Chapter 2

Almost four hours later, Penny awakes to find it dark. She panics thinking it was already night, but slowly realizes it is January and it gets dark early, so it might not be too late. Looking at her clock, she realizes that she still has 45 minutes before she promised to go across the hall. She lays there deciding if she would keep her promise to Leonard, to come over, or disappoint him again by not showing up. She signs, it always made her feel bad to hurt Leonard, every time she did it, but usually the hurt came after she had done the damage to him and she hates herself for it. She thinks again about her money problem and still doesn't want to talk to anyone about it but she can't think what she can do about it. She gives up and realizes that there is nothing she can do about anything at the moment and staying home alone all tonight is as about as horrible a way to spend the evening she can think about. She had promised Leonard she would come and since she really didn't want to spend the evening alone at home, especially since she had no food in her apartment and she was actually hungry, so like Sheldon would say it is only logical she go over. The decision made, she gets up to shower and put on a clean set of sweats.

6:25 PM, Penny is dressed and ready, so she opens her apartment door and heads across the hall, not without a little bit of nervousness, but determined to eat, relax, and just seek the companionship of her friends. Walking through the guys door, she immediately feels some comfort of being in the familiar place, with the people who she has called friends the last few years and has grown to love. Sheldon, as always, is in his spot, talking to Amy, who like during most of her visits to the apartment, is sitting next to him on his right. Howard is next to Amy, well really Howard and Bernadette are next to Amy, because the petite blonde is in her husbands lap at the moment. Raj, of course, is in a chair next to Howard in a position so he can have an ear to whisper into, in case he has something important to say. The chair to the left of Sheldon is empty because Leonard and/or Penny sit there, so she just walks over and sits down because that is their place.

"Leonard just called and he has left the restaurant with the food, so he should be here in about ten minutes" Amy tells her as she sits down, because her friends know her and understand the first question out of her mouth would be 'Where's Leonard'. Penny nods and smiles to Amy and then just sits back and listens to her friends discuss their day, science and other specific topics she has never heard before or doesn't understand. Their conversations give Penny a warm feeling inside, and she sort of zones out just enjoying her friends presence, smiling and nodding at appropriate times, until she notices Bernadette taking short looks at her, when she is not talking to someone.

Bernadette's looks make Penny realize she has not said a word since entering the guys apartment, so she quickly stands up "I'm getting a drink. Anyone want anything? Raj how about a beer?" In response she gets "NOs", an "I'm OK", and a thumbs up and smile from Raj, so she heads to the fridge and out of Bernadette's questioning eye contact.

Opening the fridge, Penny grabs a bottle of beer and bottle of fruit drink, of the kind she likes and that Leonard always seems to have in the fridge for her. Putting the drinks on the counter, so she can grab the bottle opener for Raj's beer, she stops when she hears tapping on the apartment door.

She hears "A little help" from Leonard and Raj jumps up to open the door so Leonard, both hands full of take out bags, can come in with the groups evening meal.

"You going to make it, bud?" Howard says as he starts to get up.

"No, I got it, just a few more feet to the table" Leonard responds with a chuckle

Penny notices his smile as he comes in and sees all his friends, then notices it diminish as he sees his empty chair next to Sheldon. His slight change of expression, tugs at her heart because she knows his sudden sadness is because he doesn't see her, so she quickly puts the bottle opener to the beer bottle and pops the cap off as loud as she can. The effect she was hoping for is very evident when he turns his head to see her, and his smile relights on his face. She then opens the fridge to get his favorite soft drink and joins her friends to divide up the food.

The next twenty minutes talk was sporadic as everyone ate and Penny just enjoyed eating and listening to her friends. She felt starved and everything actually tasted great, even though Sheldon complained it wasn't their usual restaurant and they would probably be sorry they changed their normal Friday meal routine. Bernadette kept looking at Penny every so often, while they ate, and Penny knew her friend knew something was up, but she never said a thing which Penny loved her for.

