Chapter 76

Leonard was more than a little surprised at seeing Raj and Tina in his apartment, and immediately wondered what had been going on since the he had left for the airport with Wyatt. Also, as his mind started to get over the initial surprise of them being there, he now became puzzled about Raj's outburst concerning dating Shirley's roommate, so he began his questioning of him. "What are you doing here?"

"I brought Shirley and Tina over here to see Penny." Raj quickly explained.

Leonard now had even more questions as he immediately wondered if Raj remembered Penny from seeing her a year ago and how did Tina and Shirley know Penny, then finally where was Shirley now. "How do you know Penny?" he now asked while looking at Tina.

"She is my friend and Shirley you already know is my friend, Penny was also Shirley's roommate." Tina said both defensively in a very accusatory tone that made it clear she wasn't happy with Leonard.

"I don't really know her, Tina and Shirley told me about her." Raj then added before asking Leonard. "Dude, how could you date roommates?"

Leonard frowned at both of them, he didn't do anything wrong, he never dated Shirley or even hinted he was interested in her that way, so in a voice that was slow and very deliberate, "I have never dated Shirley." he then looked directly at Tina since she seemed to have an attitude, "You two sat down at our table that night at the bar...uninvited, and that was the last I saw of you two." he then looked at Raj, "I never dated Shirley, how many times did I turn down a double date with you, you are the one who is a love struck puppy."

Raj cowered down under Leonard's verbal lashing and look, which if looks could kill, would have left only a charred spot on the couch where Raj was now sitting. Tina had at first just looked at Leonard, wide-eyed, from his response to her, but now was distracted by Leonard's response to Raj and was staring at Raj, "You love me?"

Raj just hung his head, and slowly nodded, convinced that this was the end of him seeing Tina ever again. However, Tina was ecstatic and launched herself at Raj, wrapping her arms around his neck before putting a very wet kiss on his cheek. Leonard just shook his head and let them have their moment before he began to talk again, he needed to still find out why they were there.

"So how did you find out Penny was here." Leonard said after clearing his throat, to get attention from Raj and Tina.

Raj was so happy, he just blurted out an answer, while his eyes remained fixed on Tina, "We knew which hospital she was in, but they would only let family members visit, so Tina and Shirley kept in touch with Penny by text...And since Tina was with me." he smiled at Tina, who smiled back making it obvious they had been sleeping together.

Leonard watched for a couple seconds as they giggled and kissed before interrupting them again, "Then what?"

"Oh sorry, when Penny came here, Shirley and Tina asked if they could visit and Penny said okay and provided your address. I told Tina that it was your address, she told Shirley and Shirley came in last night, and now we are all here." Raj explained.

"How do you know Penny?" Raj asked, which now made Tina turn to Leonard too in curiosity.

"She is friend." Leonard quickly answered, not sure how much they really knew and not wanting to give them too much information.

"Penny said in her text she was staying with her boyfriend." Tina stated.

"She is my girlfriend." Leonard then amended, not really surprised Penny told them they were boyfriend and girlfriend since she did ask him specifically about their situation in the hospital.

Tina was still looking at him, so Leonard knew he needed to say more, and he was getting a little miffed at the way Tina was trying to accuse him of something. "Do you understand now why I would not go out with Shirley. I have a girlfriend."

"Why didn't you say anything about her." Raj now asked.

"Penny didn't say anything about you." Tina then added.

It was now obvious to Leonard, from these questions, that Penny's rodeo friends had no idea what happened to her a year ago, and he could tell by Raj's questions that he was clueless that he had met Penny before, a year ago. Leonard was also getting a little tired of playing 20-questions with Raj and Tina, especially since he didn't know what Penny told them about him and her, and their relationship. "Where is Shirley, you said she wanted to see Penny?"

Raj and Tina seemed to completely forget their previous questions as soon as Leonard brought up Shirley. "She is back with Penny in her bedroom visiting." Tina answered, then with an evil smile crossing her face. "They are probably talking about you." she added.

Leonard just looked at Tina, she reminded him of all the pretty girls in high school and how they looked down at him and always had something disparaging to say to him. However, that brief past memory and his sudden annoyance with her quickly dissipated as he reminded himself that she was with Raj and seemed happy about being with him. So, with a little forced smile he responded, "Well I guess then I should go in there myself." Leonard then turned and headed down the short hallway to his bedroom.

As he walked down the hallway Leonard became a little concerned about what was going on in the room before he knocked on his bedroom door, "It's Leonard can I come in."

"Sure Sweetie." Leonard heard Penny say on the other side of the door, so he walked right in. He made a cursory look around the room as he entered, first seeing what he expected, Penny lying in bed with a smile on her face directed at him, and then her mother sitting in a chair, on the far side of her bed while also looking at him as he entered the room. He then quickly scanned the rest of the room to look for Shirley, immediately noticing that she was standing/leaning against his dresser and just staring at him.

Leonard wasn't sure what they all had been talking about before he came it, but Penny seemed to be not upset with him and he truly felt he had nothing to hide from her so he decided not to talk around the situation and immediately bring out that he knew Shirley. Leonard therefore looked directly at Shirley. "Hi Shirley."

