And it's an update day! I'm very unsure when the next update will come. Probably Sunday at the earliest. But I could surprise myself. Enjoy!
Leonard approached 4B and knocked. After a moment, Raj appeared, holding Ada. The baby grinned when she saw her father. "Hey there," Leonard said, touching his finger to Ada's nose. The baby giggled. "How is she?" he asked Raj.
The Indian motioned with his head toward the couch, and Leonard looked over his shoulder to see Penny curled up on the couch, looking absolutely miserable. "Thanks," he said quietly to Raj, slipping by him and walking over to the couch. "Hey," he said, dropping down to his knees and putting a hand on her shoulder. "Let's go home. Okay?"
Penny bit her upper lip, looking up at Leonard with red eyes. It seemed to take her a minute to realize it was him, and then she sat up and leaned forward to wrap her arms around his neck and bury her face into his shoulder. "Hey," he said, rubbing her back. "Everything is going to be okay. Let's just go home." He heard and felt her sigh. "Come on," he said, starting to stand up and pulling her with him. Penny reached for Ada as they passed Raj, and cuddled her daughter to her chest as she and Leonard climbed the final flight of stairs and entered their apartment.
"Put Nevada down and then come sit with me," Leonard said quietly, and she nodded, kissing the baby's forehead and walking toward the bedroom.
Leonard sat on the couch and waited for Penny to come back out. When she didn't, Leonard got up and headed down the hall. Ada was lying in her crib, waving her chubby baby arms at the mobile hanging above. Leonard moved to the master bedroom and found Penny kneeling in the middle of the bed, her hands on her knees, staring down at them. "Penny," Leonard said.
"Sorry. I thought you meant talk in here." She said quietly.
"It's okay," Leonard said. "We can talk in here." He settled down next to her and tilted his head to see her face. "Penny?"
"Did Raj tell you?" she asked.
"He told me what he knew."
"So you know Amy hates me."
"Amy doesn't hate you. Amy's just…she's frustrated, I guess."
"And it's all my fault," Penny said. "I was acting so pathetic, I mean, going to therapy for having a healthy baby?" She shook her head. "What's wrong with me? I'm so ungrateful. I have…you, and Savannah, and Ada, but that wasn't enough for me. And I didn't even think about how Amy must be hurting."
"Penny," Leonard said, "you were depressed. And though she appeared to have moved past it, she probably is too. It's not your fault and it's not hers. It's just unfortunate that something happened to two people in the same social circle at around the same time."
Penny slowly began shaking her head again. "Leonard, she hates me. She can't stand to look at me. She doesn't want to be around me…" Her face contorted, and if she hadn't cried so hard earlier with Raj, Leonard suspected that she'd be absolutely losing it right about then.
Leonard put his arm around her. "Penny, it's going to be okay. If Princess Leia could forgive her father, Amy will forgive you. It just might take some time."
Penny let out a long, shuddering breath. "I don't want to take time. Everything was going right again. And now I've lost so much."
"Amy just needs time," Leonard said. "She loves you. She's just upset right now." He kissed her temple. "Do you want to eat anything? Or do you want water? Is there anything at all I can do?"
Penny looked over at him for a long moment, then closed her eyes and put her lips on his and scooted closer. Leonard put his hands on the sides of her face and pushed her back slightly. "Penny, you're really upset right now…"
"For God's sake, Leonard, this isn't a booty call I'm going to regret later on. You're going to marry me."
Leonard realized she had a point. "I just need to forget for a while," she continued "Ada's quiet, Savvy's with Iris, just…" she wiped her eyes. "people around here haven't been great at being up front with each other recently. So…" she looked at him again. "I want to have sex with you and I want you to do all the work and then I want you to hold me and I know that fits with what Amy said about me being selfish but it's what I want and I can't help it. Just like she can't help resenting me." She sighed.
Leonard nodded slowly, still looking at her. "Lay down."
She smiled. "You're the best."
"Save that comment for later," Leonard said as he shifted his position so he could kiss her. "I had a rough day at work and could use the compliment."
"I said I don't want to talk about it, Sheldon!"
"That's what you said," Sheldon said. "But from my experience, when a female says she doesn't want to talk, she actually does. At least, that's usually the case when Penny tells Leonard she doesn't want to talk."
"Are you honestly talking about Penny right now?" Amy asked.
"Well…"
"Go on!" Amy said. "Tell me! Tell me why you thought that was a good idea!" She stormed down the hallway and slammed the door to the empty bedroom.
Sheldon thought about following her, but decided that speaking to the man more used to talking to his girlfriend about issues like this would help him more. He ran up the flight of stairs and knocked on 5B's door. "Leonard and Penny? Leonard and Penny? Leonard and Penny?" He frowned. They had to be in there; Leonard had just dropped Sheldon off at 4A not fifteen minutes ago…he placed his ear against the door and listened. After a few seconds, he jumped away from the door. "Oh, dear."
Heading back downstairs, Sheldon realized that, had his hearing served him correctly, Amy had in fact gone into Leonard's old room when she'd stormed down the hall. Not the room they shared, but the room they were planning to give to their child. He hesitantly crept down the hall and tapped lightly on the closed door. "Amy? Amy? Amy?"
"What."
It wasn't spoken like a question. Sheldon tapped his foot, thinking, and then came into the room to find Amy sitting on the floor in the corner. "Amy," he said hesitantly, "I've…I've treated my friends horribly on occasion. Some might have called me selfish, or arrogant, or…other choice words that I will not repeat because for all our differences, I am my mother's son."
"What's your point?" Amy asked.
"Penny loves me."
"So?"
"So, despite all the times I've made her angry or frustrated or late for work or super uncomfortable…" Sheldon shrugged. "We're still friends. And if Penny and I can be friends, you and her can be friends again."
"She's just so insensitive, and…and boastful, and selfish, and…"
"And none of that is on purpose," Sheldon said. "The duration of time I've spent with Penny over the past dozen years, and my improvement at reading people in general, has made me very able to see when she's doing something on purpose. She has this mischievous gleam in her eye. Like on Firefly when Mal Reynolds is messing with someone. It's very recognizable. And, well, that gleam hasn't been there since before Ada was born."
"I think I know Penny pretty well, too," Amy said.
"Then quite frankly," Sheldon said, "if you don't see what I see, you're either actively trying not to, or so desperately looking for an outlet for your frustrations that you simply can't."
"This is a terrible pep talk," Amy told him.
"It's not a pep talk," Sheldon said. "It's a statement. I love you, but I can't support an unjust anger toward someone else in my social group. That will change our dynamic. And I simply can't have that."
"Well, I simply can't help how I feel about Penny," Amy said. "I'm sorry if I can't just flip a switch and make these feelings go away."
"I'm not asking you to," Sheldon said. "But my hypothesis is you'll get over it eventually. You have to. You're missing a valence electron, and for people like us, those are hard to come by."
"Penny doesn't need me any more than I need her," Amy said.
"We agree on that point," Sheldon said. "But I think we disagree on the amount of need between you."
Amy looked at him for a long moment, then scoffed and looked away. "You don't exactly have a doctorate in reading people."
"And Leonard isn't exactly a good cook," Sheldon retorted. "But he's gotten good at making what he's familiar with."