This chapter came so close to me having to change the rating! But I stopped myself/them. They wanted to make out so freaking bad, I almost feel bad for them with how mean I'm being. :D But anyway, here's the next chapter…yeah, the "more in later chapters" thing is definitely happening now.

When Penny awoke the next morning, she felt happy, eager for the day to begin. For a few moments she lay still, unsure of why, exactly, she was feeling so optimistic. Despite the conversations the day before, she had a feeling it wasn't her haircut.

She rose, and just as she tucked her crutches into place, her cell phone buzzed and she had to sit back down to grab it. Damn crutches. She hit the unlock button.

New Message: Leonard

She touched the "read" button. I assume you're up. I have to supervise experiment w/grad students ten thirty but I will get you when I get home.

"Right!" She said aloud. The picnic! Now that she remembered her own idea, she was even more excited. She practically jumped up and readjusted the crutches, bounding (as best as she could) to the closet. She was getting much better at dressing herself now that she didn't have to worry about dislodging her bone.

She put her hair up in a high ponytail and smiled at her reflection. "You look hot, girl," she said jokingly to her reflection.

Leonard stopped on the way home from the experiment at a few stores and bought a picnic basket and sandwiches. Picnics didn't require them, of course, but he wanted it to be as "fun" as possible for Penny. She'd come up with the idea herself, meaning it was something that she really wanted to do. So he could show up all decked out with a picnic basket and tablecloth for spreading out at the park and she wouldn't find it odd at all.

That reasoning must have stayed in the store, because as Leonard headed up the stairs he was hit with a rush of nerves. "Watch," he mumbled to himself, "she'll think this is stupid." He stopped in front of her door and let out a breath before knocking. "Penny? Damn it," he mumbled when he realized that he'd rapped on the door three times.

"Coming!" He heard her call. Leonard leaned his head against the door and smiled when he heard the clicking of her crutches. When they stopped, he backed up a step and smiled as she swung open the door.

Her face brightened visibly when she saw the picnic basket. "Oh my God, Leonard!" She shrieked, jumping forward and dropping her crutches, wrapping her arms around him.

"I've heard that before," Sheldon said, exiting the apartment. Leonard rolled his eyes. Sheldon shrugged and headed down the stairs, reciting as he went.

Penny leaned back and grinned at him. "I'm so excited!"

"Me, too," he said, smiling back at her.

"Pick up my crutches?" She asked him, letting go and hopping back a step. Leonard bent and retrieved them. "I'm so excited!" She said enthusiastically. "This isn't just two people eating lunch at a park, this is a real picnic!" She headed for the stairs, not even dreading the long hike down.

"Whoa, there," Leonard said. "Let me go ahead of you."

"I'm fine," she insisted, extending her crutches and skipping a step. "See?"

"Be careful," he warned. She turned her head to stick her tongue out at him.

They made it to the first floor much quicker than usual; Penny's unusual spring in her step meant, by the first floor, she was confidant in her ability to skip every other step the entire flight. At least she had to stop at the door; her insistence at carrying the picnic basket rendered her unable to get it herself.

"Penny," Leonard said less than a block later. She was a good half dozen paces ahead of him and attempting to skip with her crutches. "You know you're accident prone," Leonard mumbled, jogging forward. "Penny," he called in a louder voice, "slow down!"

When he caught up to her, he gently put his hands on her sides to slow her down. With her momentum disrupted, Penny tripped and let go of her crutches, using Leonard for balance. "You jerk!" she snapped. "You tripped me!" Leonard felt bad for less than a second, as he could hear the giggle in her voice. Penny turned around, smiling triumphantly. "I saved the picnic basket!" she proclaimed, holding it up.

Leonard tried to look annoyed, but he couldn't stop himself from smirking.

"Those were really good sandwiches," Penny said, licking mustard off of her finger. "Where were they from?"

"A little place around the corner from the comic book store," he said. "I don't remember the name."

