Hey everyone! I'm trying my hand at another BBT fic...this idea came to me after watching the season 6 finale. I'm still fairly new at writing the characters so I hope I did them justice. Hope it's not too bad! Enjoy! =)

Penny sighed as she stared out the window of her apartment, looking down at the busying streets of Pasadena, watching car after car zip by in an orderly fashion. Here she was, sitting idly by on a Saturday night with no plans whatsoever. Saturday nights were usually reserved for…she didn't want to think about it too much right now. It had only been two days but it felt more like two years to her. It was hard enough losing him to something like this once, but twice? She had no idea how she was going to get through these four months without Leonard around. At least this time, Howard, Bernadette, Raj, Amy and Sheldon were all around, and for that she was incredibly thankful, but still.

None of them were the man she loved.

Looking over at the clock, she blinked when she saw the time. 8:45 and here she was with nothing to do. Howard and Bernadette were out with her parents. Sheldon and Amy were on their monthly date night. And since Raj could now talk to women without the aid of alcohol, he was out at bars looking to find someone special for himself. She wasn't going to look for pity or anything like that though. Bernadette went without Howard for close to five months and he was up in space, not on some boat on the North Sea. She could get through this. She knew she could. She had her best friends all around to help her through it all. She tried her best to ignore that little feeling of doubt that was constantly gnawing away at her.

Moving over to her couch, she grabbed the remote and began to flip through the channels, her boredom growing with each crappy infomercial and rerun that appeared before her eyes. Just when she was about to reach her wits end, she heard a soft knock at the door. When she didn't hear two more knocks followed up by her name being called out, she breathed a sigh of relief. "Who is it?", she asked aloud as she flipped through another set of channels, rolling her eyes once more. It was getting to be ridiculous now.

"Penny? It's me, Amy. Can I come in?", she heard the neurobiologist ask from behind the door. When she didn't immediately respond, she heard Amy sigh and speak out again. "Don't worry, Sheldon's not with me, he's across the hall."

"Come on in then, the door's open", she responded as she watched Amy enter and give her a small wave before being joined on the couch. The two of them remained that way for a few moments, in silence as they watched the television. Penny had finally settled on a viewing of The Dark Knight, something she knew that Leonard would be no doubt thrilled about if he were here to witness it. It made her feel happy and sad all at once.

"Hey…how're you holding up?", Amy asked after a few more moments of silence passed. When Penny gave her a sideways glance, she continued on. "I only ask because you're watching Batman, and I know you'd only normally watch something like that if Leonard was around…"

Penny turned her attention from the television to Amy and blinked once more. It didn't really settle into her head until she heard Christian Bale yell something incoherent into a thug's face that she was indeed watching something that she'd only be caught dead watching with Leonard. Closing her eyes and shaking her head for a moment, she let another sigh escape her lips as she settled deeper into her couch and started wondering again just how she'd survive four months without him.

"I guess I'm doing okay. I'm still struggling with getting used to the fact that I can't go across the hall and see his smile for the next four months. But it's not like I haven't dealt with this before…", she said, trailing off, remembering just four short years ago how brutal it was to not only not have Leonard around, but also Sheldon, Raj and Howard too. She had no choice but to throw herself into working at the Cheesecake Factory every day, trying her best to ignore the void that the four of them left. It was looking like she had no choice but to do the same thing again now.

She had been trying to tell herself that it wasn't as bad now that it was only Leonard who was gone, but she knew deep down that she was kidding herself. She didn't feel the way she did for him four years ago that she did now. She loved him. She had told him as much without any fear or hesitation in her voice. And the look on his face when she told him that was priceless. So she was just supposed to act like everything was going to be okay? She didn't know how she'd manage to pull that off.

"I can only imagine how you must feel right now, bestie", Amy replied, placing her hand delicately on her best friend's shoulder. She didn't dare think how altered her life would be right now had it been Sheldon who went on that expedition instead of Leonard. "Don't worry though. You still have me and Bernadette and the guys. And besides, it's only four months! Before you know it, he'll be back in a flash and everything will be A-Okay again."

Penny looked to Amy and gave her a light smile. She knew her "bestie" was trying her best to make a crappy situation better any way she could, and she really appreciated it, but it still didn't change the fact that she wasn't going to be waking up to Leonard's arms wrapped protectively around her body for the time being. You couldn't just replace something like that at the snap of a finger. Now she was starting to get depressed again…

"Yeah. I'm sure everything will be fine. I have all of you guys around to pick me up...hey, can I ask you a question, Ames?"

"Sure, what's up?"

Penny looked around nervously, as if she was expecting Leonard to appear out of thin air right in front of her. She wasn't so sure she should be divulging this tidbit of information to Amy, fearing that she then might turn around and tell Sheldon, who would then be unable to keep the secret and thusly blab it to Howard, Raj and Bernadette and then it would just be one big mess that she didn't want to have to clean up. But hell, she was used to taking risks and making stupid decisions…what was telling Amy this secret really going to do? She figured she'd throw caution to the wind one more time.

