A/N Thought I would try a Leonard/Penny story. But I can't avoid the angst. These characters are not mine and I will return them when I am done.

It took a few seconds for Bernadette to realize where she was. She glanced at the clock next to her bed. It read 3:17. What had awakened her? She looked over and saw Penny getting undressed by her bed. "Did you just get in?"

Penny looked up startled, "Yeah, sorry I woke you."

"Didn't the bar close at two?"

Penny had stripped to her underwear. "Yeah, but a bunch of us went up to someone's room."

She headed for the bathroom. "Go back to sleep, I'm going to take a shower."

Bernadette laid back down. She wished now she had brought Penny up with her when she left, but she had been with a group of some sales people and a couple doctors and seemed to be enjoying herself. The trouble was, they had to be back on the floor by nine.

Penny stood in the shower, letting the water run over her. 'Damn it. I didn't even want to come to this stupid convention. Hell, I didn't even want to be in charge of the project at all. I should have never let Bernadette talk me into it.' One thing she did know, Leonard could never know about what had happened. She vowed she would make it up to him.

When Bernadette had announced she was going to bed, Penny started to go with her. But then one of the girls had asked her to stay because otherwise she would be the only woman there. The men quickly chipped in, saying she could stay for one more.

It wasn't long before she regretted her decision. It was all so boring. All they did was talk shop. She was so sick of the whole thing. Flirting with Doctors, not exactly lying but not telling the whole story either. Even the money she was making didn't do anything for her anymore.

What had happened to her? When did she become this boring person? Where was the Penny who was full of dreams? And now she and Leonard were married. They would eventually settle down and have their 2.5 children. They could buy a house with a picket fence and Leonard could mow the lawn. She could become her mother.

What was she saying? She loved Leonard. Every time they had broken up, she had regretted it and they got back together. But sometimes she was just so damned bored.

"Penny?" She looked up and realized that Brad had been trying to talk to her.

"Sorry, Brad, I was daydreaming." Then she noticed they were the only two left. "Where is everybody?"

He chuckled, "They left about five minutes ago. You did say good night."

She didn't realize she had been so self-absorbed. "I don't even remember doing it. What time is it?"

"It's almost two. The bar's getting ready to close."

Penny finished up her drink. She was proud of herself; she felt a good buzz but had avoided getting sloshed. "Well, I better head out, too. Morning is going to come awfully fast."

Brad looked at her. She really was a beautiful woman. She was married just as he was. That would mean she would most likely be discreet. He decided to take a shot. Somehow, he could sense she might just be vulnerable. "You're right, but for some reason I am not that tired. Why don't you come up to my room for one last drink? I did have a couple questions about your new product."

Penny looked at him. His name was Brad Marshall and he was some bigwig salesman from another pharmaceutical company located in San Francisco. One of the other saleswomen had been gushing about him earlier. Evidently, he was considered quite a catch. She had to admit he really was a handsome guy. Was he hitting on her? Couldn't he see she was married? Glancing at his hands she saw he was married himself.

She knew she needed to get out of there, but she was still in the bad mood she had been in all night.

She tried to summon up Leonard and think about what it would do to him but instead that brought on a strange thought. Maybe this is what she needed, something to take her out of the rut she felt she was in. It might even be good for her and Leonard. Anyway, it wouldn't hurt him if he never knew about it.

She found herself saying, "Sounds good."

Once they reached his room, the pretense of a drink and talk didn't last overly long. It wasn't that much later that they were naked in bed. Penny soon discovered that she had been taking Leonard's foreplay skills for granted. Almost as soon as he got the condom on, they were off to the main event.

At first there was a feeling of guilty pleasure, of the tasting of forbidden fruit, but Penny soon realized something was missing. She finally ending up doing something with him she had never had to do with Leonard, not even that first awkward time; she faked an orgasm.

The difference became even more pronounced when he finally finished. With Leonard she could never get close enough, she snuggled as close to him as she could. This was more, "Well, that was interesting."

They both lay there for a time, then Penny got up and began to get dressed. He looked up at her, "Wouldn't you like to take a shower?"

"I'll take one back in my room. Bernadette is probably wondering where the hell I am."

"All right." He reached up and touched her on the hip. "That was nice. Maybe we will get a chance to do it again."

She moved away from his hand. "I enjoyed it, but I think this should be it. I do love my husband."

"I love my wife too, but this has nothing to do with her."

Penny finished getting dressed and headed for the door. Brad called out, "Thanks, Penny. Goodnight."

She took a quick look back, "GoodBYE, Brad."

The next day seemed to drag on forever. Between staying up all night and a with growing sense of guilt over what had happened, Penny thought it would never end.

When it was over, she wasted no time getting back to their room. When Bernadette said she was going down for a last few drinks and saying her goodbyes, Penny said she had enough the night before and was just going to stay in the room and rest.

The next morning they flew back to Pasadena.

Penny was determined that Leonard would never suspect anything and because she didn't want to hurt him, she succeeded. When they made love that night, Penny wondered what had ever possessed her. Being with Leonard was so much more than what had happened with Brad. Ironically, it had made her appreciate and understand what she had with Leonard. She even began to think that maybe one child didn't sound too bad.

In the next couple weeks, Leonard was stunned when Penny practically ravaged him on a couple of occasions, but he was hardly going to complain.

Meanwhile, Penny's unhappiness with her job continued to increase.

About five months after the convention, Penny was summoned to Dan's office and was stunned to see Brad Marshall standing there.

"Come on in, Penny. Penny, this is Brad Marshall. He has been Delvin Industries' best salesman for the past three years. We have finally managed to convince him to come with us."

"Brad, this is Penny Hofstadter, one of our top Salespersons."

Brad smiled, "It's nice to see you again, Penny."