Word Count: 5884
Summary: When Leonard is invited to give lectures in another university for two weeks their only form of communication is text messages and late-night phone calls. Banter ensues.
Disclaimer: I don't own The Big Bang Theory or the characters.
Leonard zipped up his suitcase and glanced around the bedroom. Everything was in place—clothes neatly packed, toiletries stowed away. He was ready, but he had the feeling Penny wasn't. She sat on the edge of the bed, arms crossed, eyes flicking toward him every few seconds.
"Are you sure it has to be two weeks?" she asked, her voice soft but edged with something he couldn't quite place.
Leonard sighed and walked over to her, sitting down beside her. "It's just a couple of lectures. I'll be back before you know it. It's not even that far. Only a few states away."
Penny's lips curved into a weak smile that didn't reach her eyes. "I know, but I'm just... used to you being here. It's going to be weird without you around. Who's going to explain quantum physics to me when I can't sleep?" She teased, though her voice carried a hint of sadness.
He chuckled, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Sheldon's always available for that."
She groaned playfully, leaning her head against his shoulder. "Yeah, no thanks."
There was a brief silence before Penny spoke again, her voice a little smaller. "I'm going to miss you, Leonard. It's just... two weeks feels longer when you're not here." Though not one for saying sentimental things, the fact that her husband wouldn't be around for two weeks was enough to make her feel vulnerable. She allowed herself to be with him though.
He pressed a kiss to her temple, the weight of her words sinking in. "I'll miss you too. But it'll fly by, I promise. And when I'm back, we'll do something fun. Just the two of us."
Penny looked up at him, finally managing a real smile. "You better. Or you owe me more than just dinner."
Leonard chuckled, standing up and grabbing his suitcase. As he headed toward the door, he paused and looked back at her. "I'll call every night."
"You better," she called after him, her teasing tone barely masking the sadness behind it.
With one last smile, Leonard left, knowing that no matter how exciting the lectures would be, part of him would be counting the days until he was home again.
Leonard called Penny the second he landed, walking through the airport on his way to grab his luggage. She sounded better than when he left, probably because she was surrounded by their friends and had a good dinner to distract her. Still, their conversation quickly turned into a group call, and soon Leonard found himself talking to everyone. He didn't mind, but it was a bit overwhelming trying to keep up with their conversations while navigating the massive airport.
With his suitcase in one hand and phone in the other, Leonard finally managed to make his way outside. Meanwhile, Sheldon was still going on about plane crash statistics, apparently completely oblivious to the fact that Leonard had just survived a flight. Leonard could almost hear Penny's eye roll through the phone at Sheldon's impeccable timing.
"Sheldon, buddy, I really appreciate your fun facts—seriously, I do," Leonard said, rolling his eyes realizing he was starting to sound more and more like Penny when dealing with Sheldon. "But since I've already landed and won't be flying again for a couple of weeks, maybe you can remember them for when I get back?"
Sheldon, unfazed, replied, "Of course I won't forget them. I have an eidetic memory, Leonard. You know that."
"Right, of course," Leonard sighed, realizing there was no winning. "Listen, I love you guys, but I really have to go. Talk soon. Bye!"
He hung up quickly, knowing he'd probably get flak for cutting the conversation short, especially from Penny. Sure enough, his phone buzzed a few moments later with a text from her:
Rude.
Leonard laughed to himself but didn't reply. Moments later, another message came through:
Are you ignoring me now?
He didn't see it until he finally reached his hotel, smiling to himself as he pictured Penny's mock annoyance.
He chose to call her instead of answering her text, the hotel room he was staying in suddenly felt cold without her presence. She picked up on the second ring.
"Miss me already?" She immediately asked, and he chuckled.
"Nah." He heard her scoff on the other line, and he sat on the hotel bed with a sigh. "It may sound stupid, but I needed to hear your voice." He told her, and he heard her sigh and some shuffling before he heard her voice again.
"It's nice to hear your voice too." She said, softly. "Especially since I spent all dinner before you called with Sheldon saying how likely it was for some freak accident to happen."
"Sorry. I thought I trained him better than that." He heard her laugh and couldn't help but smile back.
