The next day, Leonard and Sheldon walked up the stairs together as Sheldon yattered away about what he had been working on that day. Leonard heard him talk but didn't bother giving his thoughts on what he was working on, because he knew that if he did, Sheldon would just dismiss whatever he said, and to tell the truth, he didn't really feel like talking much anyway. As they reached the second floor, they almost collided with Penny, who was rushing down the stairs, on her way to work.

Penny inhaled sharply and stopped in her tracks about a foot in front of them. Damn. I should have known they would be coming home at this time. I should have left earlier. Penny knew she would have to face Leonard at some point, but she had been caught completely off guard and immediately her defenses went up. Attack was her only form of defense. There was no way she was going to let him see that she was still hurting, and she most certainly wouldn't let him see the tears that caught in her throat.

Penny avoided Leonards eyes by looking at the floor and quietly said, "Hey," As she walked past them, not awaiting their response.

Leonard looked at Sheldon, somewhat dumbfounded, then turned and noticed that Penny had dissappeared. Instinctively he ran down after her, leaving Sheldon in the hallway. He had planned to go over to her place and apologise today, but she was ovbiously on her way to work and he had no idea when she would be back, so he knew he had to do it now. It probably wasn't the best time, but he didn't want to leave it any longer.

"Penny! Wait!" He shouted as he caught a glimpse of her before she descended the last flight of stairs.

Oh crap! Penny thought. She had hoped he wouldn't follow her because she wasn't sure she could keep her tears from falling, but also because she really had to get to work. "Leonard, I need to get to work." She said as she kept on walking.

Leonard caught up to her and reached out to grab her wrist as she began to step down onto the stairs. "Please, Penny. I need to talk to you."

Penny found herself unable to walk any further. She wanted to know what he had to say, but part of her felt that this could end badly. She wasn't prepared to talk, and when she wasn't prepared, she fought. Hard. She knew her temper was a real weakness of hers, but she found it hard to control sometimes. She took a deep breath and turned around and stepped up into the hallway, telling herself that she was going to listen to what he had to say and she was going to accept whatever it was, and avoid any sort of arguments. "I think you did enough talking already, don't you?" The words were said with a horrible sharpness that she didn't fully intend.

Leonard sighed and hung his head. He wasn't surprised at her response, in fact he had expected it, but it was still disappointing. "Penny, I'm sorry."

Penny scoffed. "What for Leonard? For blaming all this mess on me? For implying that i'm some kind of slut who just uses you for sex? For being a complete ass?" She could feel herself becoming angrier by the second and had to take a few shaky breaths to calm down.

Leonard looked at her, and although her words were harsh and her tone was full of anger, her eyes were full of pain. He knew Penny was stubborn and wouldn't take his apology right away. He knew that she would yell at him, but that pain in her eyes told him that she was hurting too, and he just had to keep on trying until she caved. "Yeah... I'm so sorry for what I said to you yesterday, and if you know me even a little bit then you should know how much I regret it. I hurt you with what I said, I know I did. I made this mess, not you." Leonards voice began to crack a little, despite his attempts to stop it. "Please, Penny, don't hate me for this. I just lost one woman in my life, I can't lose you too."

Every shred of anger and bitterness that Penny had felt, disappeared with those last few words. She stopped herself from walking up to him and wrapping her arms around him, and she wasn't even sure why. Maybe because she was afraid if she held him, she wouldn't let go, or maybe because she knew if she hugged him, he would cry into her shoulder, sobbing over his lost love, and she wasn't sure she could quite deal with that right now. The most she could muster was a gentle stroke to his arm. "I don't hate you Leonard, and you certainly haven't lost me." She removed her hand and gave him a small smile, then blinked a few times to keep her tears from falling, "I better go or i'll be late for work... Bye." Penny turned around and quickly headed down the stairs, letting the tears finally fall.

Two weeks passed and things had begun to go back to normal, well as normal as they could. Howard and Bernadette had returned from their honeymoon and were every inch the happy newlyweds as they sat on the couch gushing about their amazing time in Hawaii. Leonard was in his chair, and altough he was excited to hear about their time away, he couldn't help but think over how much things had changed in the two long weeks that they had been away. They both knew what had happened between Leonard and Penny, and what consequently happened between Leonard and Priya. He wasn't quite sure how they knew, because he hadn't told them himself, but someone had told them all the details. Fortunately though, all that was said was a quick, "I'm sorry to hear about you and Priya," which was said with a sympathetic head tilt and returned with a "It's okay," from him.

