A/N - I was listening to the live recording of this song and when I listened to it again the skeleton of this story formed in my mind. It took a while to articulate the story that had played out in my mind but I think I've finally got it.

There ain't no reason me and you should be alone

Tonight, yeah baby

I've got a feeling that you should take me home tonight

I need a man that makes it right when it's so wrong

Tonight, yeah baby

Right on the limits where we know we both belong tonight

Using Sheldon's euphoria that they had won the costume contest, the gang had decided to stop by a bar on the way home. Sure, they looked completely out of place dressed up as superhero characters, but almost everybody there was drunk and didn't take that much notice when they walked in.

Howard and Sheldon were sat sensibly away from all the main action, and as far as possible away from Raj who was trying to talk with a bunch of girls in the hopes of making up for his lack of a midnight kiss. Unfortunately for him, his costume was not attracting the attention he desired. Zach was dancing with anything and anyone that could move, having quickly become the life of the party even in his Superman costume - or perhaps because of his Superman costume. Penny had tried initially to stick with him, but if she was being honest it was difficult going anywhere with Zack. He was a social butterfly and liked to flit around with everyone, and it wasn't Penny's thing. She liked to stick with her girls or her date for the evening, but it was impossible with Zack. Not that he meant to push her away, they were just different like that.

Which was okay with her, because she'd spied Leonard getting a drink at the bar and decided to make her way over and join him. She'd seen him briefly dancing with a girl in a purple dress, and she couldn't deny that it irked her more than a little. Not that she had the right to be annoyed by this... but she couldn't help it. It made her jealous and she hated being the jealous one. Despite being the one who had kissed Zack right in front of Leonard at midnight, she wanted to be... available for Leonard, whatever that meant. And she didn't want Leonard to be unavailable. Nothing had to happen, but if it didn't it would be far from the worst thing in the world.

"Hey!" Penny grinned as she squeezed in between Leonard and another guy waiting to order. "Watcha getting?"

"Just a beer," Leonard shrugged, and at that moment the bartender reappeared with his beer. "Sorry, and one more please."

"And two shots of tequila!" Penny blurted out. Biting her lip, she looked at Leonard. "I don't know why."

"Well, nothing wrong with just one shot to bring in the New Year." Leonard smiled. "Having fun?"

"Uh... yeah, kinda. I was dancing but... I thought I'd come and get a drink with you. What about you?"

"Actually, I'm having more fun that I thought I would at first." Leonard grinned. "Maybe it's the costume."

Smirking, Penny nodded slowly. "Maybe it is."

The bartender appeared once more with a beer for Penny and the two shots of tequila. "Lime and salt?"

"Uh, no, it's okay." Penny decided quickly. She wasn't going down that road again. When Leonard took his wallet out to pay, she quickly pulled a twenty dollar bill out from the bralet of her costume and handed it over. Leonard contributed a few more dollars for the remaining balance and tip, and they left the packed bar area.

"There's some space round the back to sit down." Penny remembered, as they looked around. She led him through the crowd of dancers and they found a free two-seater couch in a corner and sat down. "Shots first?"

"Yeah." Leonard agreed. "Better to get it out of the way."

"Exactly. One, two, three!"

They quickly downed their shots, both shaking their heads at the taste.

"Ugh," Leonard shuddered. "It's been a long time since I've done that."

"Me too." Penny set their empty shot glasses to the side. "I can't believe we once finished a bottle of Tequila together."

"Me neither. I don't think I would be able to do that anymore." Leonard mused. "Unless mother came to stay... then I probably would."

Penny giggled in agreement. "I don't blame you." She tilted her beer bottle towards his to clink the bottle necks. "Happy New Year, Leonard."

"Happy New Year to you too, Penny." Leonard grinned, and the pair took a swig of their beers, grateful to wash away the taste of the tequila.

"Do you reckon a superheroes powers would be increased in effectiveness under the influence of tequila?"

Taking a moment to consider this, Leonard swirled the beer in his bottle once and watched it foam a little. "Probably not."

"Well, maybe it would if it were in an X-Rated movie." Penny pointed out, before clearing her throat and changing the subject. "So, any big plans for the year? Resolutions?"

"Oh, uh, I guess... try to get out and about more. Since living with Sheldon, everything is always very much the same. So I guess to try something new, even if it's just something small. I don't know what yet." Leonard shrugged. He'd been thinking about it for a while, but figured what exactly his new 'thing' would be would just come along in due course - there was no point in pushing it to happen. "How about you?"

"I've told myself this every year since I started my job, but I want to get out of waitressing." Penny sighed. "I don't know how yet either."

"I'm sure something will come along eventually." Leonard smiled.

