Word Count: 703
Summary: Penny's thoughts in S12E10 during Sheldon's speech + after actions.
Disclaimer: I don't own The Big Bang Theory or the characters.

"I know this was a scientific theory but to me it was more than that. It described the universe in a new and beautiful way. I want that to be the universe we live in, but I guess not."

The universe is beautiful, Penny thought, glancing at her husband.

There, in a tiny bathroom that used to belong to her, were three of her favorite people. There, in a tiny bathroom were her husband, her best friend and her borrowed brother. And in the middle of those three people, there she was. The one person that never wrote a scientific paper, the only one that wasn't a part of the scientific world. Yet, she had spent the last decade living across the hall – and later in the same apartment – to two brilliant scientist. One knew what he was capable of, never doubted himself, and never questioned whether or not what he was doing was wrong. The other, however, lived his life questioning his every move, didn't know how smart he was even when people told him And that was the guy she fell in love with.

And in that fraction of second, the time it took for her to glance at him and then back at her friends, she saw him. She saw the man with the biggest emotional endurance she had ever met. She saw the child that was raised by someone that didn't know what emotions were, the child that barely saw his father. She saw the boy that was bullied that turned into the man he was today. And she saw the man she loved.

But after that fraction of second, she looked back at Sheldon, and he continued his speech. And that moment where she saw him was gone. He hadn't noticed her looking at him, and she was fine with that. But she saw him with his "big boy suit", and to smile. She had to smile as she remembered the suit he had back when they were just friends, back when they were far from dating, far from admitting how they felt about each other. Back when things were uncomplicated, when things were less intimate and sweet. A time she never wanted to go back to.

The ceremony was quickly over due to the small fire that occurred, where Amy and Leonard became part-time firefighters for a minute. And when that fire was over, Sheldon was a bit better, and they could all go back home.

Once they arrived there – which took only a couple of steps, really – they changed back to their normal, non-formal clothes and sat down to watch TV. They both decided to catch up on The Good Place, and so they did. They saw the last episode, cursed the hiatus, and after a while realized that cursing wasn't going to solve anything. January would be there in any moment.

Penny watched as her husband got up from the couch to do the dishes, and got up as well. She waited for him in the corridor and once he was next to her, they walked to their bedroom together. There, they changed to their pajamas, and laid down in bed.

"It was nice, the sort of funeral." Penny started.

"Yeah, it was. I think Sheldon might start to feel better now. Sheldon and Amy, of course." Leonard took out his glasses and set them on the night stand.

"I hope so." Penny smiled, and Leonard smiled back.

They both closed their eyes, but it took Penny longer to fall asleep than it took Leonard. Just after two AM, Penny sighed. She couldn't sleep.

Looking to her side, she smiled as her husband's chest expanded, smiled at his messy hair that fell in the pillow. She couldn't see his face, since he was with his back turned to her, but she could imagine his face, peaceful, innocent, and safe. There was no worries in his face, no problems. He was at peace.

"You're smart, Leonard. Never forget that." She reassured him, even though he was asleep. She then turned to the other side, and fell asleep.

Yes, the universe isn't perfect. The universe might not be beautiful. But it's theirs, and that should be enough.

The End

This episode was… not that bad. I thought it was funny, but not enough to make me laugh. I don't know, I enjoyed Sheldon/Amy/Penny/Leonard friendship, I liked the "funeral". It didn't cause much impact (at least to me) the scene with Sheldon's dad, or even Sheldon from Young Sheldon, because I don't follow the show. I watched only a few episodes, not enough to really connect with the characters. I did like Lenny though, it wasn't that bad even though the episode wasn't about them.

Howardette was sweet, as usual. Howard at the end did make me smile, but I already knew something like that was going to happen. It was expected. Raj was only there passing by, there's not much to say about him, is there?

Until January there's no new episode, so you'll have to "put up" with my one-shots unrelated to the episodes from season 12. Or maybe not… xD