A/N Well, here's the last of Broken Threads. It's a Day early, but I'll be busy tomorrow, and if I don't put it out today, it wouldn't have been out until Monday. The big note is at the end of the epilogue, but I want to thank TBBT78 and bfm10, upfront, for all their help and excellent suggestions. They both stuck with me right to the end, and without them, I wouldn't have come close to finishing. Thanks, so much, to both of you. Also, a shout out to Hokie3457 for his help at the beginning of this project.

Finally, note the change in how the headings are written in each of the final sections. The main heading gives the time in each place, then another heading, giving the locations. The reason for this is that the actions, throughout the epilogue, are happening in the UK, and in NY, basically simultaneously. In the final section, the actions are intertwined.

Epilogue

9:45 PM, Oxford and 4:45 PM NY Tuesday January 15th 2013

Kettell Hall

Leonard was in his bathroom, brushing his teeth, and preparing for bed. He had had dinner in the dining hall, came back to his room and finally finished editing his Lecture. His lecture would be at 8:05, the next morning, and he figured to get to his office just before 7:30 and then go to the lecture hall, and run over his lecture. He walked to his bed, and then set the alarm on his phone. He got into bed, turned off the light, and rolled over, trying to not think of Penny, while waiting for sleep to overtake him.

Studio 44

Penny was in her dressing room bathroom, brushing her teeth, preparing to walk down to the hair and makeup room. They would started the process at 5 PM, and were usually finished by 5:45 PM. They would then do a speed through the script, trying to get the words out as fast as possible. They would then have a half hour, to themselves before they would get together, to be introduced before starting the taping. They would not get a script tonight, as they were off for two weeks. Jeanie and Penny were going to Boston for a few days, after Penny's psychologist appointment in the early afternoon. She was hopeful that going to Jake's tonight, would keep her mind off of Leonard. She walked to the make-up room, greeting the make-up team.

6:30 AM Oxford and 1:30 AM NY, Wednesday January 16th 2013

Kettell Hall

Leonard's alarm went off, he shut it off and got up. Walking out to the kitchen, he turned his coffee pot on, and went to his bathroom. He was going to get his shower, get some coffee, and then get dressed. He would then head over to the dinning hall for some breakfast, before walking to the Lindemann Building. He would then go to his office on the third floor, unload the things he didn't need, before walking to the lecture hall, on the first floor.

Jake's

Jeanie and Penny left Jake's, and were now standing outside, talking with Kelli and Jim. They said their goodbyes, and started walking home. After getting there, they took off their coats, unpacked their bags and put their things on the table. They sat up and talked for a bit, before Jeanie decided to turn in around 2 AM, while Penny decided to stay up for a bit longer. She had had nothing alcoholic to drink and although she had hid it today, she was still bothered by the memories and feelings, the thoughts of her audition had brought up.

7:30 AM Oxford and 2:30 AM NY Wednesday January 16th 2013

Kettell Hall

Leonard had just arrived at the Lindemann Lecture Hall. It was a half hour before his lecture was to start, and he was still angry with himself. While getting dressed this morning, he found he had to move the blue blanket, with the sleeves, out of the way in his wardrobe, to get to his suit. That caused him to start thinking of Penny again, and her audition, and how he missed her. This was not something he had wanted to come up, just before his first lecture, but he couldn't shake the thoughts of her through breakfast, nor on his walk to his office. He laid out the papers containing the syllabus on a table near the small desk, before sitting at the desk. He wasn't really paying attention to the hall starting to fill up with the students he would be lecturing. The only thing on his mind was Penny.

Apt 601

Penny hadn't talked to Leonard since before Thanksgiving, but now, laying in bed, the thoughts of the audition, had made him the only thing she was thinking of. She finally decided she wasn't going to get to sleep and grabbed her iPad, and did a google search on Leonard. After a while, she hadn't found anything current. All of the references to his work and his office and email address were showing Caltech. She was puzzled by this, knowing he had gone to Oxford. After another fifteen minutes or so, she thought of looking at Oxford, so she typed in his name and Oxford, then clicked on the find icon.

Lindemann Lecture Hall 8:00 AM and Apt 601 3 AM Wednesday January 16th 2013

It was five minutes before he would start lecturing, but Leonard was still thinking about Penny. He walked up to the lectern, and looked out over the students.

