Chapter 4: Party preparation!

A/N: Thank you to everyone who followed and reviewed this story. It is much, much appreciated. More reviews are appreciated as well.

As always, I don't own anything to do with The Big Bang Theory. I just really, really enjoy it!

Leonard woke early again, and again the bed beside him was empty. "This was becoming a trend" he thought to himself and smiled. It was 6:50 a.m.

He grabbed his glasses from the nightstand and pulled on his robe. After finishing in the bathroom, he glided out to the living room, but Penny was not there. There was however a pot of coffee with a note taped to it. It had many hearts drawn on it and it said "come on over. You know where I am! XOXOXO." At the bottom, there was a lip print in bright red lipstick. Leonard laughed out loud, poured a cup of coffee and went over to apartment 4A.

He entered a whirlwind of activity. Penny was bopping around the kitchen, dressed in grey sweatpants and a red Nebraska tee-shirt. In the living room, Sheldon was also in a flurry of activity, giving the place his special deep cleaning treatment.

Neither of them had seen him enter the apartment. He put two fingers in his mouth and let out a loud whistle.

"Leonard!" Sheldon exclaimed.

"Good morning Sheldon" was the reply. "Hello beautiful" he said to Penny. She beamed back at him and said "Did you find my note?" He lifted his mug and nodded his head.

Sheldon interjected. "You know that whistling is forbidden by the Roommate Agreement. Not to mention the germs you just put into your mouth with your grimy fingers. Your are not going to be involved in anything here until you scrub those miserable paws of yours."

"Come here stud-muffin. Let me kiss that wonderful germ infested mouth of yours!" Penny ran from the kitchen and launched herself into his arms. He caught her and she fastened her mouth onto his. Their kiss was deep, passionate and for Sheldon, lasted just a little too long.

"All right, all right you two. We all know that you're in love, that you can't stand to be away from each other for any length of time and that your specialty is these public displays of affection, or as the youths say 'PDA's'."

Penny couldn't take it and collapsed onto the floor laughing hysterically.

"Enough of these shenanigans. Leonard, get into the bathroom, wash your hands and get yourself on the vacuum!"

"Aye, aye Captain Cooper." Leonard said formally with a salute.

"If we are discussing rank, Leonard, I am a Fleet Admiral, not a Captain."

"Aye, aye Fleet Admiral Cooper," Leonard saluted again and Penny was holding her stomach laughing again.

"Leonard Hofstadter, you drive me to distraction. Absolute distraction."

Penny got back to work in the kitchen. Leonard followed her. "What's on the menu?"

"I thought we would go Italian. I'm making lasagna-don't worry, I'm making two" she said when she saw him with a furrowed brow. "One a non-dairy special version just for you." She threw her arms around him when she said this.

"Whatever it is it will be delicious" he said smiling into her hair as he returned her enthusiastic hug.

"I've already made four loaves of bread, they just need to go into the oven. We'll have a huge salad and Raj is bringing some amazing Italian desserts." They were now holding hands and mooning dreamily at each other.

"Hug, hug, hug, kiss, kiss, kiss. You love her, she loves you. The dinner will be perfect." Sheldon said with his hands on his hips.

"If you two don't stop, this place will never meet the stringent standards of cleanliness required for social convention and the dinner will never get made. Leonard, do I have to send you out on errands, or are you going to leave poor Penny alone so she can prepare the wonderful repast I'm sure she has in mind?"

"All right, all right." Leonard went into the bathroom to scrub his hands to have them inspected by his loony roommate before he got down to his assignment.

The rest of the morning flew by. Sheldon was happy with the progress he was making, with Leonard's help at last, cleaning the apartment. Penny continued her preparation humming and occasionally singing in the kitchen.

Raj dropped by at 12:30 to drop off the desserts and several bottles of wine. Bernadette and Amy dropped by a few minutes later to offer their help. Penny enlisted them to help with preparing the salad.

By 1:30 everything was in wonderful shape. Sheldon was satisfied with the condition of the apartment. The bread was baking in the oven. The salad was done and waiting in the refrigerator. Both pans of lasagna were in the 'fridge as well waiting their turn in the oven. Amy and Bernadette left to get themselves ready for the party.

"Do you know what you're going to wear?" Penny asked Leonard. He gave her a questioning look.

"I have to wear something special?"

"Of course you do!" She exclaimed. "Leonard this is a dinner party. As handsome as you are when you wear khakis, your hoodies and t-shirts, you will need to wear a shirt and jacket." Her arms were folded across her chest. He hung his head like a little boy.

"Oh come on. Let's look in your closet." Penny marched into his bedroom. Leonard was several steps behind with a big grin on his face.

"It has been a while since I've been in here. Let's see what you have that says 'dinner party'" She said.

"Holy crap on a cracker!" She exclaimed from inside his closet. He was laughing out loud now.

"Where did all the 'grown-up' clothes in here come from?" She was stunned.

"One day after I got back from the expedition, I decided that I needed to add some items to my wardrobe. When the findings from the expedition are published, we're going to need to go to some formal and semi-formal events."

"Did you say we?" She asked.

"I did. I'm going to need someone to accompany me. I was hoping you would oblige me?"

"Oh, you better believe it Dr. Hofstadter. It will be so exciting to go to fancy places with you!" Now she sounded like a little girl.

"Leonard," she got serious for a moment. "I need to tell you that it has been so, so incredible having you back with me. Her eyes had small tears in them and she bit her lip and said "I love you."

