54Hey Yall!
This is the next installment. I know however that you probably wont be pleased with me by the end. I'll make it up to you though I swear.
Disclaimer: I do not own Sheldon. Or Penny. Or anyone from BBT.
Let It Be
After finally convincing Sheldon that Penny was in fact in love with him, they sent him to the wolf's den. He wandered across the hall looking so much the immature child he sometimes acted. Leonard gave him a reassuring smile before closing the door, and listening with his ear pressed against it for the beginnings of Sheldon's ridiculous knock. When the click of the door across the hall sounded, Leonard turned around and walked back to his seat.
They avoided the subject of Sheldon and Penny for almost ten minutes before Wolowitz began to bounce his legs in excitement. Leonard could see out of the corner of his eye Howard, his hands clasped tightly in his lap, smirking as from time to time he glanced at the back of their door.
"What do you supposed they're doing over there?" Howard suddenly burst out, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.
"To be honest dude, I don't want to think about it." Raj said, taking the remote off the coffee table and aimlessly flipping through channels. "There's nothing on."
"Why don't we go see a movie?"
"Could be fun." Said Leonard, pulling out his Iphone and quickly searching for movie times. "We could probably make the next showing of X-Men Origins if we leave now."
"I could see it again." Howard said nodding.
They were pulling on their coats then, talking about the movie as they approached the door. Leonard grabbed his keys from the bowl, and flicked off the lights, adding his thoughts about the movie as they filed out of the apartment. He was about to pull the door closed when he heard muffled voices coming from Penny's apartment. Then someone said 'I can't'. A moment later the door handle jiggled, and Sheldon was there, his back to them.
Leonard looked on at the scene; his eyes flicking between Pennys's tear stained face, and Sheldon's back. Penny noticed they were there, but her attention was immediately back on Sheldon who, in every way looked as if someone had murdered Batman. His grip on the door handle was tight, his other hand holding him steady against the doorframe. His clothes were rumpled and his hair mused. By the fiery red blush creeping it's way up the back of his neck Leonard could only guess what had happened in that room. Examining Penny further his suspicions were confirmed.
"I'm sorry." Sheldon said before backing out of the door, turning as it clicked closed and Penny's soft sobbing drifted from under the door.
Leonard and the others watched in silence as Sheldon leaned against the door, letting out a heavy sigh. He refused to look at them, thought Leonard was sure that he was aware they were there watching him. Penny within her apartment sounded so heartbroken, and Leonard could tell that it was hurting Sheldon too. He let the hand on the doorknob slip off, and pressed his palm to the door, as if trying to sooth her through the wood.
"Sheldon?" Leonard asked, but at that exact moment, his roommate pushed off the door and walked across the hall.
With a practiced ease Sheldon maneuvered through their dark apartment, seating himself in his spot on the couch. Leonard, Howard, and Raj stood, gathered before the still wide open door, huddled together, watching him and listening to her. The raw emotions coming from one apartment equally matched the fake indifference from the other, and for some reason the three geniuses in the middle couldn't come up with a game plan.
"You two go talk to him," Leonard finally decided. "At least get him to talk about what happened, see if there isn't something you can fix."
"What do you think happened? I mean, Penny's pretty upset, and Sheldon said he was sorry. You don't think he-"
"Please close the door if you do not intend on coming inside." Sheldon said suddenly, not turning his head to gaze at them but instead staring toward the kitchen, his eyes glazed over.
"Go." Leonard said ushering them into the apartment.
A moment later, after the door was closed, Leonard was standing outside her door, nervously waiting for her to answer. She hadn't responded to his first set of knocks, and as he gently rapped his knuckles against the door a second time her sniffs grew closer. Then the door opened a crack, and Penny's face red and glistening with the tears she'd been crying, appeared. In one swift motion the door was pulled wide and Penny was throwing her arms around his neck, clinging to him as she continued to cry. At first Leonard almost panicked, as the tears soaked his shirt. Her body was pressed so firmly against his own as she leaned on him for support. But after a moment he regained his ability to think and started to lead her back inside.
