Tuesday night Leonard had yet another nightmare. This one seemed worse than the others, and it was, unusually, at night. Penny woke up with his thrashing around, and before she could react he was screaming so loud that Sheldon quickly knocked on their door to check on them.

Penny told Sheldon it was all right, just a nightmare, then turned to Leonard. He was very hoarse from the scream, and his eyes had a look of utter terror. He refused to say anything, only that he was better now. Penny held him tight for nearly an hour before he was calm enough to go back to sleep. She really needed to get the therapy started, she thought. Fortunately, her first appointment was for the next morning.

She left Leonard in the apartment – by now he was fine on his own, although Penny tried to limit her absences to two or three hours, in case there was a problem – to meet the therapist she had picked out. The session was very helpful. Dr. Kaplan suggested immediately that Leonard see somebody different, preferably a man. She looked at the list Dr. Sussman had provided, and nodded her approval of all the male names on it. She added two more. As they talked, Dr. Kaplan took notes but said little. Toward the end of the session, she put down the notebook and addressed herself to Penny.

"I'm glad you're here, and I'm glad that you will be making sure that Leonard sees somebody else. I have a fair amount of experience with people who have gone through traumatic episodes – including quite a few veterans – and I can tell you that it can be difficult. But in your case I am pretty optimistic. In my experience, there are three factors that are crucial to recovery. The first is a loving relationship, and you two certainly seem to have that. The second is a good group of family and friends, and from what you've said that also seems to be the case. So I'm optimistic that if we meet regularly, say once or twice a week, for a few months, we will be able to deal with most of the issues."

"Great," said Penny. "And, not to be blunt, but given that I'm losing a month or more of work, the fact that you're in-network is helpful. But you said there was a third factor?"

"Yes, and it's a little more complicated: closure."

"What does that mean, exactly?" Penny asked.

"It means being able to draw a line under the experience, so that you can definitively tell yourself that it is over and never coming back. In your case, it might be a little more difficult. You mentioned that you might have to testify in court, and there may be press coverage of all these events. So it's not unlikely that you and Leonard will be reminded of what happened over the next couple of years. That's not terrible, but you need to be prepared for it. And I can tell you from the experience of some of my patients that testifying in court can be very difficult. Lawyers – for the other side, that is – can be brutal, that's their job. So if it comes to that, we might want to have some sessions around the time of the trial."

"That makes sense. But we don't really know anything about the legal situation yet. We're supposed to hear sometime this week or next, actually. There might not be a trial. I hope not."

"So do I. Now, Penny, how we proceed is up to you. If you feel comfortable with me, and would like to continue to see me, we can set up a regular time to meet."

They worked out a schedule and Penny headed home. When she arrived, she told Leonard where she had been – she had wanted to wait to see how it went – and he agreed with the plan whole-heartedly.

"Anything to try to deal with these nightmares," he said. "I hate what they do to me. And I hate what they do to you."

"What do they do to me?" Penny inquired.

"Oh, you can't see yourself when you're trying to calm me down. You look just about as scared as I feel. Which I get. After all, we both went through the experience, and you yourself said that sometimes you wake up scared. So it's pretty clear we need outside help. I mean, not that you're not wonderful, you are, but I mean – " he was stumbling over his words, trying not to hurt her feelings.

"I get it Leonard, don't worry. I'm not offended. I'm not a psychiatrist, and it was nice talking to Dr. Kaplan. I think it's the right thing to do. You can look at the names I have and see who you'd like to start with."

Leonard smiled. "I know the perfect way: we ask my mother about them, and any that she recommends are off the list."


In the evening Sheldon came to speak to Leonard. He was still in a nasty state of mind, and it showed. "Leonard, you have to get her out of here. You can walk now, you don't need a 24-hour nurse. This is really disrupting my life."

Leonard had been prepared for this. "I understand, Sheldon. But you have to give us a little time to work things out. Penny and I have to figure out what we want to do. And we'd prefer to do it with you, not against you. Do you think the three of us could sit down calmly sometime, maybe this weekend, and talk about plans for the future?"

"I suppose. But does that mean Penny is still here this week?"

"Yes, buddy. I still can't go out without a wheelchair, I still can't drive or go to work. Until I can get around on my own she needs to be here. That's not negotiable."

"Fine," Sheldon said, although it was obviously not fine. "Let's talk Sunday."

Leonard relayed the conversation to Penny as they got ready for bed. She shook her head. There weren't many positive scenarios she could think of. But maybe the girls' and boys' interventions Thursday would help.

