JUST A REMINDER. EACH OF THESE CHAPTERS ARE INDEPENDENT OF THE OTHER CHAPTERS. I AM JUST TAKING THE EXPISODES AFTER LEONARD AND PENNY'S BREAKUP AND TRYING TO SHOW HOW THEY COULD HAVE GOTTEN BACK TOGETHER IN EACH ONE. SO PLEASE DON'T TRY AND LINK THEM, IT WON'T MAKE SENSE. THANK YOU FOR ALL, THOSE THAT PROVIDED REVIEWS.

ALL DISCLAIMERS APPLY AND NOTE THIS STORY EPISODE BELONGS TO TPTB WHO OWN TBBT, THEREFORE I JUST BORROWED IT FOR THIS FANFICTION.

The Elevator Implementation

Penny heard the shouting across the hall like it was just outside her door, it made her giggle, she sometimes wondered how Leonard put up with Doctor Wack-a-doodle. She had the day off and didn't really have anything to do, so she had decided to spend the day at home, rest and do her nails, sort of pamper herself. She was going to watch TV but the commotion across the hall was more entertaining at the moment. Plus, she hated to admit, she liked hearing Leonard's voice as he shouted at Sheldon, she didn't get to hear him much since they broke up, now.

Suddenly the argument stopped and she heard the door across the hall open and slam shut, then just as suddenly she heard a knock on the door. She knew it was Leonard, by his knock, and it suddenly makes her feel good, so he tells him to come it. She does all she can to keep her smile in check, but he looks so cute with his pouty face as he walks in her apartment.

"Can I sleep on your couch tonight?"

"You can try, but the guys across the hall are being really loud."

They tease each other for a couple seconds, Penny can't believe how much she misses this with him, they always had fun talking to each other. Penny likes the idea of spending the afternoon being with him, so she encourages him to keep talking and she is rewarded with him telling her the story of how him and Sheldon got together. Suddenly she feels good, this sitting with him so familiar and comfortable, as Leonard keeps talking, Penny becomes amused listening to his story, making teasing comments as he goes through it, she just enjoys him and the way he tells it.

As Leonard goes on, Penny can't help but tease him that she doesn't feel any sympathy for him, since after all he has told her, she knew she would have left Sheldon long ago. She told him he should have known better, so then he tells him about a girl he met Joyce Kim and what Sheldon did to him. Penny's mind wanders and she thinks about another girl being in bed with him and a sudden pang of jealousy consumes her, it never occurred to her, he could go to someone else, leave her completely. He looks at her, and she panics, so she hides thoughts quickly and tells him, after he asks, that now she feels a little sympathy for him. Leonard then goes on about how Sheldon meets Raj and Howard, the couch and his spot. Penny loves listening to him and they both start to give each other a manicure and pedicure, they just naturally started doing it, like they did things when they were together, Leonard would always do those things with her, it makes her really miss him and those times.

Penny can't help but start to daydream, how things were so great when her and Leonard where a couple, him talking about past memories was bringing up all sorts of her memories, memories of her and him. She broke out of her trance when she finally puts together that he is now talking about rocket fuel, and that he was going to show it to Joyce Kim, cause she was interested. She chuckled inside at her nerdy little boyfriend being so manipulated by this beautiful North Korean spy, then she quickly puts it out of her mind, he wasn't her boyfriend anymore, she still didn't understand why other woman and him bothered her so much, but it did.

When he then tells her about the rocket fuel mistake and blowing up the elevator and almost himself, if Sheldon didn't save him. She has to do everything in her power, to not gasp, cry and grab him into a hug, the thought of him almost dying, is causing her pain in her heart, she can't explain and her mind is screaming 'OH MY GOD'. She needs to get back in control again, so she jokes with him, "So you're the reason I have to walk up and down all those stairs each day". Leonard then tells her how the guys all covered for him and Penny teases him how stupid the whole thing was. The banter now continues and Leonard then teases back about how she probably has a few stupid things before in her life and she denies ever doing anything wrong. She lies, her mind can't forget the time she thought she was pregnant and the guy who told her she needed to get an abortion, before she even knew for sure. She was so happy she wasn't but he dumped her a month later, telling all his friends what a dumb blonde she was and couldn't even keep herself from being knocked up. She always seemed to be with guys like that, all her life till Leonard came along.

