As always I own nothing, make no money from this and bow before the genius that is Chuck Lorre, Bill Prady, Steven Molaro, and all of the writers, actors and crew that bring the TBBT to life. Special note: I would like to thank TerribleWaitress for the use of Meryl as Penny's Mom's name. After reading it in one of her stories I could never imagine any other name for Meryl. For those interested Meryl means blackbird in several languages. I prefer the Celts version which is bright sea. For those looking for a great read please check out TerribleWaitress's profile page.

Looking for reason

Penny's parents, Meryl and Wyatt, called as soon as they had checked in at the Westin. Amy and Sheldon took Penny over to see them. I was told later that it was a tearful reunion.

Penny had introduced both Amy and Sheldon, with their full titles, as her friends who had been taking care of her. Meryl had given them both a hug and blessed them for taking such good care of their little girl.

Wyatt had looked very uncomfortable and gave both each a hand shake. Once Penny and Meryl had gone into one of the bedrooms for a "good cry", as Meryl put it, Wyatt had gotten an update from Amy and Sheldon about the "whole sordid business". He was not happy that Kurt had not been found, or that Penny was going to stay in LA. During a lull in the conversation Penny was heard to be crying hard. Seeing Sheldon fidget as he was drawn to console her, Amy quietly slipped her hand into his. He looked at her and tried to smile. I got it. Amy was his rock. As long as he had her, handling Penny's sadness was bearable.

Noticing that they held hands, Wyatt had smiled and asked how long they had been together. Amy was about to correct him when Sheldon did another amazing thing. He proudly stated that while they had only been a couple for short while, he had known her for 1648 days. Amy told me she had done the math in her head and realized it had been almost 4 and 1/2 years since they met each other in my recovery room. She was never quite sure where she stood with Sheldon and then he would casually say something like that.

Eventually the ladies came out of the bedroom and Penny received a bear hug from Wyatt. Verifying that Penny was up to it, they got ready and drove to the Athenaeum for dinner. The rest of us were to meet them there. I knew from conversations with Penny that her folks were big fans of beef, and Wednesdays was Prime Rib night at the Athenaeum, so I had reserved one of the long tables. Dinner was excellent and the conversation was lively. Meryl told us about the training and care of horses. Penny's eyes had lit up when they talked of specific horses they had trained together. Wyatt got us laughing with his stories of his rebellious daughters and life on the farm. It was a pleasant evening and was the first time I had heard Penny laughing since Kurt's actions had been revealed.

I found that I really liked Penny's parents. They made being a couple look easy. More importantly they were themselves. True wysiwyg (What you see is what you get). As Wyatt put it they were "just folks". That made me think of my own parents and I realized they were "just academics". It was what they did best and it was a very structured life. I realized why Sheldon was so comfortable to be around, it was like being with my family. I mentioned this to Amy and she seemed surprised I had not realized this before. She paused and then told me she had always admired the way I brought everyone together and made them feel welcome even after having the kind of childhood my Mother had documented. I explained that most of that came from hanging out with my Uncle Floyd's family and in particular my cousin Angelo. A look of recognition came across her face. She said that when I was in the UCLA hospital and delirous I had had several conversations with Angelo. One of them had been me begging Angelo for forgiveness. I had gotten so worked up that they had to sedate me further to prevent me from reopening any of the wounds I had incurred in the explosion. I ended up telling Amy things about that time that no one else knew, I needed her to understand I was not the man she was describing. The group meetings were nothing more than me trying to surround myself with brilliance so it could rub off on me. A need to fill the void Angelo's injury had created. She disagreed, she said our meetings were what she always imagined the Salons in the 18th century to have been like, except substituting Fantasy and Science, for Poetry and Religion. The end result was to be the same, to share ideas and to stretch the minds of those involved, all of them, not just mine. I leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. She asked why and I told her, because sometimes I forget that you are a genius and that I was lucky to have her as my friend. She got up, excused herself, and headed for the restrooms.

