So I hadn't updated this one in a while, so I figured it was about time. Now a quick note: I am 99.99999% positive that this is not actually going to happen, and a thousand percent positive it would not happen exactly as I've written it here. I just figured it'd be fun to write, and I have some other ideas that I like better that I hope to space out for the entire time that I'm writing these onehots.

This, of course, takes place in September, when Leonard comes home.

Penny grinned at the sight of Leonard walking toward her. He'd lost a little weight – the seasickness that he'd told her about so often in their emails had taken its toll – but he was Leonard Hofstadter, the man she loved, returning from a wonderful career opportunity, and not much the worse for wear.

He caught sight of her several seconds after she'd noticed him, so she got to see his own face break into that smile that she'd missed so very much. She bounced a little in place, excited, wanting to run to him but not wanting to make a scene, and held her arms out as he got closer, not sure if she wanted to hug him or kiss him first but knowing that she just wanted physical contact. She'd had none from him since the middle of May.

It turned out she got both, as he dropped his bags one pace from her and curled his arms around her while mashing his lips to hers, their first kiss in four months, and her hands moved from his back up to his face, holding his mouth to hers despite him not making any move to pull away, as she pressed her body to him, craving this closeness.

When their lips parted, she kept her face near his. "I missed you so much," she said, her eyes flickering between his eyes and his mouth, him doing the same. She kissed him again, not allowing him to respond, to tell her that he missed her too, she knew that he did, she didn't need to hear it in the way that she needed to be kissing him.

He was the one to end the kiss – only to hold her head against his shoulder with one hand while the other one pressed against her back. "It's been too long," he whispered.

"I know."

She picked up one of his bags, keeping an arm around him as they walked toward the exit, resting her head on his shoulder. It wasn't the most efficient way to walk, but she didn't give a damn.

Once they were in her car, she looked over at him and smiled. He smiled back. "I love you," he said, reaching for her hand and squeezing it.

She smiled. "I love you too." She put her second hand over his, and they both looked down. "Leonard," Penny said, "can we talk?"

Leonard frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" she said quickly, looking up at him. "Just…it's been a long four months. And…it kinda got me thinking."

Leonard nodded. "Okay. About what?"

"Just that-that I love you a lot." She looked down at their hands again. "And the last time you left, I was ready to take the next step when you came back, and maybe…maybe I'm ready to do that again."

"Are you saying you're ready to live together?" Leonard asked with a smile.

Penny blinked. "Well…we can do that too."

Leonard frowned – but it was an amused sort of frown. "Too?"

Penny smiled. "Leonard, I'm trying to say that I wasn't ready to get married before you left, like Howard and Bernadette did before he went off into space." She saw Leonard's face change slightly, and she smiled. "But I think I'm ready to move toward that now. There were times over the summer that I'd almost regretted not doing this before you left."

"Are you…are you asking me to marry you?" Leonard asked.

"Yes," Penny said, nodding. "I am. Asking you to marry me."

Leonard's face broke into another smile. "Wow. Wow!"

She smiled again, biting the left side of her lower lip. "Is that a yes?" she asked quietly through her smile.

"My answer was never in question."

Penny was glad that she hadn't yet fastened her seatbelt because it would have greatly interfered with her flinging herself across the space between them to plant yet another kiss on Leonard's lips. It didn't matter that she'd have the rest of her life to feel his kiss. That didn't change the fact that it had been a long four months.