A/N
The final chapter of my Fic is now even better (and hopefully fully fixed).
I've made some pretty major changes to this chapter, so sorry if you liked the old version more – I personally prefer this way…
Hope you all enjoy :)
An hour later and Penny closed the door to Leonard and Sheldon's apartment before walking back across the hall. It's a good thing I have a late start for work today, I'd never have made it in otherwise. Wondering whether or not Leonard would notice her presence in his bedroom was put to the back of Penny's mind for the time being, what use is there worrying? thought Penny, as she got her things together before taking a refreshing shower to try and clear the headache from the night before.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
"I still don't understand why Wolowitz needed to fashion that crossbow – unless he was thinking of hunting some Polar Bears, I can think of no logical explanation for why he would need such a tool in the middle of the Arctic, no less so at the North Pole…"
"Can you really think of no other reason, Sheldon?" said Leonard, rolling his eyes at the back of Sheldon's head.
"No Leonard I really can't" replied Sheldon, clearly flummoxed by the conversation. Turning around to look at Leonard he added, "Can you think of any plausible reason why Howard would need – and may I add – a badly designed, crossbow Leonard? I just don't see it?"
"Never mind Sheldon, let's just get into the apartment!" said Leonard wearily, pulling out his long unused key from his backpack.
"You know, this is the first time for a whole ninety three days that we've actually had the luxury of our own bedrooms" said Sheldon matter-of-factly. "I have to say, I am looking forward to sleeping in a proper bed – one that won't cause back issues every morning."
"The beds weren't that bad Sheldon –" began Leonard before being cut off.
"Oh please, how many times did you wake up and say 'Oh my aching back!' or 'Sheldon, why did you bring us on this God forsaken trip!' Clearly you were missing the feel of a proper bed too."
"Yeah that's why I said that…" said Leonard as Sheldon entered his bedroom.
"I'm just looking forward to getting rid of this stupid beard, it's so itchy –"
"LEONARD!"
Meanwhile…
Penny had had a very hard day at work. On the drive back from the Cheesecake Factory all she could think about was whether or not the guys would be home today. After yesterday's disappointment, she had vowed not to get her hopes up but as the day wore on, she found herself becoming increasingly nervous about the consequence of their return. What if they found out that she had been in their apartment? How would she be able to explain what she had been doing there, without revealing the truth to Leonard? Parking up her car, Penny rushed through the doors, took a quick look to see if she had any mail, then proceeded up the many flights of stairs. Boy do we need need to get that elevator fixed…
"LEONARD!" she heard Sheldon scream. Heart pounding with excitement, Penny ran up the last flight of stairs and into the hallway separating the guy's apartment from her own. After throwing her work things into her apartment, Penny bolted across the hall and pressed her ear against the door.
"What are you talking about Sheldon? Nobody's been in the apartment for three months!"
"I'm telling you Leonard – somebody has been in my bedroom!"
"For God's sake Sheldon, why would anyone go into your bedroom?"
"I think the question should be why somebody– or something for that matter, did go into my room? I'm going to go and check your room too –"
"Whatever Sheldon – I'm going to say hi to Penny."
Uh oh! Penny knocked the door quickly and less than five seconds later, Leonard opened it. Clearly he was surprised to see Penny at the door – but even more so when Penny grabbed hold of him in an iron-grip of a hug.
"I can't believe you're back!" said Penny excitedly. This feels so right! But how do I tell him that?
"Uh Penny – I can't breathe!" whispered Leonard, though Penny noticed that he was holding her almost as tightly as she was him.
"Sorry! I just can't believe that it's been a whole three months since I last saw all of you guys!"
"I know what you mean, I've missed being able to talk to you…" Leonard shifted slightly before continuing, "Penny… I – I think that I – I think that – that –"
Is he trying to say what I think he is? Oh my God! Say something to help him! Do it Penny – DO IT! "What are you trying to say Leonard? Cat got your tongue?"
A determined look spread across Leonard's face. After taking in a deep breath he continued, "Penny I think that I lo –"
"LEONARD!" shouted Sheldon, from inside of Leonard's room.
"For the love of God – WHAT NOW SHELDON? I'm kind of busy here!" shouted Leonard, frustration evident across every vein in his face.
Of all the times Sheldon! screamed Penny inside of her head.
Penny watched Leonard enter his bedroom and wondered if he would notice anything different about it. Two minutes later she had her answer.
"I don't know how that ended up in my room Sheldon! I swear it wasn't me who put it there – maybe Wolowitz did it before we left? Or perhaps it was Raj?"
"I don't care Leonard; you messed with my Leonard Nimoy DNA! How am I supposed to create an exact clone of the great LEONARD NIMOY if you insist on touching my belongings? Just look at the rulebook that you signed and agreed on upon living here as my roommate…"
"I didn't do it Sheldon! And was it really necessary to trash my room! You could have just asked me to help look, that way my stuff wouldn't be all over the place –"
"For your information Leonard, I gave you the chance to help me search but you responded with a number of futile denials, which straight away leads me to suspect that you were involved…" began Sheldon.
