AGAIN, THIS STORY IS INSPIRED BY THE DALE BROWN BOOK "TIN MAN" HOWEVER EXCEPT FOR THE CONCEPT AND REFERENCES TO SOME TBBT EPISODES, THE STORY IS MINE. I AM BORROWING THE CHARACTERS FROM THE BIG BANG THEORY AS MY PLAYERS, BECAUSE FOR THE STORY TO BE A LITTLE BIT BELIEVABLE I NEED THEIR GENIUS. SO THE CONCEPT IS OWNED BY DALE BROWN AND THE CHARACTERS ARE OWNED BY THE CREATORS OF THE BIG BANG THEORY.

DURING THE FOLLOWING CHAPTERS THE STORY WILL NOW DEVIATE FROM THE SHOW AND TAKE ITS OWN PATH, SO EPISODE 6.08 NEVER HAPPENS. THE SCENE WITH PENNY TELLING LEONARD SHE LOVES HIM, IN THE HALLWAY BETWEEN THE APARTMENTS, THEREFORE NEVER HAPPENS. I HOPE YOU ENJOY THE REST OF THE STORY. REVIEWS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME.

Chapter 7 - Penny's Recovery Begins

Monday Leonard took Sheldon to work, he never said a word and even Sheldon could tell Leonard did not want to talk, his futile attempts to get him to talk resulting in complete silence from Leonard. Leonard's only true conversation with him was after they parked, when he told Sheldon he had to find his own way home, because he was working late, leaving a stunned Sheldon standing at the car. Sheldon, Howard and Raj never saw Leonard for lunch and did not see him at all that day, Howard was worried.

Penny was early to the consoler, she really didn't know what to expect and deep down didn't want to talk to anyone, but the nightmare had shook her up, still remaining in her mind, and it had drove her to come anyway. Dr Beth Ryan had been looking for the third girl all morning, she knew about the young 18 year old rape victim and the older redhead victim, because they were admitted to the hospital after the ordeal, but the identity of the blonde victim, was sketchy until she talked to Penny. The consoler knew, from talking to the other girls, that Penny was almost raped and would have been next, so she would have emotional scars. Also, Penny was the only girl to have a gun put to her head and was almost killed. However, as the session progressed, Penny would not talk, she closed off when the consoler tried to get her to open up. It wasn't till she asked Penny about bad dreams that Penny eyes showed Beth she struck a nerve. Beth used that to get Penny to talk a little and even though they didn't talk long, she could tell Penny was having problems. There was some optimism though, Beth got Penny to agree to come to the group session with all the girls on Wednesday, so she hoped Penny would open up more then.

Penny met Cheryl when she left the office, Cheryl was next to see the consoler, but after talking a few minutes, they agreed to see each other that night for dinner. Penny then ended up wandering around the mall, not really shopping, just walking and thinking before she had to go home to change for dinner. She took her time getting dressed, she couldn't seem to do anything fast right now and after she got ready, she went to meet Cheryl at a cheap chain restaurant for dinner. They didn't really talk that much, but after dinner Penny easily convinced Cheryl to get some drinks with her, so they went to a bar Penny knew. Cheryl was amazed how fast Penny got drunk, she took every free drink any man offered, and after she was drunk she danced with them all, but then there came a point where Penny wasn't in control of her own mind and Cheryl finally dragged her out.

That night, Sheldon woke Leonard up, complaining about all the noise Penny was making, so Leonard put his robe on and looked out the peep hole of the door to see what the commotion was with Penny. What he saw was poor Cheryl, trying to get a crazy drunk Penny into her apartment and no matter how much he tried to resist, he knew he had to help. Leonard reluctantly opened his apartment door, "Hey Cheryl, she is pretty bad tonight."

"Hi Leonard, yeah she tied one on, could you help me?" Cheryl knew Leonard was Penny's boyfriend again, Penny had always talked about him, but lately she had talked about him a lot more and said they were dating.

"Yeah, I have her key here." Leonard grabbed Penny's spare key from the bowl and walked over to open Penny's door, then he helped Cheryl carry Penny into the apartment.

"You guys are really good friends. I love you guys. How come there are four of you carrying me? I love you guys." Penny rambled on, not knowing what she was saying.

"Let's get her in her bed. Could you get her out of the dress and into her pajamas?" Leonard looked at Cheryl for a reply.

"Don't you want to do that?" Cheryl knew Penny had slept with Leonard before, she was confused why he didn't want to get her ready for bed. She also knew Penny trusted Leonard and would not be upset if he did it, because he had done it before.

