A/N: I don't own any of the Big Bang Theory characters and I am not making any money from writing this.

Please forgive any minor spelling or grammar mistakes, English is not my native language.

Sorry for the late update. I still have yet to finish the next chapter, I will probably publish it on Tuesday. There are still lots of things to happen in this story but I am slowly moving it to an end. I think that I will finish it soon (don't worry, that doesn't mean that the final arc will be short or that it will leave behind any loose ends). Also, don't worry about Howdette, Baeslie and Ralex, they will catch up. I also know that there hadn't been much Lenny development lately, main focus being on Penny's career, but there are big changes in plan with them :)

Leonard and Penny went to the shopping mall together to get a Christmas present for Bernadette. Leonard didn't have to work as much that day and Penny had to work later that day and also had her friend to cover for her a little and give her some extra time. They first started with the clothing section, at Penny's request. Leonard wanted to object, but seeing how big the mall was, he decided to waste no time on something that could have easily been avoid. He hated that about himself sometimes, but at least that time it was nothing serious and would help them save time.

"Maybe we should get her this?", Leonard exclaimed, showing Penny a new educational board game that he found on the shelf next to the clothing section. She smiled at him. "Awww, you still think that this is a perfect Christmas present!" Leonard blushed and put the idom back on the shelf. But, on a lighter side, at least Penny knew what to get him for Christmas.

Sheldon looked up at the ceiling, trying to think off something. "She is a microbiologist, so... maybe a new microscope or some sort of book..." He got so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't even notice Penny walking over to. "Of course, we would have to go to the bookstore..."

"Maybe this?"

Leonard snapped back to attention and turned facing Penny: he saw her holding red low-cut sundress as she was smiling brightly at him.

He sighed, running his hand through his hair. Penny's smile widened. "I think that it would suit her well", she exclaimed.

"OK", he agreed. "How about you buy her this, and later we go to the bookstore. So we get her a dress and the book. A mutual gift."

Penny glared at him. Leonard smiled.

"In Miami, she will probably need both."

"OK. But I do have to go work by two pm."

#

Sheldon and Amy were actually in the shopping mall too, albeit a different one, about seven blocks away. Amy tried to do her best to find an appropriate gift for Bernadette, but she found it extremely hard to concentrate on choosing a Christmas gift for Bernadette with Sheldon constantly moaning and whining about... well, everything.

Literally everything.

They almost made it for two minutes in silence, but once they made it to the middle of first floor, he couldn't help but complain again.

"Why do we have to do this?"

Amy clenched her fists in frustration, trying to stay calm as she turned facing Sheldon. "Because she is our friend", she said softly.

Sheldon said nothing. Amy took a moment to study his reaction. Sheldon almost looked ashamed or interested, like he had just learned something. Just as Amy sighed in relief and was about to turn around, he asked. "Why can't you do that by yourself?", Sheldon groaned. Amy shot him a death glare. "Because we are a couple!"

Sheldon continued looking at the shelves, disinterested, until he saw an idom that made his heart beat faster.

"This is a perfectly fine Christmas present for her", he said, picking it up.

Amy glared at him. "Sheldon, this is a DVD box containing all five Star Wars movies."

Sheldon looked at the box lovingly, his cheeks blushing. "These are all Blue rays, actually." He sighed, eyes not leaving the box. "Not the mention the whole two minutes of previously unseen footage. In my whole life, I never had a better reason to spend two hundred dollars."

Amy was determined. "We are not getting her that."

Sheldon shot her a frightened look, pulling the box against his chest and taking a defense pose. Amy sighed. "OK, you can buy it. But only for yourself."

"Yay!", Sheldon squealed, his eyes glowing with overjoyment. Several people in the store shot him weird looks. Amy looked down at the floor, embarrassed, but couldn't help but smile a little. It was kinda cute to see him so happy without being able to understand why.

They continued going through the store, Sheldon's heart filling with warmth, box still pressed tightly against his chest. It didn't take long before he saw something that made him widen his eyes in awe.

"Wow! Ten bottles of Vapor rub for two dollars!"

