Chapter 17 - A Force that draws Two Bodies Together
The next hour Amy was in a state of euphoria, until her mind bit by bit came back to reality and began to think again, that euphoria slowly wearing off as she started to analyze and question Sheldon's statements. The first question being his motives for actually suggesting he wanted to marry her, and the more she thought about it, the more she thought that he was just doing to get his way and not because he felt anything for her. Her previous happiness now dissolved, as she thought more about it, effectively over thinking the whole situation and making her ask him the question on her mind. "Sheldon are you wanting to raise your child so badly that you are forcing yourself to enter matrimony with me?"
"Yes, Penny again has made me enter into something I'm not prepared for, but we are through the Looking Glass already so we must throw caution and good sense away to protect my Homo Novus." he flatly responded.
Amy felt heartbroken, "So you are just suggesting marrying me to get the baby, not because you care for me."
Sheldon stared at her for a moment, "Amy of course I care for you, you are my girlfriend."
Amy sadly nodded, "But you really don't want to marry me."
Sheldon looked at her again, thinking. "Oh now I see the problem, you think because I am not ready to marry you now, you think I never want to marry you."
Amy nodded. "Yes."
Sheldon walked to the couch and sat in his spot, next to Amy. "Amy, I am just saying that in our relationship this was much too early for me, however because of events we will have to move things up. I have told Penny and Leonard before that I considered coitus with you a definite possibility, and you know I would never have coitus before marriage."
"So you have thought about marrying me?" Amy asked, hope in her words.
"Of course, like I just said. It is just I never planned it this soon, the circumstances changed all that." he responded.
Amy sighed, "I was hoping for a little romance when somebody actually wanted to marry me."
Sheldon huffed, "Amy you know I don't do romance." Amy just sadly nodded, it actually made Sheldon think about his next words. "Amy Farah Fowler, you know we are best suited people for each other in this world, as Leonard and Penny would say we are made for each other." Amy looked at him a little starry eyed and not so sad, "It only makes sense logically, that two superior beings, as are selves, should pair bond." Amy nodded, so Sheldon decided to go a little hippy dippy for her, because he really did care for her, "Amy, I wouldn't have asked your earlier to be may roommate if I didn't want our relationship to advance, it is just now we will have to hurry that advancement earlier than I planned."
Amy gave him a small smile, "So you really want to do this."
Sheldon nodded. "Yes Amy."
Amy felt better about his sincerity for marrying her, but now she had to talk to him about the baby. "Sheldon, you know the baby is Penny's too."
Sheldon shook his head, "Amy do you remember the first few months we communicated." Amy nodded, which pleased Sheldon, he grew tired of lesser minds that forgot things while he remembered everything. "We discussed the gift to society of having a baby." Amy just nodded again.
"Well I asked Penny to loan us her womb to grow our child then, but she said no. However now she is growing my child, so although this has happened in a yucky way, it is no different when we planned having a baby before, only this time Penny is carrying it." Sheldon explained.
"But Penny is the mother." Amy pleaded
"And I am the father, I don't see your point." Sheldon responded.
"Sheldon no court in the country is going to take a baby from its mother and give it to the father." Amy finally told him.
"We'll see Amy, we'll see." Sheldon said smugly. Then as an afterthought Sheldon looked directly at Amy, "Amy, you will support me on this won't you?"
Amy didn't think Sheldon had a chance in hell of getting custody of the baby away from Penny, so the risk of helping him was extremely low, then there was the thing that he wanted to marry her, so she gave into her heart. "Yes Sheldon, I'll support you."
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Leonard was gently shaken away by the stewardess, "Sir, we are landing in about a half hour, so you'll need to get your chair configured back to a seat. Also, if you want some breakfast, you will have to eat it now."
Leonard nodded, "Thanks, yes I'll take breakfast." he then got up and did what he was told, finally sitting down as breakfast was put in front of him. He actually felt good, sleeping a restful 7-8 hours had driven all the remnants of the hangover away, making him hungry and feeling better. Leonard had barely time to eat and have a glass of orange juice before they cleaned up everything for landing, his excitement building again as he was about to enter the next part of his journey.