"Well, you already technically did something new. For you, anyway." Penny raised a brow.

"What do you mean?"

"I saw you dancing with that girl earlier!" Penny nudged his arm playfully. She knew she was just using what he'd said as a way to find out more, and tried not to think about how much she didn't like the fact that he'd been dancing with a random girl at a bar.

"Oh..." Leonard looked away shyly. "To be honest, I was just trying to make my way back to the guys after going to the bathroom. But she started dancing with me out of nowhere, so I just went along with it. I've never danced with a girl at a bar before."

Thoughtfully, Penny tilted her head and looked at Leonard with a small frown before making a decision. Standing up, she held out her hand. "Lets dance."

"What?"

"Dance with me."

"I don't know..."

"What, you think Green Lantern is too good to dance with Wonder Woman?"

"Hey, you got it right!" Leonard grinned.

"Yeah, whatever." Penny rolled her eyes, but secretly she was proud of herself for finally remembering. She leaned forward to grab Leonard's hand, tugging slightly. "Lets dance!"

She looked so happy at having gotten the superhero name right and the prospect of dancing, Leonard decided if he'd had the courage to dance with a stranger then he could at least have the decency to dance with Penny too. He knew how much she loved dancing. Using her hand to pull himself up, he smiled nervously at her. "Alright, lets dance."

"Yay!"

It's hard to feel the rush, to push the dangerous

I wanna run right to, to the edge with you

Where we'll both fall far in love

Grabbing Leonard's hand, Penny led them over to the crowd of dancing party-goers. She figured it would be more comfortable to be surrounded by others, rather than just on their own in a quiet corner.

Given that they both were dressed in full on superhero outfits, Leonard felt that little bit less awkward dancing in public. And it seemed that some girls were into that, since he'd already danced with one girl earlier - and she'd danced with him by choice.

"Wow," Leonard chuckled.

"What?"

"Tonight I'll have danced with two women! That's two more than usual!"

"Uh-huh," Penny raised her brows in amusement, trying to hide the fact that she wasn't exactly happy that he'd danced with someone else tonight already. She wished he'd stop pointing it out, although she knew he wasn't doing it on purpose. He was just happy that he'd had a chance to come out of his shell a little. "I always asked you to dance, you never wanted to!"

Shrugging, Leonard stepped a little closer to Penny as a louder song came on. "I guess I feel a little braver dressed as Green Lantern!"

For a while, all Penny could do was smile at him while she continued dancing. The truth behind what Leonard had said was incredibly touching; he had relied on superheroes to get him through the turmoil that a dysfunctional family and constant bullying had put him through - and had followed him into adulthood. She wondered if it helped that being dressed up meant his identity was hidden and any rejection or embarrassing incident could be distanced from him personally.

Leonard was thinking similar thoughts about Penny. She was very good at hiding how she felt from him most of the time, but tonight had been a little different. Did dressing up as Wonder Woman give her that extra bit of courage to admit that she wasn't really with Zack, or that he, Leonard, was part of the reason she wasn't sure about the New Year celebration plans? She was, after all, an actress, and he thought that perhaps it helped her in her personal life too, to distance herself from herself. That, and he thought he'd sensed a slight jealous edge to her voice when she'd been asking him about the girl he'd been dancing with.

As if to prove his thoughts right, after a while Penny thoughtfully replied, "I know what you mean."

Perhaps it was this moment of unspoken truths, but Leonard suddenly felt the urge to take a step closer to Penny. He did so, continuing with placing his hands lightly on her hips. Instantly, Penny's arms came up around his neck, hands linking loosely behind him.

I'm on the edge of glory, and I'm hanging on a moment of truth

I'm on the edge of glory, and I'm hanging on a moment with you

They danced like that for a few songs, smiling and occasionally making small talk about the music or the costume party, but mostly they were silent. Neither could find the words to complement the atmosphere in the little world they had created that encompassed only the two of them and nobody else.

"Leonard?"

"Yeah?"

Penny hummed contentedly as she shook her hair back and took a proper look at his face. "Thank you for making this sucky New Year into an amazing one."

"The same for you. I mean, we really wouldn't have won that contest without you. And I probably would be having the worst time at this bar without you here." Leonard gave her a shy smile, which did nothing but melt her heart.

"Well, I wasn't having the best time either." Penny pointed out, raising her brow. Her eyes wandered over to the main crowd of dancers, scanning them for Zack. Of course he was there, one arm around a woman and the other hand holding yet another beer. New Year, same Zack, she thought. She figured that's what she deserved for only getting back together with him so she wouldn't be alone during the festivities, but she still wished he'd paid at least a little more attention to her.