Staggering inside her apartment, Leonard led her to the sofa where together they plopped, and she reached for the tissue box on the coffee table. Leonard noticed that the sofa was a mess, pillows disheveled and the throw she usually kept neatly folded on the back rumpled and dragging on the floor. Legs curled under her and the tissue box placed firmly in her lap, Penny wiped furiously at her damp face, the tears never stopping, only slowing considerably.
Leonard sat beside her, not quite sure how to begin. There were a ton of questions, but he just couldn't bring himself to ask them. Penny wasn't in any condition to speak at the moment as she broke down every few seconds, and was slowly running out of tissues. In a moment of nervousness he rose from his seat, Penny's head snapping up to stare at him shocked.
"Don't go!" she said reaching out to grab at his jacket and stop him. "Please."
"I wasn't going to leave Penny. I was going to make some tea. Would you like a cup? To calm your nerves."
"I'd like a glass of alcohol, anything in the cabinet."
"Now is not the time for that Penny. You'll need to think clearly to deal with whatever happened properly. This is Sheldon we're talking about." Leonard added a weak smile forced onto his face.
Penny deteriorated into a fresh set of sobs as Leonard readied the kettle. A few minutes later after the whistle of the kettle Leonard carried two cups of warm tea over to the sofa. Penny was sitting amidst a pile of dirty tissues, her eyes no longer damp but still quite puffy and red. They sat in silence, sipping their tea, Leonard still trying to decide the best way to approach the situation. It was strange how alike Penny and Sheldon could be sometimes. There were just certain topics in their lives that, with either of them, were hard to address in conversation. Being straightforward never met satisfactory ends in Leonard's opinion, so it was always best to dance around the situation until they opened up.
"He said he was sorry Leonard." She whined. "Then just walked out."
"Yeah, I saw." He said stupidly.
"I feel so stupid. It's my fault he left. I messed up everything."
Her hand shook as she lifted the cup to her lips and sipped. Leonard could see she was close to tears again. It was hard to sit there and watch her, so devastated because his roommate was too stubborn to realize just how lucky he was. If Leonard had this chance with Penny…well, he didn't want to think about that anymore. Sheldon was the one she loved, and damn it all if he wasn't screwing it up for himself by running away. Without even knowing the situation Leonard could tell that he'd run, leaving Penny blaming herself.
"It's not your fault Penny." Leonard said after a moment. "Sheldon's just-"
"No Leonard, it is my fault." Penny declared, her head falling. "He ran because of something I said to him. Something I should never have said."
"What happened Penny?" Leonard asked cautiously.
She looked up at him, her eyes dark and watery. Her shoulders were hunched, her hair wild. She took a deep breath before beginning. She explained Sheldon's original reason for coming over, and how their talk hadn't lasted very long. Leonard listened to her describe their physical encounter together, though part of him wished he could tune that part out. He listened with rapt attention, not seeing where things had gone so horribly wrong. In fact, it seemed almost as if things were on the right track, and that Sheldon was not at all displeased with the events.
"Then, in the heat of the moment, I said I loved him." Penny revealed looking away, staring off into space no doubt remembering the very second the cursed words had escaped her lips. Tears welled in her eyes once more.
"And that's when he ran?"
"Yeah. He told me he couldn't enter into a relationship with me. Then he apologized and left."
"And he didn't give any reason, no explanation as to why? Nothing?"
"No Leonard. I begged him to come back, that we could talk about it, but he just ran." She dabbed at her eyes as silent tears rolled down her cheeks. "What am I going to do Leonard? What am I going to do?"
"Well you know what they say Penny, there's always a light at the end of the tunnel. Things will be ok."
"I don't see how that's possible. Maybe I should talk to him?"
"I don't think right now is the best time Penny. You spooked him."
