Author's Note: This is just my take on how I think Penny could propose to Leonard. I decided to use Sheldon and Amy's wedding as a catalyst. Hope you like it. :)

Disclaimer: The Big Bang Theory © Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady

In the past decade that Penny had come to know and love Sheldon Cooper in her own special way, she could honestly say that she'd never seen him so happy as she had in this very moment. Sure, he was a genius with a ridiculously high IQ, one that didn't at all help him when it came to being a normal person in social situations, but when it came to human emotions, damn, did he amaze her at times.

He was good at making people think he was some emotionless robot, or, as he would put it, some advanced human species incapable of allowing his emotions to get the best of him. Try as he might, though, he could never truly mask his feelings. When he was upset, you knew it by the way he'd hide away in his room like a child, or wrap himself up in a blanket and refuse to flat-out tell people what was bothering him until someone forced it out of him.

But then, other times, when he was happy, really, really happy, that was very obvious, too. It was the kind of happiness a person only felt when they were in the presence of the one they were in love with. It was that wonderful, warm feeling that spread through your heart and made you feel more alive than you've ever felt, like you could conquer anything just as long as the love of your life was there by your side. It was an undying, intense and downright magical thing to witness.

And that was exactly what Penny was seeing in Sheldon right now as he danced with his new bride. He was smiling, not fake-smiling, but actually smiling, and the most amazing part was that he wasn't even trying to hide it. His blue eyes were radiant as he stared into the eyes of his beloved Amy, who looked as though she, herself, were completely over the moon. She looked beautiful with her hair up in a bun, her cheeks dusted in a lovely shade of rouge, her green eyes sparkling behind her elegant frames. She clung to Sheldon as if she never wanted to let go, not that Sheldon seemed to mind. If his arms around her waist and that adorable little smile of his were any indication, Penny would have to conclude that he was definitely enjoying it.

It was incredible to see Sheldon like this, because he seemed like a totally different person, and in many ways, he was. Hell, they all were. After nearly ten years of living across the hall from him, he'd really grown up a lot. Penny, too, was no longer the same party girl she once was, the ditzy blonde who loved drinking wine and making out with guys.

Okay, so she did still love wine…and making out, but only with one guy. Her special someone, the guy she could turn to for anything, whether it be in times of happiness or crisis. In retrospect, it was pretty crazy to think that it took her over five years to finally tell Leonard that she loved him, yet when she finally said it out loud, there was a part of her that knew that she'd loved him all along. Not at first, of course, because when she'd first met him, he was really nothing more than a nice, nerdy guy with a weird roommate.

Now, he was so much more than that. He was a sweetheart, a romantic, a gentleman, a wonderful friend and boyfriend, and his nerdy qualities were all the more adorable to her. She loved him. She'd always love him. He was her everything.

"Hey, you," the charming little devil himself said, snapping Penny out of her reverie. She looked up as he took a seat next to her at the head table. He was grinning ear-to-ear, showing off those perfect teeth of his.

Penny found herself grinning right back at him. "Hey, you," she replied in the same playful tone, automatically leaning in to give him a light peck on the lips. "I was wondering what was taking you so long. You didn't get lost on your way to the bathroom, did you?"

Leonard wrinkled his eyebrows. "What? No, of course not."

Penny stared at him intently. He finally cracked and bowed his head a little.

"Okay, yeah," he confessed sheepishly.

Penny grinned again, as sweetly as she could. Sure, he was smart when it came to physics, but silly stuff like that, not so much. She placed a hand on his arm and patted him tenderly. He briefly glanced down before looking back up at her, a smile returning to his face. Penny's own smile widened. He was so cute when he was embarrassed.

She suddenly tugged on his sleeve and sprang up. "C'mon, let's dance."

Leonard's smile dropped as he groaned, "Do we have to?"

"Yes," Penny said cheekily. "I'm the maid of honor, so I make the rules."

"That doesn't make any sense," Leonard protested, but Penny just raised an eyebrow, knowing he'd cave eventually. "Besides, I'm the best man, so with that logic, my importance ranks equally to yours, which means you can't force me to dance and look like an idiot in front of everyone."

Penny sighed and plopped back down in her seat. "Fine, if you don't want to dance, we won't dance." She paused and lifted her chin in the direction of the happy bride and groom. "The Shamy's really tearing up the dance floor, though."

Leonard looked out at the dance floor as well. Amy's head was resting against Sheldon's chest. One of her hands was on his shoulder, while the other was being held inside his own as they softly swayed together. Other couples were slow dancing as well, including Howard and a very pregnant Bernadette.

