This scene's been written a while, but I had to do some adjusting this morning after my sister left (we saw Carrie Underwood and Hunter Hayes last night and it was brilliant), so here you go! A quick update in between my busy Sunday commitments! Enjoy!

When Leonard got back from dropping off Savannah and Ada to find Penny with an armful of candles and three matches in her mouth. "That's a good look on you," he joked. She rolled her eyes and mumbled something as she carried them into their bedroom. Setting the candles down on the bed, she opened her mouth and let the matches drop into her hands. "I was going to change, you know."

She was wearing sweat shorts and the same tee shirt she had had on all day. Leonard smiled. "You look great."

Penny tossed her hair and gave him a smile. "So do you." She motioned with her head to the bed. "Get in."

Leonard smiled, took off his jacket, and slid under the covers while Penny picked up the candles again, setting them on the nightstand and on her dresser. "We'll try not to set anything on fire again."

Leonard grinned at her. "Sounds like a plan."

She put the candles down and lit them, they were very few, but they created just enough of a soft glowing ambiance that she wanted, and she crawled into bed next to Leonard, under the covers, and they kissed lightly, just on the ends of each other's lips. She put her hand up to his face and he rested one of his on her side, and she closed her teeth lightly on his lower lip as she pulled back from their third or fourth quick kiss. Their eyes opened and they looked at each other, faces inches apart, for several moments, and then Leonard's eyes closed and his head tilted to kiss her again. She closed her eyes and kissed him back, slightly more wanting, scooting closer, and he curled her into his arms and moved his mouth abruptly from her mouth to that spot on her neck, and she pressed her fingers hard into his back, closing her eyes and leaning her head on his and wanting to cry because she missed this so, so much.

When Leonard was finished with her neck, he pushed her down against the mattress and tugged at her shorts, but instead of sliding them off her hips, it was too early for that, he left them just low enough for her scar to be visible. Penny wondered if he was hesitating at the sight of it, but then his lips were back on hers and his hand slid down to trace her scar, lightly and tenderly, as if it was the most wondrous thing she had to offer.

And Penny completely lost it. "What's wrong?" Leonard asked, looking worried, shifting his weight to the side even though he hadn't actually been lying on top of her, and looking worried.

She shook her head, wiping her eyes. "Nothing," she said. "It's just been so long since we've been like this." She held his gaze. "I've missed this so much." She bit her lip, sighing and looking up at him, moving her hands to his neck. "You make me feel special. I haven't felt special in a long time."

"You are special," he told her, returning to his previous task of kissing her, moving from her mouth to her neck again as if to say and I know how to make you understand how much. See how well I know you?

"Yep," Penny said out loud, and Leonard raised his head to look at her, confused. She giggled. He shook his head at her and went back to her neck, and she tipped her head to the side to kiss his ear. After a moment, he lowered himself so he was resting on his arms, and then slid them under Penny's back and flipped them over so she could be on top and control how things went. She stretched out on top of him and put her hands on his neck, kissing him deeply, feeling his hands on her hips and wondering why it took them this long to get back to having sex.

But they weren't quite to that yet. It was still too early for that. It'd been four months, but they hadn't even been close in a non-sexual way that much since Ada had arrived, and both of them needed more foreplay, craved it as much as they wanted the sex itself. Leonard flipped them back over, just for now, and went back to kissing Penny's neck, from her eat to her shoulder, and she let out a sigh as she curled her arms around his neck, holding him there, feeling breathless and briefly remembering being embarrassed when he'd figured out that kissing her just below where she'd thrown the salt during his mother's first visit got the sort of reaction it did.

Leonard felt her breathing pattern change as he worked at her neck and smiled to himself, glad that he could tell that he was making her feel good. She deserved it after all she'd been through, and God, he'd missed her. To go from almost no contact at all straight to sex was almost overwhelming, intimidating, but he refused to overthink this because he was in her arms and he wasn't going to ruin it. They'd waited eight weeks after Savannah was born and Penny hadn't been free of discomfort that first time. But it had been four months since Ada's birth, and clearly the extra time had done Penny some good.

She curled her fingers into his hair when he pushed his hips against hers, and then tugged his head up from her neck so she could kiss him again. As their lips met, Leonard slid his hands back down to her hips, holding them firmly in place, knowing that the show of dominance would do something for her and feeling her respond to the action by kissing him more forcefully and audibly.

Leonard was delighted in the responses he was getting from her, partly because it further convinced him that their lack of connection hadn't been due to faults in their relationship, and partly because he did pride himself on knowing her so well. She'd never broken a bed with any of her other boyfriends – he'd made specific inquiries about that – and they'd been together long enough that he knew exactly what she wanted, and he knew how to change things up depending on her mood. Tonight, he knew that if she had any lingering insecurities, it would be about her attractiveness. Despite his assurances that her being their daughter's mother made her wildly attractive to him, she had just been in counseling for feeling guilty about her body's abilities. She wasn't a fan of dirty talk – if she had been, he'd have been a lot better about it with Priya due to practice – but he knew that tonight, saying something, anything at all, would do a lot for her. So he gave her another deep kiss, his hand playing with the waistband of her shorts as he kept his hips firmly against her own, and when the kiss ended, he let out an audible breath and whispered "my God, you're hot."

That was all she needed. Her mouth captured his again, and her hands curled at the bottom of his shirt. "Leonard," she said, frustrated, and he kissed her jawline lightly. "You want to switch?" he whispered, offering to flip them over again, and she shook her head. He kissed her again – knowing better than to do anything with her sensitive breasts, and tugged at her shorts with one hand while her hands went to his zipper. Leonard was the King of Foreplay, but it couldn't truly last forever, and after going four months with hardly any physical closeness of any sort, they were both far too agitated to hold off on going farther.

"I love you," he whispered.

She wondered exactly what she'd been so worried about.