Leonard had accepted what had happened with him and Priya and was beginning to move on. It hadn't taken long, giving evidence to Sheldons theory that they didn't care for each other as much as he had thought. Leonard hated to admit Sheldon was right, but he was. Priya and him were never going to work. The fact that she couldn't even admit to her parents that she was dating him should have been a huge clue at their incompatibility, coupled with the fact that she had tried to change him instead of accepting him for the little nerd that he was, and worse than all of that, she had tried to cut Penny out of his life. He couldn't see that at the time though. At the time, he was happy that he was in, what he thought, was a mature, loving relationship. A relationship where the love that was given, was given back in return. And although it turned out that it wasn't as loving as he had thought, it was more than he was used to and it was the one thing that Penny never gave him.

Leonard had apologised to Raj, swallowing his pride in an effort to get over the whole ordeal. Raj accepted his apology and in turn made his own. They had had quite the heartfelt conversation a few days after he and Priya broke up. Leonard went up to him while he was in his office at the university, as he hadn't come to the apartment since their argument, and apologised to him for the way he had acted, and for cheating on his sister. Raj graciously accepted it and let him know he had never meant to hurt him with what he had done with Penny. Leonard tried to tell him it was okay, but Raj could tell it bothered him and he wanted to try his hardest to let him know what had happened. Raj told him that they had both been sad and lonely that night and were both in great need of comfort, and because the people they would usually go to when they felt that way, Leonard and Howard, were otherwise occupied, they sought comfort in each other. He told him that the fact they were drinking far more than they should have been and in the end, they somehow ended up in the bedroom. Leonard looked physically uncomfortable at the mere thought of it and Raj decided at that point that he needed to tell him that nothing had actually happened. When he told him that they hadn't had sex, Leonard eased up a little. He was relieved, because even though Penny was not his girlfriend at the time, and she had every right to sleep with whomever she wanted, the thought of her and Raj together had always made his stomach turn, although he had tried his best not to let it show. And he had succeeded in his quest, until that day when his anger got the best of him and he blurted it all out. The relief he felt in knowing that Raj hadn't been with Penny in the way he thought he had, was immense. Raj hadn't been so close to her that he could feel her heart beating, he hadn't kissed her body and seen her in the final throws of passion. That pleasure was still one that only Leonard knew, well in their little group anyway. He thanked Raj for the explanation that he was so grateful to have and they left that room, friends once again.

The only relationship that was left to fix, was his and Pennys, but he knew that one would be the hardest to cure. Sure, they had been quite civil to each other ever since he had apologised, they would always say hello in the hallway and exchange small talk if they ever had to walk up the stairs together. She would sometimes come over to his apartment to have dinner and hang out, but not as often as she used to, and only if Bernadette or Amy was there too. But things were not the same; there was a tension in the room that hadn't been present since they had first broken up. He hated it. He hated that in one night that brought them closer than they had been for a long time, had ripped them apart ever since. One evening of pure happiness was followed by a morning of stupid words said in anger that had divided them. Even although he had apologised, he still felt like she was distancing herself from him, and he wasn't sure why. She had pretty much accpeted his apology, and even although he knew she could be stubborn at times, she would never hold a grudge against him for this length of time. He couldn't help but think that maybe their relationship couldn't be repaired. Maybe what had happened that day was the straw that broke the camels back and they would never be able to be the same again. Leonard had thought many times about going over to her apartment and questioning her about why she was still being off with him, but each time he played it out in his mind, they would end up in a huge argument, and he feared that would tear them apart completely. He didn't want that to happen, it was better to be like this, friends, or barely friends, than nothing at all. He needed her in his life and if this was all he was going to get, he would take it. It was better than nothing.

The rest of the group could sense the tension between them when they were together, but they always tried to ease it by getting them involved in games or watching movies, something that would take the pressure off of them to talk to each other.

Today, Bernadette and Howard had brought over their wedding photos. They were giddy with excitement, and it spilled over onto the rest of the group, especially the girls, and Raj. Penny had come over shortly after they had arrived to look at the pictures too and sat beside them on the edge of the couch, distancing herself as much as possible from Leonard. It was a huge contrast to where she used to sit, on the arm of his chair or in a chair beside him. It hurt deeply that she was so physically and mentally, far away from him, but it was better than nothing.

The pictures were passed around and everyone looked in awe at the beautiful scenes that had been captured. It was quite nostalgic, even though it was only a couple of weeks ago, it felt like a lot longer. To him, it was the last time he had been truly happy. That day was so carefree and easy, compared to every day after it. The happiness of the day was written all over every ones faces, even Sheldons. They flicked through pictures of the ceremony, of the church and of the reception. It really was beautiful.

