Here's chapter two! Also, I've re-vamped my profile a bit, so take a look! No new polls though, unfortunately, but I'll let you guys know when another one comes up!
"So," Leonard said, taking off his bag and leaving it at the door before joining her on the couch, "what are you up to?"
"Well," Penny said, turning her phone over in her hands, "I have to make a phone call, but I wanted to do it when you were with me."
"Okay," Leonard said, sliding a hand to her knee, "is anything wrong?"
"No, no," Penny said. "But I have to talk to your mother, and I kinda wanted you to be here to…observe the conversation."
Leonard cocked his head. "O…kay."
"Alright," Penny said, putting her hand on top of his. "It should only take a minute." She already had the number up on her screen, so she hit 'dial' and put it up to her ear.
"Hello, Beverly!" Penny smiled when the older woman picked up, biting her thumbnail nervously. "It's Penny!" She paused. "The Penny that's dating your son." Another pause. "The Penny that's dating Leonard." Pause. "Come on, Bev, that's got to be specific enough, we're homegirls, remember? Well," she said, glancing toward Leonard, who still looked completely confused, "giving you my last name might be tricky. That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about." She paused again, nodding her head slightly. "Yes, I know that you were only pretending to not know who I was after I specified I was dating your son. Yes, yes, it was very funny." She smiled innocently at Leonard, who now had an eyebrow raised. "Yeah, so, how are you?" She gave what she hoped was an amused eyeroll. "Okay, I won't beat around the bush. See, here's the thing. I love your son. A lot." She waited, nodding. "I know that you have no control over that…yeah…uh-huh…"
"Penny," Leonard said. "What's the…"
"Ba ba ba!" Penny said, holding up a finger to silence him. "See, Bev, I've decided that there's nothing I want more than to spend the rest of my life with him. And I was wondering how you felt about that."
Penny tried to conceal her grin when Leonard's jaw dropped. "Yes…yes Beverly, I'm aware that normally it's the man who asks the girl to marry him, but it's not a requirement. Uh – huh…" she nodded again. "Well, it is considered polite to get a parent's permission, and as you are so very intellectually superior to your ex husband, I thought it would be a much wiser decision to go through you. I will be part of your family, after all. Well, providing he agrees to marry me. I haven't asked him yet, although I suspect he knows what's coming." She gave Leonard a smile, tipping her head slightly as she listened to Beverly's response. "Well, that's good to know, Beverly. It's comforting to know your future mother – in – law won't be so opposed to me becoming a Hofstadter…well, of course I don't know that yet, but I have a pretty good feeling that I will. Alright. I will keep you updated. Bye."
She hung up the phone and gave Leonard a grin, then pretended to take notice of his expression for the first time, and she put her acting skills to use, feigning worry. "So you heard that, huh?"
"I heard you had something to ask me," Leonard said, shrugging innocently – or at least she figured that was the intent.
"I do," she said, reaching over and taking his hand. "Leonard," she said, smiling, "will you do me the honor of allowing me to share your name with you?"
"Well," Leonard said, teasingly, "technically, anyone can change their name. If you wanted to be a Hofstadter, all you'd have to do is…"
"Oh, I know, I know," she said, waving her free hand and then looking down at the two of theirs. "But see, I'd only want to be a Hofstadter if you agreed to marry me, so…" she looked up. "Will you?"
Leonard smiled. "Yes," he said, leaning over to kiss her. "Yes, I will."
The prompt for this proposal was given to me by the lovely FoxPhile, and the prompt itself was "Penny contacts Leonard's mother to ask her permission to marry her son." Hope you enjoyed it!
Note: please do not leave prompts as reviews. When I want prompts, I ask for them.