A/N - So twitter got me to upload something today after I made the mistake of sharing just how much unpublished stuff I have on my Hello Kitty USB (it's really cool). Molly picked a number, and this is the number file it was. Leonard and Penny, with some Shenny friendship goodness. Set during/after Leonard's trip to the North Sea. I guess this is a good one to have upload for the season finally being back and reflecting on Leonard being away! Hope you enjoy :) Let me know what you think! Happy weekend :)
"Can I sleep here tonight?"
Sheldon frowned in confusion as he took in the sight of Penny, red-eyed, in her Hello Kitty pajama shorts and Leonard's green recycle t-shirt, standing at his door. In her hands she clutched her phone and one of Leonard's hoodies.
"Please?" Penny asked, her voice breaking slightly.
"Alright." Sheldon stepped aside with a sigh, gesturing into the apartment. He closed the door behind her, and watched as she headed straight to the hallway. In his mind, a small light bulb switched on, and he cleared his throat. "Would you like a cup of tea, Penny?"
Stopping, she turned her head to look at him. "Yes please."
It was like looking after an upset child, Sheldon thought, as Penny curled up in Leonard's armchair. He switched on the kettle and let his mind admit that he understood why she was so upset. He himself had only just finished a comforting mug of hot tea, unable to sleep, knowing that his best friend was neither in the apartment nor the one directly across the hall from his. It was unsettling, and he hated change, but he knew that deep down, he just missed Leonard. He did not care for this emotion of missing somebody - Leonard had only been gone less than a day - but not even logic could argue that that was the emotion he felt. Not as much as Penny, clearly, but it did comfort him that there was somebody who felt that emotion too. He selected a Green Tea for her; he had seen Leonard buying packets of Green Tea and vaguely recalled explaining that it relaxed Penny when she had had a long day. Upon the instructions Leonard had left him, he put in one teaspoon of honey, before stirring it, and taking the mug over to Penny.
"Here you go." Sheldon said awkwardly, holding it out to her.
"Thank you." Penny took the mug, giving him a weak smile, holding the mug in her hands as she balanced it on her knee, which was covered by the hoodie.
"Please do not spill it or place it on the coffee table without a coaster."
"I know." Penny nodded.
Not really sure what to do, Sheldon sat down in his spot. Was he supposed to comfort her? Leonard had told him to 'take care of Penny', especially 'if she looks upset'. But he wasn't used to this, and he wasn't good at it either. Whenever he had tried to comfort people, they had said they were better off without his help. But he had promised Leonard, and he wanted that sailors hat. "Do you miss Leonard?"
Penny glared at him as though he had just asked what one plus one equaled. Was that not the right question to ask? "Yes," she replied dully.
"Oh." Sheldon nodded. Boy did he feel stupid right now. He hated that more than missing somebody. "Have you been in contact with him since he left?"
"No." Penny shook her head before taking a sip of her tea. "Too many stupid travelling hours."
"At least you'll have a whole twenty-four hours worth of stuff to talk about when you do contact him."
"Yeah, I'm sure Leonard wants to hear about how his girlfriend spent twenty-four hours completely miserable and helpless." Penny rolled her teary eyes.
"Actually, I believe that Leonard would find it comforting to hear that you are missing him considering he will probably be feeling the same way." Sheldon stated. "Though he will have far more companionship than you while he's away, I'm sure he'll find this easier."
"You're not making things better." Penny mumbled. They both sat in silence for a while, something they were both used to when in each other's company. Suddenly something dawned upon Penny. "Sheldon, it's after ten o'clock at night."
"Yes, I am aware of the time."
"Why are you up so late?" Penny raised a brow. "Aren't you usually in bed at like, half nine?"
"I was having a cup of tea." Sheldon replied awkwardly.
Smiling sweetly, Penny turned to look at Sheldon. "Aww, you miss Leonard as well!"
"I do not miss Leonard." Sheldon objected. "I am simply having trouble adjusting to the fact that he is not in the apartment, and he is not at your apartment, and he will not fill the apartment with the aroma of coffee beans in the morning."
