Just a quick drabble for you guys before the episode tomorrow! This one's a little shorter but hey, that's what a drabble is! Or maybe this is a ficlet. I don't know the technical difference. IT IS FANFIC.

Oh yeah, disclaimer, don't own anything, you all know the drill by now.

Leonard knew the instant that Penny came in the door that something was wrong. For one thing, when he kissed her in greeting, she only brought one hand up to touch his arm. For another, she kept looking off to the side and putting her hair behind her hear. "You okay?" He asked, and she nodded with a chipper "yep!"

He leaned on the countertop and raised an eyebrow. "Talk to me."

She looked at him, sighed, and then spoke. "I broke two plates at work today trying to keep moving and not have a back up."

"Okay," Leonard said.

"There was full uneaten meals on them when they fell."

"Ouch."

"The people were some kind of high maintenance, what – the – hell – you – doing – in – a – Cheesecake – Factory jerks, and they pretty much demanded that I get yelled at by my manager in front of them while they kept their arms folded and nodded along with what he was saying and people were looking at me and it was so humiliating, and then the guy made some comment that implied that if a woman can't even serve food, then what's the point, and…" Leonard already knew that his girlfriend was going to cry, but when she started shaking her hands, it became all the more obvious. He stepped around the table and wrapped her in his arms.

"Thanks," Penny said shifting her position so she could push her head underneath his chin despite the height difference. "For listening."

"No problem," Leonard said, rubbing her back. Then he stopped. "You aren't going to thank me for the hug?"

He smiled when he felt her hand slap his chest. "I like your hugs. But people hug me all the time. You listen. And sometimes that's better."

"I'll listen whenever you need me to," he said. "You know that."

"Yeah," she said, lifting her head to smile at him. "I know."

"That why you love me?" he teased.

She kept smiling a moment before answering. "It's a part of it."