A/N - Happy Hello Kitty Monday! :)


Leonard drove slowly. Partially because his mind was so pre-occupied with thoughts, but also because he wasn't in a particular rush to reach his destination. Well, he was, but he needed that driving time to clear his mind slightly and let his brain relax some.

He tried to think reasonably, balancing out his own arguments, but he knew that things would only make sense once he saw Priya and spoke to her. Just like it had been earlier that day; he had needed to see and speak to Penny to make things better between them. Maybe he'd have to do that with Raj too. One Koothrappali at a time, he thought with a sigh. Maybe moving to India and working there wouldn't be a good idea after all.

Once he had arrived, he took a deep breath before leaving his car and making his way upstairs. He paused outside the door for a few seconds, tapping his foot, taking a few calming breaths before knocking determinedly on the door. Penny's voice was still in his head saying 'just talk to her' and even though he didn't register it as the reason in his mind, it was why he was doing this.

Sooner than he had hoped, the door was open and Priya was standing in front of him with a glass of water in her hands. "Oh, hello, Leonard."

"Hi." Leonard stepped past her into the apartment, pacing to the kitchen and then back to the couch in a short bout of anxiety.

Why doesn't she look like she's bothered by what just happened? Leonard thought, almost angrily. Priya sat down on the couch calmly, folding one leg over the other and sitting back. When Leonard didn't sit down, she looked up at him questioningly, and he wandered how she was acting so casual about this whole situation.

"Why didn't you tell me you were moving back to India?" Leonard asked finally, still not sitting down.

"Leonard, can't we talk about this later?" Priya sighed.

"No, we should talk about it now." Leonard said, more firmly than he had expected to. He sighed, and sat down on the other end of the sofa to her with a deep sigh. "Priya, why didn't you tell me?"

Priya looked down at the glass of water in her hands for a moment. "I don't know, Leonard... I was going to tell you at some point, I just didn't know how or when."

"Well, okay... how long have you known?" Leonard asked cautiously.

"A little over a week." Priya admitted, looking up at him apologetically.

"Oh." A whole week and she didn't tell me. Leonard rubbed his forehead. "Why... why are you going back?" He asked, though he wasn't all to sure he really wanted to hear an answer from her. Almost a minute went by in which Priya didn't give an answer, simply looking back down at the water in her glass. He had never seen her like this, quiet, and it made him suspicious; she seemed almost... guilty. "Is it because of Sanjay?"

Head snapping up to look at him, Priya blinked. "How do you know about Sanjay?"

"So Sanjay is involved." Leonard responded dejectedly.

"I'm not moving back to India for Sanjay." Priya stated, before repeating her earlier question. "How do you know about Sanjay?"

"You think these girls don't talk? Kim told me you've been texting him."

"Kim?" Priya raised a brow inquisitively. "Who is Kim?"

"Penny's friend... she's served us at the Cheesecake Factory. She served you and Penny when you met for coffee." Leonard explained, in slight disbelief that she couldn't remember her.

"Oh, the one you spent a mysteriously long time talking to at the bar when we all went to eat there?"

"Yes." Leonard said simply.

"Any other women you've been talking to you want to tell me about, Leonard?"

"Any other ex-boyfriends you've been texting that you want to tell me about, Priya?" Leonard retorted with a strike of confidence he had never known to posses. "I just wanted to talk to Kim. In case you hadn't noticed, Penny was going through a rough time, and Kim was looking out for her. And Kim is a very good judge of character, and a very good listener." He waited for a moment, and when Priya didn't respond to him, he decided to continue. "Priya... is there something going on between you and Sanjay? I know you've been talking to him, and I know when you accidentally called me the other night you were probably meant to be calling Sanjay. I'm not trying to jump to conclusions that there's something going on, but it just feels like... like you've been hiding it from me for a reason."

Placing her glass of water on the coffee table in front of her, Priya chewed on her lip for a moment. "There is... there is nothing going on between me and Sanjay, Leonard. We just talk. A little bit of shameless flirting, you know how it is."