"It's alright. Maybe we can find somewhere around here that can train him for you." He just shook his head. "Are you all settled in?"
"Yeah." He looked around the room he was calling his for a couple of weeks. Not too big, but enough. "I have to unpack but…" He doesn't say anything, but she knows. "Are they still there?" He asked her because they – mostly Sheldon – had been the reason for this second phone call.
"The guys wanted to play a game, but we didn't want to be a fourth player, so they want to watch a movie."
"Which one?" He said excitedly as if he would be watching with them.
"Does it matter? One of your nerdy movies."
"You complain, but you know the difference between Star Wars and Star Trek."
"It's your fault."
"I never heard you complain." He can tell she's about to say something, so he immediately answers for her. "Okay, I did. More than once."
"Nerd."
"You still love me."
Penny sits up on the bed, looking around her room for a moment before answering. "You're still a nerd."
"Oh well. I'm sure you know the names of the characters."
"Because you quiz me!"
"I asked you once."
"It was a quiz."
He just shakes his head.
"Whatever." He sighed once more. "I have to unpack. And you have a movie to watch, Mrs. Nerd."
"Do you want me to tell you what movie we're watching?" She paused for just a short moment. "Dr. Nerd."
He laughed. "It's okay. Sheldon will tell me eventually anyway. And then make me watch it with them again when I get back."
"In two weeks." She whispers.
"Do you have it up in a calendar or something, so you can cross the days?" He mocked, but then there was only silence on the other line, Penny blushing even though he couldn't see it. "Oh my, you do."
"Shut up."
"Now it's the moment you usually call me nerd to mock me or something."
There's a faint whisper on the other line. "Nerd."
"There it is." He said, laughing. "I really have to unpack now and find somewhere open to have dinner. I'm starving."
"Okay." He can hear her sigh, like she didn't really want to say goodbye but knew he had to eat. "I love you."
"I love you too." Leonard tells her, a smile playing on his lips when he says it because he knows that the last thing she wants is hang up but she has to.
With that, Leonard gets up, staring at his suitcase. He could unpack now, but he needs some food first. Still, he knows that if he eats he will then want to sleep, so he at least needs to grab his toiletries and place them in the bathroom.
Opening his suitcase, he finds a calendar inside. Smiling, he picked it up and looked at it. There's a small note in Penny's handwriting.
Mark off the days on this calendar. I'll be doing the same from home.
-Penny Hofstadter
He picked up his phone and opened his messages with Penny, the last two still unanswered.
I found your calendar. If this was a reminder about heading home, I didn't need it—I haven't forgotten. I love you so much.
Placing it on his desk, he stared at it for a moment before grabbing his wallet and keys to head out. Before leaving his room, his phone buzzed.
I just can't wait for you to come back. I love you so much too.
He pockets his phone then, knowing that if he didn't they'd find a way to call each other once more and continue to talk.
Finally leaving his room behind, he faces the streets of the unknown street, searching for an open place that was still open that could still sell him some food.
"What are you wearing right now?" He asked her, lying in bed after a few meetings in the university with the people who asked to lecture there and only then finding a diner he would for sure return to. As he had thought, the suitcase was still unpacked in the corner of the room, Leonard feeling too lazy to move a muscle after such a delicious meal – albeit nutritionally it wasn't the best and he could almost hear Penny or Bernadette telling him he should have had more vegetables.
On the other side, Penny sighed.
"Seriously?" He heard her move around, seemingly propping herself up on the bed. "Let me get this straight: you're calling me at three am, disrupting my beauty sleep on a workday, to ask me such a question?"
It was only then that he realized there was now a time difference between them; he wasn't simply working late, in his lab, while she complained the bed was too cold without him.
"Sorry. I forgot the time difference."
She sighed. "I thought that marrying a genius would save me from conversations like these."
"I guess you were wrong then." He paused for a moment, smiling. "You used to have these conversations with any of your exes? Because I've met some of them- "
"Leonard." She said his name in a tone between sleepy and as a warning. He didn't seem to care.
"-they weren't exactly the smartest. I mean, we all met Zach."
