Hi guys! I'm back with my third story. My first attempt to write something more dramatic. I hope you will like it.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction using characters from The Big Bang Theory. I don't own any of the characters.
CHAPTER 1
Leonard and Penny sat on the table by the window in Penny's apartment and had dinner after a long day at work for both of them. Happy to be finally at home, enjoying each other's company, they talked about the events of the day. Penny had just told Leonard she got the biggest tip of her life during her afternoon shift at the Cheesecake Factory, because of a soaking wet shirt that was the result of spilling an entire tray of drinks on herself.
Leonard chuckled. He liked her stories from her workday at the Cheesecake Factory, but right now it was a little bit hard for him to pay attention. He was quite nervous and wriggled about on his chair. There was something he had to tell Penny. And he didn't know how she would take it.
"So, listen," he started when Penny had finished her story. "Do you remember when I said the similarities of the equations of general relativity and hydrodynamics suggest you could find the equivalent of Unruh radiation in a large body of water?"
Penny looked at him with a blank expression. "I thought I said that to you," she grinned.
Leonard had to chuckle again. "Anyway, a team from the University of Auckland in New Zealand has recently formed a partnership with Caltech and is looking into that, and I've been invited to join them."
Penny was happy for her boyfriend. "Wow. Good for you."
Leonard nodded. "Well, it is." He paused for a moment and looked at Penny with an uneasy expression on his face. "But, umm. You know, I'd be gone for a while."
Penny was alerted. "Gone for a while? What do you mean? It's not here at Caltech?"
Leonard shook his head, seeing the concern in her eyes. "I'm afraid not."
"Well, how long would you be gone?" she asked, dreading the answer.
"Well, umm..." Leonard paused for a moment. "Three, four months."
"Whoa." Penny's eyes opened wide. She was shocked, but tried to keep calm. "When would you leave?" she wanted to know.
"In two and a half weeks," he answered.
Penny was still in some kind of shock. "Wow. Oh, okay. Well, I'll just come visit you."
"That's the thing. You can't," Leonard sadly explained. "I'll be on a ship in the South Pacific."
Penny had to process this information. Not only would he be away for quite a long time, she also wouldn't be able to visit him during the whole time. "On a ship in the South Pacific? For four months?"
Leonard became nervous. "Yeah. And I'm a little worried because things between us have been so great, and I'd hate to do anything that screws that up."
Penny was worried too. But not because Leonard could do something stupid on that trip. No, she trusted him. She was worried because not having Leonard by her side for such a long time would be hard to bear, even with all their friends around her here in Pasadena. She doesn't want him to go. Not wanting to appear clingy or selfish she covered up her true feelings by saying something humorous. "Oh sweetie, if you're gonna screw things up, it's gonna be while you're here, not while you're away," she chuckled.
Leonard had to chuckle as well, but he quickly became serious again and looked into Penny's eyes. "Hey, if you want me to stay, just say it. In this case I won't go. One word from you is enough. It's as simple as that."
Penny was in an internal conflict now. With Leonard saying this, he built her a golden bridge to keep him here with her, but on the other hand, this was something he deserved as a scientist. "No. I mean, look, you have to go. This sounds like an amazing opportunity. I don't want to be the one who prevented you to be part of something that could lead to a scientific breakthrough," she reasoned. "No honey, denying you this, would be selfish."
Leonard took a bite of his food and smiled. He was glad, his girlfriend supported him.
"And I'm just basing that on how much I didn't understand what you said about it," she added with a giggle.
Leonard grinned. "Okay. I'll confirm the travel arrangements tomorrow."
Penny nodded. "Okay. Good." Actually this wasn't good. Quite the contrary. But under no circumstances she would deny him this excellent opportunity to enhance his scientific profile. She would suck it up.
Leonard sensed Penny's insecurity and took her hand. "And you'll see. Time will fly by," he assured her.