He wanted to throw in that no, he didn't really know 'how it is' because she hadn't been letting him speak to Penny. He was sure that if he used the phrase 'a little bit of shameless flirting' about a discussion he had with Penny, that Priya would have her word and make a big deal of it. Yet here she was, saying it casually, as though there was nothing wrong with that. And he almost convinced himself that there wasn't, really, until Priya continued talking.

"I mean, he is my ex-boyfriend, we had a very strong relationship and we only broke up because I would be in Los Angeles for a long time and neither of us wanted to deal with the stress of a long-term relationship. Besides, I needed somebody to talk to who was into... normal things, not video games and comic books and buying Superhero t-shirts. Even the girls were into those things... I did not expect Penny to understand the fuss over all these things you guys liked."

"Okay..." Leonard raised a brow, slightly offended by her use of the term 'normal things' in comparison to what he liked, but deciding to drop it for now. He had known very little of Sanjay and her relationship, or why it had ended, but he realized now that he would have been happier not knowing that they only broke up because of the distance. There was nothing there about 'it just wasn't working out', to indicate that maybe Priya didn't still have some kind of attachment to him. "So why are you going back to India? And... when you go back... would you get back together with Sanjay when you're back in India? Have you thought about that?"

"Things just aren't working out for me here as I thought they would." Priya told him, smoothing out a small crease in her shirt. "My job offered me a raise and better position if I go back to the office in India, and I took it, there wasn't too much holding me back."

Wow, she's really not one to beat around the bush, Leonard thought as he shook his head. "Nothing holding you back? So you chose your job over your relationship, just like that?"

"It's not like that, Leonard."

"Yeah, well, it certainly kinda feels like that," he sighed. "But you didn't answer my question about Sanjay. Are you thinking about getting back together with him in India?"

Priya dropped her head down to look at her knees, almost in contemplation of how to answer him. After a few seconds she looked back up at him, taking a deep breath, which she let out slowly before speaking. "Yes, I have thought about it."

"Right."

Leonard stood, and began walking around the apartment slowly. He had figured already that that would be her answer, more or less, but it still wasn't pleasant to hear. Perhaps if she had not said it so surely, or had phrased it differently, it would seem less harsh. And even though he didn't really care by now what she did when she got back there, it still hurt to know that she'd already been thinking about getting back together with her ex-boyfriend while she was still in a relationship with him.

Frowning, he slowed his walk even more. Now was the right time to tell her about him and Penny. If he was going to tell her something, he was going to come clean to her. He owed Priya at least that much, to be honest with her now. And strangely, he wasn't as scared or nervous as he thought he would be. He did not even feel the need to get out his asthma inhaler to force back the panic he had been anticipating whenever he had so much as tried to think about explaining it to Priya. But right now, he felt he needed to tell her. He didn't feel a surge of guilt rise over what he had done with Penny, or that he hadn't told Priya about it, and to him, that suddenly spoke volumes.

Sitting back down on the couch, Leonard leaned his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands loosely. He turned his head to look at Priya, face straight, eyes strong with a steady gaze.

"I slept with Penny."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Priya responded after a mere beat.

That wasn't the response he had anticipated. "We slept together more than once." Suddenly the term 'slept together' sounded incredibly bleak and emotionally distant, but he knew using the phrase 'made love' would not help his situation in the slightest. Besides, was it still 'made love' if you were broken up and it was cheating?

"What?"Priya exclaimed, but unsettlingly softly.

"Yeah." Leonard said blankly. Shouldn't she be freaking out right about now?

"Alright." Priya sighed, raising her hands slightly before letting them fall back to her knees. "Well, I knew about the first time, but I had no idea it was... ongoing."

"Oh." Leonard raised a brow. "Wait, what do you mean you knew about the first time?"

"The 'Hello Kitty' panties half under the couch. Whose else would they be?" Priya said simply.

The desperation with which those panties were pulled off her and pushed to the floor flashed back through Leonard's mind. "Oh."

"Why did you do it?" Priya asked evenly. "Why did you sleep with her?"

"Honestly, at the time, I didn't know why." Leonard admitted. "I just... did. Whenever it happened, I didn't think about it, and I never tried to stop it. But now... now I think I see it a little more clearly. I think I understand now why I did it."

