A/N There should be another way I could thank my reviewers. I just hope you do know how much I appreciate you doing so. I still own nothing.

Sheldon sat in his spot pondering what had occurred. The divorce papers lay on the couch beside him. He was still in a state of shock. He knew it had been some time since he and Penny had talked, but he had never doubted that she would come back to him, apologizing for how she had acted. He had thought about calling her on several occasions but felt that she as the offending party, should make the first move.

He still could not understand why she had reacted the way she had when he told her what Leonard had done to him. He remembered how Leonard had tried to explain it with some gibberish about Penny being hurt because she thought Sheldon had taken Marie because of his love for her.

None of them understood. He had showed his love by rescuing them from Leonard. He had never really understood how no one else could see Leonard as he did. Only his mother and he recognized how damaged Leonard was. In spite of both of their efforts, he would just not accept what he was.

And now Leonard had ruined everything. Marie was already paying the price for turning her back on him. She should be getting ready for college, to move forward with her future. Instead she was wasting precious time living with Leonard. It was as he had always feared. If they had not forestalled him, she would already have followed in his footsteps and already graduated from college. She could be working on her doctorate by now.

And Penny. He never could quite understood the hold Leonard seemed to have on her. He was obviously not worthy of her. He thought she had finally come to her senses when she had let him know that Marie was his and agreed to take Marie from Leonard. Didn't she understand how amazing it was that he, Sheldon Cooper, had feelings for her? Didn't she understand how lucky she was that he actually could feel a physical attraction for her?

He had given up so much for her, for them. And this is how they repaid him.

He looked at the papers. He supposed he needed to consult a lawyer. As much as he would just like to sign the papers and forget it, he needed to be sure he could protect those things important to him. The first and foremost being his Comic Book collection.

There was some consolation that he had been working on a promising line of research. Hopefully this would mean he could put all these distractions behind him.

When Carla and Marie returned home, they were thrilled to hear that Leonard and Shari were going to start seeing each other. They smiled broadly when Penny told them about catching them together.

Marie was shocked though when she heard Penny had decided to divorce Sheldon. She found herself having mixed feelings. On the one hand, she was glad Penny had made a decision. She was surprised though that she felt a little sad. It was not that she in any way felt sorry for Sheldon, it just seemed that there was now no real reason why she had been separated from her Dad all those years. She decided she would believe that they once did love each other. She even felt a little guilt that she may have been the cause of them separating.

Marie let herself into the apartment. She had left a party early because she wasn't feeling well. She had almost not gone since she had been under the weather all day. She hoped she wasn't coming down with something. She was about to call out for her Dad, when she heard noises coming from his bedroom. Suddenly she felt herself blushing. Her Dad and Shari had been dating regularly for almost two months and it seemed that it had been going well. Now, it was apparently going very well. She stood there wondering what to do. Finally, she decided this was likely to happen again and got herself ready for bed. She began to doubt her decision when she found she could still hear them when she got into bed. She had to smile though; she would have thought they would be done by now. When it was finally quiet, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Leonard laid back in the bed, wondering if he should get his inhaler. Deciding it would wreck the mood and that he could get by, he thought of what had just happened. Ever since they had started dating, they had realized their attraction for each other. But perhaps because of their past experiences, they had not been willing to take the plunge. Both of them had been betrayed by those they loved.

But tonight, there had been no doubts. They knew they were deeply attracted to each other, that they were ready for the next step. He looked over at her. She was so beautiful. Perhaps another reason they had taken so long was that they were afraid of how it would feel. Would it bring back memories of Penny and Edward? After all, both of them had once experienced wonderful sex with people they loved.

Leonard smirked to himself, he needn't have worried. He now realized that as great as it had been with Penny, there had been something missing. A closeness, a feeling of total commitment. With Shari, it had been something more, something deeper. He also realized something he had known for some time, but had been afraid to face. He knew it seemed sudden, but he had come to realize how close they had been for a long time. He hesitated, wondering if he was about to make the same mistake again. No, he needed to let her know.

He turned on his side, looking down at her. As she smiled up at him, he took a breath, "Shari, I love you."

Shari laid back, completely sated. She had not known what to expect, but this had been beyond anything she would have imagined. She had thought she had great sex with Edward, but this had blown her away. She realized now how long they had felt strongly about each other, how long they had been close. She had never imagined it could be like this. It was more than the physical act, although he was amazing, it was the deeper feeling, a feeling of closeness, of belonging.

When he said those words, she was momentarily shocked, but then was filled with an unbelievable joy. She rose herself up on her side and looked into his eyes, "I love you, too."

Leonard was filled with more happiness than he ever remembered, He leaned forward and kissed her softly on the mouth. They then lay back down as she put her head on his chest, his arm around her. Soon, they both fell asleep.

When Marie awoke the next morning, she felt much better. Then, what had happened the night before came back to her. She smiled broadly and wondered how she would deal with this. She was just so happy for them. Should she be discreet? She wanted to tell someone so bad. She thought of calling Carla and Penny, but decided to wait, to see what Leonard and Shari were going to do.

After doing her morning duties, she walked down the hall and saw that her Dad's door was still closed. She smiled, well, it was apparent they would know they could not keep it a secret.

She made her way to the kitchen and decided she would make breakfast.

She had got the coffee started and was getting started with breakfast, when she heard a door open. After hearing the toilet flushing, she heard someone come down the hall. She looked up as Shari came into view. She had to smile as she saw Shari was wearing her Dad's old red robe. She had to admit, it looked much better on her.

Marie smiled and said, "Good morning, Shari, the coffee should be ready soon, any request for breakfast?"

"Good morning, Marie. No, whatever you decide." She hesitated, "You don't seem to be surprised to see me."

"I didn't feel well and came home early from the party." She had to smile as she saw Shari blush a little.

After a moment Shari said, "Are you all right with this?"

Marie moved away from the stove and came over to Shari, "Shari, I am so happy for both of you. You know how much I have been pulling for you two."

Then she smirked, "I have to admit though, you were a little loud."

Shari laughed, "Yeah, I guess we were at that."

Just then Leonard joined them, apparently having decided to get dressed. When he saw Marie he hesitated but then walked up to Shari and kissed her softly on the lips.

Marie spoke up, "How about you, Dad, anything special you want for breakfast?"

"No, anything is fine."

Shari couldn't resist, "It seems that Marie came home early from her party. She noted that we were a little loud." She had to smile when the two of them avoided looking at each other and blushed.

Shari went on, "Well, while you make breakfast, I am going to take a shower and get dressed."

After she left, after giving Leonard a kiss on the cheek, there was an awkward silence. Finally, Marie said, "Relax, Dad, I am so happy that you two got together. There is nothing to be embarrassed about."

Leonard relaxed and came over to her, "Here, why don't you let me help you?"

After they finished breakfast and were sitting in the living room, Marie smiled and said, "So what happens now? Are you going to get engaged? Move in together?"

Leonard spoke up, "Whoa, not so fast." He looked over at Shari, who smiled back at him. "We still have a way to go before we are ready for any of that."

Marie looked disappointed but then continued, "When are you going to tell the others?" She smirked, "I almost called them this morning."

Shari looked at Leonard and then said, "Why don't you let us decide? I know you are busting to tell them, but I think I should do it."

Marie sighed, "Okay, but you better do it soon, I don't know how much longer I can keep it to myself."