It had been three weeks since Leonard and Penny had broken up.
Leonard and Katherine were pursuing a relationship. Penny avoided Leonard at all cost and Sheldon visited Penny's apartment once a day.
Monday through Friday he would go over right after work and left her food, a note for instructions to eat and then tidy up. Sometimes she would be there.
Since she was a waitress of course, she did not have a set schedule. Also, Penny had picked up as many shifts as she could to keep her mind off things. Sheldon liked when Penny was present though, that way he could physically see her eat, even if it was only a couple of bites.
Sheldon began to suspect Penny would go a whole day without eating. He noticed that she was losing weight quickly. Some mornings he would find her portion of take-out still sitting in its container, untouched and with disgust he would have to throw it all away.
He began to suspect she wasn't sleeping either. Dark circles were appearing under her eyes.
He noticed sometimes too in those first two weeks that during her days off or after work, she was drunk. This was not a laughing, bubbly drunk it was a dark and depressing drunk. But Penny gave up on drowning her sorrows with alcohol since the hangovers weren't helping matters.
The first two weeks Penny was also very clingy. When they were together in her apartment she would throw her arms around his waist and hide her face in his shirt. Of course this made Sheldon uncomfortable, what with human contact and all. But looking at her and looking at how she clung to him, she reminded him of a little child, a helpless baby that he had to take care of.
Of course he didn't have to take care of her. Yet Sheldon saw this as a non optional social convention and really, if he didn't take care of her no one else was going to.
Howard and Raj tried to ignore the situation as much as possible. They came over for a couple of visits but were obviously uncomfortable especially when Penny would start crying out of nowhere. Also it didn't seem like Penny had any close female friends or any other friends at that.
Sheldon felt like this was his obligation because in the past four years this was how their friendship worked. They would bicker and get on one another's nerves but every time one of them was in need it was always the other that was there to help.
Sheldon sighed, deep in thought and poking his food with his fork.
"You alright there buddy?" Howard asked looking up from his tray of food.
The school cafeteria was noisy as ever but Sheldon felt as if he was a million miles away.
"Yes I am fine, I'm a little worried about Penny though." He said.
"I know, we all are." Howard offered.
Sheldon gave him a blank stare. "Are you implying that you and Raj are worried about Penny? If that is correct then why have I been the only one taking care of her?"
"Dude we know and we feel bad for not being there more, but we don't know what to do." Raj interjected.
"Yea for some odd, inexplicable reason you know how to take care of a person." Howard said.
"Penny is my friend. She's sad and she's been through a traumatic event. I go over to her apartment. I sit with her and watch TV and I sit there while she cries. I make sure she eats something. I ask her every now and then how she is even though I know she'll say 'fine' and even though I know she's lying. I'm there because I feel like I have to be. It's not a big deal and it is not that hard to do." Sheldon looked back at his uneaten food.
Howard was about to say something else when Leonard and Katherine plopped down at their table.
"Hey guys, what's up?" Leonard asked opening his water bottle.
Katherine offered up a shy glance and a half smile. It was obvious she felt uncomfortable around the group knowing that they were well aware of what happened.
Raj shrugged his shoulders and Howard mumbled a 'not much'. Sheldon continued to poke at his food. Leonard and Katherine exchanged glances.
Leonard cleared his throat. "Um, I was thinking of having Katherine over for Halo night. Let you all get to know her outside of work."
The other three guys looked at one another. Raj and Howard nodded their heads and managed a weak smile.
"I do not like that idea, Leonard." Sheldon said staring hard at his roommate.
Leonard shared another look with his new girlfriend. "Sheldon I know this may seem weird at first, but Katherine is my girlfriend now and I want her to feel like she can come to my apartment, get to know my friends and feel comfortable in doing so."
"Leonard, you committed infidelity. You were copulating with another woman for an entire month while still copulating with Penny. May I remind you that this same Penny was your girlfriend for over a year. This same Penny was a woman you chased after for two years. Now this same Penny has been devastated by you and I have to go over there every day just to make sure that she eats and you want to bring Katherine over for Halo night like none of that took place?" Sheldon stared at Leonard expecting an answer. Leonard hung his head in response.
Katherine gathered her courage and spoke, "Sheldon I know that the way Leonard and I handled things were wrong. We let things get out of hand and I feel terrible for what we did to Penny. I have never met her but I've heard wonderful things about her, which makes this all the more agonizing. I'm not asking you or anyone to like me right now but I do love Leonard, I can't help that and I'm just asking all of you to give me a chance."
Sheldon's shoulders sagged under her sincerity. "Fine, come over to Halo night. But remember it may take me a long time, if ever, to even consider you an acquaintance."
"Fair enough." Katherine attempted a weak smile, knowing this was the only thing she could ask for.