She looks at Leonard, he is looking at her too, his story is done and they both don't know what to say. Finally he stands up turning to her. "Well he is probably over this now, so I better get back to the apartment. Thanks for letting me hang her for a while and vent."

"No problem, anytime…..Leonard." She almost called him Honey.

He stared at her for a couple seconds, "Okay thanks, bye." He was out the door a couple seconds later and suddenly she felt the room seemed colder.

Penny sat there just looking around her apartment, how come suddenly she felt so alone and her apartment didn't seem comfortable anymore. She slowly got up from the couch and started to pick up all her nail supplies, stopping for a second to look at the items he had just had in his hands. He eyes darted to the clock, it was only 4 PM, what was she going to do the rest of the day, she didn't now feel like watching TV, she didn't want to do anything, 'OH GOD' she thought, she wanted Leonard back here with her.

The shouting started five minutes after he left, and Penny now listened intently to the words that were being said, they were fighting over a TV show. She hated herself but she wanted them to be mad at each other, she wanted Leonard to walk out and she wanted him to come to her again. The sound of the door slamming and the soft knocks on her door almost had he screaming in happiness. "Come in Sweetie."

"Sorry Penny, but I guess I maybe do need a place to sleep tonight after all. Could I use your couch."

Penny tried to control he emotions, but her heart was jumping up and down for joy. "I think you better stay here too, and let Doctor Wack-a-doodle calm down. My couch is always available for you Sweetie." Penny smiled and looked into his eyes, then it happened, they had a moment, she or he didn't intend it, but it happened and suddenly she felt so shy. The room got quiet and she could feel the tension increase, it scared her because she knew what she wanted in that moment, she wanted him.

She was rooted to the couch, unable to speak, but like always he saved her. "Are you hungry?"

She smiled at him, "Yeah, I am, but I don't really have anything here."

He shook his head and chuckled, "I wonder how you survive sometimes."

She gave him a playful look, "I'm cute, I get by. Plus there is this great guy across the hall that takes care of me and feeds me."

Leonard hesitated for a minute, his eyes staring into hers, quickly he turned away. "I know an Italian place, that delivers, that has great lasagna, and even has a version for lactose intolerant people like me. Would you like some lasagna, salad and breadsticks?"

The food sounded great and eating with Leonard even greater. "Oh, that sounds so good, I'm hungry already". Her heart melted at the dazzling smile he gave her as he pulled his phone out of his pocket to order their food.

Leonard spread the food out on her little dining table while she grabbed a bottle of wine, the smell making her mouth water. It had been a long time since she had lasagna, now looking at it with a fresh green salad and warm breadsticks, made her feel like a girl who hadn't ate for a week and she thought she could sleep with a man who fed her so well. 'Whoa where did that come from?' She thought, 'Why am I thinking like this.', but she knew the answer, she was still attracted to him, he still got her heart racing and the thought of him in bed with her, she couldn't describe.

They ate quietly, occasionally saying something to each other, but generally just enjoying the meal together. The food was just like promised, delicious, and as she cleaned up the last of the sauce off her plate with her breadstick, she couldn't help by watch him eat the last of his food. The fork deposited another mouthful between his lips and she noticed as he closed his mouth and started to chew, there was a little sauce on his lips. She wanted to just wipe the sauce off his lips, she wanted to taste it with her tongue, she wanted to taste his lips again. She missed him, she really missed him, every day was harder to fool herself everything would be okay, him not being with her was not okay. She missed things like this, sitting and eating with him, or just spending the day with him, like today, he made her happy. She had three glasses of wine while she ate and now her self control was not as strong, her heart was in charge and her heart told her that she had lied to herself, she loved him.