"Whatever, Sheldon, you miss him."
"That is preposterous." Sheldon stood up, looking at Penny as though she were insane. "I'm going to bed right now before I have to endure any more of your nonsense."
"Alright." Penny giggled slightly. "I'll finish my tea and then wash it up."
"No, no." Sheldon turned from the bottom of the hallway to look at her. "You are a guest in distress, social convention dictates you put yourself at ease and I take care of tasks which may get in your way of finding comfort in the absence of your boyfriend."
"Aw," Penny tilted her head as she smiled. "Thank you, Sheldon."
"Yes, yes, you're welcome. Must we continue this conversation? It is well past my bedtime. Goodnight, Penny." Sheldon continued up the hallway, stopping just before he turned the corner to face Penny once more. "I hope you sleep well."
As he left for his bedroom, Penny threw her head back, wanting to yell how can I sleep well without Leonard? but knowing that he had only meant to be nice to her. For the next few minutes, she sat in silence, sipping at her tea, snuggled up to her boyfriend's hoodie on his armchair. She thought she could still smell him here, the gentle cologne lingering around her comfortingly, mixed with his shampoo and shaving cream, but she knew she could just as easily be imagining it. Finishing her tea, she sighed as she hauled herself off the comfort of the couch to place her mug in the sink.
It was only when she had run the tap quickly to leave some water in the mug that she realized she had been drinking green tea with honey. A smile flitted across her face at the thought of Leonard having told Sheldon how to make it right, and that it was indeed green tea with honey that she liked when she was tired or upset. Holding the hoodie up to her face, she breathed in the comforting scent as she walked towards Leonard's bedroom, shutting off the light as she went.
Once in Leonard's bedroom and the door was closed, a surge of emotion hit Penny. He was gone, really gone. It was tidy in the way one would tidy their room before leaving for a significant amount of time. A few noticeable figurines and photographs were missing. The closet door was shut and there wasn't a small pile of clothes on the chair. Her pajamas weren't hanging on the arm of the chair, and the laundry basket had none of his clothes and no random collection of her own underwear. His robe wasn't hanging on the door. She couldn't even bring herself to open the drawers and closet, knowing there'd be an abundance of the clothes she always teased him about but secretly really liked.
Stepping towards the mirror, she saw tears that she didn't know had fallen from her eyes. Shaking her head, she sighed, but didn't bother wiping them away. How could she physically miss him this much already? Four whole months of this... was she expected to be okay with knowing she wouldn't be with him for that long a time? Seven years they had been right across the hall from each other - aside from the three months of his previous expedition, and that had been difficult enough - and now for four months, he would be way further away.
There would be no texts to come over, night-time visits or entire consecutive days spend together. She would spend all of those days and nights by herself, perhaps sometimes with the company of her friends, but none of those nights would involve Leonard. For over a year now she hadn't gone so much as a week without seeing him, and a good part of that at least two nights per week had been spent with him.
Gently clutching the locket resting just below her neck, she frowned at herself in the mirror before turning away.
Now she had to agree with Sheldon. Change sucked.
Penny shrugged on his hoodie, zipping it up to the top and throwing the hood over her head, before pulling back the covers of his bed. She had managed to convince him not to change them, arguing that she'd do it for him, but knowing she just wanted to know they would still have that used feel to them. She slid in to his bed on her side, wrapping herself warmly in the covers, before grabbing the pillow he slept on and snuggling into it. For a good few minutes, she simply sobbed into his pillow, wishing more than anything that he was right there holding her. Just like she had before he'd left, when she'd finally let herself cry and admit how difficult this was for her. Only now this was impossible because he was gone, and the thought only made her cry even more.
