Chapter 34

The Lovers meet again

Elizabeth Plimpton gazed around wide eyed at her new Apartment she had purchased in Pasadena and which Penny and her team had decorated throughout for her.

"I love it, really Penny you and your girls have quite the talent here", Elizabeth gushed, then added, "no more New York Winters for me", She declared.

"Yep", Penny agreed, "And now you've got the Apartment you can find someone special to bring back here", Penny added in a conspiratorial tone.

"As to that, well, we'll just have to see. Though I would love to have the relationship that you have Penny, You are such a lucky Woman", Elizabeth told her.

"Yes you're absolutely right, I am so happy that sometimes I just sometimes can't believe how much Myself", Penny admitted.

After waiting some time for Elizabeth to finish her inspection. Penny reminded Elizabeth of the need to leave soon as Penny had to drop her Daughters off at school.

"So, what plans do you have now you are living here in Pasadena?", Penny asked Elizabeth as she drove.

"Well I have so enjoyed giving those talks at Cal-Tech, and I really feel it's so important for me to pass on what I have learned from my studies of Science so others can continue to discover more about the make up of our Universe in the future, and I thought that I would look into doing more of just that" Elizabeth revealed.

Just then Elizabeth's cell rang, "Hello, yes Wednesday is still fine for the move. So I will expect your guys then, OK, Great", and then she ended the call, then turning to Penny, "That was the removal company, "confirming Wednesday was still OK for them to bring my furniture", she explained.

At this point Honey Marie then asked Elizabeth if she would like to give a talk at her School.

"Why certainly Honey Marie, I'd be Honoured", Elizabeth told her. And they continued their journey to Newton Academy.

Honey Marie knocked a little timidly on the Headmaster's door, and after his response to her knock, she entered his study.

"Aah, now then It's Honey Marie Hofstadter, isn't it?, Come dear, how can I help you?", he inquired.

Well Sir, It's my Mom's friend, I wondered if you would like to have her give a talk to some of the pupils here?", Honey Marie asked nervously.

"Well that would be very nice I'm sure, but I really need to know who your Mom's friend is though, wouldn't I?", He informed her.

"Yes Sir, of course Sir, Its Dr Elizabeth Plimpton, Sir", Honey Marie told him.

At this point Dr Peregrine Leyton-Smythe's eyes had widened in disbelief and his pallor had paled as he barely whispered, "Elizabeth, You mean Dr Plimpton is here?", He demanded.

"Yes Sir, Dr Plimpton has been staying with us while Dr Plimpton found an apartment here in Pasadena, I think she is a friend of my Father?", Honey Marie revealed.

Dr Leyton-Smythe was unable to speak, and Honey Marie could not fail to notice his hands were trembling.

"Please, by all means could you let Eli', I mean Dr Plimpton know we would all be delighted to have her give a talk here", He told her as a wild gleam of hope now appeared in his eyes.

Over dinner that evening, Honey Marie informed Elizabeth that her Headmaster would be delighted if she could give a talk at her school, and Elizabeth beamed and told her if her headmaster would give her an opportune date to give the talk then Elizabeth would pencil it in.

"He's a bit strange, although he is very dedicated to teaching his Pupils and enabling them to fully realize their potential, I call him Pelican as he has the funny name, 'Peregrine',", Penny told Elizabeth.

"PEREGRINE?", Elizabeth suddenly startled, asked, "What is is full name?", She asked Penny earnestly.

"Well it's one of those double barreled numbers, Leyton-Smythe", Penny revealed, wondering at the sudden change in Elizabeth's demeanour for Elizabeth had turned quite pale, and rather resembled a deer caught in the headlights.

Then in some distress she told Honey Marie,"I'm sorry, I can't give your talk", before running upstairs to her room in tears.

"Don't worry Honey, I'll see what's wrong", Penny told her Daughter as she left to go up to see why Elizabeth was suddenly so upset.

"Elizabeth", Penny called, as she carefully pushed open the guest room door.

"I, I'm Sorry", Elizabeth sobbed.

"Do you know Peli', I mean Peregrine then?", Penny asked her.

"Yes, you see we began dating shortly after we graduated from Harvard, and it was great, and I really thought that it was leading to something more permanent, but one night he just stood me up without a word, and I never saw him again", Elizabeth explained.

"Didn't you try to find out why", Penny puzzled.

"Yes of course, I went round to where he had been staying but his landlady, who positively stank of drink at 09:30 in the Morning, told me that he had left and did not know where he had gone, and the old curmudgeon would not even let me see his room, I thought that maybe I would find clues to where he had gone. I was so devastated that he never rang once to tell me where he was, so I applied for a position in England, which I took up three days later, determined to forget about him", Elizabeth tearfully explained.

"Until now", Penny replied. Then added, "Well now you have the chance to find out from Peregrine what happened", Penny pointed out.

"Perry, He prefers Perry", Elizabeth told her.

"OK, I only know Perry as the girls Headmaster, OK he seems a bit pompous but I know he is a very dedicated man to his students, and I would think that a dedicated Man would have a damn good reason why he didn't turn up?", Penny reasoned.

"I can't, It's been too long now", Elizabeth plaintively pointed out.

"C'mon Sweetie, Didn't you tell me that you wanted the same thing that Leonard and I have?, Please I beg you, Don't throw happiness away, My God I nearly made that stupid mistake myself. The day before you hooked up with Leonard, I had dumped him, I was so afraid you see of the emotional pain when he would surely grow tired of me as I wasn't as smart as he wanted, or so I thought, so I ended it before that happened. But I made a mistake and although I am proud to be his wife now, it is still something I will greatly regret because I could so easily have lost him forever. So Please Elizabeth, take the chance to find out", Penny told her passionately.

