A/N: sorry for the long delay. Haven't had a lot of time to work on my stories, which is a shame because for both stories I was finalizing their respective chapter. Anyway, here is chapter 14, with our favorite couple spending some quality time in Nebraska.


It was Friday afternoon of their first week in Nebraska that Penny just let out a sigh of contentment. She hadn't felt this relaxed in a long time. There had been several days when she'd simply talked with her mom for hours, or had gone shopping with her big sister. She'd helped her dad with a problematic tractor engine, and had generally been enjoying their first week at the farm. Both Leonard and Andy had spent quite a bit of time together, every now and then hanging out with her sister's husband Peter and their little girl Cindy, who was four years younger than Andy.

"He's definitely cute."

Penny glanced toward her left, frowning at her sister, who rolled her eyes.

"Relax, I'm very happy with Peter in my life. That doesn't mean I suddenly turned blind to the opposite sex."

Penny sighed, and smiled. "Yeah, he's really cute. There have been a few women who were definitely interested in him." She raised her hand to forestall Brenda's question. "They're still alive. Mostly because Leonard doesn't even realize when women are flirting with him. Besides," she added with a teasing grin, "I'm not you."

"Well, A, that was so not what I was gonna say," Brenda said. "And, B, I only shot that asshole in the leg, not kill him."

Both sisters giggled thinking back to that particular episode. "Be honest, you were aiming for his crotch, weren't you?"

Brenda nodded. "Yeah, he has no idea how lucky he was I was drunk. Then again, I could've killed him if my aim had gone higher instead of lower. I'm not proud of that, but it was really funny to see him walk with a limp for weeks. And not a girl who wanted to be seen around him, because they were afraid I would shoot them."

"Yeah, because of that most guys were even scared to be around me for a while." Penny went silent, knowing that a year later she had started dating various guys until she'd gotten pregnant.

"Hey," Brenda said, gently grasping Penny's hand. "You got a wonderful son and you even got a college degree. I'm really proud of you for doing what I couldn't."

Penny smiled a sad smile. "You could've done that too, Bren."

Her sister shrugged, then turned away to stare of in the distance. "No, I don't think I could've been that strong. I definitely couldn't have gotten a college degree, with or without getting pregnant."

"Don't sell yourself short," Penny said, sitting up a little straighter and fully turning to her sister. "You're not some dumb blond, and you know that."

Brenda scoffed. "Right, I dropped out of high school. And then I got pregnant and had to give up my son."

"Yes, but you chose to give him up for adoption, so he would have a better life," Penny said. "That was smart, Bren. I was lucky to have mom and dad supporting me when I got pregnant, but you had left home by the time it happened to you and you dealt with all of that by yourself."

Brenda shook her head and chuckled. "If I'd been really smart, I'd have come back home. Cory would've been living with me. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy he has such wonderful parents, and I'm glad I still get to see him regularly. It's just... I don't know. It feels like I failed or something. It scared the crap out of me when I heard you'd gotten pregnant. It's like you just tried to copy your big sister's mistakes."

Penny punched her sister's arm. "Neither Cory nor Andy are a mistake!"

"That's not what I meant," Brenda said. "Also, ouch," she added while rubbing the spot Penny had hit. "But you have to admit that us getting pregnant before our eighteenth birthday wasn't something we were aiming for."

Penny smiled sadly. "No, not really." She sat back in the chair. "I was adamant about not following in your footsteps, but I was still reckless when it came to boys." The both of them went silent after that. "So, when do I get to see my nephew again?"

"He'll actually stay with us next week," Brenda replied. "You guys should come visit us sometime that week."


"Do you need any help with that," Leonard asked, as he entered the kitchen and noticed Susan was doing the dishes.

"Oh, you don't have to do that, sweetheart," she replied with a smile. "You're a guest, you should be having fun." She reached out one hand and grabbed something from his shoulder. "Although it seems like you were having fun," she said, showing a bit of hay that had apparently been stuck there.

Leonard wasn't sure how to respond; it wasn't like Susan was wrong, but he didn't think he should admit that. On the other hand, he had no idea what believable response he could give.

"Leonard, you and Penny are both adults," Susan finally said, apparently noticing his discomfort. "It's not like Wyatt and I think you guys are in a platonic relationship."

Leonard just shrugged, still uncomfortable to discuss anything like that with his girlfriend's mother. Instead, he grabbed a dishtowel and started drying dishes, ignoring the disapproving look on Susan's face.

After a few minutes, Susan started talking again. "I can see you are good to Penny. I don't think I've ever seen her more happy and relaxed."

