71

After Penny got home and looked around at her new/old apartment with her newly purchased and assembled bed she decided to have another Girl's Night to inaugurate it that very night. She thought about speaking to Sheldon but decided to put it off. It had already been a fairly intense day. She wanted to unwind a little.

Nora and Alex arrived first.

"Hi guys."

"Brought you something. Sort of a housewarming present."

Nora handed Penny a large, flat rectangular package.

"Is this what I think it is?"

"Yup."

Penny ripped off the wrapping paper to find the sketch that Stuart had done of her and Nora beautifully matted and framed.

"Oh, guys, this looks so great. We have to put it up right now."

"That's kind of why we brought our tools with us."

A few minutes later the framed picture was up.

The three women looked at it admiringly as Missy opened the door and walked in.

"If I'd known we were gonna be spendin' the evenin' starin' at naked women I woulda dressed different."

"Really, Missy?"

"No, just kiddin'. But that sketch looks really good up there."

"It does. And it kind of helps make this seem like a new chapter is starting in the story of Penny."

"So, how does it feel to have your apartment to yourself again?" asked Missy.

"It feels good. A little weird. But good."

"Why weird?"

"Well, the entire time I was living here by myself I was struggling, barely living paycheck to paycheck. Now things have changed and I'm not sure what I think about it."

"Maybe you're feelin' a little more secure?"

"I guess that's part of it. But also kind of scared. And, it's just, I don't know, I want more."

"Well, sweetie, you finally figured out that you were in a crappy relationship and a lot of that relationship took place here. I could understand why you might be feelin' a little odd."

"That's part of it. But most of Leonard is gone from this apartment and the bit of stuff I kept is packed in a box I might never open again. No, I guess I feel like the whole world has suddenly opened up for me. I have a chance to be successful and comfortable. I mean, I used to dream about being rich and famous and I kinda know that probably isn't going to happen. But what I have now, what's coming up…I can live with that knowing it'll probably keep leading to better and better things."

"Penny, you went from a dead-end job to a dead-end relationship. You were dependent on Leonard for almost everything and you had nothing to look forward to except what Leonard wanted."

"You got that right, Alex."

"But now you're in a pretty good position to figure out what it is you want."

"According to my therapist, I should be taking some time to figure out who I am."

"That makes some sense. Now that you're pretty much supporting yourself you can take the time to figure a lot of things out."

"Which I should try to do. I think."

"What's the issue?"

"Well, old Penny would look at having some money and some security as a chance to buy some shoes and go out on the town…"

"And pick up a guy and get herself laid."

"Nora!"

"We're all thinking it. Even Penny. I just said it out loud."

"Nora's right. Old Penny would be out the door so fast to look for a hunk there'd be skid marks. Old penny would be a bar drunk and horny and swatting men away until the right muscle-bound lunkhead came along. And then it would be days of meaningless sex."

"But good meaningless sex, right?"

"It doesn't matter. I don't think that's what I want now. Or ever again. I guess maybe I'm tired of being defined by what I do in the sack."

"Penny, you're in a good place. And that's probably a good decision to make. Maybe concentrating on your work and putting together a new life is more than enough for now. The rest will come."

"Besides, if y'all are thinkin' of doin' somethin' with my brother, well, takin' your time might be necessary."

"I'm still not so sure me and Sheldon would be a good thing. After finding out what he did to make Amy and Leonard go… I think maybe he and I still have some issues. I was there. I encouraged him to be with Amy. And I stood right next to Leonard while he was being such an asshole to Sheldon. I think maybe Sheldon and I need to steer clear of each other outside of work. Some of the things I did really hurt him."

"Penny, I think you're wrong. One of the things that Shelly wanted most of all, more'n the Nobel or respect or any of that crap, was to have you in his life as his friend. He needs that. After not really havin' it for a while he knows how much it means. Penny, you need to give him a chance to figure this out. And you need to figure it out too. We've all seen what happens when you two are together even if neither of you see it. There's electricity. There are sparks. Each of you just lights up. You can't throw that away. I just won't let you. We won't let you."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Figure it out. You and Shelly are pretty smart people. Different kinds of smart, but pretty darn smart. You're gonna find a way to make things work. Don't rush it. And don't do somethin' stupid."

"Like?"

"Fuckin' the first hardbody to come along would be stupid. And that would definitely be old Penny. Some of what happened with Leonard was right for you. You moved away from the kind of guy you used to date, at least ya thought ya did. Leonard was just the wrong guy to pick."

"Yeah, I know. But I kinda think that maybe neither of us should be thinking about being in a relationship right now. I think we need to figure out who we are and work on our friendship. If something's gonna happen, I think it will. Sheldon says he's open to something eventually happening. I'm not gonna push him. And I'm pretty sure he won't push me, at least not in that area."

"So basically we'll all figure out things as they come along."

"Sweetie, we're talkin' about Sheldon Cooper here. There are some things you can depend on."

"Like what?"

"So now that we're all getting' settled in, and the distractions are gone, he was thinkin' about reestablishing parts of the Sheldonian calendar."

"Sheldonian calendar?" said Nora quizzically.

"Yeah. Shelly had a pretty defined schedule. A specific food and/or activity for each and every evening. There were aspects of it that were a little silly, but it also was something that you could be depend on when things got crazy."

"That's kinda why he set it up in the first place. His world was so crazy he had to take some kind of control. Anyway, we talked and decided that we'll bring back Mondays and Fridays at our place."

"What does that mean?" asked Nora again.

"It means Thai food on Monday and Chinese on Friday."

"Everybody's welcome. It just won't be a late night 'cause of the baby and 'cause we all get up early in the morning these days."