Gotham's Spider

21

When Penny woke up, it was to her alarm. Though she still seemed to be exhausted from the day prier. Though she couldn't help but feel happy that she'd be able to go back to school today, and as it is Friday Penny and MJ could plan a date for the weekend. Penny climbed out of her bed and quickly went over to her dresser (filled with her minimal clothing options) and pulled out a clean shirt and sweater. Since she hadn't changed since yesterday, and jeans don't easily get dirty, she decided to just wear the pair she has on.

She quickly changed and started gathering her things into her backpack, but before she had the chance to leave, someone knocked on her door. Calling out to welcome the person in, Penny soon finds that the one who knocked was Alfred.

"Good morning Miss Penny, how are you this morning?"

"I'm fine Alfred, may I ask why you're up here? Oh gosh, am I late?!" 

Alfred lets out a chuckle, "No Miss Penny, you are not late. I came up to see if my suspicions are true."

Confusion falls over Penny. Suspicions? "What suspicions?"

"That you came here with very little clothing. Seeing that you constantly wear the same few outfits, and are re-wearing the pair of jeans you wore yesterday, this tells me that you are in need of clothing."

Immediately Penny felt some sort of panic fall over her. She didn't really know how to feel. How is she supposed to feel when her rich foster family finds out how little she has. What is she supposed to do when she is confronted on only having five outfits, two sweaters, one dress, and one pair of shoes. She had never had a lot, not even when her aunt and uncle were alive, and especially not when she was in other foster homes. She never felt like she had to be bought things or given more than she needed, and she never felt the need to ask for anything (Of course she did ask for things when they got to small or to broken for her to use). She felt kind of embarrassed being caught by Alfred. Even though he's super nice and welcoming, Penny can't help but think that Alfred will think less of her because of her poor situation while living with rich people.

"O-oh, um... honestly I didn't really think anyone would notice... Um... why, uh, why did you bring this up?"

"I talked with Master Bruce, and he agrees with me on the fact that we should take you shopping. You need more clothes, and I do believe more than one pair of shoes would be nice."

"You don't have to do this, I'm fine with what I have... I... I don't need charity."

After hearing those words, Alfred takes a seat next to Penny on her bed. He didn't like what she was implying and he needed to clear this up so she knew what they were doing. 

"Penny, it's not charity. Master Bruce and I care deeply about you, and buying you more clothes because you don't have a lot isn't charity. We want to buy you more because we want to you to be comfortable and because we care about you. Listen, no one here cares about where you came from, or the fact that you didn't have a lot of fashion options, they care about who you are, because you are a wonderful girl. Believe me, we want to do this because we care about you, not because we view you as a charity case, which you are not and never will be."

Penny looks up and smiles at him, "Thanks Alfred... You know, my Aunt and Uncle always tried to give me everything they could, the amount of clothes never bothered me because I knew that they were doing their best. After they both died, I couldn't take a lot with me, and from then on I only ever was given or bought things I needed. I... I just am not used to getting gifts like this, but thank you... You and Bruce don't think less of me right?"

He shakes his head, and wraps her in a tight hug, "Never."

When the two separate Penny smiles and thanks him again. Alfred gets up and goes to the door before he leaves he tells her that breakfast will be soon and that when Bruce gets back and the Young Justice leaves, they'll go shopping for clothes. After Alfred is gone and Penny knows that no one is near by, she flops down onto her bed and breaths out in relief. 

Penny had no idea that Bruce or Alfred cared so much about her. Part of her felt as if she was betraying her Aunt and Uncle, but the majority of her knows that they'd be very happy for her, knowing that she'd finally found more people who cared for her.

After a few minutes Penny gets up off her bed, grabs her bag and phone as she makes it out of her room. She makes her way down the stairs to the kitchen and once there she sits with everyone else and begins to eat breakfast. 

... 

Penny had made it through the beginning of the school day. All of her teachers gave her missed work and homework, and only a few of them told her that she was glad that she was feeling alright after getting food poisoning. Ned was super happy that she was back, and MJ smiled at her a lot (he didn't get the chance to talk to her). So when lunch rolled around, Penny was super happy to sit, eat, and talk to MJ.

She quickly sat down next to Ned, and she only had to wait barely a minute for MJ to take the seat across from her. She smiles at MJ and starts to get butterflies in her stomach. She really likes him and she hopes that their first date will go really well.

"Hi MJ."

"Hey Penny. So you're feeling better I see, so more food poisoning?" he smiles.

Penny chuckles, "Nope, all good."

"That's great."

Penny and MJ planned their first date. They decided that on Sunday they'd go to the movies. They're going to see the 8:30 showing of the live action Mulan, and they're going to get pizza at 7:30 beforehand. Neither of them could show how excited they are for the date, their just really awkward, but they both know how excited the other one is regardless. Ned is super happy or Penny, he's had to watch his best friend pine over MJ since the fourth grade, and finally she doesn't have to pine over him because they're finally going on a date. Even though he's super happy for her, he won't stop teasing her about how lovesick she is. 

... 

When Penny got into the limo with Alfred, she immediately started to tell him what had occurred at lunch. She told him how her and MJ had planned a movie/pizza date on Sunday starting at 7:30. Alfred is very happy for her, and he agreed to the date almost as fast as she told him. 

When they got back to the Wayne Mansion Penny told the boys and the Young Justice League quickly, and ran out of the room and to hers before they had the chance to questions or say anything to her about the date. She went to her room and looked through her limited clothing options, and decided on the only dress that she owns. Of course she's going to wear her converse, but she's also going to wear her Aunt's locket. She wants to look nice, even if it's only pizza and a movie. So she set everything out on her desk, thought about different scenarios that could happen, before starting her homework. The whole time she was consciously blocking out the conversations that were happening down stairs. 

The boys wanted to run after and tell her no, but then they got into a huge fight. They know that Penny can do what she wants and go on a date with anyone she wants, but they don't want her to get hurt. At some point they were yelling about whether or not they should do a background check on him, which confused Penny and the Young Justice, but they quickly shot down that idea. The Young Justice was just talking about who would be watching over Penny while she was on her date. 

Once everything was settled, Penny could finally relax and do her homework without having to worry about who was talking about her and her date with MJ.