Leonard's Thursday appointment with Dr. Sussman went as well as they could have hoped. He could give up the wheelchair, and try some walks around the block. With luck and effort, he could think about going back to work in a limited capacity within a couple of weeks. The couple left the office walking on air.

"That means you can go back to work, too," Leonard said. "Maybe you should go back now! I don't really need help around the house anymore."

"Not a chance. I've got six weeks guaranteed, and I'll take all of them – more if I need to. I need to take care of my man. And – maybe more important – I want to spend as much time with him as I can."

"Well, you won't get any argument from me – that is, if you can really stand so much time together."

"Hey," Penny said brightly, "now that you're so much better, maybe we can take advantage of Sheldon being at work during the day to, you know, try out some other locations."

"Very interesting. I like the way your mind works. And your body," Leonard winked.

Penny got a little more serious. "We still have to figure out what we're going to do about the living situation. I know one thing: I'm not spending another night apart from you. Period. End of story. That is not up for discussion. Do we agree?"

Leonard nodded. "We just have to figure out how to present Sheldon with options that he can somehow learn to live with. I suppose a lot of it depends on how things go tonight."

As they walked slowly up the stairs of the apartment building, Penny's phone rang. She looked at it and put it away.

"Aren't you going to answer it?" Leonard asked. "I have to stop to rest anyway."

"It's not important," Penny said evasively.

"Penny, who was it? No secrets, remember?"

"Oh, all right. It was just my agent. He's left some messages about the screenplay possibility, and about Kevin Smith."

"That's great!" Leonard exclaimed. "So why aren't you answering his calls?"

"Priorities, Leonard, priorities. We have to get you back up to speed, and we have to work through what happened to us. There's plenty of time for this later."

"No, there isn't!" Leonard insisted. "You have to strike while the iron is hot. The story is still in the minds of these people. You have to call him back and meet with the writers. And with Kevin Smith, if that's a possibility, too. This could be your big break!"

"And it could just be another disappointment. Listen, you said it yourself: I already have a job, a serious job. Acting was just a dream."

Leonard stopped his slow trudge up the stairs and looked directly at Penny. "It was your dream, and it can come true. It will come true," he said sternly. "I can't believe you're using this to back away from your dreams. That's not all right. You need to call him back and find out what might be possible. Otherwise you'll never know, and someday you'll blame me for not pursuing your acting career."

Penny looked down. "All right. I just am so concentrated on getting us right that this seems like a distraction. But I guess you're right. A chance like this is not likely to come along again."

"I sure hope not," Leonard said. "I don't intend to get strangled to death again. Seriously, Penny, this is the kind of thing that makes me worry. You're not paying enough attention to what you need."

"I need you to get better," she said stubbornly.

Leonard tried another tack. "Look, if you don't try this, you'll make me feel incredibly guilty. Is that what you want? Six months of gut-wrenching Hofstadter guilt? Are you really willing to be responsible for that?"

Penny laughed. "OK, OK, I get it. I'll call him back soon."

"Promise me."

"I promise."


Thursday evening came. Predictably, Amy was easier to get through to. Bernadette and Penny pointed out to her that the list she had presented to Sheldon looked a lot like a series of criticisms of his personality – very harsh criticisms, at that. Her attempts to sugar-coat them weren't enough. She needed to dial the blanket complaints down and focus on one thing at a time – and the thing had to be something that Sheldon could realistically do. Starting the discussion by telling him he had to jettison a personality built up over thirty years was not the way to go. They talked about strategies, and Amy went away feeling pretty good about the future.

They guys had more trouble with Sheldon. Every attempt to point out that he needed to pay more attention to Amy's feelings met with resistance. Her list had clearly set him off, and a wall of hostility now surrounded all his thinking about Amy. After an hour and a half of nearly fruitless conversation, Sheldon simply got up and walked to his bedroom.

The three men looked at one another. "Is it hopeless?" Leonard asked Raj and Howard. The shook their heads sadly.

But after a pause, Leonard brightened. "I have an idea. It's sort of a long shot, and I'll need your help, Howard. It will take a while to set up, but it might work." And they began to put the plan into action.

The following morning, Penny received another telephone call from the FBI agents they had met with earlier. They wanted to ask a few follow-up questions and wondered if they could come by that afternoon. After checking with Leonard, she agreed. The two men arrived at 2 PM, as planned, and sat together on the couch. After asking how they were doing, and thanking them again, and saying that the issue of financial compensation was still under consideration, they started in with their business.

"We wanted to give you an update, and also to ask you a few questions," the first, more formal, agent said as Penny and Leonard listened from their chairs.

