Penny ran out of the bowling alley, trying to hold in the tears, so no one could see. She could still see his face as she told him, his cute beautiful face, the horrible anguish on it, tore at her soul. She should have waited to tell him, but she was upset and it just came out, she didn't want to say it then, she wasn't certain she wanted to say it at all. His face haunted her, every time she remember it and only made her cry harder.

Why couldn't he have waited, things had been so good, she liked being around him so much. She loved cuddling him and him cuddling her, she had an intimacy with him, that she never had with any other guy, why did he have to ask? She had been wondering if she was falling in love with him, but she didn't know because he was her best friend, too. She needed more time, she never felt like this before, she needed more time. But she didn't want to hurt him, she thought breaking up with him now was best, but his face, it told her she hurt him real bad.

Penny walked back to the apartment in a daze, she couldn't get Leonard out of her mind. She couldn't stand that she hurt him, why did breaking up with him, hurt her so much, it never did before with other guys. Without thinking she took a short cut across the park.

She was walking near the duck pond, still lost in thought, when someone grabbed her arm.

"Hey honey, do you have any money." a grubby man said while tightly holding her arm.

"Sure she does." another disheveled man said coming up behind the first.

Everything seemed to go in slow motion, the first man put his other hand on the collar of her shirt, making her face him, he now had her by her arm and shirt. The second man was closing to grab her too. There was something in the eyes of the man holding her that made her realize he wanted more than money. Penny was terrified, she wanted to scream, but she was afraid that they would do something, especially since she saw something shinny in the other man's hand, as he approached. She tried to pull back from the first man, but his hold on her shirt, made it rip away at the buttons, exposing her bra to him, which only made him smile.

Then Penny remembered, she moved quickly, she had her jacket on, the one she normally wore to work and it had a small spray can in the pocket. The spray can had CS Tear Gas in it, Leonard had given it to her a couple of years before, because he worried about her leaving work after dark, she now pulled it out. The man who had her arm let go quickly, to put his hand to his eyes, after she sprayed him directly in the face. The second man, who was moving closer to Penny, only made it easier for her to spray his face, too. She then ran, thank God she was wearing sneakers, she ran as hard as her legs would carry her, hearing the two men behind her as they walked in circles trying to get their eyes to work again.

"You bitch, I'll kill you if I get you." the guy that grabbed her said

"Shit… dammit. We gotta get out of here." his friend added.

Penny got to the apartment a little out of breathe, but to her relief, there was no one around. She was tired, so she slowing walked up the stairs to her apartment with one had on the stair rail and the other hand firmly on the tear gas can. She got to the fourth floor, quickly opening the to the door of her apartment, not relaxing until that door was locked behind her, finally feeling a little bit safe. Penny then took out the tear gas can and looked at it and started to cry. The tear gas can had a sticker on it with writing from Leonard, 'Keep this with you, all the time, so I don't worry about you. Leonard'.

"Leonard!" she cried out loud to no one, because she knew he wasn't there. She needed him, she needed him badly now, what did she do, why in the hell did she break up with him? She was falling in love with him, what the hell was wrong with her, why couldn't she have just waited to see what happened between them. So what if he was in a hurry, she could wait and see, he would give up and wait with her, he loved her, she knew that, he would wait, so why couldn't she? She wanted him back, she was stupid, she didn't want to be broken up. Would he take her back?

Leonard slowly walked up the stairs, he never felt so helpless and sad in his life. His friends had been trying to help him all night, but he didn't remember a thing they had said. Thankfully Sheldon, hadn't said a thing, because he didn't want to hear anything from his roommate, now. Sheldon was ahead of Leonard on the stairs so when Leonard got to the door it was open, and Sheldon had already gone to his room, letting Leonard go to his room in silence, which is all he wanted to do right now. Leonard knew as soon as he laid down on his bed the tears would come and he couldn't stop them.

Leonard opened his bedroom door, turning on the light, and in his bed was Penny. His mind almost shut down, it was in such an overload, what was happening?

Penny didn't know what to do to fix things, so she just decided to offer herself to him, hoping he would take her back. She now realized what a big mistake she made and she had to make it right, as fast as she could, before it became permanent. She had his apartment key, so she let herself in and got into his bed, and laid there hoping this would work. When he turned on the light, she became scared, his face was in shock.

"Leonard, I'm sorry, I don't want to breakup. I'm just so confused and scared. Please forgive me." Penny pleaded.

Leonard slowly came back from the shock, but he still couldn't find words. It was like a dream, she had broken up with him, just over a couple of hours ago and now she said it was a mistake. His emotions were all over the place, he was happy, mad, confused, hurt, and happy again. He loved her so much, maybe that is what is most important, he thought.

Leonard signed, "Penny, I really don't understand. Are you saying we are still in a relationship or are we still broken up?"

"I want us to still be in a relationship, if you do?" Penny said, her eyes pleading

"Ok, but then what just happened to us a couple of hours ago." Leonard asked, he sat down on the edge of the bed.

Penny moved closer to him and took his hand, then looked down at it, avoiding his eyes, "Leonard, I need time. Can you give me some time? I couldn't take the pressure tonight, and I broke down, saying things, I really didn't think out."

Leonard nodded, "OK. So we wait. But you have to not get mad at me if I am moving faster than you, I have been in this relationship two years longer than you." Leonard let out a small chuckle as he said that.

"Ok, if you promise not to push too hard, when I tell you we need time." Penny responded, moving even closer to him.

"Alright." Leonard answered, them brought up his hand to touch the side of her face.

Penny moved the final distance between them and put her lips to his. Kissing him made her shutter, like he had many times before, it was electric. They sat on this bed kissing for a while, with Penny eventually ending up in Leonard's lap, completely lost in the passion between them. They ended up that night holding each other close and tight all night, both afraid to let the other go.

Sheldon had just finished watch Dr Who and was cleaning his cereal bowl, when Penny came into the kitchen from Leonard's bedroom, with Leonard's robe on.

"Penny?" Sheldon said in surprise, "I thought you and Leonard broke up, last night?"

"It was a mistake, I screwed up OK!" Penny said, "He is still asleep, and I want to make him some pancakes."

"You know Penny, because of your mistake, we now have to dress as female superheroes and parade in Stuarts comic book store as punishment, because we lost when you left." Sheldon said to her with a little bit of accusation.

Penny thought for a second, she didn't want Leonard to have to dress up like that because of her, "Ok Sheldon, tell Stuart if he releases you from your bet, I will come to his comic book store dressed as slave girl Princess Leia. I think he'll go for that exchange." Penny told him

Sheldon smiled, "I think so too. The pancake mix is on the second shelf."

"Thank you Sheldon." Penny said as Sheldon walked back to his room. Penny put the pancake batter ingredients together and stirred them up, quietly singing to herself. Penny was happy, really happy.