A/N: Well, it's been a while. There was definitely some writers block involved this time. I've only recently gotten back into actually writing, thanks to a challenge for Farscape, over at the Terra Firma forum.
For the first time since she had moved to California, Penny was feeling sad about leaving her family. Because of Leonard's car sickness, he was sitting in the front with her daddy driving and Andy seated between the two men. In the back, Penny was sandwiched between Brenda and their mother, all three of them uncharacteristically quiet. Not that the men in the front were saying all that much.
"I promise we'll be back next summer," Penny said, breaking the silence. "Maybe even a week during Christmas, if our schedules allow it." In answer she was physically pulled in two directions as both her mother and sister tried to hug her. The silence, however, continued but it didn't seem to be as heavy as before. Luckily, Penny noticed the exit for the airport was coming up ahead, and to be totally honest, she kinda liked being hugged by the two women on either side of her.
It was almost thirty minutes later that it was time for the final goodbyes, before Leonard, Andy and her would go through security. It gave her a warm feeling to see Leonard receiving tight, extended embraces from her family, even her father pulling Leonard toward him and clapping him on the back. It was obvious to her that her family really liked Leonard, that he had gained a family from these three weeks in Nebraska.
To her left, Andy was currently being hugged and smooched by his grandmother, but at eleven Andy didn't exactly enjoy such public displays. The only reason he tolerated it was because there was no danger of any of his friends seeing it. Penny stifled a laugh as merely a second after being released by his grandmother, his aunt was covering every inch of his face with kisses. Undoubtedly Brenda knew exactly how Andy felt about public displays of affection, and she seemed to take great pleasure in going on for a bit longer than even their mother had. Penny was at that point once again pulled into a tight hug with her mother.
"I'm so glad you were here for a few weeks."
Penny felt guilty again at the way she had more or less ignored her family for seven years. "I'm so sorry it took so long."
Her mother immediately hushed her. "It's okay, just don't do it again."
Penny smiled as she was released. "I won't, I promise." The next second Brenda almost yanked her in her direction and her sister's arms wrapped themselves around her.
"Love you, Sis."
Penny smiled again, still in her sister's arms. "Love you, too."
The strength of the hug was lessened, but Brenda didn't completely let go of her. "Remember what I said, you hurt that wonderful man's heart, and I'll come around and hurt something on you."
Penny glanced at Leonard, who had undoubtedly heard the exchange. Sure enough, a smug grin was on his lips.
"Wipe that grin of your face," Brenda said, obviously noticing Leonard's expression as well. "You hurt my baby sister, and I'll come looking for you!"
Leonard frowned as his cell phone rang, caller id informing him it was Sheldon. He knew he could ignore the call, but knowing Sheldon he would keep trying until he'd pick up. With a small sigh and an apologetic glance at Penny, he answered through the Bluetooth system he'd installed in his car. "Hello?"
"You left me alone with a criminal, Leonard."
He glanced at Penny, who's eyebrows had virtually disappeared. "Nice to talk to you, too, Sheldon," Leonard replied. "And I didn't leave you, you kicked me out."
"Yes, but I offered for you to return to the apartment, which you subsequently declined. Hence, you left me alone. With a criminal as a neighbor."
Leonard rolled his eyes. "Sheldon, we've just left the airport, I don't have time for your whining."
"You'll be driving for at least another another thirty minutes. That is plenty of time to discuss this problem and how you will fix it."
"How I...? Sheldon, I'm not going into this discussion while driving."
"Fine, we can discuss this once you're here."
"Sure," Leonard said, disconnecting the call at the word.
"Oh Leonard, why did you agree to that?"
"What?" Leonard turned to Penny. "I didn't say I was driving over right now, did I?" He grinned. "I am going to block his calls for a day or so."
"Ooh, getting to be a bad boy now, aren't you?"
Leonard shrugged, but being considered a bad boy by Penny wasn't altogether unpleasant.
"I like bad boys," Penny said, her hand coming to rest on his leg, her voice seductive. Leonard grinned at her. The look in her eyes showing him she was actually turned on.
"Mom! I'm right here!"
Crap. Leonard had completely forgotten Andy was in the backseat. A brief glance in the mirror showed a pair of big eyes looking back.
"Sorry, sweetie," Penny apologized, an embarrassed blush on her face.
