Here's just a small one shot the came to me after re-watching Big Bang. Set just after The Helium Insufficiency (9x06). Enjoy!
Leonard and Sheldon had just said goodbye to their new friend Kenny when Leonard heard his phone ring. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw it was Penny.
"Hey" Leonard answered. "Hey baby" said an obviously drunk Penny. "Are you ok?" Leonard asked. "No" she pouted "I miss you! Would you maybe be able to pick me up from Bernadette's, we started a drinking game based on a dating app which made Amy angry, so she left in a huff and left me here and I don't want to stay because you're not here and I miss you!". Leonard smiled "Ok, I'll come and get you, I'll be there in 10 minutes" Leonard replied already grabbing his keys and letting Sheldon know where he was going. "Thank you baby, hurry though! I love you lots" Penny replied with a smile on her face. "ok I'll see you soon" Leonard said about to hang up – "no wait! You didn't say you love me back" she pouted. "Sorry, of course I love you too" he laughed. "Good, now hurry, I wanna see your face" she said hanging up on him. Leonard sighed with a little chuckle as he got into his car to go and pick up his wife.
As he pulled in the driveway he could see her sat looking out of the window. As soon as she saw the car her face lit up and she quickly got up and ran out of the front door towards the car. Leonard was barely out of the car when Penny wrapped her arms around him pulling him into a tight hug. "hmm I missed you so much baby" she whispered not letting him go. "I missed you too, shall we get your things and head home?" he asked. "Ok" Penny replied, leaning back enough to kiss his lips. She leant back and smiled at him for a second before letting him go and leading him back in towards the house. Once inside, Leonard saw the reason for Penny's drunkenness. There were beer bottles all over the coffee table and floor plus a few empty wine bottles and glasses. Raj was passed out on the sofa, with Howard fast asleep on the floor with his head on the chair. He assumed that Bernadette and Stewart had gone to bed as they were no where to be seen. Penny negotiated her way through the mess to get her bag before coming back to join Leonard. "What happened here?" he asked. "We put Amy on a dating app" was all she replied before shouting "Bernie, Leonard is here so I'm leaving, see you soon" to which Bernadette replied with a loud groan coming from upstairs. The couple left the house and started to head back towards the car, hand in hand. Leonard held the door open for Penny as she slipped in thanking him and blowing a kiss. He then moved round to the driver's side, made sure she was strapped in then drove away from the Wolowitz household.
Half of the car journey was in silence until Penny blurted out "I'm so glad I'm with you and we're married and happy". He turned his head to her and saw her looking straight out to the road. "Me too" Leonard replied, a bit confused about her sudden outburst. "It's slim pickings out there I'm telling you, there are like no good looking guys, they're all weirdos who love their pets too much" she said, making Leonard laugh. "I'm so glad I don't have to worry about any of that anymore, that I have you and don't have to go on some dating site to meet new people. I don't say it enough but I really love being married to you" she said sincerely, looking towards him for the first time. Leonard smiled and said "I love being married to you too". "I'm serious, the dating world has changed. Now you can judge people on the way they look just by swiping right or left on a phone. I know we put Amy on it for a joke and made a game out of it but people like Stewart take it seriously" she continued. "I mean I would hate to think that someone can judge a person based on their looks alone, without even talking to them in real life first, like we said no to all these creepy looking guys but they could genuinely be lovely and we just dismissed them like that, I don't like it" she went quiet. Leonard chuckled quietly, and tried to lighten the mood by saying "If you had come across me on a dating site like that you would have swiped no instantly" Penny looked at him quickly before returning to the window. "I wouldn't have" she replied quietly. "come on Penny, you definitely didn't marry me because of my looks" Leonard said. "that's not true baby" she paused "I think you're very handsome, I was attracted to you from the moment we met" she said. Leonard was shocked, he didn't realise she had felt this way from the moment they had met. He knew he always had feeling for her- everyone did, Penny included, but to think she felt the same, he couldn't fathom it. She looked back at him when she didn't hear a reply, seeing his shocked look on his face. "Come on you had to have known, I thought me coming over all the time and hugging you and stuff make it pretty obvious, I wanted to spend more time with you because I liked you. I never really bothered with any of the other guys, maybe Sheldon but more to look after him like a brother. I wanted to see you because I was sad when I wasn't with you or if you were with someone else. I would randomly think about you throughout the day and would feel all fuzzy when I saw you- that used to really confused me because I had never felt like that about anyone, but I always found you attractive. I much later realised that what I was feeling was love". Leonard looked over at her and smiled and saw her grinning back at him. He knew she was only saying things like this out loud because she was drunk but he was glad that she told him. He leant his hand over to her thigh and squeezed it. She smiled and covered his hand with hers. They sat in silence for the rest of the way back.
