Penny smiled as she awoke, an arm draped over her side, the hand attached to it flat against her belly. As amazing as the evening and the make-out sessions had been, it couldn't hold a candle to the night they had just had. Leonard had been surprised at first at her bold move, but had then surprised her by focusing on her, making sure she got exactly what she needed and wanted. His own needs had almost seemed like an afterthought to him. She barely contained the giggle as she thought about how vocal she'd been and how often.

And that was only their first time together. They'd woken up only two hours later and had a, according to Leonard, quicky, for which he had even apologized. Well, compared to the first time, one could consider the second session a quicky, but even that one had been longer than any of her previous experiences, and she had assured Leonard he had nothing to apologize for.

And then about two hours ago, Penny had awoken again and, noticing Leonard's sleep induced state, had grabbed another condom and taken full control of the situation. That time had Leonard really surprised, waking up just as Penny had sank down on him. She'd been really impressed with him and his control; despite her actions, he refused to be selfish and managed to hold out until she once again entered a blissful state.

Definitely a night to remember. Even taking into account the fact it had been a long time since she'd shared a bed with anyone, Penny knew that what she'd shared with Leonard was far more special. Of course, most of her previous experiences had involved guys who'd either been just as inexperienced as she'd been, or only interested in doing it with her.

No, with Leonard it had been special. With Leonard there was a constant feeling of love, feeling loved by him. Even that last session, despite it having started out with just lust. There was just no doubt about it, in her mind. Leonard loved her. Completely. It made her feel warm inside, the realization that he truly did love her. She never thought she actually craved finding a true love, someone to spend the rest of her life with. Now she knew she did. More importantly, she knew who she wanted to spend the rest of her life with: the man laying right behind her, holding her close, his breath against her neck.


Leonard awoke and found himself alone in the bed. If he hadn't been able to feel the still warm spot next to his, he'd have thought last night had been nothing but a very vivid dream. Slowly, as his sleepy brain booted back up, he began to hear sounds from beyond the now closed bedroom door.

Locating his glasses, he put them on and then located and put on his robe. Opening the door, he heard music, a vaguely familiar song. Just as he entered the bathroom, the female singer declared she was feeling like a woman. Leonard frowned, as he knew he didn't have that song in his collection and he was fairly certain Sheldon didn't either. How did she get that song to play through their entertainment system? It took only a few seconds before Leonard decided to shrug it off; she'd probably learned a lot from Andy and had managed to figure out how to connect her iPhone through Bluetooth.

By the time Leonard walked out of the bathroom, another upbeat song was playing, one he didn't recognise at all. He stopped himself from letting her know he was up when he saw her dancing happily through the kitchen, apparently making French toast while she danced. It took a few seconds, but he finally noticed she was wearing his button-up shirt and, by the looks of it, not much else. Of course, last night had shown him she hadn't even been wearing a bra, so the only other thing she could be wearing was her thong. Whether she was or not, she looked incredibly sexy and adorable dancing around the kitchen, and Leonard just stood there watching her.

"Oh! Hi!"

Leonard forced his gaze upward to her face, feeling guilty for looking at her like that, without her even knowing he was standing there. "Uh, hi." He walked toward the kitchen area now. "Making French toast, I see." Great job, Captain Obvious!

Penny smirked. "As if you were looking at the food."

For a brief moment Leonard was afraid she was angry with him, but he recognised the teasing tone in her voice. "Well, no," he answered. "I just didn't think it was a good idea to point it out."

Penny had moved closer to him, her wrists landing on his shoulders. Leonards hands went to her sides as they kissed for a few seconds. "Glad you're awake," Penny said when the kiss ended. "I'm almost done."

Leonard sat down at the kitchen island, watching Penny as she continued preparing breakfast, a warm feeling spreading inside him at the normalcy the situation exuded, despite his lack of actual experience with any kind of normalcy when it came to relationships.

"Did you wanna spend the day together, or should we do the being-separate-before-our-date thing again?"

Leonard looked up, berating himself for once again focusing on her ass. "Oh, uhm, I don't know. I mean, yesterday I just figured that before our first real date we should have some time apart. You know, so we wouldn't run out of things to talk about." He looked down briefly. "Anyway, we won't have to worry about that tonight, since we'd be visiting with others."