Leonard silently ate next to Penny trying to figure out what was wrong. When he came in and saw her at the counter, he thought everything was OK, but even as soon as she started eating he knew she was still troubled. He just wished he knew what to do or what to say. Whatever was bothering her, she had pleaded with him not to discuss it and he promised himself when he left her apartment that he wouldn't push it with her, but it was driving him crazy not being able to help.

Sheldon finished his food and started to express how wonderful it was that all the guys had the weekend off and all the things they could catch up on. Bernadette and Amy both complained that this was the only weekend they had completely off in a while too, obviously hinting that they wanted to spend time with their men, which Sheldon just ignored.

"We can meet at my apartment at 9AM tomorrow and get to the comic book store when Stuart opens. That will give us plenty of time to be at the Park for a spirited combat kite match. Then we can top off the evening with an all evening session of HALO." Sheldon droned on, not even noticing his friend sighs.

Howard quickly spoke after Sheldon took a breath, "Sheldon, I can't play HALO with you tomorrow, because I have a date with Bernadette tomorrow night" while he smiled at his petite bride.

Bernadette was shocked to hear this, 'What Date?' she thought, but outwardly she smiled and told Sheldon "That's right."

"But you can't, we need four people for HALO! And besides you're married, you can do that anytime!" Sheldon protested

"Sheldon, me and Bernie have planned this for weeks, I can't play HALO!" Howard replied with conviction, again surprising Bernadette.

Bernadette just looked at Sheldon and said "Yep, weeks" and thought 'Howard, you just earned yourself a get out of the doghouse card for future use, sweetie'.

Leonard watched this exchange with slight amusement, still concentrating on Penny's depressed mood. Why was she so down, she seems so worn out today and down in the dumps. She has been working a lot the last few weeks, he thought, maybe she is sort of burnt out. He sat and wondered what he could do to get her spirits up.

Sheldon was stumped for about 10 seconds before he brightened up and looks at Penny. "Penny you are off this weekend, would you like to join us in a lively HALO game tomorrow evening. The evening is shaping up to be quite a hoot and you can even team up with your favorite boy toy if you like!"

Penny feels everyone's eyes on her, she has to say something, alright she was silly thinking she could just sit there all night and not say something "I can't Sheldon."

Leonard picks up on her response and knows this is the last thing she wants to do. He has been with her long enough to hear the slight sadness in her voice and makes him want to do something even more to make her happy. Then it hits him, everyone has the whole weekend off, even Penny!

Sheldon looks at Penny "Why Not!"

Penny just looks at Sheldon, and suddenly Leonard speaks, to Penny's relief "Guys do you realize this is the first weekend in ages we all have had off!" He waits for it to sink in before he continues.

When they all nod, except Sheldon who knows he is not going to like what Leonard has to say, Leonard continues "We need to do something special that we all can do and have some fun!" there it is, Sheldon knew Leonard was going to suggest something he didn't like.

Leonard sees everyone but Sheldon and Penny smile, but he can tell Penny is interested in what he is saying so at least he is making progress with her. Leonard then looks at Raj and gives him a smile. Raj gets a big smile on his face as he gets Leonard's idea.

"Vegas, Baby!" Raj shouts with a huge smile that gradually spreads to almost everyone's face as each of the gang warms to the plan. Penny even gives Leonard a inquisitive look, which he assumes is a good sign from her about his idea. Only Sheldon's face shows he is totally against Leonard's idea.

"No Leonard, that will ruin HALO night and you know how I dislike places like that!" he states with some authority.

The mood of the room drops, but suddenly Amy moves closer to Sheldon and starts to whisper in his ear. She stays like that for almost a minute, all the time Sheldon's expression softening until even a small smile forms, confusing the group. When Amy is done, Sheldon nods to her obviously having a change of mind.

Sheldon looks around as says "Well if we are going to go we will need to make reservations in the next hour, pack and get some sleep, so we can start off at 7 AM tomorrow." To the shock of the entire group.

