A/N: Just taking a break from my longer story. This is a continuation of The Cooper Extraction. I thought it would be interesting to have Penny's thought process go a little further. Let me know what you think. Reviews are always, always welcome. I don't own anything having to do with The Big Bang Theory. I just really enjoy watching (and reading!). Thanks!
The Alternate Hofstadter.
She lay on her side facing him. Watching him sleep. More often than not they "spooned". Tonight she wanted to face him. Look at him. Experience and drink him in visually. In his sleep, his arm was draped over her. Lying in the curve of her hip. She had one hand under her head; the other rested on his jaw and slowly caressed him there, moving behind his ear and beyond. Her fingers twirling in his hair.
He breathed slowly in and out. Just the tiniest bit of noise, due to his asthma. She managed to tire him out with the first of what she hoped was many deliveries of her Christmas gift to him. She smiled broadly as she thought about that evening's love making. Long. Loud. Blissful. Sweaty. Tremendously satisfying for them both. With Sheldon away in Texas, she felt no need to hold back. Every ounce of her energy she gave to him. A single tear of happiness fell from her eye and slipped down her cheek.
Her thoughts then turned to the evening. Decorating his and Sheldon's apartment for Christmas. Except for the lanky theoretical physicist, all their friends were there. Amy had broached the subject of how different all their lives would be if they had not met Sheldon.
She had been a little flippant with her version. What would happen if she had met Leonard in another way? She never doubted that they would meet. If she were serious and true about the inner workings of her heart, she knew she would have given them a different response.
"Oh well" she thought to herself. "He knows how I feel about him. How much I love him." Her thoughts continued on as she finally began to drift off to sleep.
I.
The wind whipped the rain into an almost sideways delivery of its torrent. She had pulled the hood of her raincoat over her head and removed the car keys from her purse. Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the door to the Cheesecake Factory and began to run toward her car. Sloshing through standing water and puddles, she wanted to curse that she had parked so far away. Arriving at the battered red VW Cabriolet, she fumbled only slightly putting the key into the lock. She pulled the door open and dove into the driver's seat, throwing her purse toward the passenger side.
She released the breath she didn't realize she was holding. Pushing the hood off of her head, she took a moment to settle down. Other than having wet feet and legs, she was none the worse for wear. The restaurant had been busy. Not a bad night for tips. She smiled and thought that she wouldn't have to wait to pay the electric bill.
Shaking her head to bring herself into the here and now, she placed the key into the ignition. The noise from the starter was not encouraging. "No! No! Not tonight. Please!" she said aloud. Waiting a few seconds she tried again. Whrrr. Whrrr. Whrrr came the sound from under the hood. Then nothing.
Resting her head on the steering wheel, tears filled her green eyes as she started to think about the expense that a car repair would bring to her already fractured budget. Since moving to North Los Robles Avenue, she had begun to get her act together. Away from Kurt; working full time at the Cheesecake Factory along with any overtime she could get. She was holding her own most months. However, any unexpected outlay of funds could prove devastating.
With her thought process eliciting a sigh, she reached down to pull the hood release. Drawing the hood of her coat over her head again, she jumped out of the car to see if she could find if anything was wrong with the engine.
Exiting the restaurant and opening their umbrellas, the two men walked hurriedly to their vehicles.
"So I'll see you tomorrow at work Raj. Thanks for coming out with me. It was a nice change of pace."
"Yes it was Leonard. We'll have to find something to do regularly on Thursday evenings. Expand our horizons" the astrophysicist from India replied.
As they each stated to go their separate way, Leonard noticed the hooded figure looking under the hood of a car. The shape looked familiar, but it was hard to tell from the distance and with the pouring rain.
"Hey Raj, doesn't that kind of look like that beautiful blond waitress over there?"
"I don't know, dude. It's kind of hard to tell with the raincoat. And the rain."
"Let's go see if we can help her."
"I don't know if that is such a good idea. You know I won't be able to say anything."
"The socially responsible thing would be for us to go the aid of someone having a problem" Leonard replied matter-of-factly.
"Oh, you know it is just because you are madly in love with her and think that this would be an excuse to talk to her."
"Maybe so, but still, it looks like she needs help."
Making their way to the red convertible, Leonard said loudly, over the rain "excuse me. Is everything alright?"
Spinning around with a surprised look on her face, she replied "yeah. Everything's fine. I just love to stand outside in the pouring rain and look under the hood of my car." She turned back and was reaching around, wiggling wires.
"It kind of looks like you know what you're doing there." Leonard said, now grasping at straws.
"Well I worked on tractors and farm machinery at home in Nebraska. This is a little different." Leonard approached and standing next to her looked into the engine compartment.
"I have no clue what I'm looking at" he remarked.
She laughed and replied "That's okay. I think the battery is just dead. Do you have cables? Maybe you can give me a jump."