In the following two and a half weeks till Leonard's departure, they spent every minute together when they weren't at work. Leonard practially moved into Penny's apartment, much to the dismay of his roommate Sheldon. In this time of closeness the bond between Leonard and Penny grew stronger and stronger. Although Penny encouraged Leonard to go on this resarch trip, the newfound closeness of these two would make it extremely difficult to say goodbye, even on a temporary basis. The time ticked away inexorably, and the last night before Leonard would go away for a few months arrived much too soon for them.
Earlier the evening the gang threw Leonard a nice going-away party, with all wishing him the best on his trip. Even Sheldon had the heart to be happy for his roommate. Given the circumstances of the party the mood was quite relaxed and serene, but was brought down to some degree later by the fact that Raj's girlfriend Lucy had dumped him via text message.
When the party was over Leonard and Penny went into apartment 4B to let the evening fade out.
"Poor Raj," Penny said, taking off her shoes and flopped down on her couch.
Leonard also took off his shoes and sat down next to her. "It wasn't meant to be," he sighed.
"Let's not talk about Raj now. I will see how he's doing tomorrow after I brought you to the airport." Penny leaned over to Leonard and kissed him. "This is our last night, before you will be away for four months."
"Will you be okay?" Leonard asked her.
"Yes, I think I will be okay. I have my friends around me and like you said two weeks ago, 'Time will fly by'." She couldn't prevent some tears welling up in her eyes. "Will you be okay?" she asked with a slightly shaking voice.
He took Penny's hands and looked into her beautiful green eyes. "I think so. There's no doubt I will miss you dreadfully. When I'm on this ship the last thing I will think of before I fall asleep will be you and the first thing I will think of the next morning will be you as well. It will be extremely hard to be without you for such a long time. But I'll be back here with you in no time."
Penny nodded and blinked her tears away. The affectionate look in Leonard's eyes let her feel an overwhelming rush of love for Leonard and in the next moment her lips met his. They started to kiss, slow and tender at first but it became more and more passionate with every second. Only the need to catch their breath broke the kissing after a while. They looked deeply into their eyes. Penny's eyes were now almost black of arousal. "Come with me," she wispered in a seductive voice and grabbed Leonard's hand. They walked into Penny's bedroom, where they immediately resumed their kissing. Leonard started to run up with his hands on Penny's side, eventually coming to her back and unzipping the black dress, she wore for the party and pushed it upwards. Lifting her arms to make it easier for Leonard to pull the dress over her head, he did so and let it fall to the floor.
Standing before him just clad in her panties, Leonard's lips returned to Penny's and seeked entrance to her mouth. Their tongues were literally entangled for a while before he moved away across her jaw to her neck. Kissing this very sensitive spot below her ear send blissful sensations through her body to the point, an unvoluntary moan escaped her mouth. Leonard continued to explore Penny's body with his lips, planting gentle kisses all over her body.
Penny grabbed Leonard's jacket, threw it to the floor and began to unbutton his shirt. A few moments later he pulled down her panties, while Penny opened the belt of Leonard's pants and unzipped his pants. She grabbed the waistbands of both his pants and his shorts underneath and yanked them off with a jerk.
Lifting Penny up, she wrapped her legs tightly around Leonard's hip. Holding Penny, Leonard walked a few steps until he ran into the edge of the bed and kissing both fell onto it. Lying on the bed they continued their passionate kissing. Leonard pulled out all the stops of foreplay, which put Penny into thrills of ecstasy she had hardly ever experienced in this intensity before.
When Leonard and Penny's bodies finally joined, both let out a deep moan of pleasure. With her legs wrapped around his back, the love making that followed was gentle and tender, an expression of the deep love they felt for each other. At one point Penny took over the control. Sitting on top of Leonard, her slow and deliberate movements caused a feeling of pure bliss for him.
After a while her movements gradually became sort of frantic though, giving their love making a feeling of desperation, especially from Penny's side, knowing they wouldn't feel each other this way for a long time. Her movements on Leonard becoming more and more fierce. It was as if Penny would fall into a trance-like state. And suddenly tears began to stream down from her closed eyes.