The shock wears off quickly as everyone gets excited and starts to put plans together. Sheldon immediately gets online and offers to make hotel reservations at a nice casino for everyone, but Howard quietly declines, asking what casino, and states he will make his own reservations, so Sheldon gets a room for Penny and Leonard and a two room suite for him and Amy.

Everything happened so fast, Penny finally looks over at Leonard with a look of 'I don't know' but before she can say anything, Leonard says "Come on Penny, It will be fun and you need to get away, from everything".

She thinks about it and quickly sees he is right and with a small smile says "OK".

For the next hour, plans are made and times set for the trip tomorrow. Everyone then leaves to go home, pack and to get to bed early for their big adventure. Penny heads over to her apartment to pick out clothes, pack and think. It takes her only a few minutes to realize that there is nothing she could do this weekend to fix her financial situation, so going to Las Vegas and maybe having some fun couldn't do any harm. So she allows herself a little happiness and becomes a little excited about tomorrows trip.

Howard and Bernadette walk down the stairs to their car with Amy close behind. At the ground level floor just before they walk out the door, Howard stops and looks at Amy.

"I need to know, what did you say to Sheldon to make him change his mind?"

Amy just gives Howard a small smile "Last year I bought him a special train engine on the internet from this large model train warehouse that also sells locally in the city it is located in. I just reminded him that the train warehouse is in Las Vegas and if we get there before dinner we can go there for him to shop."

Howard just stood there in shock "Amy you're a genius!"

Bernadette smiled, gave Amy a hug and told her "Amy you drive carefully" and both told her "See you tomorrow"

Howard and Bernadette make their way home, with Bernadette thinking about the events of the night. Looking at Howard "How was Leonard today? Did he seem off?"

Howard looks at her with surprise "Leonard was fine. His work is caught up and he was happy, like the rest of us, because we only had a half day today."

Bernadette sat there in thought "Then it is Penny."

"Penny!" Howard is now completely confused

Bernadette then looks at Howard and smiles "Nothing Honey, just girl stuff." and she makes a mental note to confront Penny if she continues to act strange during the weekend. She continues to look at Howard and remembers how he acted tonight, "Howie, we didn't have any plans this weekend. You lied to Sheldon!"

"Yeah, I know, but I haven't seen you much the last few weeks, because you were working so much, and I …just missed you" he said quietly

Bernadette's heart skipped a beat, "Oh Howie, that is so sweet" she never realized she would continue to be more and more in love with him as their life together went on, he was so amazing. The rest of the trip home she just rubbed his shoulder, neck and ran her hand through his hair as he drove, just for the feeling of touching the man she loved so much. She smiled to herself because she knew after they packed and got ready for bed, she was going to be all over him and she was determined to rock his world.

Penny was able to pack and get ready for bed in only an hour, which was quick for her, but understandable based on how she was feeling. After she went to bed she just laid there unable to sleep, the room seeming large and cold. Penny felt lonely and she couldn't sleep feeling this way and she knew why, she was still stressed and needed Leonard to hold her, just hold her. She wanted him with her bad, so she took her phone off the nightstand and just text'd him 'Will you spend the night with me?'

Leonard had packed, got ready for bed and was just turning out the lights in the apartment when he heard his phone buzz for a text. He read the text and knew Penny got lonely when she was sad, so he just text'd her 'OK', got his robe, picked up her key on the way out and headed to her apartment. Leonard entered Penny's apartment and walked straight to her bedroom, slid into her bed and put his arms around her. He didn't say a word and had planned on not saying anything, unless she did, because he knew she wanted him for comfort but probably wasn't ready to talk yet. He just held her, and felt her snuggle up as close as she could get, and he was content with that. Penny felt so warm and secure in Leonard's arms, it was like she fit him perfectly, she fell asleep shortly after his arms wrapped around her. Her last thoughts were how good he had been all day and night for her and how she loved him for being so considerate of her feelings. 'Leonard is a great guy' was her last thought.