An awkward silence fell upon them, almost as awkward as the one earlier, during the drive to the airport in Nebraska, if for a completely different reason.
"Ugh," Penny said as she plopped down on the couch. "I can't believe I acted like that in front of my own son."
"You think he's upset with us?"
Penny glanced at Leonard as she snuggled into his side. "Nah, but he really didn't want to be witness to his mom coming on to her sexy boyfriend." Penny let a soft smile form on her lips; knowing Leonard, he was probably both quite proud of himself as well as a little bit uncertain she actually thought of him like that. Glancing up, she could see his smug look turn into a frown. "Take the compliment, Leonard." She was rewarded with a grin.
"I'll try to tone down my sexiness when Andy's around."
Penny giggled. "Great, 'cause it doesn't seem like I can control myself."
"He did kinda rush off to Rick, once we were here," Leonard said a minute or so later, clearly feeling responsible.
"Honey, Rick's been his best friend since they were, like, two. I'm sure he just wanted to hang out. Besides, he'd already asked on the plane if he could go over once we were back." Penny snuggled even further into him and let out a contented sigh. "This is nice."
"Yeah."
Penny felt Leonard's arm wrap around her body, pulling her as close as possible. They just stayed like that for probably a little over five minutes, Leonard's hand stroking her arm. "You know," she finally said. "We could take a nap upstairs."
"I'm not really tired," Leonard said, "but if you want to take a nap, that's okay with me."
Penny glanced up again. "I'm not tired either." She bit her lip. "But I'm sure we'll both be in a short while."
Leonard's eyebrows went up.
"Andy's not here, and you are one sexy bad boy."
Leonard waited awkwardly as Miranda and Penny were holding each other tightly. He wasn't quite sure if it was such a good idea for him to be here, considering what Miranda had gone through. He stiffened when Miranda hugged him next, making sure to keep his arms at his sides.
"Leonard," Miranda spoke up. "You can hug me, you know?"
"I can? I mean, I know I can. I just thought that, well, considering what happened, you might, uhm..."
Miranda looked up at him, still holding him close. "I'm perfectly capable of making the distinction between a friend hugging me to comfort me and a creep grabbing me to rape me."
Leonard smiled nervously. "Right." It still took him a couple of seconds and a questioning glance from Miranda, before he cautiously moved his arms to hold her, going for as light a hug as possible.
Miranda sighed once and then chuckled, but did not let go immediately. "Leonard, I appreciate you being considerate, but I'm not letting go until you hug me properly."
Leonard glanced at Penny, who had her head titled slightly, with a soft smile on her lips. After a couple of seconds he gave in, and gave Miranda a normal hug.
"Ah, that's what I needed," Miranda said, giving him a slight squeeze before letting him go. "So? How was your vacation?"
Leonard followed both women to the seating area and sat down next to Penny, who had excitedly started telling Miranda all about their stay in Nebraska. It took over a minute until Leonard realized Miranda just wanted some happy story, to take her mind off of things, something Penny had clearly picked up on immediately. Leonard figured he could do that for his friend, began to interject some things that Penny seemed to forget, and soon the three of them were simply enjoying each other's company.
"You can't postpone it indefinitely," Penny said firmly. Not that she was looking forward to the 'event,' but it just had to be done.
"No, but couldn't we just postpone it until tomorrow? Or even the day after?"
Penny turned her head to Leonard. "We could, but we won't."
"But, it'll be awkward and unpleasant. Why would you make me do this?"
"You and I both know that the longer we postpone it, the worse it'll be. We're gonna get it over with now, there's nothing you can say to change my mind."
He didn't respond for a while, and Penny figured he'd given up. But, she was wrong. "What if I keep saying no, you know, showing my sexy bad boy side?"
Despite the seriousness of what needed to happen, Penny let out a giggle. "Damn, I should never have told you I like sexy bad boys." She giggled again. "But we're still going to do it."
Leonard nodded. "When you say 'do it,' you mean going home and take our clothes of, right?"
"No," Penny said. "Well, we will, but after we've dealt with your former room mate."
He glanced at her in surprise. "We will?"
Penny nodded. "Yeah, you really are a sexy bad boy. It'll be really hot watching you deal with Sheldon and put him in his place once and for all." Penny noticed Leonard pressing down a little more on the accelerator. "And that'll make me want to really ride you hard once we're home."