Leonard saw the tears and the desperation in her movements, and he knew why. Resting his hands on her hips, he tried to calm her down. "Penny, Penny," he said in a soothing way. "Please, don't cry. I'm coming back."
Penny didn't react at first, so Leonard repeated his words in more firm way, which pulled her out of her current state.
Leonard wiped her tears away with his hands and looked into her eyes with a smile on his face. "Penny, I'm coming back. I promise."
Penny smiled back and leaned forward to kiss him. "I'm sorry, babe. My emotions got the better of me."
They continued their love making in a gentle and tender way, which culminated in a wonderful mutual climax.
But this night was far from over for Leonard and Penny. Neither of them wanted to sleep. So they continued to make love long into the night.
Since Penny had a day off from work, and Leonard's flight was scheduled for 16.25 p.m. in the afternoon, they could sleep late. It was around ten o'clock when they got up. After showering together they ate something and watched TV. They sat on Penny's turquoise couch huddled up to one another, enjoying the closeness they wouldn't have for the next few months. Neither Leonard nor Penny wanted to think about the time they would be apart in this moment. They just wanted to spend every minute of their remaining time before Leonard's departure in intimate togetherness.
Ninety minutes later Leonard looked at his watch and sighed. Time had ticked away mercilessly. "It's twelve thirty. I should go over to my place and say goodbye to Sheldon."
Reluctantly he got up from the couch and went over to apartment 4A.
It was one o'clock, when Leonard and Penny headed off to the Los Angeles International Airport. At first Sheldon wanted to accompany them, but they insisted to have the moment of saying goodbye to each other for themselves.
Due to heavy traffic, they needed more than an hour and a half to arrive the airport. But it was enough time left for the check-in and the security screening.
Penny parked her car in front of the departure terminal and sighed heavily. "Well, here we are."
Leonard nodded. "Yep." He turned to Penny and looked at her. "I'm really gonna miss you."
Looking into Leonard's beautiful brown eyes that began to get a watery glance, Penny got a lump in her throat and was about to cry. "I'm gonna miss you, too," she replied with a shaky voice.
It was hard for Leonard to hold back his tears. "Remember," he said and took Penny's hand. "We can e-mail every day. The phone connections are pretty good as well. A daily phone call should be no problem. And we can video chat from time to time, so we can see each other."
Penny nodded and tried to blink her tears away, but one single tear rolled down her cheek, which Leonard wiped away with his thumb. "Did you bring enough inhalers?" she asked.
"Yes," he answered with a smile.
Wanting to string their conversation out, so she wouldn't have to let Leonard go too soon, Penny added a further question. "And extra Dramamine? You remember what happened on 'It's a Small World'."
"I'm covered," he assured her.
"Okay."
Leonard took a deep breath and pulled a little gift-wrapped box out of the pocket of his hoodie. "Umm...here's something I want to give you."
"Oh, Leonard. You shouldn't have." Penny was deeply moved.
He passed the little box on to his girlfriend. "It's just a little gift to remind you of me while I'm away. Please open it only when you're back in your apartment."
Penny looked at the little present her boyfriend just gave her, then she looked deeply into Leonard's eyes. "I love you, Leonard."
Leonard beamed. "I love you, too."
Penny leaned forward and gave him a series of tender kisses, followed by a long hug. They held on to each other for dear life, neither of them wanting to let the other go. When they parted, they looked at each other with teary eyes.
"Promise me, you won't forget me, while you're away," Penny said smiling.
"I promise," Leonard replied, smiling back at her, holding up two fingers of his right hand.
Penny chuckled, continuing in a more serious tone. "And promise me, you come back safely."
"I will. I promise."
"Good. And call me as soon as your plane has arrived."
"I will."
"Okay. Now, I will let you go, or the plane takes off without you," Penny chuckled. "Have a safe flight!"
"Thank you."
