Chapter 19 - Life or Death

Howard and Bernadette had watched, just like Penny, when Leonard had landed in the water, the electrical discharge and display surprising them as much as Penny. The soldiers had also been awestruck by the display, temporarily forgetting about Penny and even had let her go, so when they heard Penny scream 'Leonard' again, they were so surprised, they didn't react and just watched her run to the pool. The sparks had not even finished before Penny bolted, she had to get to him, it was the only thing on her mind and she wasn't going to stop till she had him again. Howard's reeling mind told him to just follow her, so he did, which then spurred several soldiers to also follow the blonde girl, not because they wanted to recapture her, but because they were men and couldn't let the pretty girl go into danger alone. However they slowed down when they all started to reach the pool, they didn't know if it was safe, all except Penny, she never stopped and Howard immediately followed her.

The water was up to Leonard's chin, his nose and mouth would be covered in a couple seconds. He wondered if it would hurt a lot to die and he thought what should be his last words on this earth. He smiled, "I love you Penny." he got out before the water covered his mouth and nose, as it filled the helmet. Leonard held his breath, he was trying so hard not to panic, with the suit being dead and weighing over a quarter ton, it was like being in a straight jacket, he could barely move, and soon the horrible feeling of not having air to breath was taking over his last few seconds of life.

Penny didn't understand much about electricity and water, but she also didn't care, all she could think of was Leonard, she jumped in the water and waded to him, she didn't even hear Howard's splash as he entered the water behind her, by a few seconds. By the time Penny and Howard reached the suit, Leonard had become unconscious, he now only had about 5 minutes before he was completely gone. Penny started to yank on the suit, to try and get it above the water, but it was too heavy, and Penny screamed at Howard to pull harder, as he tried to help her. Within 15 seconds, after their arrival, a couple more sets of hands started to help them, but still the water logged suit was too heavy, they couldn't get it out of the water and Penny was getting more hysterical by the second, screaming at them all to all try harder.

Bernadette had arrived at the pool side, at about the same time as the soldiers started to try and help, now seeing the people hopelessly struggle to get the suit with Leonard out of the water. Just by watching them straining to lift Leonard, she saw it was too heavy for them, she knew they would never get it out. However, Bernadette was a small woman with glasses, she had experienced situations before in her life were her size and strength could not get something done. Like those times before in her life, when she didn't have size or strength to do something, she now looked for an advantage to make up for every ones lack of strength, to move the suit. She was also a very smart person, so as she quickly looked around, she spotted something, one of the military HUMVEEs had moved close to the pool, and it had a winch built into the front bumper. She walked quickly to the vehicle and yanked at the cable hook, yelling to a nearby soldier to help her to pull the winch hook from his holder. The soldier quickly grabbed it with her, then yelled at the soldier inside the vehicle, to release the winch brake. Bernadette loudly told them what she wanted to do in about 5 seconds, Bernadette's voice from such a small person shocking them both, but they immediately did what she told them, one grabbing the hook and cable, the driver releasing the wince brake. Bernadette made her way as fast as she could, the soldier following with the hook and cable, to the pool, and the HUMVEE driver slowly followed, moving his vehicle a little closer to the pool. Bernadette took the hook and the soldier jumped into the pool, immediately taking it back from her, he then waded out to Leonard giving the hook to Howard. It took Howard only a couple of seconds to look at the hook and back to Bernadette to understand her idea, he quickly attached the winch hook in the lifting clevis at the base of the helmet. Howard then gave Bernadette the thumbs up and she then yelled to the HUMVEE driver to start winching and to everyone's relief the machine came up, from the bottom of the pool, then was pulled to the wall of the pool. The suit was pulled tight against the pool wall, the helmet and shoulders completely out of the water, and Howard immediately unfastened the locks, at the back of the helmet, to expose Leonard's head.