"You only just understand now?" Priya asked, almost sympathetically, with a shake of her head.

"Priya," Leonard turned his body slightly so he could face her better. "If you knew, why didn't you say anything to me?"

Again, she gave him an almost sympathetic smile, which was etched with sadness. A sadness for him, rather than for herself. "Do you really think, Leonard, that if I brought that issue up, that I would stand a chance against Penny?"

"What do you mean?"

"You and I both know that any feelings you have for Penny are stronger than what you feel for me. I tried to ignore that but it was so obvious that even as a friend, you still cared for her immensely." Priya said. "That was scary. It was sort of threatening. And it also reminded me of Sanjay, how I would still want to be around him. I figured that if I didn't say anything, it would make our relationship simpler... and as a one-time-thing, eventually I let it go."

"But now?"

"Now that I know it was more than just once?" Priya asked, and Leonard nodded. "Surprisingly, it makes even more sense to me. I should be mad at you, I was angry at Penny first, but... it just makes sense, Leonard. It hurts, knowing that you cheated on me, but it's not... I was more upset by the idea of you two hanging out together, than I am right now."

"That doesn't make sense." Leonard sighed, bringing a hand up to rub his temples. "But I get it. I was angrier before, knowing you were talking to Sanjay so much, than I am now. Hurt? Yes. But not angry, not anymore anyway."

"Leonard, eventually, would you have told me about you and Penny?" Priya asked suddenly.

"Truthfully, I don't know. I wasn't even sure how I would bring it up or how to explain myself, other than 'I'm a complete and total ass' or 'I'm the shortest, nerdiest cheating jerk on the planet'." He shook his head. "But after it stopped happening, and you and I started spending more time together... I kind of let it stay in the back of my head. I wasn't sure if bringing it up would be a good idea when things were actually going well between us. Maybe one day I would have, but I never let myself think about it too much."

"I understand." Priya nodded.

"Would you have told me about you and Sanjay?" Leonard asked.

"I don't know either." Priya confessed. "Sometimes if things got to more than just... talking on the phone or on Skype, afterwards I tried to figure out how I would explain myself if you found out. But I didn't know how. And like you, I thought it was best to leave it since things were getting better between us. The same reason I never told you I knew about you and Penny - I didn't want to make an issue."

For a few minutes, they both sat in silence. Of all the ways this conversation could have gone, Leonard had not imagined it going like this. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense to him. Obviously, they still had feelings for their exes. Both of them were willing to give this relationship a try, even if it meant hiding things that would cause bumps along the way. They both had been hiding things from each other, although he supposed his was much worse and Priya had made the observation quicker: he still had feelings for Penny. He'd expected shouting, anger, and accusations to fly across the room. This calm, soft, understanding tone that had fallen upon them was strange, but somehow it was comforting to know the both of them were in the same boat. It was an unexpected turn of events, but he was grateful that each of them were understanding. Perhaps honesty was the best policy after all.

Penny was right, Leonard realized, as he looked down at his hands. All he had needed to do was talk to Priya, to figure out how he really felt. To figure out what would make him happy, and to figure out, most importantly, what the right thing to do was.

And that was when it hit him. Penny needed to talk. Really talk, to him. Had she not just confessed that she regretted breaking up with him, and that she was so upset over the thought of him moving in with Priya, that she had reached for alcohol, her easiest coping device? Purposely getting so drunk she couldn't think or remember anything was not something she would have chosen to do without reason, not when she was doing so well. The conversations they had shared recently were important, but now he could tell that they needed to have a much more honest, important and open discussion with each other. Where it would lead, he had no idea, but he knew it was a conversation that they just needed to have. 'Just talk to her' rung through his mind with Penny's voice again.

"Leonard, I have to admit, that if we were in India and Sanjay was so close to me, I would probably have done the same thing as you." Priya said sincerely, but with a small, understanding smile. She scooted over to him slightly and placed her hand lightly on his arm, hesitating slightly at first. "I was angry about the first time, but as your girlfriend, I think I had a right to feel that way. It became obvious to me, though, that you care very much about Penny."

"Thank you," Leonard replied, at a slight loss of what to say now. "You're right. You do have a right to be angry."