"Sheldon, we are here to buy a gift for Bernadette", Amy reminded him. Sheldon's face fell, thought the movie collection provided him some comfort. "Why can't we simply buy her something simple and practical?", he whined. "Like a year supply of tampons or birth control pills."

"Sheldon!", Amy hissed. He took a step back, looking baffled. "What? That is a legit suggestion!"

Amy groaned. That turned out to be worse than she had expected. "Well, that is off the list too."

"If we had made an actual list too before going there, we wouldn't be having this problem", Sheldon mumbled.

Amy couldn't help but admit that Sheldon was right on that one. That would make things easier. But they both had very busy schedule and couldn't make it. At least she managed to did some research about microbiology. She sighed.

"Why couldn't we go to science store first?", Sheldon whined.

"Because we need to think outside the box at times. Cover all the bases. Also, it is always the best to get to harder stuff done first. We will go to the science store later."

Sheldon sighed. "I think we should leave", he said, trying to sound convincing. "We already searched the whole place. There is nothing here that she would like."

"Sheldon, we had been here for half an hour."

Sheldon frowned. "Drats!", he mumbled as he continued following Amy. "I don't have a whole day, you know. I took some time off, but I still need to go back to my office and go over some files."

"I have a work too, you know."

Sheldon frowned. "So?"

#

Science store that they attended two hours later was by all means Sheldon's definition of Heaven on Earth. It smelled of cleanliness, like Sheldon would put it. Walls and floors were all white, without a single stain anywhere. All wings and shelves were neatly organized, interior almost completely.

"Oh my...", Sheldon shuddered, looking around.

"Science store, specialized in Biology." He fondled his hands together, shivering. "I feel amazed, confused and colored with mixture of curiosity and greed, with just a bit of professional resentment, all in the same time."

"Hopefully, you will be able to concentrate on our assignment."

"What?" "Oh, yeah, buying an early Christmas gift for a member of our social group."

"Bernadette!"

"Whatever." He turned facing Amy. "Do you think that they have this one in blue?"

"Since this is an early Christmas party, we will be buying presents not only for Bernadette, but for each other too, right?"

"Right. Nothing too big, main focus will be on Bernadette because she will not get to celebrating Christmas with us, but we will all exchange presents."

"Oh...", Sheldon just said, mad twinkle in his eyes. Amy suppressed a groan as she went on to study one of the laptops posed on the table next to one of the shelves.

#

By seven pm Sheldon was still in his office, looking over his next study. He did look up from his computer upon hearing a knock on the door.

"Come in!", he yelled. Alex walked in, closing the door behind her. "Ot's me. You arranged a meeting with me, doctor Cooper."

"I know", Sheldon confirmed. "Sit down."

Alex sat on the chair behind his desk, facing him.

"As you might have heard, a member of our social group, Bernadette-Rostenkowski Wolowitz, is leaving for Miami in a few days. We are planning to set her up an early Christmas party."

"That is nice."

"Sure, whatever. Anyway, we will all exchange presents. So, I need you to find a perfect Christmas gift for my girlfriend. Two gifts, actually. One for this celebration and one for an actual one. Something that will make her grateful and, if she doesn't buy me a present that I like, soul-crushed."

Alex shifted in her chair, feeling slightly uncomfortable, but just said: "OK."

"Well, that is settled. On an unrelated note, it also came to my understanding that you are now engaged in a romantic relationship with one of my friends, Rajesh Koothrappali."

"Yes. That's true. But if you are planning to give me another one of your lectures..."

"Don't worry. I learned my lesson. Some women just can't handle the truth." Alex couldn't help but folk her eyes, but she said nothing. "I just want to make sure that it won't interfere with your work. Because if it does, there will definitely be some consequences."

Alex smiled at him, feeling relieved. "Don't worry, doctor Cooper. Everything will be OK. I'm a professional, after all."

Sheldon stared blankly at her for a few seconds before replying. "Sure, whatever. You may leave now." Then he continued working on his computer.

Alex suppressed all the snarky remarks that she thought of and left the office.

