What if Penny had answered Sheldon's phone call and not Leonard?

This wasn't how Penny had thought her wedding day would look like. Her stomach twisted with anxiety as she watched Leonard speak with the justice of the peace. She would be Mrs. Leonard Hofstadter in t-minus 20 minutes. She was having doubts, but the idea of running off was out of the question. She'd already forgiven him for his transgressions earlier. She wondered if that was going to be her new future, forgiving the man as he apologized for another "mistake". She sighed and bit her bottom lip. No she would do this, this was good, they'd change and grow up and this was good. But a tiny part of her brain wanted a sign, something catastrophic to happen to make her say no, to make her have a good reason that this shouldn't happen. She sighed, no… this was probably it. Funny, one shouldn't be feeling like their life was ending when this was supposed to be the beginning of a new one. Something amazing.

And then she heard a small buzzing sound, a phone, she glanced down at her purse that was settled on one of the chairs and noticed Leonard's cell phone was buzzing. She reached and picked it up. A small smile went across her features, Sheldon was calling. She glanced over at where Leonard still stood. She answered the call.

"Don't get married Leonard!" Sheldon's voice shot off right away. "Woman are evil!" he added.

Penny furrowed her brow, "Sheldon, honey, what's wrong?" she asked, a feeling came over her… she waited though before she put a name on it.

"Oh, hello Penny…" Sheldon paused, "Amy broke up with me during one of our skype sessions" Sheldon confessed in a small voice. Penny could imagine his sad face, he sounded a little broken.

"Oh no sweetie I'm so sorry" Penny said, she really was, "did you want to talk to Leonard?" she asked gently.

"No…" he paused again; "I wish someone was here to give me a hot beverage… but that's okay," his voice was sad again. "Have a nice wedding, Penny." Sheldon said before he ended the call.

And that was it. Penny let Leonard's phone slip through her fingers and back into her purse.

"Okay, I think I got it all sorted out," Leonard said as he rubbed his hands together. He smiled at Penny, but it faltered when he saw her face.

"We can't do this," Penny said suddenly. She finally looked at him and saw his confused face. Before he could reply. "Sheldon and Amy just broke up, we… we should wait for the wedding day… the real one." Penny said as she shook her head and started to pull the vale from her head.

"What?!" Leonard was confused. "we just drove here… you're saying you want to wait?" he asked as she started to follow her out.

Penny stopped and sighed, "Yes! I can't do this… not this way… we need…" she paused and thought a moment. "I need to go back," she said. She turned again and kept walking.

Leonard followed her, bewildered and upset. "You can't just keep changing your mind!" Leonard said as he followed her.

Penny stopped, she shut her eyes, "yeah, well you can't just make out with every pretty girl you see." she shot back before she kept walking.

Leonard froze for a moment, "I thought you said you were okay… that we were okay," he almost pleaded, worry in his tone.

"I'm not okay? It really bothers me!" Penny almost shouted back, she wanted to cry, but instead she walked back to Leonard's car and waited for him to unlock it. "I need to think," she said.

Leonard went to touch her should but she shrugged away. "Okay fine… we'll go back home" he finally conceded. He walked around and hit the button to unlock the doors.

Penny climbed in and put on her seat belt, she stared ahead, her mind going a million miles a minute. Leonard started talking but she wasn't listening. Too busy trying to figure out how to call off the whole wedding.

Sheldon sat in his spot, looking at the ring in his hand. He honestly didn't know what he was doing. He figured this would fix everything… but he wasn't good enough. That seemed to the case for his life; he wasn't good enough anymore. Dropping his gaze he settled back into his spot and rested his head on the back. He shut his eyes and tried to sort out what he was feeling. He was upset, he knew that much, angry, at Amy and at himself, he was sad, but he wouldn't cry… he felt pathetic and useless. And he very much felt alone.

He knew that once Penny and Leonard were married that they'd leave him, they'd move to a house in the suburbs and hanging out, comic book days, halo nights, paintball and video game nights would taper off and soon he'd be alone again. No friends, no roommate, no girlfriend… no Penny. He opened his eyes and felt the cool air sting them; no he wasn't going to cry over this.

And then he heard the slams, the sound of people stomping up the stairs, objects hitting a wall. He furrowed his brow and stood up. Walking to the door, he opened it up and stepped out. there was Penny walking to her front door, keys in hand, and Leonard walking up the steps with the large suitcase and he looked angry. He shot Sheldon one glance and shoved past him and into his the apartment. Sheldon's eyes went back to Penny who had pushed her door open and then slammed it shut.

Sheldon wasn't that familiar with post marriage traditions, but he was sure that people shouldn't return home angry and headed into separate living quarters. Rolling his eyes slightly, their relationship still bewildered him. They never seemed happy and why they kept this up he would never know.

He debated on going over to Penny's first, then he turned back to see Leonard standing in the living room, his tie undone and looking pissed off.

"Congrats?" Sheldon finally asked, although he wasn't sure if that was appropriate.

"We didn't get married," Leonard replied, he clinched his fist and then let out a sigh. "I'm going to bed." and with that Leonard turned and marched back to his room.

