Disclaimer: I own nothing of TBBT.
Penny checked her phone for a third time before shoving it back into her jacket pocket. What was keeping him? She knew Leonard had said he had an errand to run before coming back to pick her up, but even so, she didn't like to be kept waiting. Not only that, she wasn't accustomed to getting up this early on a Saturday morning. Penny much preferred to sleep in if she wasn't working. Whatever he had in mind had better be worth it!
The blonde aspiring actress was waiting outside 2311 North Los Robles Avenue dressed in jeans, her leather jacket, and leather boots that came half way up her calves. She had left her handbag in her apartment, as Leonard told her she wouldn't need it. He had been tight-lipped about what he was planning for today, but insisted on her being dressed in this particular manner.
As Penny paced impatiently on the sidewalk in front of the apartment building, she felt a vibration and pulled out her phone once again. Not recognizing the number displayed, she answered it with a tentative greeting.
"Hello? Yes, this is she, to whom am I speaking?"
She listened intently to the authoritative voice on the other end, a look of horror spreading across her face.
"What? Oh my god, no, nonononono!" she shouted frantically into the phone as she ran back into the building.
Penny raced up the stairs to her apartment to get her car keys, taking the steps two at a time. She almost ran over Sheldon coming out of his and Leonard's apartment as she reached the fourth floor landing. The theoretical physicist stared at her in befuddlement as Penny struggled desperately to get her apartment door open. As she ran back out and down the stairs he finally remembered to ask what the heck was going on.
"Leonard...accident...motorcycle...hospital!" was all he could make out as she sped down to the lobby.
"Drat!" said Sheldon to himself, knowing he would not catch up to his nearly hysterical neighbor before she was out of the apartment building's parking lot. He walked briskly into 4A to fetch his bus pants.
"Please don't be dying, or in a coma, or paralyzed, or..." Penny mumbled to herself, enumerating all the dreadful possible outcomes over and over again as she drove to the hospital.
"So help me, Leonard Hofstadter, if you leave me now, when everything's going so good, I'll never forgive you," she rasped. She didn't mean that, Penny thought to herself with shame. It was just the fear talking. It had taken her a long time to realize it, but she loved him with all her heart and couldn't bear the thought that he could be gone from her life forever. Penny knew that if Leonard were dying, she would stay by his side to his last breath. She would do her best to make him feel loved during whatever time he had left. There would be a lifetime for tears afterward.
"And what if he isn't dying?" she thought, "What if he's paralyzed?" Could she, would she have the strength to look after him for the rest of their lives? She would find it, she told herself with determination.
Sheldon paced the floor of his apartment as he spoke on the phone with Amy. He had decided to spare himself the indignation of riding the bus. Besides, he wouldn't know where to go until Penny finally got around to replying to his abundant text messages.
"Yes...no. I don't know why Penny mentioned a motorcycle; it must have been involved in the accident in some way. Okay, I'll be ready." he sighed as he pressed the button to end the call. Although he was reluctant to admit it, Leonard was his best friend and Sheldon was afraid for him. As he waited, Sheldon went about getting in touch with their small circle of friends. He was grateful Amy was coming to get him. He needed a hand to hold.
Penny sat in her car in the hospital parking lot, willing herself to go in. Her knuckles were white from the death grip she had on the steering wheel, her eyes red and puffy from crying. Multiple text message alerts from her phone finally stirred her into activity. She answered the latest one from Sheldon, composed herself, and headed into the hospital.
A/N; A little more angst than I had originally wanted, but I promise it will get lighter.