Chapter 3
A very special date.
As Penny sat and waited for her nails to dry, while feeling some disbelief as a veritable swarm of butterflies moved inside her stomach.
She had earlier picked out her dress for the night but then became undecided and went through her wardrobe looking through all her dresses again before throwing the rejections on her bed and now Penny was sitting among a pile of dresses, and still agonizing over which one to wear?.
Why on earth was She so nervous?, She had been on dates before, but had never felt anything like this before, with any of the other guys She dated?, was her nervousness solely due to Leonard telling her he was taking her on a very special date tonight, or was it Leonard himself?.
She thought back to their disastrous date previously, she so wanted it to go well, but the date went so badly that Penny ended up alone and crying bitterly on her bed.
But thanks to hearing that song by Carly Simon, that seemed to say all the things she wanted to say to Leonard, the misunderstandings were soon cleared up, and both then declared the enormous love each one felt for the other.
Wow!, what a contrast to earlier in the week. For then She had been agonizing over all the possible reasons why Leonard did not seem to want to rekindle their relationship, only to feel even more depressed at receiving the news of her rejection from Fridays audition for a lead part in a movie. But then after they had finally resumed their relationship, Penny quickly went from despair to the wonderfully elated feeling of being on cloud nine.
Almost as soon as She was back in Leonard's arms, Penny was struck by how so comfortable and how so right this felt, in fact Penny could have happily stayed in Leonard's arms forever.
At this thought, Penny's jaw dropped in shock. For as she examined her feelings, She was astounded that the only conclusion she could come to was that this was where she belonged, this was where she wanted to be, With Leonard Hofstadter for life.
Penny then sat gazing into space, and saying over and over , "I belong to Leonard?" , and the more Penny repeated it to herself the more happier it made her feel.
Leonard nervously adjusted his tie and fearfully examined his flowers for any imperfections before presenting them to Penny.
After having to listen to Sheldon Cooper's 30 minute 'encouraging' lecture as to why Leonard's attempt to rekindle his relationship with Penny will only end in complete and utter disaster. Though Leonard had a suspicion that Sheldon's temper had been tested earlier that day by another accusation of 'Dumb ass' from Leslie Winkle, which now prompted Sheldon to take his frustrations out on Leonard, hence the lecture.
Satisfied that the flowers passed his inspection, Leonard knocked on Penny's door. Then stood rooted to the spot on seeing the beautiful vision that was Penny standing before him. She was wearing the beautiful white dress and matching shoes that She bought in compensation for her rejection, and was now dreading her credit card statement, but the look on Leonard's face was worth all the debt on a thousand credit cards.
"Well?", Penny asked him shyly, "How do I look?" .
Leonard came out of his stupor with a start, "You look absolutely amazing, totally gorgeous", Leonard told her in awe, still staring with mouth agape at this beautiful Angel he could hardly believe that was HIS girlfriend..
"Thank you sweetie, you look very nice yourself , so handsome", she replied, her eyes opening wide at his compliments. "Er, are those for me?", She asked him, indicating the flowers, in an attempt to break him out of his spell.
"Oh yeah, sorry", Leonard spluttered, handing her the blooms.
"Please come in while I put these in water", She asked him.
Leonard entered and sat on the couch while Penny attended to her flowers.
He felt a little thrill of excitement at glimpsing the pile of clothes on the bed through the half open door of Penny's bedroom. Clearly Penny was taking this date very seriously indeed,
"Sheldon Cooper eat your heart out, because you pal are so wrong. She does want to be with Me", he thought.
"OK sweetie, I'm ready to go when you are", Penny announced, breaking him out of his reverie.
They headed out and Penny locked her door then took Leonard's arm, kissing him on the cheek as she did so and they headed for the stairs.
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"Thank you sweetie, such a gentleman", Penny told him as he opened the car door for her, then after getting in himself, Leonard reached behind him and took a bag from the back seat before opening it and extracting a new small knitted blanket of lambswool with pictures of horses upon it, "I thought you would like to have this round your shoulders?", he said as he handed her the blanket, then added "It's yours".
Penny studied the pictures of the horses upon it, it reminded her of her life on the farm in Nebraska.
"So then, Where are you taking me tonight?", Penny asked Leonard, as she wrapped herself in the soft blanket.