Elizabeth looked down at the floor as she considered Penny's plea. She looked round the room, until her eyes settled on a photograph which had been proudly given to her by April.

It was a picture of the Hofstadter family taken in the local park with Elizabeth holding little Wyatt, and smiling back at her were Honey Marie and Angela with Penny and Leonard standing behind them next to Elizabeth. Penny's face was turned towards Leonard and she was adoringly looking up at him while Leonard was holding her close to him with his arm, the other arm was still in the sling.

Elizabeth had wanted a relationship like that for a long time, and Penny was right, Elizabeth would be a fool to throw it away.

Then as the distant memory came to her of the night with Leonard, Elizabeth knew she could not keep her secret about Leonard from Penny any longer.

"Alright, could you ask Perry to call me and I will arrange to meet with him, but first Penny, I must tell you something about that night with Leonard", Elizabeth began, but was interrupted by Penny, "There's no need, it's OK, Really", Penny told her.

"Look if you want me to meet Perry then you must hear what I have to say about Leonard?", Elizabeth told her seriously.

"OK, I'll listen", Penny said reluctantly, not wishing to return at all to that awful night.

"I go for guys that look like James Bond, suave sophisticated, you know the whole package", Elizabeth began.

"So what was the deal with Howard, Raj and my Leonard", Penny interrupted again.

"Well Howard was being a real creep thinking he could pull me, and Raj a little less so so I played them along. Raj locked Howard and Leonard out of his apartment, which spoiled my plan of taking Howard down a notch or two, while all I did was to smile at Raj and in my best come hither voice I said 'Hello sexy', at which point Raj clutched at his groin and looked horror stricken and rushed for his bathroom and stayed there, so I left", Elizabeth Explained.

"And Leonard?", Penny demanded feeling decidedly uncomfortable despite laughing inwardly that old quick draw Raj had failed on that occasion too.

"well the night before, I was awakened by the sound of someone crying, it was awful, truly Penny I had never heard a grown man cry in such a devastated fashion as I did that night. It moved me to want to give comfort, so I entered his room and one thing led to another. But the sex was so strange, it felt like he wasn't making love to me but to someone else, it was the angry type of sex, as thought he was trying to show how much he had been hurt to the person who had hurt him so badly, and I did not know then that that person was you. Penny his cry was the like of which I never ever want to hear again. That's how bad it was".

Penny now shaken to her core suddenly had to sit down, afraid her legs would give out on her in shock if she didn't. Sure she knew Leonard had been crying, Sheldon had revealed the fact himself. Penny began to weep bitterly, she should have been the one to comfort Leonard that night, she should have taken his pain, told him it was a mistake, damn it, she should have been there for him. Penny stood up and began walking towards the stairs, to apologize to Leonard, but Elizabeth quickly stopped her. "Penny do you really want to take Leonard back to that night?, it will do him no good at all if you drag it up again?. No just be determined to love and stick with your Leonard till the end", Elizabeth reasoned.

Penny turned to her, suddenly feeling a lot calmer, "I promise you, that I fully intend in the deepest part of my heart, to love and remain close by my Leonard's side forever", Penny vowed. And after a hug between the two women they then made plans where Perry could take Elizabeth for this long overdue date.

The date was quickly and eagerly arranged by Perry who agreed to Elizabeth's request that they should meet at the restaurant. Penny though wanted to be there for her friend and so with Beverley and Mike on baby sitting duty the couple left with Elizabeth to get to the restaurant before Perry arrived, and after selecting a table in an area to observe without being seen, they sat and waited until Perry arrived.

Thankfully to Penny and ultimately Elizabeth's relief, Perry was punctual which caused Elizabeth's feelings to soar at catching sight of him, and after presenting Elizabeth with a single red rose which elicited an "Aaww", from an excited Penny, Perry began to explain what happened that night.

"I'm so sorry Elizabeth, It was my own fault, I was in such a hurry to see you that I slipped on the icy steps leading from the lodging house, I fell rather heavily that I suffered a fractured skull and a broken leg, when I finally left the hospital I found, not only that my landlady had sold all my things to buy drink, but I, to my utter despair, had also found that you had seemingly vanished".

Elizabeth though could see, as soon as Perry had entered by the look on his face that he was looking upon her as if he was seeing someone who was very precious to him, so therefore she had no doubts that he was telling the truth.

"Your landlady told me that you had gone away, It's no wonder then that she refused to let me see your room, the old bat must have already sold the lot", Elizabeth revealed.

"I didn't know that, I'm afraid that I was totally out of it for some days, Elizabeth, now you know the reason, would you please consider us starting over,", Perry asked her earnestly.

"I think I would like nothing better, My love", Elizabeth told him placing her hand on his.

Leonard desperately tried to prevent Penny from squealing her delight at this outcome, causing Perry to turn around in surprise, though Penny quickly ducked down out of sight until Perry had turned his attention back to Elizabeth.

That night Perry In his bed stared into the darkness still hardly believing he had found his love again, meanwhile Elizabeth too was laying in her bed in the Hofstadter's guest room and for the umpteenth time smelling the sweetest scent from a red rose, and happily smiling to herself, she had found someone special.

While Penny still reeling over the report of the devastating emotional pain Leonard had suffered after their break up, and was showing Leonard the enormous love for her husband and telling him over and over, I will be with you forever.