Chapter 15

The next few weeks were much less busy for Leonard and Penny, Leonard working his regular hours and Penny mostly working part-time at the CheeseCake Factory as she only got two one day extra jobs during this time. Normally before she would be depressed about the lack of opportunities for acting work but Leonard kept her spirits up with encouragement that if she kept at it things would improve and so far, he hadn't been wrong, her acting on the shark movie had been a huge step up for her. Penny having her SAG membership now and having her old agent back also gave Penny more confidence, it made her the feel that at least her acting career was moving, even though at a slow pace, and that was something she hadn't never felt before, since she came to California.

So, it was after an interesting day at work, when Leonard found out in the cafeteria that there would be a tenure position opening up and then spending another half hour listening to Sheldon explain why he was the only one of them qualified for it, Leonard made his way up the stairs to 3A. Like every other day he returned home he unlocked the door, opened it and once inside put his keys in the bowl but as soon as he closed the door behind him, things changed. Leonard almost jumped in alarm as he heard Penny yell "Leonard" and then only got a quick glimpse of blonde hair as his roommate came running across the living room before she launched herself at him, pushing him against the door while her mouth went to his and her arms and legs wrapped around him. He was in a sort of state of shock as she kissed him intensely, her mouth along with her body pushed tightly against him, all thoughts of tenure now forgotten as he desperately tried to understand what was going on.

Penny had been dying to tell Leonard the news, ever since her agent had called her just over two hours ago, the need to tell him first just making her excitement intensify every second she had to wait for him to come home. Leonard was actually lucky because Penny was so wound up right now that if she would have had to wait another hour, she would have probably stripped her boyfriend already and be having sex with him right now at their front door she was so excited and full of the adrenaline it created. Even now Penny just wanted to have sex with Leonard to celebrate and burn off her energy, the thought of riding him like a bull in rodeo making her mind and body yearn for him, but at least now she could wait till she got him on the couch before she began her celebration.

Leonard always liked making out with Penny, he still saw her as a goddess and whenever they were affectionate, he still felt like the luckiest man on earth. So, when she lowered legs back to the floor to quickly drag him to the couch, he didn't resist, his need to know why she was acting this way being put aside in his mind as the happiness of her wanting him immediately taking over. Surprisingly it was Penny who didn't last long during their coupling, her enthusiasm to have sex with him resulting in a very quick disrobing of both of them by her, a lot of noise by her as she basically got on him without any foreplay and rode him, then a quick "Oh God" with one last loud "Leonard" before she collapsed on top of him. It gave Leonard a new perspective on the saying "Wham-Bam-thank-you-ma, am", but with Penny laying on top of him trying to regain her strength from what he could only assume was a very satisfying orgasm, he smiled smugly at the thought that he could satisfy her like that.

He pulled the blanket from the back of the couch over Penny's naked body, then slowly rubbed her back, hearing a slight moan from his girlfriend as she slightly shifted her body to make herself more comfortable on him while she recovered. Leonard smiled a little more, but now was curious why she was acting like this, "Umm, don't take this wrong or that I'm complaining, but why?"

Penny gave him a little kiss on his neck, which was only about an inch away from her lips, before she let out a little contented sigh. "I got some great news today and I wanted to share it with you." she said softly before kissing his neck again.

"What kind of great news?" Leonard thought it must be something really great for her to be so excited, his thoughts about tenure now in filed away in the back of his mind as he just enjoyed Penny's body against his and her happy mood.

Penny snuggled a little tighter to Leonard, "My agent called this afternoon and you remember when I did that commercial for the hemorrhoid cream."

Leonard nodded, "Yes." Leonard would always remember that time because that was when she almost left California because of her encounter with Raj, he would never forget that time.

"Well you know they played that commercial a lot on TV, that is why I got those residual checks, so when they decided to make another commercial series, they notified my agent that since they liked my work in the previous commercial, I should come in and audition." Penny explained, obviously getting more excited as her voice raised in pitch.

Leonard became a little worried, he had seen for himself and heard from her about the numerous auditions she went to over the years, and had watched as she got depressed from not getting the parts. So, although he felt she was a great actress, he still wondered if she was maybe getting too excited about all this, therefore his next words were said with caution, "So you are going to this audition soon?"