He could tell he caught Shirley by surprise because she sort of stuttered when she responded, "Hi...Leonard."

Leonard then looked at Penny who now had a confused expression on her face, but she was not looking at him, she was looking at Shirley. "Did you stop by here before?" That being the first thing that she could think, about how Leonard knew Shirley.

Shirley just looked from Penny to Leonard, obviously not knowing what to say. Leonard though had planned to be honest to Penny and tell her everything so he looked at Penny, then spoke, "Shirley and I met in a Cowboy bar a few weeks ago when I was there by request of my friend Raj."

Susan's jaw dropped, as she immediately assumed the worst, it now seemed to her that all her fears about California men where true, Leonard was seeing Penny's roommate while Penny was heartbroken over him. He currently seemed to her that in some ways he was just as bad as Kurt, cheating on her daughter with her girlfriend and now about to break her daughter's heart as it was all coming out. At that moment she felt all her previous actions towards him were more than justified and that Wyatt was not the judge of character he thought he was.

Penny looked at Leonard for a few seconds before her memory brought it all together making her quickly turn to address Shirley, "Leonard is the guy you were pissed at because he wouldn't ask you to go out that night, wasn't he?"

Shirley suddenly had an embarrassed look on her face as she responded, trying to save her reputation. "I wasn't mad he wouldn't go out with me; you must have misunderstood what I said." Admitting in front of Leonard that she had been upset that he wouldn't ask her out, was not what she wanted known, especially to him.

Penny just stared at Shirley, more of the memory of what happened that night coming back to her with each second that passed. "No, I remember you saying that he was an asshole because you made it obvious to him that he was going to get lucky and he just blew you off."

"no, I didn't" Shirley said quietly and with no conviction, already figuring that no one in the room was going believe her but not really knowing what else to say.

"Shirley, I couldn't go out with you or any other girl because I still had feelings for Penny and I was hoping we would see each other again." Leonard said quietly then looked down at his hands before continuing, "I couldn't really think about any other girl, I couldn't get Penny out of my mind" Leonard's voice then got really soft, "or my heart." However, his voice was still loud enough for Susan, Shirley and Penny to hear him and now each of them just stared at him.

"Leonard." Penny softly said as she continued to stare at him making him lift his eyes from gazing down at his hands, to see Penny just looking up at him with doe eyes, which had tears dripping down both her cheeks.

"Penny don't cry." Leonard said softly, as he then sat down on the bed next to her, leaning over to take her into his arms.

Penny for her part just latched on to Leonard, pulling herself as close as she could be to him, as her leg in its cast would allow. She closed her eyes and basked in the warmth and security that engulfed her whenever he was this close, it still amazing and thrilling her on how he could make her feel this way. It all felt so intimate to Penny, an intimacy she again knew she had never felt with any other man and as they both seemed to surround themselves in their own little bubble, she just let her heart speak for her, "I love you Leonard."

Leonard gently smiled and squeezed her a little more. "I love you too."

Shirley couldn't do nothing but stare at them as they hugged on the bed, their affection towards each other, making her heart yearn for something similar and really making her understand why Leonard had not showed any interest previously with her. There was also a slight feeling of happiness for her friend, ever since she had known Penny there was something about her that was not right, like she had been hurt badly before, but that now was not the Penny she was seeing, this Penny was in love and happy. Shirley quickly rationalized that she really didn't know Leonard, but Penny obviously knew him well and the both of them obviously really cared for each other, she also realized that she could live with that and could be happy for her friend and with that a small smile formed on her face for Penny and Leonard.

Susan had also watched the interaction between her daughter and Leonard and was trying to process how things could have changed so fast from her first seeing Leonard as just another guy who could hurt her daughter, a few moments ago, to now someone who loved her and she loved back. The way her daughter was holding Leonard and the way he was holding her back made it pretty clear that they both cared for each other, it was also something she had seen several times before between them in the hospital, it was just now, after Leonard's confession of his feelings, Susan really understood that her daughter was truly in love with this man. It was something she had to accept, Penny was an adult and Leonard made her happy, it was stupid to not admit the joy Penny had shown in the hospital, and now in Leonard's apartment, because he was around.

After several minutes, Leonard moved slightly away from Penny which made her lift her head off his shoulder in confusion, her having completely zoned out in Leonard's arms. Leonard didn't move away far though, because as soon as Penny turned her head towards him he gently moved his closer to her, so close that their foreheads and then noses touched each other, before he very softly talked to her, "I'm sorry to interrupt your visit, I guess I was just wanted to make sure there were no misunderstandings and that you weren't hurt."

A small smile formed on Penny's face, "You are really good at taking care of me, you seem to always be there to protect me...you are my White Knight."

Leonard let a small chuckle escape, "I'm only 5'6'' and have asthma, I'm not exactly a White Knight."

Penny's smile didn't diminish, "You will always be my hero, Sweetie...always." she then kissed his lips. It was a gentle kiss, not too long and not too short. If Penny had it her way, she and Leonard would have continued that moment and made love to each other, but just thinking about that reminded her that Shirley and her mom were still in the room.