Penny smirked as she put a plate in front of him. "You know, spending time together doesn't necessarily mean we'd be talking much. But we might need more condoms."

Leonard gaped at her, not having expected her to want even more sex, after no less than three rounds last night. To Leonard, that already was a record, but to think she wanted even more was just unbelievable. Not that he was going to complain.


As she was introduced to Jason's girlfriend Miranda, Penny had to work hard to not laugh at the odd combination of the hulk of a man and the petite woman. When she had met Jason the first time, he had commented Miranda would kill him if he was going to be late, and in her mind she thought that meant Miranda would seriously stand a chance to at least hurt him.

"You weren't lying, Jason," Miranda said. "She's definitely a hottie."

Penny grinned when Jason blushed at his girlfriend repeating what he'd told her. Before she had a chance to say something, Miranda pulled on her arm.

"Come with me, Penny. Let the guys deal with the food preparations while we get to know each other better."

Penny raised an eyebrow as she glanced in Leonard's direction, who simply shrugged at her and followed his large friend toward the kitchen. Penny followed Miranda, although she really didn't have choice as the woman hadn't let go of her arm at all. "This is a nice place," Penny commented as they approached the sofa, not really knowing what else to say.

"Most certainly is," Miranda said. "Too bad it's not mine or Jason's."

"Oh?" Penny sat down in the loveseat Miranda had more or less pushed her in, while Miranda sat in the corner seat of the larger sofa, placed at an angle.

"I'm just housesitting for two months." She shook her head. "Man, it's going to be hard going back to my small apartment in a week or two. Oh, do you want a drink? I totally forgot to ask."

Penny giggled. "That's okay. If you have some wine, I'd like a glass of that."

"Sure, no problem," Miranda said with a smile and stood up to retrieve the wine.

Penny took the time to look around room in more detail, wondering who Miranda was housesitting for. Must be someone who had quite a bit of money, considering all the expensive objects and paintings she could see. Penny was proud of her own place; she might not be as wealthy as the owner of this house, but she earned a decent living and she'd never had to deny her son or her self anything. Nonetheless, she felt a little bit envious of the owner of this house.

"Here we are," Miranda said as she walked back into the living room, carrying two glasses of red wine.

Penny quickly located the coasters and placed them on the table.

"Thanks," Miranda said, placing the glasses on the coasters, before sitting down once again.

"You think it's a good idea to leave the men in charge of cooking," Penny asked. Not that she wanted to cook, knowing she wasn't any good at it.

Miranda nodded. "Oh, yeah. Jason is an amazing cook, and Leonard's not bad either. Me, on the other hand, couldn't cook even if my life depended on it."

Penny grinned. "I know what that's like. I'm glad I have a decent job so I can afford getting take-out almost daily."

Miranda laughed. "Wow, didn't think we'd have that in common. All the women I know are at least decent cooks, some even tried to teach me, but I always screwed it up somehow. If it wasn't for Jason, I might actually have starved to death by now. So, how did you and Leonard meet?"

"Oh, my son, Andy, wanted to see this lecture Leonard was giving. Then afterwards I went to the bathroom and Andy saw Leonard walking by, and decided to ignore my instructions to stay put and walked toward him so he could ask some questions."

"How old is he," Miranda asked.

"He's eleven now and about to graduate high school."

"Aha, a smart kid, then," Miranda said. "So, that's how you got introduced?"

Penny nodded, taking a sip of wine. "Yeah. Andy wanted to know more, and Leonard invited us to his lab where we stayed for maybe half an hour. We then traded contact info, so Andy would have some way to talk to Leonard on any of the sciency stuff." Penny continued on, telling Miranda about the trip to the mall, seeing each other at the Thai place, how Leonard had stayed in her guest room, everything that Penny deemed appropriate the share with other people.

Miranda nodded when Penny finished, appearing to be having a discussion with herself. "Penny," Miranda started, but didn't continue.

"What's wrong," Penny asked, getting worried that perhaps she had said too much.