"Actually I do. I'll be right back."
Penny got back into her car to wait, while he and Raj made their way to his car.
"Smooth. Helping a damsel in distress."
"I didn't see any sign of distress on her, Raj" he countered.
"Well you have something that she needs and you can help her in that way."
Getting into his car and driving toward her, he positioned the vehicle so that it was nose-to-nose with hers. He left space between them for someone to stand to attach the jumper cables.
They both exited the car. Raj went toward the front, while Leonard went and retrieved the cables from the trunk.
Meeting the woman, Raj extended his umbrella so they both cold stand under it.
"So you and your friend come in every so often. I think I've waited on you a number of times."
Raj nodded and raised his eyebrows and with an uncomfortable grin, gave her the 'thumbs-up' sign.
"Um. Yeah. My name is Penny" she put out her hand. He took it without any sort of firm grip and shook it.
"Okay" she said with a sigh and waited for the other gentleman to return.
With the cable slung over his shoulder and holding his umbrella in the other hand, Leonard returned and said "here you go. Battery cables!" enthusiastically.
"Yeah. Jumper cables" she corrected him in reply. Looking from Raj to the woman, Leonard's brow furrowed.
"Your friend here doesn't say much, does he?"
"Yeah. Well, he's a little shy with women. In fact, he has a bit of a problem in that he can't speak to a girl unless he's had a drink or two to relax himself."
Her jaw dropped "you've got to be kidding me!" she replied.
"Nope. He has social anxiety." Raj nodded and again gave the 'thumbs-up' sign.
Shaking her head she said "I'm sorry. I don't think I've ever heard of that. Anyway, I'm Penny."
Reaching out his hand and shaking hers firmly, he replied "Leonard. Leonard Hofstadter. This is Raj Koothrappali."
"It's nice to meet you both." She looked from one to the other. Raj avoiding eye contact.
Sighing again, she said "okay" and took the cables from Leonard.
He marveled at how quickly she attached them.
"Red positive, black negative. Remember that Lenny."
"Ummmm it's Leonard" he said flatly.
"Not Lenny?" she said smiling.
"No. Just Leonard."
"Leonard it is." she said and giggled. He smiled back at her.
The rain had eased considerably and Penny slid the hood off her head. "I really hate these things" and shaking her head said "they mess up my hair something fierce." Now it was Leonard who stood with his jaw open.
She smiled at herself, noticing his reaction. She then made her way to the driver's side door of her car.
"Leonard, get in your car and rev it a little."
Folding his umbrella, he did as he was directed. Penny waited a few seconds and turned the key.
"Wooooooo-hooo!" she exclaimed as the engine turned over.
Swinging her car door open, she rushed out toward them. Leonard had exited his car as well and made his way next to Raj. Penny gave him an amazingly enthusiastic hug. Three Mississippi's at least. As she released him, she said "thank you so much Leonard. You rescued me from having this heap on the end of a tow truck."
She then turned to Raj and said "you too. Thank you for holding the umbrella for me." Raj remained wooden as she hugged him, not quite as hard.
"You have to let me take you out for a drink of a cup of coffee. Something?"
Raj shook his head no vigorously. Leonard frowning at him said "c'mon Raj. A little coffee. Some conversation. You just said we should expand our horizons"
Again he shook his head no.
"Leonard? How about it? There's a coffee shop not too far from here."
Looking at his friend he asked again "Raj?"
His friend shook his head no once again, but made a motion after toward Penny and nodded.
"Okay. Penny, you lead the way."
Penny touched Raj on the shoulder and looked at him earnestly and said "Raj. Thank you so much for helping tonight. Maybe sometime we can have some coffee and I can get you to talk."
Raj smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
"I'll be right back" Leonard said as Raj turned to walk back toward his car.
"Raj, you sure you don't want to come along?"
"No. I think in this case three is a crowd." Leonard smiled in reply.
"Go get her, tiger. Tell me how it goes tomorrow." Raj shook his friend's hand and got into his car.
Leonard turned and made his way back toward Penny. The rain had completely stopped and he folded his umbrella. Standing next to her now, he looked at it and thinking a moment, he handed it to her.
"Here. The next time it rains, I wouldn't want you to have to put on that silly looking hood and spoil your hairdo."
She stood with a questioning look on her face, so he reached out and put the umbrella in her hand.
"But what will you use next time it rains?" she asked in a whisper.
"Trust me. I have two more at home and there is another one in my trunk. C'mon I'll show you."
He took the jumper cables and made his way to his trunk. After waiting a few beats she ran up next to him. Sure enough there was another, similar umbrella in the trunk.
Placing the cables in a plastic tote he closed the lid and said "I'll follow you."
II.
Looking up at the menu board, Penny bit her lip. Leonard smiled looking on. One on one like this, she was adorable.