The long hug made things in the room slightly awkward for Shirley and Susan but the kiss had at least Shirley wondering if it was time to leave. So, it was a little bit of a surprise when the kiss ended that Penny turned to look at her, while leaning into Leonard, who put his arm around her. Penny then turned to look at her mom before returning her eyes to Shirley and letting out a very soft sigh before directing her next words towards her ex-roommate, "I wasn't much fun when we went out with the girls because I wanted to be with Leonard. We were apart for a while but now we are back together." she looked at Leonard who gave her a small smile. "Anyway, I missed him tremendously and he missed me, so now we are in a relationship and are boyfriend and girlfriend." Penny again looked at Leonard and saw his smile increase as he gave her a very small nod.

Susan just listened, again surprised how things had now changed that day, it seemed her daughter was making a declaration about who Leonard was to her and it was very much aligned to Leonard's previous declaration about what she meant to him. There was something else, unless something drastically changed, Susan now knew that Penny was not coming home to Nebraska any time soon and even though she didn't at all approve, she didn't think Penny was leaving Leonard's apartment anytime soon, either. This was not something she liked, she was still protective of her daughter, but it was also something she was not going to fight Penny about and get her upset, she knew she would just have to accept that, too.

Leonard didn't want to leave Penny's side, but he knew he was making the visit awkward for Penny's friends, so he needed to excuse himself. "Penny have you gotten to visit with your friend Tina?"

Penny turned to him and blinked as she went from basically concentrating on him back to the visit she was having before he came in. "No, I haven't seen her yet...where is she?"

Shirley, happy to have the discussions concerning her now over, chuckled, "She had been shacking up with Leonard's friend, Raj, since the Rodeo left town."

Penny looked at Leonard, "Raj? Who is this Raj?"

Leonard gave her a small smile, "He is a guy I work with and a friend. His name is Doctor Rajesh Koothrappali and he works at Cal Tech, like I do."

"So, he works with you." Penny asked with new curiosity

"Not exactly, he works in the Physics Department but he is an Astrophysicist." Leonard stated

"And you're an Experimental Physicist, so you do different things." Penny stated.

"Yes, that is exactly right. I'm impressed." Leonard said with a smile and a proud look.

Penny just blushed, "I looked you up on the internet."

"We did too when we first met them." Shirley now added, "Tina seemed to crush on Raj as soon as she found out how smart he was and then wanted to go out with him. She told me she slept with him after he told her some romantic story about the stars and two lovers." Shirley then noticed Penny's mother frown, "Sorry." she told her.

"So, she is with him?" Penny asked.

"Yeah she is." Shirley quickly answered

"They are both in the living room." Leonard added, then he reluctantly decided that Penny should have her friends to visit with. "Why don't I get her and send her in here so you can visit."

Penny gave him a look that told him she really didn't want him to leave, but even though she was a little needy for him she still knew that it would be very rude to not visit with her friends after they came all this way to see her. "Okay" was all she said at first, but then added after a moment, "tell her to get in here."

Leonard started to get off the bed, but before he let go of Penny, he gave her a short kiss on the lips, which he noticed left a smile on her face when they did separate. He was really surprised though when Susan then spoke, "I'll go with you and get dinner started."

Leonard watched as Susan stood up then leaned over to give Penny a kiss on her head before saying, "I'll let you and your friends have some girl time." She then walked around the bed to follow Leonard out the door.

Leonard walked down the hall and into the living room, seeing Raj and Tina sitting on the couch their lips just about to make contact for a kiss. "Penny says to get yourself in there to visit." he said loudly, trying not to chuckle as both Raj and Tina jumped, he felt no sympathy for them based on how they acted earlier.

Tina jumped up from the seat then turned to Raj, "I won't be too long." then quickly headed down the hall, her eyes getting a little wide when she saw Penny's mother behind Leonard.

Raj's expression when from surprise to a small glare to Leonard, for purposely scaring them, to finally a stunned embarrassed look when he saw Penny's mother walk out from behind Leonard. The look Penny's mother gave Raj reminding him of his own mother's looks when he got caught doing something he shouldn't really be doing. It was even worse when she looked at the almost empty beer bottle Raj had been drinking, her disapproval so obvious to Raj, that he felt like his bladder had just been squeezed. "Umm, Leonard, can I use your bathroom." the only words coming from his mouth.

Susan watched as the Indian man practically ran to Leonard's bathroom, she had been behind Leonard in the hall but she had still seen this man about to kiss her daughter's friend before Leonard surprised him. This man seemed more like the wild young men Penny use to hang around with before she left for California, always wanting to do things to girls like her daughter, so she wasn't very sorry she made him uncomfortable. However, her thoughts about the Indian man were soon forgotten as she walked into Leonard's kitchen area, to start dinner because she really wanted to just cook something and think about what was happening with her daughter. She even ended up telling Leonard she was more than fine fixing dinner by herself, since she wanted to be alone in her thoughts about him and Penny. So, as she to work in his kitchen she watched Leonard go to his desk while she wondered if it was really possible, she was watching the young man that would be her and Wyatt's son-in-law in the near future.