Since Leonard's flight was coming from overseas, he had to get his bags and submit to U.S. customs screening, this delay taken into account by the airlines so his connecting flight was three hours later. So while Leonard waited in line he turned on his cell phone for the first time since he left the United States, since his phone did not have a chip to work overseas. The phone, which he had charged on the plane, not only powered up but gave him warnings that both his email and voice mail boxes were full and that he would have to delete items to see any more items. Leonard ignored this and went right to the internet to find a car service in Los Angeles to take him to Penny's after he arrived, the need to see her now stronger because he was finally back in the country.
Leonard however had a little problem, it was now the early hours of Sunday in California and most of the car services were closed, either because it was too early or because it was Sunday. The remaining places he did get through to, had no cars available to pick him up, it was completely frustrating to him and it made him do something he really didn't want to do but he felt he had no choice. Leonard scrolled through his contact list and found Howard's number, feeling bad because it was between 4 and 5 in the morning in California, but resigning himself that Howard owed him big time so it was time to collect. Subsequently Leonard selected Howard's cell phone number and hit send.
The phone started to play "Rocket Man" while it sat on the nightstand next to Bernadette and Howard's bed, the problem was Bernadette was between Howard and the phone. The song woke Bernadette up and in her half asleep state she leaned toward the nightstand to see the offending object. "Howard! Some jerk is calling you in the middle of the night."
Howard who was now awake answered her, "Gimme the phone, it may be my mother."
"Well tell her not to call at this time anymore." Bernadette exclaimed, as she picked up the phone to hand to Howard. It was then that Bernadette saw who the call was from and she came instantly awake, hitting accept button and putting the phone to her ear. "Leonard! Are you back in the states?"
Leonard gave a soft chuckle, "Sorry to wake you Bernadette. Yes I'm back in Chicago right now to change planes and I should be back in California around lunch time, so I was wondering if you guys could pick me up at the airport and take me to Penny's."
Bernadette's heart beat faster in excitement, "Is that why you came back Leonard….to see Penny." Bernadette hoped that was the reason and prayed he was going to say yes.
Leonard was silent for a second then decided he couldn't hide it. "Yes Bernadette, I came back to see if we could mend our relationship and go on from there. Please don't tell her, I really want to tell her myself."
A big smile crossed Bernadette's face, "Leonard, Penny in not here, she went to Nebraska for the holidays."
It felt like the wind went out of Leonard, he had hoped to see her today and now he didn't know when or if he would see her. "Oh."
"Leonard, do you love her?" Bernadette asked.
Leonard felt defeated, "Yes, very much."
Bernadette had to know, "Do you love her enough to forgive what happened and not bring it up again?"
"I have already forgiven her." Leonard simply answered.
"Have you thought about the baby?" Bernadette now waited for his answer, the baby was a big deal and she knew it would be something he would have to accept if him and Penny were to make it.
"Yes, I love Penny so I can't ever imagining not loving the baby." Leonard responded.
Bernadette smiled, maybe they both did have a chance after all, she thought. "Leonard go to Nebraska, Penny needs you."
Leonard didn't know if it was right for him to barge in on her and her family. "I don't know Bernadette, me showing up there might not be welcome."
"Leonard listen to me, she wants and needs you, go to her." Bernadette hoped she was doing the right thing, butting into their relationship, but she remembered how sad Penny was when she left. "Leonard, you need to go to her."
Leonard deep inside wanted to do just that and Bernadette's encouragement was just the push he needed. "I will, I'll go."
"Good." Bernadette said smiling to herself. "Tell Penny to call me when you see her."
"I will, thanks Bernadette." Leonard said back.
"Leonard she loves you too, you know." Bernadette just wanted to tell him that before he hung up.
A tear came to Leonard's eye. "Thanks Bernadette, thanks for your help."
"You're more than welcome, just threat her well or I'll coming looking for you." Bernadette kidded.
"I will, Goodbye Bernadette." Leonard then hit end on his phone.
"Goodbye Leonard." Bernadette hung up and while still looking at the phone said, "Good Luck." she then sighed.
"What was that all about? Were you talking to Leonard?" Howard asked in confusion from watching her the whole time.
Bernadette nodded, put the phone on the nightstand, and they laid her head on Howard's chest as tears fell from her eyes, "I love you Howie."
"I love you too." said her bewildered husband.