"What looks good to you?" she asked.
"I think I'm just going to have a black coffee."
"Coffee doesn't keep you up at night?"
"No. Not really-well, I've never had a problem" he answered.
"Me neither" she said smiling at him
She waited a few seconds, still looking at him. "I think I'll have a mocha latte."
Leonard began to reach for his wallet. "Um. Hold on buddy boy. This is my treat, remember?"
"Oh. Yeah. Sorry about that."
Penny reached into her purse and took out her wallet. She handed the barista some bills and waited for the change. "Here you go" she said cheerfully as she handed Penny the change. "Thank you" the blond replied, putting a generous tip into the jar.
They moved down to the end of the counter. Leonard turned around and looked out the window.
"It looks like the rain has definitely stopped."
"Well if it hasn't, I'm ready with my handy-dandy umbrella" she replied smiling at him broadly.
"You folks are all set" said the barista, placing their cups on the 'pick-up' counter.
She stood there a moment and looked at the cups next to each other, their names side by side "Leonard" and "Penny". She tilted her head and looked some more, odd thoughts going through her mind.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Oh. Nothing. Just day-dreaming."
They sat and talked for over an hour. She told him about moving to California from Nebraska and her time with the Neanderthal Kurt. How she was hoping to become an actress soon.
He told her about being an experimental physicist at CalTech. She listened, fascinated. It had been a while since he had spent this amount of time with a woman who was not a co-worker. He was surprised how at ease she made him feel. His nervousness had all but disappeared.
For her part, she enjoyed the way he spoke about his work. She could tell that he was quite brilliant and smart and accomplished. Yet he didn't speak down to her. If she looked confused at something he said, he went back and explained it a different way.
Checking his watch and noticing the looks they were getting from the workers in the shop, Leonard concluded that they were going to have to leave soon as it was nearly closing time.
Mentioning this to Penny, she replied " I can't believe we've been here this long. I'm sorry for keeping you."
"Oh. No problem at all. I've enjoyed myself." They were both smiling at each other.
Standing up, she reached for her coat and was taken by surprise as he took it from here and held it so she could put it on easier.
"Th-thank you she said softly.
Her back was to him and when she had the coat on completely, he put his hands on her shoulders and smoothed out the wrinkles.
"There. You're all set."
Too nervous to turn around she said "thank you", again and picked up her purse.
Both walking toward the exit, he went ahead of her and held the door.
Stepping out onto the sidewalk, she took in a deep breath, making her shoulders rise. They fell as she exhaled.
Opening her purse, she fumbled for her keys. Taking them out of her purse, she put them into her jacket pocket. Returning to her purse she took out a small note pad and a pen. She began to write, saying "here is my number. We should get together soon. Maybe we can have coffee again, or maybe go to a movie?" She stopped writing and looked up at him.
"Yeah." He said it quickly. "That would be great." He smiled brightly at him. She beamed back at him and finished writing.
She handed him the paper with her number and "Penny" written on it.
"Well thanks again for helping out with my car and all. Not everyone would have stopped, especially in the rain."
"I'm not so sure about that."
"Trust me. I am" she said interrupting him.
They both were silent now on the sidewalk.
He placed the paper with her number on it in his wallet. She watched him, smiling again.
"Well anyway, thanks yet again" she said and got closer to him and gave him a longer hug, ending with a soft kiss on his lips. She tapped his lips with her left forefinger, bit her lip, smiled and turned and walked to her car.
He was floating as he watched her to. Waiting for her to get safely in her vehicle. He also paused until he heard the car start.
Seeing that he was waiting, she waived. He waived back. She shifted the car into gear and pulled away.
She looked at him walk toward his car in her rear view mirror. The butterflies that had sprung to life in her stomach while they were standing on the sidewalk had not yet started to settle down. Neither had her heart slowed. "Holy crap on a cracker' she said out loud and smiled once again broadly as she drove toward 2311 North Los Robles Avenue.
III.
She woke with a start and sat straight up in bed. Leonard didn't move a muscle. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she got up slowly, so as not to wake him. She made her way out of his bedroom and toward her apartment. Feeling silly, she wanted to see it anyway. She approached her closet. Squatting down, she retrieved the box from its spot. Pulling it out, she fished around for what she was looking for. A simple, black umbrella. A style made for a man. She smiled again as she held it. She brought against her cheek and closed her eyes, then put it back in its place and carefully and quietly returned the box to the closet.
She said quietly "that's how we would have met if there were no Sheldon."
Tip-toeing back to 4A, she quietly made her way back to his bedroom.
She softly got back into bed. Pulling up the sheet, she scooted as close as she possibly could to the love of her life. She nestled into the crook of his arm, reached up and kissed him on the chin and fell immediately back to sleep.