Here is the epilogue for The Third Party Accumulation. Many of my wonderful reviewers-you know who you are!-have wanted to see the wedding, but since I liked the way I had the story ending, I decided to make this one chapter story for you all. The song that I chose to have go with the actual ceremony is "Here," by Rascal Flatts. I thought about how many mistakes they've made on the show, and how it's been said that they're changing each other. I thought about how they've been changed by the others they've been with, and I just thought the song fit. Here it is-Leonard and Penny's wedding!
Disclaimer-I don't own anything but Savannah.
Penny looked in the mirror. "There now, see that?" Bernadette said, coming up behind her. "You look beautiful!" Penny appreciated her friend's words, but seeing herself in the wedding dress, the big day finally here, only intensified the feelings inside her. She wrung her hands. "Calm down," Bernadette said in a soothing voice. "You're gorgeous. Leonard's going to be speechless when he sees you."
"Did I look this pale at the rehearsal?" she asked.
"I'm sure you weren't this nervous at the rehearsal," Bernadette pointed out.
"Yeah…" she looked back at her reflection and smiled. "I'm more relieved, to be honest." She gave a little laugh. "Remember all those guys I dated? Those jerks?" Her friend nodded. "All that wasted time…" Penny mused. "At least I've got the right guy now!"
"You do," Bernadette agreed. "And you know, Penny…don't think of those like Kurt as wasted time, per se, think of them as lessons…lessons that helped you become the girl you are today-the girl Leonard loves. What if you hadn't had your time with the others? Would you be someone that he could be with for the rest of his life?"
Penny could see Bernadette in the mirror, but she turned to face her anyway, pivoting slowly. "I've never thought of it that way before."
Knock knock knock "Penny?" Knock knock knock "Penny?" Knock knock knock "Penny?"
"Should we ignore him?" Bernadette asked.
"No, answer it," Penny said. "He's got Savannah. I asked him to bring her by before we got started." She slipped her shoes off-they were uncomfortable-and turned to take her four-month-old daughter from Sheldon. "Hey, sweetheart," she said in her mother voice, "are you being good?"
"'Good' is such a generic term, Penny," Sheldon said. "However, if the bedrock of your inquiry involves her decibel level, she has been very quiet."
Penny was in such a good mood she didn't feel the prick of annoyance at Sheldon's smart-mouth comments. "It was, thank you," she said, cuddling Savannah. The infant was awake and smiling, her toothless mouth open in a true grin. "You've got Daddy's smile," she told Savannah, touching her fingertip to the baby's nose. "So, you're behaving, are you?"
"Odd," Sheldon mused aloud to himself. "Asking questions not appearing to be in the rhetorical state to a subject clearly unable to answer…interesting."
Ignoring him, Penny kissed Savannah's forehead. "Okay, sweetie, Mommy and Daddy are going to go and get married, so just go with Sheldon now."
"Why are you telling her to go with me? Sheldon asked. "She cannot walk, and has no other means of independent transportation." Penny just shook her head and handed Savannah over. "Did she eat?"
"Mom fed her. She took the entire bottle," Sheldon said.
"Good. She'll probably be pretty quiet today, then," Penny said. Sheldon put Savannah back in the carrier and left with her.
"I've said this a million times, I know," Bernadette said, "but she looks exactly like the two of you."
Penny smiled proudly. "She does, doesn't she?" Looking back in the mirror, she caught sight of the time. "Where are Cheryl and Missy?"
"Right here!" Missy came in the door her brother had just left, Cheryl in tow. "Are you ready to go and get married?" She gave a playful, light punch to Penny's arm.
Penny swallowed. Stepping into her shoes, she smiled, the excitement filling her again. "Yes, I'm ready," she told them. "Let's go."
