A/N Merry late Christmas! XD So, I started this yesterday, just having started my new book that I based this on, and I thought the characters in there were so much like Leonard and Penny I had to write this down! The story's in two parts, and I hope to get the other part up tomorrow :)

Disclaimer: I own nothing. All rights go to CBS and the makers and producers of this show.

-OoO-

Penny trudged through the knee high snow, her clothes heavy and the flurries hitting her face, leaving behind a stinging sensation. Despite being lost in the dark on Christmas Eve, she felt no emotion, other than the coldness of the snow hitting her body. It never usually snowed in Pasadena, but of course, on this night it had to.

Penny felt her phone vibrate, indicating a new message. She fished it out of her pocket, only to realise it was her ex-boyfriend Mike, who she had just found cheating on her in her OWN apartment! She had come home from work that evening, to find him sucking face with a blonde chick on her couch. He explained that it wasn't what it looked like, he was going to surprise her with a friend she hadn't seen in ages that he happened to know.

That was when Penny realised that blonde chick was her old best friend.

She then yelled at him that was exactly what it looked like, kicked him and smacked her across the face, and then left, slamming the door behind her.

She had never run away from her own apartment before. Sure, she'd had numerous boyfriends that she'd broken up with, but they were on her own accord, and she'd certainly never run away from them.

Turning down yet another street, she realised that she had no idea where she was. Looking around, she saw numerous houses, all with twinkling Christmas lights and inflatable Santa's in the yard. Although it was dark, she knew the streets near her place, and this wasn't one of them.

Groaning Penny turned around and began making her way back the way she came. Her footsteps had been covered by another layer of snow, and with the dim streetlights she knew she'd be wandering the streets for hours. But, not wanting to ask a stranger to stay at their place on Christmas Eve she kept on.

-OoO-

"Seriously, you're breaking up with me? On Christmas Eve?!"

"So, I thought you wanted to anyway?"

"Who the hell told you that?"

"Sanjay said-"

"Oh, OF COURSE it was your ex that told you! What did you do after that, sleep with him?"

"What do you think?"

Screaming and shouting could be heard all down the block that Christmas Eve. Leonard sank down into the armchair and groaned. He couldn't believe this. The girl he had known and loved for half a year was breaking up with him like this. Yet, she was the one that had cheated on him.

"Fine, go ahead Priya, I don't care," he said, not looking up. She was about to say something, but then thought better of it and walked out, slamming the door.

Leonard sank back into the armchair, fighting back the tears. He didn't know why he cared. Well, he cared a bit; after all, she was the love of his life. But things had been rough lately. They had decided to move in together after only three weeks together, and even he thought that was too soon, yet that was his first proper relationship he'd ever had with a woman. But still, he went along with it, and after only a week under the same roof they were at each other's throats every day onwards.

Sighing Leonard got up and went to make himself some tea. If his old roommate were here, he'd probably be making one for him right now. Apparently when someone is sad, you make them a hot beverage. Well, it seemed to work, so Leonard poured himself a cup and sat down, contemplating whether or not to call his old roommate Sheldon.

Sheldon was an okay friend. He did have his quirks though (half of them bearing a striking resemblance to Leonard's mother), but he was in no mood for Sheldon's unbearable questions at this time of night.

He couldn't call his other friend Howard, as he was currently on vacation with his wife, and his third friend Raj was Priya's brother, so he'd be no help either.

Sighing again, Leonard decided that he'd just take a walk outside to clear his head. "What a fun Christmas Eve," he muttered, placing his empty cup in the sink and walking to the front door.

-OoO-

Penny continued to trek through the snow. The town clock in the distance read 10:45pm, and judging by the familiar looking houses along the street, she was nowhere near where she wanted to be.

Tears beginning to spill from her eyes, Penny sat down on the nearest seat and pulled her arms up around her, wiping them away. Of course, in her hasty leave she hadn't remembered anything, and was still in her shorts and t-shirt from earlier that day. Noticing a newspaper lying on the bench she picked it up and wrapped it around her.

"I look like a homeless person," Penny said to herself, and grinned slightly, trying to shake out her messy hair and wring out her soaked through clothes.

Upon doing this her eyes travelled across the street, where a couple were enjoying a late meal together. Her smile fell from her face as she remembered that last Christmas Eve was when her and Mike hooked up, and they had treated themselves to a late meal like that too.

The tears started to flow again, and this time she let them.

-OoO-

Leonard locked his door and walked down his front path, replaying the past six months with Priya in his mind. For some reason he had that feeling that the relationship wouldn't last. She would arrive home in the early hours of the morning pretty much every day, saying that it was work that was keeping her.

He never slept well those nights.

When she wasn't out though, she would always sleep on the far side of the bed, pushing him away when he got too close. They hardly ever kissed, and if they did it was only because he kissed her first. She would only let him for five seconds before pushing him away again.

So lost in his own thoughts, Leonard didn't realise that he'd walked two blocks from his house. He began to turn around, but something caught his eye.

Ten feet away he saw a small figure hunched over on a seat. Wondering why someone was out so late on Christmas Eve, he cautiously made his way over.

"Um, excuse me?" he asked as he approached the person, who looked up, startled. Even in the dark Leonard could tell it was a girl around his age. Not wanting to sound stupid by not saying anything else, he continued.

"Uh, hi. I was, um, wondering why you were out so late just sitting here. Is everything okay?"