Once again he shrugged lightly. "I don't think you can attribute that to me."

"Then who could I attribute that change to," Susan said, sounding eerily similar to Penny whenever she was annoyed about him putting himself down.

Leonard smiled shyly. "Okay, maybe I am responsible in some small way, but I think most of it is just her, being herself." He frowned slightly in thought. "Even when I first met her, she seemed happy. While I explained my experiment to Andy, I just kept glancing her way, and she was smiling, with a faraway look on her face."

"She was probably daydreaming about being with you."

"Yeah, right," Leonard said. "I'm a real dreamboat." He chuckled, but stopped when he noticed Susan wasn't laughing, and had actually stopped doing the dishes.

"Wow, she really did a number on you, didn't she?"

Leonard frowned, not exactly sure what she meant.

"I already disliked her when I read her book, with her cold, clinical approach to raising a child, but it looks like she applied her ideas to raising you."

Leonard closed his eyes. "You read needy baby, greedy baby?"

She shrugged. "A couple of years ago I had this idea of taking on psychology classes and that book was on the list." Susan narrowed her eyes. "Don't tell me it's more like a journal of how you were raised."

"Uhm..." Leonard wasn't sure what to say, but suddenly found himself being hugged tightly by Susan.

"God, you poor thing!" They stayed like that for at least a minute, before Susan continued, still holding him against her. "Listen to me, Leonard. You are a wonderful man. You're caring and smart, and you have accomplished so much. Don't you ever again think that you're less than anyone else or unworthy of love."


"You okay, Leonard," Penny asked as she drove towards her big sister's house. He'd been really quiet ever since yesterday after their, quite literal, roll in the hay.

"Yeah," he replied.

Penny glanced in his direction. "Sweetie, you've been really quiet since yesterday. I just wanna know why. It's not because I dragged you into the hay barn, is it?" Penny was glad Andy had decided he was going to spend the night at his aunt Brenda's place, and was currently not in the car.

"No! No, I really enjoyed that," Leonard assured her, though Penny had already known that wasn't it. "It's just... Did you know your mom took a psychology class?"

Penny frowned, not quite understanding why that would make Leonard upset. "Yeah, I did. Why?"

Leonard sighed. "One of the books is called 'Needy Baby, Greedy Baby.'"

Penny's frown deepened, still not understanding.

"Written by Beverly Hofstadter," Leonard added. "Your mom, correctly, deduced it was more like a journal of raising me."

Penny felt anger rising inside her. She'd heard quite a few stories about Leonard growing up, had witnessed the cold-hearted bitch in person, but to learn that woman had decided to use all that knowledge to publish a book about it was just too much. "That fucking bitch!"

"What? No, your mom didn't tease me with it!"

"I'm not talking about my mom," Penny said. "I'm talking about yours! How dare she use her own son as a personal research project and then publish the results?! I'm sorry for saying this about your mother, Leonard, but she's a cold-hearted bitch and I wish you would never have to see or talk to her again." She glanced at Leonard again and saw an actual smile forming.

"Your mom expressed it more nicely, but she's not a fan of Mother, either. Your mom hugged me tight and told me that I should never think I'm less than anyone, or unworthy of being loved."

Penny glanced again in Leonard's direction, a sad smile on her face. "Then, why all the quietness?"

"I was just thinking about my life, how I've acted in the past. I let my mom instill in me that I'm a loser, and I've acted accordingly. My first reaction to any praise has always been that I had no control over it, or that it wasn't just me."

For the first time since she had a son, Penny took her right hand of the steering wheel, to place it on top of Leonard's upper leg, rubbing it briefly. "It's okay, honey. I'll just keep reminding you time and time again just how special you are until your mom's brainwashing has been counteracted."


"You've really made my little sister happy."

Leonard turned toward Brenda. "I'm not..." Leonard broke of his automatic denial, remembering what both Susan and Penny had told him. "I mean, I guess we make each other happy," he answered instead, though it came out more as a question.

Brenda shook her head. "No guessing, Leonard. It's a fact. I see the way you two look at each other, the little touches. I'm glad Penny has someone special in her life, other than my nephew." She was silent for a bit as she sat down next to him. "I was kinda worried, you know?"

Leonard turned to her, frowning in confusion. Had Penny's sister worried about him not treating Penny right?

"I mean, with Andy going off to college, she'd be pretty much alone. At least now I know you'll be there, too."

"Penny wouldn't have been alone," Leonard said. "She has friends and neighbors. She seems very much involved in her local community, and is apparently well liked by her colleagues."

