CHAPTER 6

A/N. Penny will be missing for a few chapters, so bear with me. I don't even know where she is myself. Lol. It will all make sense in later chapters. Feel free to guess tho. Sorry about the late update.

I own nothing.

Leonard sat on his bed looking at the envelope on his nightstand; he was too scared to open it. Sheldon had given it to him two days ago. He somehow knew it wasn't going to be good news. Leonard thought that going away would help him get over Penny, but he was wrong, as soon as he got back, the memories came flooding back, while away he thought he could focus his mind on other things which were a good distraction, traveling and seeing his family, but now he was back everything reminded him of Penny. He couldn't help but think, where was she? Is she happy?, Did she really want to be with this guy? Leonard decided to open it. Ripping the envelope open and unfolding the letter the first thing he noticed was the date, it was writing. 2 weeks after she left.

Dear Leonard,

I am really sorry for all the pain I have caused you, you are the best thing that has ever happened in my life, and all I keep doing is hurting you.

I am sorry I don't show my love for you in the way you want to be loved or deserved to be love.

Leonard, I want you to know that I love you with all my heart and you are a wonderful person who deserves unconditional love. I don't want you to think I am rejecting you. I know it feels like I am, but something happened that has changed my life, I want you to know that I never cheated on you with that guy, I know it was wrong to flirt with him, I stopped as soon as I found out what his intentions were. I know it not an excuse, but it felt good just like you did when Alex came onto you, just like nothing happened with Alex, nothing happened with him, I promise you. I also want you to know there is no one else involved in my decision to leave or cutting contact with you; I can't tell you why I left, it just too hard and emotionally painful. It hurts like hell writing this letter and hurting you again, but I feel it's for the best and hope one day you will find it in your heart to forgive me someday. I hope you find someone that will love you the way you deserve to be loved and cherish you, because, you are special.

love

Penny

P.S. I will never forget you.

Leonard finished reading the letter and could not help the tears flowing, he wondered what happened to Penny, for her to run away and not confined in him or ask for his help, is she in trouble he wondered, at least now he knows she didn't run off with that guy. Where was she, he needed to find her but didn't know where to start, maybe Wyatt could help he thought.

"So Leonard how was your trip?" Howard asked.

"It was fine, spend a couple of days with my mother and also went to see my brother & sister which was fun, compared to the stay with my mother."

"I am glad you are feeling much better Leonard, did going away helped you come to terms with Penny leaving," asked Amy.

Leonard thought about it. "Yeah, I guess it did, it was fun I took a road trip all over the east coast It helped a lot to cleared my mind."

"So what did the letter from Penny say," Sheldon asked.

Leonard looked around nervously.

"You read the letter from Penny?" What did it say?"

Leonard took the letter out of his pocket; he gave it to her to read. They all gathered around to read it.

"Leonard, I'm so sorry. We are all here for you, I just hope wherever she is, she okay and not dealing with this alone." Bernadette said

"Looks like she is not planning on coming back."

"Yeah Raj, we didn't get that from the letter," Howard rolled his eyes. "On another note, there a new girl that moved into 4B, she is kinda hot, I mean nice.". She's a bit younger than Penny and is a brunette you'd like her." Howard dare not look at Bernadette as he could feel her eyes burning into him.

"Not interested Howard, my work is my life now," Leonard said.

"Well she is not as friendly as Penny, we invited her to dinner a couple of times on Amy's request, but she declined every time, she moved in a month ago and we have only seen her a few times," Sheldon said.

"She probably just shy or the nutjob over there pointing at Sheldon scared the crap out of her." They all looked at Howard and laughed at his comment, except Amy and Sheldon.

Sheldon began by explaining why he isn't crazy, but failing badly. Well, I did try to get her to sign a neighbor agreement, and she slammed the door in my face, how rude."

"I like her already," Leonard said grinning. "What's her name?"

"Amber," Howard & Raj said at the same time.

Leonard entered the apartment block and was shocked for a moment standing in front of the mailbox was a brunette, she had short brown hair and a perfect body from behind, he admired her then shook those thoughts away as he walked towards her and put his key in to retrieve his mail.

"Hi, are you the new girl that moved into 4B?" Leonard asked shyly.

"Hey, yeah, you live in 4A too." noticing he inserted his key into 4A mailbox.

"Yeah, it's a two bedroom room apartment, I am Leonard."

"Nice to meet you, I am Amber," She smiled at him.

Howard was right; she was pretty, no gorgeous, it brought back memories of the first day he met Penny.

They walk up the stairs in silence, avoiding eye contact. "So you live with the crazy guy in 4A."

"Yeah, don't even asked me how that happened,"

Amber giggles at this. "I haven't seen you around before, did you just move in Leonard."

"Oh no, I had to go away for a while and only returned a week ago."

"Ok, that's probably why I haven't seen you."

"Yeah I was in an awful place, so I needed to get away for a while."

"I am sorry, I hope everything is better now."

"I am getting there. Thank you." They reached the 4th floor.

"Amber, it's really nice to meet you, if there is anything you need, please don't hesitate to knock on our door."

