Chapter Text
Penelope shivered as the cold air hit her face. She slowly made her way towards the cow barn, enjoying the crunch of the snow underneath her boots.
She was planning to go and visit Mrs Cooper later today. It was a Saturday and the Bard guild didn’t provide training during the weekends, instead they put on plays and sang. And at night the singing moved over to the only tavern in town. Apparently this was a good way for bards-in-training to earn some coin.
Penelope smiled at herself. Bard-in-training, that included her now. It had only been a week but she was loving it. A stray thought made her smile turn into a frown. Well, she loved almost all of it. She knew how to play a lute and knew the basics of acting but her singing needed a lot of work. Ann was a dear about it but Penelope was embarrassed to be taught alongside the other kids in the town. Her mom thought it was hilarious.
The cold made her hurry her steps.
Somehow the days kept getting colder as winter trudged along. Sheldon didn’t seem to mind and even her parents looked like they didn’t mind that much but for her it was starting to get ridiculous. Most days she was competing with Stu to see who wore the most layers.
As soon as she entered the barn, she could feel the difference. The air stopped biting at her face and she was quickly starting to sweat under the heavy coat. She took it off and put it in one of the hooks near the door.
“Hey girls! Who wants a good brushing?” She exclaimed happily as she moved towards the small closet that held the brush.
Some of the cows mooed happily but strangely enough, she didn’t hear the one moo she was expecting the most. The one from her namesake.
Frowning, Penelope looked around and she quickly found Cow-Penelope lying down on a corner of the barn, near one of the heating crystals.
Muttering under her breath, she moved to check on the cow. She was already dreading the worst.
“Hey girl, are you okay?” She asked in a low voice while extending a hand to rub one the side of the cow’s head.
Instead of a sad moo, the response she got was a tiny chirping meow.
Cow-Penelope moved her head to reveal a tiny fluffy gray kitten lying among the soft bedding that Sheldon preferred to use instead of straw.
The kitten’s large dark blue eyes stared up at Penelope in a soulful gaze and Penelope knew she was in trouble.
“Ohhhhh baby!” She said in a high excited voice before scooping up the kitten into her arms protectively.
Penelope rubbed Cow-Penelope’s head with her free hand. “You took care of the baby? Good job girl. You’re a hero.”
Cooing at the tiny kitten she carefully did a round of walking around the barn, trying to find momma cat or any other kittens but she had no luck. It was as if the kitten had magically appeared inside the barn.
The kitten looked happy to stay in her arms and she smiled at hearing the purring of the small body. The smile disappeared from her face thinking about the poor kitten being hungry.
As best as she could, she put on her coat while trying to not disturb the sleeping kitten. She made sure it was fully covered before venturing out into the cold and towards the farmhouse. Apologizing in her head to the cows for not being able to brush them like usual.
The walk towards the house felt extra long and she was very conscious of the tiny weight in her hand.
“Sheldon! Help!” Arriving at the house, she wasted no time and called out for help.
Hurried steps approached her and in a few seconds Sheldon stood in front of her. He looked wired and ready to fight.
“Help.” She repeated. Opening her coat to reveal the tiny being there.
Sheldon blinked before his eyes widened. “Where did you find it?”
“In the barn and-” She didn’t get a chance to finish before Sheldon grabbed his coat and left her alone in the house.
She stared at the door for a moment before huffing and shaking her head. She took off her coat and moved towards the kitchen. She easily found an empty basket and with one of the blankets from the couch she made a comfy bed for the kitten.
The kitten stirred when she moved it but soon it nuzzled the blanket and went back to sleep.
She set the basket in the middle of the table and just sat, staring at the sleeping kitten.
“Penny!” Sheldon’s voice pulled her from her admiration and she looked up to find him with a panicked look on his face. He was holding something and it took her a moment to understand that it was another kitten. “Please take it and warm it against your body. I need to prepare something.”
She took the tiny white kitten without a word and her heart dropped at how cold it was.
While the other kitten had been warm and with a strong heartbeat, this one was cold and she feared that the weak heartbeat she could feel was only in her head.
The cold from the kitten seemed to seep into herself and freeze her insides. “Please don’t die.” She begged the tiny body in a terrified whisper.
Penelope didn’t know how much time had passed but next thing she knew, Sheldon was in front of her and taking the kitten out of her hands and putting it into a box.
“We need to warm the kitten slowly but consistently. This crystal will stay warm without harming it.” He explained as he carefully adjusted the kitten in the box. “I couldn’t find any other kittens but I fear it might have been because I was too late.”
