Chapter 6
The next morning, Amy and Bernadette went over to Penny's apartment to see how she was doing. They knocked on the door and were shocked to see Penny looking haggard and miserable. Her eyes were tired from crying, her hair all ruffled and messy and she looked as if she has lost the ability to smile. They stepped inside and saw some broken glasses and all sorts of stuff thrown around, like there was some kind of fight or something.
"Penny, Howie told me what happened to Leonard." said Bernadette. Penny didn't speak and just broke down on the floor, crying uncontrollably. Amy and Bernadette knelt down and hugged her, trying their best to console her telling her it's going to be alright. "Don't worry bestie, Leonard is okay now. Sheldon texted me that he's doing okay now." said Amy.
"I'm the worst person in the world!" Penny yelled. "I did this to him. I won't be able to forgive myself for this." she said as she continued to cry.
"Penny, no one is blaming you. Even Leonard told Sheldon and the guys not to blame you. He said it was no one's fault." said Bernadette.
"She's right. No one could have known that this would happen." Amy said.
"But it did happen Amy! and it never would have happened if it wasn't for me!" she said sobbing on Amy's shoulder.
"It's not your fault Penny. Don't blame yourself." said Bernadette rubbing her back.
"Leonard's mother hates me. Sheldon blames me. He yelled at me, telling me to stay away from Leonard." said Penny.
"Yeah. Howie told us." said Bernadette.
"What is wrong with me!? All the guys I dated only cared about having sex with me. Then along comes Leonard who is a great guy but all I did was hurt him! And now he almost died because of me!" she said, crying again. "I was there last night when he woke up. Can you believe that he blames himself for still holding on to us? He said he hates himself for hoping that we still have a chance." Penny said.
"Don't be so hard on yourself bestie. You've been broken up for how many months now. You just got scared and it's not your fault." Said Amy.
"I know but he was always there for me after I hurt him. He never made me feel terrible for what I did to him. Sheldon told me once he was always crying after we broke up. I did that to him Bernie!" she said.
"Penny." Bernadette said.
"We kinda fought last night Bernie. He said he's giving up on us. He said he's done with me." Penny said crying harder.
"Oh Penny!?" said Bernadette as they stayed quiet, not knowing what to say next.
Amy decided to break the silence. "We're going to see Leonard. Do you want to come with us?" Amy asked.
"I can't face the guys right now. And besides, Leonard's mother is there." said Penny.
"It's only Howie and Raj there right now." said Bernadette.
"I don't think Leonard would want to see me again after what happened last night." Penny said.
"Did he say that to you?" asked Amy.
"No, but still!" she said.
Bernadette pulled her up. "Come on, get dressed. Let's go while Sheldon and Beverly are not there yet. Hurry up!" said Bernadette pulling her to the bedroom while Amy lightly pushed her. Penny surrendered, going to the bathroom to take a quick shower and put on a change of clothes. She was done after ten minutes as they went out of her apartment and drove straight to the hospital.
They arrived at the hospital and was relieved that Sheldon and Beverly still haven't arrived. The nurse's station told them it's alright to visit Leonard so they went straight to his room. Leonard was reading something from his laptop when the three girls entered. Howard and Raj were already in the room with Leonard.
"Hey guys?" greeted Leonard as the girls greeted him back.
"How are you feeling Leonard?" asked Bernadette.
"I'm getting there. My wound still hurts if I make any sudden moves, or if I laugh." he said.
"Did the police talked to you yet?" asked Amy.
"No, not yet. The nurse told me they would come this afternoon probably to ask me to describe my attackers." He said. They then looked at Penny waiting for her to speak.
"Oh? Hi Leonard. You probably don't want to see me right now?" said Penny.
"Don't say that. I told you not to blame yourself didn't I?" he said.
Penny took a deep breath. "I'm glad you're feeling a little better now." she said.
"Thanks Penny. Are you alright? You look like you could use some sleep." he said.
"Well, I'm uh." Penny muttered.
"Guys, is it alright if Penny and I can have some privacy? Maybe fifteen minutes?" said Leonard.
"Sure Leonard. Come on you guys." said Bernadette as they made their way out of the room. Once they were alone in the room, Leonard faced Penny.
"Penny, I'm sorry for what I said last night. That was wrong of me." he said.
