Penny's infection is cleared up, but she still can't walk. She's reluctantly starting to soften towards Sheldon.
Sheldon hung up his coat and Penny's purse before moving to the couch. He slipped under Penny's legs and reached for her hand. "So, what can we do for you, Leonard?"
His former friend's face turned a furious shade of red as he stared at their positions. He clenched his hands and bit out, "If you don't mind, I need to speak to Penny. Alone."
Sheldon quirked an eyebrow and opened his mouth. Penny's hand immediately squeezed his. He looked over as she shook her head. "I cannot imagine what you could have to say to me that requires privacy," she said calmly.
Leonard looked nonplussed for a moment. He quickly wiped his expression clear and smiled warmly at Penny again. "I have been very concerned about you. Ever since you left the hospital, I have been hoping to hear from you. How are you doing?"
Penny shrugged one shoulder. "I am healing. How did you find my apartment?"
Leonard looked slightly embarrassed. "I, um, saw you and Sheldon pulling up in a taxi the day before yesterday, when I was picking up a special order comic. I watched him carry you into the building."
"So you decided to just drop in uninvited?" she asked blandly.
Leonard fidgeted uneasily, obviously this was not going the way he had planned. "I worry about you," he insisted softly. "You were badly hurt, and even though we haven't talked in a little while, I still care."
"23 months," Penny said in that flat tone. "We have spoken four times in 23 months. Twice I told you to leave me alone. I have no room in my life for you, Leonard."
His eyes narrowed and his hands clenched tighter. "But you have room for him?" he hissed, nodding his head toward Sheldon. "He left, Penny! He ran away and left! What makes you think he won't do it again?" Leonard slipped from the seat to kneel in front of her and took her free hand in his. "I've always been here. Waiting for you! Why can't you see that? From the moment we met, I've loved you," he vowed.
Sheldon grew anxious as Penny stared at Leonard. Was he slipping past her defenses? He knew that at one point, Penny had cared for Leonard a great deal. Did she still have those tender feeling for him? Sheldon tried to steel himself for the possibility that he was about to lose her to Leonard.
"You forgot all about me when Missy visited. You chased after Alicia like a dog in heat. Yet, you expect me to believe you loved me?" Penny pulled her hand from Leonard's grip, and tightened her hold on Sheldon. "You say you've been waiting on me. Does that mean you haven't so much as looked at another woman?" she asked.
Leonard flushed guiltily and she nodded. "I thought not." She sighed wearily and shook her head. "I'm too tired to sugar coat it, Leonard. You don't love me. You want the hot chick. That's all you've ever wanted. Any girl would do, as long as she was sexy and willing. Well, I've grown past that, Leonard. I'm no longer looking for some guy to fawn over me. I want someone who truly cares about me. Who doesn't care about how I look on his arm, as long as I'm by his side. Someone who doesn't want to show me off, but wants to show me I matter."
She turned to Sheldon. "Would you please take Whack for a walk as you show Leonard out?"
Sheldon nodded and slid out from under her legs. He stood and bent to place a kiss on her temple. "I'll be back soon." He grabbed Whack's leash and gave a whistle. Whack scrambled from under the sofa and stood still while he attached the hook. Sheldon opened the door and looked at Leonard impatiently.
Stiffly Leonard stood and moved toward the door. Just inside the jam he turned and looked at Penny. "If you think he'll ever give you what you want, you're wrong. Sooner or later, he'll leave you again," he sneered.
Sheldon crowded Leonard, forcing him out into the hall. As soon as he had closed the door, he glared at his former roommate. "You are tempting fate," he growled. "I am not the man you once treated as a burden, Leonard. I am not a man easily pushed around, or bullied. Penny is more precious to me than anything you can imagine. Stay away from her, or I will destroy you."
Leonard snorted. "What will you do? Give me a strike? Tell my mommy?"
Sheldon grinned and it made Leonard flinch. He gulped as he saw the fierce, almost maniacal, fury in those blue eyes. Sheldon leaned down slightly, his voice a mere whisper. "I'll start with your career. How would your colleagues, or donors, like to know how you falsified my data? I still have it, you know. Maybe then I'll move on to your love life. Let every woman you so much as look at know how easily your dick leads you around. Maybe then I'll move on to your friendships. Stay away from Penny or so help me god, I. Will. End. You."
Leonard paled and shrunk back from Sheldon. "What kind of man are you?" he gasped.
"A man not to be trifled with," Sheldon said standing tall. "Now, if you will excuse me, I need to get Whack outside. I don't like leaving Penny alone for too long."
Leonard tried to bluster. "You think she needs you?" he jeered.
Sheldon shook his head as he gestured toward the stairs. "You still don't get it. She does need me. As much as I need her."