Penny smiled and squeezed him, "No, that is the best part, my agent told them about the Shark Movie I just did and they were impressed so much, especially about the exposure I would have from the move, so they then told her the commercials were mine if I wanted them. I don't have to do the audition; I just got the job!" Penny's voice was now several octaves higher from her excitement.

Now Leonard knew why she was so happy, it really was great news. "I'm so proud of you, Penny."

Penny squeezed him again, "And I owe it all to my fantastic roommate and boyfriend, who pushed me to go out and do everything I could to be an actress."

Leonard smiled, "You're a great actress Penny, you just needed a break, so I just thought if you got seen more people would know how good you are, like I do."

"Oh Leonard." Penny now lifted her head so she could kiss him.

The rest of the evening was spent in their bedroom, Penny now intent to please Leonard anyway she could, while Leonard kept trying to do the same with her. They did manage to order and eat some Pizza during their down times, but otherwise they went at it like two crazed rabbits until almost 10 PM when both of them were exhausted and Penny needed help to the bathroom by Leonard as walking was becoming harder and harder for her to do. So, after getting cleaned up they both collapsed in their bed wrapped in each other's arms, their legs entangled and both of them holding each other tightly, "I love you so much." a very tired Penny told Leonard, her eyes so heavy she couldn't keep them open any more.

Leonard smiled, "I love you so much, too." him only to hearing a soft snore in response, him trying not to chuckle or disturb her until he then quickly fell asleep, too.

Penny woke up the next morning and found herself alone in bed, her only have to look at the alarm clock to understand why, it was 11 AM in the morning. Leonard was obviously at work already and she had been so tired from their celebrating last night that he was able to get up and get dressed without waking her up. She would have probably laid there in bed a little while longer but her bladder had decided she had slept enough and she slowly got out of bed, the aches and pains she now felt reminding her of the night before. Penny smiled as she made her way to their bathroom, her and Leonard's night of love making had been incredible and Penny couldn't remember any other guy she had enjoyed herself so much with as Leonard, not even Kurt or Mike.

It was after she made her way to their kitchen that she found his note before hitting the start button on the coffee machine that he had already set up for her before he left. The note made her smile, it was typical Leonard, he told her again how proud of her he was and how much he loved her, finally giving her more encouraging words about her acting career before it ended by telling her there was a bowl of fruit prepared in the fridge for her. Penny's smile was so big now it was actually straining her face, as she got the bowl out of the fridge and popped a strawberry in her mouth before turning to the coffee maker that was filled enough for her first cup of coffee for the day. She spent the next 10-minutes just rereading Leonard's note, eating fruit and drinking coffee, before sending a couple of text messages to Leonard telling him how much she loved him, too.

Penny felt amazing that morning and happily went to get shower after finishing her fruit, plus a pastry that Leonard also left for her, the excitement and exhilaration from the night returning to her as she thought about Leonard. The shower felt so good that morning, the water soothing to her little aches and pains from the previous night's awesome sex and the great feeling she woke up still making everything seem better that morning, she was so happy she even sang a few of her favorite NSYNC songs as she took a very long soothing shower that morning. All these great feelings she was experiencing had one side effect though, Penny had to tell somebody else the news, she had already told Leonard therefore now she needed to talk to one of her girlfriends so that they could go half-crazy with her about how great she was doing. Consequently, it was Bernadette whose phone rang as soon as Penny got dressed from her shower.

"Hey Penny what's up." Bernadette answered after Penny's picture showed up on her cell phone for the call.

"Do you have a minute to talk?" Penny could barely say calmly as the excitement continued to build in her.

Bernadette could tell something was up, because usually calm Penny now sounded like she was on edge of bursting about something and Bernadette wanted to know what, work had been especially boring that day so any exciting news would be a welcome relief. "Yeah, I haven't taken lunch yet so I talk now, what's going on?"

This was great Penny thought, "Bernadette you'll never guess what is happening." Penny excitedly blurted out as soon as she heard Bernadette's agreement to talk.

Bernadette had a long talk with Howard about what was happening with the guys and how they were all concerned about tenure so she wondered if it was about that, "Does it have something to do with Leonard."