I got a dirty look from Penny and then one from Sheldon, as they both excused themselves and went after her. Bernadette and Cheryl gave me questioning looks and then Meryl leaned forward and asked me what had happened. I told them that I had thanked Amy for being such a good friend and that I had no idea why she left so soon after that. Meryl just smiled and whispered something to Wyatt. Wyatt laughed and seeing my confusion pointed out that saying something that might make a lady cry in public was a no win situation. Everyone who saw it would figure you were rude and give you the "stink eye". Those women who actually heard what you said would still give you the "stink eye" for making a lady cry in public, even if they were happy tears. No win.

Amy and the others returned. I hid behind the dessert menu while they got seated. Our server returned and we spent the next couple of minutes placing our orders. Then came the looks, an appreciative smile from Amy. Then a shy smile from Penny. I turned in hopes that Sheldon would not try to follow the social norm. His lip twitched, his head tilted slightly to the side and then it happened. Sheldon smiles, its unpleasant. We have to work on that next.

Penny started to say something when Wyatt leaned forward and said to her "rest easy slugger, I have already explained to your Dr. Hofstadter what he did wrong". Her Dr. Hofstadter? Penny gave her Dad the stink eye and I could actually feel the air getting colder. Cheryl saved us all by asking Meryl for more information on dressage and what to look for in a horse if you want to learn to ride. Dessert arrived and I thoroughly enjoyed the sorbet that was served. I saw Wyatt walk over our server and saw the waiter shake his head and point at me. Wyatt signaled me to come to him. It seems that Wyatt had wanted to pay the check and found that I had already taken care of it. He offered to reimburse me for the dinners. I explained to him that I was a member of the club and got a substantial discount (not true), and since I had been the one to invite them, I should pay the bill. He seemed uncomfortable with that so I counter proposed that he get the bill next time. That appeased him but then he asked me to join him at the bar for a drink. To avoid another go round with the check, I explained I would have to pay since I was a club member and he was not (not true but I needed it to cover for my earlier white lie). He asked for a beer and I asked if he minded me picking which one. Wyatt liked to try whatever was on tap that he had never had before but said he would follow my lead. I asked William for two of the Kulmbacher Eisbach's and two of the dimpled glasses. Wyatt asked if I drank here a lot since I knew the bartender by name. William laughed and explained that he was an undergrad at CalTech and that he had worked on several projects for me. I admitted that William had told me about the beer and how it had originated. Since I had always wanted to try it I let Wyatt know it was chance for both of us to try something new. We both agreed the "ice bock" had an interesting flavor. We tried chit chat to fill the dead air but other than Penny we really had nothing in common.

I could tell he was building up to asking me some questions so I helped by asking him what was troubling him. He was worried that Sheldon was paying too much attention to his daughter too soon after Kurt. It seemed he and I shared a common aversion to giving the occurrence a proper title, so as not to make it real. I told him that Amy and I had discussed it. Wyatt was visibly relieved to know that Amy was aware of it. He admitted to really having a problem with those that cheat on their spouses. I gave him a little background on Sheldon and let him know that when Sheldon was in the hospital, Penny had been visiting him after her CCF shifts. She had loaned him her iPod and had downloaded newspapers and several Sci-Fi classic books recorded by LibriVox on to it. She had told Sheldon that she knew inner ear problems made even sleeping uncomfortable. She thought that since he could not read he might like to listen to some books. Sheldon expressed his concern about her spending money she did not have and she reminded him that the iPod was just a loan, and that LibriVox downloads were free because they were recorded by volunteers and the books were in the public domain. Another night she came in and had been shushed by Sheldon because his Mom had had a long day and was asleep in the chair. Since Sheldon was having a particularly rough night he had asked Penny to sing him Soft Kitty. She got it right on the third try. Amy had walked in while she finished singing and realized that Penny was petting Sheldon like you would a frightened animal. Since she needed to get home Penny had kissed Sheldon on the forehead and told him "get well sweetie". Since Amy was staying for awhile, Penny convinced Mary to let her drive her to the apartment so she could get a decent nights sleep. Wyatt seemed pleased with how his daughter had behaved but was still concerned about the way Sheldon was always around. I tried to explain to him that until Amy had come along Sheldon paid little attention to gender, and used his genius to separate himself from those around him. Wyatt still had concerns so I gave him an example of a Sheldonism. I explained that Sheldon hated to receive gifts because social norms required him to buy one of equal, or better, value than the one he received. He would complain about it enough that slowly no one other than his family sent him gifts. Wyatt still looked dubious. I explained further that since Penny's explanation of an experience she had had with a horse with an inner ear infection had gotten a busy ER doctor to take a second look at Sheldon and that, by Sheldon's standards, had saved his life. Wyatt saw where I was going. He said this was Sheldon meeting his social obligation to return the gift Penny had given him. Since he considered her gift to be his life, Sheldon was doing everything he could to repay the gift. I explained that this was made worse by the fact that Sheldon is not able to function well in society so any actions on his part always seem awkward. It was likely he had googled what needed to be done because he had no experience with it himself. To make matters work Sheldon often asked himself "what would Leonard do" because in his eyes I was a well adjusted member of society. Wyatt got it. Sheldon had no ulterior motive other than doing whatever it took to get Penny's "life" back. I let him know what Amy had told me that from Penny's point of view Sheldon was not a man or a woman, just a non-threatening human that she could hold without having to explain herself. Sheldon was a life vest for her to cling to till the ocean got less choppy. Wyatt seemed to be happy with that but obviously still had questions. So I asked him again. His other problems were with me. Why was I allowing Penny and Cheryl to takeover my room? Why had I taken care of moving Penny's belongings out of her old apartment? Why was a man with my reputation involved with this at all? Why was my Mother calling them to recommend a rape counselor who could help them thru this trying time?