Eventually, her tears subsided. Pulling her hand holding her phone out from beneath her covers, she stared at the photograph of herself with Leonard on the lock screen. Taken at his leaving party, the two of them were holding each other as close as was possible. Her arms around his neck, his around her waist, cheeks touching, smiling into the camera. She sniffed, lip trembling, and unlocked her phone, immediately going to her messages and clicking on the text thread which read Leonard with a little heart emoticon next to his name. Just beneath that was the last text he had sent her, reading Just on the plane now, have to switch off our phones. I'll call you when I've landed :) Don't text in case this only arrives when I'm there, don't want your phone bill piling up while I'm away! Hope I can get some sleep on this flight and I'm not sat next to a giant. Love you sweetheart xxx
Smiling to herself, she read the message over a few times, like she had been doing throughout the day. It was the little things, like making sure her phone bill wasn't going up when she text him abroad, that made her miss him even more. And the sweetheart of the end of the text that made her heart swell and a sweet smile play on her face, and of course the 'love you' that always made her feel just so, so happy.
Her thumb hit the box at the bottom and she began to type out a message to him, her need to just get things out overpowering everything in that moment.
I miss you so much already, Leonard. I know this text will probably cost me a lot but I just need to talk to you before I go to sleep. I'm in your bed, wearing your t-shirt and hoodie... I think they still smell like you but maybe that's just me trying to find some part of you still here. Sheldon made me a cup of green tea with honey, did you tell him about that? It was really sweet. He misses you too but he won't say it. Typical Sheldon, huh? But he doesn't miss you as much as I do. Balls. I'm crying again. I need to stop, I'm becoming so sappy because of you! Do you miss me already too? Counting down the days until you're back already. Maybe in this time I can take up another class to take my mind off of things. Something like psychology, maybe, to try making sense of what the hell is happening in my mind right now. Oh, your mom would have a field day. I'll bet she's proud of you even if she doesn't say it... you're working with Stephen Hawking! Hmm, bet there aren't many girlfriends who get to say their boyfriend is working with Hawking. I'm so proud of you :) I'll stop now before you end up with an essay, I already have one of those to write for my history class (thank you for teaching me all those essay tips, it's actually coming along much easier and my teacher said the draft was pretty impressive) so I'll wait until you call me to talk more. I miss you. I love you. Hope you got some sleep on the plane and you weren't sat next to a giant or a pretty lady. Hmm, hope I can get some sleep. Going to dream about my little homunculus! Love you baby xxx
Frowning, Penny re-read her text a few times. It was strange, looking at the words of her own heart through her own teary eyes. By the sixth time she had read it, she had managed to tell herself not to send it. Not only would it probably cost a fortune to send, but... these things could wait to be said in person. Leonard would prefer to hear them from her, rather than see them in a message that he would probably have to read hastily while navigating the airport and lugging his baggage around. She wanted him to hear her tell him these things, and she wanted to say them. She wanted to hear his reaction to each thing in that message, and waiting to call seemed more personal than a text message.
But she couldn't bring herself to delete the message. Instead, she simply clicked the lock button and put her phone down on his nightstand. The message was still there, with his, with his name, just not sent. That was enough. She'd be talking to him in the morning, maybe the afternoon, depending on how things went. Cuddling up to his pillow once more, the hand that had held her phone curled around her locket as she closed her eyes.
"I have to get up to drive Sheldon to work," Leonard mumbled, as his eyes blinked open. "Ugh."
"Mm, no." Penny wrapped her arms tighter around him.
"If I don't he's just going to come over here. He's already titled us his enemies." Leonard sighed, stroking Penny's arm with one hand, as the other played with her hair.
"I'll text Amy and tell her to take him to work. You can take him tomorrow. I just want one more full morning with you to make things better." Penny mumbled into his chest, before opening her eyes and lifting her head slightly to look at him. "Please?"
Leonard smiled at her, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Alright." He felt her drop her head back down gently to his chest, before frowning slightly. "Why just one more?"
Penny buried her head into his shoulder, holding him even tighter. "Because I spent the first five nights and the first five mornings without you writing long messages to you that I never sent. Now you're back, I need to make up for those with our first five nights and first five mornings back together, just with you, Leonard."