Something I should have mentioned. Bernadette and Howard were pretty much bellowing at each other last chapter. We all know how loud those two can shout, so I think I can get away with it when I tell you that the other two couples were outside Howard and Bernadette's apartment complex. Secondly, I don't think that Howard and Bernadette live on the higher floors in their complex. Moving on!

There was a silence. Bernadette looked shocked. Then she quietly sat down on their couch, biting her lip. Howard wanted to cuddle her, promise her he'd stay, but the fact was he couldn't. He'd seen many a soap opera and read many a newspaper where a woman or a man who was being beaten up wound up dying. He genuinely didn't think Bernadette would kill him, but it wasn't a chance he wanted to take. Silently, he slowly walked to their bedroom.

He grabbed a bag and threw a couple of T-shirts and jeans in. He wasn't really thinking straight. It was late September, there was a thunder storm forecast for later in the week, and he was putting stuff he wore in summer in his bag. When he went to the living room to say goodbye to Bernadette, he noticed she wasn't there. A look towards the kitchen area told him she wasn't in that vicinity either. Looking at the key bowl, he saw her car keys were gone. She'd obviously gone out. He spied a notepad and scrawled out a message to her. Saying about how he loved her and that he'd like to meet up soon because he really didn't want to lose her. He picked up a photo that had been taken of her on their wedding day. He'd insisted on having one of just her. She'd laughed and called him 'adorable', but had obliged. He made some space in his bag and placed it there.

The walk to his car seemed to take forever. He'd taken the elevator down and the sluggish, sombre music had only slowed down time. He got into his car and tried to pull himself together. He and Bernie were not breaking up. This was just a blip, they would be OK. He told himself this, over and over, but he couldn't believe it anymore. When the tears came, he didn't try to stop them.

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"Wow," said Amy, looking around at the empty apartment. "He's gone. I can't believe it."

"OK, I think we should try and find him." Penny told the others. The doctors looked at her blankly.

"What?"

"Well, where do we start?" Sheldon quizzed her.

"We'll go to where he parks his car and see if he's still around. If not, we go to Plan B."

"What's Plan B?" Leonard asked as he followed her out the door.

"Ring his cell till he's forced to answer."

"Why can't that be Plan A?" Sheldon inquired. Penny rolled her eyes and shot back, "Because he needs us, alright? He needs people around him."

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He missed her already. It had only been, maybe 20 minutes since he'd left, and his chest felt squeezed. He'd dug out the picture and was cradling it, wishing it was her. The tears had stopped long ago. He was just thinking about where the hell he could go, when he saw blonde hair. He looked up, hoping it was Bernie, despite everything. He felt disappointed, yet oddly relieved, to see it was Penny. He put down the picture and opening the door, got out to say hello.

Penny inspected the engineer closely. He was hurting, she could see that just by glancing into his eyes. She didn't know what to say. What could be said to someone who'd just done what he'd sworn never to do because he felt so unsafe? She wished Leonard were there. He'd know exactly what to say to Wolowitz. Why had that woman decided to ask Sheldon of all people where the nearest Cineplex was?

"Hey, um...we know what just happened."

He tried to laugh it off. Him and Bernie, broken up? Perish the thought, they were fine... He couldn't keep it up, though. He sighed and leant against his car.

"Hey, come on." She pulled his arm, earning a confused stare from the Jewish man.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're not going into a hotel. Come on. Have you got stuff with you?"

He nodded, suddenly too tired to argue. Not sleepy tired, just exhausted. He hauled his bag out, returned the picture to its designated space inside it, locked his car and followed Penny.

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"So?"

"So what?" Howard dully replied to the tall physicist's question.

"So, am I going to get the gravy boat ba-?"

"Sheldon!" Penny shrieked at him in horror.

"What? I just want to know if they'll remain married."

"So do we, but we're not saying things like that." Amy scolded.

"Guys, please! I don't think that's helping!" Leonard called.

"Where are we going?" Howard asked.

"...Crap, I have no idea."

"Just go over to mine, it's closer." Amy told him

"Is there a hotel near..." Howard began, only to be 'shushed' down by Penny, who was adamant he was not going anywhere near a hotel.

As they trudged up the stairs, Sheldon commented to Amy on the silence that there was without the monkey.

"I know, I miss him."

"How could you miss him? He was an animal, literally and figuratively." Sheldon replied.