"That's not the same as having someone important, someone special in your life. Someone to come home to every day." She paused. "I think I know how you were treated when you were a kid, but you gotta stop thinking you're not worth anything, or that you're not good enough for Penny."

Leonard couldn't help but chuckle. "You're the third woman in the family picking up on my issues."

Brenda shrugged. "We can be smart sometimes."

Leonard turned toward her, frowning slightly. "Okay, I know I need to work on my confidence, but you have to work on believing that you're not stupid."

This time Brenda chuckled. "Yeah, sure. We're talking about someone who dropped out of high school, then gotten herself pregnant at the age of seventeen."

Leonard faced her fully. Despite his general discomfort talking to anyone he hadn't known for a long time, he felt the need to make Penny's sister see she wasn't really as stupid as she thought she was. "There are many people who either dropped out of high school, or barely graduated, who turned out to do very well in life. Countless mediocre high school graduates turn out to be getting much better grades in college. They're clearly not stupid."

Leonard paused, observing Penny's sister. She seemed to be listening, so he continued. "I think the big problem for them, and probably you, was a lack of interest. When you're more interested in being popular, you tend to not want to stand out with your grades. When your interest lies in other subjects than the ones being taught in high school, you may be less able to focus, or not motivated enough to study the subject in more detail."

Brenda turned to him. "How does that not make me stupid? Isn't it kinda stupid to not study because you want to be popular, or learn other things?"

Leonard shrugged. "It may not be the smartest way to approach high school, but I wouldn't say stupid. Like I said, there are many people who turned out to get better grades in college. Your priorities change, and you generally get to study a subject matter you're already interested in anyway. I'm willing to bet if you'd try for something you're really interested in, your grades would be much better."


Penny stood up from the porch swing on her parents front porch, grabbed Leonard's hand and gave it a slight tug. "Come on," she said, tugging once more as she took a step. Luckily, he followed her.

"Where are we going?"

She glanced back, smiling. "Just a short walk."

"Okay," he replied, sounding like he was unsure about an unscheduled walk at night, but nevertheless speeding up slightly to walk beside her.

Penny glanced at him again, smiling as he looked in her direction. "Relax, sweetie. I just want some time where it's just the two of us." She saw a grin forming. "Not for that, perv," she said, giggling. "Well, not only for that," she amended her statement. They kept walking slowly, Penny not really having thought about a destination.

"I like your family," Leonard said, breaking the comfortable silence. "They're so... normal," he elaborated.

Penny squeezed his hand slightly, completely understanding how he would appreciate that more than anyone else would have. "They really like you to, you know?" There was just enough light for Penny to see the doubt on his face, though it was probably a win for him to not verbalize it. "They do," she said. "Bren even thought you were cute when she met you last week." They walked on in silence, Penny keeping an eye on Leonard, who was clearly trying to process all of this.

"Well, I am cute," he finally said, grinning and waggling is eyebrows.

Penny giggled. "Yeah, you definitely are." She was silent for a couple of seconds. "Brenda told me about your conversation earlier today." She chuckled and shook her head. "She actually told me if I ever break your heart, she's going to come over and break something of mine." She went silent again, squeezing Leonard's hand as she looked at him. "That's just one of the things that make you so special. No matter what, you will always try to help people. You're kind to everyone."

Penny paused, actually stopping where they were. She turned fully to him, pulling him closer. Her arms automatically went up so she could wrap them around his neck, Leonard's arm automatically wrapping themselves around her waist. Penny looked into his eyes, still seeing traces of self-doubt. She knew his mother was to blame for that, and didn't say anything. Instead she pulled his head closer and kissed him. Not a deep kiss but a tender one, full of love and support.

She loved this man so much, but learning from her sister how this special man had actually tried - and mostly succeeded - to make Brenda believe she wasn't stupid, just made her fall even deeper in love with him. Penny wasn't quite sure how long they'd kissed, or how long they'd just stayed in that spot, arms wrapped tightly around each other, but it was one of the best times in her life.

"Do you think we should go back," Leonard asked.

Penny bit her lip, looking around to see where they actually were. She smiled as she saw they were near the old barn. It was unused, had been for over two decades, but it was a perfect spot. "Not yet," she said, turning back to him. She grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the barn. "I promised there was more than one reason for me to drag you away from the farm."


A/N2: I'm still thinking about publishing a separate story for the 'roll in the hay' scenes that I keep out of this one. But when should I work on those, when I can barely find the time for my current stories, huh?