Mary Cooper takes a hand
When Leonard reached Penny she hurled herself into his arms, and still sobbing in her distressed state, "I, I'm s, so sorry Leonard; It's all my fault, maybe it would be better if we didn't move", she told him looking up at him, her eyes though were sad in her tear stained face, Penny looked defeated.
And it wrenched Leonard's heart to see it, "No Penny, it is not your fault and you were quite right. I have been too blind to Sheldon's selfish arrogance for too long, We really should have looked for our own place after we got married instead of trying to live like this, No Penny we are going to start looking for apartments now, our apartment Honey, Our apartment", Leonard told her firmly.
For Leonard had Today finally seen the truth in Sheldon's outburst, that Sheldon just needed a lackey he could belittle and who could do all the fetching and carrying and also ferrying him wherever Sheldon wanted to go, whether it was convenient at the time for Leonard or not. The needs of the Sheldon outweighed the needs of everyone else, or so it seemed to Dr Sheldon Cooper, And Leonard had had enough. Penny was Leonard's life now as well as his number one concern and Sheldon's unjust treatment of Penny, would be his last.
Then half an hour later Leonard and Penny sitting close together excitedly looked for apartments on Penny's laptop
Leonard took the next couple of days off and with Penny's agreement, moved the things he needed most into 4B while the rest of his things went into storage. Sheldon was not too pleased as he had to take the bus to work as Amy, so disgusted was she by Sheldon's behaviour towards her Bestie, that she had rang Bernadette and Rajesh telling them that on no circumstances were Howard or Rajesh to give him a ride. For Amy had an idea to get Sheldon to change his attitude.
For Penny it was bliss to be finally living together with her Husband, and it amazed her to find that she felt no sense of panic at all, in fact she made good use of the opportunity by showing so much affection to Leonard, that Leonard felt a little overwhelmed by it, but if it helped Penny then it was fine with him.
Sheldon was having a hard time of it. For Howard and Rajesh had not only refused to give him a ride, they were barely talking to him as well, and Amy had told him that he was not to expect a ride from her, until he had changed his awful attitude towards Leonard and Penny.
So Sheldon, his own pride preventing him from knocking on Penny's door for help (and also fearful of her going all Nebraska on him), found himself having to out and get his own supplies and also to rely on public transport to wherever he wished to go.
Mary Cooper placed the phone back onto it's cradle and frowned. "Let's hope Amy's plan works, but she's right. Though Shelly ain't going to like it, but it's plumb certain something needs to be done, and I ain't gonna be around for ever to help him ", she said to herself, then picking up the phone again she began dialing Penny's number she had written down during the previous call from Amy.
Things for Penny were improving, even though the three apartments they had looked at so far, were not suitable. Either for the location or the condition of the apartment, or both.
The evening before their meeting with Dr Gallo. Leonard having given a lot of thought about their plans to move, arrived home that evening, feeling very excited about his idea, and waited impatiently for Penny to arrive home after picking up some take out after work.
No sooner had she stepped through the door to 4B, than Leonard began to tell her of his idea.
"Penny, I've been thinking, about moving to an apartment...". At that point, without waiting for Leonard to finish, Penny's fears sprang forth and she angrily screamed at Leonard, "If you think you're going to change your mind and stay here with that Wackadoodle opposite, then you're crazy, because I will not be...".
At that point Leonard over thinking things as usual, but this time he over thought correctly, anticipating that Penny would panic and jump to the wrong conclusion. He moved towards her and despite her best efforts in trying to shake him off, he took her gently in his arms.
"Penny, It's OK, believe me, I have certainly not changed my mind about moving out. No what I have been thinking about today, is about us buying a house instead of an apartment. You know that we agreed to have children later?, well if we bought an apartment it would mean us selling it and buying a house when we want to start a family, and moving again. So I thought instead of doing that, that we buy the house now?, What do you think?", Leonard asked her, but feeling stunned, as Penny was shaking like a leaf in his arms.
Penny looked at him, the hope had returned to her eyes. "Oh Leonard!, that would be lovely, do you think we can afford it?, she asked him.
Leonard smiled at her, "I've been looking at our finances and because we have quite a large deposit saved up it will make the repayments on what we borrow easier".
Penny's emotions were by now very mixed, she was pleased with Leonard's sticking with their plans to move, ecstatic at his intentions to buy a house instead and angry with herself for letting her fears get the better of her, resulting in her outburst at Leonard, it was just too much for Penny and throwing her arms around him, she wept.
"I'm so sorry Honey, I should have let you finish speaking", she apologized, after she had regained her composure
Leonard calmed her, and then gently wiped her tears away, before telling her, "It's OK Honey, I understand, It's OK". Leonard picked his wife up, and despite Penny's protestations and giggles that the take out would get cold, he moved towards the bedroom, when suddenly Penny's phone rang.
Sheldon Cooper was sick and tired of having to do everything for himself. When an idea sprung to mind and he began to phone his Mother.
"Hi Shelley how is everything up there", Mary asked.
"They're all being mean to me, Leonard has the audacity to put Penny before me, and is moving to a new apartment together with her. I knew she was bad news, I warned Leonard, but did he listen to me?, no. and I have to wear my bus pants every time I travel anywhere, I was thinking that maybe you can order Leonard to come back here, I can't understand why he doesn't listen to me. Me with my superior intelligence?".