Phew thought Penny, Close call! - He thinks Sheldon messed his stuff up, I'm in the clear!
"Well guys, I better be getting back to my apartment –"
"Don't you want to hear about what we did for the last three months?" asked Leonard, whom Penny noticed had a slightly odd look about him. He knows it was me! But how? "Don't you have any questions about what we did?"
"I do have one question, why were you a day late?"
"Sheldon insisted on going to the hospital to check up on his leg wound –"
"Oh my God, what happened? Did you get attacked by Penguins?" asked Penny, genuinely concerned even if it is Sheldon she thought.
"I'll have you know Penny that there are no Penguins in the North Pole. Any even slightly educated person would know that they are found at the south –" began Sheldon.
"Polar Bears then" she added annoyed at Sheldon's rudeness.
"Polar Bears? No he was hit by a flying Icicle just before we trekked back from our base" answered Leonard, grinning slightly.
"A flying icicle? How could that happen?" Penny was really confused now.
"Actually it was Howard's fault – he decided to take an icicle into the shack for his crossbow – don't ask…" Leonard added seeing the impending questions about the need for a crossbow, "Anyway he fired the icicle at the wall and ended up hitting Sheldon's leg instead."
"Well how are you Sheldon?" asked Penny politely.
"I've been better, I must say but it's nothing too bad I suppose." Replied Sheldon in his typical no nonsense fashion. "I'm going to bed now Leonard – Penny I'd ask you to leave now if you don't mind."
"You're kicking me out?" The cheek! "See you later Sheldon, oh and I love the beard!" Sheldon just turned around and entered his own room closing the door behind him, leaving Penny and Leonard in an awkward silence.
"Fancy coming over to my apartment for a bit, you can tell me all about your trip?" Maybe we'll be able to continue our earlier conversation…
"Sure, let me just get something from my bag"
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
Half an hour later, Leonard had just finished telling Penny about how they had discovered absolutely nothing in the three months, well nothing if you didn't include Leonard's new hate for Snow and Ice. He did have an interesting story about an electric can opener and how they had messed with 'the' Sheldon a few times. Penny couldn't help but laugh at that.
"Umm… Penny, why did you go in my room when we were gone?" asked Leonard, interest across his handsome features.
Oh crap! Lie to him, come on Penny, you're excellent at lying! Shifting uneasily to face Leonard, Penny responded with "I had to check that you hadn't left behind anything important – by the way, how did you know I'd been in your room?" asked Penny, still flummoxed by how Leonard could possibly know of her intrusion of his room.
"I assume you placed Sheldon's napkin in my room too?" Penny nodded before asking him to elaborate. "Well you kind of left a bright yellow cardigan under my bed…"
"Oh! I thought that perhaps you'd become psychic while you were away – I can't believe I left my top behind! I wondered where that had gone!" rookie mistake Penny!
Leonard seemed more interested in the Psychic comment than the top though. "Penny we've had this discussion before – psychics aren't real! There just isn't any scientific proof that telepathy is possible…
"Yeah Yeah Yeah, I get it Leonard!" groaned Penny "What was you saying earlier before Sheldon interrupted us?"
"Oh that? I was going to say… I was going to say that I err, umm, I lo… I like having you as a best friend Penny." Getting up Leonard began to make his way to the door.
Heart sinking Penny responded with "Me too Leonard, me too"
"I've got you something from our trip, but only if you want it… you don't have too –"
Curious, Penny watched Leonard pull something out of his bag. What could he have gotten me from the North Pole? I may not be the smartest but even I'm pretty sure that there aren't any shops there…
Leonard took the glass frame and handed it to her. "What is it Leonard?" asked Penny, intrigued.
"It's a snowflake from the North Pole." He said earnestly, he was obviously very proud of it.
"Are you serious?" she began before being interrupted.
"It'll last forever – I preserved it in a one percent solution of –"
"Thank you Leonard" she replied before she lost him on one of long science explanations. What does this mean? Should I kiss him now…
"Umm well, goodnight Penny, see you tomorrow" said Leonard as he edged towards the door back to his apartment.
Penny bade him good night and brushed a gentle kiss on Leonard's check before whispering, "It's good to have you back Leonard. And thank you so much for the gift – it's perfect."
"Uh, um, you're welcome Penny…" replied Leonard hesitatingly before withdrawing out of the doorway into the hall.
I guess that's a little progress if nothing else. At least that'll give him something to think about tonight, thought Penny before closing the door and placing the snowflake next to her bed on the cabinet.
A/N
Again, please please please review, it's something that I need if it's to inspire me to write another Fic.
I hope you enjoyed the new ending to this Fic – I feel that at least with this ending, I can incorporate the third season of The Big Bang Theory into a possible sequel…
Big thanks to my all my reviewers: DarkPascual, qwerty, martindeporres, thatsmartgirl, Skinsfan2, Ben May, IdiotThinker, Shortcake82, ValarieVandal, PerennialKillJoy, Sky-Thorn, westwingnut221, Chaos Nightbringer, HarrissBoBarriss, , raichy, rokerroar, epikkk, Orcatje, webuiltthepyramids, & amtrak12
Thanks so much everyone :D