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As soon as he was able, Leonard hurried to the counter and the gate agent of the Nebraska flight, having to pull out his inhaler and take a puff before he could talk to her. After he had gone through customs he had gone to the customer service counter for the airline and was told there was a flight to Omaha that morning that he may be able to get a seat on, by exchanging his ticket. He had run the whole way there, adrenaline and hope driving him until he now stood in front of gate agent. "Hi, I'm Leonard Hofstadter and they told me I might be able to get on this plane." He didn't even notice the Stewardess behind the Gate agent turn to look at him.
The gate agent looked up at him and took his ticket, "Maybe, if you have your bags with you." Leonard nodded and pointed to the bags he had been pulling behind him. The gate agent nodded, "Well I can put you on the standby list, but I have to be honest with you, there are only three seats available right now and you are the seventh on standby."
Leonard felt deflated. "Is there anything you can do, I really need to get to Omaha, you see there is this girl…"
"Do you know Penelope?" the stewardess from Penny's flight, a few days before, had been standing behind the gate agent getting a copy of the passenger manifest when she heard 'Leonard' and started to listen into the conversation. She also remembered the woman's name because it was the name of her favorite fairy tale princess, in a book her father read to her, when she was a kid.
Leonard's shocked look at her told her he did, but after a second he confirmed it. "Yes, do you know her?"
"Maybe, can you describe her?" the stewardess asked, the gate agent just looking at them both in turn in bewilderment.
Leonard nodded, "She is about as short as me, slender of course, blonde hair and the most beautiful green eyes."
The stewardess nodded, she couldn't believe the coincidence that she would run into the man that poor woman wanted so bad and that he wanted so badly to get to her. It also didn't help that the stewardess was a hopeless romantic, and couldn't let this go, so she turned to the gate agent. "We have to help him."
The gate agent just looked at her, in surprise before saying. "Okay let me look some more. Sir can I see your ticket again so I can see the fare type." the gate agent typed for a minute then shook her head in disbelief. "You have a first class ticket and one of the unfilled seats is first class so you get first shot at it." she then smiled at Leonard.
Leonard smiled at her then looked at the stewardess, "Thank you. Thank you so much."
The stewardess nodded and smiled back, she was too choked up to speak, so she quickly took the printout and hurried down the boarding ramp before she started crying. The thought that she made it possible for that poor woman to get her man back quickly, warmed her heart and she felt that today was one of the best days of her life.
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Penny stared at her email account, it had been about 2 days now and there was still no reply from Leonard and the extreme loneliness it brought her was almost unbearable. She never really thought about Leonard not being there, from when she first got to know him, he had become her friend almost instantly, and now him being completely gone was something she couldn't even comprehend. It was finally sinking in to here that he wasn't coming back and she needed to accept she was going to be alone in all this, being pregnant, having a baby and maybe even the rest of her life.
It was that sudden feeling that she would never see him again, which made her understand something about herself she never ever realized till now, Leonard was part of her, taking him away was like killing a piece of her, she had never felt that way with any other man. She knew she loved him and loved him more than any man before, but now she knew it was more, it was a true love, a love that could go on forever and it just made her feel more horrible that she had screwed it up. She laid back on her bed and did something had done many times since he left, remembered her life with him and like many times before came up lacking in her treatment of him. He was the best think that ever happened to her in her life and she had lost him, she hated herself and knew she would never be as happy again.
It was an hour later when Penny slowly walked down the stairs to head to the kitchen, last night she had trouble sleeping again, like every night and what made it worse was she still hadn't gotten an email from Leonard and the last hour of self contemplation only made her more miserable. So it was already past lunch, when she finally headed down the stairs as she wandered down again to see her mom. She was actually a little surprised to hear her mother and father talking as she approached the kitchen, because her father was usually doing work around the farm after lunch. However her surprise at hearing her parents was paled by what she saw when she went through the doorway to the kitchen making her freeze, blinking a couple times trying to determine if she actually hallucinating or was she really seeing what she was seeing, Leonard sitting between her parents, them talking to him.
"Leonard?" Penny squeaked out after few seconds of trying to determine if she was still asleep or not. Her heart beating faster and her mouth immediately going dry, as she felt like she wasn't able to breath, when he looked up to her from his seat between her parents. She stared at him while trying to gasp for air, suddenly seeing spots between him and her, the last thing she would remember before blackness and everything, including Leonard, was gone.