"I hate you."
"Sure, you do." She rolled her eyes at his comment.
"So, you never answered my question." When she doesn't answer, he mentions it again. "What are you wearing?" He asked again, grinning.
"Well, it depends."
"What, Schrödinger's clothes?"
She laughed at his comment, and he couldn't help but laugh too.
"No. If you tell me you would just show up, right now, in our bedroom, where I shouldn't have let you leave from, then I'm in a super sexy lingerie right now."
"The black and red one?" he asked, his voice playful but his thoughts focused on how his wife might look in it. He imagined helping her change into something more comfortable and-
"Yeah," she replied, her mind already wandering to thoughts of him and-
"What if I can't tell you that?" Leonard asked, regretting for the thousandth time having agreed to do these lectures.
"An old T-shirt of yours I found that I'm pretty sure was the one you wore when we went to paint Halley's nursery because there's some paint stains on it and some old shorts that were the first ones I found when I opened the dresser."
"Hot." Was his only comment, and she somehow found herself still blushing like a teenager at what her husband told her.
"What about you?"
"Well, if you tell me you're just on the outside of my room waiting for me to open the door for you, nothing." He hears her laughter through the phone.
"Not even your precious socks?"
"If you were on the other side of the door, I would consider taking them off."
"Really? For me?"
"Anything for you, my love."
Penny doesn't know whether to smile at his comment, laugh at the ridiculousness that was her husband never taking off his socks, or roll her eyes. Instead, she answers him.
"And if I'm laying in our bed, in our apartment, waiting for your return?"
"Then in that case, I'm wearing my trusty socks- "Penny decides then she's choosing the option of rolling her eyes. "-my white t-shirt and my boxers. And the bed is really warm without the ice cube I usually share a bed with next to me."
She scoffs. "Says the guy whose feet are two blocks of ice."
"That's why I wear socks, woman! You told me to take them off, you pay the price."
Penny yawns on her side of the conversation, and Leonard remembers it's three am where she's at. This means for his not-used-to-the-time-zone-difference body it's also three am and he should get some sleep.
"We can talk tomorrow."
"Today."
"Whatever. Technicality."
"Well, I can't risk only having you talk to me tomorrow. Who'll wake me up in the middle of the night asking me what I'm wearing?"
"I'm sure Bernadette or Howard are up at this time of night."
"Do you really want me to call Howard at night and have him ask me what I'm wearing?"
He paused for a moment. "Well, it would be worse a few years back. I think now he would just be confused."
"He would probably call you and ask if I'm doing okay."
They both laughed at the comment, and it was then Leonard's time to yawn.
"Okay your genius brain needs its sleep, Hofstadter. Go to sleep."
"Yes, ma'am." He answers. "Night, Hofstadter." He said, almost mocking her usage of his last name, but all it did to her was make her smile that that's her last name now.
"Goodnight honey."
When Leonard finally comes back to his room the next day, he opens his phone to find several texts from Penny, and some from the guys too.
He opens the guys' first, knowing he was just calling Penny later anyway. Most of them were of Howard and Raj complaining he had abandoned them to deal with Sheldon alone, and that he was insufferable without his best friend; Sheldon's messages consisted of the random facts he hadn't told him the day he landed about plane accidents, though some were about random other vehicles, including boats. All it did was remind him of when he went to the North Sea and Sheldon spent the two weeks before he went telling him those facts too.
He answered none of those messages and opened his wife's.
Hers were funny moments that happened to her during the day like she usually did even when he was in Pasadena, some texts complaining about traffic, a few in the morning complaining about Sheldon being annoying and she and Amy wanting Leonard back already.
Then a few had been sent before she went to bed.
Good night. Sweet dreams :) had been sent around her eleven pm, with another one ten minutes later saying I love you. Thirty minutes later, she had sent another. Did you forget about me?
She stopped after that, and a quick calculation in his head told him it was around one am in Pasadena. Questioning if she'd be angrier at him calling her at that time, or not at all, he realized he would rather call her.
Which had him get the lovely side of his wife when she was woken up in the middle of the night.
