The prompt for this story was:
Canon Penny meets an alternate universe Penny, she's surprised by how full of life, happy and even younger looking the other Penny is despite them being the same age.
They talk and Penny is ashamed that this other Penny was able to make her dreams come true while she gave up on them, she can hear a happy undertone in every word this other Penny utters and is shocked to discover that Other!Penny (as she started calling her in her mind) never dated Leonard, she instead never gave up her crush and 'courted' (Other!Penny says making air quotes and with a wistful smile on her face) Sheldon until he actually got it that she wanted to date him and they've been going strong ever since.
Penny ask other questions and realizes that she gave up more than her dreams
Penny looks back at the man sleeping in the bed, guilt heavy on her mind, she still remembers her talk with the girls about a boring kind of love, Leonard is…not the worse guy she could end up with but still, she thinks that she deserves better, He deserves better but her gut clenches with apprehension every time she thinks about breaking up with him, she's in her thirties now and the voice in her head telling her that she won't do better sounds suspiciously like her mom.
She sighs and shakes her head stepping into the hallway, she can hear her Wackadoodle is already watching cartoons and she is in the mood to join him. Had Penny opened her eyes she might have hesitated to step into the portal of the door as the hallway had disappeared, replaced with shining blue light but with her eyes closed all Penny could see is darkness, however, she did notice that something was not right immediately after she walked through the door, her ears popped and for a moment she felt herself float before finally touching solid ground again.
As Penny braces herself against the wall because what the hell was that she looks back to see if Leonard felt it as well and that's when her brain goes blank, the room she was just in is gone, instead she can see clothes, as if someone had transformed it into a closet. In shock and morbid curiosity she went back into Leonard's room and found it transformed, one half of the room was dedicated to clothes and shoes (in a detached way she was super jealous of whoever owned this wardrobe because it was as if someone took her wishlist right out of her heard) while the other half of the room was dedicated to comics and a life size cut-out of Spock, right in the middle of the room there was a wooden bench that looked well worn but cared for, she stepped back quickly and closed the door, a little harder than she wanted and froze at the voice coming from the living room, she knew that voice, it was her own.
¨Sheldon? Sweetie? Are you okay?¨ The voice was warm and teasing and Penny wondered if she could still sound like that, she knew that she was no longer the bubbly girl the guys first met. Curious she walked towards the voice, maybe Sheldon would be right and meeting oneself would make the Universe implode, had she traveled back in time?.
¨Moonpie? Are you stuck again and need my hel-¨ the voice trailed off and now Penny could see the other her as well, no explosion so she took the time to study Bizarro Penny (Sheldon was rubbing too much on her). Bizarro Penny looked good, she was wearing Hello Kitty shorts and an orange tank top and Penny was sure that she had traveled back in time, that is until she walked fully into the living room and saw the Hello Kitty calendar on the side of the fridge, Nope. No Time travel, it was the same year and same day if her memory served her right which at this point she was more willing to think she was dying of a stroke and this was her final vision. But no, no time travel, dimension travel.
Bizarro Penny was also studying her and Penny suddenly felt insecure, she was wearing the pants of one of Leonard's pajamas and an old ratty Princeton T-shirt. She wished that she had known this would happen so she could wear her best clothes you know? And she was perfectly aware that she was joking so the panic threatening to overwhelm her would stay at bay. She was debating on what to say when Bizarro Penny sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, took three calming breaths and then opened one eye as if to check if she was still there, Penny felt that a handwave would not be out of place so she did just that, Bizarro Penny simply sighed again and in a tone of voice that she herself had used often simply asked ¨Sheldon?¨ Penny shrugged with one shoulder in what she hoped was enough of an answer.
Bizarro Penny suddenly yelled ¨Sheldon Lee Cooper! If this is one of your jokes I swear that you will be sleeping in the couch for months you hear me!¨ Penny felt her jaw hit the floor, that couldn't be right, Bizarro Penny made it sound like she and Sheldon were together and because the Universe has a sense of humor she heard that unmistakable voice that she both loved and hated, ¨Penny? I thought you would be watching that dreadful show of yours, I was just reading about this new-¨ Penny still with her mouth open turned and looked at Bizarro Sheldon, expecting to see…well, she was not sure what she was expecting but he looked just like her Sheldon, plaid and comic book shirt included, he had a bundle of papers in one hand and trailed off when he finally looked up and saw her standing there.
Bizarro Sheldon was just Sheldon, no tattoos, no leather jacket, no evil spock goatee, no nothing outwardly noticeable that she could see or explain why Bizarro Penny was apparently boning Bizarro Sheldon. As for the man himself he stood there and watched her in the same way he would watch his whiteboard to try and understand something and Penny crossed her arms in front of chest because she forgot to wear a bra and while this might be a version of Sheldon it wasn't her Sheldon and she wasn't totally comfortable with the idea of him looking at her so closely, not especially after it seemed this version had a deal and that deal was Penny.
