The Four Stages

NEW AN: Moved again! Sorry! Last time, I swear. New content is chapters 2 and 4.

AN: I am going to be completely posting this out of order now. It wasn't my original plan, but webuiltthepyramids seemed to be in some desperate need for some fluff tonight. The premise of this fic is to take Penny through the four stages of 'I love you', as defined by Ted Mosby in How I Met Your Mother - Season 2 ("First Time in New York"). The following is Stage 3 and it takes place after "The Large Hadron Collision".

3. You Know You Know It, But You Can't Quite Say It

Leonard poked his head into the apartment. It couldn't quite be classified as 'late' yet, but Penny had obviously gone to bed awhile ago. The lights were all out and the air was filled with the kind of silence one only finds amongst the sleeping. Leonard softly crept over to the bedroom and looked in on his girlfriend. She was curled up on her side, back to the door, with one arm stretched out over the empty half of the bed. Her hair was falling out of a ponytail she'd forgotten to take down and the covers were partially tossed off like she couldn't decide if she was cold or not. Just seeing her brought comfort and relief to Leonard. It had been a long trip without her there, and worrying about her health constantly hadn't made it pass any quicker. He hoped she was doing better now than she had sounded on the phone the other day.

He removed his shoes and jacket and then crossed over to the other side of the bed. "Penny," he whispered, gently shaking her arm. She grumbled something incoherently and curled tighter into her pillow. Leonard frowned. Maybe he shouldn't wake her after all. He removed his jeans and slid into the newly vacated half of the bed (his half of the bed), but couldn't resist planting a soft kiss on her forehead before settling down. This time Penny sighed and started to relax again. Leonard caught one of her hands, and thread his fingers through hers. She squeezed his hand almost instinctively. This made Leonard smile, and he decided to try waking her again. "Penny," he whispered and kissed the back of her hand. "Wake up."

Finally, Penny's eyes fluttered open. She smiled as her eyes settled on Leonard, and she sleepily said, "Hey, you're home."

"Yeah, literally just got back from the airport." His thumb started tracing slow circles on the back of her hand. "How are you feeling?"

"Mmm, better," Penny answered. "I haven't thrown up for two whole days." She considered that a major accomplishment.

Leonard's expression was torn between bemusement at her tone and concern over her words. "Is your fever down?" He shifted so he could use his free hand to feel her forehead.

"Yeah, for the most part. I think I still have a low-grade fever whenever they Tylonol wears off, but it's not up over 100 anymore."

"Well, that's good." He kissed the top of her head. "I'm sorry you got sick."

"You shouldn't be sorry. I'm the one who ruined Valentine's Day."

"You didn't ruin it," Leonard contradicted.

"Um, pretty sure I did with all my puking."

"You didn't ruin it," he said firmly. "You just postponed it."

Penny raised herself up on her elbow so she could look at him better. "Postponed it?" she asked, curiously.

"Yeah, I was thinking when you're completely better, we can still go away for a weekend. Not to Switzerland, obviously. But somewhere that isn't Pasadena. We can get a hotel and be away from Sheldon and everyone."

"Seriously?" Penny was thrilled. "Oh, my god, that sounds amazing! Can we still go skiing?"

Leonard grinned up at her. "Yeah, we can still go skiing. Whatever you want. It will be our own Valentine's Day."

Penny squealed and gave him a great big kiss. Leonard laughed and the two of them scooted so that they were curled up together with Penny's head lying on his chest.

Penny sighed contentedly. "Leonard?"

"Yeah?"

"I," Penny bit her lip. "I'm really glad you're back."

"Me too," Leonard answered, softly kissing her hairline and smoothing back a fallen strand. "Me too."