Miranda sighed. "Nothing. It's just that... I've known Leonard for almost six years, ever since Jason moved across from him and his crazy roommate. I think he's a great guy and a good friend. The thing is, sometimes he can do or say something that scares away the woman he loves."

Penny giggled. "You mean like writing an eleven page 'thank you' letter for... Never mind."

Miranda smirked. "Jason told me you were a loud one."

Penny felt herself blush. "He heard that?"

Miranda nodded, now grinning broadly. "He said the entire building probably heard you."

Penny covered her face with her hands. "Oh, God." She felt Miranda's hand land on her arm.

"Don't worry, Penny. Not many of them know who was having sex and believe me when I say even less will even suspect it was coming from Leonard's room."

"Jason knew," Penny said, but lowering her hands anyway.

Miranda nodded. "He only suspected that because he'd seen you with Leonard before and he just happened to get home, so he knew it was coming from Leonard's apartment. Anyway, my point is, Leonard might do something that makes you want to dump him..."

"I wouldn't," Penny said, already convinced she would never leave him unless she caught him cheating on her. From what she knew of him, and was now hearing from Miranda, it seemed very unlikely it would ever come to that. "I thought the letter was cute and sweet, even though I've only read a small part during the trip over."

Miranda didn't look very convinced. "You haven't met Sheldon yet. Oh, or his mother."

It was hard to miss the shudder and Penny frowned. "What about his mother? Is she a person who thinks nobody is good enough for her son?"

"She's a person not worthy of the title 'mom'"

Penny's frown deepened, surprised at the obvious disgust she could hear in the woman's statement. "Why? What did she do?"

"The cold-hearted clinical bitch seems to take great pleasure in putting down her son. Not that she's all warm and fuzzy with her other two kids, or even her husband, but at least she doesn't put them down at every opportunity."


"Is something wrong," Leonard asked, glancing at Penny once more. She'd been unusually quiet most of the evening, not even saying a word since they'd said goodbye to Jason and Miranda.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Penny assured him, then went quiet again for maybe half a minute. "Can I stay tonight?"

Leonard turned briefly in her direction. "Uhm, while I certainly won't mind, Sheldon's home by now and he would not appreciate me bringing a house guest without the required twelve hour notice."

"Ugh, you need a normal roommate," Penny said and Leonard noticed it was the first time tonight she actually smiled a little. "In that case, I want you to stay with me tonight. Andy's staying over at Rick's again, so we have the entire house to ourselves."

Leonard grinned, suddenly feeling like the richest man on the planet. "Don't want to be without me, huh?"

Penny shook her head. "Not really, no. Actually, you staying at my place is even better, since the neighbors won't... whatever."

Leonard's head snapped toward her, a surprised look on his face. "We weren't that loud, were we?"

Penny nodded. "Jason told Miranda the entire building could've heard us. Well, me, apparently." She turned to him, grinning. "So, your reputation is still intact."

Leonard laughed. "Well, I wouldn't really mind if people started to think I was any good in bed." He wouldn't normally say such a thing, but the fact that Penny seemed in much better spirits and willing to talk, he decided that being forward was in this case acceptable.

"Oh, you definitely are good in bed. You kept me nice and warm and you don't even snore," Penny said, sticking out her tongue at him, causing Leonard to laugh again.

"So, I'm a non-snoring bed warmer to you. Good to know."

"On a whole, it's not such a bad thing," Penny responded, apparently enjoying this little teasing banter.

Leonard was just glad her mood seemed to have improved considerably, though he still didn't quite understand why she'd been so quiet. Was it something he'd said or done? He didn't think so, but most of his previous relationships had ended because of something he'd done wrong. "Penny, did I do something wrong earlier?" He dared to look at her briefly, noticing she seemed surprised.

"No, of course not! Why do you ask?"

"Well, you've been really quiet most of the evening and I just assumed..."

"Sweetie, you assumed wrong."

Leonard frowned, again glancing in her direction briefly. She'd sounded as if she was upset he even thought such a thing. "Then why? You don't strike me as the quiet type, even when in company of virtual strangers."

"It's just... Miranda told me about your mother."