"Thank you, Leonard; it was really nice to me you too, you are so different from your roommate and nicer, you know your roommate tried to make me sign some ridiculous neighbor agreement thing."

"Yeah he is crazy like that, but he is harmless.

"I bear that in mind, the next time I bump into him and thanks for the offer. I see you around Leonard."

"Yeah see you, Amber," he watches her as she unlocks her door, she turns around smiles at him and enters her apartment.

Leonard enters 4A. Sheldon looks up from his spot.

."Hi."

"Hey, Leonard."

"Just met the new girl from next door, she seems really nice."

Sheldon pauses the show he was watching. "Leonard I hope you're not going to start an on/off relationship with her as you did with Penny."

"I am not interested in her like that; I just said she is nice."

"Exactly what you said about Penny before you became infatuated with her."

Leonard rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Sheldon, go annoy Amy or something; I am not in the mood to listen to you right now."

Leonard spends most of his time on his work and less time with the gang; it just reminded him of the missing link in his life when he was around them. It made him think of Penny which he didn't want to, he still missed her and loved her, but putting all his energy into his work made him forget about the hole in his heart. For awhile.

The gang had been very supportive not bringing up Penny in front of him, but sometimes it couldn't be helped as the conversation was of things they all had done together with Penny.

It really helped a lot that he wasn't the only one hurting. Penny betrayed them too by just leaving without a thought of how it will affect them, not just him. The girls missed Penny the most, the street smarts she brought to the group, girls night and just hanging out as friends. Sheldon also missed her, but wouldn't admit it, but Leonard could tell as sometimes when they were stuck on what to do, he would say if Penny was here she knows what to do. It just wasn't the same without Penny. Howard and Raj missed her too, she was their friend, and they missed crashing girl's night, and sometimes her getting them out of trouble.

But life goes on, and things are going to get more comfortable as time goes by. But there was this need in him to try and find her, if just for closure.

Sheldon and Leonard were sitting in their workstation typing away when there was a knock on the door. Leonard got up to answer the door.

"Hi Amber," Leonard greeted.

"Hey Leonard, hi Sheldon" looking over Leonard's shoulder, Sheldon looks up and nods and carried on with what he was doing.

"Leonard, I was wondering if you could take a look at my laptop." giving him her best smile.

"Sure, what's wrong with it," not knowing where to look as Amber had on a tight V-neck jersey top and a tight wrap skirt which showed off her curved figure?

"Not sure, when I browse I get lots of popups, and it freezes, and I have to reboot."

"Looks like you have a virus, I mean not you but the laptop, or malware, do you want me to come over and take a look," Leonard mumbled.

"If you don't mind please." Amber is pouting her lips and thinking how cute he is when he mumbles.

Leonard thought her pouting so reminded him of Penny. "OK lead the way, he followed her to 4B, he froze when he got to her door. Amber turned around and saw the fear in his eyes.

"Leonard, what's wrong?" Amber asked, looking concerned.

"Ummm you know what, it's nothing." Leonard, you can do this, it's not Penny's apartment anymore. He said to himself.

"Ok," Amber said.

Leonard entered the apartment; it was very different and tidy. There were a leather sofa and a sofa chair; it hadn't changed that much there were no pictures on the fridge, the walls have been repainted.

"I like what you did to the apartment, it looks homely," a nervous Leonard said.

"Thank you, so yeah this is my home."

"Is that the annoying laptop?"

"Yeah, I really appreciate this."

"No worries," Leonard started to work on the laptop.

Amber sat on the couch looking at Leonard and thought how cute he was; she decided she wanted to get to know him better.

"Would you like a drink Leonard?"

"A bottle of water would be nice if you have one please."

"I do, I'll get you one," she walks over to the fridge

Leonard and Amber got on really well, they talked about their life experiences and what they enjoyed doing, Leonard opened up on how he got his heart broken, and she opened up how she was hurting from a breakup too, they just clicked like old friends.

"I have cleaned your laptop and got rid of the virus."

"Wait a minute, how did I pick up a virus."

"Well, there are a lot of ways you could have picked it up. Opening Spam emails or browsing suspicious sites and your anti-virus is out of date, that's probably why it got infected."

"Oh, couldn't afford to renew it."

"Well, you don't have to worry anymore I have installed a free anti-virus which is very good and updates regularly, I also installed a malware software which gives you double protection."

"Err thanks, it's all really confusing for me but I trust you, thank you so much."

"You are welcome; I better be going, you know work tomorrow." he smiled at her.

"Thank again; I owe you one. Hey, maybe we can go for coffee sometime."

"You don't have too, just helping out a neighbor."

"I insist."

Leonard thought for a second, then smiled at her. "Sheldon told me they invited you to have dinner and you declined, you can make it up to me by coming over tomorrow night and meet my friends, promise they wouldn't bite."

"I don't know; they are a bit wired."

"Hey… Those are my friends", trust me when you get to know them. They are not that bad."

"Sorry, ok Leonard, touching his shoulder, I see you tomorrow."

She walks him to the door. "Bye Leonard." she kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you for fixing my laptop."

"Bye Amber, see you tomorrow." Blushing as he heads toward 4A.