"No, you better do it, we are really not at that point in our present relationship." Leonard wanted to just get her to bed and get out of there, he had to keep away from her, he didn't want her associated with what he had done, when it came crashing down on him. He helped Cheryl get her on the bed then got her pajamas for Cheryl. "I'll get some water and some aspirin for her for tomorrow." Leonard then left the apartment to go to his for the water and aspirin.

"Come on Penny." Cheryl tugged Penny's dress off and then her underwear so she could get the pajamas on.

"I love you guys."

"Yeah, I know."

"Do you know a super hero saved me. I'm Lois Lane and a superman saved me."

Cheryl stared at her, the ordeal passing through her mind, she was with the girls that the other criminal had. That guy was younger and didn't threaten to kill or didn't rape anyone, not like the guy that held Penny and those other girls. Cheryl could still see the thing that killed the man, that was going to kill Penny, it was like a super hero and it did save her. "Honey, you are okay now." Cheryl finished putting Penny's pajamas on.

"Why won't superman sleep with me, I love him, you know. Doesn't he love me?"

Leonard walked in as Penny made her last statement and stared at her, unable to move and thought 'I love you too, more than anything', then he sighed and put the bottle of water and two aspirins on her nightstand. He looked at Cheryl who was staring at him.

"Ah, I have to leave Leonard." Cheryl saw his eyes and knew there was a problem, but she couldn't even imagine what it was.

"Okay, do you need a ride?"

"No, I'll get a cab, I'll be okay." Cheryl then got up and walked out as she called the cab company on her phone.

Leonard had a few more bottles of water for Penny, plus a TV dinner that Penny liked. He knew when she was hung over and finally felt like eating she would only make TV dinners because they took the least effort. Leonard put the covers over her and went to her kitchen to put everything in the fridge, then he stood there, he needed to leave, but he was worried about her.

He didn't have much time to think, because suddenly he heard from the bedroom, "I feel sick."

Leonard hurried to her room and helped her to the bathroom, then spent the next two hours over the toilet with her. He held her hair as she threw up over and over, she was really sick this time. Finally she stopped and he got a little water down her and then she fell into a deep sleep. He felt she wouldn't wake up for a while, but he couldn't leave her, so he went to her couch and just sat there, until he found himself waking up in the same spot the next morning, as the sun showed through her apartment windows.

Leonard stood in her bedroom doorway just looking at her for 20 minutes, he had a sickening feeling this might be the last time he was so close to her and he was having trouble just breathing. He had thought she was the most beautiful girl in the world, the first time he saw her, and then after knowing her, fell in love with her, he loved her unconditionally. Technically he was still her boyfriend, but really that was over because he had to protect her, this was it, this was the end of their relationship and he felt like something was dying inside him. He finally sighed and shook his head, she would be okay, hung over but okay, and he needed her not to see him, so he decided to leave, going back to his apartment to get ready for work.

-TIN MAN-

Penny woke up about 10 AM feeling terrible, she couldn't remember ever feeling this bad, everything hurt, even her hair. She pulled herself to the edge of the bed, she had to find the strength to get water and aspirin, she didn't even know if she had aspirin, but as she got near the edge she saw the bottle. Slowing she reached up for it and then she felt the pills, which she grabbed too, through blurry eyes she saw they were aspirin, so she took them and then drank half the bottle of water. She sealed the bottle back up then holding it fell back to sleep for five more hours.

Leonard sat in his lab, just sitting and staring at his laser equipment, he couldn't bring himself to do anything. What was nice about his lab was he could put up 'Laser in Use' signs and lock the door, so no one would bother him. He felt guilty just sitting there, after all they were paying him to be doing something, but he couldn't get his brain to think about work. He was startled when he heard the knocks on the door and surprised when he saw who it was. "What do you want Howard?"

"Hey Buddy, how are you doing?" Howard felt so uncomfortable when he saw him, Leonard's eyes just reflected pain.

"Howard, I don't want to talk about it."

"Leonard everything is going to be okay."

"No Howard it is not. The police will find about the suit and they will arrest the killer. You need to stay away from me."

"Leonard, I am just as responsible as you."

"No Howard, you are not. You weren't there, you had no idea what I was doing. Howard they are going to find out after Hogan comes back and I tell him about the material, and they will see the suit fits me. If you are not around me they will never associate you with it."

"Leonard…."

"Damm it Howard, you have Bernadette to think about."

"You have Penny."

"No Howard, Penny doesn't love me, she can't tell me she does, because she doesn't. She will easily find someone else. I don't have Penny. But you are responsible for and to Bernadette. I won't be responsible for ruining that. So leave Howard."

"Leonard, you can't…."