"Ugh, I knew it was a mistake to give you my number."
"I know, I know, you hate me."
"Yeah, I do. You promised to call me today."
"It's still today."
"My today."
"You need to start being more specific then." She rolls her eyes at his comment. "Sorry, today was… I don't even know where to begin."
"Hectic. Chaotic."
"Are you going to just give me more synonyms of those words?"
"Aren't you proud of me for knowing those synonyms?" She asked, pouting.
"I'm always proud of you."
"Cheesy." He laughed at her comment, taking that moment to take off his shoes and lay in bed, the phone still in his hand.
"You can call me cheesy all you want, but I needed to wish you sweet dreams."
"Makes you feel good about yourself if I tell you I was dreaming of you?"
He finds himself blushing. "A great ego boost, that's for sure."
"There were some marshmallows too, and we were flying in one of them when I was rudely interrupted by my stupid phone."
"Sorry that your stupid husband wanted to talk to you."
"If only that husband didn't ignore me all day, I wouldn't complain about that."
"I can just not call you tomorrow."
"Sure. And not wish me sweet dreams?"
"Yeah. I could do it." She fakes a scoff. "I swear. A break."
"Not a Ross and Rachel one, right?"
"Obviously not. I don't know any copygirl."
She shook her head, a smile on her lips from having her husband make a correct Friends reference.
"Fine then. A break. We don't talk tomorrow." Her voice clearly loving that this was a challenge that she was sure he was going to be losing.
"That means no texts either."
"No, no. Phone calls only." She complained.
"That's not a break then. And it's not fair I don't talk, and I'm bombarded with messages from you all day."
"Complaining about my messages?"
"Never. I love knowing what you are thinking about. Just complaining that it's not fair."
"Then you can text too." She knows he would rather call her, and she would too. But with the time difference, and the fact that he was working so many more hours made it easier to text. Besides, they texted all the time when he was in Pasadena, the two immediately texting each other whatever was happening while they were out with their friends.
"Deal. For how long?"
"Until the weekend?"
"So, Saturday I can call you?" Without waiting for an answer, he continues. "My Saturday or yours?"
Penny pretends to think for a moment. "Well, mine is first, right? So, mine."
He laughs. "Deal. Then, sweet dreams until Saturday."
"You can text me that." She tells him softly.
"Okay. I will. I love you."
"I love you too." She tells him, her phone already on the nightstand and her head on the pillow.
Before she falls asleep, her phone vibrates, and she finds a message from him.
Sweet dreams.
It's Friday night, and Leonard appears in his room after a long day of lectures. He loved giving lectures, especially ones where the students would collaborate and ask him questions, and some of them were especially interesting and made him think.
His phone starts ringing, and when he picks it up he just laughs.
"I know. Okay. I know we said we'd take a break from calling each other, but I miss hearing your voice. You and your voice."
"You were the one that texted me saying you enjoyed these past few days without being interrupted from your beauty sleep."
"And I meant every word. We should do that next week too. But differently."
"What are you proposing?"
"I don't know. We talk on Sunday, 'cause it's the weekend. And then like Tuesday? And Thursday? You come back on Friday so…"
"Saturday."
"What? No, no, no." She mutters, and he hears her get up from wherever she's at. He assumes it's the bed.
"Yeah, your calendar was wrong sweetheart." He looks at it from where he's sitting, in the desk chair.
"But you said the 29th."
"That's the last lecture. But my flight is the next day. I told you this."
"So, I only see you on the 30th? Oh, come on." She sighs, and he hears her sitting on the bed. "Can't you get an earlier flight?"
"It was booked."
"Okay, then I absolutely hate you." There was a pause, and all he wanted was to be there with her to comfort her. Though there would be no reason to comfort her if he was there. "I don't. I actually love you. But I'm mad at you for being so smart that other people want you too."
"Aw, you want me?"
He hears her giggle. "I did marry you, you idiot."
"Am I supposed to say sorry now? For being so smart."
"Of course. If you were dumb, you'd be here."
"I thought I ruined you for dumb people."
She seems confused about that comment. "What?"
