After muting her TV for the millionth time to see if she could hear any hint of movement out in hallway, Penny realized she was as bad as Sheldon waiting for a new Batman comic book. She needed a distraction and a good one. Waiting for the guys to come back from the Arctic had turned into her own personal hell. Well, maybe a small part of her hoped that Sheldon and Howard had been eaten by the Abominable Snowman, but she had missed Raj and his sweet smile. And Leonard . . . Penny would see something on a billboard or TV and think, "Oh! I have to tell Leonard!" and then she'd remember that he was thousands of miles away and probably thinking only of the paradoxes of string theory.
She sighed and turned the volume up again. She was hoping for an episode of Project Runway to lose herself in when she finally heard a voice outside.
"Damn it, Sheldon! We've been home for five seconds and you're already nagging me about the comic book store?!"
"Leonard, I haven't had access to new comic books for three months! I need to catch up on what I've missed. What if there's a new Green Lantern? What if it turns out Batgirl isn't really a lesbian and has gotten married while we were away? I need to know these things, Leonard!"
Penny leapt to her feet and was at her door as fast as she could get there. She flung it open and stopped dead in her tracks.
"You guys have BEARDS!"