"Howard leave, leave now. Why won't you listen to me. You know I am right. Will you think about Bernadette, and what this would do to her!"

Howard just stood there staring at him, he was right he couldn't hurt Bernadette.

"Leave Howard."

Howard didn't know what to say.

"Leave!"

Howard couldn't move, he couldn't just leave him, but Leonard gabbed his shoulders and pushed him out the door. Leonard locked it after him, sitting then back in his chair, thinking about Penny, he couldn't stop the few tears that fell from his eyes, he felt so alone. Howard stood in the hallway for a while, he didn't know how long, he just felt like a coward and for the life of him, he didn't know how fix things.

Penny woke up again after 3 PM, her head still hurt, but not as much as before, and she couldn't at first understand why she had a bottle in her hand. Finally her mind came around and she realized it had been on the nightstand this morning, so she opened in up and poured it down her sandpaper feeling throat. She started to get up, but fell back down dizzy, so she just laid there for about a half hour before she slowing tried it again. She need more aspirin and water, so she stumbled out of her bedroom, into the living room, looking at the kitchen and saw the aspirin bottle on her kitchen counter. It took her a little bit to get there, but she finally got the aspirin bottle and took two out, she now hoped she had some water. She attempted to smile when she saw six bottles of water in her fridge, at least she was having some luck this afternoon. She made it to the couch, took her aspirin, then drank some water, laying her head down, she fell asleep a few moments later.

Leonard stayed at work till 9 PM, basically doing nothing, he just didn't want to go from one empty office to another empty bedroom, until he was ready and most of all he didn't want to see anyone. As he drove home, he hoped Sheldon was asleep, the thought of having to talk to him in anyway upset him to no end. He actually felt something like a good feeling, when he walked in the apartment and found the lights all off.

Penny woke up a little after 9 PM, she was actually starting to feel like a human being again, a human being in pain. She still had a low level headache, so she immediately popped two more aspirins and drank more water. She laid on her couch and turned the TV on low, just trying to get back to normal and by 11 PM she was succeeding, even feeling a little hungry too. However Penny didn't remember if she had food, she hadn't really paid attention all weekend and she never seemed to have any when she needed it. She slowly walked to the fridge and opened it up and found nothing, so she opened up the freezer and a small smile formed on her lips, she had a TV dinner. She was picking at her food 20 minutes later, she was only a little bit hungry, but the TV dinner was her favorite, so she ate it all. Penny was back in bed by a little after midnight, with a full belly, she fell dead asleep in minutes.

-TIN MAN-

Penny got up at 10 AM the next morning, at least the headache was gone and she wasn't dizzy when she stood up. She still felt a little wore out, but she felt human again. She had a group counseling session at 1 PM, so she figured if she started now, she could get there in time, and she willed herself out of bed and to the bathroom to get ready. When she got there, she was surprised to see almost all the girls at the group session from that night, even the redhead, who she knew was named, Vicky. The group session wasn't too bad, she really didn't have to talk much or do much, and after a couple of hours, she was ready to go.

Dr Ryan had watched Penny during the whole session, Penny was going to be her hardest nut to crack, so as soon as the session was over, she went over to talk to her. "Penny can you help me with something?"

Penny looked at Beth and suspected something. "Why….What?"

"Penny, I'm having problems with Erin and I need your help."

"Who is Erin?"

"She is the girl you held that night."

Penny swallowed, she didn't know her name was Erin and it actually made her feel bad because she really didn't want to see her. So Penny felt ashamed, about that and uncomfortable, the thought of seeing Erin scared Penny. "I don't know." her voice was so soft Beth almost didn't hear Penny.

"Penny, she has asked for you. It would really help her if you could see her." Beth saw the conflict in Penny, she seemed not able to move, she needed to be lead, so Beth gently took her arm and lead her out to see Erin, Penny never resisted.

Penny rode silently to the hospital with Beth, she couldn't say anything, she felt at a loss for words. Penny blindly followed Beth to Erin's room and when she walked in she almost fainted, seeing Erin made everything come back to her. Erin saw Penny too, and both of them had tears forming in their eyes, as Penny moved towards Erin's bed, then took Erin into her arms. Beth watched both girls sobbed their hearts out, they were both letting out some of the grief bottled up inside of them, it made Beth feel good inside, they were both taking a step to healing.

Leonard actually got a little work done that Wednesday, but it was busy work, his mind would not think deeply about anything but last Friday. It was eating him up, his stomach started to feel bad regularly and he was thinking about getting some stomach medicine on the way home. He found he didn't want to eat much anymore either, but he really didn't care, the worse that could happen was he would die and he felt sort of dead already.