Penny quickly sat on the chair beside Leonard's bed, touching his arm. "Leonard, you have nothing to apologize for. We both know you're here because of me." she said. "You were always kind to me even after I broke up with you and all I ever did was use you and take you for granted." she added, covering her face and crying again.
Leonard reached over and gave her shoulder a light squeeze. "Penny it's alright. You've got to stop being so hard on yourself. Can you do that?" he said.
Penny wiped her tears and nodded. "Leonard, please tell me what to do?" she said.
Leonard sighed and hung his head. "Penny, I can't do that. You have to figure it out for yourself." he said.
Penny pushed her face on her hands. "Ugh, I don't know what to do Leonard." she said.
"Hey, don't beat yourself up about it. Look at me." he said as Penny looked him in the eye. "We're good now. Okay?" he said smiling at her.
Penny nodded. "Okay. Thank you Leonard. You're really a great guy." she said.
Leonard then faced the door. "Okay guys, you can stop eavesdropping and come in here!" he yelled as the door suddenly opened with Amy and Bernadette tumbling over Howard and Raj on the floor. Leonard and Penny looked at them, amused and puzzled. The guys stood up and composed themselves, going inside the room while Leonard laughed a little, making his wound sting.
"Thanks for giving us our privacy!" said Leonard sarcastically at the same time a doctor entered the room. "Guys this is Dr. Abigail Benson, she's the one who saved my life." said Leonard. "Doctor, these are my friends, Amy, Bernadette and Penny." he said as the girls greeted the doctor.
"Well Dr. Hofstadter, it's nice to see you're in high spirits!" the doctor said. "So how are we felling today?" Dr. Abigail asked as she checked Leonard's IV drip and the monitors beside his bed.
"My wound still hurts but other than that, everything's fine." said Leonard.
"That's good to know. Now why don't you lift your shirt up so we could change your bandages?" said Dr. Abigail. Leonard lifted his shirt making the gang squirm and gasp at the sight of Leonard's bandages. Dr. Abigail looked at them and smiled. "This could get messy guys. Are you sure you want to watch?" she asked.
"Okay I'm out." Howard said trying hard not to throw up with Raj following him closely behind. The doctor then carefully removed the old bandage from one of the wounds. The girls covered their mouths and tried hard to look at Leonard's wounds as the doctor began to clean it.
"Oh my god Leonard!?" Penny said. "I'm so sorry." Penny said keeping herself from crying again.
"Don't worry guys, it's alright now." said Leonard as the doctor cleaned his wound.
Dr. Abigail took out another cotton ball then spoke to Leonard. "I'm sorry about your Green Arrow costume Leonard." said Dr. Abigail as she began to clean the wound.
"Lantern." he answered.
"Excuse me?" asked Dr. Abigail.
"It's Green Lantern." he said.
Dr. Abigail smiled, slightly amused. "What's the difference?" she asked.
"Well, Green Arrow, as the name implies, uses a bow and arrow while Green Lantern uses a power ring to beat the bad guys." said Leonard, laughing a little. "That tickles." he added.
"Oh sorry." she said "Then why is he called Green Lantern? What's the lantern for?" she asked as she began to cover his wound with a fresh bandage.
"Well, he uses the magic lantern to recharge his power ring." said Leonard.
"Really? That sounds like a lot of work. What if he lost the lantern?" asked Dr. Abigail as she started to tape up the bandage.
"Wow uh, I don't know really. That's a tough question doctor." he said as Dr. Abigail began to remove his second bandage making Leonard bite his lip, feeling the pain.
"So, what does this Green Lantern guy do exactly? Shoot some lasers or something?" she asked.
"Yeah, the wearer can pretty much construct anything he wants to, as long as his willpower is strong." Leonard said.
"Uh huh. So, if I have the ring and let's say I want to fly into outer space, does that mean I could build a rocket from the ring?" she asked as she began to clean the second wound.
"You're right doctor. It really depends on the wearer of the ring. You can make a giant hand to punch an enemy, or you could make a giant hammer to pound them to bits." said Leonard. "I have tons of comic books at home, if you want I could lend you some?" he asked.
Dr. Abigail looked at him smiling. "Yeah sure!" she said as Penny, Amy and Bernadette looked at them, confused at what was happening.
Leonard laughed a little, feeling a pain form his wound. "Ugh! Really? You don't find it weird at all?" he asked.
