I really enjoyed being in Penny's head these past few months, trying to figure out how she thinks. It's kinda hard, actually! Hope you're enjoying it so far.

I still don't own squat.

Penny climbed the stairs with Leonard two days later. He had fallen silent, thinking about why he'd done what he did. She kept walking, trying to look ahead but glancing at him often, waiting.

"She let me."

He was still honest with her. She appreciated that. "Okay," she said, trying to sound civil. "She let you. Did you only sleep with me because I let you?"

Leonard stopped. "No, of course not, that was…I thought you said we were okay!"

She sighed. She needed to stop being so moody. "I know. I was wrong about lecturing you for it. You're free to do whatever you want."

Leonard was silent for a moment, and then looked up at her as they reached the fourth floor landing. "If it had been my decision, you wouldn't have had to see her in the apartment."

She stopped, shifting her laundry basket to her hip as she stood next to the elevator. Leonard, in front of his door, watched her. Penny sighed. "I know. It was bad timing…put it behind us? " She tilted her head. "Completely?"

Leonard seemed hesitant, but then he nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, sure." He smiled at her, and she felt herself smile back. She came over and slid the arm that wasn't holding her laundry around his neck, giving him a quick hug.

"Hello, sir," Penny said, smiling at the man by the door. "Do you want to grab a seat? Anywhere's fine, we're not busy." Actually, the restaurant was empty. There was no one else there.

"Actually, I'm here to show the manager the new menu." He held out his hand. "I'm Zack, my company designs them."

Penny shook his hand politely. "I thought a guy named Carl took care of our menus."

"Okay, well, it's his company, but me and my sister are," he pointed at his chest. "VP's." He nodded slowly, lifting an eyebrow for effect. "It's a good business, menu designing. There's a lot of science involved."

"Is there?" Penny was interested.

"Yeah. It's pretty sick."

Penny giggled. "I see. The manager's on his lunch break…do you want to leave the design here? I can give it to him."

"Eh, it's okay. I'll wait around. You got any leftover chow?"

Penny thought for a moment. "I think some customer in Cheryl's section walked out and we were left with a Kobe Burger…it was only about twenty minutes ago. I don't think it got thrown out yet."

"Sounds, wonderful," Zack said. "I love me a burger."

"Come on in the back," Penny said, smiling at him. He followed her through the restaurant and into the kitchen. No one was there, the restaurant was never busy this early in the morning. They should have known that the guy who ordered the burger just wanted free appetizers. Penny's warned Cheryl of the 'homeless crazy guy' but she just hadn't listened. Now she was in her car, probably making up some tale about how she'd been 'robbed' by a man to her boyfriend on the phone. Penny was glad to have some company while her friend played the let's-do-it-as-soon-as-I-get-home card. She found the burger, still sitting on its plate. "Here you go."

"Swe-eet," Zack said, putting about a quarter of it in his mouth at once. "These burgers are bitchin'."

Bitchin'. That language seemed so foreign to Penny now…it had been forever when she'd been around guys like that. "That's good," she said. "We hoped they'd be bitchin'."

The more Penny and Zack talked, the better Penny felt. This guy was tall-very tall, and not bad looking, either. He was easy to talk to; he never brought up comic books or anything crazy that she didn't understand. He really seemed like a decent guy.

When he was about to leave after his talk with Penny's manager, he came up and asked her if she'd like to go to a movie. She hesitated, for just a moment. It was soon after breaking up with Leonard, and she was still very confused about that. But…he had a sense of humor, he seemed very nice, and he was the kind of guy she'd dated…before. Maybe he'd be able to help her get through this stage in her life.

I just had to put Zack in here; even if he wasn't essential to the story!