Square Root Chapter 11

Leonard and Rebecca had been sitting silently in the ER waiting room for almost an hour. Rebecca had filled out the paperwork for him, turned it in to the intake nurse and returned to sit next to him. She had draped her arm around him and pulled him in to a gentle embrace. He had reacted by tensing up, but had gradually relaxed and lowered his head to her shoulder. Finally, the charge nurse announced his name and they stood to follow her into the exam area.

They entered exam room number 7 and a nurse prompted him to sit up on the exam table and he did so. She took his hand and began to clean the area of the laceration.

"I had an altercation with my hallway wall." He laughed nervously and the nurse just looked at him with a blank face. "You should see the other guy," he tried again but she just glanced over at Rebecca.

"I don't think this is a good time for humor, Leonard," Rebecca stated and the nurse gave her an appreciative look.

"I'm sorry," Leonard said, "I ramble sometimes."

"How long ago did this happen?" the nurse asked.

"Going on about three hours. I'm sorry. I was just being stupid and here I am taking you away from someone that might really be sick or hurt badly." Leonard looked over to Rebecca for assurance.

"That's what we are here for, Mr. Hofstader. Now, I've got the area cleaned and prepped. The doctor will be here in a few minutes to stitch you up." She looked over to Rebecca. "Are you his girlfriend? Do you have any injuries that we need to take a look at?"

Rebecca scrunched her forehead and then replied, "No… No. I'm his sister. And for the record, I appreciate that you need to ask those questions, but in this case it really was a wall. My brother made a rash decision and took his anger out on a wall. He has never and would never lash out at a person in anger." Leonard stared at her in confusion and she saw his look of incomprehension. "She asking if this is an injury from a case of domestic violence. She has to determine if you were in an altercation and assaulted someone; i.e. a wife or a girlfriend."

"Oh… Ohhhhh…. God no," Leonard said. "I would never.. I couldn't…"

"It's okay Leonard. She just has to ask these questions. It's just routine," Rebecca calmed him as she stepped toward him. The nurse turned to leave.

"I would never do something like that," he exclaimed as the nurse pulled the curtain closed behind her. He turned to Rebecca with a look of horror on his face. "How could she think that? Who would…"

"There are a lot of bastards in this world Leonard. I'm sure she's run across a lot of them in her line of work. She's just doing her job. She has to report any cases that she thinks may be a result of domestic abuse."

"Do you think that she thinks…" he started.

"No, there is no way she could possible think that this is a domestic abuse situation. She was just following protocols by asking the questions." Rebecca rubbed his back and Leonard began to relax. "Do you want to talk about it?" She felt him tense up again.

"I was an asshole to Penny." It was a statement not a question but he looked up to her for confirmation.

"A little bit," she confirmed. "It's actually a little reassuring to see you show such a level of emotion." He looked at her with disbelief. "The way Beverly… mother raised us; it really…"

"I know," Leonard stopped her. "That was one of the reasons I took the job at Caltech." She looked at him and squinted her eyes in an attempt t get him to explain further. "When Clara…" his voice changed slightly at the use of her name but he took control of the emotion that was rearing its head. He swallowed hard and she stopped rubbing his back and stepped in front of him.

"We can talk about this later if it's too much right now." She said as she brushed back a lock of hair that had fallen into his face.

He shook his head and carried on. "I was really hurt by Clara's decision and there was no one I could talk too, so… I called the person who had asked me to come to Caltech for the lecture and inquired if there might be a position available and she was happy to have be come out here." He looked up at Rebecca and there was a frown on his face. "The only regret I ever had about that decision was that instead of you being a couple of hours away, you were a world away." His frown started to fade and a smile came to his face. "I've missed you so much." She enclosed him in a hug and he wrapped his arms around her and they both shed a tear as they relished in the warmth of each others' embrace.

~ Apartment 4B ~

Penny sat silently on the sofa with her legs pulled up underneath her and her arms wrapped around herself as if she were trying to warm herself. Her phone was on the arm of the sofa beside her and she kept glancing at it willing it to ring. It had been almost two hours since Leonard had left with Rebecca; surely they should be leaving pretty soon. Would he call her? He hadn't said he would; he just said they would talk later. She heard a knock at the door and waited. No triple knock and her name; it wasn't Sheldon. She stood and walked to the door and looked out the spy-hole. All she saw was the top of a blond head, it must be Bernadette. She opened the door and Bernadette stepped forward and hugged Penny.

"Hey, Bernadette," she said in surprise. "What are you doing here? I thought you and Howard had plans with his mother this evening."

"We do… did. Amy called and said Leonard had been hurt and was on his way to the ER. When she said that you hadn't gone with him, I knew something had to be wrong so I came straight here from work. I told Howard he would have to go to his mother's alone. So what's going on?" Bernadette released her and strode to the couch and sat down.

Penny slowly walked over and sat beside her. "I think Leonard has decided that I'm not worth the trouble," she started and immediately began to sob as her voice failed her and she leaned down and put her head on Bernadette's shoulder and her body began to tremble. Bernadette put an arm around her and Penny said quietly, "I need him. I love him so much." Bernadette swayed her body so that she was rocking Penny back and forth.

"He knows that sweetie. He knows you love him; and he loves you. It will be alright. Shhhh, hush now and rest. When you're ready, you tell me what is going on." She reached her other hand up and stroked Penny's hair. "Everything's going to be okay," and she prayed that she was right.