He laughs. "I guess alcohol made you forget that. You said that to me once. Forget about it."
She sighs on the other line.
"I still wish you were here."
"I'm coming back. Just one more week."
"You better. Or else I go there and make you."
"I'd love to see you try." He paused. "Miss me that much?"
"Of course. For better or worse. You're mine."
"I belong to you?"
"Yes. There's even a document somewhere around here that proves it." She looks around their room, trying to remember where they had that paper and hoping Leonard knows because it seems important to keep.
He laughs. "Wait, like a receipt? Is it too late to trade for someone else?"
"Too late. I'm yours."
"I meant you trading me." She shakes her head. "You know, for some dumb guy whose brain wasn't needed somewhere else."
"I just wish they could get your brain, and I'd keep the rest."
"'Cause that's all you really need, huh?"
"Yeah. You and your socks- "he laughs. "Are all I need."
"Can I get something else to go with you"?
"Can I guess the color?" He laughs again.
"Am I that predictable?"
"I know you too well by now Dr. Hofstadter."
"You're really into calling me by my last name now, aren't you?"
"Our last name." She corrects him, and there's something about that sentence that makes him fall in love with her all over again.
"My apologies, Mrs. Hofstadter."
"Apologies accepted."
"I guess you should take that receipt with you, right?"
"Need proof for something? You aren't getting rid of me that easily."
"I don't want to get rid of you. Where else would I find someone capable of serving me a frozen meal that is somehow also burned?"
"So, you wouldn't want someone smarter than me?" Her insecurities are showing, and she knows it, but somehow Leonard continues without saying a thing about it.
"I have someone smarter than you already, and he's annoying. Kept texting me facts about accidents. Could you please slap him across the head for me?"
"Are you agreeing you and Sheldon are dating?" She chuckles, laying down in bed, clearly enjoying their mindless conversation. Though she knows they could talk about they both had been doing since he left, she also knew he would tell her and the rest of their friends during dinner when he returned. Besides, they still texted, and Penny was aware of just how busy his days have been.
"We broke up after you and I started dating. You're hotter."
"Is that why you chose me?"
"Well, Sheldon probably doesn't look that good with the black and red- "
"Leonard Hofstadter, do not put that image on my brain!"
"It's Doctor, sweetheart." He mocks.
They both pause for a moment and then Penny laughs. "You're picturing it too, aren't you?"
"I need to bleach my brain."
"Oh, good. Then you'll be dumber, and I get you all for myself again."
"Thinking of your interests and your interests only?"
"Yours too. You could be in bed with me, instead of there."
"But if I was there I wouldn't be able to fall asleep all warm under the covers."
"Are you suggesting there are benefits to not sleeping next to me?" She fakes annoyance.
"You always steal the covers. I almost had forgotten what it feels like to sleep through the night, all under the covers. And then wake up and they're still there."
"But I'm not." She says, softly.
"Which is why there's still a receipt. I can find someone else. Do you think there's some dating app that mentions bed cover hogger?"
"Then I'll get someone that doesn't have such cold feet."
"Says the woman who enjoys torturing me by placing her gelid feet on my back to wake me up."
"Your back is warm."
"I've offered socks, you said no."
"Why would I wear socks when you're right there?"
"Are you wearing socks now?"
She looks down at her own feet for a moment, a pair he had bought her once as a mock present staring back at her.
"No."
"Are you lying?"
She paused again, the DC socks filled with characters she now knew cozy on her feet.
"All I'll say is that I'm starting to understand the appeal of socks during the night." The sound of his laughter rings in her ear and she can't help but smile at that.
"I told you."
"Shut up." She looks at the clock and laughs.
"Not that I'm complaining, but why are you laughing? Are you going crazy without me there?"
"No, no." She grabs his pillow and hugs it tight against her chest. "Maybe." Her head falls on the pillow. The position isn't the most comfortable, the pillow so soft her head makes too big of a hole in it, but she doesn't care because it still smells like the Darth Vader shampoo he swore he made the mistake of buying – I didn't realize it was Star Wars themed until I came home with it, he had told her. "I'm laughing because it's Saturday."
