POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR TONIGHT'S EPISODE. READ AT YOUR OWN ACCOUNT AND RISK!

Summary: Before the next episode airs, I wrote this. I had the idea after reading spoilers. (I honestly tried not to, but I lost that fight!)
Word Count: 1235
Disclaimer: I don't own The Big Bang Theory or the characters.

"You never said you didn't want kids!" He complained, once again. They've been at it for too long already, they were both getting tired of it.

"But I also never said I did." She yells back, trying to hold the tears that were threatning to leave, trying to hold them in as long as possible. Not only was she trying to make the tears stay, but she was also trying to make herself stay. Every fiber in her being was yelling for her to run, leave, but she felt that if she actually did that, it would look like giving up.

They stare at each other for a while, trying to figure out what the other was going to do. Penny sits on the couch, still holding back the tears but no longer able to hold herself.

Leonard can't do it anymore, though. He turns around, opens the door and closes it so hard that she feels the whole apartment tremble, the bang so hard that their neighbors come to see what was going on. But, instead of opening the door or even saying anything, she just sits on the couch until it's time to go to work. Slowly, she pushes herself to the bedroom and changes clothes. Not even bothering to have breakfast, she leaves, making sure the door doesn't make as much noise as her husband had done the previous day.

Penny arrives home expecting her husband there holding their dinner, a sweet smile playing on his lips, a sorry leaving them. She expects to see him hugging her and saying they can go through that. Instead, she finds an empty apartment the same way she had left it, the only difference being his desk. It no longer had his computer or his notes. Instead, it held a letter. And his ring. The one he said the would never take off, his precious. She remembers rolling her eyes at him for that comment. But now, she feels those tears she so desperately tried to hold slipping through her eyes.

Carefully, as not to rip the card open with her trembling hands, she sits on his couch, the ring that once belonged to him next to hers.

Dear Penny,

I'm sorry it has to end this way. I never thought this day would come, especially not this way, but I honestly don't think I can go on like this. Having children was always something I always wanted, and even though I can't imagine a future without you, I also can't imagine one where I don't have kids. I sincerely hope you can forgive me.

I love you, but I can no longer hear comments about how we're married. Especially when my self-doubts appear, and I wonder how we are married. And since I keep wondering why I don't think that I can believably tell people any more lies.

I now that it took a lot of me to be with you. To get you. It's taking a lot to leave you, too. I want you to know that. This isn't an easy decision, but it's for the best. I hope you know that.

I will always love you. Don't forget that.

Love,

Leonard

Holding the letter in her hands, she can barely read more. Between trembling hands and her watery eyes, the letters are weird. But she knows one thing. She lost him. Maybe it wasn't only that day, she might have lost him months ago, without even realizing. And now, she would do anything to be able to go back to that stupid fight, to run to him and make him stay. To run after him and see where he went. Or maybe, to just this morning, where she decided to get up and go to work. If only she had stayed, they would've met, and they would talk about it.

And even if they still ended, at least she would have a saying in it, she would be able to hug him once more, maybe even steal one last kiss.

Instead, she read a letter, one that would never hug her, or kiss her. And even though it smelled like him, it didn't make her feel better, not the way that it used to.

Even worse, she now felt her whole world crashing down. Piece by piece, she realized how badly she had made him feel when she broke up with him over the years. For once, he broke up with her, and she felt bad. He made the choice.

And as she was breaking down around everything that once felt like home, he was driving to a new life, free and scared.

Sure, it felt scary to show up in that apartment, hours after having the worst fight of his life. And worst of all, he didn't know how to face her. Entering the apartment and realizing she wasn't there was a relief.

He went to his bedroom and took out of the closet his old gym bag – it was just as new as it was when he bought it, over three years ago. He grabbed clothes from the drawers and the closet, and eventually, he looked around the room.

The pink power ranger he had given Penny years ago was sitting on a shelf next to the picture of them next to Penny's old car. There was poster all around the room, pictures of the two of them. He put the bag on top of the bed and moved to the shelf was his favorite picture was. Grabbing it, he sat down on the bed, caressing it. He smiled fondly, remembering the day it was taken. The day of their second wedding. So much had happened after that.

If he closed his eyes he could remember her against him as they danced. The way her eyes twinkled as they looked at each other, the way his heart was beating. He remembers everything, if only he closed his eyes.

And so he opened them.

He opened the bag and carefully placed the frame and respective photo in between clothes, to make sure it didn't break.

Walking into the living room, he went to his desk and wrote a letter to her. Then, he took his computer bag and placed all his notes and laptop inside. As he placed his keys inside the bowl for the last time, he noticed his ring. It was the last reminder of the life he was living behind. And no matter how much he thought he couldn't live without it, he had to take it out. And so he did.

He looked at his now ringless finger, a small mark there as a reminder of what he just lost. Backing away, he closed the door of his old apartment, one last time.

No matter how much he loved her, he needed to move on. He couldn't be there anymore. It broke his heart to see that happening.

So, he moved on. He resigned from the university the very same day, he texted all his friends before he changed numbers.

And now, as he drives his car and a sweet melody from the love of his life's favorite band comes on, he changes the station, comprehending now that it was too late to change what he just did. But although it wasn't the right thing to do at that moment, it would be for the best at some moment.

The End

Sorry, I'm so sorry! I needed to write angst, I missed it. I swear I'll try to write something sweet about tonight's episode (I think we'll all need sweet, after what I read...)