Two minutes later they stopped in front of the building he once shared an apartment with Sheldon with, tires actually screeching slightly.
"Well, well, well," Sheldon said a little while later, as he opened the door. "It's about time you came... What is she doing here?" Without waiting for a reply, he went into a rant about her not being welcome, which Penny tuned out, mostly because she didn't want to punch him.
"Sheldon!"
Penny glanced at Leonard, never having heard him raise his voice, and with so much anger in his tone. Surprisingly, it actually did turn her on right there and then.
"Penny is my girlfriend, and she can accompany me wherever I go. The reason we're here is to tell you, for the last time, that I'm not responsible for your life. You kicked me out, you ended our friendship, so..."
"I did not end our friendship," Sheldon interjected. "I merely placed it on hold, due to our legal predicament."
"You effing ended our friendship, and you know it!"
Penny was getting more aroused by the second, even if Leonard hadn't actually dropped the F-bomb. He really would have to get them home as soon as possible.
"You're now responsible for your own life, so stop calling me whenever things aren't going your way. Which is apparently all the freaking time!" He glanced at Penny and grabbed her hand. "We're done here," he said to Sheldon and started his trek downstairs, ignoring the protesting sounds coming from Sheldon.
Penny happily followed, but just below the third floor, in the corner of the stairwell, she halted their progress, pushed him against the wall and kissed him for all she was worth, pressing her body tightly against his. "Get us home, fast," she growled several seconds later.
Leonard was still panting heavily, even after having used two doses of his inhaler and laying still on the bed for at least two minutes. Penny was similarly panting, yet had taken the time to place her head on his shoulder, one finger lazily drawing patterns on his chest. Leonard put his arm around her back, holding her against him, feeling her heartbeat against his side.
"Well, that was fun," Penny said a few minutes later, labored breathing still present.
Leonard just hummed an affirmative, his breathing still not allowing him to actually speak. They simply laid there for at least another five minutes, caressing each other, Penny every now and then placing a kiss on his shoulder. "Damn, you weren't lying about being turned on by me standing up for myself."
She looked up at him, grinning. "Nope," she said, ending it with a popping P. "To be completely honest, even though I said so in the car, I really didn't think it would. I mean, I've been around enough macho men to know it's not all that appealing. But when you told Sheldon the truth, boy, did that get my motor running!"
He looked at her, partly smug about being able to that, partly feeling guilty. "I have a confession to make," he said after a few seconds. "I kinda exaggerated during the confrontation. I wanted to see if it would turn you on, if you really liked bad boys, as you had claimed."
Penny chuckled. "Well, clearly I do."
"I promise I won't do that again," Leonard said.
That elicited a confused frown from Penny. "Um, why?"
"Why? Because...this..." he gestured around, not exactly sure what he wanted to indicate.
"Doesn't look like anything is damaged," Penny said, obviously looking around her bedroom.
As Leonard did too, for the first time since they got here, he noticed several objects that had fallen from various surfaces. He frowned slightly at the dresser close to the door, that had moved at least two inches; he knew from experience that thing was heavy, and he wondered how that had happened.
"But even if it had," Penny continued, oblivious to the fact he had only now realized the extend of the carnage that had ensued here, "that wouldn't matter. This was such an amazing thing that happened, I really hope more occurrences will follow." A brief pause followed. "You weren't even aware of this. What were you trying to say?"
"Huh?" Leonard forced his gaze back to Penny, momentarily confused. "Oh, right. I meant, the way you reacted to me standing up like that."
"You think that's a bad thing?" Penny was clearly confused once more.
"Yes?"
"No, it isn't," Penny stated, clearing up his own confusion. "It's totally hot and a lot of fun! Right?"
Leonard grinned, almost laughed at the insecure question. "Oh, definitely a lot of fun. I just don't want you to think I will use this against you. You know, force you into... these activities."
Penny propped herself up on one arm. "Leonard, listen to me. I love you. I love being with you, both physically, as well as just spending time together. Don't forget, I've been on my own for over a decade, so being in a relationship, regularly having sex, is all kinda new to me. My point is, it's very likely we'll be having lots and lots of hot sex, especially once Andy has moved out, whether or not you're being forward and confident."
