During the next few weeks, while Penny was staying at Sheldon and Amy's apartment, she had been looking around for an apartment to rent on her own, as she didn't want to stay there forever.
Sheldon and Amy needed the place for their own, and it was time she would find one for herself as well.
After looking around for about a week and a half, she read about a small but affordable apartment, not far from where she was staying now. Later that day she and Amy went to check it out, and it was actually quite nice.
Just like her old apartment, it had only one bedroom. The biggest difference was that the living room was a lot smaller, but as she wasn't expecting that the entire gang would come and hang out here, that wasn't going to be a problem.
When she had decided she wanted it, she quickly filled out the application for the apartment, and the next day she received the phone call telling her it was hers.
She would get the key to the apartment in two days' time, which didn't leave much time to pack up her stuff once again. Luckily most of it was still in boxes from when everyone had gone over to apartment 4a and pack up her stuff there.
Penny hadn't been there for that, it was still too painful to be in the same room as Leonard after their break up. They only had had contact via text messages, and even those you could count on one hand.
When Sheldon had informed Leonard that Penny was moving out to her own place coming weekend, Leonard out of politeness offered to help them, Sheldon quickly called Penny to ask if that was okay. She hesitated for a moment, but agreed eventually knowing that she and Leonard would need to start getting along before it would split the group up, or maybe resulted in either Leonard or Penny being left out.
During the two days where the entire gang helped to move all of Penny's belongings over to apartment 42, the girls were left in charge of redecorating the rooms, while the guys had fallen back into their old habits of discussing how Penny should connect all the appliances so she would get the most use out of them in the most efficient way. None of the realized that had that exact same discussion so many years ago when Penny was moving in across the hall from what had been Leonard and Sheldon sanctuary.
When all was finished in the early evening that Sunday, Penny invited all of them out for dinner, as a way of thanking all of them for helping her.
This was also the first time Emily had joined all of them in a public place, she and Raj had been dating for a few months now and things started to become more serious.
Leonard and Penny didn't speak one on one that night, but they found themselves capable of at least smiling at each other once in a while when something funny was said by one of them.
While none of the guys picked this up, Amy and Bernadette did and shared a look telling the other what they already knew.
Lenny isn't over just yet.
Meanwhile the wedding was slowly coming closer and closer, and although Sheldon and Amy had found the location where they were going to become man and wife, there was still a lot that needed to be done.
After some more talks, which were held on purpose at their own apartment, Amy's mother had finally come around after she had seen with her own eyes that her daughter was in a happy place. Not only had Amy turned her apartment in an actual home for her (and now Sheldon as well), Sofia couldn't deny the connection between Sheldon and Amy. Nor would she, Amy's happiness was the most important thing in the world to her, as it had always been. It's just her actions hadn't always turned out the way she had intended, which Sheldon could relate to as he thought back.
The most problematic issue the engaged couple had to face, was for the most part something Amy had to figure out. While Sheldon shortly after their announcement had asked Leonard to be his best man, Amy had a far tougher choice.
While Penny had been her best friend ever since she joined the group, this last year she had become a lot closer to Bernadette. Whatever choice she would make, it would leave the other disappointed, maybe even angry.
She had to talk to both of her friends, and decided it might be better to do this separated from the other, to find out if they were actually interested in that position of her maid of honor.
Knowing Bernadette's competitive nature, Amy wanted to talk to her first. And as much as she had practiced this conversation in her head, it had turned out nothing as she had expected.
"Thanks for the offer Amy, but I rather pass on that" her short blond friend had answered quickly.
"I never liked being in the spotlights, unless it involves a big paycheck" she continued, giving Amy a playful wink.
"Besides, I'm sure Penny would be devastated if she wouldn't get to be your maid of honor. You've been close friends for so long, I don't want to get in the way of that."
"Th…thank you Bernadette" was all Amy could say at first, as the level of anxiety dropped away, and she started breathing calmer again.
When Amy asked Penny a few days later to fill this important role, Penny was over the moon with excitement, surprising Amy.
"Yes, yes of course I want to be your maid of honor" she shouted loudly, as she threw her arms around Amy, who fell back into the couch by this sudden action from Penny.
"Have you chosen a dress yet? Please tell me you haven't? I so need to go shopping for this, and you will need to be beautiful for this day" Penny rattled on, without stopping to take a breath.
"No, I haven't chosen a dress yet Penny. I've been to a few stores, but I can't seem to make up my mind" Amy sighed.
"Well, don't you worry about any of that now. I'm here to help you with all that, so let's go shopping this weekend, you can show me what you've seen and liked so far and go from there."
When Amy and Penny visited the Bridal shop Amy had been to before, they were helped by Daphne, the same woman who had gone through the dresses Amy had liked and tried on before.
