Chapter 22

She's not responding again, quick the defibrillator. BANG! That's it…That's it.. I got a weak rhythm but it's steady. She took some sort of prescription medication….No it's not in the database. Her friends were performing CPR on her for about two minutes before we got there. Her blood pressure is extremely low. What did they say at the hospital? Grab a heated blanket, her temperature is dropping, we need to keep her as stable as possible….What?….they said 2-3 pills, that's what the patient told her friends before losing consciousness….Yes…yes…no vomiting…Any other drugs taken with this medication? Unknown.

Penny was sitting in the ambulance hearing only bits of the conversation between the two paramedics in the back. She was just staring at her unconscious friends lying so still, too still. There was no colour in her face; her body was starting to lose its colour also. Penny had jumped out of her seat when they had shocked Jessa. She had never felt more scared in her whole life. She closed her tear filled eyes and started praying franticly to God. "Please save her God, I'm so sorry for my part in this. Please God, please save her, and I promise to make things right" she whispered.

"We're here", the paramedic announced. They sprung into action, and quickly opened the door, and rushed Jessa into the emergency room. One of the paramedics started briefing the doctor on the situation. He waved Penny over to them.

"I need to you to tell the doctor everything you know about the drug that your friend took. It's the best way you have to save your friend" the paramedic said earnestly.

Penny's hands were shaking. She would do anything to save her friends life. She knew what she had to do. She cleared her throat and began. "The drug is called Diaxophedrine; it's an experimental drug from Johnson Medical that has recently been recalled…."

"The emergency room is this way " Sheldon said as he guided his shaky girlfriend through Huntington Hospital. Sheldon was cringing at the thought of sitting in the emergency room. The masses, at their most infectious, wounds oozing, contagious spores in the air, it was enough to send him into a mysophobic meltdown. Sheldon sighed. Your girlfriend needs you, and you promised to work on not putting yourself first all the time. That didn't answer why he was in the emergency room for some random friend of Penny's that he didn't even know.

"Amy, you've barely told me what's going on. Only that one of Penny's friends suffered a reaction from some medication? Why was she at Penny's apartment? Why were you there for that matter? I thought you weren't ready to talk to her?" Sheldon enquired.

Amy stared up at Sheldon. The events of that evening were all swirling around in her head. So much had happened that night. Finding out that Penny and Leonard split, their strip counterfactuals game and her subsequent panic attack, her talk with Penny and then Penny's friend overdosing when she walked through the door. It was a lot, it was too much….

"Well to make a long story short, Penny had a drug sample in her car, which her friends stole from her. Her company recalled the drug because of very harmful side effects that were inconsistent with their drug trials. Her friend there took two or three pills of this drug, and then showed up at Penny's for help. Penny and I were talking things through about our fight when she showed up. She was behaving strange; I thought she was drunk at first. We found out what happened and I called 911, but then she went unconscious." Amy started crying again. "Sheldon, she stopped breathing, we had to perform CPR on her."

Sheldon stopped walking and held Amy tight. "Amy, you did everything you could. You may have even saved her life. But honestly, I can't even fathom such idiotic behaviour of Penny's friend-"

"-Jessa….Her name is Jessa" Amy sniffed.

"Alright, I can't understand what would possess Jessa to take some unknown prescription drug. She had no idea what it is for. And then to take two or three pills of it? It's absurd! I wonder what kind of drug this was?"

"It's an anticoagulation medication similar to Warfarin or Heparin used to treat heart disease patients." Amy replied.

"How do you know that?" Sheldon looked at her puzzled.

"Well, I was speaking to Bernadette on the phone the other week, and she told me about the drug recall, and then we were discussing the chemical composition of the drug, because she wanted my opinion to get a fresh set of eyes on the side effects issue. When Penny mentioned to me that her friends stole some drugs from the car, I put two and two together."

Sheldon started walking slower as they approached the Emergency wing of the hospital. He could start to feel his skin crawl with germs. Amy grabbed his hand. "Come on, we need to find Penny. She's all alone, she needs us." Sheldon took a big breath, and walked through the doors to the Emergency Wing.