"And it's your Saturday like we said."
"So, we can totally make it days without speaking."
"I mean- "
"On the phone. Talk on the phone."
"Yeah. Totally. We're not completely co-dependent."
"Of course not. I didn't miss speaking to you at all." She lays down, her head on her pillow, an arm resting on top of his pillow. "Not at all." She says softly, her tone betraying her words.
"Are you still there?" He asks, after almost a minute of no answer.
"Mhhhm."
"You're finally comfortable without me in bed?" There's no answer. "Because I can always just stay here, with my cold feet- "
"Don't you dare." Laced with sleep, that threat came out a bit empty, but he pretended to be scared either way, even if she couldn't see his mock fear face.
"You're using my pillow aren't you."
"Maybe. It's a better cuddler than you."
"Lies!"
"Yeah, it doesn't have curls that tickle me."
"Okay, then I'll stay here."
"You do that."
"I mean it, Penny."
"As if."
"I'm hanging up now. I hope that pillow is worth it."
"Mhh. It is." But then she opens her eyes. "If only it had arms."
"And here I was thinking you were thinking of something else."
It takes her brain a moment to register what he meant, and she shakes her head.
"Dirty mind." She closes her eyes again but continues talking. "But I can always get a replacement for that."
"True. But will it warm your feet?"
"I have socks." She says, though her brain is barely registering what she's saying at this point, since she's so comfortable in bed and tired from the week she's had.
"I give up." He tells her, waiting for her to say something else. "I need to sleep anyway, and so do you." There's no answer on the other side, and he figures she just fell asleep. "Sweet dreams." Leonard tells her, even if can't hear her. Hanging up the phone, he places it on the desk before turning on his computer to prepare for next week's lectures. Penny kept sleeping peacefully, unaware that he had hung up, her phone resting gently on Leonard's pillow, as if it were a quiet stand-in for him.
The weekend, Leonard had thought, would've been for sightseeing and taking pictures to send Penny for her to regret not going with him. Instead, it was spent in the lab. He loved his job, and the weekend had been an interesting trade of ideas and suggestions for improvement, but he missed the sleepy calls from Penny. The only phone call he had, had been with the guys when they called from the comic book story to tell him what they were purchasing. He had to hang up fairly quickly, barely able to talk to his friends for more than two minutes, and part of the conversation had been about how the girls were hanging out together. Leonard was glad Penny wasn't alone, but he still wished they talked more than just texting.
It was only on Tuesday that Leonard called Penny.
"Hey, stranger." She answered. Sitting in the living room couch, she reaches for the remote to mute the show she was watching, though not paying much attention to it as she scrolled mindlessly on her phone.
"I'm so sorry. The weekend was just- a lot. And today too. I wish I could've called sooner. But I did text you!" He said, as a sort of reminder as if she needed one.
"Yes, you did." She goes to her messages, reading the one she wanted to mention. "Still alive, don't worry. No need to replace me already with a pillow and something else I can't mention around other people. Honestly, I could do without the still alive comment."
"I said I missed you after that."
"You're an idiot. I'm starting to get tired of these late-night calls where you're just an idiot."
"Then why did you pick up?"
"I don't know. The pillow doesn't really do the trick anymore."
"What about- "
"Leonard!"
"That's what you named it?" She hears her cussing on the other side. "Doesn't that confuse you?"
"I'm hanging up now."
"You were the one that called me in the middle of Sunday and thought leaving a voicemail that you were out of candy was okay but me commenting on this gets you to hang up."
"You didn't answer the phone though."
"Because it was definitely an emergency."
"It was!"
"Lack of sweets is not an emergency babe."
"Yes, it is."
"We have different ideas of what constitutes an emergency."
"What do you think is an emergency?"
"Someone in the hospital, bursting pipes, -"
"If that comment causes a bursting pipe in this apartment, you should stay where you are."
"Thought you wanted my arms back."
"Well, I'll find you anywhere."
"Yeah, because you love me." He tells her in a mocking tone.
"You call it love, I call it having someone to get candy for me, so I don't have to get up."
"That's all you need me for?"