Seeing the melancholy look on Penny's face, Leonard brought his hands down to hold hers. "What do you say we get out of here?"

"Yeah." Penny smiled. "Yeah, lets go."

They weaved their way back through the crowd of dancers. Penny snuck a glance at Zack on her way and decided she really didn't need a guy like him to not be alone during the New Year. Leonard would have included her in their plans had she told him she would be spending it alone; he was always more than happy for her to be involved in the guys activities. They grabbed another shot at the bar - "for old times sake," Penny said - before leaving, slowing their pace as they silently walked away from the club.

Neither of them said anything for a while. Usually when Penny was leaving a club she was giggling so loudly it woke up half of Pasadena. Leonard could remember times she'd left feeling particularly affectionate - which only seemed to increase her giggles with a few satisfied hums thrown in. Penny was glad that for once she behaving neither of these ways. She felt pleasantly calm, the alcohol settling the nerves she would have other felt at being out alone with Leonard.

"Thanks for dressing up as Wonder Woman." Leonard said after a while. "I know it was just to shut Sheldon up... well, all of us. But you look... you look great. Really."

Pulling a face, Penny scoffed. "You're just saying that because I helped you win the competition."

"Well, that too. But you do look amazing."

"Yeah, well," Penny sighed and sat down on a bench. She wished she'd worn more comfortable shoes. "Look where looking good got me."

Sitting down beside Penny, Leonard put a hand on her knee. "You sacrificed your own plans to help out your friends when you could have just said no. And you put the black wig on even though you hated it."

"Look, I put on the wig becau-"

"You don't need to tell me why you need to put the wig on or why anything, Penny. The point I'm trying to make is that you don't just look good - and by the way, the word I actually used is great, not good. You're kind and caring and that's even more important. So really, thank you for coming tonight. I know you don't get it and it sounds stupid, but that competition means something to us in our lives."

"I think I kinda get it." Penny mused. "The superhero thing."

"You do?"

A loud cheer erupted a few blocks away, followed by fireworks. They gazed at them for a while; these fireworks were far less impressive than those set off at midnight but still mesmerizing.

"Fireworks are so beautiful. We never did them back at the farm because it would scare the animals. But they're so magical. Just beautiful." Penny said quietly, unable to look away.

"Yeah." Leonard agreed, looking over at Penny. "Just beautiful."

He had just returned his gaze to the fireworks when Penny looked at him. After a brief moment of hesitation, she leaned in and kissed Leonard fully on the lips. She was Wonder Woman, and Wonder Woman was much braver than Penny. The following day when she'd tell Kim and Cherie at work she'd blame it partly on alcohol and partly on 'the whole superhero thing', but the truth was she wanted to kiss him. Enough time had passed for them to accept that being together wasn't in the cards right now, and maybe never would be. But the last kiss they had shared had been awkward and unexpressive, and she'd never really been able to express things properly to Leonard. This gave her a way to do that, and it could give them some closure. If she could remember their last kiss with a smile on her face rather than regret, and know that they had shared their last kiss, she could take the next step. Whatever that was.

It was a passionate kiss. Not the kind that led to making out, but the kind that replaced words when they were not enough.

Leonard wondered if he would be kissing Penny back if it wasn't New Year and he wasn't dressed as Green Lantern. He didn't know what it was, but he felt like this moment was the official final full stop in the chapter that was their relationship.

After the kiss came to a natural end, Leonard gently traced his fingers down Penny's face and arms, before gently holding her hands and standing up. She followed suit, unable to stop smiling.

"Lets go home."

Their hands stayed linked during the short walk home. It was only when they reached the fourth floor hallway that they spoke again.

"Goodnight, Leonard." Penny slowly dropped her hand from his hold. She didn't want to, but he had to be free now; that had been her other resolution: to let him be happy no matter what that entailed - and to accept that she couldn't give him what he needed and deserved. Sometimes you just had to be honest with yourself, even if you couldn't be so with others - and Penny had finally reached that sad realization. "Thank you for tonight."

"No, thank you."

Smiling, Penny took a small step back. "I hope this year brings you a lot of happiness."

"For you too. Wanna come over for brunch later?"

"I-" Penny bit her lip. Of course she wanted to. "I should go for a run before work. That's my other resolution... be more healthy."

"Okay, let me know if you change your mind. Raj is cooking so you know there'll be plenty to go around."

Penny nodded, but she knew she wasn't going to change her mind. She missed being Leonard's best friend, and if she wanted to be his best friend she had to distance herself from whatever feelings she still had for him in any other way. Leonard was a great friend; he would understand without asking.

"Goodnight, Leonard."

"'Night, Penny. Enjoy your run."

"Thanks. Sleep well."