Chapter 55 - Aftermath - Solutions
Penny realized she was going to die, so with every ounce of energy she had left, she fought back, but she soon found she was at a huge disadvantage. Art weighed over twice her weight and his body was sitting on her hips, preventing her from lifting her legs to use against him, she was basically helpless from the waist down. So Penny tried to wiggle her body and free herself from his grip, feeling a slight loosening of her hands trapped above her head, and thought if she could just get one free she could gouge Art's eye out. However, Art just stopped choking her and brought his other hand up to re-secure her hands, squeezing them so hard, Penny yelped, as he broke the small finger on her left hand, against her wedding ring. Art now had a better grip on her and brought his hand back down to her neck, resuming his crushing squeeze of her neck and cutting off her air.
Penny couldn't breathe anymore and her lungs desperately screamed for air, it was then time seemed to slow down for her, her mind racing with its last bit of oxygen, and it was then she thought she started to hallucinate. She thought she saw Leonard's head hovering over Art's shoulder and she so wanted to tell him she was sorry, but she couldn't say a word without life giving air. She didn't want to die, she didn't want to leave him, she already missed him, and she hated herself for being so cocky and overly confident that she was getting herself killed. She was hurting him again, it seemed every mistake she ever did since she met him only hurt him, and she hated herself for doing this to him now. She just stared at him for several moments, which were really only one second, it seemed so real to her, she swore she saw sadness in his eyes and her own eyes started to water up. So it was a shock to her when suddenly Leonard seemed to move, a quick sudden movement occurring off to the side of Art's body that Art even seemed to notice. The big man immediately turned his head towards the movement, only to suddenly be hit in the face with something that shattered, but in that noise Penny also though she heard the sound of something breaking, Art's face.
Then just as suddenly everything seemed to come back to normal speed, Leonard was over her yelling, 'Are you alright, can you breathe!' Penny sucked in air and nodded, not knowing if she was still hallucinating before death or if she just had been saved. Leonard knelt down to her and touched her cheek, staring at her eyes, worry etched all over his face as she took in a couple more breaths, the resumption of life giving air now calming her and allowing her to speak again. "I'm okay." Penny then had to turn her head to watch her husband, who seemed to jump up to walk over to a screaming Art, the big man having his hands covering his face and she could now see blood between his fingers. Everything seemed to be happening so fast now, Leonard had saved her, she was actually still alive, there was now a higher probability that she would be sleeping in her own bed tonight, cradled in Leonard's arms, safe and secure. It was the only thing she wanted now, to be in their bed, held by him, protected by him, and never to leave his sight again. He knew her so well and she thought he must have followed her, because she most likely wasn't the actress she thought and probably didn't fool him with her errand story. But she really didn't care how he figured it out, he saved her and she just stared at her 'White Knight' as he now went to the monster that tried to kill her.
She laid there and watched with fascination as Leonard walked up to the big man then kick him, a kick hard in the ribs, she swore she heard bones crack again and by the new intensity of Art's screaming she was sure Leonard had broken his ribs. It was actually the perfect way to immobilize the big man and take the fight out of him, she was proud of Leonard, he had remembered what they had been taught in self defense class. She was now breathing better and she saw Leonard look at her for a moment, to check on her, then turn to pick up her purse and take the handcuffs out. Leonard then went down on his knee, right on Art's back, making the man scream out again, he seemed to possess strength Penny had never seen in Leonard before, as he yanked the big man's arms back and locked the handcuffs on his wrists. Penny was stunned, however, one look at Leonard's eyes told Penny everything, Leonard was running on pure adrenaline right then, and could probably have pick up the big man and thrown him if he wanted at the moment. Her breathing continued to improve and she was breathing almost normal now, cradling her hurt left hand, while she continued to watch Leonard. She saw him now take plastic police tie wraps out of his pocket and secured Arts legs, finally standing up again, just looking down at the man. It was then Penny noticed he had Penny's gun in his hand and his finger was in the trigger guard, something they both knew, from firearms training, you didn't do that unless you planned on firing.