She nodded. A knot at her throat. Her hand found his and she squeezed it.
He squeezed back and the knot was easier to swallow.
“Come. You need to learn this recipe.” Sheldon let go of her hand and took the box with the kitten, carrying it over to where she put the basket.
She watched as Sheldon mixed some sort of concoction on the stove. He was explaining it to her but she was focused on the tiny shivering body in front of her. Milk from his do-not-touch icebox, eggs and another syrup like liquid went into a pot and he carefully mixed them together.
“What is that?” Her hand hovered over the cold kitten. Afraid to touch it and somehow make it worse.
“Kittens this age need to eat every couple of hours. Yes, that includes the middle of the night. This is an emergency substitute to feed them with while we find a nursing cat that will hopefully accept them.”
“Oh…how do you know all this?”
“Missy had a tendency to bring all manner of creatures into our home. Mother hated it. Father tolerated it. I had to learn to take care of them in order to stop Missy from accidentally killing them.” He might have looked relaxed as he stirred the pot but she could see the tightness on his shoulders and jaw. He was worried.
While the mixture cooled a little, Sheldon disappeared into his workshop. Leaving her alone with the kittens.
“You guys are strong. You’ll make it through. I’m sure of it.” She whispered softly.
Sheldon returned just as the kitty in the basket began chirping. He was carrying two bottles, miniature versions of the ones used for babies.
“Let me show you how to properly hold the kittens while they feed.”
Penelope gasped at seeing how firmly Sheldon grabbed at the chirping kitty and basically forced the bottle into its tiny mouth. She was about to complain but the kitty suddenly turned into a suckling beast and the words died in her mouth.
“Hold the neck carefully and watch out for their claws. At this age they can’t retract them but they’re still sharp enough to leave marks.”
She nodded and stared in fascination at the feeding kitty. But after a moment her eyes wandered back to one lying next to the warming crystal.
Her lip trembled.
Missy looked up from her book at hearing the little chime on the door. She was expecting Penny so seeing her brother there made her frown.
“Shelly?”
Sheldon had a sour look on his face as he stared back at her.
“I need a favor.”
Penelope looked back at the house they had just left. She didn’t want to leave.
“Do you think he’ll make it?” She asked aloud.
Missy enveloped her in a hug as they kept walking. “All I know is that he will have a much better chance with a momma cat around.”
Penelope nodded. Missy had been able to find out that a cat in town had a litter a couple of weeks back and thankfully the cat had allowed the kittens they had found to nurse from her. Sheldon had left the warming box with the cat’s owners. Lila and Lime. A lovely older couple that ran a small herbalist shop. He had also left a message for the animal healer, just to be safe.
“Come darlin’. I know you’re worried but Shelly told me you didn’t even have breakfast yet and it’s already so late.” Missy pushed her towards her mom’s shop.
“I mean, I didn’t have the stomach for it until I knew…” She trailed off, afraid of mentioning the worst case scenario.
“I know. Come, I’m sure Momma has already cooked something up for you.”
Penelope nodded again but she shot one look at the small house where she had left the kittens at.
Sheldon pretended to listen to his mother as he helped her serve the soup. Penny would be back soon.
He suspected that she didn’t appreciate the fact that he left so quickly. But he couldn’t stand the way she looked at him, as if there was some miracle he could pull out of thin air to save the kitten.
Sheldon didn’t want to tell her how unlikely it was for the kitten to survive.
She had whispered to the kittens the entire trip from the farm to town and while usually he would have said something about how unlikely that was to actually help, this time he found himself wishing that her words contained some sort of fortifying magic that would help the kittens survive.
He knew it was ridiculous.
But it didn’t stop him from hoping Penny’s words would somehow save the kitten that had been left out in the cold.
“Ah darlin’ you’re here. Come, come, the soup is getting cold.” His mother’s voice pulled him from his musings.
His eyes found Penny’s immediately. They were misty with unshed tears and the greeting died in his throat.
He didn’t know what to do or what to say to fix this. He didn’t have the right words for emotional moments like these, he knew that. And before this moment it had never bothered him.
Biting his lip, he did the only thing that made logical sense to him.
He opened his arms.
And perhaps Penny had more magic than she had let on, because one moment she had been at the door and then next she had warped into his arms.
Sheldon buried his nose in her hair and felt her take a shuddering breath against his chest.
He still didn’t have the right words, and maybe he would never have them.
But he would still try.
“There, there. Sheldon’s here.”
The laugh that bubbled out of Penny was light and sunny and it loosened something in his chest.