Penny felt another grin spread over her face. She saw Leonard look at her from the corner of her eye, but she couldn't seem to break her gaze from the blissful newlyweds. It was like they were in their own little world.

"They look really happy, don't they?" she asked, watching them for a few seconds longer, until she finally forced herself to tear her gaze away. She was met with a glowing look in Leonard's soft brown eyes. He placed his hand on top of hers, and instantly, she could feel her heart dissolving from the contact, melting her right to her very core. There was so much love in the gesture. It was like he couldn't contain it all.

"They do," Leonard said.

Penny grinned softly, letting her heart take over as she leaned forward and kissed him again. He kissed her back deeply, yet at the same time, very gently. He was capable of it all, that passion when she needed it, and the tenderness that she secretly craved. He seemed to grow more and more in tune with her each day. She'd never had a closeness like this with any of her other boyfriends.

Leonard was…the one. Her one.

He squeezed her hand, and she released a small moan, soft enough for only him to hear. By the time he pulled away, she was completely breathless. His lips cricked upward in another cute little smile. He looked down at their hands, his still cupped on top of hers, then looked back up at her and began to stand up.

"Come on," he said, lifting her hand to his chest. "Let's dance."

She suddenly felt like crying, but she was grinning so hard now that she felt like her cheeks were going to split apart. She rose to her feet and let Leonard guide her to the dance floor. Once there, he took her by the waist and drew himself so close to her that their noses brushed together. Penny slid her arms around his neck and followed his lead as he began to rock her back and forth in his arms.

An incredibly sappy, dated love song began to play, and while Penny typically wasn't a fan of that kind of music, right now, it sounded like the most beautiful song she'd ever heard in her life. Sheldon and Amy's happiness must've been rubbing off on her, because she felt positively giddy right now, like a young teenager falling in love for the first time.

"I love you, Leonard," she whispered spontaneously.

"I love you, too," Leonard replied simply. He'd said it so many times in their relationship before, but none of those times had affected her as much as it did right now. She briefly wondered if that was just from all the wine she'd had, making her feel looser and more loving than usual, but she knew that that wasn't it.

In these past several months of planning and perfecting every detail of this wedding, Penny had finally started looking at marriage in a different light. Before, she'd only ever seen it as a form of imprisonment. After all, it was a life-long commitment, 'til death do us part, and the idea of being stuck with someone for the rest of her life had always been nothing short of terrifying to her.

Now, however, things were different. She'd been in a committed relationship with Leonard for a long time, and at this point in her life, she knew she'd never be able to live without him. Judging by the way Leonard was holding her and smiling at her right now, she knew that he felt the same way.

The sad part about it, though, was that he'd done so much for her throughout the years, but she'd hardly ever reciprocated, which made her feel pretty crappy. She'd always suspected that he'd had a thing for her from the very first day they met. She was young and stupid back then, thinking she could make things right with guys who were nothing but selfish jerks.

Then again, she'd been a selfish jerk, too. She could admit to herself now that she not-so-innocently used to use Leonard's affections to get him to do countless favors for her. She was ashamed of herself for it now, as it made her feel like a downright terrible person, especially since Leonard of all people didn't deserve to be taken advantage of like that.

After all, he'd already put up with so much in his life, having been bullied in school, not to mention living with an emotionally distant mother who never gave him the slightest bit of affection that he so desperately needed growing up. After everything he'd been through, Leonard deserved love and happiness more than anyone. He deserved to be treated like he was special, because he was, and the thought of anyone convincing him otherwise just plain broke Penny's heart.

"You okay?" Leonard asked. "You look like you're about to start crying."

"I'm fine," Penny said, but her voice came out squeaky, startling her. Her eyes widened as Leonard looked at her in confusion. She cleared her throat and shook her head, smiling again. "Everyone cries at weddings, right? Don't think I didn't see you tearing up during the ceremony."

"What are you talking about?" Leonard asked, though the slight color flooding into his cheeks made it all the more apparent that he'd been caught. "I didn't 'tear up.'"

"You most certainly did," Sheldon cut in.

Penny looked up at the tall theoretical physicist, his blue eyes blazing with criticism. She looked over at her boyfriend, who now had a troubling look on his face. As much as Sheldon had changed, he would clearly always be a pain in the ass know-it-all. Penny rolled her eyes.

