no idea I ever owned this much stuff, I thought grouchily. My whole body was sore from dragging box after box up into my bedroom. Zane and I had agreed to start out with two bedrooms and just live as friends for a while, but I had the feeling that it wouldn't last long. There had been no intimacy between the two of us since the kiss through the bars at Manticore, but that's because I wanted him to be completely healed before anything happened. As it was, Zack, Tinga, and I were carrying everything into the house while we forced Zane to sit on our new couch in the living room. It was strange to have such a big place, I was much more adjusted to apartments and hotel rooms.

Zane wasn't too happy about sitting in one place, but it wasn't like he could help much. His ribs still hurt him, and his arm wasn't good for lifting very much weight. Also, his lung hadn't quite healed, so he needed to keep his breathing steady. Of course, the doctors didn't know that his lung would fix itself in a matter of days. In about another week he'd be practically normal.

"Do I get to do anything?" Zane grumbled from his spot.

Zack tossed over a few papers. "Fill these out. They're applications for jobs for both you and Penny."

As he set to work on that, Zack pulled me outside. I didn't quite understand why, we'd already gotten all of the boxes, but then he surprised me by wrapping his arms around me. He was planning on saying goodbye.

"Just keep your head down, kiddo. You got that?"

I tilted my head back and smiled up at him. "You can count on me."

He chuckled and gestured with his head towards the house. "It's not you I'm worried about."

I glanced over my shoulder at my new home. "Don't worry, I'll keep him in line. Where are you going next?"

"I'm taking Tinga into Canada, I'll have to keep an eye on her there. You know as well as I do that as soon as my back is turned, she'll be out the door."

"She has a family, I wouldn't blame her for leaving you stranded somewhere."

He sighed and kissed my forehead. "Let me deal with her, you just worry about getting started on your new life. It'll be strange not to have you sleeping in the next bed in the middle of the night."

I reached into my back pocket and pulled out the cell phone we had bought the day before. "If you have any more dreams about Eva, just give me a call. I want to be number one on your speed dial, okay? That way if you ever need your little personal night-goggles, you know how to reach me."

He smiled gently and gave me another squeeze. "What do you think I should do whenever I get the chance to actually be alone?"

I grinned against his chest. "Get yourself a girlfriend." I ducked the half-hearted punch he aimed at my head and burst out laughing.

He couldn't help but grin back at me. "Maybe I'll do that."

I had to go just a bit further, this would be the last chance in a long time that I would have to tease him face to face. "Let me guess. She'll be about 5'7", with dark, curly brown hair, big brown eyes, big pouty lips, and a kick-ass attitude." This time I had to take off running as he lunged at me. We were still playing around when Tinga came back out of the house.

"And here I thought I was leaving a little boy behind," she quipped, laughing at our antics.

I stepped far out of Zack's reach and gave Tinga a wink. "Little? Zack's not little by any means. Not physically anyway."

We both laughed as Zack made a gesture with his arms as if to say "Why do I bother" before he climbed into the car. "Are we ready to go?"

Tinga nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be." She turned to me nervously. "I know I've been a bitch, but good luck. I mean that." She gave me a pat on the arm as she passed, which would probably be the most affectionate gesture I'd ever get out of her, but it meant a lot. We didn't like each other, but at least now things were tolerable.

*~* Zane

I could see tears threatening to come out of Penny as she came back into the house. I had seen the car leave, so I knew she must be feeling a little lonely. Zack had been there for her for so long, after all. I made my way over to where she was, walked up behind her, and placed a gentle kiss on her temple while wrapping my arms around her shoulders.

"He'll never be that far away, especially when it comes to you. Will you be okay?"

She took a deep breath and nodded. "I'll be fine, but I think I'm going to take a shower. It might help me clear my head."

I walked into the kitchen and pulled out a can of soda from the refrigerator, but I never got my chance to open it. A sleek black car pulled up outside our house and two masked figures stepped out. I automatically went to Penny's purse and pulled out her gun, ready to fire at any moment. I could hear the strangers picking the lock on the door, but I never got my chance to fire.

"Heelllloooooo!" a cocky male voice called out from the front hallway. My mouth dropped open.

"Krit?"

The grin on my brother's face as he sauntered into the kitchen almost made me want to really fire my gun. He had almost given me a heart attack!

"You're looking good! I didn't think you would have recovered so quickly." Syl stepped out from behind Krit, studying me the entire time.

I tossed the gun onto the kitchen table and let her hug me. "I'm not quite done yet, but my casts are off. How did you know where we were?"

She grinned up at me. "I overheard Zack telling Penny where he'd found a place for you to live, so we pretty much just found out from the real estate agency where the most recently sold houses were. It didn't take too much to find you."

We were all sitting on the living room floor and chatting when Penny came down in her bathrobe and nearly jumped out of her skin. Then, a grin broke out on her face. "It doesn't take you long to do much of anything, does it?"

Krit gave his cheeky grin. "You know it. Sit down, join the circle."

I couldn't help but feel a huge burst of relief as Penny lowered herself down to the floor. She had told me about talking to Syl and Krit a couple of times while I was in the hospital, but I hadn't realized they had patched things up completely. Apparently it came as a shock to her too, from the look of delight on her face at Krit's invitation. Then again, it didn't surprise me so much. There was just something about her that no one could put their finger on.

Her name matched her perfectly. A penny is not something you really think about, even if it's always there. But when there comes that time that you need just that little extra bit, it's always right there for you. I wouldn't have it any other way.

The End

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Author's note: Normally I don't put 'the End' on stories, but for some reason I decided to put it on this time. I had planned on doing two more chapters on this, but once I started writing, I realized that this would be the final one. Unless you wanted to read two itsy-bitsy chapters, but I didn't want to do that. I'm sorry I took so long! I just couldn't seem to get past a horrible case of writer's block. I just stared at my cursor on the screen and went "uuuuuhhhhhhh" so I couldn't really pop out anything suitable to post on the site. Like always, leave at least a word by pressing that nice little button down there!