Leonard gave her his special smile that always turned her to Jelly inside, "Well you will know as soon as we get there", he told her mysteriously.
Penny pouted cutely at him and settled herself more comfortably in her seat. She hated surprises.
She remembered the night Kurt once told her he was taking her out as a surprise only to find herself sitting in a seedy bar while Kurt got drunk and then Penny had to pay as the jerk was too broke.
At least the worse thing she could expect from Leonard was that he might take her to a dusty, boring museum.
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Penny's curiosity rose a few notches as Leonard turned into Melrose Place, then She squealed wildly with delight as Leonard turned into the parking lot near Craig's restaurant in West Hollywood. "Don't tell me you are taking me to Craig's?" Penny asked Leonard.
"Guilty as charged", Leonard confessed Wow!, I mean just Wow!, But Leonard, are you sure? it's so expensive?" Penny asked him in disbelief.
"It's OK Penny, it's my treat, besides I've booked already and I'd hate to let Craig down", Leonard replied.
"You know Craig?", Penny asked him in amazement.
"Yeah kinda, he came to one of our fundraising events and I was asked to show him around our laboratories by Dr Gablehauser, and I guess we just got on like a house on fire, and he told me that if I ever had a very special date then he insisted that I bring the lovely lady here. So, here we are", Leonard explained as he indicated the restaurant with his arm.
Penny frowned, "Tell me honestly?, did you ever come here with Priya", she asked him seriously.
"No Penny, I have never ever taken anyone here before, let alone Priya", Leonard told her truthfully, then added, "You Penny, have become the most precious person in my life. So when you told me about your disappointment after your audition. I began to think. You see, you Penny, are the most famous and talented actress ever, to me. So I thought I would take you here where all the stars go to dine and be seen", Leonard told her, with all sincerity.
Penny was so touched, that all her heart allowed her to say in reply was his name. And her smile quickly returned to her face, followed by a pink tinge to her cheeks.
Leonard quickly ran round and opened the door for his very special date, then after Leonard locked the car, they walked excitedly arm in arm into the restaurant.
Penny chose the Green Goddess soup for a starter, while Leonard decided to have the crab cakes as it seemed all the soups seemed to contain cream or cheese, Though Penny quickly regretted choosing the soup as she had to concentrate so hard to eat it without making a disgusting noise that it took her quite some time to finish it.
For the main Penny chose the Carbonara with truffle while Leonard chose the honey truffle chicken, and knowing Penny's favourite tipple and as it was a very special date he ordered a bottle of the Lynmar estate Chardonnay.
And as they ate Penny carefully filed away in her memory of the atmosphere, the food, the wine, which Penny drank herself, ( as Leonard was driving he wisely kept to the orange juice), and the wonderful company that was Leonard himself. Penny had never before enjoyed such a wonderful, magical date as this before ever.
Leonard declined the dessert while Penny chose the Key lime Pie, and after they finished with coffee Leonard, (Penny was pleased to note, paid the full amount for their meals, there were no favors from Craig to reduce the bill, No this was Leonard's treat for Penny, and no one else was going to pay for it, but Leonard).
They walked back to the car where Leonard once again held the door open for Penny to get in before settling himself in the driving seat, Penny took her blanket and wrapped herself in it and once comfortably settled she began to dreamily reminisce over her very special date.
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Finally Leonard pulled up in front of their apartment block, and looked at Penny.
She smiled at him, her eyes twinkling with love. A Smile that only resulted in encouraging Leonard to ask Penny that life changing question again.
Surreptitiously Leonard retrieved the engagement ring from his wallet, and turned towards Penny and asked her to marry him.
Penny's mouth dropped open in surprise, which caused Leonard to backpedal thinking perhaps that he had panicked Penny and upset her, "I'm sorry Penny, just forget I asked, It's too soon I know ", and Leonard began to babble.
Penny placed her finger to his lips, OK, stop right there Leonard Hofstadter. My answer is yes. I will marry you.", She told him smiling at him.
You see I had thought about us earlier this evening as I was getting ready and I realised that I only want to be wherever you are. Now then come on Honey put your ring on my finger, for I belong to you now. And Leonard in absolute ecstasy at Penny's acceptance slipped the ring on the third finger of her left hand.