Chapter 7

It's been a couple of weeks since Leonard broke up with Priya. He was a somewhat surprised to notice that he wasn't as sad as when Penny broke up with him. He thought he was probably getting used to break ups at this point. He decided to keep his mind on his work as he had a number of new responsibilities at the university. One day, he decided to come home early as he was getting a mild headache. It was a good thing that he didn't have to chauffeur Sheldon around so he can go home anytime and go to any place he wanted without asking for his permission first. He was about to open his door when he saw an older man sitting at the stairs by Penny's door. He decided to greet him.

"Hi….are you waiting for Penny?" he asked.

"Yeah….and you are?" the tall man asked back.

"I'm her neighbor, Leonard." he asked.

"You're the scientist!….I'm Wyatt….her father." he said as he shook Leonard's hand.

"It's nice to meet you sir…..if you want, you can wait in our apartment." Leonard said.

"That's very nice of you Leonard…..thank you." he said as he followed him inside.

Leonard put his bag on his desk and went to the fridge. "Can I get you anything?" he asked.

"I'll take a beer if you have it." Wyatt answered. "and please call me Wyatt." he said.

Leonard opened a beer and gave it to Wyatt. He got himself an apple juice.

"Thank you Leonard….so how are you doing?….you doing okay at work?" Wyatt asked.

"I'm doing fine….I came home early because I'm getting a mild headache….I guess I'll just sleep this off later." he said. "How's life back in the farm?" he asked back.

"Well, the farm is doing okay. Thanks for asking." Wyatt said as he took a sip of his beer. They sat quietly until Wyatt decided to speak again.

"So you and Penny doing okay?" Wyatt asked.

Leonard was taken aback at why Wyatt would ask such a question. "Uh I don't understand Wyatt? What do you mean by me and Penny doing okay?" he asked.

"Well you're her boyfriend right?" Wyatt looked at him.

"Didn't she tell you?….it's been almost a year since she broke up with me." Leonard answered him.

"What!?…..how did that happen?" Wyatt asked.

Leonard then understood. This was a classic Penny move. "Uh I think it would be better if Penny told you herself…." he added. "Why would she lie about that?….especially to you…" he said.

"Well I guess we'll find out soon enough…." Wyatt said as his phone rang and picked it up. "Hi slugger! I'm here at Leonard's." he said.

The door opened and Penny saw Leonard and her father sitting by the coffee table. Penny went to her father and gave him a hug. "Daddy, I missed you!" she said.

"Nice to see you too slugger!….Leonard was nice enough to let me wait here…" he said as he released her daughter. "now why don't you sit down so we could have a talk." he said as he sat back down on the couch.

Penny immediately felt uncomfortable. "Uh why don't we go to my place, so you could settle in and wash up…" she gave her father a half smile.

"No, we'll have a talk here….by the way, aren't you gonna greet your boyfriend?" Wyatt said as he pointed to Leonard. Leonard just sat there, looking at the two.

"Yeah...right….hi honey!" she said walking towards Leonard to give him a hug when Wyatt cut her off.

"Okay cut the crap Penny!….Leonard here told me you broke up with him for almost a year now….and lied to me about it!" Wyatt said to her. Penny was slightly humiliated and didn't say a thing. Leonard folded his arms as Penny looked at him.

"I can't believe you would lie to me like that!?" Wyatt told her. "Well!?" he looked at his daughter.

"Daddy I…." Penny choked on her answer. She got scared as she looked at Leonard.

"And using Leonard as your alibi!?" Wyatt looked at her.

Penny turned to Leonard visibly afraid. "Leonard….I'm so sorry if you got dragged into this…I hope you won't be angry at me…..please forgive me…." she gave him a pleading look.

"Why would I be angry at you? You just used me to perpetrate a lie to your father." he said to her.

Penny struggled in keeping it together and not break down in front of Leonard.

"You know what?…..don't worry about it…..it isn't the first time you did something like this anyway." Leonard said as he stood up. "Listen...I have a headache that is now turning into a migraine so if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna turn in…." he said as he walked towards his room. "please close the door on your way out…" he said before disappearing into the hallway.