Penny leaned forward again and gave him a last tender kiss.
Reluctantly Leonard opened the passenger door and left the car. He went to the trunk and took his luggage out it. Putting the two suitcases down on the sidewalk, he went back to passenger door. Looking through the open window, he gave Penny a radiant smile. "Bye Penny. You'll see. I'll be back in no time."
"Bye Leonard. Take care of yourself! I love you."
"I love you, too." He waved at Penny, who beckoned back with a sad smile on her face, and picked up his baggage. With a heavy heart Leonard turned around and walked into the airport building.
Penny looked after him until he was out of sight. Sighing and taking a deep breath, it was extremely difficult for her to fight back the tears, which were about to well up again. She needed a few minutes to compose herself, before she could start her car and drove off.
Three hours later, Penny was back in her apartment again. After bringing Leonard to the airport she had visited Raj to see how he was doing after Lucy broke up with him the day before. He felt quite miserable, but as it quickly turned out, Raj was now able to talk to women without alcohol due to this experience. That was amazing, but of course her thoughts were with Leonard.
As soon as Penny had entered her apartment she flopped down on her couch and immediately started to cry, the feeling of loneliness and sadness too much for her to bear in this moment, after spending almost every minute with Leonard the last two and a half weeks. She let her tears freely roll. Still crying she took the little gift-wrapped box she got from Leonard out of her purse and opened it.
When she saw what was inside the box, joy and happiness superseded the feeling of loneliness and sadness. It was a beautiful golden heart-shaped locket.
There was also a little piece of paper inside the box. Penny took it and read what was written on it.
You can open the heart. Have a look at what's inside. Love you, Leonard.
She opened it carefully. In it was a picture of Leonard.
Holding the locket with both hands to her heart, it were tears of emotion, that now streamed down Penny's face. "Leonard, you wonderful, wonderful man. Now I will always have you near me. You can't imagine how much I love you."
She put on the locket and made herself something to eat, declining an offer to eat with Sheldon. She wanted to be alone for the moment.
After a flight of nearly eight and a half hours Leonard touched down at Fa'a'ā International Airport on the island of Tahiti near Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia. As soon as he collected his luggage and was inside the public arrival area of the airport he called Penny to tell her he had arrived safe and sound. It was half past ten in Tahiti when he called her, but due to the time difference it was already half an hour after midnight in Pasadena. Of course it didn't matter. Penny was so happy to hear Leonard's voice and couldn't stop thanking him for his wonderful present. Leonard could really feel Penny's emotions, her love and affection for him, even through the phone and despite the fact they were thousands of miles apart. After explaining Penny the next steps of his journey on his way to the research ship, they said goodbye to each other, which took quite a while, because neither of them wanted to end the call.
"I love you too, Penny," were the last words Leonard spoke when he ended the call. He sighed deeply, missing Penny more than ever, after hearing her beautiful voice.
Preoccupied with thoughts of Penny, he didn't notice the man who tapped on his shoulder. "Ah, Doctor Hofstadter. Here you are."
Leonard was startled and abruptly turned around.
"I'm sorry, it wasn't my intention to give you a start."
"Oh, Doctor Williams," Leonard exclaimed. Doctor Matthew Williams, a fellow experimental physicist, was one of seven other scientists from Caltech who would work together with the team from Auckland University on the ship.
"Our other colleagues were already picked up by an employee from Auckland University. I was sent to collect you", he chuckled. "Now we are complete."
"I just had a phone call with my girlfriend in Pasadena," Leonard explained.
Doctor Williams smiled and gave him an understanding nod. Together they walked over to their fellow scientists.
After a somewhat restless night, because of Leonard's absence in her bed and quite a few shed tears, Penny invited Amy and Bernadette to come over to her place for a nice Sunday brunch. She desperately wanted to show them the adorable heart-shaped locket Leonard gave her. She also invited Raj to join them, since she was curious, if he still was able to talk to women without alcohol. As it turned out he was. And how. Raj talked like a waterfall during the whole time, he was at Penny's. It was a real relief, when Raj went over to apartment 4A to play video games with Sheldon and Howard.
