Chapter 4 - Room 82: "Words fall through me, and always fool me."

Blinking her eyes open slowly, the first thing Penny noticed was how comfortable she was. Her mind instantly recognized the feel of Leonard's body against hers, and she smiled as the sleep started to leave her and she could acknowledge her current situation. At some point in their sleep, they'd turned so he was spooning her from behind. One of his hands was draped over her waist, resting on her stomach. Since she couldn't feel the other one, she guessed that it was under his head, like it usually would be. One of her hands was under her chin, the other was linked with Leonard's. His breath lightly tickled her neck, and her legs were tucked between his.

This was how she wanted to wake up every morning.

It was exactly how she'd hoped to wake up, every single morning since she had last seen him, only it felt a million times better.

Shuffling her body against his, she let out a soft hum of satisfaction. "Leonard, you awake?" She asked quietly, not wanting to wake him, but not wanting to miss out on time if he was already awake.

"Hmm?" He mumbled, clearing his throat slightly. "Yeah. Kinda."

"Sorry." Penny giggled softly to herself. "You wanna go back to sleep?"

"Nah."

"Okay. Good, because I need to pee, and I didn't want to disturb you." Sitting up slowly, she kept the duvet over her legs as she leaned forward to find an item of clothing to pull on. It was the advantage of having a messy apartment - she found her pink robe on the floor from where she'd taken it off the morning before. Pulling it on, she tied the belt before standing.

Watching her go, Leonard shook his head. He probably shouldn't be staring. Sitting up, he picked up his t-shirt from the neat pile of his clothes he'd placed on the floor beside the bed, and shoved it on over his head. His boxers... they were somewhere. Standing, he stretched quickly, before walking to the foot of the bed and looking around her room, trying to locate what he was searching for. He was still in slight disbelief that he was actually here, in Penny's room, in London of all places. Spotting his boxers draped over her hair straighteners on the floor (she never listened when he told her to get a heat protective surface to put them on), he picked them up and pulled those on.

Now what? He wasn't entirely sure of the social protocol for this situation. However, he was a kind a house guest, and a good... sort-of-boyfriend-sort-of-ex-boyfriend, so he figured he could at least make them some coffee. Making his way back through the small apartment to the kitchen, he spotted the blankets and cushions Penny had given upon last night, and her phone on the coffee table. In the kitchen, he opened each cupboard until he located the coffee, switching on the kettle before grabbing two mugs. He located the teaspoons and added a large teaspoon of instant coffee, as instructed by the jar. He knew she always had two sugars, so he added those in too, and by then the water was ready. It was odd, not using a coffee machine, but he had gotten used to it himself and he supposed she had too.

"Mm, I smell coffee," Penny grinned, stepping into the kitchen. "You want some oatmeal with that for breakfast?"

"Sure, sounds good." Leonard nodded, passing her one of the mugs of coffee.

"Ah." Penny closed her eyes briefly as she inhaled the scent of the coffee. "Okay, oatmeal. You can just relax for a bit, it won't take long."

Cradling the hot mug between his hands, Leonard leaned against one of the counters and watched her get to work on the oatmeal. He had seen her make food many times before, but he always found her expression adorable as she concentrated on getting the right amounts of everything and mixing it up correctly. She stuck her tongue between her teeth as she added a few drops of vanilla, and pouted her lips together with a raised brow as she cooked it over the stove. Dividing it between two bowls, she handed one to him, grabbing two spoons, before they headed to the living room to sit at the dining table.

"Open University," Leonard read from one of the books there, looking up at her.

"Yeah. I wanted to continue doing my Psychology class over here. I finished the History one while I was still in Pasadena."

"Wow, that's great that you're still studying it. I guess you're enjoying it?"

"Definitely, it's really interesting. I'm progressing and doing higher level classes, so it's more difficult, but I'm really enjoying it. Oh and don't worry, I haven't been reading your mom's books for the course." Penny assured him with a slight smirk. "Though I do still have that book."

"It's not the worst one, so it's okay." Leonard shrugged. "I'm guessing with your job you don't have to waitress anymore."

"Oh, God no! And thank God. The day I handed in my uniform was... a fairly good day, considering. Anyway, it's been great not having to do that. I didn't realize just how much I disliked that job until I got here and experienced not waitressing."