Leonard glanced at his leg, when Penny's hand landed there.

"Leonard, has she really never shown any pride in what you have accomplished?"

Leonard looked at Penny in surprise. "Uhm, well, no."

"So, she really is cold-hearted and distant?"

Leonard could hear Penny was really upset by learning about his mother. "Well, yeah, I guess. It's okay, though."

"How can you say that? She should be so proud of you and your accomplishments! She should've been there for you when you were bullied. I mean, just thinking about how hard it was for Andy, even if it didn't happen to him for that long... You needed someone back then, I know you did. She should've been there for you."

Leonard glanced at Penny again, then briefly moved his right hand from the steering wheel to land on top of her hand, still on his leg. "Penny, it's really okay. I'm used to how Mother treats, well, everyone, basically."

"That doesn't make it okay," Penny persisted. "Ugh, it really creams my corn to know how your mom treated you. And still does."


"Oh, hello Leonard."

Penny stood awkwardly near the apartment door, suddenly feeling that accompanying Leonard to pack an overnight bag might have been a bad idea. Especially considering that Miranda had told her that Leonard's roommate was sometimes as bad as Leonard's mother.

"Hey, buddy," Leonard greeted his roommate, then turned briefly towards her. "Penny, this is my roommate Sheldon, Sheldon, this is Penny, my, uhm..."

Penny smiled at Leonard's hesitance to finish the sentence. "Girlfriend," she decided to help him out, adding a small wave of her hand at Sheldon, knowing the man was a germaphobe and didn't like to be touched or shaking hands. "Hi."

"Leonard, you know that the roommate agreement states that you have to provide twelve hours notice on any impending coitus. Or did you not known this one either twelve hours ago?"

Penny frowned at Sheldon's question, both the inappropriateness of asking this in front of her, as well as the fact Leonard had apparently had sex with someone he hadn't known for more than twelve hours.

"Oh, come one, Sheldon. That was just one time!"

"That is true, and it turned out it was just a ruse to obtain information on the top secret military research you were doing. Are you sure this is not the case with this woman?"

Leonard glanced at her briefly. "Yes, I am. Penny hasn't shown the slightest interest in what I do exactly. Besides, I'm not even working on anything confidential right now." He sighed. "We just came by so I could pack an overnight bag since I'll be staying at Penny's tonight."

"Alright, as long as you can assure me you'll be here on time to drive me to work."

Penny rolled her eyes, already having enough of Sheldon's controlling behavior. "Can't you just take the bus?"

Sheldon finally addressed her directly. "I can, I just prefer not to. Furthermore, the roommate agreement specifically states..."

"Screw the roommate agreement," Penny interjected. "Leonard's staying at my place tonight and he's not going to get up extra early so that he has time to pick you up."

"Excuse me, but you are not a party in the roommate agreement, therefore you have no say in the matter."

"I think I do have a say," Penny answered. "If Leonard has to get up earlier, so do I, so it affects me as well. Either you take the bus in the morning, or accept loud coitus tonight."

"Leonard, this is not acceptable! You signed the roommate agreement, a binding contract. Furthermore, we've been friends longer than..."

Penny was getting ticked off with Leonard's roommate, and she decided to not hold back, hoping Leonard wouldn't be too upset with her later. "Some friend you are! You don't make demands on your friends, you ask them politely."

"But I always ask him politely," Sheldon asserted, causing Penny to just stare at him open mouthed for a few seconds, not quite certain if he actually believed that or was just trying to get away with it. She glanced at Leonard, who just shook his head in apparent defeat. If there relationship wasn't as young as it was, she would have told him he could move in with her, without having to sign anything.

"It's okay, Penny. You won't have to get up when I do, I'll just be quiet."

Penny sighed. "Alright, but you better take your copy of this roommate agreement. A friend of mine is a very good lawyer and I'm sure he'll have no trouble poking holes in that damn thing."


A/N: That took me long enough, didn't it? For some reason I couldn't get the end of the chapter the way I wanted to. But I made it, eventually. And don't worry, I haven't forgotten about, or abandoned any of my other stories, I just generally have limited time to write, thus it can take me a long time every now and then.