The wedding was in the park near the apartment, the site of the infamous kite-fight. It was where Leonard and Penny had taken their non-stress walks while she was pregnant, and where they took Savannah on warmer, sunny days. Days just like this one-the sun was out, not a cloud in the sky, and there was the gentlest of breezes. The wedding wasn't elaborate, as money was still tight, but it was enough to be memorable. Folding chairs were set in two sections, the aisle forming in the middle. In the front was a podium and arch filled with flowers, where the green grass set off the white colors of the arch perfectly. It was there, near just to the side of the podium, that Leonard stood. Raj and Howard stood near him. He'd wanted Sheldon to be in the wedding, but the theoretical physicist was the only one aside from her parents who could keep Savannah quiet should she cry. He was in the front row, the baby in her carrier next to him.
There weren't too many people there-just those from the welcome home party, the Cheesecake Factory, and Leonard's work. Their parents couldn't come; Leonard's had work and really weren't that interested, and Penny's couldn't afford it-though they had at least wished them well.
Missy came out from the small building in which Penny was getting ready and signaled the piano player and the assemblage at the front that it was time to start. Leonard turned to his friends. "Is my tie on straight?"
They nodded. Turning to the front, he couldn't believe it. After years of trial and turmoil, after the fiercest relationship tests ever, he and Penny were finally…here.
There's a place I've been lookin' for
That took me in and out of buildings
Behind windows, walls, and doors
And I thought I found it-
Couple times, even settled down.
And I'd hang around just long enough
To find my way back out.
I know now: the place that I was trying to reach
Was you, right here in front of me!
Penny appeared from behind the building. She looked wonderful; she always did, but when she was smiling she was even more so. Today she was absolutely glowing. When their eyes met, she let go of the bouquet for a moment to blow him a kiss.
And I wouldn't change a thing!
I'd walk right back through the rain!
Back to every broken heart
On the day that it was breakin'!
And I'd relive all the years,
And be thankful for the tears,
I've cried with every stumbled step
That led to you-and got me here, right here.
Penny began to walk. No one was there to give her away, but, in a way, it made her feel more like this was her choice. No man was handing her over to another man and his family-she was making the decision herself. Missy, Bernadette, and Cheryl behind her, she came down the aisle, keeping her eyes forward and trained on Leonard-Leonard. Not Kurt or Mike, no, not them, or the others who had hurt her. She wasn't marrying a man who cared more about himself or someone who spent more time gambling than with her-she was marrying Leonard.
It's amazing what I let my heart go through
To get me where it got me
In this moment here with you
And it passed me by…
God knows how many times!
I was so caught up in holding
What I never thought I'd find.
I know now, there's a million roads I had to take
To get me in your arms this way!
She reached the front, and allowed herself a quick glance to the left to see her daughter. Savannah was sleeping peacefully, and Sheldon, obviously at the prompting of his mother beside him, had his hand on the carrier, rocking it gently as he watched the wedding. Part of Penny wished that she'd be awake, so years later she wouldn't have to tell her "you slept through our wedding!" but it was better than her crying throughout the ceremony, she supposed. Looking at Leonard again, she came up beside him and took his hand. They faced the priest, and he began the ceremony.
And I wouldn't change a thing!
I'd walk right back through the rain!
Back to every broken heart
On the day that it was breakin'
And I'd relive all the years
And be thankful for the tears
I've cried with every stumbled step
That led to you and got me here
In a love I never thought I'd get to get to – here…
Their eyes met and held while the priest talked. He gave her hand a squeeze, and it was then she noticed that his eyes, like hers, were watering.
And if that's the road
God made me take to be with you…
"I do," Leonard replied when it was time.
"I do," Penny vowed at her turn.
Then I wouldn't change a thing!
I'd walk right back through the rain!
Back to every broken heart
On the day that it was breakin'
And I'd relive all the years
And be thankful for the tears
I've cried with every stumbled step
That led to you and got me here
"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride."
He put his hands on her sides and drew her close. She smiled at him, her eyes moist. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and their lips met to cheers of the crowd. "I love you," she whispered when they broke apart for the briefest of moments.
"I love you, too," he whispered back.
And I'd relive all the years
And be thankful for the tears
I've cried with every stumbled step
That led to you and got me here, right here
Oh, baby - Oooh
Oh, got me…here.
I hoped you all liked it-I've been to one wedding, when I was 6, so I couldn't do too much detail...let me know what you thought!