Return from Vegas

Penny awoke to the sound of someone knocking then sleepily thinking it's probably Leonard.

And this despite her telling him she did not want to talk about it,

Still even earlier that evening he had carried on with his sorry's making her so irate she had told him to turn the car around and head back to the apartment block, whereupon as soon as his car stopped, she was opening the door and running up to her apartment, never once looking back to see how Leonard was.

Opening her eyes in preparation in getting up and opening her door and tearing the stupid fool off a strip, she was suddenly aware that the knocking was on her headboard. "Sheldon!, I thought I told you not to break into my apartment like that. I've a good mind to take my bat and beat you over the head with it you selfish annoying idiot".

"I was looking for Leonard?", Sheldon explained, thinking that it made his breaking and entering OK.

"Yeah well as you can see, he certainly ain't here, now go away and let me sleep". She angrily demanded.

"I heard him crying", Sheldon said in explanation, and now he is not in our apartment, "and he left the door wide open contrary to the room mate agreement", "And now I don't know where he's gone , his door key and car keys are still in the bowl by the door and his wallet is still on his desk and I don't know what to do?", Sheldon told her.

"I'm sure he'll turn up sometime Sheldon, Now let me get back to sleep", and Penny turned off her light and rolled away from Sheldon, signalling the conversation was at an end.

Sheldon stared shaking his head unbelievingly at her for a few moments then turned and left her apartment.

Penny though found herself unable to get back to sleep although despite still being angry at Leonard for admitting he had kissed a girl on the North sea trip, and putting up an uncaring front to Sheldon, she was worried, Leonard was always careful to make sure he had everything on him before he left his apartment.

Suddenly Penny sat bolt upright, "Oh god has he taken his inhaler", now panic seized her and she began worrying herself sick over Leonard.

She looked at her cell it told her the time was now 3:30 am, Penny dialled Leonard's number, and found herself praying that he would answer her

"Hello?" Sheldon answered, "Sheldon?, it's me Penny, look I'm sorry for earlier. Didn't Leonard take his cell either then?, don't answer that it's obvious he hasn't, look give me 10 minutes and I'll be over there, OK?", and Penny rang off and quickly got dressed.

She rushed into the guy's apartment and straight into Leonard's room.

The scent of Leonard nearly made her tear up again, but steeling herself she checked his bedside table, but all his inhalers were still there, even more worried than before, she came back to the lounge.

"Sheldon", she told him, while reaching into the bowl for Leonard's car keys "I'm going to look for Leonard, now I want you to stay here and ring me if Leonard returns OK", Sheldon though was feeling very unsettled by this turn of events and could only nod in reply.

Penny drove down Los Robles and the surrounding streets for the umpteenth time, she checked the clock and grimaced as she noticed another hour had passed, and still no sign of Leonard.

Then she had to reluctantly pull over as her eyes had filled with so many tears at her anguish over Leonard that she found it hard to see.

She used the time while parked to try and think hard where Leonard could have possibly gone to.

It was not hard to guess that the reason for Leonard's disappearance was due to her anger over his confession. Penny knew that her great anger was because of the great emotional pain his confession caused her, a pain the like of which she had never felt before, but then again, she had never loved anyone as much as she loved Leonard either so the anguish and her anger were inevitable.

"I guess Leonard, as usual overthinking things had thought I had broken up with him", she thought to herself, causing yet more tears fall.

"But how could he kiss another girl like that, while knowing all the while, I was here and missing him so badly?". But then an unwanted memory from the distant past came to her.

It was the occasion when she went to a party with her boyfriend, only later for her to get so drunk that her boyfriend caught her having sex with his brother. Penny groaned feeling her cheeks colouring up in embarrassment at her remembered shame.

Was not that worse than what Leonard did?.

Especially years later in a telephone conversation with her mother that her ex boyfriend and his brother were still not talking to each other.

She drove round for another forty minutes before deciding to return, hoping against hope that Leonard had returned and Sheldon had forgotten to ring her.

But found only Sheldon still sitting in his spot from when she had left.

"I thought you two had gone to get married in Vegas?, What happened?", Sheldon asked her.

"We were , till Leonard confessed to kissing another girl on that North sea expedition for Professor Hawking", "I was so angry with him, so we turned around and came back home", she continued.

"Oh, that", Sheldon said simply.

"OH THAT!, You knew about it?, Did you?", Penny accused him, feeling her anger rising again.

"It was six weeks ago with the seminar in San Francisco. One of the speakers there, Dr Geoffrey Parker had been on the same expedition with Leonard, and he had came over to us and I thought him to be a most delightful chap, because he kept telling me what a genius Leonard was, I must say I thought his Humour was very droll, and most amusing"...

"Sheldon you stupid ass, he was not joking, Leonard is as smart, if not smarter than you, you arrogant weasel", Penny screamed at him in a rage.

"Now tell me about Leonard kissing this woman", She demanded her hands on her hips, glaring at him.

"Well", Sheldon began, not a little disconcerted by her outburst, " the first thing Dr Parker had asked me was, had Leonard married his famous Penny yet?, as apparently as soon as Leonard had arrived on the boat, he was telling everyone about his beautiful, talented girlfriend to everyone he met, and within a short time everyone on board, had heard about Penny, Leonard's beautiful girlfriend, but it seems shortly afterwards Leonard succumbed to depression, throwing himself into his work and spending the rest of his time in his cabin, Dr Parker told me they had become so worried by his demeanour that Dr Parker, spiked his coffee with vodka to try and get Leonard out of his, as Dr Parker had called it, his funk. So that time when you phoned Leonard was the first and only time he had partied on the boat", he told her.

"But he told me he was having the time of his life", Penny replied, her sadness returning, along with her tears.

"Apparently that was the alcohol talking it seems, anyway then Dr Katrina Davies tried to cheer Leonard up and it seems she likes the same blonde hair dye as you", "Sheldon do you mind", Penny interrupted him.

"So that when Leonard Kissed her in his drunken depressed state, he thought it was you but somehow as soon as he kissed her, he realised it wasn't you and then he,

According to Dr Parker became so mortified that he had kissed someone else, that he had sunk into an even deeper depression than before and they had to keep him on medication for the rest of the trip".

Sheldon lapsed into silence as Penny collapsed onto the floor in broken-hearted anguish at this new revelation. "He told me she was a smoker, that's how he discovered it wasn't me", she said between sobs.

After recovering a little she sat drinking the tea, Sheldon had made for her while she thought hard where Leonard might have gone.

Suddenly Penny stood up, slamming her cup down on the coffee table, "Of course the roof, it was one of his happiest moments when we held the Prom night, Come on!, Quick!", she told Sheldon, as she grabbed an inhaler, flew out the door and up the stairs to the roof.

Slamming open the access door she immediately spotted Leonard, to her dismay slumped over the parapet wall as though caught in an action to throw himself off the roof.

"Leonard No!", Penny screamed hurling herself with all her might to get to him.

To her relief though, Leonard was unconscious, due likely to the empty bottle of Jack Daniels lying on the roof.

With Sheldon's help she pulled him from the Parapet wall into a more safer location, her fear returning, as she heard clearly the awful noise of Leonard's laboured breathing.

"Please Honey Breathe", she pleaded with him hysterically, desperately trying to operate the inhaler and willing mightily for Leonard's breathing to return to normal.