Sheldon finally stopped studying her and then turned his head slowly to look at Bizarro Penny, he raised an eyebrow and asked ¨Is it my Birthday?¨ Bizarro Penny just laughed like it was the funniest thing ever but Penny felt herself flush, she must have misunderstood, there's no way, there's just no way that her Wackadoodle just made a sex-joke or implied one about a threesome or whatever, alternate Universes were stupid and dumb.
Sheldon just raised the corners of his mouth into that smirk he gave her whenever he successfully made her laugh and went to sit at this spot and she idly noted that the couch was different but he still sat in the spot, in his 0,0,0,0 and that more than anything else made her keep her cool.
Sheldon finally spoke after a moment ¨Fascinating, multiverse travel is beyond my ken at the moment but the me from that universe must be brilliant!¨ Penny had to quickly burst his bubble and explain that she a) did not know how she got here, b) as far as she knew the other Sheldon was watching cartoons and not working on any device or machine and c) was kinda freaking out about the entire thing.
¨Seriously Penny, there is nothing to worry about, Sheldon and Penny Cooper are here and we're going to get you back home¨ Bizarro Penny had prepared a cup of coffee and handed it to her, she nodded in thanks and took a gulp and almost spit it back out when Bizarro Penny took a seat on Sheldon's leg and in a move that only comes from year of familiarity she saw in disbelief as his hand went to her hip and then Sheldon did that thing where he starts planning things in his head and ignores the rest of the world, except this is the first time she had seen him do that with a lapful of Penny, she went to gulp more coffee when her brain finally caught up to her and she muttered ¨Penny Cooper?¨ Bizarro Penny in a very Sheldon manner raised an eyebrow and lifted her left hand to show the ring that sat there and Penny could only stare, she jumped when Sheldon exclaimed ¨I got it! I need to go to the university for some equipment to make sure but I will be right back¨ and if Penny wasn't freaked out enough she saw as Sheldon patted Bizarro Penny's butt to get her to stand up and quickly kissed her before dashing out the front door.
Bizarro Penny seemed to finally take pity on her and asked ¨Want a drink?¨ Penny couldn't answer fast enough ¨Oh god yes!¨ After they both had glasses of wine (it was the good stuff even) and sat on the couch looking at each other, Bizarro Penny in Sheldon's spot and Penny on the other end, neither said anything but while Bizarro Penny was happy to stay quiet the silence was eating at Penny, she had so many questions, Penny and Sheldon? Sheldon touching her? Married? So Penny tried to vocalize these questions in an eloquent and casual manner but all that came out was ¨So you and Sheldon huh¨ and cringed at the end result.
Penny wished that she could be as composed as Bizarro Penny was, maybe she had to deal with this often, maybe this was normal for them and yeah right she was grasping at straws here. Bizarro Penny simply nodded and said ¨Sheldon and me¨ and offered nothing more than a teasing smile, it was weird looking at the other Penny, like a mirror, except the mirror looked brighter and happier. Penny was already in deep so she decided to go for broke ¨Can I ask why you didn't chose Leonard?¨ she hated how sad her voice sounded.
Bizarro Penny finally looked surprised ¨Leonard? Sweetie, I don't know any Leonards¨ it was time for Penny to be surprised, no Leonard? Without intending to, she told her story to Bizarro Penny, dropping out of college to pursue acting, meeting the guys, how Leonard was Sheldon's roommate on the other Universe and how she and him had a complicated on/off relationship, to her credit Bizarro Penny did not interrupt her even once until she was done.
¨Okay Sweetie, I know you don't want to hear this but you deserve better, you know that right?¨ Penny suddenly feels her throat constrict and her eyes burn. Bizarro Penny is looking at her and the fact that she's not judging her or making faces finally breaks the barrier and huge sobs escape her mouth, Bizarro Penny is instantly there to hold her and in the back of her mind she thinks 'I knew that I gave great hugs'.
Penny takes a while to recover but by the time Sheldon returns she's nursing her second glass of wine and her eyes are dry. Sheldon brought several devices that she's not even close to knowing what they do but he seems to be happy to do whatever he's doing and she catches Bizarro Penny's face and her breath stops, the way she's looking at Sheldon makes her feel guilty because she's pretty certain that she's never looked at anyone in this way, not Leonard for sure. Bizarro Penny catches her staring and just gives her a slow smile.
Penny needs to know so she asks the working Sheldon ¨Sheldon? Do you know a Leonard?¨ Sheldon stops his tinkering to turn and look at her ¨I know of several Leonards but I'm guessing that's not the nature of the question?¨ He turns to look at Bizarro Penny and she gives a thumbs up to which Sheldon smiles a real smile, not his joker smile and Penny's heart breaks because her Sheldon doesn't smile as much or as sincerely, ¨Yeah, it's uh, Leonard Hofstadter.¨ and she can almost see the loading icon above his head as he searches his memory but then suddenly he straightens up and looks at Bizarro Penny and there's some communication happening there that she's not getting but she doesn't know why and when Bizarro Penny gives her a one side arm hug she knows that whatever it is, it won't be good.
