Chapter 10 - Anticipation

Leonard, that Friday, had also been thinking of how he had less than 10 more days till he saw Penny too, and no matter what doubts he still had, he couldn't help but feel some anticipation. They still needed to talk and work things out between them, but his time away had let him get over the initial pain and allowed him to think more logically about what happened. He now thought he could get past it, he also felt she deserved another chance, not only because he loved her, but because he truly believed she loved him. So the thought of seeing her again made him feel content while he worked in his lab, a new experience for him since he got there, as he completed his data reduction so he could write his final report the next week.

Constance walked down the hall to Leonard's lab, it was a routine she had gotten into after being around Leonard over the weeks of his being at Cambridge. Constance had immediately took a liking to Leonard, as soon as she had been assigned to assist him developing computer programs for analyzing his data, during his first two weeks there. So she was currently heading to Leonard's lab to mooch coffee, like she had been doing for the last few weeks, on the excuse that his coffee was the best around there. Therefore, it now being 10:00 AM, the time she told Leonard was her normal coffee break, she headed through the doors to his lab.

Constance had a Masters in Computer Programming and was hand picked by Hawking himself to support his team, like Leonard, which meant she was smart and good at her job. She was born with her intelligence, but that was not all she was born with, she was beautiful, and she knew it because guys fell all over themselves to be with her. Every single guy on Hawking's team had tried hitting on her, even some of the married ones, and she had shared dates with them and the men around Cambridge who also seemed to flock to her.

Leonard was different though, and she knew deep down inside, it was the first thing that made her like him, he was sweet and honest, plus he had not hit on her since he been there. Leonard actually treated her as a colleague and not a sex object, becoming a team member she enjoyed working around and a new friend. His presence also brought up something else Constance had been thinking about, her beauty and intelligence had allowed her to enjoy her life and not get into anything serious as she migrated through her 20's. But even though she met a lot of men, had fun and just lived, now as she walked in the lab pausing to watch Leonard working on the last of his data processing, she started to wonder. She couldn't understand why but she was attracted to him, liked to be near him and it made her happy just watching him, and the more she thought about it, the more her feelings seemed to change towards him.

Constance, was attracted to smart men, she enjoyed a man she could sit and talk with for hours about subjects that interested her, much more than just a simple hour romp in bed, especially after the lights went out, when performance meant more than looks. Leonard was smart and Constance admitted to herself, cute with a nice ass, a smile coming to her face as she strolled deeper into Leonard's lab heading to the coffee pot, but discreetly checking him out at the same time. She admitted to herself she used the coffee to be there, however, she didn't admit it also allowed her to hang out with him, when she had some free time to kill. So like many days before she was visiting him, enjoying being able to spend some time with him and being just a normal person around him, while wondering how it would be to get closer to him.

"Good morning Lenny." Constance greeted him smirk, as she walked in the lab.

Leonard turned to look at her, a smirk also on his face, "A good morning to you too, Connie."

Constance gave him the fake glare she always did at the running joke between them, since the first time they had met. Constance had thought all Americans were casual, so after being introduced to him the first day, she kept called him Lenny all day, not knowing he didn't go by that nickname. It only took the next day of him calling her Connie, for her to realize her mistake, something they both laughed at as the day came to an end. It had also become something that immediately started the bond between them to form as friends, a bond that started to grow for Constance, to where they were now, as she sipped her fresh cup of Leonard's coffee and watched him as he resumed working. It was weird, but she felt so relaxed and knew if she didn't have a job, she could just stay there and watch him all day. But she did have a job, she currently was responsible for several data reduction

and analysis programs supporting several of Hawking's projects, and like most of the scientists at Cambridge being involved with Dr Hawking's projects was quite an honor and a responsibility she couldn't shirk. However, she did have some free time right now, before lunch.

"Leonard, I have a couple fixes for that code you are using, so I'm going to make them on my working copy then when I am done, transfer the program to you." She lied.

Leonard nodded, then turned back to her with a small smile. "Thanks Constance."

Constance sat at the terminal and began modifying some of the software for the revised program, she originally wrote him for his work. Like she told him she worked on the software, but in actuality she was just cleaning up a few lines of code, nothing really needing to be done, since everything was actually running fine. What it allowed her to do was just spend more time with him, being a few feet away, her hands doing meaningless corrections on her computer code, while she sipped her coffee and watched him working away. It was so pleasant that Constance took a look at her watch trying to calculate how long she could stay there and still get everything else done on her schedule today, and she smiled when she knew she could kill time there till a little after lunch at least.