They continued eating for a while in silence. Once he had finished, Leonard pushed his bowl forward slightly, and folded his arms in front of him. "Well, it seems like you're doing pretty great out here."

Penny moved her spoon around her empty bowl for a moment. "I guess so," she said, non-committedly, her eyes not meeting his. "I'm just gonna go wash these up."

Eyes following her as she stood and took their used mugs and bowls, Leonard's brow furrowed in concern, but decided not to question her further. "Alright."

Once she'd gone through to the kitchen, he stood up, heading to the bedroom to put the rest of his clothes on. Unsure of what to do next, he made the bed, fluffing up the pillows and arranging them neatly at the headboard.

"Whoa, best house guest award ever!" Penny beamed as she walked in.

"Oh, yeah, I didn't know what else to do." Leonard shuffled his feet awkwardly. "Sorry."

"Sorry? What for? But seriously, don't think about tidying the rest of this place, Hofstadter. I'm gonna take a shower, go watch TV or something."

"Cool, maybe I'll watch Babylon 5." Leonard grinned smugly.

Blushing, Penny rolled her eyes. "Shut up." Shaking her head at him, she turned on her heel to go to the bathroom.

Chuckling slightly to himself, Leonard made his way back to the living room. Picking up both remotes, he guessed the one with 'Sky' on it was for the television, since it had buttons for a TV Guide, and the other one looked like it belonged to the DVD player. Squinting in concentration, he scrolled through the first few channels, settling on Doctor Who, which, to his delight, had just started. Leaning back, he allowed himself to focus on the episode, and it was half-way through that Penny came in, this time clad in dark blue denim jeans and a grey sweater.

"Ah, you found something you like!" Penny noticed, before coming over and holding out his phone. "Here, you left this in the bedroom."

"Oh, thanks." He scrolled through the notifications quickly, which consisted of a few work-related emails. As she went over to check on her drying laundry, Leonard tapped his phone between his thumb and fourth finger, chewing anxiously on his lip, before standing abruptly. "Do you... want to come over and see the hotel I'm staying at? If we left soon we could have enough time before lunch, and they have a pretty great menu."

Glancing up from her laundry, a wide smile spread over Penny's face. "Yeah, that sounds fun."

"Alright, great." Leonard nodded, mostly to himself, not quite sure why he'd asked her, but sure that he wanted her to go with him. "I'll call for a taxi, then."

"Do you have a number?"

"Yeah, I saved the one my boss gave me to my phone." Leonard nodded.

"Okay, I'll just fold this laundry and get my bag."

As he stepped outside into the hallway to make the call, Penny hurriedly began folding her clean clothes, placing them in a pile beside the TV - that had somehow become the 'things to iron' spot, since she liked to watch TV whilst she undertook the chore. She knew that at this time of the day it wouldn't take long for the taxi to arrive, but she didn't want to instantly go get her stuff in case that seemed too eager. Leonard stepped inside and told her that the cab had been sent, and she told him he could continue watching Doctor Who while she picked up her bag from last night, taking it through to the bedroom.

Here, she began to panic slightly. Was he inviting her to stay overnight at the hotel with him, or just to come and see it? Should she pack clean underwear? Pajamas? Make-up? A toothbrush? No, surely not, she was just going to go over to his hotel and see what it was like - she hadn't stayed in a London hotel before, having crashed at a friends before moving into this apartment - and then they'd have lunch. She told herself that his invitation hadn't included 'staying over' - just because he had the night before, didn't mean he wanted her to stay at his. Penny groaned. Where had all her confidence gone? She knew she wanted to stay over, and she knew she was putting herself down, in a way unfamiliar to her yet unfortunately frequent nowadays. Shaking her head furiously, she mentally kicked herself. Heart racing, she snatched a pair of panties from her underwear drawer and shoved them in the bottom of her bag. Unless Leonard's hotel did thorough bag checks, nobody had to know. She quickly threw a few bits of make-up in too, which she thought didn't really need explaining, lots of people carried it around with them.

A gentle knock on the door announced Leonard. "Hey, the cab's here."

She nodded, and picked up her bag to follow him to the hallway. Backtracking a little, she grabbed her phone charger, just in case. Collecting her jacket from the living room floor, she slipped her shoes on, and he held the door open for her as they left.