The door slammed and Sheldon was left even more confused. He sighed, Penny was his friend, and he would do the friendly thing. So he set about getting a tray of tea ready.

He walked across the hall, tray in hand, and then he realized his dilemma. He sighed; this night just wasn't going his way.

Penny sat on her sofa; she had changed into her comfy clothes, angry and sad. She was trying to build up the nerve to go over and see Sheldon, see if he was doing okay.

"Knock knock knock, Penny." Sheldon's voice suddenly filled her apartment.

Penny stood up, confused as to why he was saying it and not actually knocking. "Whack-a-doodle" she muttered and smiled a little bit.

"Knock knock knock, Penny." he said again.

She waited by the door for the last round.

"Knock knock knock, Penny." he finally said.

Penny opened the door and found Sheldon holding a tray of tea. That explained that.

"Hey sweetie," Penny said with a small smile.

"Penny, Leonard has informed that you two did not get married… you also seemed upset so I brought you some tea." he raised the tray a bit.

"Thank you… come in," Penny replied as she stepped aside to let the tall physicist into her home.

Sheldon walked to the couch and sat down the tray before he situated himself. He started to pour tea into her teacup.

Penny sat next to him and watched him carefully put just the right amount of honey in her tea before he stirred it and handed her the cup.

"Thanks," she whispered before she held it in both hands, the warmth instantly making her feel better. He did the same for his own tea. Penny saw her opening; she'd rather not talk about her woes.

"So what happened?" Penny asked gently.

Sheldon sighed, "she broke up with me… it's as simple as that." Sheldon said softly.

Penny sighed, "I knew she was thinking about it… I mean you are a terrible boyfriend… but I didn't think she'd actually…" Penny realized she had said too much.

"You knew?" he asked confused. This hurt almost worst. He swallowed his anger… and no he wasn't going to cry.

"Amy had talked to me… I didn't tell her to do it." Penny tried to amend. She watched as he started to tense up, his fleeing mechanism was kicking in. she quickly touched his arm. "Sheldon, you're a bad boyfriend but-"

"people keep saying that… I don't understand why I'm such a bad boyfriend." he asked as he looked at her confused.

Penny let go of his arm, she looked away from his sad eyes. "I don't know how to explain it… you're just… you're clueless," Penny finally admitted.

Sheldon sighed, "I've never done this before… it's not like anyone makes it easy." he grumbled. "I mean I know I am difficult… I understand that. People think I don't know that about myself," Sheldon said softly.

Penny felt for him, here he was, genuinely confused… he wasn't that much of a bad boyfriend, he never cheated or lied. Penny thought of Leonard. Yeah maybe that "bad boyfriend" tag was applied to the wrong boyfriend.

"I'm sorry, it's okay, and couples go through this… it's just a rough patch." Penny finally said.

Sheldon sighed. "I was going to give her a ring," he admitted.

Penny's heart nearly stopped.

"I figured that it might fix things… seemed to work for you and Leonard." Sheldon added.

Penny knew that that was what Amy had wanted… but she also knew that it didn't fix things. She rubbed his back and he leaned into the touch. He leaned into her and let out a shuddered breath. Penny wrapped her arms around him and hugged him close. "its okay." she whispered into his hair.

He nodded suddenly and sat up, she swore she felt a tear on her arm, but she tried to ignore it. he took a deep breath in and nodded his head again.

"Why didn't you and Leonard get married tonight?" Sheldon asked trying to change the subject.

Penny watched him, her hand still on his shoulder. "He told me that he had cheated on me while he was on the North Sea… he um, kissed another woman." she admitted.

Sheldon looked at her confused. "I wasn't aware of that… I'm sorry, Penny." Sheldon said gently.

Penny looked at him, "actually I should be thanking you." she finally decided to admit it.

"Thanking me for what?" he asked bewildered.

"I was trying to think of a reason as to why I shouldn't marry him, I was waiting for a sign… something to happen... A crazy old lady driving her Buick into the chapel… anything." she said. "And then you called. That was my sign."

Sheldon furrowed his brow. "I assure you that it wasn't a sign, just a mere coincidence on both of our parts… both of our relationships meeting their inevitable end." Although his tone didn't have that Sheldon confidence.

Penny nodded, "I know," she gave him another small smile before she pulled him in for another hug. He relaxed into it, "we're each others constant hu?" she asked gently.

Sheldon sighed, "Have been for the last 8 years, 6 months and 4 days," Sheldon murmured, his face tucked into her neck.

Penny couldn't help but giggle. "You might be a bad boyfriend Sheldon, but you're an amazing best friend."

"I know." Sheldon replied matter-o-fact. Penny giggled a little. "You are also an amazing best friend" he replied, "a terrible fiancé, however." he got her back with the tiny barb and she laughed again.

A/N: first fic delving into the Shenny side of things… let me know what you think? Maybe I might continue with this one. This was my attempt at changing what happened in 9.01. stopping Penny from marrying Leonard and also I felt like Sheldon hasn't been comforted at all by anyone with what he is going through. Again, I might keep isn't beta'd and I'm all ears for constructive criticism.