This update was brought to you by Brit, who my conversation with tonight made me get to updating this before she goes to bed, rather than tomorrow. So if you're reading this on April 1, 2013, thank her!

Leonard was happy as he walked up the stairs, an hour before he'd expected to. He'd gotten ahead at work, and was able to leave early. The idea of a two and a half day weekend – or close to it, anyway – made him happy. He hoped Penny would be home from doing her grocery shopping, so they could spend some time together before vintage video games.

Leonard reached the fourth floor and turned toward Penny's apartment; he opened the door and stood in the doorway, the word 'huh' coming to his lips even though no one was there to talk to.

There were flowers, tied together in bunches, laying on the coffee table and on the counter, and vases were drip drying by the sink. An old CD player was on the couch, the bottom popped open. Penny was nowhere to be found. Leonard stared at the view for several moments until he heard a frantic voice.

"No! No, no, no!"

Leonard turned around to see Penny standing on the landing, holding the strings of several heart shaped balloons that were billowing over her head, a horrified expression on her face. "Penny?" He questioned.

She stood there stock still, her face falling like it had started on top of the Empire State Building. "You're home early."

"I know," he said. "I wanted to surprise you."

Penny slowly started shaking her head. "No, but…but you weren't supposed to be home for an hour, I…" she ran past him, into the apartment, her shoulder hitting his as she brushed by, the balloons flowing behind her. "This was all supposed to be ready…"

"Penny," Leonard said following her into the living area. "What is going on?"

"You, you said…" Penny gestured to the room, clearly flustered. "You said you wanted flowers. And I…I thought the balloons would be nice, I went to get them, you weren't supposed to be home, I…" Her voice cracked, and she stopped speaking, her hands starting to shake the way they did when she was trying to hold back tears. "I had everything all washed, I was going to put them…" she gestured vaguely around the apartment again. She blinked hard. "It was going to be beautiful."

Leonard looked up, to where the balloons were bouncing against the ceiling, and back to his girlfriend, who was crumpling into a ball, going to her knees and then to the floor. He looked around the room, and then, hesitantly, spoke. "Were you…were you going to ask…"

Her hair was covering her face, but he could recognize a nod when he saw one. He took the necessary steps toward her and dropped down, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Hey," he said. "Hey."

"I knew you were ahead at work, I should have known you'd be home early…"

"Hey," Leonard said, reaching out and pulling her up into a sitting position. He brushed the hair away from her face. "Hey."

Penny looked around the room, sniffling. When she spoke, her voice was quiet. "It was going to be perfect."

"Do you…do you want me to go take a walk?" Leonard asked.

"No," Penny said, "no, I'll just do it right now. Or would that be stupid?"

Leonard smiled. "I'll be back."

He didn't anticipate waiting too long to come back. The thoughts filling his head as he walked up and down the street were enough to occupy his mind for a long time.

When Leonard returned an hour later, the apartment looked different. The flowers were set up all around, the coffee table, the counter, the small dinner table they ate at so often, on top of the TV case they'd built back when Penny had first moved in, and on the table next to the door. The music they'd made love to the night after she'd said "I love you" was playing, and Penny was no longer the frazzled, upset woman he'd left the hour before. She smiled at him as he entered the apartment. "Hey there," she said, coming over and kissing him.

"What's all this?" Leonard asked, pretending to be surprised.

Penny gave an embarrassed little laugh at his effort, and then smiled. "Well," she said. "You said that if I ever decided that I wanted to get married, I had to propose to you." She cocked her head. "Is this the whole nine yards?"

"Well…" Leonard said playfully, and Penny dropped down on her knee in response. "There it is," he said. "The whole…nine…yards."

She smiled up at him. "Leonard Hofstadter," she said. "Will you marry me?"

Leonard waited a moment, just to mess with her, and she raised an eyebrow. "If you say 'maybe next year', I'll walk out right now," she teased, her voice coming out in a rush, making Leonard realize that she was a little nervous.

He squeezed her hand, his smile taking up his entire face. "Yes. Yes, I'll marry you."

This one was a bit longer, but I'm not sorry because I don't think you guys mind. :)