The answers were easy. Sheldon had offered my room as soon as he heard Penny was in trouble, I was impressed with his actions so I raised no objections. Cheryl had planned to move Penny's belongs herself. That way Penny did not need to return to her old apartment. I had found out from another CCF employee and since I was unable to move the items myself had hired a local hungry students group to do it instead. I paid them to move Cheryl's possessions from her old apartment to the apartment of her new roommate here in Pasadena. Cheryl would be closer to work and having a roommate would help her save money. Penny's possessions were in a nearby self help storage site. As for my reputation I explained that a lot of it was due to classified work I did for the government, so I could not legally explain any of my actions. As for the supermodels I showed him a picture on my phone of the Cooper family. I pointed out that while Sheldon's sister was drop dead gorgeous, she was not in fact a supermodel, and was currently working at a FuddRuckers outside of Galveston Texas. As for the second model I explained that that was in fact a photo of Cheryl with me, and as he knew, Cheryl was a waitress at CCF and Penny's friend. As for my Mother calling it was most likely in a response to request from Sheldon for help with Penny. He looked puzzled and I explained that Sheldon and my Mother were very similar in demeanor and as they put if "very comfortable" with each other. He offered condolences that my Mother had a closer relationship with my roommate than with me, and I explained loving Mother was like hugging a cactus, the further away you could be, the more you could appreciate it. I gave him my card with my cell and email address on it and told him to call me if needed anything. I was about to head upstairs to see how the others were doing and he explained that Meryl had arranged for everyone to go ahead and leave without us so Wyatt and I would be able to talk. As I was driving him back to his hotel he asked me one more question because it was bugging him. He wanted to know why I made Penny call me Dr. Hofstadter when I let everyone else call me Leonard. I explained he would need to ask Penny since I had been asking her since the first day we were introduced to call me Leonard. His response was that if Slugger did something there was usually a reason. Problem was she would seldom explain that to anyone else.

We met at the CCF a couple of times after Penny went back to work (we were rotating visits so we could be around more often at closing time). Sandy the CCF manager had made it policy that no one working the late shift leave the building without a buddy and announced that CCF corporate office had authorized the installing off CCTV in the restaurant and by all of the doors. They had also paid to have the lighting in the employee parking area brightened and for CCTV to be installed there. In a strange but true moment we found out the Carl from across the hall was getting married to one one of the guys he had met at our Tai Chi class. While I knew Carl from the class I had no idea he was our cross hall neighbor. Penny being a social butterfly found out and talked Carl into subletting his apartment since he would be moving into a house with his fiancee. This meant that Penny would still be able to hang out at our place and her folks would have someone local to call if they could not reach her. This made Wyatt feel a little better about returning to the farm. I had the "hungry students" group move Penny's possessions to her new apartment. We helped Penny unpack and she was settled in her own apartment by the end of the week. I must say it was nice to have my own bed back.