Leonard had been unconscious for between 2-3 minutes, so the sight Penny and everyone saw, almost made her scream, his eyes were closed, his lips blue, and he was not breathing. Instinct took over Penny, the Cheesecake Factory had made every waitresses learn mouth to mouth resuscitation, and it all came back to Penny in that instant. Penny clamped her mouth to his and did everything they taught her, making sure she made his chest rise and fall with each puff of air she gave him. She kept at it for almost a minute, before Leonard started coughing and threw up water, it was the most wonderful thing she ever saw and the tears started to flow from her eyes. She had been so scared, her breathing was as ragged as Leonard's, so she just held his head, staring at his face, as both their breathing settled down, and his eyes started to flutter open. A feeling of pure joy washed over her as she saw his big brown eyes open and she gently caressed his head in her hands, almost crying now, "I love you Leonard, don't worry honey, I'll take care of you now."

Howard, Bernadette and the soldiers just looked at each other, then at Penny holding Leonard, no one knew exactly what to do. Finally Howard saw Colonel Turner coming over. "Penny, we really need to get Leonard out of this suit, now." which finally make her release him. It took almost 15 minutes to get him out and then a very banged up and weak Leonard was put on a stretcher, Penny never leaving his side.

-Tin Man-

Turner had Leonard immediately put in the back of an Army truck, allowing Penny, Bernadette and Howard to go with him, not only because they were friends but also to keep them all in a group and under guard. The truck then proceed to Los Angeles Air Force Station, the closest medical facility, under the guard of two very mean looking soldiers from Captain Olson's assault squad and a medic. Leonard was weak and there was a real concern of him having a life threatening condition, from the ordeal, so they wanted to get him medical attention quickly to make sure there were no complications. The medic was there to monitor Leonard, to make him comfortable, and to made sure he didn't relapse on the way to the medical faculty, while all the time working around Penny, who sat next to Leonard holding his hand. Penny was an emotional mess, she was still terrified for him, praying to herself he would be okay and holding his hand was the only thing keeping her together.

At the medical facility Howard and Bernadette were brought to and kept in a waiting room, separated from Leonard, and Penny, who would not leave his side. They were given hot drinks and snacks to eat and dry hospital scrubs to change into, even though Bernadette was not very wet, it was obvious their street clothes were being taken from them, they were prisoners. Inside the exam room, no one tried anymore to make Penny leave Leonard, she had his hand the whole time, even when doctor gave him a quick physical, still glaring at he doctor and nurse from when they first said something about her waiting outside. She wouldn't even leave him to change, only taking a blanket from the nurse to try to warm herself while she stayed with him, still soaked. Quickly, however, the doctor couldn't stand the sight of the shivering young blond woman, so they left them both alone so she would change without having to leave Leonard, the doctor not wanting to have a pneumonia case on his hands.

Part of the problem, Turner faced, was the military didn't really have the facilities, at the Air Force Station, to handle Leonard and the group, they wanted them to remain in custody of the military, but they didn't want to lock them up. The other big problem was they didn't want anyone to know about them, who didn't need to know, the Army National Guard unit was already being briefed on the new classification of the whole event. Turner and his Air Force counter-part, on the Air Force Station, had already been in contact with their superiors, this quickly becoming both a Chief of Staff of the Army and Air Force issue, therefore, they decided to keep the group in the medical facility over night under armed guard. Howard and Bernadette got to visit with Leonard for a couple minutes, to ease their minds he was going to be okay, then were moved to a empty medical facility room, to spend the night, two Air Force security personal standing outside the room all night.

Howard and Bernadette, in their hospital scrubs, resigned themselves to their captivity and, now in the room, they ate the food that was brought to them. The room had two hospital beds, a TV and a bathroom, so the both of them made the best of it, knowing they were going to be there the whole night, and got comfortable. They hadn't talked much about anything, except Leonard since they got there, so now Bernadette brought up the whole thing with Howard.

"Howie, I wouldn't believe what has happened over the last half day, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, and even then it is hard to believe. How long have you and Leonard been building that?"

"A couple of months, once Leonard figured out how to make sheets of the fabric, it really came together pretty fast."

"You built that from scratch in a couple months!"