"I love you too." He said. He caressed her face, then enveloped her in a hug and then they shared a long, long kiss. Neither one knew it, but they both thought the same exact thing, at the same exact moment: "The cat's still alive."

"Okay" she said with a huge sigh. "I think you should wear this charcoal jacket with the black slacks and the blue stripped shirt".

"Done" He said.

"I'm going to my place and take a shower and get ready. Why don't you take a shower and we'll see you in a bit."

"That sounds like a plan!" They kissed again.

As she went through the living room on her way out of 4A, she said "see ya in a while Sheldon."

Sheldon jumped up from his spot on the couch "wait Penny. Give me instructions in case anything needs to come out of or go into an oven. I need instructions!" He was panicking.

"Calm down Sheldon. Everything is set. Nothing will need to come out before I get back. I'm right across the hall if you're worried. Now I've got to go get ready. Bye!"

She left him with a worried look on his face. She couldn't help but laugh.

When she got out into the hallway, she ran into Lydia.

"Oh. Um. Hi Penny" the younger girl said shyly. "I thought I would come early in case you needed help."

"Oh sweetie. That is so nice of you" Penny said looking at her. "We should be all set, but why don't you come over to my apartment. I'm about to get ready."

Penny was a little concerned. Lydia again was wearing the same pink blouse and blue jeans that she had the two previous days. She looked like she cleaned up a little, but could do with a shower.

"Come on with me. We can primp together." Lydia nodded and followed Penny into 4B.

"I thought Dr. Hofstadter said he lived in 4A."

"She said Dr. Hofstadter" Penny thought.

"He does. I live in 4B, right across the hall, lucky for me!"

"Oh. I'm sorry. I thought you and he were…."

"Well yes Lydia. We are seeing each other. We just don't live together yet." Penny frowned inwardly at how odd that sounded to her.

Lydia nodded and gave a hint of a smile that Penny didn't notice.

"Come in and welcome." Penny said.

Lydia looked around the apartment and said "this is really, really nice. I like the colors in here and your furniture is cute."

"Thank you sweetie. It isn't much, but I call it home."

Penny was headed into her bedroom. "Come on. I'm going to get you into the shower." Lydia followed her.

Penny showed her the soap, shampoo and conditioner, telling her to help herself. She brought her two towels along with a spare bathrobe she had never used, a Christmas gift from someone a long time ago.

"I think that's all you'll need. I'll leave you to it." She showed her how to turn on the water and left her for privacy.

While Lydia was showering, Penny looked through some old dresses she had. Knowing exactly which one she was looking for she found it in the very back. It had been a while since she had worn it.

She held it up. It was a little small for her now, but it should just about fit Lydia. It wouldn't be that large on her. It was a soft pink color and would look good on the girl.

"Just a quick iron and she will be set."

Penny got to work ironing the dress. All the while she kept looking at what she had chosen to wear. All ironed and ready to go, it was hanging on the doorknob of the bedroom. It was a short cocktail style dress. The perfect "little black dress". Leonard would love her in it. Just short enough to flair about her upper knees and with a neckline that was just daring enough. He would be speechless. The thought of how he would look at her made her warm inside.

Shaking her head to bring her out of her day-dream, she finished ironing the dress, just as the shower stopped. Perfect timing. She thought.

Lydia come out with a towel on her head and the bathrobe tied around her. Penny brought over the dress held it up in front of her and said "Yup. This will work".

Penny showed her the mirror in the bedroom along with the hair dryer and told her to help herself to make-up. Penny went into the bathroom for her shower.

She was quick having washed her hair earlier before Leonard woke up. When she got out she was surprised not to see Lydia in the bedroom. Penny went out to the living area and saw the younger girl in the kitchen, holding a picture of Penny and Leonard taken in the spring at the party thrown him by his friends before he was to leave for the North Sea expedition.

She looked up and saw Penny. "Oh I'm sorry. I was just looking at the pictures on your refrigerator."

"That's okay." Penny took the picture from her and looked at it. They had their arms around each other, smiling at the camera. "This was taken at the party the night before Leonard left for a trip to the North Sea. He was gone four months. He's only been home a few weeks."

"You must of missed him a lot."

"I can't even tell you how much." She shook her head quickly to bring herself away from any memory of those long four months.

"Well you look really, really nice." Penny said as she gave Lydia the "once over".

"Great job on your make-up!" Lydia smiled back at her when she said that. "Maybe you should give me pointers" she teased the younger girl.

Lydia sat on Penny's couch, reading the magazines on the table waiting for her to finish getting dressed and putting on her own make-up. When she was done and the bedroom door opened, Lydia just gazed at her and said "Oh Penny. You look beautiful. That dress, and the way you did your hair."

"Why thank you Lydia. I think it's time for us to go across the hall and put the finishing touches on dinner."

Penny knocked lightly on the door and entered. Amy and Bernadette had come back early to finish up, arriving just in time to take out the last of the bread and pop-in both pans of lasagna to be ready for dinner time. Sheldon glared at her.

"I'm sorry Sheldon. I had things all set up for Amy and Bernadette to get here for when I needed to be away getting ready."

"Not to worry Penny, but I was just as capable as those two to lend a helping hand."

"Well I'll know for the next time."

She turned around just in time to see Leonard enter the living room. He just stared at her with his moth open and a glazed look in his eyes.

A/N: Although it is late in the day on August 12, it is still Erwin Schrodinger's birthday, born this day in 1887. I copied some other fiction writers with a tiny tribute to him. I hope you all caught it.

Thanks for reading. Have a good night!