Leonard's eyes had changed in that moment and were now filled with pure hate and Penny knew he was going to fire her gun if she didn't do something fast, the immediate thought of Leonard ending up in the same situation as her other self did in the other timeline flashing in her mind. She had to protect him from doing something stupid like she or her other self did, so she did the one thing she knew would stop him. "LEONARD, HELP ME!" she screamed with all her might.
Leonard was at her side in an instant, the gun and purse now laid down next to her, as his eyes now stared at her, full of worry. "What is wrong Honey, are you hurt. Tell me what's wrong."
The enormity of what all just happened then hit Penny hard as she looked at him and said the thing she wanted to say to him when she first saw his face. "I'm sorry." Penny then broke down and sobbed, Leonard pulling her against him as he sat down next to her, gently cradling her, as he kept an eye on the man that almost killed her.
It was a few minutes later when Penny was finally able to talk again and she softly spoke to Leonard while he still held her, "We need to get the girl to a hospital and get him picked up."
Leonard then shook his head, "As soon as I leave, it will all change and this will have never happened."
With everything that had just happened, Penny had never even considered that and pulled back from him, wide eyed, "You're a time traveler!" Leonard just nodded.
Penny continued to stare at him, "I thought you said we had to let things happen, we shouldn't change things, it was too dangerous."
Leonard let out a soft sigh, a tear escaping his eyes to run down his cheek. "That was until I buried my family…." he looked her in the eyes, "you and our two babies." Leonard softly finished.
No sooner than that sunk in, Penny looked at him her mouth agape, fighting with all her might to not cry again, but failing as she couldn't keep the stray tears from falling down her cheeks, "Art killed me." she croaked, she now understood and as she looked at Leonard she got a sad nod from her husband.
"I couldn't let that happen, especially since that was never suppose to happen in this timeline. You would never have known about Art if Sheldon didn't change things, in the first place, so this death was never suppose to happen." Leonard explained, then he took a big breath and softly told her, "But even if you were suppose to die, I don't know if I could have done nothing, I just couldn't go on without you all." as he confessed, while at the same time gently putting his hand on her belly.
Penny now felt both physically and mentally drained, "So you changed time again." she said so softly it was almost a whisper.
Leonard nodded, "Sheldon and I worked on this for weeks after your death, Amy even helped. Since it was a very small change, we worked out the probabilities, in excruciating detail, and how to stop it without going into a loop, where if we stopped it, we wouldn't know to stop it, that type of thing. So we devised a plan that works and has no real impact on anything, except you live." Then Leonard looked over at Art. "And he pays."
"What happens next?" Penny calmly asked, in a weird way she was getting use to this.
"When I leave, instead of coming here alone, you will have backup and catch Art. No one but the girl will get hurt and her injuries are not permanent, she will be fine." Leonard told her. "Leonard will have a long talk with you about everything, this morning, and you will be ready for him." Leonard spat out the last part as he looked at the big man, again.
"Okay." she just responded.
"You are going to loose everything after the phone call from her, about two hours, and you will get a little lecture from me this morning about all this, I hope that is that okay, Honey." Leonard asked as he cradled her face in his hand.
Penny closed her eyes and rubbed her cheek against his hand, "Leonard I love you so much, and now you just saved my life." She then opened her eyes and looked at him, "You do anything you need to do to keep us together." then, as Penny looked at him she got a curious expression on her face. "Leonard, why didn't you just tell me this morning and prevent all this from even happening?"
Leonard let another sad sigh escape his lips, "To get all the right information, since originally they haven't caught Art yet, I had to know exactly what happened to you, so I could tell Leonard exactly what to expect, to protect you. So I came back to observe the scene, but once he hit you, I was having trouble thinking straight and then he put his hand around your neck…..I couldn't let him kill you, even if I was going to correct it later. I couldn't watch you die without doing something."
Penny stared at him and as she stared she knew this was something he would do, he loved her and would do anything to protect her. "Leonard, I don't deserve you, but I am so happy you picked me to be your wife."
They then both kissed each other, and that planned short kiss went on longer than either of them planned, finally leaving them just staring at each other as they broke contact. "I should do it now." he softly told her and Penny nodded.