Constance's comfortable little world, she was now in, was disrupted when Meka came into the lab area, making Constance softly huff in aggravation, when as always, Meka's flirting began as soon as she saw Leonard. Meka was one of the grad students assigned to assist the scientists in Hawking's team, none of them were specifically assigned to a particular scientist, but Meka had early on latched on to Leonard, as soon as she was introduced to him. She made every effort to be the one to help him when he needed it and managed to wander into his lab or office even when she was specifically assigned do something for someone else, reluctantly of course. But today Leonard was working alone, so Meka just wandered in, to both look busy and flirt with him. Constance tried to discount the situation to herself, but she was jealous, of the younger grad student disturbing her time with Leonard.

"Dr Hofstadter, ummm…..I was shortly about to pick up some food for lunch, so before I go, I came to see if you needed anything?" Meka casually asked, making Constance roll her eyes. For the hundredth time Constance asking herself who names their kid Meka and then for the hundredth time answering her own question, it is a nickname for her real name.

Leonard smiled, like he did with everyone, "No Meka thank you." Constance then smiled at the slightly frustrated look that quickly passed over Meka's face as Leonard turned back to his work.

However, Meka was not turned down so easily though, "Dr Hofstadter, you are not going to work through lunch again are you." She said with a pout.

Leonard gave a small chuckle, "I'm that obvious, am I." Leonard stopped working a second in thought then looked at Meka, "Meka you know you are not here to run personal errands for us, you are here to assist and learn, not be a servant."

"Dr Hofstadter, I really don't mind and I'm going that way anyway, let me pick you something up, it really is no bother." Meka replied, it sounded to Constance though like she was begging him.

Leonard nodded in surrender, "Are you going by anywhere that serves fish and chips?" Constance already knew Meka's answer, the girl would go anywhere to get him food, even to London if she had to.

"Of course, Dr Hofstadter, I go right by a place, it is on the way." Meka smiled brightly at him, again Constance wanted to gag. Meka then turned to the door, a skip in her step.

"Meka wait." Leonard walked up to her and handed her some money, Meka's smile dimming a little, Constance knew she had wanted buy his lunch. Leonard then looked over at Constance, "Constance do you want some fish and chips too."

Constance really wasn't a fan of fish and chips, "Yes that sounds great." Constance though was a fan of dumping on Meka, as she watched the grad student give her a quick glare. "Thank you Meka." Constance said as sweetly as she could.

Leonard gave Meka money for him and Constance, then stopped to look at Meka, again an expression of thought crossing his face, "Meka this is nice of you, please let me buy you lunch too." Leonard then put a few more pounds into Meka's hand and smiled at her.

Constance watched as Meka's smile took over her face again and silently groaned. She thought Meka probably rationalized that Leonard giving her money for lunch was like a date for them, instead of what he actually did, pay her for her troubles. Constance found herself slightly shaking her head as Meka left the lab, again practically skipping out the door. Constance couldn't understand why someone like Meka would think Leonard could like her, she was only a grad student, she was half Chinese and half British, she was skinny and she was an inch shorter than Leonard, plus she wore glasses. Constance then huffed to herself, Meka was also adorably cute, her body was actually athletically slim with perky breasts and the glasses went perfectly with her face making her only look cuter, Constance hated her.

"Something wrong?" Constance snapped out of her thoughts to see Leonard looking at her with a confused expression.

Constance immediately put on a smile. "No just some difficult code." she lied, "That is why I like programming, it is a challenge." She gave him a bigger smile and typed on her keyboard, typing gibberish on the screen that he couldn't see.

Leonard smiled and nodded, "That is why I like Physics too." he then turned and went back to work. His mind quickly going back to when he would see Penny again and what he would say. However, thinking about Penny made him think about what just happened with Meka, he was now smart enough about women to know Meka was flirting with him like Alex, a few years ago did. He also knew he needed not to encourage her without being mean, but what just happened with her made Leonard realize something else, he didn't care if Meka had those thoughts about him in that way, he could never return them because he only cared about what Penny thought about him, he only wanted her. So he quickly put Meka out of his mind and started to concentrate on his work, not even understanding or noticing the woman looking at him while she typed mindlessly at her computer terminal, all her thoughts centered around him.

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That Saturday morning, was six weeks to the day Leonard found her in Sheldon's bed, Penny woke up feeling a little sick, Penny thinking to herself that it was something she ate. The girls had come by that day, but she had successfully convinced them she was fine, just feeling a little under the weather, so they let her be that day, while she just laid around her apartment having a lazy day. However, the next morning it occurred again and Penny now convinced herself it was a cold or the flu, resulting in her staying home again, ending up that whole weekend just taking care of herself, so she would be okay for work Monday morning. It wasn't too bad really, just a little discomfort and stomach cramps in the morning that seemed to get better as the day progressed on. She actually wondered if all the stress of the last few weeks and seeing Leonard again soon, had messed up her system because her period was late too, and she thought maybe the discomfort she now felt meant it was starting to occur soon.

