Author's Note: This story has a possible major character death (I'm not giving spoilers) and has a lot of talk with death. Please don't read it if that isn't something you enjoy.

If it is, then welcome aboard! It might just be me, but I almost cried writing this chapter, so I'm warning you now. (It might just be because I'm incredibly weird.) Please Review as I'd love to hear your impact on this story.

This story was also inspired by my Geography lessons I have in school. (Which I dislike very much...)

Penny continued to re-dial Leonard's number, only to have it go through to the answer phone.

She had been talking with him over the phone as he was going some last minute grocery shopping. She was currently more than 1,000 miles from her husband, and although she had only been gone two days, she couldn't stop worrying about how he was doing.

As they were on call, he suddenly said he had to go after the sound of a mumbled alarm started ringing in the background. He then hadn't picked up any of her calls in the six minutes she had been trying.

"C'mon! Pick up, Pick up, Pick up." She repeated, tracing around her parents' dining room. "Drat." She sighed after it went to voicemail.

She declined the call before crashing down on one of the chairs. "Leonard, where are you?" She asked to the empty room, whilst looking down at the blank screen on her phone.

She opened her phone again, before entering her photo gallery. She sat like that, looking through the pictures of her and or Leonard, taken in various locations and weather conditions. She could help but smile at every picture as they brought back the memories of when they went to the location, and what they did.

"Penny! Get your ass in here!" She heard her father call from another room.

She looked at the time and noticed she had been sat in the chair, looking through all the pictures for ten minutes.

She quickly ran through into the living room, which was where she heard him call from, and noticed that he had the news on, which wasn't a new surprised, only because he had become slightly obsessed.

"Isn't Pasadena near where you live?" He asked, referring to the main headline.

"Dad, I live in Pasadena." She answered, her eyes glued to the TV.

"Oh." He replied, turning back to the story.

Both father and daughter listened intently to the news story, which had suddenly become worldwide, in a matter of little time. Penny couldn't believe what she was actually hearing.

1,543 miles away, the whole of California, the main victim being Pasadena, had just been through an 8.4 magnitude earthquake, and fifteen minutes later, had been through a total of thirty-one aftershocks, all reaching above a 4 on the Richter scale.

"I can't get hold of Leonard." Penny blurted, still glued towards the news reporter, as they continued to cover the story.

No more than twenty minutes after, the emergency services were reporting a number of seventeen deaths already, and thousands of injuries, hundreds of them being critical.

She grabbed her phone, before trying to get hold of Leonard again.

"Any luck, Slugger?" Her father asked, looking over at her.

She shook her head as the phone went through to voicemail again.

Instead of putting her phone down, she began texting one of her friends, in case they had heard from him.

I heard about what happened is everything okay? She texted, before waiting for a reply.

About three painstaking minutes later, her phone buzzed. She quickly grabbed it faster than she had ever, in hope it was Leonard. She sighed after seeing it was from Bernadette.

Everything's fine. Kids a little shaken up but all good :D

She didn't hesitate. Leonard was the world to her, and after being through an on-and-off relationship before, she desperate to know if he was okay.

Good to hear. If it isn't any trouble can you see if Leonard's okay? He's not answering my calls and quite frankly, I'm terrified. She text back, hoping that Bernadette would be able to get in contact with him.

"C'mon Hofstadter." She sighed, calling him again. "Voicemail." She alerted, listening to his outgoing message, before declining the call so she didn't have to leave a message.

Suddenly, it dawned on her. Leonard's message could be the only time she would hear his voice again. That their last conversation would be about physics, much to her surprise. That the last time she saw him would be as she boarded the plane to Nebraska on Thursday.

She smiled as she remembered the fact that Leonard had ditched work that day to wave goodbye to her at the gate. It then punched her in the face as she believed that would be the last time she would see his smile.

She brought her attention back to the news as they updated the death toll to forty-one, just half-an-hour after the disastrous earthquake.

I'm sorry Penny. I can't get hold of him. He just isn't answering. She read Bernadette's text and sighed. She had lost interest in the news, only because they had switched it to something completely irrelevant.

Bernie, what if Leonard died during the impact? She text back, thinking it was true.

You can't think that! Leonard's going to be fine!

How'd you know? You haven't heard from him!

Penny began waiting for a response. She felt time stop as they changed the news back and updated the death toll. It was now fifty-six, so it had risen fifteen in five minutes.

Her phone buzzed again, and as usual, she quickly read the message from Bernadette.

Howie's tried too. There's nothing. He isn't answering.

She sighed, reading the message over and over again. She placed her head lower, sighing a second time.

"Slugger, everything okay?" Wyatt asked, poking his head around the corner, after having left the room a few minutes prior.

"Leonard's gone." She insisted, her voice choking up.

"What do you mean?" He questioned, walking closer to his daughter. "Was there something on the news?"

