The wedding was perfect. No hymns, no readings, no fuss (apart from one or two minor distractions from Mrs Wolowitz). Just two people who loved each other and their five close friends, who stood proudly on the top of an apartment complex as the Google satellite passed over Pasadena.
Since the wedding, Howard Wolowitz was launched into orbit to the International Space Station, leaving his new wife Bernadette grounded and learning to carry on as normal without her husband, who was thousands of miles away in the heavens. After four painful weeks, Howard had safely returned back to Earth and everyone had breathed a sigh of relief. And now that he'd gotten over his post-space blues, his feet were in use again after being weightless for the whole mission and his bowel movements had (almost) returned to normal, he and Bernadette finally held their postponed wedding reception in the famous Tournament House, surrounded by their close friends and family.
"So you don't think I've made a ridiculous mistake?" Bernadette whispered to Penny and Amy. "I mean, we both have overbearing mothers but that's not the only reason why I married Howard."
Amy shook her head. "Not at all." She glanced over at Howard, who was laughing loudly at a joke Raj had told him. "As your Maid of Honour, I can confirm you wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't the right path to take. Plus it gave me a third chance to wear my Maid of Honour dress", she grinned and smoothed down the pink material.
"It totally is!" Penny swung in and planted a great big kiss on Bernadette, smudging pink lipstick all over her face. "He may be a creepy, flirtatious sex pest in my eyes, but he's super in love with you and I'm pretty sure that's the main factor to take into consideration before you hitch your wagon. Plus, wow, classiest wagon ever, by the way. The guy behind the bar keeps giving me free drinks."
"You and your alcohol," Bernadette giggled and playfully slapped Penny's mass of blonde curls. "But you're right, I couldn't not marry him. He's so sweet."
"Yeah, sweet. I'm totally only getting married when the guy can rent out my favourite romantic place for an entire Saturday evening, the poor bastard." Penny sighed and sank a full flute of champagne. As a hand slid around her waist and pulled her close, she was reminded of the guy who was in the process of trying to capture her heart.
"So this is the nicest wedding reception I think I've ever been to," he gently pressed his lips against her skin. "And I have the hottest date here."
"Firstly, there are only eight girls here and secondly, it's still not even true," she said, turning to gaze into Leonard's eyes through his lenses. "Bernadette looks stunning, Amy looks adorable in that dress-"
"Will you just please take the compliment?" Leonard shook his head.
Penny wrinkled her nose and accepted a kiss, silently thanking her lucky stars. Her relationship with Leonard hadn't always been easy, and at times they had got far too serious, far too quickly. Leonard had recently proposed marriage to Penny during sex, and she had put the brakes on and Leonard had spent the past few weeks cooling his heels, pretending he wasn't ready to start dating again but had really wondered when it would be ok to start fresh with Penny. Eventually he'd knocked on her apartment door and, thank God, Kirk and Stephen Hawking, she'd opened it. Now they were both just trying to have fun and ignore the constant burning feelings in their stomachs. Leonard felt that this was it, Penny was the one, although Penny herself was confused, and wasn't sure whether she could see a future with the experimental physicist. None of them wanted a performance of the previous times. Between his on/off relationships with Penny, Leonard had been with several other girls and not once, not for a moment, had he felt so scared to lose her as he did when he lay wide awake at night, watching Penny sleep.
For the last few weeks, Leonard had been the heartbreakingly wonderful boyfriend Penny could have ever imagined. He brought her flowers, including the sunflower that she'd pinned in her hair along with the Penny Blossoms for the reception. He kept her company with candlelit dinners when she couldn't afford to pay her electricity bill (and then promptly ended up paying her electricity bill), made breakfast before she'd even woken up and even trekked over to Amy's apartment to pick her up after a girl's night out, complete with a hangover-friendly pizza and didn't mind when she predominantly threw up in his car on the way home.
Penny peered up and down the table as they sat down for dinner and couldn't remember a time where she'd felt so happy. So what if these weren't the people she'd grown up with, or didn't have similar interests to her? They were the people who had taught her the differences between Star Wars and Star Trek, how to play chess and realistically, how terrible her driving actually is.
"I'm so jealous of you and Bernadette", Amy nudged Penny tipsily. "She's now happily married to the turtleneck of her dreams, you've got sweat jackets over there and me? Well, it took me a year just to get Flash t-shirts to give me a cuddle."
"I was just having a lovely quiet moment, thinking how lucky I am to have found such amazing friends here in LA," she tapped Amy's hand. "And then you have to go and ruin it with your silly characteristic male clothing devices."
"You know you love me really, bestie." Amy leaned her head on Penny's shoulder and chucked her under the chin. "But if I can't get Sheldon to increase his feelings for me soon I may have to spend my entire free time learning how to play World of Warcraft. Or I could just give up," she added, sadly.
Penny looked over at Sheldon, who was giving his very best listening face to Leonard and Stuart from the comic book store. For the most part, Penny would rather sit through a three-hour lecture on energy particles than go on a date with Dr. Whack-a-Doodle. But in the past, she had seen a different side to him, and recently helped him patch up his relationship with Amy. Their relationship may be the most ridiculous one Penny's ever witnessed, as well as moving at the pace of an arthritic snail, however she had hope for them both.
"Don't worry sweetie, he'll come out of his Hobbit house soon enough. Drink wine, it'll ease the pain." Penny splashed some more red into Amy's glass, who then proceeded to knock it back.
"Alright bestie, though I'll be sad if you beat me down the aisle with Leonard. This Maid of Honour dress can only cope with so many weddings."
"Amy!" Penny hissed quietly. "Shut up! We've been back together for like, two minutes. You'll jinx it."
"I don't know if that is possible," Amy replied, waving her hand in the air. "According to my mental statistics, you and Leonard have only spent a maximum of four nights apart since you got back together. This implies that you are both into each other and enjoy each other's company. Now that Howard and Bernadette are married this may result in an increase of feelings between yourself and Leonard. You cannot let him become attracted to the more tasteful options. And Carrie Bradshaw says you have to get something to wear for the rest of your life."
"We're taking things slowly and you know it. I've hurt him before and this time I'm trying hard to make it work. And I didn't think you were the Sex and the City type."
"I know. It's an obvious factor to our social group and we are all pleased for you. The Sex and the City part is new, I only watch it on evenings when I tell Sheldon I'm going to bed early. However it doesn't improve my self-esteem. Watching women sabotaging beautiful men in the bedroom only reminds me of my own man who only let me in his room once to see his 25 cats. Oh good, the food's here."
"Yes, because I really feel like eating right now." Penny muttered.