Leonard burst through the emergency doors, and ran up to the reception desk. "I'm looking for my fiancé Pen-"

"Leonard over here." Amy called. Amy and Sheldon were sitting in the waiting area in the corner. Amy looked tired and worn out. Sheldon was sitting on the very edge of his seat, and wearing magenta surgical gloves he must have swiped from a medical supply cart.

"Where's Penny? Is she ok? I got Sheldon's text that she was in the hospital" Leonard said panicked.

Amy frowned. "What exactly did you text Leonard, Sheldon?" she asked.

"I merely stated, that Penny was "at" Huntington Hospital Emergency not "in" the hospital and wanted to see Leonard" Sheldon replied.

"What is going on? Is Penny hurt? Where is she?" Leonard frantically asked.

Amy gave an exasperated look at Sheldon. "Leonard, Penny is ok. She wasn't hurt, her friend was. She's talking with the doctors right now, and was on the phone with work. Let's go for a walk, I'll explain everything to you." Amy and Leonard walked down the hall and Amy ran through what had happened that evening.

When they returned, Leonard looked visibly relieved but still shaken. He walked over to Sheldon and gave him a hard punch in the arm.

"Ow! What was that for!" Sheldon exclaimed.

"What was that for? What was that for? That was for letting me think that Penny was hurt and in the hospital. How could you do that?" Leonard raged.

"It's not my fault that you didn't pay attention to the grammar! Nothing that I wrote was untrue, I was merely –"

Bernadette and Howard came bursting through the Emergency room doors. They quickly saw the gang, and ran over to them. "Is Penny ok? What happened? Howie was with Leonard when he got the text. He dropped Leonard off here, and then picked me up. Where is she?" Bernadette said in a rush.

"Here we go again…" Amy muttered. "Leonard, can you fill Howard in, I need to talk to Bernadette. Come with me." She said urgently. She took Bernadette to the hallway and filled her in on what had happened that evening.

"Shit!" Bernadette exclaimed before bursting into tears. She leaned against the wall and slid down until she was sitting on the floor. The three men looked over at her startled. Howard ran over to her and crouched down. "Bernie what's wrong? Penny is ok, and we haven't heard any further bad news about her friend. Why are you crying?"

"I knew I should have kept out of it. I should have completely stayed out of this. I'm going to lose my job. They already contacted work, they are going to figure out it was me, I know it…" Bernadette sobbed. "And I sound like a horrible person for worrying about my job when Penny's friend is fighting for her life, but she was an idiot for stealing it, and then TAKING it after she was warned it was dangerous!" Bernadette continued crying as Leonard and Sheldon joined the two girls and Howard.

"Umm…Bernadette?" Sheldon said quietly.

"What?" Bernie said while wiping her eyes.

"You really shouldn't sit on the floor in here. It is literally teeming with germs-"

"Shut up Sheldon!" Leonard yelled irritated .

"Fine..fine! I'll shut up. But it's on you if you develop necrotizing fasciitis" Sheldon replied. He started pacing around the hallway area where they were all standing.

"Bernie, I don't understand. Why would they blame you for this? It was Penny's drug's that got stolen, why would they accuse you?" Howard asked.

Bernadette sighed. "When she lost the drugs, she came to me and told me. I signed out some of the returned samples to myself, and gave them to her so she could return her samples without question. According to work, no samples are missing at all. They are going to wonder how someone got a sample. And the fact that it happens to be Penny's friend? They are going to dig into this, and it's going to look very suspicious that I signed that out…" Bernie started crying again. "This was my dream job, and I'm going to lose it. It's my fault for being so stupid."

Howard embraced his small wife and she sobbed into his shoulder. Leonard, Sheldon and Amy all stood quietly watching, the air was filled with sadness and tension.