Even though this was her first day back at work after her Nebraska vacation, Penny could not wipe the smile from her face as she walked toward the company's cafeteria, hold Leonard's arm against her body. This was the first time she could show her colleagues that she was in a good, wonderful relationship of her own. Well, many of them had probably already heard, but, with the exception of Sheila, nobody knew how amazing the sweet man was.
Her smile turned into a grin as several of her colleagues had seen them enter. For once, she didn't mind the obvious appraising looks her female colleagues threw at Leonard. She also took note of one male with a look of envy. She'd seen him a few times, hired only a week or so before she went to Nebraska. She decided to find out more about him, see if she could help him find someone.
"Hello again, Leonard."
Penny turned to her right to look at Sheila, noticing a light blush on Leonard's face. "Hi, Sheila," Penny said, then addressed the woman's husband. "Rob, this is Leonard, Leonard, Rob. He's the one I gave the roommate agreement to."
The two men shook hands and the four of them had a short conversation before the lawyer couple had to leave. Penny gently pulled Leonard toward the short line, so they could get their order in. They were standing there for barely five seconds when another colleague joined the queue.
"Hey, Penny. How was your vacation? I think that's the first time I've ever seen you go away for longer than just a couple of days."
Penny turned and chuckled lightly. "That's probably right, Lynn. My boyfriend and I had a wonderful time," Penny said, then went into introduction mode. "Lynn, Leonard, Leonard, Lynn."
Lynn had started to smile. "Oh yeah, Cupid finally has someone of her own!"
Penny rolled her eyes at the nickname she knew she'd been given by several of the people working here. "I'm not Cupid!"
"Right, what's the score now? Three marriages, one engagement and another three serious, long term relationships."
Penny shrugged. "I didn't make them fall in love, I simply introduced them to each other."
"Uh huh," Lynn responded, then addressed Leonard in a conspiratorial voice. "None of the couples had any feelings for each other until Penny persuaded them to go on a date. And she has yet to fail at finding the right person for someone."
Again Penny rolled her eyes.
"Anyone here knows this," Lynn continued, "And believe me, when Penny introduces you to someone, you don't even question it, you just go out on a date with that person."
Rolling her eyes again, she stepped up to the lady behind the counter, ready to order her lunch.
"Oh, Penny! Thank you for introducing me to Hank. We've been having such a good time these past few weeks!"
Leonard's back was pressed against her office door as Penny kissed him, her hands loosely wrapped around his neck. He'd been introduced to several of her coworkers and what stuck out most to him, besides the fact that Penny was well liked by most of them, was how much his girlfriend had done for the people she worked with.
"I loved showing you around," Penny said after another minute or two of kissing and cuddling. "I think they all liked you."
Leonard smiled. "Yeah, I think they really did." They were silent for another minute, except for the sound of yet another deep kiss.
"But, I prefer visiting your place of work," Penny said. "Because there we can lock your lab, get naked and have a really good time."
Leonard chuckled, finally used to his girlfriend's libido. "Andy's staying over with Rick again, isn't he?" He could see her eyes light up. "So, that gives us plenty of time when you get off work tonight."
"Oh, yeah. Though I really was looking forward to getting off at work today."
Again Leonard chuckled. "Well, without a locking door, that is unfortunately not an option."
"Ugh, that's it! The first thing I'm gonna do when you've gone home, is ask for a lock on my door. Once that is installed, you're gonna come visit me again during the day."
He grinned at her smile, though he was not entirely sure she wouldn't actually do just that.
Penny sighed. "I guess I'll just have to wait until the end of the work day, but as soon as I'm home, you and I are gonna do it."
Leonard's grin widened. "Straight to dessert, huh?"
"Yup." She sighed again. "Okay, you need to go, before I stop caring about the lack of a lock on my office door."
Leonard knew this was actually a very real possibility with her, considering they'd done stuff in various relatively public places already. He stepped forward, causing Penny's body to press against him even more as she reluctantly moved back. "You'll have to let go of me," he said after a few seconds when Penny hadn't made a move to release him from her embrace.
Penny sighed. "Yeah, I know. Okay, just a few more hours. I can do this."
He pressed his lips against hers. "Yes you can. I'll see you soon."
A/N2: Alas, there's no update yet on my BBT/Chuck cross-over story; it will arrive sometime, but I figured this story is more popular and it would be evil of me to have you all wait even longer.