Leonard stopped himself from eating, Penny hadn't moved for almost a minute and it confused him. She was staring, at him, not his eyes, but he thought his lips, and her eyes were dilated, really dilated, they seemed like huge black pools. He swallowed hard, he didn't know what was going on, and as he kept looking at her, his pulse started to quicken. "Penny, is everything okay?"

His words broke her trance, but her heart was now in control, 'Oh Crap' her mind screamed as it tried to reason with her, you are broken up, you are friends, you may hurt him. But her heart was louder, YOU LOVE HIM, YOU LOVE HIM, and HE LOVES YOU. Penny looked into his eyes and her heart stomped her mind and reason into the ground, she wanted him so badly it was starting to hurt not being in his arms. So she got out of her chair, moved close to him, as her mouth sought his, and her arms wrapped around his neck, her fingers in his hair. She thought the sauce and his lips tasted so good.

Penny woke up feeling like new, she had slept the best she had in weeks, she felt so warm, comfortable and secure. As she became fully awake she smiled at the arms around her, they weren't some strangers, they were Leonard's arms and she was holding his hand, waking up this way seemed so natural. She was so suddenly happy that for a second she was wondering if she was dreaming, she had dreams about him several times since the breakup, could this be another? But it only took a moment and she knew it wasn't, they had made love and had ended up this way last night, the smile grew on her face, when they were dating they would always end up this way when they slept together. She couldn't lie to herself anymore, she wanted this back, she wanted him back, he made her happy and being apart from him did not make sense.

Penny laid there a few minutes and suddenly had an epiphany, she had to fix things and she thought she knew how, so she rolled in his arms and waited for the movement to wake him up. She smiled as his beautiful eyes slowly fluttered open, and the smile that formed when he saw her face, but after a few moments, she saw that wonderful smile transform to confusion and fear. It was time for her plan. "Sweetie, we need to talk."

Leonard, felt his world fall again, last night had been so wonderful, and it wasn't the sex, it was having her in his arms, feeling her and thinking she was his again. He told himself everything was going to fine again, that things would work out, but he knew he was fooling himself, things never worked out for him before. Now came the 'We need to talk' the words he hated ever existed, they only brought pain and he was so tired of pain, so very tired. "Okay."

"Sweetie, at the bowling alley, I thought we needed to break up, but now I realize I was not being fair, even wrong. We are in a relationship and like one of Sheldon's silly agreements, there is an unwritten relationship agreement between us, so one person is now allowed to make all the decisions, we have to vote."

Leonard was confused, 'vote?', what did she mean. "I'm sorry Penny, I don't understand, I really need some context here."

Penny smiled, "You get to vote if you want to break up with me. What is your vote?"

"No, I never wanted to break up, but….that makes it a tie, so…I don't know."

Penny smiled again, she thought this was going to work. "So now we have to decide how to settle ties. One way is to have you be the deciding person on all ties, the other is me. So how do you vote that you be the deciding vote in all ties?"

Leonard was still confused, but decided to play along. "Okay, I vote for myself being the deciding vote for all ties."

Penny nodded, "I vote for you to be the deciding vote for all ties, too." Penny then waited for it to sink in. She watched the expressions change on his face and his beautiful mind processed everything that just happened.

A guarded smile formed on Leonard's lips. "Well if I have the deciding vote on all ties, them I vote that the break up is not approved and….." Leonard looked at her, she was smiling and nodding. "And we are still a couple in a relationship."

"Then okay, we voted and the relationship is still in effect." Penny's smile then got wider, as she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him, finally moving apart after a few minutes. "Good morning Honey, I love you." Her words made Leonard's eyes go wide to Penny's delight, then she resumed her morning make out session with her boyfriend.

That day neither of them ended up getting dressed and they stayed in bed all day.

END