Penny laughed. "Of course you don't." She flicked an ant off of her cast. "You haven't signed it yet," she said, extending her leg out in front of her.

Across from her, Leonard studied the unmarked cast. "True. I haven't. Do you want me too?"

"Duh," she said. "When we get home. I have a marker."

He nodded, using a napkin to wipe his mouth. "Okay."

Penny smiled over at him. They had spread the blanket out just off of a dirt path, against trees. It was a beautiful day, with not a cloud in the sky, and suddenly the whole situation, eating sandwiches in the park on a day like today, seemed closer to perfect than anything Penny had ever experienced before.

She tucked her leg under her and rose on her knees, dropping down to all fours and crawling the short distance to Leonard's side of the blanket almost before she was even aware of what she was doing. They were face to face for the briefest instant, and then Penny put her lips on his.

The kiss was very brief, Penny hadn't even known it was going to happen so Leonard's lack of reaction made perfect sense. She pulled back after a moment and stared at him in shock. "I…" She backed up, hands coming off the ground as she went from all fours to resting on her knees. "I didn't mean for that to happen."

Leonard had been sitting, but now he, too, rose up on his knees and "walked" the distance between them. He raised an eyebrow and looked at her curiously. She shrugged and smiled, not objecting when he put his hands back on her sides and kissed her again. "Mmmm," she said as they broke apart. She cocked her head, letting the sides of her hair-that didn't fit into the ponytail-fall down in her face.

She tried to kiss him again, but he backed up. "What are we doing?" He asked her.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean what are we doing?" He shook his head. "You know how I feel about you, Penny."

She bit her lip, wondering if she'd blown the wonderful ease with which they'd interacted ever since she'd gotten hurt. "Am I crazy?" She asked, settling back down into a sitting position.

He tipped his head, sitting back down and studying her. "What do you mean by that?"

Penny wasn't sure exactly. Did she think she was crazy because she'd just kissed him? Or because the day before she'd told him that she wanted to feel like a kid again, with picnics and signed casts? She shook her head. "I ran off to California when I was way too young to be away from home. Sure, I was old enough to vote, but my way of finding independence was a recipe for disaster. I'm working at the same waitressing job, and I can't even do that because I can't get around. But today…" she looked around. "Today, being out here, I realized that I have almost everything I want in life. But it's nothing like the aspirations of nineteen year old me." She looked over at a kite, flying solo above the tree line, and then back at Leonard. "Am I crazy?"

Leonard studied her for a while, then a mischievous smile came over his face. "No, you're not crazy," he said. "It's a paradox. Think about light…"

"Oh, shut up," she said, pushing him over. He laughed, and just like that, they were back to being two people who found ease and happiness in each other's company.

They easily and convincingly hid behind that façade until later that day, when Leonard brought Penny back to her apartment. "That was so much fun," she said as she unlocked her apartment door.

"Yeah, it was," he agreed, grinning at her.

Penny opened her door and took a step forward, then stopped. Pivoting on her crutches, she smiled at Leonard, who returned the gaze. "Well," she stammered after a moment or two, "As soon as I find that marker, you must put your signature right…" she leaned over and tapped her cast. "…here. And you'd better think of something awesome to write, you hear me?"

"Uh-huh," he said, nodding quickly. "I'll see you later for Thai food at our place."

"Gotcha," she said, smiling. Entering her apartment door, she shut it securely and turned around, dropping her crutches to the floor and pressing her back against the door. "Oh boy," she whispered to herself. "It's back again."

Leonard entered 4A and sank down on the couch, glancing in the direction of Penny's apartment. It had been months since they'd gone out, months since he'd really been able to hold her and kiss her the way he always wanted to, and despite his lack of a new girlfriend and his immense need to take care of her now that she was injured, Leonard hadn't expected the reaction the kiss gave him.

That cat was no less alive then it had been in the beginning.

Wasn't real sure how to end this…but this is what I'm going with. Hope you liked it, let me know!