"Yeah I guess I did." She relented, and leaned her head on his shoulder, tears welling in her eyes again.
When she eventually lifted her head from his shoulder she looked so miserable. She looked so without hope as she leaned her head against the back of the couch, reaching out to pull the throw over her shaking form. He watched her close her eyes, rubbing gently at her temples. She sighed, lifted her head from the back of the couch and looked down, picking aimlessly at her fingernails, waiting for him to come up with something reassuring to say.
Leonard leaned in then with whispered words of wisdom, "Let it be. The best thing for you to do right now, is to just let it be. Leave him alone, let him think about what happened, and he'll come to his senses."
"But what if he doesn't Leonard? I don't know what to do. I…just…"
"There will be an answer Penny, but until then, let it be."
She didn't look at him, as she nodded. Her face was beginning to regain its natural colour. They'd long ago finished their tea. Leonard rose, picking up the cups, and took them to the kitchen, washing them as well before putting them back where he'd found them. When he returned to the living room Penny was lying on the couch, her watery green eyes staring up at him through hooded lids. He gave her a reassuring smile, as he started for the door.
"Leonard," she called as he opened the door. He turned and to see her head turned towards him. "Thanks."
"It's what friends are for."
He entered his own apartment to see Sheldon nowhere in sight. Koothrappali and Wolowitz were sitting idly on the sofa, watching some ridiculous rerun of a primetime show, neither talking. They greeted him with wordless waves, and he walked to his chair sinking into it with a heavy sigh. He could still feel the damp spot on his shirt where Penny had been crying. How had such a promising relationship taken a turn like this?
"How is she?" Raj asked at commercial.
"She's stopped crying." Leonard glanced back at the hall. "I'm guessing he's in his room."
"Yeah. Grabbed his laptop and ran."
"Hmm. Did you get anything out of him?"
"All he said to us before he disappeared was, 'I said I was sorry'." Howard explained, using air quotes. "What's that even mean?"
Leonard explained, emitting quite a bit of detail, about what had happened next door that evening. Howard and Raj listened, and by the time he'd finished, the television was off and they were both glancing over at Penny's apartment, then towards the hall where the door behind which Sheldon was hiding stood. Both were in agreement when they commented on how stupid Sheldon would have to be to let someone like Penny go.
"This is impossible to fix, you know that right?" Howard explained.
"Well, all the other broken hearted people living in the world would have to disagree. They all found an answer. It just takes time, and that's what I told Penny. I told her to let it be, that he'd come to his senses."
"I certainly hope you are right." Raj added.
"I do too. But it's good that they're parted, her in her apartment him in ours, because that way there's still a chance that he'll see."
"See what?" Howard asked.
Raj shook his head at Howard. "Dude, an answer. To the problem of him being afraid to be with her. There's still a chance that he will see that there will be an answer."
"If she lets it be, and doesn't talk to him about it."
"Yeah." Added Howard. "Now lets go to this movie. We could still catch the ten o' clock."
From his room Sheldon could hear their mumbled voices. The sound of them moving about, and the door opening forced him out of his seat on his bed to press his ear against the door. There was no goodbye from Leonard as he left, no notification of where he was headed, which was all the better for him. His plans would go a lot smoother with Leonard gone.
He'd pushed thoughts of the 'incident' as he was now referring to it mentally, out of his head as he wandered back to his laptop. But despite his greatest efforts, Sheldon couldn't seem to forget any of it. He was focusing on not remembering the feel of her skin on his, on not remembering the caress of her cherry flavoured lips on his own. He didn't dare lick his lips for fear that the taste still lingered there. He was trying to forget the sound of her sobs. He couldn't actually hear her anymore and wasn't even sure if she was still crying over him, but that didn't mean he couldn't recall the sound as vividly as any science fiction film theme. No, Sheldon was blocking out all thoughts other than those pertaining to his plans and the travel website he was typing quickly into the site bar.
As I said, you will hate me. Be gentle.
Starry