"It was comforting, knowing that if an unwanted visitor were to drop in, I could set a monkey going through withdrawal symptoms on him."

"We should get a monkey." Sheldon told Leonard. This proposal was met with a shake of the head.

"Yeah, I don't think anyone would want to drop in on you, Sheldon." Penny drily informed him.

"Why not?"

Penny chose not to answer and checked her cell.

"OK, we're open." Amy told the others before her boyfriend could take it any further. Unsurprisingly Sheldon went straight to the kettle.

"He may be socially inept at times, but boy does he have a good heart." Amy commented.

The dull feeling that had been stuck to him was leaving. Instead of feeling numb, he felt pain. He felt around his face and almost recoiled at the feeling of a thick, raised scar. A glance at his hand told him he was bleeding. Yeuch. He didn't even wanted to know what the rest of him looked like. He was sore as hell. He'd really managed to piss Bernie off.

"Where does it hurt the most?"

"I don't know. Everywhere."

"Sit down. You look like you're about to pass out." Penny informed him.

He still couldn't let go of his bag. The precious photo was still inside and he didn't want to lose it. Holding it on his lap felt oddly comforting, as though he were cuddling his wife instead of a fairly sized backpack.

"Honey, we're sorry." Penny murmured.

"Don't worry. We'll sort it, Bernie and me. We'll be OK."

Penny glanced at Leonard. When his eyes met hers, she could see that he, too, agreed that Howard wasn't entirely sure about it.

"Why was she hitting you this time?" Leonard asked.

"Because I told you about the fake pregnancy."

"What?"

"She wasn't ready for you to know. I should have known that."

"You know it wasn't your fault, don't you?" Amy questioned.

"In this case it was. I should have waited for her."

"Why? It would have been your baby too." Penny pointed out.

"I still should have waited."

Penny leant back defeated. She couldn't see a way to convince him he wasn't to blame for this latest attack. Her eyes fell on Sheldon. He was looking thoughtful, like he always did before saying something smart. Hopefully, whatever he would say, would do a better job than she'd managed to do.

"I don't know why you're beating yourself up over this. Think about the chain of cause."

Penny looked at Leonard for help. His eyes were on Sheldon as if he understood what the taller man was saying and agreed with it. She figured she may as well listen and learn what it was Sheldon was saying.

"OK, first of all, you ask to invoke the Girlfriend Clause because you wanted a girl in your life. Which is perfectly natural as at one point in every man's life, he is going to want a woman to build a relationship with."

Amy looked at Sheldon, interested. Had she just heard that right? Could her 5 year plan wind up unnecessary after all?

"..Then you're introduced to Bernadette by a friend who shall remain anonymous, *cough* Penny, and things go from there. Then you both get married and two years, 4 months and 6 days later, I ask Raj if he's remembered HALO and he asks you if you're going to go. That's the night Bernadette first hurts you. I don't see how you're to blame in any of this at all."

Howard blinked. He'd never even considered blaming them. It wasn't like they could control what was going on in his marriage. And he didn't blame them because it wasn't them who'd done this. It was his crappy timing and the fact his wife was terrifying now. He blamed himself and even Sheldon's strangely good reasoning wasn't going to change that. Not wanting a lecture, he mutely nodded his head, pretending to agree. Frankly, he was too tired to argue.

Suddenly, Penny's cell interrupted the silence with a shrill note of the music. Penny glanced at the name and gasped.

"Who is it?"

"It's my agent."

"Go ahead and take it." Leonard advised her. She gave Howard an apologetic glimpse and stood outside Amy's door. Before he knew it, Howard was alone. Well, kinda. Sheldon was fiddling with the oven clock, muttering about how he'd fixed it once and did Amy think he was an electrician? Leonard had been dragged off by Amy to help tidy the spare room. Apparently, he was staying here tonight. At least Bernie wouldn't look here. As much as he loved her, he couldn't face her again tonight. The events of the night caught up to him and by the time Sheldon returned to the sitting area, the non-doctor was dead to the world.

Yes, yes I know. I'm gonna be honest with you people here, I just wanted to give Howard some time to get to his car, so we could have friendship moment between Howard and Penny. Yes, I know I've said "he was too tired to argue" about 4 times. But frankly I'm too tired to change it! So, here it is, I hope you enjoy and please feel free to drop a review to let me know if I'm doing OK or not. Have a good week, my nerdizzles!

Love Shania. xx