Chapter 10

Leonard's head snapped to from where the voice had come; surely it couldn't be who he thought it was. His eyes locked onto the sight of his friend Isybol. "What in the..."

"Whoa, Lenny. Let me explain." Isybol said as she closed the distance between them and embraced him.

Eva and Penny finally came to their senses and walked over to the two friends that were locked in an embrace. Penny put her hand on Leonard's back and seemed to sense his distress; she began rubbing her hand in a circular motion. Everyone remained silent until Penny detected a tremor in Leonard's demeanor.

"Honey, are you okay," she asked worriedly.

"Yes." His body shook. "No." He extracted himself from the embrace and held Isybol at arms' length. He focused his gaze on Isybol's eyes and said in a voice that betrayed his fear, "What are you doing here? Have they found out about you? Do you need help disappearing?"

"Whoa, Lenny. Not so fast." Isybol said in a soothing voice. "No one's been found. I came because I was worried about you."

"What's she mean, 'she's worried about you' Leonard?" Eva said from beside Penny. "Is there something going on that you haven't told me about?"

"This isn't the time to discuss this. Isybol, you need to go; get back to Savannah and your life. Forget that I exist; get as far away from me as you can. Eva, you need to go home to your son and I'll try to get a message to you as soon as it is safe." Leonard was shaking his head from side to side as if he didn't believe what he was saying, but he knew it was the best thing for them both.

"To hell with that," Eva shouted. "I want to know what is going on, and I want to know now."

Leonard lowered his eyes to the ground and said, "Believe me, Eva. If I had one shred of hope that telling you the truth would…"

"Would what? You taught me that the truth is always the best option. Have you been lying to me since we first met?" She sobbed. "Is our entire friendship a lie? What truth could be so bad that you would lie to me?"

"He killed your father." Came a voice from the direction of the copse to the side of the graveyard. All eyes turned to see a figure striding towards them. Amy Farrah Fowler was flanked by two men in grey suits as they approached the gathering. "Leonard Hofstader killed your father and disposed of his body."

Eva just stared at her for the time it took the newcomers to reach the group and then she turned to Leonard.

"What is she talking about Lenny?" Eva said meekly.

"What the hell are you doing here; and how dare you throw out accusations like that about your friend," Penny spat at Amy.

"She's not my friend Penny." Leonard said with venom in his voice. "She's not now and never has been." He turned to look at Eva. "Eva, it's not true. Your father was a friend…"

"Why would she say something like that?" Eva whimpered.

"Because it is true" Amy said with an elongated is. "The night your father disappeared, it has been confirmed that he went to confront Leonard about his relationship with your mother. Leonard killed him in a fit of rage and disposed of his body." She turned to face Leonard. "Go on. Deny it. Let her see what a lying bastard you are."

Leonard rounded on Amy and hissed, "Bull Shit." Amy just stared at him with disbelief. Leonard stepped toward her and the two suits stepped up to her side. "Go ahead. Take me into custody. I'll just call my brother and have him fly out here. I have nothing to say until my attorney is present." He reached into his pocket to retrieve his cell phone. As he pulled his hand out, one of the suits jerked his hand up and Leonard felt a pain in his chest before he heard the percussion and then felt and heard the whine of an object fly past his head. He teetered on consciousness for just a moment and felt a warm ooze over his eyes and a cold feeling spreading over his chest. He felt himself falling but he blacked out before he hit the ground.

There was pandemonium as Penny and Isybol immediately tried to reach Leonard. They were stopped by the other suit. 'The one who hadn't just killed Leonard' Penny thought to herself as she collapsed to her knees and began to cry as she reached towards Leonard. Isybol was screaming at the top of her lungs, calling Leonard's name. Eva just stood rooted to the spot looking at the body of Leonard as it lay on the ground; she couldn't seem to make her body move. The only indication she was aware of what was happening was a steady stream of tears running down her face.

Amy leapt into action. She had her phone out and dialed 911 as she broke herself out of shock and ran to Leonard. She directed the emergency services to dispatch paramedics and ambulance as well as the local law enforcement agencies. She then called into the local FBI office to report the situation. She checked Leonard's pulse as she was making the calls via her bluetooth headset.

"I've got a strong pulse." She pulled his jacket away from his body and saw a dark stain on his shirt; but no entry wound. "I don't see an entry." She ripped the button down shirt apart and ran her fingers along the area where the stain had been. She saw a red area and put pressure on it. Leonard's body jerked. "I've got some cracked ribs, but no entry wound," she exclaimed and looked directly at Penny. "He's going to be okay. He's not been shot."

"The hell he hasn't," Penny screamed, "You check him closer. Why aren't the paramedics here yet."

"I called them less than a minute ago," Amy said as she moved her hands over his chest and around to his back. She brushed her hand against his jacket and felt something hard. She opened his jacket further and found a pocket on the inside. She reached in and pulled out a metal flask.

"That's the present I gave him a couple of weeks ago," Penny said. "It's a flask." She began to sob. "He… he's started to like cognac and I bought that for him at Stewart's shop; so he could always have some with him." Her whole body began to shake and Eva finally found the will to move as she rush towards Penny and engulfed her in a hug.