"That's enough, Sheldon," she said, knowing that he was very much ready to go off on an annoying rant, in which he'd pinpoint the exact moment when Leonard started to get all teary-eyed. All it would accomplish would be embarrassing Leonard. Sheldon so wanted to do it, too. She could hear the disappointment in his voice.

"Enough of what?" he asked. "I was merely going to point out that Leonard—"

"Penny said can it, sweetheart."

That caught Sheldon's attention. He snapped his head to look at Amy, his eyes wider than ever.

"Sweetheart? Really, Amy? Do you honestly think that just because you and I are married now, you can toss around hackneyed pet names with the assumption that they'll have some sort of submissive effect on m—"

Amy kissed him, effectively swallowing the rest of his words. Penny did a silent cheer at the sight of it. You go, girl. Not wanting to ogle them, though, she turned back to Leonard and gave him another kiss.

"What the hell just happened?" Leonard asked after she pulled away.

Penny couldn't help chuckling at that. She shook her head and shrugged, still swaying with him. "Amy's got a lot of power over him now."

"There's an understatement," Leonard scoffed.

Penny smiled once more and turned her head so that she could press it against Leonard's shoulder. She closed her eyes and exhaled, relaxing herself in his hold. The slow song ended and a faster one started to play, but the two of them kept swaying back and forth in the same slow, even rhythm, as if in their own little world.

The reception was winding down now. There were a few couples left on the dance floor, but a lot of people were getting ready to leave. Penny sat at the head table, mashing her fork against her nearly finished piece of wedding cake. She raked her fork through the last remnants of lavender icing that had been shaped like a rose, before bringing the fork up to her mouth to eat the deliciously sweet frosting.

"Hi, Penny."

Penny looked up to see Bernadette, who was grinning and clutching a protective hand over her swollen stomach. Penny set down her fork and offered Bernadette a friendly grin as she took a seat next to her.

"Hey, Bernadette," she said. "Did you have a fun time tonight?"

"Yes, of course I did. It was a beautiful wedding," Bernadette said, still smiling. "Not as special as mine and Howie's, but who's comparing?"

Penny let out a small laugh as she picked up her glass of wine, swirling the dark red liquid inside. She raised it to her lips and took a sip.

"So, Penny," Bernadette started, a suspicious hint of slyness in her tone, "I saw you and Leonard out there on the dance floor. You two looked awfully cute together."

Penny swallowed her wine, raising her eyebrows as she felt her face getting warm. "Oh, uh, yeah. Thanks. Yeah, you know, we were just having fun."

"You looked like you couldn't take your eyes off each other," Bernadette said, which only made Penny feel more uncomfortable. Luckily, though, it didn't last long as Amy approached the table.

"Ah, there they are," the bride said, taking a seat on the other side of Penny, "my best friend and my pregnant friend who looks like she's about to pop any day now."

Bernadette frowned at her. "I'm not due for another two months."

"I know," Amy said, "but your petite frame makes you look that much larger now that you're carrying around Howard's child in your uterus. Of course, with your and Howard's combined genes, you'll be lucky if your children grow up to be even five feet tall."

Penny looked at Amy with widened eyes, knowing fully well that Bernadette probably wanted to kill her right about now. Yet, the unwavering, content smile on Amy's face only proved that she clearly didn't seem to realize just how rude it was to say something like that to an overly sensitive pregnant woman hopped up on hormones.

"By the way, Penny," Amy said, "since I've neglected to do so at the time, I just wanted to thank you now for persuading me into purchasing this simple silk wedding gown instead of that much more elaborately designed dress I'd had my eye on."

"Oh, sure, no problem. After all, that's what the maid of honor's for, right?" Penny said with a grin, yet on the inside, she cringed as she recalled the dress that Amy had originally wanted to buy. It was some sort of feathery, puffy monstrosity that was just plain ugly, not to mention a complete mockery of any normal, traditional wedding dress. Thankfully, though, Penny had convinced Amy to try on a simple wedding dress that turned out to look beautiful and elegant on her.

"Not to mention," Amy went on, a new smirk forming over her lips, "what with all of those buttons and complicated lacing that the other dress had, it would've made it all the more difficult for Sheldon to tear it off of my ready and willing body before throwing me onto the king-sized bed and ravaging me into oblivion, as he will be doing tonight."

Penny blinked and slowly set down her wine glass, suddenly feeling sick.

"What are you guys, animals?" Bernadette remarked, shocked and repulsed at the same time.

Amy smiled, apparently proud to be talking about this while not at all realizing how inappropriate and awkward it was to hear. "I don't see why you both look so surprised. After all, Sheldon is a very passionate man when it comes to science, and when it comes to love making, he's just as passionate."