"No, but he isn't answering me, Howard or Bernadette. He hasn't even tried to get through. I-I-I can just tell that something has happened." She cried, holding in the tears.

Wyatt took a seat next to his trembling daughter. He hated seeing her this worked up. He also knew how much Leonard meant to her, and how much she was pleading to know if he was okay.

"So how are you sure he's gone?" He asked, looking over at her as he saw a tear roll down her cheek.

"It's just a feeling."

Wyatt hugged his daughter, rubbing her back to comfort her. "Why don't you go to bed. Get some sleep. It might help you relax a little." He suggested.

"What if Leonard calls?" She asked.

"No matter how asleep you are, if you really are worried about something, you always wake up."

Penny hesitated, before slowly getting to her feet. She grabbed her phone, whilst she was on her way toward the was apparent to her father that she was absolutely exhausted. After having a long day, and then having the earthquake pile on with the stress.

"Good night, Slugger." Her father said, watching her approach the stairs.

"Good night, daddy." She smiled, waving to her dad as if she was a little girl again. She began walking up the large flight of stairs to get to her bedroom.

When she reached the placed where she spent most of her adolescent years, she removed the pajamas from her bag, that she had previously thrown on the bed earlier that day. She removed the clothes she had been wearing that day, and put on her pajamas, with a little struggle. If Leonard was there, he would have helped her change for two reasons. One; to be helpful, because that's how he is. And two; because he would never say no to helping Penny take her shirt off.

She got herself into bed, before switching off the bedside lamp. After a little time of persuading herself to actually fall asleep, she drifted away.

Penny was engulfed by the news as they kept the entire of the world updated about the earthquake. She had tried all morning to get in contact with Leonard, but each time failed like the last.

She became wide-eyed at the TV when it showed the death toll as one-hundred-and-four-people, with thousands more in critical condition.

The chances of Leonard being in either one of those statistics was high, which made Penny more desperate by the minute to hear from her husband.

She decided to call his number, again hoping he would pick up. Instead of ringing, it went straight through to his message, which worried her even more.

Her attention was brought back to the news after her dad poked her arm. The entire family sat in silence as they told the entire globe who had actually died so far.

The names of just over one-hundred victims passed over the screen. Penny sat in disbelief as she recognized a good handful of the names. For less than a second, they all saw the one name that they had been hoping wouldn't be on there. Leonard's.

"Penny, I'm so sorry." Her sister sighed, breaking the silence that had filled the entire house. "Can we get you anything?"

Penny didn't answer and remained quiet. She continued to look over at the TV blankly. She looked as if she didn't have any life in her.

"Penny, are you okay?" Her father asked, looking over at her.

"Excuse me." She butted in, before jumping off the couch and running out of the room.

She shut herself in the bathroom, slamming and locking the door behind her. She leaned up against the sink, before catching a glimpse of a tear rolling down her cheek in the mirror. She then noticed that her eyes were almost completely filled with tears that were waiting to escape, as her vision became blurry.

She immediately sat up, gasping for air, whilst fumbling around with the bedside lamp for the switch.

After the lit the pitch black room with a dim light, she brought her knees up close to her chest and placed her head in her hands. She exhaled a large breath of relief as she knew that it was a dream.

She found herself drenched with cold sweat as she tried to calm down. She grabbed her phone from the bedside table and checked what the time was. It was still dark out and it being 3 o'clock explained why.

She swung her feet out from under the sheet and placed them on the freezing cold floor. She slowly stood up and walked out of her bedroom.

She stood in the dark hallway, that was only a little illuminated by the light escaping from under her door. She made her way down the stairs and switched on the living room light. She stood at the bottom, remember the dream she had woken up from.

She slowly walked through to the kitchen, placing her phone on the living room coffee table as she did so. She made herself a glass of water, after having a dry feeling in her throat. She stood blankly at the kitchen counter, hearing the sound of the ringing in the back of her head. After having called Leonard so many times, the ringing was now implanted in Penny, like the four knocks that the Master in Doctor Who constantly heard.

She stayed like that for a moment, as the ringing intensified. She lifted her head, thinking for a moment that it was coming from the living room. She edged her head forward, listening intently. The ringing became silent again, apart from the replay in her head.

She slowly made her way into the living room and saw her phone sitting there on the coffee table. She checked, but nothing.

"Stupid mind tricks." She sighed, throwing her phone on the couch.

She walked back into the kitchen, as the ringing in her head stopped. She stood there for a moment. After a second, the ringing returned. Believing that it was her mind, she chose to ignore it.

As time went on, the ringing stopped again. She walked through, as she was going back upstairs, and grabbed her phone. It automatically opened the lock screen and a message caught her attention.

Her attention was brought to the fact it was a missed call. As she read who it was, her heart skipped a beat.

It was Leonard.