#

They were having Chinese food for dinner. Nothing special. Lucy did agree for Stuart to pay half the price (on his request)., though they both agreed that it would be for the best to host a dinner at her apartment. Although that meant that Lucy had to spend the whole afternoon hiding all of her personal idoms in her bedroom, since she didn't want to risk anyone seeing them and make comments that would make her uncomfortable.

Stuart arrived at her apartment at about seven am and informed her that Larry will be there in about twenty minutes. That is when she ordered a take out and two of them set up the table. Lucy decided for everything to be nice but not too special or remarkable: a simple blue and three clean white plates and blue paper napkins.

Minutes after, the doorbell rang.

He thought that kitchen looked really nice, and blue napkins on were a nice touch. The view wasn't much, but it was still great to stay at a place that looked better than his apartment. (Not that something like that was hard to find.)

The dinner started off rather awkwardly, since they all started eating and even after several minutes had passed they still couldn't think off anything to talk about.

To her own surprise, Lucy decided to start a conversation. She turned facing Larry and started, rather clumsy, by saying: "So... Larry."

"Lucy. Stuart", Larry exclaimed, showing at them.

They all exchanged a brief chuckle, that was replaced with awkwardness soon after.

"Yeah. So..." Lucy fondled her arms together and looked around the room, trying to avoid making an eye contact. She had difficult time coming up with a question. "What do you do for a living?", she eventually asked.

"I draw comic books", Larry answered.

Lucy was surprised. "You make living out of that?"

"No", he admitted after short silence, forcing a smile. "It is more of a hobby of mine. I work as a High school custodian."

Lucy looked at him like he made no sense at all.

"A janitor", Stuart said, only to be met with Larry's sould crushed look.

"A janitor, if we would use late 90's High school slang that my girlfriend is apparently am expert off, but the correct and not in any way disrespectful term is a custodian."

"Thank you", Larry spoke with a shivering voice before taking a sip of Cola. Then he turned back to Lucy, apparently calming himself down a bit.

"I also sometimes work part time in Stuart's comic book store." He looked down at the plate for a moment before looking back up. "What do you do for a living?", he asked, sounding almost competitive.

"I design web sites."

Larry nodded his head in sign of approval and continued eating, looking down at the plate. "That is nice, he mumbled."

Stuart said, trying to cheer Raj up. "I mean, who doesn't know how to make a website these days..."

"I mean, literally, who? So many people that I can't even name an individual. We need people like her." He was glad to see Lucy growing more relaxed again. "This is her apartment, by the way", he said.

"I guessed", Larry admitted. Stuart looked away and groaned silently as he ate a piece of broccoli with his rice.

"You will probably find this out sooner or later, so I may as well tell it right call me Lonely Larry, but that is not true. It is my fault, actually. I thought that "Lovely Larry" would be a nice nickname, so I suggested it, but it obviously backfired."

"So... how long are you two together?"

Stuart and Lucy exchanged looks, more out of surprise then discomfort. Stuart decided to give Lucy a break and answer that question, but decided not to go in details.

"Uhm... for about five months now. Only two as boyfriend and girlfriend. We were friends and so..."

"Where did you meet?"

"On the bridge", Lucy blurted out, only to widen her eyes in horror immediately after. I could have say that a little better. She took a sip of water, giving Stuart desperate looks, excepting him to answer whatever question Larry almost certainly was to ask next

Larry frowned, Lucy's gaze unnoticed by him. "What were you doing there?", he asked.

Lucy blushed and swallowed hard, lowering her glass down. Stuart shifted in his chair, trying to appear calm. "You know... typical things."

Surprisingly, that seemed to work for Larry. "I see", he simply said and took another bite of his egg roll. Lucy sighed in relief, eating some more of her rice. She gave Stuart a small smile as he did the same before continuing eating.

"How long are you two together?", Lucy suddenly asked. Larry almost choked himself on his food as Stuart widened his eyes. Lucy eyed them curiously, feeling discomfort seeping into her body as first drops of sweat rolled down her forehead.

"How do you mean together?", Larry asked before taking a sip of water.

"I mean, how long have you been friends?"