"I see. Tell me Shelly are not Penny and Leonard, man and wife now?". Mary asked, though already knowing the answer.
"Yes, ridiculous isn't it, I tried to warn him on that too, but would he listen, No", Sheldon told her, his voice clearly betraying his righteous indignation.
"Why Shelly, I'm sure you still remember what our good Lord said about marriage?", Mary asked him.
"Mom!", Sheldon moaned, not wishing to answer.
"Now Shelly, Come on, you know?", Mary forcefully encouraged.
"That a man must leave his Father and his Mother and he must stick to his wife and they must become one flesh", Sheldon answered reluctantly.
"And are you more important than Leonard's parents?", Mary questioned.
"but Leonard's father is...", Sheldon began before he was interrupted by his Mother.
"Now Shelly, don't give me any of your backchat. You still ain't too big for me to give you a good larrapin' you know", Mary warned him.
"No Ma. I'm not greater than Leonard's parents", Sheldon sulkily admitted.
"Well then if a man must leave his parents and stick to his wife then surely you must count for even less than Leonard's Parents?", Mary summed up.
Sheldon sighed, this was not going as he expected.
"And excuse me Sheldon. But wasn't it you yourself that encouraged them to marry in the first place, And a little bird also told me that you pleaded with Penny not to break up with Leonard?, which reminds me Sheldon, what have I told you about going into girls bedrooms?", Mary asked him.
"But she was going to hurt Leonard", Sheldon said choosing to ignore his Mother's last question.
"But isn't that what you're doing now?, and you're hurting Penny who is his Wife too?". Mary continued.
"And I'm sure you still remember what Jesus told us about how we are to treat our fellow man?"She asked him.
"To treat others as you would yourself", Sheldon answered, by now disillusioned with his whole plan on getting his Mother to fix things. And after talking for ten minutes more, Sheldon said goodbye to his Mother and sat wondering what he was going to do now that all his plans had failed.
Dr Gallo stood at her window and watched, as hand in hand Dr and Mrs Hofstadter walked along the street and entered the building. Smiling to herself, Dr Gallo felt extremely optimistic that things were going to work out OK for the couple.
"So, tell me Penny how are things going?", Dr Gallo asked, after greetings were exchanged and Penny And Leonard were seated close together on the sofa.
Penny, with a quick look at her Husband, turned back to Dr Gallo and told her, "Things are going great, Leonard and I are going to buy a house and then we will be free of Sheldon Cooper and then it will be just Leonard and me", Penny told her, her eyes shining with happiness.
Dr Gallo smiled her approval. She could not fail to see the look of absolute adoration on the couples faces or the happiness emanating from them as Penny told her of their plans.
"That's good Penny I'm so pleased for you both. Now then Let's embarrass Leonard shall we.
Tell me Penny what's the most romantic thing that Leonard has ever said or done for you?" Dr Gallo asked her mischievously.
"It was just after our wedding", Penny told her, her eyes beginning to shed happy tears as she remembered, "Leonard told me he loved me from the first time we met and that he would love me till the end of time", "Oh that's lovely", Dr Gallo said with a catch in her voice. Leonard said nothing but his cheeks burned.
Then Penny reached down for her purse and pulled out a red velvet bag and showed Dr Gallo the snowflake. "And Leonard brought me this snowflake all the way from the North pole", Penny told her proudly.
This last was just too much for Dr Gallo and she had to reach for her purse to retrieve her handkerchief to wipe her eyes.
"Excuse me", Dr Gallo said, as she replaced the handkerchief from where it came.
"Now then I Think It's Penny's turn to be embarrassed. Leonard what has Penny done for you that was special", She asked.
Leonard did not have to think, "When we first met, Penny spoke to me as a person, where most girls I would meet would prefer to pretend that I wasn't there, She's beautiful, and guys hit on her all the time, even if I'm there, but Penny always turns them down flat and kisses me or holds me in a way to give them the message that she is totally unavailable as far as they are concerned".
"I see, anything else, Dr Gallo asked Now fascinated by the couples admissions. "Oh yes lot's, the times she came to my lab and showed interest in my work",
(It wasn't the only thing I was interested in, was it Leonard), Penny thought giving Leonard a sly smile.
"Also The box she keeps in her closet containing everything I have given her, which I know she still loves to look through often. But the most sweetest thing of all was when she agreed to be my Wife".
Dr Gallo Immediately bent to retrieve her handkerchief again as she felt her eyes misting up not only because of Leonard's Reminiscing, but the look of love the couple shared as they smiled shyly at each other.
"Well Penny, after that, well what can I say", Dr Gallo thought for a moment or two, then added "I say to you both do treasure the love you have between the two of you, and Penny, just keep working on what I told you, also whenever you find yourself getting stressed with Leonard., try and visualize Leonard as he was on the day you first realized your attraction to him", Now then, I don't think we will be needing any more sessions with the both of you, but I would like to continue with you Penny for a few more sessions, just so we can get a handle on your fears and insecurities. She then shook hands with them both, and said goodbye
Dr Gallo watched from her window, as the couple, again hand in hand left the building, Penny giving a little skip as she did so. Dr Gallo smiled, she felt secure in her decision not to need any more couples therapy with them, for after all what better help could they have but the love between them.
Then Feeling elated with life she pressed her intercom and asked Sarah for a Latte and a large slice of fruit cake too, after all, wasn't seeing such wonderful love between two people something good to celebrate.
