Chapter 28 - Healing

The next morning Leonard just wanted to die, he was so sore, every muscle hurt and this new hurt only added to the remaining ache he had from the bruises he received from encounter with the Army, that last Friday. He had been barely able to sit up in bed and now sitting on the edge, he wondered if he would ever be able to get off, the thought of pain that he would feel from standing up and walking, zapping all his will to move. He looked at the bedside alarm clock and sighed, he still had another half hour until he had to move, so maybe he would feel better if he just sat there for a little while, he was still trying to rationalize those thoughts, when the cell phone rang.

Leonard was more than shocked to see Penny was calling. "Penny?"

"Hi Sweetie, how are you feeling?"

"Penny, it is 6 AM here, so it is 4 AM there, why are you up?"

"Sweetie, you told me you get up around 6 AM, and with all the exercising you did for the first time yesterday, I was worried you would be sore this morning. Honey, I know how hard exercising can be but you are not use to exercising and I wanted to know how you were feeling. So I set my alarm clock, to call you this morning."

"Penny, Honey, you need to go back to bed."

"Sweetie, I'm in bed laying here talking to you. I will go back to sleep when we are done talking. Besides, I'm your wife now and I get to check up on you all I want, mister."

Leonard softly chuckled, "Okay."

"How are you feeling Honey?"

Just the sound of her soft voice, made Leonard feel better, "I am a little sore."

"A little?"

Leonard chuckled, "I am a lot sore. It took a concentrated effort just to pick up this phone."

"Oh baby, I wish I was there to give you a massage. I hate it that you are hurting."

Leonard swallowed, the thought of Penny running her hands on him suddenly making him feel warm inside. "Really."

Penny smiled, they had been separated so quickly, they would both sometimes forget they were now married, but Penny had no regrets, as the days went on she was more and more happy she married him, he was perfect for her. She just wanted to remind him he was hers and she was his, "Yes lover, really…..I wish I could do that for you, right now." Penny now thought how it would feel to run her hands over Leonard's body, maybe while rubbing oil into it, and a small smile formed on her lips, yes, 'definitely with oil', she thought.

The urge to just hold Penny, his wife, suddenly burnt into his soul, he missed her so much. "Yeah, that would be really nice…..this sucks doesn't it."

"Yeah." Penny squeezed the pillow she was holding tighter, she didn't even realize she had grabbed it. She wished it was Leonard, she suddenly wanted him so badly, just to hold her, she really missed him being in bed with her. Penny held the pillow tighter, groaning in frustration, "God, you don't know how much this sucks, Sweetie."

"Everything okay there?" Leonard was now a little confused.

"No. I just had a thought about rubbing body oil all over my husband, and now I want him here to hold me, that's all." Penny's voice was just dripping of her frustration.

Leonard smiled, "I love you Penny….God do I love you."

Penny smiled and her eyes started to water a little. "Honey, I love you too. I am so happy, I am your wife."

Now Leonard's eyes were a little wet as they talked for another 15 minutes, his aches and pains now an afterthought as he talked to the woman who was the love of his life. After he hung up, he sat for a couple moments thinking how lucky he was, before he got up and headed to get ready for that morning. He was still in pain but he had put that in the back of his mind as he thought about his wonderful wife all that morning, while he got ready.

Penny rotated the pillow she was holding, because the side she had against her face was wet with tears. She missed him so much, she never felt lonely, cold or scared, when he was laying next to her, and then there was these other feelings she had about him, the urge to hold him, kiss him and make love to him. Penny just wanted her husband, she had actually found in easy to become mentally adjusted to being married to him and now she felt like a part of her was missing when he was not there, she so wanted him. She laid on the sofa bed, wide awake for about an hour, thinking about him, before sleep finally took her mind over again.

Finally leaving his room and meeting up with Howard that morning, Leonard was starting to think more about the upcoming day, instead of his mind being totally focused on Penny, so the thoughts of how sore he was came back too. Even seeing Howard in almost as much pain as him didn't help, as it took them both forever to get the Officer's Club and even then they only had juice that morning, before Martin picked them up. Luckily the trainers knew they would be feeling like this and planned a longer stretch out session for them that morning, allowing them to complete the morning training. However for these two couch potatoes, it was still torture, and the whole morning was way too long for both of them. Howard and Leonard really welcomed the lab work, on the project, that afternoon and practically collapsed in their beds that night, when they finally got to their rooms, their bodies pushed to limits they had never experienced before. The bright spot in their day, when they called their wives that night and those wonderful women soothing their minds with their words and concern.

The next morning wasn't as bad, and the morning after a little better as everyday went by the same for Leonard and Howard, working out in the morning then working on the project in the afternoon and early evening. Their days were very busy and their evenings were spent eating dinner then talking to their wives. This was to be their week through Saturday and it would go by quickly for them.

-TIN MAN-

The girls were busy too, Bernadette worked late every night, making sure she was home just early enough to eat and talk to her husband. Penny also worked a lot, but either talked to Leonard in the evening or later after she got home, him taking a nap before their talk, when she got home late to call him. The girls had fallen into a routine, which though not exactly what they wanted, still worked for them as they coped without their husbands. It turned out to be a great idea, having Penny live with Bernadette during this period, because the girls both took strength in each other's company.