"Do you promise me not to say anything to anyone, especially Sheldon?", she asked, watching how Amy squirmed around a bit uncomfortably at the request. She knew that the neurobiologist wouldn't have an issue keeping this from Bernadette, Howard and Raj, but Sheldon? He was the wild card here. "Amy pleeeeeeease. Nobody can know what I'm about to tell you, okay? Especially Sheldon."

Amy pushed her glasses up and sighed, tapping her fingers rapidly on her knees. She didn't like the idea of keeping something from her boyfriend, but this was her best friend coming to her in her time of need. How could she say no to that? "All right. I promise not to say anything", she replied, holding out her pinky finger for Penny to take and pinky swear with.

"Okay then", Penny said, taking a deep breath. "On Valentine's Day, Bernadette, Howard, Leonard and I went out for a nice dinner that ended up not being so nice. Howard and Bernadette argued over husband-wife stuff, and I saw an ex-boyfriend propose to the bitch who took him from me…"

"And that lead to what…?", Amy asked, unsure of where this conversation was going and what exactly was so secretive about it.

"Leonard tried proposing again, and I shot him down before he could even ask", she said, watching as Amy mouthed 'oh' and shook her head, remembering the first time when Penny had told her that Leonard had proposed. She couldn't believe that he had tried doing it again, given the nature of the situation that was just described to her.

"So after that, we came back here and we talked it out…he was mad at me for basically ruining our evening, and gosh…I told him how freaked out I am at the prospect of being married forever, and then he told me that he promised to never ask me to marry him again…and then told me that if we wanted to get married, I'd have to be the one to propose to him", Penny finished off with, taking a deep breath and looking Amy straight in the eye for any kind of reaction to her confession. She kept her hands folded in her lap, her lips pursed together, debating on what the appropriate thing to say would be.

"Well…that's very…interesting", she replied, somewhat at a loss for words. "Not very traditional, but I think it could work, given the dynamic of your relationship with Leonard. I mean—"

"I'm seriously thinking about doing it."

That single statement stopped Amy from saying anything else. Shifting around on the couch to face her blonde headed best friend, her jaw hung slightly and her eyes grew wide. Where the hell did that come from, she wondered to herself. Was she kidding? She had to have been. There was no way someone could do such an about face when it came to a serious topic like this. But how would she know how Penny was currently feeling about the whole thing? There was only one way to find out.

"I…don't know what to say. Are you sure? I mean, only a few months ago, you were terrified at the notion of being locked down forever like that…why the sudden change in attitude?"

"It still does terrify me, Ames, believe me, it's still scary to think about. But…things have changed so much between me and Leonard, and so much of it is for the better", she said, seeing how Amy gave her a questioning look. "Like for example, a few years ago, if he had come to me with his proposition of being away on the North Sea for four months, I'd have told him that I wouldn't want him to go…I was selfish like that. But now…"

"Now…?"

Penny shut her eyes and sighed for a moment, running a hand through her long blonde mane. There was no other way for her to put it. "I love him so much. I want to be able to show him just how much."

Amy began to think, resting her hand underneath her chin as she let the words sink into her brain. After giving herself a moment to think about it, she broke the silence. "Well, how about this…you said that Leonard's gone for four months, correct?", she asked, getting a nod of the head from Penny. "Okay then. You only really started to develop these much stronger feelings for Leonard recently, right?", she asked once more, getting another nod of the head. "I say you take it month by month until he returns, then."

A confused look grew on Penny's face as she tilted her head sideways. "What do you mean, month by month?"

"What I mean is you should really, really think about this, bestie. Give yourself the time to warm up to it and weigh the many different outcomes of any decision. And, in four months, if you feel the way that you do now, then you should definitely go ahead and do it. And if not…then take your time. You know he's not going to rush you anymore."

Penny thought about it hard for a couple of minutes, silence engulfing the room. She racked her mind, tossing answers back and forth off of the walls of her brain before finally settling on one. Looking to Amy, she nodded her head and smiled.

"You know what…that's not a bad idea at all, Ames. I'll do just that…I can wait these four months, however painful without Leonard, and really think this all through."

"And we'll all be there with you every step of—", she trailed off upon hearing her phone ring. Pulling it out of her bag, she rolled her eyes as she accepted the call and pressed the device to her ear. "Yes, Sheldon? What do you mean you…you couldn't come across the hall and tell me this? No, don't worry, I'll be right over…"

She hung up and looked to Penny, who was trying her hardest to suppress a giggle. "Sheldon got a paper cut. I have to go…I'll talk to you later, bestie. And remember! Give it plenty of thought!"

She nodded and waved goodbye as Amy departed, sinking deeper into her couch. Amy was right. She had to think this through fully, see if this wasn't just a severe case of her missing the crap out of Leonard after only two days of him being away. She had four whole months to see where she stood, and she'd have her best friends there every step of the way to help guide her.

It still meant no Leonard for those four months. And no matter how positively she tried to spin it, it was still going to be hard on her heart.

And that's that for the first chapter! I hope you all enjoyed...until next time! =)