"Leonard didn't kill your father." Isybol said out of the blue. She was still being held tightly by the suit.

"That's not important right now." Amy said. "We'll sort this out as soon as…" the sounds of sirens approaching halted her command.

Eva relaxed her grip on Penny and looked to Isybol. "Iz, why do they think Leonard killed my father?"

"Amy is right… about the waiting; not about your dad's death. We'll talk about this as soon as Leonard… as soon as he can join us for the truth." Isybol looked up at the suit holding her and glared at him. He took one look at the determination on her face and relaxed his hold. She wiggled away from him and he released her. She took the few steps towards Leonard and knelt beside him. She placed a hand on his cheek and bowed her head. She mumbled a few words and looked heavenward.

The emergency services arrived and the scene became a flurry of activity. Leonard was checked again for entry wounds and electrodes attached for monitoring. After a few minutes of hurried procedures the paramedics seemed to calm down and methodically look after the wounds present.

"We've got 2 cracked or broken ribs; we'll need a x-ray to determine severity, but there doesn't seem to be an overt indication of breathing difficulties so I don't believe the lung has been pierced," the paramedic rattled off to his partner who was taking down notes and vital statistics.

"He has asthma; he carries an inhaler," Penny blurted out. The paramedic taking notes looked up and nodded his head as he made another mark in his pad.

The paramedic that was in contact with Leonard looked over to a monitor and said, "His O2 sats are nominal… but I'm going to start him on oxygen; just as a precaution. We have a laceration just above the right ear. He looked around with a question on his face.

"Gunshot; bullet grazed him," shooter suit said stoically. The paramedic began to clean the area.

A sheriff deputy had arrived and looked around until Amy caught his eye. "Ma'am, are you the agent in charge?"

"Yes," Amy replied. "You'll need to secure the scene. There is a liquor flask beside the victim; please bag and tag it for evidence." He walked over and pulled a evidence bag from his pocket and reached down with it to collect the item.

"Is this a bullet hole?" he asked.

"Technically, a bullet ricochet." Amy explained. "The flask most likely saved his life."

Leonard was surrounded by gray. Grayness was everywhere. He had finally come to the conclusion that the percussion sound he had heard after the impact had been a bullet and that this grayness was death. He had been upset when he reached that conclusion, but now he was resigned; he just hoped that Penny and his friends could forgive him for leaving them.

"You're not ready to leave them just yet, sexy" a voice from the grayness said.

"Clara? Is that you?" Leonard asked.

"I am so sorry that this is happening to you because of me." Clara said as she emerged from the grayness. 'She looks just like the day that we met' Leonard thought to himself.

"This has nothing to do with you Clara. This is because of the things I did to hide my mistakes." Leonard reached toward her and was please to feel the warmth of her hand as she took his. "I made some ill-conceived decisions and they've come back to haunt me. I just wish I was the only one who might have to pay for my mistakes."

"Our mistakes," Clara said. "I should never have sent you away. I loved you so much, but I knew it would be selfish of me to make you watch me as I got sicker and sicker."

"That was a mistake…" Leonard began to cry, "It was a mistake to send me away. I wanted to be there for you; for me. Don't you see. It wasn't that shell of a body that I love. It wasn't the lips that kissed me so lovingly; it was… is the heart, the soul that is who you are and that is what I love." He stroked his fingers up and down her arm. "I'm sorry that we missed all those years that we could have explored our love for each other…"

"But I took that chance away," Clara confessed.

Leonard smiled at her. "A bad decision; yes. But I know now that you did it out of love. A decision made for love is not always the right decision because it may not be the only choice that can be made for that love."

Clara leaned over and placed a tender kiss on his lips. "I'm sorry for the pain I have caused you. I forced you to move from your home all the way to California. I put you in the position to meet Samantha, Eva and Larry. I…"

"You put me on a path to meet Penny" Leonard interrupted.

"Yes, don't think that I don't know you owe me for that one" she smiled at him. "Penny is a lovely young woman."

"Are you omniscient, you know since…" he trailed off.

"I've been keeping an eye on you" she said with laugh in her voice.

"Then you know the truth about… well Larry?" he queried.

"Yes and that is going to be a tricky situation once you wake up. For one thing, Izzy doesn't know her fiancé is an FBI asset. Second of all…"

Clara voice faded and he heard crying as he opened his eyes to see Isybol, Eva and Penny in a group hug and Amy standing to their side looking like she had just run over her puppy.

"Clara. Where's Clara?" he said with a rasp in his voice and all eyes turned to stare at him. The hug that the girls were in exploded and Penny shot out of the center and fell to her knees beside him.

"Oh God, your back with me. Don't ever do that again." Penny burst into sobs again.

"Do what?" Leonard asked confused.

"Don't ever… don't ever…" She couldn't bring herself to say it. She raised his hand to her cheek and stroked it before place a soft kiss on his knuckles. "I love you" she said so softly he wasn't sure she had actually said it; but he knew it was true and that was all that mattered.