XXXXX
When he returned an hour later, Stuart was sitting in the chair. He and Penny were setting up a monopoly board. She looked up from sorting the money with a smile. "Hey. It's Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer Monopoly. Want to play? I get to be the Abominable Snowman, and Stuart always plays as Yukon Cornelius. You can be Rudolph, Hermey, Santa or Sam the snowman."
Sheldon smiled at the relaxed way she was sitting. It had been quite a while since he had last seen her look so at ease while awake. Usually the only time she wasn't tense as a coiled spring was when she was deep into REM sleep. He had been sure that Leonard's visit would have her upset. He moved to the sofa and picked up the snowman piece. "I always did like Burl Ives."
XXXXX
Sheldon sat Penny on the edge of the bed and bent to take off her shoes and socks.
"Sheldon?"
He looked up, immediately concerned by the timidity in her expression. "Is something wrong, Penny?"
"I may never walk again," she said faintly.
Sheldon started to shake his head but he stopped. He sighed heavily. He wanted to reassure her so badly! "You are correct," he finally said as calmly as possible. "You may never walk again. But we don't know for sure yet. Let's not give up."
Penny gave him a slightly condescending look. After a moment she looked down at her knees. "What I'm getting at is, what will you do if I can't? There won't be any reason for you to stick around if this is as good as it's going to get."
"Penny, you can't listen to Leonard," he replied gently. "He's angry and just wanted to hurt me."
She shook her head. "This has little to do with Leonard. I have wondered this before. Listening to him, it just made me want to ask. You're home is halfway across the world. So is your work. You've been here almost two months now. Surely you need to get back sooner or later."
He shrugged and hooked his thumbs in her sweatpants. She leaned back automatically and he slipped them off her legs. "My work can wait. Little has changed in the field of physics in several decades. A few months won't matter."
"But eventually…," she pushed.
Sheldon sighed and rose to sit beside her. He placed two fingers under her chin and tilted her head back. "Penny, I left you once. I don't have the strength to do it again." He looked at her, silently begging her to see the truth in his eyes.
"Penny, I love you. For your joy, your spirit, your temper, your generous heart, your strength, your chaos, your stubbornness and your loyalty. The ability to walk was never a criteria for me. Not even your outer beauty matters to me. I will freely admit, it is what I first noticed about you, but that is not important to me. It never has been. I love you for who you are, not what you look like," he promised solemnly.
Penny licked her lips nervously. She really didn't want to ask this, but she had to. She had to know the honest truth, no matter how much it may hurt. "What about…sex? Are you glad there's no reason now for me to have it?"
He sighed heavily. "Penny, I am not a robot, no matter what anyone thinks. You know full well that my body reacts to yours. No, I am not glad. I desire you more than I know how to say. The thought of joining our bodies together in the most intimate of ways makes me almost hum with excitement. But I do not love you for the possibility of intercourse. Nor do I love you less for the lack of it."
Penny worried her bottom lip between her teeth and reached for her pajama top. Sheldon's words spun around her brain as she tried to figure out how she felt. Two weeks ago, she had been so certain she hated him. She had practically begged him to leave. Now, she couldn't imagine waking up in the morning without him curled up behind her.
Even Whack had finally succumbed to the charms of Sheldon. He never growled anymore at him, and two mornings ago she had woken up to find her pup nestled in the bend of Sheldon's elbow.
Before Sheldon had left for the Arctic, she had considered him her best friend. Sure, she had missed Leonard, too, but she knew it was mostly a mental sort of attraction. Leonard was not her type physically, but she had been so disillusioned by the guys she dated, she had wanted someone safe, reliable. In her heart, she hadn't been surprised by Leonard's betrayal. Everyone betrayed someone. All except Sheldon. She was pretty sure now that he would never have left if he had known how badly it would hurt her. She pulled on the pajama top and took a second to compose herself.
"You said you left to make yourself better. To become someone I was proud of." She looked up at him and slowly raised a hand to his cheek. "Sheldon, you were always someone I was proud of. You were someone I cared about very deeply. My best friend. The one and only person I was positive I could always rely on. You were the one I turned to for advice, and the truth. You were the one I would have defended against anyone."
Penny's vision blurred with the formation of tears. "You broke my heart when you left. It was as if I mattered so little, that you couldn't be bothered to let me know you were okay. I tried so hard to hate you for that. For the pain you caused me. I think I even did for a while." He cringed but she refused to let him pull away by moving her hand to his nape and holding him close. "But I don't hate you. Not really. Because even after two years of silence, you still mean more to me than anyone else."
She took a couple of seconds to search her heart once more before continuing. "I don't know if I love you as a friend, or as more. I know I do love you, though. Please, don't leave me again," she begged brokenly, tears streaming down her cheeks. "It'll kill me if you do it again."
Sheldon sighed softly and pulled her against his chest. He cradled her trembling body against his. "I won't," he vowed. "I won't ever leave you again, Penny."