Penny smiled, it was because of Leonard pushing her to take the extra jobs and spending less time working as a waitress and more as an actress that she was doing so well so of course it had something to do with Leonard, "Yes, of course." she responded back proudly.

Bernadette was actually disappointed because she thought she knew exactly what Penny was now excited about. "Howard already told me, Leonard and the guys are competing for tenure." She casually answered.

"Huh?" Of all the responses Penny expected from Bernadette, that was not one of them.

"Yeah, Howard told me it is funny how Raj, Leonard and Sheldon are so uptight and that he was having so much fun teasing them about it." Bernadette explained, a little disappointed, as it seemed that this was exactly Penny's news.

Penny was now confused, Leonard never told her a thing about this tenure thing, especially that it was bothering him. She wasn't even sure she knew what tenure really was, but it was obviously important if Leonard, Raj and Sheldon were worried about it. "Howard shouldn't be so mean." was all she could think to say back to Bernadette that moment, her mind racing to try and make sense now about what had happened the night before.

"Yeah, I told him that but he said Sheldon told Leonard and Raj that they were basically stupid to think that anyone other than him deserved tenure so his teasing was mild compared to that." Bernadette explained.

Penny was now feeling incredibly bad for Leonard, not only did he not tell her this tenure thing was concerning him last night but Sheldon was putting him down again on top of that. It made her angry that Sheldon always put Leonard down, Leonard was so much smarter than Sheldon in ways that Sheldon would never understand. Then in an epiphany Penny realized why Leonard didn't say anything the night before, she had surprised him with her news and he didn't want to take away from her happiness, that was so Leonard, thinking about her before himself.

She didn't realize she had stopped to think and had not spoken on the phone for several moments until Bernadette asked, "Penny you still there?"

Penny blinked a couple times as she came out of her thoughts, and looked back at her phone, "Sorry, I was wondering, what exactly is tenure?"

"Tenure is like a permanent job, you can't be just dismissed without serious justification, it is job security for the guys if they get it. Didn't Leonard explain that to you when he told you about it?" Bernadette asked.

Penny sighed, "Leonard never said a thing, he was too busy making me happy last night."

Bernadette now smiled, this was now getting juicy, "He was, was he, you go girl."

Penny shook her head, "No it wasn't like that exactly, I told him my news and then sort of attacked him and he just participated in my celebration."

Bernadette was now a little confused, "What news did you tell him."

Penny sighed again, her news not seeming so great now since she knew Leonard had kept his concern about his job hidden so he wouldn't spoil her excitement. "I just got another set of commercials to act in." Penny now said very calmly, like it was no big deal.

"Really, that is great Penny. It really seems like you are getting more and more acting work recently." Bernadette replied with excitement, "What kind of commercials are they?"

"They are just those hemorrhoid cream commercials again." Penny again stated flatly, thoughts about Leonard now fixed in her mind.

Bernadette was now really confused, "Penny is something wrong, I thought you would be thrilled to get a series of commercials, especially after that significant part in that Shark movie?"

Penny sighed again, "No, I'm happy, it is just why didn't Leonard say something about this tenure thing to me, he never said a thing last night, he just was so good to me."

Bernadette found it really cute that Penny was so concerned about Leonard, "Well you know it is Leonard, he has always put your happiness before his, Howard told me long ago that Leonard was smitten with you from the first day he saw you."

Now Penny felt like crying, thoughts about how sweet Leonard was running through her mind. "I gotta go Bernadette, thanks for talking to me."

"Are you okay." Bernadette could hear Penny's voice change, it sounded like she was on the verge of crying.

"I'll be okay, I just need to see Leonard now." Penny barely got out, a tear now rolling down her cheek.

"Okay, but if need someone to talk to just call."

"Thanks, Bernadette." Penny then hung up.

Bernadette just looked at her phone after Penny hung up, shaking her head slightly before saying to no one in particular. "Now, that was strange."