"How are you?" Bernadette asked, as soon as Raj had left Penny's place.
"I really miss him, Bernie," Penny answered and took a deep breath, not wanting to show too much emotion. "So, it's the job of the two of you to entertain and distract me till he's back," she chuckled.
Bernadette smiled. "We'll do our best."
Amy raised a glass of wine. "Yay! Girl's night every day."
Penny laughed. "Why not! I will also take extra shifts at the Cheesecake Factory. This will help me to pass the time till Leonard's back as well. And some extra money is always welcome."
"When will you talk to Leonard again?" Amy wanted to know.
"Right now, he's on his way to the island, where the research ship is located," Penny replied. "I forgot the name, but it sounded very polynesian. He will call me as soon he's there."
The research ship where Leonard was supposed to work on was harbored in Avarua on the island of Rarotonga, one of the Cook Islands. The team from Auckland University was already there. The next day a two and a half hour flight from Papeete to Rarotonga International Airport lay before Leonard. Actually it was planned to fly directly to Rarotonga from Los Angeles, but there were not enough seats available on the contemplable non-stop flights, hence the halt in between in Tahiti.
Leonard, Doctor Williams and the other six scientists from Caltech were brought to a nearby hotel for the night. A private jet, chartered by the Auckland University, would bring them to Rarotonga the next morning.
After a restless sleep, the alarm of Leonard's phone woke him up from a strange dream. In it Penny and him stood in a plain white room face to face, desperately trying to touch each other, but it was impossible. The disturbing images haunted him for a while, but faded away as soon as he sat in the hotel restaurant, absorbed in a conversation with Doctor Williams during a nice breakfast.
Two hours later a bus brought Leonard and his colleagues to the chartered private jet, that was standing in a special area of the airfield of Fa'a'ā International Airport, ready to take off. It was a few minutes after ten o'clock in the morning when the plane had left Papeete and was on its way to Rarotonga.
As soon as the plane was in the air, Leonard took his phone out of his shoulder bag and made a photo of the interior of the private jet. It was lushly equipped, and he felt like a celebrity on his way to a special event. Penny would love the photos. Yawning, he put his phone on the table in front of him and snuggled down in the cozy window seat. Because he didn't sleep well the night before Leonard was still tired, so he decided to take a nap. With thoughts of Penny he closed his eyes and dozed off after a few minutes.
Leonard was pulled out from his sleep by a hand shaking his shoulder. He looked up and saw into the face of a young stewardess with a tensed facial expression.
"Sir, we fly through a severe thunderstorm, that developed unexpectedly. Please put on this life jacket and fasten your seatbelt." She held the bright orange item out to him.
Still half asleep Leonard took the jacket. "What's going on? Why a life jacket?"
"There's no reason for concern, sir. It's just a safety measure, in case we have to undertake an emergency water landing."
"An emergency water landing?" Leonard's eyes opened wide. "Now I'm concerned more than ever."
"There's really no reason for concern. The pilot has everything under control," the stewardess tried to calm him down.
Leonard threw over his shoulder bag, which lay on the unoccupied seat next to him, and put on the the life jacket. Lashing it down, he looked around in the cabin and could see the panic and fear in the faces of the other passengers.
He just wanted to sit down to fasten his seatbelt, when a sudden strong air turbulence caused the plane to drop violently and hurled Leonard against the ceiling. He fell back hard on the floor between two seats. The plane began to spin and sank down almost vertically at high speed. Screams echoed through the cabin and objects flew around. Groaning with pain, Leonard hung on the armrest of a seat. This is the end. I'm not gonna survive this. He closed his eyes and saw Penny's smiling face. "Penny", he wispered and tears shot in his eyes. "I'm so sorry." In the next moment something hit him on the back of his head and everything went black.
To be continued...