"Hey?" said a quiet female voice. They all turned around and an exhausted looking Penny was standing there. She walked up to Leonard and took his hand. "Thank-you for coming, it means a lot to me."

Leonard squeezed her hand "Of course." When he had thought that Penny had been hurt, everything became clear to him. Nothing in the world was more important than her health and safety. They could work through all their other issues, she was what is important.

"So there is good news and bad news. Good news, is that Jessa is doing alright now. The doctors managed to stabilize her, and they think the drug should be out of her system within the next three days or so. She is quite weak, and will probably need to be in the hospital for the entire week, but the prognosis is good." Penny stated.

"What's the bad news?" Amy asked.

"Well, to help her, I needed to tell them everything I knew about the drug. I only knew so much, so I had to call work and get some of the experts to talk to the doctors. It's all over work email, that someone is in the hospital from this drug. My manager Dan phoned me, he's on his way over now. I think this might be the end of my career at Johnson Medical" Penny said quietly.

"Oh my God…." Bernie gasped.

"Bernie, I swear, I am going to take the full blame for this ok. You were an amazing friend for trying to help me, but Leonard was right. I wasn't a very good friend to you. I shouldn't have let you risk your job like that. I won't implicate you in any way ok. I will tell him it was one hundred percent me."

"You can say that, but it's not like we did a CIA cover up or anything… On the day you returned the drugs, I signed out drug samples…which I never do….It looks really bad." Bernie sniffed.

Penny's phone started buzzing. She grabbed it and looked at the screen. "It's Dan, he wants to see me at the coffee shop across the road." Penny sighed. She put the phone back in her purse.

"Penny, you're doing the right thing. I'm proud of you." Leonard said quietly, he pulled her in and gave her a hug. "Stay strong."

"Thank-you" Penny said sadly, with a resigned look on her face.

Bernadette and Howard were wandering the halls for the next few hours. They all wanted to stick around until they heard back from Penny. Amy and Sheldon had gone to the cafeteria to get a bite to eat. Leonard was standing outside to get some fresh air. Bernadette was staring at poster about Hemophilia when she felt a hard tap on her shoulder. Startled, she turned around to see Dan, Penny's manager staring back at her.

"Dan! You startled me." Bernadette said.

"Bernadette, could I speak with you alone?" Dan asked.

"I think this is my cue to leave." Howard said softly. "I think I'll go join Amy and Sheldon in the cafeteria. Call me when you are done." Bernadette nodded. She and Dan headed over to the chairs in the hallway.

"Bernadette, Penny told me quite a tale about what happened with the drugs. She said that her friends stole the drugs from her car. She came to talk to you and saw you drop some sort of solvent on your drugs, and then asked the lab is you could use the returned samples. She said when you went to the bathroom, she stole some of the samples you signed out and put them in her box and returned them to the lab. Then she said she got a hold of some of the lab samples at a later time, and returned them to you so that you wouldn't notice."

Bernadette pursed her lips. "Yeah, I'm just as shocked as you are…she confessed the whole thing to me earlier today."

"Now I didn't just fall off the turnip truck…this whole things sounds suspicious as hell. I know you and Penny are buddy-buddy. Did you sign out the samples to give to her?"

"Nooo…. I-" Bernadette stammered.

"Someone could have been killed, this is not something to take lightly! Now, I have absolutely no proof that you were lying, or that Penny is telling me the truth, but Penny is taking full responsibility. It's your good fortune that we destroyed the samples that were returned to the lab because believe me, I would be counting every single sample to make sure Penny's story checks out. But let me tell you this Bernadette, strike one and two. I have my eye on you. If you so as much sneeze the wrong way, you are out. Do you understand?"

"Dan, I never –"

"I don't want to hear it. I have enough of a mess with to deal with back at work because of all of this. Suffice to say, your friend Penny is no longer working at Johnson Medical. Do us all a favour, and don't try to get any of your friends a job at this company again" Dan said sternly. He put on his overcoat, and headed out the door.