"Oh...", Larry exclaimed, as Stuart sighed in a sign of relief.

"For about seven years", Larry explained. "We met on Comic Con."

"Oh", Lucy exclaimed, slowly feeling herself calm down.

"I rarely go there anymore though", Stuart explained. "I grew pass that, I guess."

"I am not trying to sound rude or anything, I am enjoying myself, although the beef is a bit chewy, but I didn't eat meat in a week so..." He quickly stopped himself, knowing that he took off ranting again. "Anyway, I just wanted to ask, why exactly did you invite me to dinner?"

"I just thought that it was time that my girlfriend meets people that I know... people that I like and care about."

He eventually spoke, under the breath: "Thank you."

Stuart frowned. "What for?"

"No reason", Larry said in a shivering voice, shrugging as he took a sip of water.

The rest of the dinner passed relatively calm. They decided to split by nine pm. Stuart and Lucy walked over to the door with Larry. "It was nice having dinner with you", Stuart complimented, smiling brightly at him.

"Yes", Lucy just said, smiling kinda shyly at Larry as she held Stuart's hand.

Larry smiled at them and nodded his head as he turned around and started to leave. But, something was bothering them. He felt a need to say something, but he wasn't sure what exactly.

So, he just turned facing Stuart and Lucy and, after a moment of hesitation, said the first thing that came to his mind.

"Wait."

They both glared at him, obviously taken aback by his sudden change of behaviour. He had that moment of hesitation, but suddenly, as soon as he spoke, the words just started flowing.

"It is obvious that I don't have a girlfriend", he admitted. They said nothing, but they were obviously taken aback by his... firmness? Honesty? He continued. "I didn't have many girlfriends either, I didn't even kiss a girl until I was twenty, I probably read signals wrong because she beat me up quite severely, I lost my virginity when I was twenty two, it was a pity sex, I told her that I had two months left to leave, which might have been true at the moment because I had some thoughts about committing suicide on my birthday, also it turned out rather awkward because the first thing that she said after we had sex was "Excuse me, I had to go take my HIV medicine", I did get tested and it turned negative but I did run into my mom there..."

It was only then that he noticed the baffling looks on Stuart's and Lucy's face. He sighed, realizing that he went too far. He was so into saying what he had to say that he didn't even pay attention to their reactions.

"Anyway, I am not near as happy as the two of you are, I probably never will be, but I would just like you to know that I am not jealous or sad or anything. I am happy for you two. I think that it is obvious that you need each other and I am lucky too, because I made another friend."

Lucy smiled, blushing a little. "Thank you", she whispered.

Larry frowned. "For what?"

And really, there was nothing else to be said.

They exchanged a smile and he left. Stuart then closed the door behind and turned facing Lucy, as she sighed in relief and walked over to him. They exchanged a kiss.

"You see?", Stuart commented. "It wasn't too bad."

Lucy smiled. "It was great."

Stuart couldn't help but chuckle, followed by Lucy. "No, it wasn't."

"No, it wasn't", Lucy agreed. "But it was nice."

"That was actually the nicest friend/girlfriend dinner that I attended. Also the first one."

"I...", Lucy started, but suddenly felt uncomfortable. "Wait, I need to move away."

They both walked a few steps away. Lucy took a deep breath.

"I rarely ever meet new people. Even less voluntarily. So, I am glad that you helped me with that, and I hope that I will be able to do that again sometime. Not right away, but eventually. I know that it wouldn't always be pleasant, but hopefully, with you, I will be able to... pull it off."

"I am proud of you, actually."

"No offence, but now, I would like to have some alone time because saying... admitting all this proved to be harder than I thought."

"Sure." He went to the living room but, suddenly feeling a need to make something clear, turned around facing her before entering it, and said: "If you need anything..."

Her response was quick and firm. "I have you", she said softly.

Stuart remained speechless for a moment-he didn't know why, it just felt... appropriate somehow. Eventually, he just nodded his head and whispered: "True."

A/N: I will keep presents a surprise for now :)

Lonely Larry is actual TBBT character, he first appeared in "The Nerdvana Annihilation".