"Why would it be weird?" she asked.
"Because whenever I talk about comic books in front of any girl, they immediately roll their eyes and say comic books are only for kids, making me feel bad for being a nerd." said Leonard casually, not realizing that what he said was a swipe at Penny.
"Really? Maybe they just miss the point of it." Dr. Abigail said.
"Which is?" Leonard said.
"That they're just stories. I mean it's not so much different from all those Jennifer Aniston and Meg Ryan movies where they find love in the most heart-warming way only to have their hearts broken because of some silly promise or because the guy did something trivial which greatly offends the girl partly because she's just overreacting." said Dr. Abigail as she started to cover the second wound with a clean bandage. "I mean these comic books and movies are never gonna happen in real life right?" she said, unknowingly taking a stab at Penny's love for cheesy romantic movies.
"I guess you're right." said Leonard. The doctor finished with her work as Leonard pulled his shirt down to his waist. Howard and Raj immediately entered the room, visibly nervous.
"Leonard, code red!" Howard said as Sheldon entered the room, looking sternly at Penny.
"What are you doing here!?" Sheldon said looking at Penny. "I thought I told you to stay away from Leonard didn't I?" he added.
Leonard sighed. "Sheldon cut it out. It's fine." said Leonard.
"But Leonard, you nearly died because of her!" Sheldon insisted.
"We both know that's not true Sheldon. Nobody wanted this to happen." Leonard said.
"Uh excuse me, are you saying that she's the reason why Leonard was mugged and stabbed?" Dr. Abigail asked.
Sheldon turned to the doctor. "Not directly doctor, but yes. You see, Leonard and Penny used to be together. Then Penny dumps him when Leonard told her he loves her. Leonard was pretty sad about it and didn't really move on because he has feelings for her. Then, Penny went with her new boyfriend at the New Year's Eve party at the comic book store. Leonard felt jealous when he saw them kiss at midnight so he left the party. That's when he got mugged and stabbed!" Sheldon said while Leonard covered his face with his hands.
Penny wiped her tears and immediately ran out of the room, embarrassed and hurt from Sheldon's revelation.
"Sheldon you should run after her and apologize right now!" Leonard yelled making him wince in pain from his wounds.
"You're an idiot Sheldon!" Bernadette yelled at him, taking Amy's hand to run after Penny.
"Come on Sheldon, let's go after Penny." Howard said pulling Raj along with him while Sheldon followed Howard.
"Uh, that was intense." said Dr. Abigail. "And a little awkward." she added.
"I'm sorry about that." said Leonard. "Sheldon's dad died when he was fourteen that's why he's a little protective when it comes to these things." said Leonard.
"Hey, you have nothing to apologize for." Dr. Abigail said. "This is not the worst drama I've seen with my patients." she added.
"Thank you. It's just that I didn't want you to get caught up in all of this." he said.
"It's totally fine Leonard." she said as she started to cleanup her implements. "So, you and, Penny right?" she asked.
"Not anymore. We've been broken up for how many months now. It's my fault, I pushed her too hard." he said.
"Leonard you don't have to explain yourself to me. I just find it weird that you hang out around each other after you're not a couple anymore." she said. "I mean, I wouldn't want to hang out with my ex. It's just too weird." she added.
"You're right, but Penny and I were friends before we became a couple." he said looking at her.
"What are you gonna do?" asked Dr. Abigail.
"Uh, I don't understand." said Leonard.
"Well, she's obviously wracked with guilt for indirectly causing this. What if she asks to get back together with you?" she asked.
"I don't think I want to do that anymore. I mean, she was here last night when I woke up and we kinda fought. I told her it's my fault for holding on and hoping that we could still be together. I told her I was done." he said. "I tried getting back together with her before but it just doesn't work and I'm tired of trying." he said. "And if she wanted to get back together, I know it's just to lessen her guilt and not because she still has any feelings for me or something." he added.
"That's heavy." she said. "Anyway, I think we'll keep you here for a couple more days just to make sure and then you can go home. Hopefully your blood tests will come out normal." Dr. Abigail said as she walked towards the door.
"Do you still want to borrow my comic books?" he asked.
"Yeah sure." she said smiling. "I'll see you tomorrow okay?" she said exiting the room. Leonard rested his head back on his bed, looking up to the ceiling.