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There was something else that happened that weekend, Amy and Sheldon were watching TV that Saturday, eating takeout, before Sheldon began his laundry sorting for the night. Amy was conditioned to leave, while Sheldon started his routine, so after she put her dinner refuse away and helped Sheldon clean up, she naturally picked up her bag to leave. However she didn't even get half way to the door before something unusual happened.

"Amy could you stay longer, I have something to discuss with you." Sheldon blurted out.

Amy had been very cautious the last few weeks since her and Sheldon got over the event involving her and Penny taking advantage of him, so anything unusual, like now, sent her mind into overdrive. Amy gave him a guarded smile, "Of course Sheldon."

"Could you take a seat?" Sheldon pointed to the couch next to his spot.

Amy was now scared, "Okay." Her mind was over thinking big time and she was terrified that their talk was going to change their lives forever. She almost wanted to cry, things had been so good between them lately, they had actually been spending a lot of time together and the thought of that ending was a thought almost too hard for Amy to take. So she said nothing, sat down where he wanted and waited for him too speak, as she noticed he had become nervous and that could be nothing but bad for her she thought.

"Amy a lot has changed the last few weeks, and I abhor change, so these weeks have been hell on me." Sheldon began.

Amy nodded, fighting the increasing urge to cry, "I'm sorry Sheldon." Sheldon nodded in a dismissive way, that made Amy feel horrible inside, she was now convinced he was breaking up with her, and she prepared herself for the worse.

"Amy you actually make the last few weeks bearable for me." Sheldon had turned to Amy and was looking directly into her eyes as a sigh escaped his lips. "Amy I know now that Leonard is not coming back and I will have to get a new roommate because I find now that I desire a limited amount of human company each day." Again Sheldon sighed, whatever he was saying was hard on him, Amy could tell. "I have thought this through the last week and I determined, that I enjoy your company, so there is no real sense in bringing a stranger into my apartment, when I have you." Sheldon stopped and just sat there staring at her.

Amy blinked, she had expected the words termination, relationship agreement and good-bye, but what he said was something else. Her mind tried to process his words and as she thought she put them together, a shocked expression crossed her face. "Are you asking me to be your roommate?"

Sheldon gave her a look she knew he gave people who stated the obvious, "Yes Amy, I thought my statement was obvious in its simplicity, however it was a little too Hippy-Dippy for my liking."

A smile slowly formed on Amy's face, "You really want me to move in here and be your roommate?"

"Roommate Amy, not some live in girlfriend that acts like Penny every chance she gets!" Sheldon admonished. Sheldon saw Amy's smile falter and for once understood his words hurt her. "Amy, we have spent a lot of time together these last few weeks and I really want to spend more time with you. Being roommates will allow us to do that. The rest of it I am still working on, but this is some movement, isn't it?"

Amy's smile returned, a little more subdued but still noticeable, "Yes it is Sheldon, and I would love to be your roommate."

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That week was the pretty much the same overall for Penny, she felt a little sick each morning, so she got up early to sit on the couch a hour to rest and get over the worst of it before she left for work. It took usually till the late morning before she was feeling much better, then she would finish out the day and just to go to bed early to try and get over this 'Stomach Flu' she now thought she had. This routine worked fine for Penny till Friday morning as she got ready to shoot her last scene for the episode they were doing that week.

"Penny are you doing okay." Carol asked, her and Penny having now become good friends while acting in the show. "Honey you don't look too well."

Penny nodded, "I've had this stomach bug all week, that I can't shake."

"Maybe you should take a break." Carol suggested.

Penny shook her head, "This is my last scene then I am done and can go home to rest. I want to get it over."

Carol nodded a little unsure about her friend. "Honey, then have makeup put a little more on you then because right now you look green."

Penny gave a forced smile. "Thanks." then went to find a makeup person.

The scene went fine, Penny able to play her small part in it without a hitch, however, when the director told them the scene was done, her stomach told Penny it wasn't, as she threw up on the set. Pandemonium set in then, several people backing away from Penny while others ran to her to see what was wrong. Penny feeling sick along with embarrassed for the moment, wanting nothing but to sit down an cry.

"Penny what's is wrong." the director asked after they got her sitting down.

"She told me she has a stomach flu and has had it all week." Carol told him for her distraught friend.

The director nodded. "Penny, they have a small clinic on the grounds and a doctor on call for things just like this. Let us take you there, okay?"

"I'll be okay, I just need to go home." Penny said weakly.

"Penny, let them just look at you. They will probably give you something to make your stomach better and help you get over being sick faster. It is only a few minutes from here." the director calmly said to her, his soothing voice making Penny listen intently to him.

Penny nodded in surrender to his suggestion, not only because it was a good idea but because she now remembered Leonard was coming home soon and she didn't want to be sick when she greeted him. So she looked up at the director standing over her and nodded. "Okay."