"Well not from scratch. I had a robot project, from a few years ago, so I used all the parts and equipment from that to put the mobile exoskeleton together, that sped things up a lot."

"Still that is amazing. I want to yell at you for all this, but to be honest, I am so in awe of you right now, I guess I can forgive you."

Howard smiled, "Thanks Honey. I hope you still feel that way when you are visiting me in jail."

Bernadette looked at him stunned, her Howie going to jail had never crossed her mind. "What do you mean? Why would you go to jail?" Bernadette couldn't help the tears from forming in her eyes. "Howard, why are you saying you are going to jail?"

Howard now looked down, ashamed to look at his wife's eyes, Leonard had told him this would happen if he stayed close to him. "I built most of the suit, Leonard killed a man at the Cheesecake Factory, disrupted a police situation and now we disrupted an Army operation, they are not going to treat us kindly after all that." Howard then looked at his wife, and with a heavy heart, watched his words sink in and her expression change. Bernadette broke down, she buried her head into Howard's chest and sobbed.

They finally got Leonard to rest in another hospital room that night, it was the same as the one Howard and Bernadette where in, two beds, a bathroom and two armed guards outside. Penny was also dressed in hospital scrubs, but Leonard was in a hospital gown, him still being a patient. They were brought food too, however neither were very hungry, eating only a little, Leonard being exhausted and banged up, Penny from her stomach still being in knots from her concern for Leonard. Penny spent her whole time on the edge of his bed holding his hand and talking quietly to him the whole time he was awake. She told him, she loved him, would take care of him and would never leave him, and he quickly fell asleep listening to her soothing voice.

Penny had eventually ended up curled up next to him, stoking his hair, and gently talking to him, when he finally fell asleep. Her senses were now so attuned to his breathing, watching his chest going up and down, it had a calming effect on her, her worry for him something she never had for another human being. Her head was laying on he same pillow and his and their faces were barely touching, her body was touching his and her hand was on his chest, she could barely feel his heart beating with her finger tips. He was the most precious person she had ever been with or had the honor of calling hers, and suddenly all her commitment issues seemed stupid and childish. She didn't ever want to loose him, she knew now that thinking, if things didn't work out with him they could remain just being friends, was stupid, if another girl like Priya came along and took him, she wouldn't be able to handle it. The feelings she had for him were not just love, they were LOVE, they were real, now she knew why she never felt like this with anyone else, she never fell in LOVE with anyone else.

-Tin Man-

Colonel Turner and the Air Force Colonel Fry, sat at an all night restaurant, eating a little something before they returned to the Air Force Station, they would both be spending the night there. The orders from Pentagon were very clear, 'Put a tight lid on this.', they were told, it was now Top Secret, and the Air Force was going to help Turner in any way possible. Turner had a lot to do tomorrow, some of his other orders were quite detailed and surprising, but he actually agreed with them, it was the only way, and as he sat with Colonel Fry, he went over all his requirements for the nest day.

-Tin Man-

Penny curled up a little tighter against a sleeping Leonard, in the bed, gently holding him, his heart beat soothing her, and she slowly fell asleep, never leaving him the whole night. That was the way the nurse found them when she checked Leonard's vitals, and after briefing the doctor, an Air Force Colonel, he reluctantly authorized it, admitting that Penny was probably the best medicine for Leonard at that time.

Bernadette had finally fallen asleep too, her crying finally becoming whimpers and then sleep finally took her. Howard knew she was asleep when her death grip around him had finally slacked, it had broken his heart to make her feel like that, he had tried to find a way he could have made it not happen, but he knew there was none. He gently stroked his sleeping wife's hair, he would never love anyone as much as he loved her, in a strange way they were just as much soul mates as they knew Leonard and Penny were. No there was nothing Howard could have done, he knew what Leonard and him had done was the right thing, Leonard couldn't have done any of that alone, and he could have never abandon Leonard. It made him feel a little better, except for the part that he may be taken from Bernadette, and as he looked down at her, he kissed her head, holding her a little tighter as sleep finally took him too.