¨Leonard Hofstadter was a experimental physicist working for Caltech until 9 years ago,¨ Sheldon's voice is steady but he's looking at her in concern and it takes everything in Penny to not cry again as Sheldon continues ¨However. he was found removing experimental military grade fuel and providing it to a North Korean Spy¨ she's not sure if she gasped or if it was a sob but the arm around her tightens ¨He's currently serving a sentence in a Federal prison.¨
Penny can't help it, she laughs and then cries, how fucked up are their lives, she remembers this story, Sheldon had accidentally saved Leonard and destroyed their elevator, she had laughed at the time but now she wasn't laughing. She knew that Leonard had issues and at first they were sort of cute if you squint really hard but as the years pass she finds it harder and harder to squint and it seems that in this Universe Leonard's luck ran out.
Sheldon returns to tinkering and she can see that he's pointing something that looks like a wand at their closet/Leonard's room door and she doesn't want to think about Leonard so she blurts out a question to the Penny holding her together so she doesn't break further ¨Did your Sheldon also mistook your vibrator for a chew toy?¨ Bizarro Penny instantly loses her shit and starts laughing so hard that she's worried she might fall off the couch and Sheldon turns so quickly to give her a glare and it's just like her own Sheldon that she can't help but laugh alongside Bizarro Penny.
After being all laughed out Sheldon informed them that the readings were consistent with what he had initially theorized which reduced to basically having to wait, the energy readings were still pretty high so he was sure that in any moment a new portal would appear to take her back, how was he so sure she didn't know but it was Sheldon telling her that so she would trust him.
Pizza was ordered and Penny found it funny that it tasted the same as the one in her own Universe, as they ate she finally asked the question that had been burning the tip of her tongue and now that she knew she could go back well what better way to spend the time, ¨So, how long have you been married?¨ she hopes that it sounded as casual as she wanted.
Bizarro Penny immediately brightens and answers without hesitation ¨13 years!¨ she can see Sheldon give that little smile and he looks at the Bizarro Penny in a way that makes her heart hurt and then her brain restarts and she starts doing the math in her head and it doesn't add up, ti doesn't make sense, maybe she had too much wine, she actually stands up from the couch and holds her hands in front of her as if warding off the information she just got.
¨13 years?¨ a nod from both of them ¨And you turned 30 this year right?¨ She says pointing to Bizarro Penny, another nod from the both of them and Penny is sputtering trying to make sense of things and she can see Bizarro Penny smirk, oh no, ¨But I've been 'courting' tall and clueless here since I was 10 so in my book we're closer to 20 years¨ and Penny sort of deflates and falls back on the couch and can only gape in surprise and ask ¨How?¨
She can still remember how Sheldon, her own Universe's Sheldon spoke of the multiverse, how in some the changes are so miniscule that it might just be about the color of the car you're driving and how in others the changes are so big that you might not exist in it at all and Penny thinks that this Universe is a nice mixture of both.
Bizarro Penny explains that her parents divorced, her father cheated and always called it a small mistake, she wryly says that her Father's favorite phrase was ¨Are you going to give up on all of our years together for one mistake?¨ and one day her mother had enough, she refused to be manipulated further and divorced her dad, then they all left Nebraska for Galveston Texas for a fresh start and Penny met and befriended Missy which in turn meant she went to the Cooper house to 'do homework´ (the quotes are from Sheldon) and she met Sheldon and the rest is history, they've been together ever since, she was also able to learn a couple of things further, Bizarro Penny graduated college and is now a writer for TV, Bizarro Sheldon confidently says he's going to win the Nobel Prize in one or two years depending on if they cancel their annual (more like every 3 months Bizarro Penny claims) Disney trip or not and that Bizarro Penny recently stopped taking anticonceptives and they're actively trying for a baby. That one makes Penny's eyes sting because they look so happy together that she starts seriously (not really) considering staying here with them and just as she thinks that they hear a suction sound from the hallway and just like that there's a shining portal in the door and Sheldon is pushing her to go because they don't know when it will appear again if ever and before she goes through she launches herself at Bizarro Penny and Bizarro Sheldon ¨Thank you¨ she tries to tell them but by this point she's sure it came as a sob through her tears, they still both pat her on the back and say ¨There, there¨
And then she's running through the portal and the feeling of free falling is back and as she fears that she will fall forever she's back in Leonard's room and Leonard is still sleeping, she can hear the cartoons on the other side of the apartment, she's back, she's back!, Penny runs as hard as she can to the living room where Sheldon is watching cartoons but also meddling with a metallic box on the coffee table and he doesn't know it yet but he just earned himself a glimpse on what Junior Rodeo means but for now she just wants to hug her smart but stupid Wackadoodle.