Wyatt looked at his daughter. "You and I have a lot to talk about." Wyatt said as he stood up and went out the door into her apartment. Penny followed her father into her apartment.

Once inside, Wyatt sat down on the chair while Penny sat on the couch. "Penny, you know all I want is what's best for you. But you lying to me about breaking up with Leonard?….care to explain why?" he asked her.

"Daddy…..I…" she choked again.

Wyatt stood up and went to her fridge. He opened a beer and took a sip. "Well?" he asked his daughter.

Penny took a deep breath and decided to come clean. "Daddy I lied about my breakup with Leonard because you wouldn't stop talking about how great he is. That for the first time in my life I've dated someone I could to be proud of….I just didn't want to disappoint you that we're not together anymore." Penny said covering her face with her hands.

"Don't think like that slugger. You can never disappoint me." he sat beside her and rubbed her back. "So why did you break up with him? If you don't mind me asking." he said.

"Daddy….I….I really don't want to talk about it." she said as she wiped her tears.

"No Penny….not this time!….you will tell me everything!" Wyatt told her.

Penny sighed and decided to tell her father everything that happened. She told him how Leonard told her that he loves her, the bowling alley, the rooftop experiment and the incident with Jeff. She was crying when she ended her story as her father rubbed her back to console her.

"Thank you for telling me everything Penny….and you don't have to say sorry to me….but what you need to do is make things right with Leonard." Wyatt said to her.

"I know daddy." she said as she wiped her tears.

How could she do this again – using Leonard to cover up her shortcomings. Now that Priya was out of the picture, she hoped that she and Leonard can return dating again. How can they go back to dating if Leonard won't trust her anymore because of what she has done? She now realized how screwed up her chances are of getting back together with him.

The next morning, Leonard came out of his apartment to go to work the same time Wyatt came out of Penny's apartment.

"Good morning Leonard." Wyatt said.

Leonard looked at him. "Good morning."

"Off to work?" Wyatt asked him.

"Yeah." he said as he locked his door.

"How's your headache?" Wyatt asked him.

"It's better now….I'm off to work now…" Leonard said as he turned towards the staircase.

"Do you mind if I walk out with you?" he asked.

"Not at all." Leonard answered him as they started walking down the stairs.

"Listen Leonard, I want to thank you for standing up to that Jeff guy….you don't know how much that means to me." Wyatt said.

"Penny told you about that huh?….I saw she was in trouble and I couldn't just ignore that so I decided to intervene...I would've done that for anyone…." Leonard said.

"Well in any case, thank you for what you did." he added. "I know this will be pushing it but can I ask a favor from you?" Wyatt looked at him.

Leonard was surprised. "A favor?….like what?" he asked Wyatt.

"No father should ever do this but I want to ask you not to give up on her….I know that she did all those stupid stuff and you have every right to be mad at her but to tell you the truth...you're the best guy my daughter's ever dated and I sure as hell don't want her to go back dating those stupid skateboarding, tattooed crackheads and beefcakes who's stupid as a bag of potatoes…." Wyatt said.

Leonard didn't know how to respond. They have been broken up for almost a year now and it took every ounce of willpower to move on from Penny but now her father is asking him to give her another chance. He knew he still has feelings for her but he already buried those feelings deep inside and bringing them back is a little scary for him. He obviously doesn't want to get hurt again and he knew Penny was fickle-minded, doing things at a drop of a hat without considering what the consequences of those decisions would be.

"I appreciate the compliment Wyatt but Penny and I have been broken up for almost a year now and I don't know if I could go through that experience again. I gave her my heart and she threw it away. I gotta tell you, I was ready to give it up when she dumped me but then I realized that maybe we weren't meant to be together…." he said to Wyatt.

Wyatt was quiet for a while and tapped Leonard on his shoulder. "Well son….thank you for being honest….and I'm sorry for what happened between you and my daughter…" he continued as they exit the building. "Well I'm heading out now….you take care of yourself alright?" Wyatt said as he shook Leonard's hand.

"You too Wyatt." Leonard said back as he turned around, walking towards his car.