However the problem the girls still had was their friend, Amy, and the distance they had put between them and her. That is why on Saturday, they all decided to have a girls night at Bernadette's, to let their friend know they had not abandon her. The girls had become a sort of three musketeers, all of them different but bonded by a mutual respect for each other and the love of their nerdy men, and they wouldn't have their friendship any other way. So when they got together, although a little uncomfortable, from the isolation the girls imposed the last week on Amy, it was still comforting for them all, their friendship overcoming any previous awkwardness.

There was one thing that did make things different than their previous girls nights out, however, and that was the status of the girls now. Before Bernadette was the married one, with Amy and Penny the single girls, that was all different now, Amy felt a little lonely knowing that she was the only girl of their group not married. Amy even thought she saw a little difference in Penny, she didn't know how to explain it but now Penny actually acted married by her mannerisms and Amy was surprised how her friend had seemed to change. That being the way it was, the night was still fun for them all and since Amy was staying the night with them, the girls had wine, except for Bernadette who said for some reason the wine didn't appeal to her that night.

The girls were bed by midnight, Amy and Bernadette sharing Bernadette's large queen size bed while Penny slept on the smaller sofa bed by herself. Penny had drank the most that night and although she wasn't drunk, she was impaired enough to want to talk to her husband and not care too much about the time. So as soon as she cocooned herself in the bed she got her phone and hit the speed dial for the man she wished was with her right then.

"Penny, is everything okay." Leonard's sleepy voice answered her call.

Penny immediately felt bad, "Sorry Honey, I'm sorry I woke you."

"No that's okay. I just thought you girls were having girls night tonight, so I didn't expect you to call again tonight after we talked earlier this afternoon."

"I just missed you…..a lot."

"I miss you too, love bug."

Penny giggled, "You haven't called me that since my father visited."

Leonard smiled to himself, "Yeah, you're right, but I'm your husband so I can call you that now, all I want."

"Honey, you can now do anything you want with me….all you want….. My husband." Penny voice was now low and seductive.

Leonard swallowed, he was now very much awake. "Umm….Honey, have you been drinking."

"A little. I'm not drunk Sweetie, I just really miss my husband." Penny said in almost in a whisper. Penny grabbed her pillow, and while buried in the covers, talked to Leonard until her cell phone battery was almost completely discharged, the warning beeping finally making her hang up. Penny and Leonard both ended up sleeping contently and deeply the rest of that night.

-TIN MAN-

That same week, on Friday morning, Colonel Bratton sat at his desk, after having a meeting with Major Martin, he hated Martin almost as much as his boss Col Turner, who he had a meeting with Wednesday. Turner and Martin were there telling him how to run his training unit, well not actually run his training unit, they were there to tell him how he was going to threat two trainees that would be in the next class. He hated these Pentagon types because there was nothing he could do, they had authorization from the Army Chief of Staff, and could actually have him removed if he didn't comply, so he just had to obey everything they told him, even from that lousy Major. Well at least shit flowed down hill, he would transfer this problem to Captain Wilton, he was assigning these to men to him, he would be their training officer, so they would be his problem.

Captain Wilton had left Colonel Bratton's office later, bewildered, it the last couple years as a training officer, he had never been directed by specific orders on how he was going to train people before. First what shocked him was these two men were going to have a room in the barracks, with the other trainees, for their uniforms, but they were going to sleep in the officer's quarters, this was so unusual because this had never been done before. Also he was told, they were there only for training, not evaluation on their suitability to be Army officers, that had been determined already. In addition, they had their own training schedule, they would spend the day there, but at dinner time would leave, and not show up again till next morning. Then the final shock to Wilton, these two men would go through all the training, but it didn't matter if they passed it all because they were going to be commissioned no matter what. Wilton told Colonel Bratton that this was crazy, but Bratton just told him it was directed by the Chief of Staff, Army, and any questions or problems could be address to these trainees escort, Major Martin. Wilton didn't know who these men were, but they obviously were very important to the Army, so he would just salute, say "Yes Sir" and hope the next three weeks went quickly.

-TIN MAN-

Sunday morning started out like every other day for Leonard and Howard, except their exercising was light, since it was Sunday after all. However the afternoon was different, it was the first day Wolowitz was going to be able to try and put power on Tin Man. Howard, Leonard and Major Lee had finally received and replaced all the burnt out components, plus the new fuel cells had been received the day before, so they were now ready. There was a small risk that something in the electrical system was still damaged, they hadn't found, so Howard had temporarily installed emergency fuses all over the suit, as a safety precaution, to prevent a short from overloading and burning out the wiring. However, Howard was an excellent engineer, so when the power switch was thrown, instead of blown fuse and a dead suit, he got a series of malfunctions and alarms as the computer automatically ran its power up systems checks as soon as the suit was turned on. It was actually a success, the master computer was now up and could help them trouble shoot the other suit systems, Major Lee and Howard smiled at each other and gave each other a high-five, they were now in business.