The journey across the city was mostly quiet. Every so often she would point things out, such as landmarks or places she had visited, explaining to him what she could. He told her that he'd been to the Science Museum, and she admitted that she'd been there too - but had gone on her own, because she didn't know anybody else who wanted to go there. They discussed the various exhibits there, Leonard explaining the actual science behind them to her, and why they were significant. Soon enough, the taxi had pulled over in the taxi bay outside the hotel and told them how much it was.

Beginning to pull her purse out, Leonard held out a hand to her arm. "Don't worry, I'll get it," he said, pulling out his wallet and leafing through the notes. He paid the driver, leaving him a decent tip, before stepping out of the taxi and helping Penny out.

Looking up at the hotel, Penny nodded approvingly. "Wow, looks nice."

"Yeah, it's a pretty great hotel." Leonard said, guiding them in through the door just opened by the doorman.

"Doctor Hofstadter," the doorman nodded to him.

Raising a brow at him, Penny asked, "How long have you been here? Do all the staff know you?"

"Almost two weeks," Leonard replied, pressing the up button for the elevator. "And no."

"It's kinda weird using elevators together after all those years we had to walk up the stairs, right?" Penny giggled to herself, as they stepped inside. She tried not to think about how those two weeks were a fair amount of time in which she could have tried to get in contact with him… had she been able to, or known that he was here.

"Yup. It's odd, but sometimes I miss those stairs. They were like my exercise."

"It was great for when I couldn't afford the gym, I'd just walk up and down for like a half hour and then play boxing on your Wii."

"See, and you said making a character on there was pointless because you weren't going to use it!" Leonard accused.

"Yeah, well, I was wrong, okay." Penny rolled her eyes, grinning nonetheless, as their elevator arrived at Leonard's floor.

"So really, I pretty much paid for your 'gym' since you were using our Wii and games, for which I paid half of." Leonard pointed out.

Jutting her jaw out, Penny glared at him before her expression softened. "Yeah, alright, you kinda did."

Stopping outside a door labeled '82', Leonard pulled an electronic key card from his pocket. "This is your room? 82... ha, that's my door number backwards." Penny observed.

"Huh, so it is. I didn't even think of that." Leonard chuckled, letting them inside.

"Oh my God that bed is huge!" Penny gasped, her eyes wide, before she ran and flung herself onto the bed. "Why would you ever get out of this bed?!"

"Well, you know, the housekeeping team can't make the bed if I'm in it. And also, because I can't work from there. And I'm not quite comfortable with the idea of having meetings in my bed."

"Fair enough. Oh! Do you have one of those really cool hotel power showers with fancy ass jets in the tub?"

Leonard couldn't help but laugh; she was like a child at Christmas. "Umm, yeah, it has... fancy ass jets, I suppose."

Bounding off the bed, Penny made her way over to the bathroom, of which the door was open, switching on the light. "No freakin' way - that's a swimming pool, not a bath tub! Seriously how much are you paying for this room?"

"I don't pay for it, work does." Leonard shrugged. "And they pick out great hotels, as you can tell."

"Ugh, I'm jealous." Penny scoffed, leaving the bathroom.

Walking around the rest of the room, she stopped at the desk by the window. His laptop was there - a new one, she could tell - along with stacks of papers and various books. There were also two photographs. One was a group photo of the gang from Pasadena - she smiled, remembering that it had been taken on Howard's camera using self-timer. His arms were around her waist and her hands were on his chest. Amy and Sheldon stood smartly next to each other, Raj held Cinnamon, while Howard and Bernadette held hands, his dickie matching her cardigan.

The second photo she hadn't seen before. A few faces she recognized from the times Leonard had Skype'd her from the lab or common rooms on the ship of his first expedition, that she couldn't remember the names of. In the middle of them, Leonard and Stephen Hawking. Leonard had a massive grin on his face, dressed in a pair of black pants and a light blue shirt.

"You met Stephen Hawking? Oh my God, that's so cool!" Penny grinned, bending forward slightly to get a closer look, feeling incredibly proud of him. "When did you meet him?"

He'd never wanted to avoid answering a question so badly. Leonard hesitated for a moment, twiddling his thumbs together, before replying quietly, "that was at our welcome back party after the second trip to the North Sea."

All in one, Penny stood straight, turning to look at him, hand flying to her mouth as a lump formed in her throat and her breath caught. Tears came immediately to her eyes, but they didn't leave his.