"I'm not angry. Are you mad at me?"

"No. Now that I understand, I'm not angry." Leonard gave her a weak smile, before his face turned serious again. "When I spoke to Kim, I was asking her for advice. As you can tell, none of my friends have experience in... this kind of thing, and I wasn't sure how to tell anybody. But I needed somebody to talk to. Kim and Penny are very close friends, and I figured if Penny could talk to her, then she was probably the best person to go to for advice."

"She did seem to know Penny very well." Priya nodded. "In retrospect, our coffee together was awful. I was so busy texting Sanjay I didn't give much effort to the conversation I was having with Penny. She tried, though, very hard, to find something for us to talk about. I guess I can see why Penny doesn't like me... she tried, far more than I did, to be friends and have something to talk about. I feel awful. I'm sorry, Leonard."

Leonard frowned. "Yeah. I do wish you had tried harder there."

"I'm sorry, Leonard." Priya looked at him, sincerely apologetic. "But if I did learn anything from the time I spent with Penny, it was that she really does care about you, Leonard. Probably more than you think. Penny has a good heart."

"She does." Leonard nodded slowly. "And so do you, Priya. For telling me these things, and understanding."

"Thank you, Leonard." Priya patted his arm ever so lightly. "I'm glad that you got to talk to Kim, even if it was only briefly. And I'm glad that you went over to talk to Penny when she was upset. You have a very good heart too, Leonard."

"That's good to hear, after all of... this, you know. Thank you." Leonard sighed. "I did... remember when we had that argument about going to that lecture and you said maybe I should just take Penny?"

"Yes, I do. Those lectures really were never my thing." Priya admitted.

"I know. That's okay. Anyway, I went over to Penny's that night to talk to her about it. I knew about Sanjay back then but I never thought anything of it - I saw him on your Facebook chat a few times."

"You went over to Penny's?" Priya frowned - not in a sad way, but thoughtfully. "Well, Leonard, I guess you two need each other. I really should have seen that, even Rajesh tried to tell me but I didn't want to listen to him. You two were so close, and she was friends with everybody there, it was quite intimidating having her around knowing she was in the group and I was not."

"Hmm, I never thought of it like that."

"No, you shouldn't have to. I was the one who should have seen that Penny was an important person in your life and that trying to separate you was not fair to you, Leonard."

Leonard knew that Priya had made a very good observation here, and he couldn't deny that he wished she'd seen that sooner instead of instantly trying to close them off from each other. "Thank you for seeing that, Priya."

For the next few minutes, Leonard and Priya sat in silence, running through the conversation they had just had in their heads. It wasn't awkward, it wasn't comfortable, it was just silence. This was not, at all, how he had expected this conversation to go. Just like Penny's honesty, Priya's calmness had been unexpected but gratefully accepted. It made things easier, and it made it less terrifying to admit to the things he had done. He had thought Priya wouldn't understand and would be angry at him, and that he would shout at her, even unreasonably, about texting Sanjay and not telling him about moving to India. But none of that was necessary. There was less pressure, and more freedom.

Is this a break-up? Leonard looked at the floor thoughtfully. His only real break-up had been with Penny, and that had been... emotional, and difficult, and incredibly painful. But this, this felt, easy, it even felt right. Like he should be doing this, and that it was the decision that would make him happy... he smiled a little here. Wasn't that exactly what Penny had told him to do? Wasn't that what she had said would be the way to work it out? Talk. Just do what makes you happy, her voice echoed through his mind. It gave him a small, final boost of confidence.

"I guess... I guess this is it, for us." Leonard said softly, looking at Priya.

"I guess it is." Priya nodded in agreement - no argument, no denial.

"Are you angry with me?" Leonard asked cautiously.

"No." Priya assured him. "I think that's the right move to make. I'm going back to India, and after all of this, a long-distance relationship would just be too much stress and... honestly, pretty pointless."

"Pretty pointless." Leonard repeated with a slight chuckle. He wanted to be offended by that, but he knew it was the truth.

"Especially what with... with Penny, and Sanjay..." Priya sighed.