The first few were more traditional ones, both white and ivory colored dresses were shown to Amy and Penny, but judging from Penny's reactions, none of those were right.
This went on for most of the day, and Amy was getting tired of changing from dress to dress.
"Was that the last one?" Penny asked, as Daphne was putting away a light blue, strapless dress.
A moment of silence fell between the three women, before Amy spoke up.
"There is actually one left, and it's my favorite. But I don't think you will like it Penny" she said as she sat down in one of the empty chairs.
"It's not about me Amy, this is going to be your day and you need to be comfortable with every little detail" Penny said firmly, looking at her friend.
"All right, I'll show you" Amy said as she got up and walked towards the dressing room, while Daphne disappeared to get the ensemble Amy was referring too.
When Amy reappeared 15 minutes later, Penny's mouth fell open in amazement. It was indeed not something she herself would wear if she ever got married, but it worked for Amy.
Every small detail brought out Amy's features, and highlighted all that made her who she is.
"So…what do you think?" Amy still had to ask, unsure about the signals coming from Penny.
"Amy…this is it!"
The next 1,5 month flew by for Sheldon and Amy, Penny and Leonard had been amazing in working out all the remaining tasks for their wedding day, and now that day had finally arrived.
As a token of respect to Mary, they had agreed to spend the night apart, Sheldon had stayed at Leonard's apartment and slept in his old room again, while Amy stayed in her own apartment together with Penny.
Bernadette and Emily were meeting them here early that morning, so they had plenty of time to get all of their hair done, and get dressed.
They had enough time for that, since the ceremony would start at 5 p.m. , that way the warmest part of the day was behind them, and the light allowed for some beautiful photo's to be taken.
Even though Sheldon and Amy usually shared everything together, they had agreed to keep their outfits for the wedding hidden from each other.
So when the time had come, and Sheldon stood waiting underneath the arbor, he could not believe his eyes. He was standing there is his black suit, with a black blouse underneath and matching tie.
But when he saw the image of Amy, who was walking down the aisle next to Howard while the music started to play, he had to rub his eyes to believe was he saw.
Amy was wearing a simple green corset in green silk with shaped straps with nature inspired subtle tree embroidery. The ball gown skirt really had turned her into the woman of his dreams, no, that's not true he thought to himself. She looks even better than he had ever dreamed she would.
After a few minutes, Amy and Howard had reached the place where Sheldon and the minister were waiting. As Howard whispered something to Amy followed by a gentle kiss on her cheek, he let her go and sat down next to Bernadette and Raj on the front row.
"Amy..." Sheldon said softly, as he stood there admiring the woman in front of him.
"You look beautiful" he said to her as he moved closer towards her face.
"But I do miss the tiara, why didn't you put that on?" Sheldon asked, as he had been sure that was going to be part of her outfit.
Now it was Amy moving towards Sheldon, and whispered in his ear: "Don't worry, I'm saving that for later tonight in private" quickly followed by her taking her place. Sheldon quickly followed her example, blushing furiously.
The ceremony itself was relatively short, as requested by both Sheldon and Amy.
They both had written vows to read out loud, and after the "I do's" had been exchanged, everyone was invited to the outdoor area the party would start.
As tradition required, the married couple opened the dance floor.
When the first tunes of "The way you look tonight" started to play, Sheldon gently lead Amy towards the center of the floor and took her in his arms.
At that very moment, the whole stopped to exist, except for the two of them. They lost themselves completely in each other, after which Amy let her head rest on his chest below his shoulder.
After a few minutes, other couples joined them (which Sheldon and Amy only realized much later, when the Tony Bennet song had ended), and soon the dance floor was crowded.
When the two Dr. Coopers rejoined the world again, they were stunned by the scenery around them.
The sun was slowly sinking behind the tree line, which created a very intimate setting.
His mother was dancing with her boyfriend Ron, Howard and Bernadette were dancing there, as were Raj and Emily.
But to their surprise, especially Sheldon's, Leonard and Penny weren't just dancing together, their lips were locked with a passion seldom seen.
The evening went by just as planned, and when Sheldon and Amy were about to retreat from the party, they talked from a brief moment, before walking over to Penny and Leonard.
"Do you two have a moment?" Amy asked, as she guided them away from the rest of the party.
"We are going to our room, but before we do, we have something to tell you. Or better yet to ask the both of you" Sheldon said, as he took over from Amy, who was very nervous.
"Of course, you can ask us anything" Penny and Leonard said together simultaneously.
Sheldon took a deep breath, and grabbed hold of Amy's hand before he asked the question.
"Would you two like to be the godparents of our daughter?" he asked, as Amy was softly rubbing the small bump that was her belly.
I hope you all liked how I have written this chapter, it was one of the hardest ones I have done so far. I especially hope you like the wedding part, since I really struggled with that.
And of course, I hope you all like the surprise I included at the end.