Leonard had been hoping that everything would now go back to normal, that he could once again live in a world where friends didn't get friends pregnant and other friends didn't hit them. For one thing, his hand was still bruised. Instead, Sheldon spent every night hiding in his room and Penny hadn't been over for nearly a week. He knew she had recovered physically, but he could tell there was something else she was missing. Finally, he snapped.

He waited until Sheldon had ventured from his room to collect his take out one night, then planted himself in the corridor preventing his retreat.

Sheldon looked irritated. "May I pass, please, Leonard? My dinner was already less than satisfactorily heated and I have no desire to eat cold Thai food."

"Nope. I'm sick of this, Sheldon. You and me, dancing around each other. You and Penny…whatever it is you're doing right now. You need to fix this."

"Oh? And how do you propose I do that, Leonard? Please, if you are aware of a way in which I can resolve this situation without inadvertently damaging our friendship any more then I would be very interested to hear it. Because the way I see it, any kind of relationship I have with Penny now is going to cause you distress given your knowledge of our previous…interactions."

Ok, so Sheldon was avoiding Penny out of some desire not to hurt him? Leonard was shocked. And felt a bit guilty, actually. He knew Penny needed a kind of support he just couldn't give her right now, but could he really be ok with her and Sheldon? He knew the answer as soon as he asked. The things I do for love, he thought.

"I don't care, Sheldon! If you and Penny want to continue to be…whatever…then please, just get on with it! I'd rather you didn't rub my nose in it, but Penny has made it very clear that any chance of me and her working out has long since gone and I'm getting sick of everyone being miserable! At least one of us should be able to be happy. And, I'll get over it…I'm sure…"

Sheldon inclined his head at him and sounded surprised. "Do you really mean that?"

He didn't, really, but it would almost be worth the pain for the entertainment value of watching Sheldon trying to navigate an actual relationship.

"Yes. Just, please…keep the PDA's to a minimum when I'm about, ok?"

Sheldon's eyebrows knitted. "'PDA's'? Leonard, what on earth does Phase Doppler Anemometry have to do with any of this?"

Leonard reached out and grabbed the rapidly cooling Thai food from Sheldon's grasp.

"Go. Now. Please. Before I bruise my other hand."