I should have know Sanjay had a bigger part to play in this than she says, Leonard thought to himself, before standing up. There was no need to prolong this, and it was best to leave before things managed to get awkward or angry. "So... this is it, then."

Priya stood too. "This is it."

He was about to give her a quick hug and head for the door, when he changed his mind; there was something he had to do first, to clear things between them.

"I'm sorry, Priya." Leonard began. "I thought that I loved you, I really did. But I only thought that I loved you because you were my girlfriend, and it made sense to convince myself that my feelings were for you."

When she didn't say anything, he thought she was going to be offended, but she instead gave him a quick hug. "I hope you understand who your feelings are for."

"I do." Leonard smiled at her as they pulled away, and then his face turned serious. "Can I be honest with you?"

"Sure."

"I don't like some of the things you did... to Penny," he said, almost nervous, but not wanting to let her get away with the things she had done to upset Penny. "Sometimes I feel like you only did things because she was there, or to get to her - like calling me 'sweetie', or randomly kissing me, or... or asking for my hoodie. Sporadically inviting her for dinner just to remind her she wasn't always invited. Focusing more on texting Sanjay when she was trying to make an effort with you. Making us get tested at the doctors just because she slept with me - I worked that out now, that was harsh, Priya."

"Leonard-"

"Things like that, they were unfair." Leonard continued. "And I know, I'm the one who actually slept with her, and didn't tell you, and that's a horrible thing to do. But those little things you would do, they really did hurt her."

Again, Priya looked at him thoughtfully for a while. "You really care about her."

"Yeah."

"You did not sleep with Penny to hurt me." Priya pointed out. "Please don't feel bad about that. I would have been upset by this before but now... I get it. Sometimes I would talk to Sanjay just because I saw you talking to Penny, and I wanted to get back at you. So please, tell Penny I am sorry for all of those things."

"I will." Leonard nodded, finally taking that step around her to the door, which he opened slowly. "Goodbye, Priya."

"Goodbye, Leonard."

Once he had stepped out and closed the door, he did not stop. He walked all the way down to his car almost on autopilot, with a smile on his face, and drove home in a similar fashion. He didn't think much about anything, just enjoying the sense of emotional freedom. At one point he thought about whether or not he should have told Priya about what had just happened between Penny and Raj, but decided that was their business and not his. Pulling up outside the apartment sooner than he expected, Leonard found himself with the same smile.

Talk. Do what makes you happy. His mind flashed back to the time he'd gone to Penny after he had argued with Priya, and doubted her advice to talk to Priya. Penny had been right all along about that. Maybe it was the fact that she knew now, now that it was too late, that talking was the best way to get through things.

But it wasn't too late, he decided as he climbed the stairs. They could still talk. They could talk now, really talk to each other.

Finding himself at the door to 4B sooner than expected, he shook his head to clear his mind and knocked on the door. There was no response. "Alright, then..." Crossing over to his own apartment, he popped his head in to find Sheldon at his laptop. "Do you know where Penny is?"

"Yes."

"Umm..." Leonard waited a few seconds. "Could you tell me where she is?"

"I could."

"Uh... will you tell me where she is? Please?"

"Of course." Sheldon turned in his chair to look at Leonard. "She is currently at her apartment with Amy and Bernadette. On our way back from the comic book store this morning, Amy said we had to pick up some ice cream for Penny. I saw that alright-waitress yet questionable-barmaid Kim entering the apartment building earlier too. Does that help you?"

Sighing, Leonard finally stepped inside properly, shutting the door before flopping onto the couch. "Yeah, I guess. I'll just wait here then."

"For what?" Sheldon raised a brow.

"For Penny to be finished with her friends."

"You'll be there a long time - ice cream implies long conversations of the feminine type. And we both know that Penny could talk for the world. Last night-"

"I don't want to hear about last night, Sheldon." Leonard groaned.

"Oh." Sheldon nodded sincerely. "My bad. Sorry."

Slightly shocked that Sheldon had actually apologized and recognized the inappropriate conversational topic, Leonard blinked slightly. "Thank you."

"You may watch Babylon 5 if you wish, buddy." Sheldon said, before turning back to his laptop.