It was Monday afternoon and Leonard, Howard and Raj were sitting in the University cafeteria as Leonard told them all about his weekend with Pennys parents, choosing the moment when Sheldon went off to have his twenty minutes of peace, so he could talk to them freely. He told them all about how he had spoken to Wyatt about proposing to Penny and what his reaction was and then he told them about Penny's play and how fantastic she was in it. But the only thing they wanted to focus on was the fact that Leonard had not only gone to a game of baseball, but had played the game too.

"I still can't picture you in the park playing baseball. I think you are lying to us dude." Raj said to Leonard as he picked at his food.

"Yeah there's no way you managed to actually catch a moving ball!" Howard mocked.

"I did! Look at my face! I'm still a little burnt from being outside for so long!" Leonard protested.

Raj shook his head, "Hmm, I dunno, I still can't picture it. I mean you? In a baseball shirt?!"

"What about me in a baseball shirt?" Leonard asked, becoming quite defensive.

Raj sighed, "It's just hard to picture you in anything but a t-shirt, hoodie and jacket!"

"Oh yeah, because you are the epitome of style and never wear the same thing twice!"

"Excuse me, but I think you will find tha-"

"Alright guys, calm down." Howard said, interrupting their dispute before it got worse.

Both guys stopped their bickering and went back to finishing their food. "Maybe you should wear it into work one day, I'll believe you then." Raj said quietly.

Leonard smiled at the stubbornness of his friend, "No, I will wear it when I play baseball again."

"So, never then?" Raj answered as Howard huffed at his failed attempt to get the two of them to stop their childish squabbling.

Leonard rolled his eyes and stopped himself from continuing the stupid argument. The truth was Leonard would of happily worn the shirt into work one day, but Penny had pretty much stolen it from him, deciding it was better used as something to wear to bed than for playing baseball, and Leonard knew there was no way he was going to take it from her. He got such a thrill from seeing her walking around the apartment in his jersey that was just long enough to cover her body, but short enough to show off her gorgeous, long, silky legs. However, the real thrill came from seeing her in a shirt with the name 'Hofstadter' emblazoned across the back. Every time he saw her walk, with her flowing blonde hair slightly covering the name, he felt a rush of excitement that he couldn't quite place. It was like she was proudly telling the world that she was his, even though the only person that saw her in it was him. He had thought about mentioning it to her, jokingly telling her that she couldn't wear it because she wasn't a 'Hofstadter' and she should give it back, but he was slightly afraid of the response. She could freeze up at the idea like she had done in the past, even if it was just a joke, and if she didn't freak out, Leonard wasn't sure that he would be able to contain his excitement and stop himself from proposing to her then and there. So he kept his mouth shut and just enjoyed the thrill it gave him.

Leonard shook his head and cleared his throat to rid his mind of the pictures of Penny in his shirt before he got too excited and focused back on the conversation at hand. "So, anyway, back to business. We've gotta go ring shopping."

"No, you've got to go ring shopping. We haven't got to do anything!" Howard said.

"Oh come on guys, you said you would help!" Leonard moaned.

Howard huffed and Raj hit him on the arm. "This is the good part Howard!" He said to him, receiving a glare from an annoyed Howard. Raj ignored his disapproving looks and turned to Leonard. "Do you have any idea what kind of ring you want to get her?"

Leonard frowned and answered with what he thought was a pretty obvious response. "Um… An engagement one?"

"Oh my God!" Raj moaned as he rolled his eyes. "You really are hopeless! Let's see now… I'm going to assume you will be going with a classic diamond, but what kind of band will you give her? Gold? White gold? Platinum?"

Leonard just looked at him in bemusement. "Um… Uh…"

Raj huffed again and sat back in his chair. "Do you even know her ring size?!"

Leonard looked at Howard in a desperate attempt for help, but he was offered none. "Um… Uh… No?"

"DUDE! How can you expect to get her a ring if you don't even know what size she is! Think about it, would you buy her a top if you didn't know her size? Or a pair of pants?!"

"Or underwear?" Howard added with a smirk.