The girl ran her hands across her eyes and stood up, ripped newspaper falling off her as she did. The streetlight cast a glow on her, and Leonard held back a gasp as he took her in.

He had to admit, she was breathtaking: long flowing blonde hair, shining eyes, thin figure. He was wondering though why she was dressed for summer.

The girl smiled. "It's okay, just a bad night," she choked out, not taking her eyes off him. Leonard averted them ad nodded.

"Yeah, my night wasn't so great either," he said. "Did you um, want me to take you back to your place?"

The girl looked down at the ground, taking a sudden interest in her shoes. "I uh, kind of got lost," she replied, smiling to try and make it sound funny. She looked back up at Leonard, and he blushed as he realised he was staring at her.

Taking a breath he asked. "Did you want to come back to my place? I have a spare room you could stay in."

She looked up again, and he noticed an instant change in her. "Really? You wouldn't mind on Christmas Eve?"

Leonard smiled and shrugged. "I'm alone anyway, and you look like you could use some help."

Grinning, the girl wrapped her arms around him briefly. "Thankyou so much," she said when she released him. "I'm Penny, by the way." She stretched out her hand.

Still flustered from the hug, he could only manage a "Leonard" as he took her hand. After a few deep breaths he pointed back the way he came. "My house is two blocks that way, you fine to walk that far?"

Penny nodded, still grinning. "Thankyou so much again! I was afraid I was going to spend the night before Christmas on that bench."

Leonard laughed, glad that he'd decided to go for a walk in the end.

-OoO-

Leonard opened the door to his house, letting Penny in and then locking it behind her. Penny thanked him and took off the coat he leant her, moving to sit in the living room. "Neat place," she said, flopping down on the couch and taking in the various homey pictures and ornaments.

He nodded, walking over behind the kitchen counter. "They were mostly my ex-girlfriend's," he said. "Want a drink?"

"Cocoa please," Penny responded, getting up to join him in the kitchen. "So, you're not with someone at the moment?"

Leonard shook his head, grabbing the milk from the fridge. "I found out she was cheating on me. We broke up a couple hours ago."

Penny took his hand, smiling sympathetically. "Sorry to hear that," she said. "I broke up with my boyfriend today too."

Leonard placed his other hand over hers. "Sorry to hear that too," he said, looking up into her eyes.

Penny smiled and shrugged. "He was cheating on me too, in my own apartment." She rolled her eyes. "Real smooth."

Leonard cringed. "That's why you were out on the street then, huh?"

Penny nodded slowly. Then a smile crept on to her face. "We could be twins!"

He laughed, then let go of her hand to grab the drinks. Penny couldn't help but feel a twinge of disappointment as he did.

"Here you go," he said as he returned, handing Penny her cocoa, which she took gratefully.

"Thanks," she said, taking a sip, letting the smooth warm liquid trickle down her throat. "So, I realised I don't know much about you."

A confused look crossed Leonard's face. "We talked on the way here."

Penny rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but that was about me! I'm an actress, yada, yada! I work at the Cheesecake Factory, yada, yada! I want to know about you." She took his hand again, a glint coming to her eyes.

Leonard put down his drink and tried his hardest not to smile. No one had ever asked him about his work before, especially not a girl as pretty as Penny.

Ugh, what is wrong with you? he thought to himself. You just broke up with someone, don't go chasing other women!

But every time he looked at her he'd melt inside. It wasn't just the way she looked; it was how she actually presented herself, how she wouldn't just ignore him like most women, and how she actually wanted to know more about him! Even Priya didn't want to know what went on in his daily life!

"Uh, well, I'm an experimental physicist at Caltech," he began. "I work with lasers, and all that sort of stuff."

Penny nodded, seeming to be interested. "Cool. Have you invented anything lately?"

Leonard shook his head. "Not really, but the money's pretty good."

Penny grinned. "It's always nice to have money." She laughed. "Any friends? I know a lot of people, so I'd probably know them."

Leonard shrugged. "I have three, and they work at the university too. But I'm pretty sure I'm now down to two as one of them is my ex's brother."

Penny cringed. "Ouch," she said. "How do you think he'll take it?"

Leonard shrugged again. "He didn't really like the idea of us going out, but he hates his sister being hurt by a guy, so it could go either way."

"Who were your other friends?"

"Ah, Sheldon Cooper, who was my old roommate, and Howard Wolowitz, who's currently on vacation with his wife Bernadette."

Penny's eyes opened wide. "Bernadette Rostenkowski?"

Leonard nodded. "Yep! You know her?"

"She's like my best friend!" Penny practically squealed. "And, is Sheldon dating an Amy?"

"Farrah Fowler?"

"That's the one!"

They both laughed. "It's a small world, huh?" Leonard said. She nodded, and then looked down at their re-joined hands.

When the hell did that happen? Penny thought, and noticed Leonard was looking too, a small blush on his face. She smiled and then decided to break the tension.

"Hey, could I, uh, use your shower please? And your dryer?"

Leonard looked up, startled. "Oh yeah, sure. I don't have a dryer though, so we'll just air-dry them. I have some clothes you can wear."

Penny felt her face going red at the thought of wearing his clothes. "Sure, thanks." She said quickly, walking off and trying to cool herself down.

"What is the matter with you? You were never like this with Mike," she muttered to herself. But not wanting to think about it too much, she brushed it aside. If she was falling for him, the hard part would come when they went to sleep tonight!