"Mr. Thompson is continuing to negotiate with both state and federal prosecutors. He will certainly strike a deal, but the main question is what information he will give us in return for that deal. The state has everything it needs for the assault on you. We have plenty of evidence on the drugs. But in some ways the most serious charge is the sex trafficking, and Thompson is resisting giving us any information on this. He simply denies that he knew anything about it. We have computer files, from his computer, but he says they're not his. Our bargaining position is weak on this one, unless we can find some way to tie him to the human trafficking."

"I see," Leonard said. "That's too bad. But I don't know what we can do to help." Penny twisted her hands together nervously, sensing what was coming.

The second agent spoke; as always, he seemed more friendly. "We were wondering, Penny, whether Thompson said anything to you that could in any way indicate that he knew about human trafficking at the motel?"

Penny was silent, but she was aware that all the color had drained from her face.

The second agent looked at her kindly and said, more gently, "Penny?"

Penny looked at him. She whispered, "Do you think we could talk about this without Leonard present?" She glanced at Leonard, who looked shocked. "It's just that I don't want to upset him…"

"Absolutely not!" Leonard said. "If something happened to you, I want to know about it. And if it's what this implies, that will certainly change my views on what we would be willing to accept in the way of a plea bargain for Thompson. Please, Penny, tell the men what you know. I can take it."

Penny gulped. "OK. It was a little thing, but it's related to what you're asking about. When he was getting ready to, you know, assault me, he said a few times something like, 'We can do this this easy way, or the hard way, and you don't want the hard way.' Then after I resisted some more, he got angry and said something like, 'I know people in Colombia who would pay 25 grand for a pretty white girl like you, do you want to end up in Medellín?' At the time I thought it was just another threat. But with what you've been saying about human trafficking I'm not sure."

Leonard was white as a sheet. The two agents nodded. The second asked, again very politely, "Are you sure this is what he said? Are you sure about the mention of Colombia, and the money? It's really important."

"Yes," Penny said. "I'm sure. I may have a couple of words wrong, but I know he said 25 grand, and I know he said Colombia and Medellín." She reached for Leonard's hand and held it tight.

"We're sorry we had to bring this up, and to disturb you folks again," the second agent said. "But this could have a big impact on the case. And it could mean putting Thompson away for a lot longer. So thank you. And, again, we apologize. I know it can't be pleasant to keep being reminded of these horrible events."

"It's OK," Penny said. "It happened to us, and we have to deal with it. And if we can keep terrible things from happening to other people, so much the better."

After they left, Leonard was shaky. Penny took him to the couch. "Leonard, I'm so sorry you had to find out about it like this. I was going to tell you when there was a good time, but it seemed like it was too soon. Please forgive me."

"I don't blame you, Penny, there's nothing to forgive. And of course I understand why you didn't tell me, especially with all these nightmares. But it's so horrible to think that something like that might have happened to you." He stopped talking, and shook his head. "I think I want to call that therapist, the one I chose, and see if I can see him tomorrow."

"Tomorrow's Saturday, Leonard. He probably isn't working. Plus we have that thing with Sheldon at 1."

"OK. I'll try to see him in the morning. I think I need to start working through all this."


Meanwhile, the gang's plan for Sheldon continued to be put in place. At work, Raj asked Sheldon if he could be available for a video chat with an eminent European scientist that was interested in Sheldon's work. Sheldon was annoyed that Raj wouldn't give him the name, but Raj insisted that the man wanted to keep the connection quiet for the time being.

Over dinner, the three of them had an unusually friendly conversation, as Sheldon seemed to be more upbeat than usual. The interest in his work from abroad appeared to have energized him and taken his mind away from his troubles, at least for the evening.

That night, Penny lay awake for over an hour after Leonard fell asleep. She was sure he was going to have a nightmare. And in fact he did, but not until around 3 AM, after she had fallen asleep. Fortunately, Penny was sleeping so lightly, worried as she was, that she woke up almost immediately and woke Leonard up. He was dripping with sweat and shaking. She held him for what seemed like hours, then took him to the bathroom for a quick shower. He was calmer after that.

"I'm seeing Dr. Shaw tomorrow at 10 AM, right?"

"Right. Today, actually – it's 4 in the morning. You told him you thought it was urgent, and he was very accommodating. That's a good sign, right?"

"Right." Leonard hugged her. "I'm afraid to go to sleep now."

Penny felt her chest tighten with fear and pain and anger. "Baby, nobody can hurt you, nobody can hurt me. We're safe. The patrol car is still outside, remember? I'm so sorry this all had to come up again. But it's over. You said so yourself. Just let me hold you while you go to sleep."

Eventually he did drop off to a fitful sleep, but Penny was up for the remainder of the night.