-TIN MAN-

Penny spent all afternoon Thursday with Erin, talking, crying, and sometimes laughing. Dr Ryan stopped by, late afternoon, and was amazed how much better they both were, Erin was telling Penny about her home and high school and Penny was telling Erin about hers. They had become close, they had shared almost the same horror and they were feeling better in each other's company. Penny and Erin even walked down the cafeteria and had dinner together, it was the first time Erin had left her room.

Leonard's Thursday and Friday were just like Wednesday, he worked a little, kept away from everyone and felt terribly alone. Leonard was not getting any better, he just had accepted that he was doomed and had given up hope. Howard had tried to see him again, but Leonard drove him off again, Leonard had gotten so mad at him, he even threatened to hit him, before Howard finally agreed to leave.

-TIN MAN-

Howard also had a busy week, after his confrontation with Leonard, he decided he had to do something, in his mind this couldn't go on, Leonard seemed to be getting worse, instead of better. So Howard came in early the next day and put in the micro video cameras, with transmitters. He put one in Leonard's office and one in his lab, Howard was terrified that his friend would do something extreme, so he also decided her would stay at work each night till after Leonard left. After the first boring night, watching Leonard from his office, Howard started doing the monitoring from the room they had the suit hidden. Howard would watch Leonard as he worked on the suit, it made the time go faster, when he worked and he couldn't help that he liked to tinker with things.

The first thing he noticed was the damage to the suit, specifically the exoskeleton, Leonard had damaged the leg bars to the exoskeleton when he jumped and they needed to be replaced. Howard ran some quick static equations then performed a dynamic analysis and soon found that spring steel was a better choice, so he got some spring steel bars from material storage at the mechanical engineering department, for the suit. The steel however, brought up another problem, the weight would increase and now he worried about the servos, they needed to be of higher rating to handle the greater weight, so he got new servos. Howard now thought about what Leonard said, that bothered him, he wasn't there and he didn't know what Leonard did, so Howard put in a camera that linked with the two way communication in the suit, so if it was ever used again, he would see and hear what Leonard did, instead of being isolated from him like before. Finally Howard decided to put in a non lethal weapon system he had been working with the Army on, to impress them. The little project he had been working for the Army, was a weapon called dazzlers, and he had a lot of the equipment left from his work. Dazzlers were extremely high intensity lights that seemed like little suns when they lit up, their effect on human eyes was instantaneous. The Army wanted them for temporarily blinding the enemy, they were non lethal, effective and could be powered by the laser energy packs, Howard thought the Army would like those in the suit too.

-TIN MAN-

Friday morning Penny packed her bag and went to the parking lot of the Cheesecake Factory to catch the bus, to go to a beach spa, with all the other girls that were involved in the hostage situation. It was the last couple days of the planned therapy treatment for them, they were all going to a beach spa to be pampered and relaxed, while attending a few short therapy sessions while there. Penny was feeling better and needed to just mindlessly relax, plus Erin had agreed to go and Penny thought it would be nice to spend the weekend with her. Vicky was there too and the three of them spent the most of their time together, being able to talk to someone who knew exactly what you went through helped each one of them heal.

Leonard again spent most of the weekend in his room, staying in bed 16 hours from Friday night to Saturday, his depression only worse. The only good thing about the weekend was Sheldon, went to conference with Amy that weekend, leaving Saturday morning and he would not be returning till Sunday evening. If Leonard timed everything right, he would never see him this weekend. Leonard never realized that like his work, Howard had hid a camera in his room and his living room to watch Leonard on the weekend too.

-TIN MAN-

Sunday afternoon Penny got off the bus and hugged Vicky and Erin, she couldn't believe how much better she felt. It was like a load had been taken off her shoulders and she could live again. She had just got back in her car when her phone rang and she saw it was from Bernadette and for the first time in a week she was happy her friend had called. "Hi Sweetie what's up."

"Penny, I haven't seen you all week, are you alright?"

Penny smiled. "Yeah, I feel better."

"Do you want to come over for dinner?"

That really sounded nice to Penny. "Yeah, what time?"

"About 6 PM."

"Great, see you then." Penny hung up, then started her car, turned on the radio and sang to the music as she drove happily home to get ready to see her friend.