When they returned, Leonard helped her out of the car, supporting her slightly as they slowly walked up the stairs to the forth floor. Penny suddenly stopped and stated, "thank you for saying yes and marrying me so I don't have to date people like Amy does now, I don't want to be with anyone else but you, I love you so much". "I love you too" he replied, grabbing her in a hug. She leant back and kissed him deeply. When she pulled back, she just gazed into his eyes. They stood like this for a few minutes, just looking into each other's eyes until Penny said that she was hungry, so they made their way back up to the forth floor. They entered apartment 4b as Leonard ordered pizza, and Penny sat on the couch, kicked her shoes off and sat cross-legged. When Leonard put the phone down, Penny said "Amy has been on dates with people, can you believe it? She didn't even tell us!". "Well she probably didn't want to make a big deal out of it as it's a new experience for her" Leonard said joining Penny on the sofa "she has come a long way since she met Sheldon, she's become a lot more comfortable within herself" Penny sighed and started to think about what Leonard had just said, Amy really had changed from being this socially awkward girl with bad fashion sense when they first met, to a girl that she can rely on, and talk to about anything, although the fashion sense still hadn't changed. She then started to think about how much she had seen Leonard change since she'd met him. He was still the king of nerds, there was no changing that, but he too had become more comfortable in his own skin, and with their relationship. When they first got together he would barely look her in the eye, they would spend most of their nights apart and he was so insecure about her leaving him (he turned out to be correct about this- but that's all changed now). Now they never spend a night apart and if they do neither of them get any sleep, he is able to comfortably talk to her and he seems a lot more secure in their relationship, he gets less jealous about guys looking at her, or if he does, he talks to her about it, rather than treat her differently or ignore her or the issue. She looks over at him on his phone and smiles, she moves closer to him until she is basically on his lap, her legs are over his lap and she leans into his chest. He puts down his phone and pulls her closer into his arms. "I love you, I love us and I love who we have become together" she said "I know I am slightly drunk right now but that's always been true, I will try and tell you more when I'm sober, I'm sorry that I don't". Leonard pulled her closer and said "I love you too, and us. I know you feel that way without you telling me, but its always nice to hear." As he kissed her on the head. Their intimate moment was interrupted by the pizza delivery boy. They both groaned as Leonard got up to pay for the pizza. They both sat and ate it quietly, Penny told him a bit more about this dating app game they played and some of they guys they found on there, and about this guy that Amy has been seeing. Leonard told her he was happy for her that she was moving on but that Sheldon would be heart broken to hear that she was trying to move on. Penny agreed and they made a silent agreement not to tell him.
When they finished their pizza, they returned to their original position on the couch before they ate and sat in silence with the TV on as noise in the background. Penny could feel herself beginning to fall asleep, the hangover slowly starting to hit since she had eaten. She looked up at Leonard who was concentrating on the TV and started to study his face. 'How could he not think I would find him attractive?' She thought. 'He was never the type of guy I would usually go for but that doesn't mean I didn't think he was attractive'. His hair to her was one of the things that stood out to her, yeah maybe he wasn't the best at 'taming' the curls, as she liked to put it, but it made him who he was, and she loved how thick and curly his hair was. She was so glad they were way past the awkward conversations with no eye contact because she loved looking into his eyes, she honestly thought she could get lost in them, the fact that he wasn't looking at her now made her slightly sad, but she carried on studying him. His nose was cute and small, well smaller than hers, although he would disagree. But she was drawn to his lips. He was so clever, she could easily get lost in the words that came out of his mouth, he has so much passion about science and she can easily sense when he is excited about something based on the way he talks about it. He also had the ability to make her forget everything with one kiss. She had often thought that his lips were magical, the cat was definitely still alive, even after getting married, maybe even more now than ever. She was pulled out of her thoughts by Leonard moving to look at her. They both smiled sweetly, staying this way for a few minutes. She slowly leant in for a kiss which was meant as an innocent peck but quickly escalated into her favourite hangover cure.
She woke up the next day with her head pounding, eager the water that had been placed on her bedside table by the person cuddled up behind her. She reached out for the bottle of water, downing the whole bottle before throwing it vaguely towards the bin. She checked her phone and saw that it was only 7am on a Saturday, mentally kicking herself for having a solid morning routine in the week. She then realised that her husband was still asleep and had his arms wrapped around her. She quickly nuzzled down into his arms, making him pull her closer where she slowly drifted back off to sleep, feeling safe within Leonard's arms, thinking about how glad she is that she doesn't have to ever go on a dating site. She has the guy she always wanted, and she didn't need any app to find him.