Penny quickly found her flip-flops before she headed towards her door, only delaying to grab her purse and keys before she was out the door and heading down the stairs to her car. However, as soon as she left the apartment building door for the parking lot, she was hit by another realization as she looked for her car, it wasn't there, the reason being that Leonard again left the new SUV for her to drive. He seemed to always do that now, he took her old beat up car to work, while he left her the new car, because, and this made tears drip down her cheeks again, he worried about her and he wanted her to be safe when she went to auditions and extra calls. He was always doing those kind of things for her, ever since he first met her, even when she was dating other guys, he would make sure she had food to eat, help her with her finances, take care of her when she was depressed or had too much to drink, make sure she was safe and protect her. This all just reminded her again about the night before, he had probably come home thinking about that tenure thing and worrying about it since it involved his career, and then she pounced on him about her commercial thing so he just put his problems aside to make her happy. Penny took a deep shaky breath as more tears slid down her cheeks, no man, never even one of them, ever felt about her or took care of her like Leonard, none of them could she ever trust to have her back, none of them, not even Mike who she had once thought she might marry, that honest admission to herself about Mike making Penny shiver where she stood as she realized marrying him would have been the biggest mistake of her life. Penny couldn't stop the tears from trickling down her cheeks, she felt horrible, but that only made her want to hold Leonard even more, so with all her determination she went to the SUV, started it up and drove to Cal Tech.

The trip to Cal Tech seemed to take forever but even after she got there she couldn't get out of the SUV; she was still upset and knew she couldn't walk through the halls of Leonard's building crying. So she laid her head back against the seat headrest and forced herself to stop crying, only succeeding after she fully convinced herself that she would be with Leonard shortly and could then tell him how she truly felt about him, her need to tell him how much she loved him driving her every move since she had hung up with Bernadette earlier. She was grateful that she was so distracted, when she left the apartment, that she didn't put makeup on because now she didn't have fix the mess she would have been from crying all the way there, so she now only had to put on a light amount, mostly to hide her puffy eyes before she went to find her boyfriend.

Penny actually knew her way around in the building Leonard worked, she had visited it about half a dozen times now and knew where his lab and office where, so it didn't take her long to walk up to his lab door and give it a light knock before she walked in. She almost started to cry again when she immediately noticed the lights were off, there was no hum of Leonard's amazing machines working or anyone there, however what kept the tears from falling was she knew she did have one more place to check. She made her way quickly to his office her mind concentrating on only two things, getting to his office and not running into someone on the way there, she didn't even notice the young men staring at her as she passed.

However, like at the lab, no one answered Penny's knocks and when she tried the door knob it was locked, it was almost too much for her to take as she started to breathe a little heavier as she again tried not to cry. What saved her from just crying outside his door was that she remembered she had the key to his office, him giving her a copy after the fourth time she stopped by just in case he wasn't immediately around when she visited again in the future. So, it only took her a second to grab her keys from her purse and open his door, closing and relocking it behind her before a tear rolled down her cheek as she looked around the empty office, it completely confirming to her that Leonard wasn't there.

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"Are you and Penny coming by for takeout tonight?" Sheldon asked Leonard who was sitting across from him in the cafeteria.

Leonard looked up from his food to his ex-roommate, a little surprised how polite he asked him that question. "I'll have to check with Penny, she doesn't really have much of a set schedule anymore with her acting."

A whipping sound was heard from Howard's phone, which made both Howard and Raj laugh. Sheldon frowned at Howard for his interruption before turning back to Leonard, "Howard in his childish way is right Leonard, Penny is controlling your life since you two moved in together."

"She doesn't control my life; we just check with each other before we commit the other." Leonard defended himself and his girlfriend.

"I disagree, when Penny lived across the hall you had much more freedom and control over your life." Sheldon stated like it was a fact.

"WHAT!" Leonard stared at Sheldon like he just grew two heads, Howard and Raj were also stunned that Sheldon would say something like that.

Sheldon of course didn't understand why they were all looking at him like that, until he suddenly thought he understood, "Do you need me to explain it to you in simpler terms, though I cannot understand how you could miss the obvious signs."

"No Sheldon I don't need it explained to me." Leonard tried to calm himself, he did not want to use his inhaler, "You have controlled my life since the day I moved in with you, I couldn't eat what I wanted, couldn't watch what I wanted on TV, I couldn't even go to the bathroom when I wanted, you tried to control every aspect of my life and now you are saying Penny is controlling my life! I have never been so free since I moved into our apartment building."