Leonard frowned in Howards direction and then shook his head. "I never even thought about it. How do I find out her ring size?"

"Well, why don't you do what I did with Bernie? Take one of her rings to the jewellers with you, preferably one she wears on her fourth finger, and they will make sure you get a ring the same size as that one. You just gotta do it without her knowing." Howard said.

Leonard sighed and nodded. All of those horrible sick feelings of worry and nervousness that he had felt before talking to Wyatt began to return, sending his stomach into knots. Sneaking around Penny's belongings and inevitably lying to her about what he was doing was something that he really hated to do. He was horrible under pressure and he knew that if Penny put the pressure on him to tell her what he was up to, he would either come up with some ridiculous excuse that would be completely unbelievable or just blurt out everything that he was planning. "Fine, I'll try and find a ring." He said, sounding defeated.

"Do you want us to help?" Raj asked.

"No chance. After the last time, there is no way I'm letting you snoop around our room again!"

"Aww." Howard and Raj said in unison.

XXXXXXX

"Alright guys, got it!" Leonard excitedly said the next day as he sat down in the cafeteria beside Howard and Raj, proudly showing off one of Pennys rings that he had managed to sneak out of her jewellery box the night before. It had been easier than he had expected, Penny had to work in the evening so he waited until then to go in and have a snoop around. He knew where she kept her jewellery so finding it wasn't a problem, the only thing he wasn't sure about was which ring to take, but to him they all seemed roughly the same size so he figured it didn't really matter that much.

"Got what?" Howard asked.

Leonard looked at Howard as if he should already know what he was talking about. "A ring."

"You got her a ring already!" Raj moaned. "I thought we were going to that together!"

"What? No I mean a ring to use to get her size! God you two have the attention span of a child!" Leonard said with a chuckle. "Thing is I'm not sure what finger she wears this on, but they must all be pretty much the same size right?"

"Yeah, pretty much, as long as she doesn't wear it on her thumb!" Howard said as he took the ring from Leonards hand. "Holy crap, she has big fingers!" Leonard frowned at Howard as he began to put the ring on his own finger, "They are bigger than mine!" Howard giggled as Leonard took the ring back off of him.

"Yeah, they are bigger than mine too." Leonard said with a grin. "Okay, so I was thinking we could go today after work and look for a ring if you two aren't doing anything?"

"Oh my God, Yes! I say we just blow off the rest of the work day and go now!" Raj said, so enthusiastically it actually shocked both Leonard and Howard. "What? I'm excited okay!"

Leonard smiled and looked toward Howard. "What about you Howard? You wanna come?"

"Yeah, why not!"

And with that the guys grabbed their stuff and headed into town. Raj showed them to all of the best jewellers and they spent ages looking at all different kinds of rings but Leonard struggled to find something that he thought was good enough. There were plenty of choices, and plenty of beautiful rings, but none of them were what he was looking for. Although he wasn't even sure what he was looking for. All he had decided was that it wouldn't be gold. The ring would be either white gold or platinum because when he was looking through her jewellery, nothing in it was gold so he assumed she wasn't a fan of it.

They had been looking for close to an hour and both Leonard and Howard were becoming fed up of going from shop to shop without seeing anything Leonard liked. Raj on the other hand, was in his element, excitedly jumping from shop to shop, talking to the sales people in the store for ages about diamond cuts and carats, things that Leonard just didn't understand.

"You know, we are kind of like the three muskateers!" Raj said as they walked toward the next store on Rajs list. "On a mission to give Penny the perfect proposal!"

"The fantastic three!" Howard added and they all shared a laugh as Raj led them into the next store. Leonard was thankful at that point that he had asked his friends to help him. He was sure that if he had to do all this on his own he would have given up by now and went home. Luckily the two of them were there with him and despite the fact that Howard looked as worn out as Leonard felt, neither of them bitched and moaned, they just continued on to the next store, keeping their spirits up with stupid jokes and light-hearted conversations about comic books and movies.