Leonard stood up and pulled out the marker, but before he could activate it, he saw Penny pick up her gun, in her good right hand, and shoot Art in the belly. It was not an immediately fatal shot, but extremely painful, survivable if he got medical care within the hour. As Art screamed again, with increased intensity from this new pain, Penny turned to Leonard, with an innocent look on her face and shrugged, "It is all going to change anyway, right."
Leonard gave her a small smile and nodded, he then activated the marker.
XxxxTIMExxxxTIMExxxxTIMExxxxTIMExxxxTIMExxxxTIMExxxx
Penny hung up the phone and picked up her purse, remembering what Leonard told her that morning, then grabbing up her phone again and calling police dispatch to make arrangements for two patrol cars to meet her at Art's address. Once satisfied she had proper backup, she walked over to Leonard, kissing him deeply for a couple moments, finally separating and giving him a little smile, "They are meeting me there and I promise to not even get out of my car, until they are out of their cars." Leonard just nodded, "I also promise to never do anything remotely close to this again without talking to you first."
Leonard smiled. "I love you, please take care of our family." he then put his hand on her baby bump.
Penny melted against him, suddenly not wanting to leave, never wanting to give this moment up, "I know you love me Sweetie, I hope every day I can show you that I love you as much as you do me. I promise to be careful with our family." Penny then reluctantly left to arrest the man, that she just found out this morning, killed her.
It was just over two hours later, that the ambulance left with the injured Stacy and the uniformed officers put a slightly banged up Art in the back of the police car. Penny stood outside the car, looking in, and stared at her murderer as he sat in the back of the car, the urge to kill him so strong in her, she could barely control herself. The ringing of her cell phone finally breaking her from the trance she found herself in. "Hi Sweetie….yes everything is fine, he is handcuffed in the back of the patrol car….I'd love to go to dinner tonight, especially with you…Leonard, have I told you how much I love you today…Thank you Honey." Then in her most seductive voice, "Leonard I'm not planning on going out tomorrow or even leaving our bed, I think I will be too tired to do anything…" Leonard's response made Penny giggle, "You really are a genius, aren't you…."
Leonard had completely made her forget her hate of only a few moments ago and without even thinking she had walked back to her car. Penny then got serious as she sat down in her car and closed the door, "Leonard, something inside of me wants you so badly, I can barely think about anything else. As soon as I am done here, I am coming right home….we might have to delay going out for dinner until another day." Penny closed her eyes trying not to cry as she listened to her husband tell her he loved her. Thoughts of just crawling in bed with him and being held by him, never leaving their home again until the babies came, going through her mind. The taping on her car door glass forcing her back to reality. "I love you so much Honey, can you hold on a second." Penny then lowered the window to talk to the patrolman.
"Sergeant Hofstadter, we can take care of booking the suspect and getting the victims blood work and the rape kit. The sexual assault squad has been already contacted and they will be meeting us at the hospital. The assault and resisting arrest charges alone will keep him in jail all weekend, then when we have the blood tests, you can charge him with rape." The officer told her, then. "It's the weekend, why don't you take it easy." the officer said with compassion as he nodded to her obvious baby bump.
Penny smiled at him, "Thank you. Can you have the sexual assault officer give me a call when you talk to them at the hospital?" The officer smiled back and nodded, then turned to go back to his partner.
Penny picked up her phone again. "Sorry Sweetie, just had to settle some details, I'm coming home right now…..I'd love a nice warm bath" Penny giggled again, "Especially if you are going to soap me up and wash me, but you have to do that in the bath tub with me, you know." Penny responded seductively, then smiled at his response. "Sweetie, I'm on my way….I love you too." Penny hung up her phone and just stared at it for a second, thinking how lucky she was, she had the most amazing man in the world. Penny had to resist turning on her car's lights and siren, to get home faster, the whole trip back her mind only focused on being with Leonard.
A/N: I wanted to put the last two chapters in, because the story covered what Sheldon would do for love, but made Leonard seem to much of a stickler for protecting the world from the dangers of Time Travel. So I wanted to really explore what Leonard would do if he lost Penny, like Sheldon lost Amy, plus Art really needed to get punished.