Sheldon was a little taken back by Leonard's tirade, he also didn't appreciate Howard and Raj nodding in agreement. "Leonard I was just trying to help you, you were like a hippie when you first moved in and even though my time was more important that trying to train you, I made the time so you could be better, and this is the thanks you give me."

Leonard just got angrier at Sheldon's use of the words "help", "train" and "better" in describing how he treated him all those years, so he said the next words without even thinking, "So you putting me down all these years about my work, my habits and my life was helping me be better!"

Sheldon shook his head like he was talking to someone who could just not understand, "Leonard, I was just protecting you from disappointment and allowing to you make your biggest contribution to science that you could ever make, by assisting me with the more menial aspects of life."

"Training me to serve you." Leonard then let out a sarcastic chuckle, Leonard felt like exploding and he knew if he stayed, he would have to use his inhaler, and the thought of showing any weakness to Sheldon right now seeming revolting to him. "Well, this trained money has something to do tonight." Leonard then looked down at his food, it was meatloaf, the cafeteria made terrible meatloaf but it was all they had today, he suddenly didn't feel the least bit hungry. "I'm done with lunch." So, he quickly stood up with his tray, "I'm going back to my office." he then turned and dumped his lunch in the trash before heading out of the cafeteria.

Sheldon just huffed in derision before looking back to Howard and Raj. "That is why Leonard will never get tenure, he can't even complete an argument without running away in defeat."

"That was sort of cruel Sheldon." Raj responded.

Sheldon shrugged, "I just told him the truth, it is not my fault he can't take it." He then looked at Raj and Howard again, "Dinner is at 6:30 tonight, Raj it is your turn to pick it up."

"I'm not coming tonight Sheldon; I have a date with Lucy." Raj explained

"That is unacceptable, tonight is takeout night with everyone!" Sheldon admonished him.

"No, tonight is date night with Lucy. I'm not coming Sheldon." Raj now stated firmly

Sheldon huffed then looked at Howard, "Howard, you are next to pick up the food, since Raj seems to not care anymore about our long-standing tradition."

"You mean you want me to pick up takeout with Bernadette to bring to your apartment so we can eat with you and Amy." Howard said slowly

"Yes, and be there at 6:30 sharp." Sheldon added.

"Nope." was the only response Howard made.

"What do you mean 'Nope'." Sheldon questioned.

"Nope, Nyet, Nein, Non, and in Klingon, Ghobe." Howard now responded sarcastically

"I know what Ghobe means." Sheldon said in frustration, hating any attempt to talk down to him, "Why can't you come over tonight?"

"If you think I'm going to come over to hear you all night bitch about Leonard and now Raj, plus subject Bernadette to it, you are crazy." Howard explained.

"But tonight, is takeout night and we all eat at my apartment." Sheldon said with concern, getting the feeling he was completely losing control of the situation which was very disturbing to him.

"I wouldn't worry so much about takeout night if I were you, I would wonder how I was getting home tonight after pissing off the person who was driving you." Howard now told him.

"Leonard and I have an agreement, he has to drive me home." Sheldon said confidently

"Does he?" Raj now stated.

Sheldon stopped to think about it, Leonard had gotten very mad at him before and many times when that happened, he did have to find his own way home. Also, did he really want to ride home with an angry Leonard, he was barely a satisfactory driver when he wasn't upset, being mad was really risking his life, plus Penny's car was a death trap. Sheldon looked at Raj, "Maybe you are right, in Leonard's current state he is not safe to ride with, so you need to drive me home."

"Sheldon remember, I have a date with Lucy, I have no extra time to drive you home." Raj said with a little smile.

Sheldon huffed again and turned to Howard, "You need to drive me home."

"Sheldon, I drove my scooter today, I'm not giving you a ride home, the last time you rode with me you went into panic mode and almost killed us both."

"I thought Bernadette told you to trade that in for a car." Sheldon now stated, like somehow that made a difference to his need for a ride home.

"She suggested it." Howard said defensively.

Raj chuckled, "She suggested that if you didn't get a car by the end of the month, she was selling the scooter herself."