Within a few minutes a picture of him and Penny was passed down to him. They were standing very close together and she had her arms wrapped around him, the smiles on their faces summed up the happiness of that day. His heart jumped at the pure beauty of that picture, and his stomach fell at knowing what came to be. Leonard held on tightly to that photograph, reliving the moment that was captured in it and not wanting it to end. When he looked up he was met with a knowing look from Sheldon. It was like he was saying 'I told you, you still love her', without him even saying a word. Leonard glanced over at Penny, she was looking down and smiling at the photographs Bernadette was holding. He wondered what she had felt when she saw this picture. There was no doubt she had seen it, Bernadette had them all in her hand and was passing them down the couch to each person, ending at Raj who was sitting in a chair beside Leonard; where Penny would usually be. She had seen the beauty in this photograph and hadn't said a word about it.

Penny briefly looked away from the photographs Bernadette was holding and caught Leonards eye. Every time this had happened since that day, they both turned away immediately, but not this time. This time they held their stare, he searched her eyes for some sort of confirmation that she had felt something when she saw this photo, but he couldn't read her. He very rarely could. He looked down at the picture and back up to her, she hadn't taken her eyes off of him. She stared into his eyes for a second and then gave him a glimmer of a smile. It wasn't much, but it meant a lot to him. It told him that maybe there was still hope for the two of them, that maybe one day they would go back to being as close as they used to. But then again, maybe, as per usual, he was reading too much into things.

A while later, after all the photographs had been looked at, adored and scrutinized, the three girls headed over to Pennys apartment. Penny immediately poured some wine for the girls, ready to get all the details from Bernadette about her honeymoon. Penny sat on her sofa beside Bernadette and Amy was on the chair. They talked about the wonderfulness of her wedding day and she excitedly talked about her honeymoon. Penny was happy to get her mind well away from the darkness it had been in for the past couple of weeks, but inevitably the conversation spotlight was shining on her and the night she had spent with Leonard. She found herself fighting back her tears as her friends pushed her to tell them how she felt, and that was the last thing she wanted to talk about. She had always tried to avoid talking about her feelings, because they often scared her. They scared her now, more than ever, because the feelings she had for Leonard, were stronger than anything she had felt before, and it was terrifying.

"Come on Penny, talk to us." Bernadette urged.

There was no way she was getting out of it, they were being as stubborn as she usually was. She held on for a little while longer, telling them she didn't want to talk, but they persisted, and eventually she let her walls down, letting all her emotions pour out. "I love him." She said sadly.

Bernadette and Amy looked at each other in shock, not so much because she had said she loved him, but because she was finally admitting it. "If you love him then why are you being so weird with him?" Amy said, recieving a glare from both Bernadette and Penny.

"What do you mean?" Penny asked.

"Well you barely talk to him anymore, and when you do it's never anything meaningful, just regular small talk. You always sit as far away from him as you can and,"

"Yeah, alright Amy." Penny interuppted. She took a sip of her wine and then lay her head back on the sofa. "Im scared. I don't like having these feelings for him because I don't think he feels that way for me anymore. So I stopped being so close with him, because I was hoping that maybe that would help these feelings go away. I thought maybe if I stopped hanging out with him so much and stuff, that the feelings would die down."

"And?" Berndatte asked.

Penny shook her head slowly and a tear fell from her eyes. "They haven't. If anything, they have gotten stronger." She sobbed. "I love him, and I miss him... So much."

Bernadette scooted closer to Penny, put her arm around her and Penny rested her head on her friends shoulder. "So what are you going to do?" Berndatte asked.

"I don't know what to do."

"I have a suggestion." Amy chimed in. "Considering you have already tried ignoring your feelings, and that didn't help, why don't you try facing up to them? Why don't you try telling Leonard how you feel?"

Penny sat up wiped away her tears and sighed. "Because Amy... He doesn't love me anymore. He used to, then I dumped him and he fell in love with Priya."

"But you don't know that for sure." Amy replied

"Yes, I do."

"How do you know that?"

"Because, I just do!"

"Okay, but how?" Penny glared at Amy, but she didn't back down. "How can you know for sure that he isn't still in love with you, if you haven't even talked to him about it?"

Penny continued to glare at Amy, but she didn't say a word, because deep down she knew she was right.

"Penny, Amy is right." Bernadette said. "She may not be phrasing it in the best way, but she is right. You have to talk to Leonard about how you feel. For all you know he feels exactly the same about you."

Penny closed her eyes and once again lay her head against the sofa. "But what if I tell him I love him, and doesn't love me back?"

Bernadette and Amy looked at each other, then Bernadette turned to Penny and said, "That's a chance you've got to take."