Bernadette was surprised on how back to normal Penny seemed when she came over for dinner, she even didn't resist talking about things. Penny explained what she went through over the last week, meeting Vicky and Erin, and how everything was getting better with her again. However, there was one thing that bothered Bernadette a little, now that Penny was not dwelling on what happened to her, she seemed a little obsessed about her strange savior. She talked again about how it saved her, how it stopped to look at her and she seemed to have some type of desire for it. This whole thing was a little worrying to Bernadette, because the one person she never talked about was Leonard, he seemed to not exist to her, right now. Bernadette had not seen Leonard all week too, and when she had asked Howard about Leonard and Penny, her husband didn't seem to know anything about his close friend. Bernadette hoped there was nothing wrong, that this was all a phase between them, but she couldn't suppress the little bit of doubt that there was something wrong between them. Anyway, Penny seemed to be getting better, almost happy, so Bernadette accepted that and had a pleasant evening with her, she thought maybe things would get better with her and Leonard too.

Leonard was laying in bed, when he heard Sheldon come home for the weekend, to the apartment. Leonard had turned off all the lights and made it seem like he was asleep, hoping Sheldon would not bother him. He felt relieved, to hear Sheldon's bathroom routine and then the closing of his door as he went to sleep, Leonard would not have to talk to him tonight. Sunday had been a day of reflection for Leonard, he accepted that there was nothing he could do about his situation and basically had given up hope, he was just going to acknowledge his fate. They were going to catch him and he would be locked up for killing a man, so the only thing he could do was make sure no one else went down with him, especially Penny and Howard. He felt a little at peace now, he would just keep his distance from his friends and go on and work until the day they came to take him away. He still had to get his work written up for Dr Hogan, when he came back, so when he went in tomorrow, he would try and get that finished up, before they arrested him.

Penny returned to work on Monday, a little over a week after the incident, when the Cheesecake Factory reopened. That day was hell, everyone thought that it would be slow, because they had been closed so long, but instead it seemed everyone wanted to eat at the place, where the hostage incident occurred. Penny ended up coming in the morning and staying to closing, the manager begging the girls to stay, and when she went home she was exhausted. She got into bed quickly that night and was very tired, but it took her a few minutes to fall asleep, because she just couldn't seem to get comfortable, nevertheless her exhaustion soon won out letting her sleep.

-TIN MAN-

The rest of the week was just as busy, but the manager had recovered after Monday and had extra girls on shifts. Erin, the 18 year old waitress never came back to work, Penny heard she still had treatment to undergo for a while, but Vicky the redhead, was back and worked all week with Penny. The days were tiring but the tips were great, especially when people asked and she admitted to them she was one of the hostages, one group giving her a tip of $100, for just 7 people. The first time someone asked her about her ordeal, she felt a little upset, but after a while she could tell most people were interested and sympathetic, so she just got use to saying the same story over and over, leaving out the really bad parts. Another, thing nice that happened was that her and the other girls held hostage were notified they would get a cash settlement from the company for their suffering and Penny was happy to get any extra money she could.

That week Penny also hung out with Bernadette and Amy in the evening a couple nights, however she couldn't seem to get her mind off her hero no matter where or who she was with. Penny even went to game night on Tuesday, to talk to the guys about super heroes, she craved more information. She did notice Leonard not being around, however her fixation on the mechanical man over road her pursuing his whereabouts. "Sheldon, is there a super hero like that mechanical man that saved us all at the Cheesecake Factory?"

"Surprising you should ask." Sheldon was actually smiling, "We were discussing this before you came. I think Ironman is very close to this mystery hero, but Howard insists that it is something new, a more common man type hero."

Penny looked at Howard, "What do you mean? Common man hero?"

Howard, knew he should have never even gotten into this conversation , with Sheldon, in the first place, 'Crap', he thought, now he had to lie his way out of this. "Ironman was built by a rich extreme genius, Tony Stark. I think that maybe someone just built this thing and went out to prevent people from being hurt."

Sheldon snorted, "Howard, it is no wonder you don't have a PHD, only a person with, genius type mind, like mine, could have ever built something like that. He is probably a theoretical Physicist or something like that, who thought about it one afternoon, then built it."

"Then you're saying, you could build something like that, in your spare time." Howard looked at him in disbelief, thinking 'Arrogant Asshole'.

"If I had the time to waste on such trivial matters."

Penny looked at Sheldon confused, "You are always reading super hero comics, wouldn't you love to be a super hero, so if you could build it, why wouldn't you build it?"

Howard smiled at Penny, "Yeah, Sheldon, why wouldn't you build one."

"Because, then I would have to help people, I don't have time for that."

The conversation went on for another hour, until Penny got tired, because nothing new was being said. She left to go back to her apartment, and when she opened her door, she stopped, finally realizing Leonard hadn't been there the whole time and wondered where he was. It occupied her mind for a second or two, until she decided he probably just didn't want to be around Sheldon that night and that is why he was gone. After all, she just spent over an hour around Sheldon, and now she was probably good for a week or two not seeing him, again.