She pretends to take a moment to think about it. "I guess you're nice to look at too."
"Did you just call me hot?"
"Cute." She corrects him. "Hot is the food when it comes out of the oven."
"And me."
"No."
"And you. You're hot."
"Oh, I know." He laughs. "Are you flirting with me, Doctor Hofstadter?"
"Would that be wrong?"
"Careful, I might end up falling in love with you."
"I hear the landing is rough." She laughs.
"I think I'll be okay."
"You say that, but I think you're already at least halfway in love with me. Just admit it."
"Never." She says in a mocking tone.
"We always knew this day would come."
She giggles. "The day I would admit it?"
"Yeah. Come on, you can say it."
"That I love you? Or that I fell in love with you?"
"Both, if you want."
"Hum… I do love you."
"Yeah? I guess I love you too."
"You guess? I'm hanging up now, for sure."
"Fine, fine. I love you, for sure."
"So that means you're coming back."
"Definitely."
"Good night, Leonard." She says, laughing. He laughs on the other side too.
"Good night, Penny."
The week, despite tiring, was fulfilling. The students attending his lectures continued asking pertinent questions, and some even had him call colleagues to present some of their findings as well. A student, in particular, had been fascinated by an off-handed comment Leonard made about a friend being an astronaut, which had him call Howard to tell them several stories from his time in space.
Bernadette later texted him to warn him that if he ever did that again, she would make him regret it. Apparently, Howard had gloated for hours during dinner, to the point they were glad when Sheldon went on an hour-long lecture about the history of the chopsticks.
He did call Penny on Thursday as agreed, but she had already fallen asleep. The next morning, he had a text from her, apologizing for having her phone on silent.
On Friday, she called him.
"Hey."
"Hey." He answered, smiling.
"One more night, and then you'll finally be back in my arms." She says.
"Yeah. Look, I have a question for you."
"What is it?"
"You're like, two rooms over." She sits on her bed at that. "Why are you calling?"
"You're-I'm- what?"
He grins. "You're two rooms over." He says again as if clarity was what she needed.
He hears her getting up, her phone making weird noises until he realizes she probably dropped it on the bed when he starts hearing her footsteps. He stops hearing them for a moment, and he can almost imagine her looking around the living room in search of him thinking he was lying or making fun of her.
Finally, as a last resort, she makes her way towards the front door. When she opens it, her eyes finally land on the person her mind had been on for the past two weeks.
Despite wanting nothing more than to hold her in his arms, he lets her have a moment of surprise, that he uses to take a good look at her attire. A sweatshirt he knows it used to belong to him until she marked it hers and shorts worthy of its name.
"You- "Looking behind, probably in the direction of the phone disposed carelessly on their bed. She hugs him then and he manages to hold her for a moment before grabbing his bag and entering the apartment, her arms still around him not showing signs of letting go. Eventually, she does though, to take a good look at him. "How are you here? I mean, I know how, but you said- "
"I caught an earlier flight. There was one ticket left. Had to fly between a screaming baby that kept throwing things at me and a guy who spent the whole flight snoring, but it was worth it to see you."
The emotion in his voice and what he said had her hugging him again.
"Oh, I missed you so much."
"Is this better than my pillow?"
She laughs. "So much better." Her voice filled with emotion from his surprise.
"You're keeping me then?"
She nods. "You're not going anywhere."
They step out of the hug, though his arms are still around her waist and hers around his neck.
He looks up and down at her, and she looks at him questioningly. "What?"
"I was told if I was here, you'd be wearing something different."
She rolls her eyes. "And I was told you would be wearing- well, nothing."
"That can be arranged."
Laughing, they follow each other to their bedroom, his suitcase forgotten in the living room.
The End
This was one of my favorite stories that I remember writing. Using these prompts I found and couldn't seem to forget, I wrote all these words as I happily imagined the two characters saying them. Their fun banter is what I missed the most during the later seasons, so here it is. I took a break from writing the final chapter of Life Changer to work on this because I needed a change of pace from such a serious story. The other story is now complete—for now, until I remember to add something to it—and I've decided to edit and post this one.
I hope everyone enjoys it.