I had to replace the pillows because the old ones made me sneeze (possibly from the perfume the ladies wore) so I bought some new hypo-allergenic ones Things were back to normal.

Goodbye Mr. Spaulding

It was about 3 weeks after Penny's parents had left. We had been working full tilt on a project to expand the use of lasers in manufacturing and decided to treat ourselves to dinner at CCF and a late viewing of Mission Impossible 3.

Bernadette and Howard had been running late so they had us order for them. We were discussing reviews we had heard on the MI 3 movie when someone running across the restaurant caught my eye. Penny was running full tilt with a baseball bat in her hands and she was yelling something. Then it finally sunk in "Bernadette needs help" was what she was yelling. I headed for the entrance followed quickly by Cheryl. The manager Sandy was already on the phone to alert the police. I got outside just in time to see Penny slammed into the side of a car and go down. Howard was on the ground, bleeding from a cut on his head and not moving. Then I saw Bernadette being manhandled by some huge drunk. She was wailing away on him but he did not seem to be feeling any of the blows. When she kneed him in his genitals and he did not seem to notice, I revised drunk to be drugged. Cheryl was on the phone to the police and I saw Penny swing the bat again, catching the man across the back of the knee. He turned and kicked her, releasing Bernadette who fell to the ground. He was fumbling for something in his pocket and it seemed to be taking forever for me to get to him. He turned toward me and knowing I only had one chance I did a spin kick. Through sheer force of will it caught him in the shoulder sending him and his weapon flying backward.

You know how you have those moments when everything is crystal clear. You know something needs to be done and your body starts doing it before your brain can get in the way. This was not one of them. I was too out of shape to have even tried it and with my injuries from the explosion I definitely should not have used that leg to sweep him with. I heard a snapping sound and got an intense spear of pain in my leg. My momentum carried me into the car Penny was lying next to. The impact hurt so bad I almost blacked out. I tried to turn toward the Neanderthal that had hurt my friends but a new wave of pain shot thru me and my vision began to dim. He was making threats to settle me (he may have been looking at Howard who was beginning to stir). I tried to move again and almost passed out. As my sight began to dim I watched as he edged towards me. A second set of feet came into view just slightly behind him. Penny leaned down and picked up the bat.

I heard her say, "Not without my permission" and then there was a loud thud and then a groan. He staggered but did not go down. I heard her say, "I loved you" and there was another loud thud and then a groan. The Neanderthal was now on the ground facing me. It was Penny's ex-boyfriend Kurt. I shifted again and was washed in another wave of pain. My vision was down to a small circle of light and then I swear I heard Penny say, "no one hurts my friends" and another thud. No groan this time. Penny dropped down into my view. She was crying and rocking back and forth, repeating no one hurts my friends. I could not believe it. Here she was confronting the monster that had betrayed her trust (yes I know it is cowardly but I just cannot say it, to say the word gives it mass) and she was angry that he had hurt her friend. Cheryl rushed over and grabbed hold of her. Think, think, think. I shifted again but this round of pain seemed to chase away the darkness. I asked Cheryl to hand me the bat. She looked surprised to hear my voice. Using the bat as a cane I drug myself over to Kurt. A quick check showed him as alive. The pain was intense. I cleaned the bat off on his shirt, then I was going to try to make it look like I was the one who worked him over with the bat. The CCTV would make that attempt pointless so I just sat down next to him. Penny was watching me. I wanted to tell her it was ok, I would handle everything. I am sure she would have believed me if another wave of pain had not hit and the darkness claimed me for its own.

I woke up briefly in the ambulance to the sound of a hysterical Penny asking if "he" was dead. Was Kurt dead? Please God not Howard. I tried to speak but the oxygen had dried out my throat so I was only making a really creepy gurgling noise. The paramedic checked something, made an adjustment and things started to go dark again. My brain kicked in one last thought. What if "he" was me? Then I was out.