"Shut Up!" was Howard's only response.

Things were quiet for a couple seconds before Sheldon spoke again, "So which one of you is getting me home?"

"You seem to have a problem understanding, we can't drive you and you pissed off the only person that can drive you." Howard said with a little bit of delight in his voice.

"Well how am I supposed to get home." Sheldon now asked in frustration.

"I don't know, but whoever takes you better stop to get the takeout for your dinner tonight." Howard said with a chuckle, followed quickly by Raj chuckling at Sheldon's frustration.

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Penny sat on the small sofa in Leonard's office, just waiting. She had seen his messenger bag and laptop on his desk and knew he never came home without them so he would have to come back there before he left. She also knew that she was in no mood to do anything until she saw Leonard so she decided just to sit there and wait. While she waited, she was trying to figure out why she was so upset that she wanted to cry over it, she usually could just handle things without that much emotion but this was really getting to her. She hated that Sheldon put down Leonard about this tenure thing and she hated that Leonard didn't tell her about it the night before and how he was worried about it. The happiness she experienced before she had about her commercials didn't seem that great anymore just knowing that Leonard was having problems and was hiding them to not upset her happiness.

All this thinking was bothering her, so she almost jumped when she heard someone put a key into the office door lock then turn the handle and open it, that person making her jump off the couch quickly, forgetting immediately everything she had been thinking about, the need to hold him now her only thought. "LEONARD!" was all Penny said before she rushed to him.

Leonard was a little startled, first by someone being already in his office, then that person rushing at him yelling his name, but then his mind caught up just as Penny reached him and engulfed him in a strong hug. It only took a second to return her hug and as he did he felt immensely better, the anger for Sheldon seeming to dissipate every second he was in Penny's arms, her smell, the softness of her body and her just being so close and wanting him being more important to him than anything else that day had threw at him. He did know though that if he had been counting 'Mississippi's" while they hugged, he would have lost count a long time ago because they just stood there for a while holding each other tight and not saying a word.

He had actually lost track of time but after a while Leonard felt extremely calm, so he slightly loosened his hold on Penny, her doing the same but even still they stayed in each other's arms, Penny's head now in the crook of Leonard's neck where she gave him a small kiss. Leonard first reaction was now to ask her why she was there, but after a second or two of thought he really didn't care and was just happy she was, so his first words reflected this happiness. "This is nice, I needed this."

The words made Penny feel good, after all that happened that morning, making Leonard happy just washed away the pain she was feeling and made her feel good. She gave him another small kiss on the neck before responding to him, "I'm always here if you need me."

Leonard smiled, "And I'm here for you too." he then gave her a little squeeze which she returned. It also made him realize what he wanted to do right now with her, "Have you eaten lunch?"

Penny hadn't thought about food till he brought it up, both her mind and body both being to agitated to even think of food, but now she felt content and happy so she did feel hungry. "I could eat." she told him with a little giggle.

Leonard now separated from her and smiled at her, her returning his smile just as quickly. "Let me just make a call and we can go."

Penny listened as Leonard told the department secretary he was leaving for the day, smiling at him in the understanding that he would be spending the rest of the day with her. She then quietly watched him pack up his laptop and some papers into his messenger bag before smiling at her and asking if she was ready to go. Penny couldn't help but smile widely back, before leaning over to kiss him on the lips and tell him 'yes'. They were in the SUV a few minutes later heading to lunch, both of them content to be with each other and much happier than they had been less than an hour before.

It was 10-minutes later that one Dr. Sheldon Cooper came up to Leonard's office and tried to open the door only to find it locked before he commenced with his ritual knocks to no avail. He had gone to Leonard's lab first to find it empty so he was now convinced that Leonard was in his office hiding from him, but for Sheldon that would be no problem. Taking out the key for Leonard's office, he had made after taking and copying the one from Leonard's keychain, one weekend while he was preoccupied, he now opened the door to catch Leonard at his attempt to hide. However, Sheldon was completely surprised he had been wrong, the office was empty and the lights were out making all the confidence, he had just a moment before, bleed out like an open wound and as he walked out and relocked the door Dr. Sheldon Cooper was forced to address his greatest problem of that day, who was going to take him home?