"Oh, no." Howard shook his head. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no." He put down his sandwich, and glared at his friend, jaw dropped. "No!"
"What do you mean, "no?" I'm not about to do anything," Leonard protested and looked down on his own food, a sign that told Howard he was absolutely lying.
Howard sighed. "Please. I've been around you and Penny long enough to know that you are planning something absolutely ridiculous in that head of yours!"
Leonard gave in and muttered an "I might" when Raj sat down beside him with his food. "What's up?" He asked.
"Ah, get this," Howard replied. "Leonard here is planning on breaking up Sheldon and Penny's happy marriage because he wants to get her back."
Raj's eyes widened, and echoed Howard from earlier. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no!" He exclaimed. "Don't do that!"
Leonard had had quite enough. "Why? Why shouldn't I? We all thought that relationship was doomed from the start. Besides, if I have one more shot at happiness with Penny then I am sure as hell going to take it."
"Oh my god I cannot even tell you how wrong this is," Howard muttered under his breath. "Sheldon and Penny are both happy, Leonard! You're essentially ruining two lives here and I'm not going to stand here and let you do that."
Raj nodded the whole time. "Not a good idea dude, I'll tell you that."
"I'm not going to do anything... drastic!" Leonard protested, gaining another look from Howard, who was just shaking his head at that point.
Leonard sighed, blocking his friends' advice - Howard and Raj were still talking about how horrible that idea was. His mind was all made up anyway.
"I can't believe I'm actually nervous," Penny said to Sheldon who was reading the in-flight magazine beside her. "What, with the plane? It should be fine," Sheldon assured her.
"No," she shook her head as the plane rolled slowly preparing for takeoff. "I'm nervous about coming back to Pasadena. It's like - I've been gone so long and had so much fun that I don't want to go back to my old routine."
Sheldon nodded, seemingly understanding. "Hmm," he muttered, at a lost for words, but trying to find them anyway. He knows exactly how she feels - his routine was basically turned upside-down the moment he thought about proposing to Penny that one night - and although he hadn't admitted it, he felt a bit weird, too. "I doubt we'll go back to our old routines," he finally said.
Penny smiled at her husband. "True." It had only been a few months, but everything had been different. "I left as a single woman and came back a doting wife!" She laughed. "What a turn of events."
And she couldn't have been happier. Should she change her surname to Cooper too? Oh, that would be weird. Would we be living in her apartment? Obviously Leonard wouldn't like the idea of the three of them living under the same roof. Would she still have her job waiting for her back home?
She put her hand on her stomach with the lightest of touches. The plane was ascending into the skies and she felt a bit queasy. Sheldon noticed her discomfort. "Are you okay?" He asked lightly.
"Good, thanks," she exhaled as she felt the plane stabilizing.
"They're coming back," Raj said to the room. "They should be in the plane right now I guess."
The boys were in Leonard's apartment that night playing some of Sheldon's old video games. "Who?" Howard asked, not taking his eyes of the TV.
"Sheldon and Penny," Raj said as he scrolled through his phone. "Penny had tweeted it. They should be here in a couple hours."
Howard paused the game and checked what Raj was looking at. "Oh, good grief, they really are coming back. You think Leonard already know-"
"They're coming back!" Leonard suddenly reappeared into the living room, and Howard and Raj sighed. "This is amazing," Leonard said to the two.
Raj and Howard just looked at each other. "Looks like he knows, huh," Howard ended. "This is going to be a disaster."
"Leonard, you sure about all this, buddy?" Howard tried for the last time that day. Leonard nodded. "Yes. I'm sure."
"Alright." Howard unpaused his game. At least he gave it a shot.