Chapter 1: Home cooking.

A/N: I've been thinking about this for a little while. I got the inspiration from a Joni Mitchell song. It will be mostly Leonard and Penny, but the rest of the cast will figure in it as well. It will be a little long, but I hope you enjoy it. Reviews are always, always appreciated.

Oh, I own absolutely nothing having to do with The Big Bang Theory. I just really, really enjoy the show and the characters.

The young blonde woman walked up North Los Robles Avenue after turning from Colorado Boulevard. She carried three canvas bags filled with groceries in advance of trying a new creation that evening. She had been experimenting, cooking different dinners that she saw on cooking shows or had read about in gourmet magazines. In the past she was not a big success in the kitchen, but she was getting better. She was no longer afraid to try new things and she figured practice makes perfect. Her efforts had not gone unnoticed. Her close-knit group of friends at first were wary of trying her attempts, but with each new recipe, that wariness was disappearing. Her friends had even begun to forgo picking up take-out meals on regularly scheduled nights for doing so. They looked forward to "Chef Penny" nights.

Two men walking in the opposite direction approached her, involved in their conversation. When they spotted her, they stopped speaking and watched her walk by. One even looked over his shoulder as she passed. She shook her head and smirked. She knew she was pretty, maybe in a regular "girl next door" sort of way. A little above average, maybe, but she would never subscribe to the opinion that she was "drop dead gorgeous". If that were true, she reasoned, she wouldn't have such a hard time finding the elusive acting job she had been searching for since she arrived in Pasadena from Nebraska five years ago. There was one person who thought she was "DDG", and thinking of him made her smile. Smile big.

Leonard had been home from the North Sea for nearly three weeks. After four long months away, she was elated by his return. She knew that she would miss him while he was on the scientific expedition (he was a physicist). She had experienced that five years ago when he went to the North Pole with Sheldon, Raj and Howard, but her love for him was now much deeper than it was then and his absence this time struck her to the core.

But that point was moot. He was back with her now. Yes. She was quite, quite happy.

As she approached number 2311, her building, she noticed the young girl sitting on the bench near the entry. She had been seeing this girl often recently. In the park, near the shops in Old Town. She had even seen her on the bus once. She was somewhere between 15 and 17. It was hard for her to pin it down closer than that. She was slender and of average height-a little taller than her and Leonard; not nearly as tall as Sheldon.

"Hi there!" she greeted her brightly. "It is a beautiful day today, don't you think? My name is Penny. Are you visiting someone in the building?"

"Hello" she answered softly. "No. I don't know anyone. I was just sitting here watching those birds and some squirrels over there" she gestured with her head across the street to the park. "Is it okay? I'm not loitering, I swear!"

"Oh no sweetie" Penny answered sympathetically. It doesn't matter to me you can sit here as long as you want." Penny began to get concerned. The girl smiled at her shyly.

Penny put down her bags and sat down next to her. Again she said "my name is Penny. What's yours?"

"Lydia" she answered.

"Well it's nice to meet you Lydia. Do you live around here?"

"Yeah. I live around the corner down off of Colorado. I haven't lived here long. Well I gotta go. Nice to meet you." She ran off abruptly, crossing the street against traffic. Penny watched her go, shrugged her shoulders and entered her building.

Leonard had mentioned chicken l'orange recently, so she thought she would try it. The recipe said that it would take forty minutes. She allowed for 50 minutes in case she had any problems, and got down to work. It was 3:45. Leonard would be home from work by 6:10. Plenty of time.

She was done by 4:40. She was quite pleased with herself. Now she could pick up her apartment, take a quick shower and spruce herself up before Leonard arrived.

Leonard Hofstadter and Sheldon Cooper trudged up the four flights of stairs to apartment 4A, as the elevator had been out of service for some time. Sheldon got his keys out, unlocked the door and asked his room mate "are you coming in or are you going over to Penny's".

"I'm going straight over there. She's making me a special dinner tonight."

"Ohhhhh. Sheldon said with a smile. I'll look forward to your culinary review". With that, Sheldon entered 4A and closed the door behind him.

Before he could knock on Penny's door, it was flung open and she greeted him her usual "hey you", gave him a huge hug and a quite passionate kiss. Very deep and very long.

"Now that is the best welcome I've had in a long time!" he said laughing.

"What, are you saying my greetings up to now have been below par?"

"Ummmm, errrr ahhh…."

"Don't worry hot stuff. Just teasing you."

They entered apartment 4B and Leonard immediately closed his eyes and breathed in deeply the wonderful aroma wafting his way.

"That smells absolutely magnificent" he said with a hungry look. "What have you created tonight?"

She took him by the hand, led him to the fully set table and sat him in his chair saying "wait right here and you'll see."

She returned with two plates placed one in front of him, the other at her place and said "Chicken l'orange a la Penny!"

"This looks and smells fantastic. How did you know I liked chicken l'orange?"

"I do pay attention when you mention things to me you know."

Leonard smiled at her. Stood up and hugged and kissed her again. He then held her chair for her. She blushed, sat down and said "why thank you kind sir."

Later after they were done eating, they both sat on Penny's love seat; extremely full and extremely happy.

"I don't think I've been this full in a long time" she said. "It's still light out. Why don't we go for a walk in the park?"

"Great idea. I have got to walk this meal off" he replied.

She grabbed a sweater to put on over her sundress. Leonard took it to hold for her to put on. She titled her head, touched his face and said "thank you."

They walked along the paths in the park, his arm around her shoulders, her arm around his waist. She moved her hand down and put it in his back pocket and leaned her head on his shoulder. She was in a state of bliss.

She suddenly jerked her head up as she saw Lydia walking quickly ahead of them on a path that veered off to the left.

"Do you see that girl over there Leonard?"

"What girl?" Penny began to walk quicker and dragged Leonard to keep up with her. "There, up ahead. She is wearing a pink top and jeans!"

"Oh yeah. I see her. What's going on."

Lydia was too quick and had too much of a head start. She was soon out of view.

"I've been seeing her all over the place for about a week. When I came home tonight she was sitting on the bench outside our place. I tried to start up a conversation with her, but she left kind of in a rush."

"Maybe she's just shy" He said it almost like a question.

"Maybe. There is just something about her. I can't put my finger on it. I'm a little worried about her."

"Well it's getting dark now. Let's turn around and go home. Tomorrow is Saturday. I'm off and you have the noon to 7:00 shift. We can get up in the morning and look around for her."

"Thanks honey. I appreciate that."

Changing the subject, she said, "how would you like to thank the chef for the wonderful meal you had tonight."

"Sure, you name it!" he said with a grin.

"It will involve you spending the night….." she said playfully.

"Way to twist my arm!"