Bernadette leaned against the wall, her heart racing. It kind of worked out for her, but they didn't trust her anymore. Was Penny ok? She grabbed her phone and sent her a quick text. She then stood up and unsteadily started walking to the cafeteria to find Howie. She desperately needed to go home.

Penny had kicked off her sandals and was looking out the dirty window of the coffee shop. The morning sun was starting to creep up, making the city look calm and serene. Penny started reflecting on the events of the past two weeks; it was official, everything in her life had done a 180 degree flip and was completely in the toilet.

She had just lost the first great paying job that she had ever had…and frankly was quite good at. She went through major turmoil with Bernadette and Amy because she thought she was too cool for them, and let her insecurities get the better of her.

She didn't know what she would have done in this situation without Bernadette and Amy. Without Bernie, she would have still lost her job, but Bernie showed how much she cared by putting her own job on the line just to help her….all while they were still not on the best of terms. She had been unbelievably cruel to Amy, making her feel like she was this unsexy ugly reject. Amy still forgave her and wanted to be her friend. If Amy hadn't been there when Jessa showed up at her door, she wasn't sure what she would have done. She shuddered as the memories of a few hours ago crept back into her head.

And there was Leonard…. Leonard, who had always been there for her, loving her unconditionally. All he wanted from her was to love him with her whole heart. She was always guarded with him, never quite opening herself up completely to him. She rarely stopped to think what an amazing person he was. He had such a kind warm heart, he always treated her with respect. He is so brilliant and accomplished, and welcomed her with open arms to his group of friends, who slowly became her friends also. Why couldn't she open herself up to his love? What was wrong with her?

She saw a familiar figure with a hooded jacket approach the coffee shop. It was Leonard. He gave her sad smile and pointed to the booth where she was sitting. She nodded, and he entered the shop.

"Hey?" Leonard said quietly as he sat down.

"Hi" Penny whispered.

"So what happened?" Leonard asked.

Penny started stacking the sugar packets on the table. She looked up sadly at Leonard. "I lost my job…I think I managed to keep Bernie out of it though."

Leonard grabbed her hand. "I'm so sorry Penny. I know this must be hard. But you did the right thing for Jessa by getting the doctors in contact with the company, and you did the right thing for Bernadette also."

Penny's eye's filled with tears. "I've really made a mess out of everything, haven't I?" she sobbed.

Leonard held her hand tighter. "Penny, when I thought you were in the hospital, everything became clear to me. I was scared out of my mind that something had happened to you, that I might lose you. I know that I never want to lose you."

"Leonard, you were right to walk out on me. I'm so screwed up. I had an amazing fiancé, job, friends and I fucked it all up. All because I didn't appreciate what I had, and I don't know what I want. I love you Leonard, I do, but I really need to sort myself out. I need to get my head on straight. I need to figure out once and for all what I want in my life. I have some money saved up, and now no job. I think I need to regroup, I think I am going to go home for a while."

"To Nebraska?" Leonard asked puzzled.

"Yes. To Nebraska. Something about being home always grounds me, it makes me see things more clearly."

Leonard looked at her frowning. "Do you expect me to wait around until you decide whether or not you want to be in this relationship? Because I don't really think that is fair. You still have all the power, and I'm supposed to be the one waiting for you to "accept" me again. No, that is not what I want. Go away and think about things, but I will not wait endlessly. I want you to get back to me by a certain time. I also want our relationship to be different not how it was. If I'm honest, I was not happy with how our relationship was going. I want us to be true partners that support each other, that tell each other everything, that love each other. Equals."

"I think that is fair. Leonard, thank you for giving me this time. I promise not to make you wait very long. I just need time to sort out my head." Penny said quietly. "I love you Leonard, you know that right?"

"I know that" Leonard said softly, pulling Penny into an embrace. "I love you too."

A/N: Well….a lot happened. I'm going to switch the focus of my story back onto Sheldon and Amy's relationship. The story is wrapping up…coming to an end in the next 3-4 chapters. Thanks for all your comments, I really enjoy reading them!