"Hello there, how may I help you?" The dark haired sales woman behind the desk asked with a forced smile and a look in her eyes that suggested she was unsure as to what they were doing in the store. It was the same look they had gotten in every shop they had been in. Apparently jewellers don't often get three small nerdy guys in their store, and especially not ones specifically looking for an engagement ring.

"Hello madam," Raj began, taking the lead as he had done in all the other stores, while Leonard and Howard browsed the selection of rings inside the glass in front of them. "My friend here is looking for an engagement ring for his significant other." He said as he motioned towards Leonard, who had his face close to the glass, trying to get a good look at the rings on show.

"Oh great!" The woman said with more than a hint of surprise. "Well, my name is Lisa, how about I take out some of these rings and let you have a better look. Do you have any idea what kind of ring you are looking for?"

"Yes that would be great." Raj answered, "He wants either a white gold or platinum band, with a classic diamond stone."

Leonard continued to browse the store while Raj talked to Lisa as she brought out a selection of rings, when something caught his eye. He stopped and bent down to look through the glass and his heart began to race. He stared intently at the beautiful ring in front of him and it took his breath away. The sparkling round diamond, with a smaller stone on each side of it, and more scattered along the white gold band stared up at him, mesmerizing him much in the same way Penny did. It gave him a warm feeling inside of him, a feeling that no other ring he had saw that day had given him, he looked at it and he knew. He knew that that was the ring he was going to give Penny. He knew that was the ring he would hold onto as he got down on one knee and asked Penny to become his wife. This was the ring that he wanted Penny to wear on her finger for the rest of her life.

"Raj…" He eventually managed to say with a slight crack in his voice.

"Yeah?" Raj said as he turned around to face Leonard who was bent down near the ground, staring into the glass.

"This is it. This is the one." He said quietly.

Howard, Raj and Lisa headed over to where Leonard was looking. "Which one do you want me to take out, Sir?" Lisa asked, obviously excited that she was about to make a sale to someone she would have never expected it from.

Leonard gently pointed through the glass to dazzling ring that he still hadn't taken his eyes off of. Lisa smiled and took the ring out and held it in front of him as Leonard timidly took the ring from her. He could just about hear Raj and Howard say how beautiful the ring was as he looked at the stunning diamond.

"Wow." Leonard whispered. It was just about all he could say.

"It is beautiful isn't it?" Lisa said and the three men nodded.

"I'll take it." He said with a smile.

"What? Really?" Howard asked with a grin.

Leonard nodded, "It's perfect."

"Oh my God I can't believe we have found it!" Raj exclaimed, "I thought you were never going to choose one!"

Leonard grinned as Lisa took the ring from him. He handed her the ring he had brought with him so she could get one the same size, and she headed off into the back room. Leonards grin became wider as he thought about what he had just done. He had chosen the ring he was going to give to Penny, and his heart fluttered with excitement.

"Okay, here we go Mr…" Lisa said as she re-entered the store, with his ring and a small white box in hand.

"Hofstadter, but please call me Leonard."

"Alright, Leonard, this is your ring." Lisa said as she opened the box to show Leonard. She smiled sweetly at him as he looked in awe at the ring, perched on a small cushion inside the white velvet box. "Shall I ring it up for you?"

"Yes, please." Leonard replied, trying to choke back tears.

"Wait, Leonard do you not want to know how much it is before you buy it?" Howard said before Lisa reached the till.

"It doesn't matter." He said quietly. "That ring is perfect. I'm not going to find another one like it. Penny will have that ring, even if it puts me in debt!" He said with a grin.

Lisa looked over questioningly at Leonard, wondering if she should proceed. Leonard nodded to her and she continued what she was doing. Leonard informed her he would be paying by credit card and handed it to her. The ring was indeed expensive, but Leonard had a good bit of money saved up, so it didn't put him in any sort of debt. Lisa handed him back his card, along with a small bag containing the ring and a receipt. "Hopefully you won't need this!" Lisa said with a smile as she put the receipt into the bag.

"Yeah, me too." Leonard chuckled. "Thank you." He took the bag from her and they turned to head out of the store.

"Good luck!" Lisa said as they headed out of the store.