Penny had found the classes that Leonard would be teaching at Oxford, and saw he would be teaching one this morning, starting shortly, if she had her time zones right. She had also found his email address, but realized, she couldn't bring herself to do anything with it. With nothing else to do, she turned off her iPad, and rolled over in her bed, to turn off her light.

Meanwhile, over 3000 miles away, Leonard held up his hand for quiet. As the students quieted down, Leonard was thinking, I've got to quit thinking about Penny. I'm never going to see her again, it's better to keep her as a memory, not dwell on her, and move on with my life, Goodbye Penny, I will always love you.

As she reached for the light, she saw the snowflake on her nightstand. Tears started forming, as she reached out to hold it and thought, He's gone, it's my fault, and I'm never going to see him again. I'll keep this as a memory, but it's better for me to just forget him, and move on with my life. Diane said she could help me with that. Goodbye, Leonard, I will never stop loving you. She kissed the snowflake, then put it back on the table and turned off the light. She closed her eyes, and tried to get her mind to let go of Leonard, as she drifted off to sleep.

He looked at the now quiet students, the students who represented a new chapter in his life. Looking at them, he pushed thoughts of Penny out of his mind, by concentrating on his lecture notes, and then said, "Good morning ladies and gentlemen, my name is Dr Leonard Hofstadter, I'll be lecturing you this morning on basic laser theory."

Fin

A/N Now, before I get into everything else, the first thing I want to do is thank everyone who has arrived at this point. Thank you so very much for reading, and thank you to those who have reviewed. Second, the name of the story that this prequel is based on, for those who still don't know, is Elliptical Threads (ET) and it was written by Slightly Off Key (SOK).

That story starts, about 12 years after the end of this one, in 2024. So, if you want to find out what has happened to Leonard, Penny and the rest of the gang, along with what they were up to, in the 12 years between this ending, and that beginning, you should go check it out, especially if you are a Lenny fan. It's a much happier story, and it will also help you understand where some of this story came from and should give you some insight as to why I made some of the choices I made, within this story. It was that story that got me interested in reading and then writing fan fiction.

You can find ET here on Fanfiction, (just search for Elliptical Threads) however, that is basically the first draft of the story (SOK wrote about 2500 words a night, almost every night until Part 1 was done, something I didn't even pretend to attempt to do). The cleaned up version, which is much more consistent with names, times, events (and reads much better, IMO) can be found at the following link:

(Ellipticalthreads).com(/)(chapterlink) Just take out the parenthesis, and put it in your address bar. Or do a google search for ellipticalthreads which a "slash"chapterlink. FF kept deleting the actual address so I had to resort to this.

If you have a question as to how I linked the two stories, or why I did some things the way I did, drop me a PM and I'll do what I can to help you.

At the end of the story, SOK mentioned that if anyone wants to add on to it, they are free to do so. But, it took me three years before I started writing this one. I spent much of that three years putting things together, writing the outline, finding key points, etc. I wanted to tackle their breakup, because I don't normally do angst, and because I love Leonard and Penny and wanted to make sure their love for each other was represented even with what had happened.(although, some reviewers think Penny didn't really love Leonard and was selfishly just trying to cover herself). I can see why some might think that, but, in my thoughts (and explained in ET), it was simply the guilt and shame Penny experienced, about what had happened, which were a new experience for her, and she simply couldn't, or didn't know how to, deal with it. Her self-loathing and low self esteem, at what had happened, made her think she didn't deserve Leonard.

Again, thank you all for reading, I have some ideas for more stories, and I have started writing a story about the early parts of the Lenny pregnancy (working on chapter 6, right now) and have an idea for a different story on how, exactly, Penny thanks Leonard for the car he gave her back in season 7. It will probably be my first attempt at M rated sexual goings on. With the end of the show though, I'm just not sure how many are going to continue to read Big Bang fan fic, so we'll see. I was quite happy with the number of people reading this one, on a consistent basis, and the number even increased as the story went on, even though fewer than one in forty reviewed. On the bright side, for me, I've started writing original material (working on a play, and a short story, we'll see if I can finish them), so I will continue writing, in some form or another, although maybe not here. Again, thank you all who read, and a special thanks to those who reviewed.