Penny clamped her lips shut, fighting the urge to laugh obnoxiously at that. She'd always known Sheldon to be completely opposed to anything and everything related to sex, as if he were a little kid who still thought that girls had cooties. The idea of him actually having a libido and knowing what to do about it was just…really, really weird.

"So, Penny," Bernadette said, directing the conversation elsewhere, "Sheldon and Amy just got married, Howie and I are having a baby… What's next for you and Leonard?"

Penny looked between the two women, who were both eagerly staring at her now. She cleared her throat and averted her gaze, not expecting this prying question. Nevertheless, her mouth started running a mile a minute.

"Um, well, I don't know. Leonard and I are really happy where we are in our relationship right now. He's been staying over my apartment so many nights that it's practically like he's living with me already. He just doesn't want to go through the hassle of moving all of his stuff across the hall and making room for his video games and comic books and medicine and everything. I guess the next big step would be getting engaged, but Leonard hasn't really brought up marriage ever since we agreed that I'd be the one to propose to him. And, actually, I've been thinking about it a lot recently, and, well…it's not so much that I'm afraid of commitment anymore, because honestly, I can't picture spending the rest of my life with anyone but Leonard. I guess it's more that I'm afraid of screwing up the proposal somehow, and I don't want to do that to Leonard because, after everything he's done for me, he deserves an absolutely perfect proposal."

Bernadette and Amy stared at her in silence.

"Hold on," Amy said, shaking her head as she held up her hands with all of her fingers fanned out. "Are you saying that you, a pretty young blonde woman in her sexual prime, one who can still easily use her ample bosom and outgoing personality to get any guy she wants, the same woman who's always been terrified to move forward in her relationship with the man who's always worshiped the ground she walks on out of fear that something will go wrong down the line, you, of all people, are actually ready for marriage?"

Penny bit her lip. It was really unsettling when Amy was so…on-point like that. She made it seem like Penny was the crazy one.

"How much did you have to drink tonight?" Bernadette added.

"Okay, I realize you guys are surprised, but can you tone it down just a little bit?" Penny asked, bringing up her hand with her index finger and thumb just barely touching each other.

"Sorry," Bernadette said. "I guess I'll believe it when I see an engagement ring on Leonard's finger."

Penny cocked her head and let her jaw fall open with a small scoff. "I'm not going to give Leonard an engagement ring. Just because I'm the one who's going to propose to him doesn't mean I'm gonna go out and buy him a ring and present it to him like he's the girl in the relationship."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the fact that you'll be the one proposing take away any last remnants of masculine authority Leonard may have had in your relationship?" Amy asked.

"Are you saying Leonard's whipped?" Penny countered.

"Whipped like a can of cream, yes," Amy said with a nod.

"Oh, please, Ames, you're one to talk. Just look at you and Sheldon. He's like your very own puppy that you've got on a very short leash."

"While I'm not going to deny that there very well may be some validity to that statement, I can safely assure you that Sheldon very much knows how to…dominate a situation, if you catch my drift."

Penny stared at Amy for a long moment while silently shuddering at the thought of that disturbing mental image. She held up her hands and sighed, beyond aggravated with this conversation. "Look, my point is, I love Leonard, and I want to do a very special proposal for him."

"Wait, so…you really are ready to get married?" Bernadette asked.

Penny looked at her, and then at Amy, both of whom looked serious now. She raised her shoulders. "Yeah. I am."

"Oh my God," Bernadette squealed. "That's huge!"

"I know," Penny said, starting to absorb some of Bernadette's new found energy.

"Can I be your maid of honor?" Amy asked with just as much excitement.

"Hey, that's not fair," Bernadette said. "You already got to be my maid of honor. I should get to be Penny's."

"But Penny and I are BFFLs, otherwise known as best friends for life," Amy said, and when Penny eyed her in confusion, she explained, "Yes, that's right. I know hip new abbreviations now."

"How are you going to propose to him, anyway?" Bernadette asked.

The giddy feeling that had begun to swarm through Penny's chest started to dwindle slightly. She looked across the large reception hall and easily spotted Leonard. He was sitting with Sheldon, Howard and Raj, the four of them talking and enjoying each other's company. Leonard grinned widely, looking handsome as always.

Penny found herself slowly grinning at the sight of him. Apparently, he could make her smile without even being near her. When did that start happening?

"That's a good question," she said, turning back to her friends. "Help me brainstorm, girls."