Leonard and Penny entered the Wolowitz home and they found everyone there. They were all sobbing, especially Raj.
Amy was trying to comfort Bernadette, but she was not doing much good.
As soon as Bernadette saw Leonard, she came to her feet and was welcomed into his arms. She buried her face in his chest and began to cry uncontrollably.
Penny came over and stood beside her and she looked on at the special connection the two of them had together. She turned to Raj and he folded his arms around her and she cried silently, partly for the loss of Howard, but more because she saw the special bond Bernadette had with Leonard.
Leonard held Bernadette close to him and soothed her by gently caressed her hair. He felt her shuttering in his embrace and after a few minutes she looked up at him with those blue eyes.
Bernadette's eyes were red and swollen. Her bottom lip was quivering and she licked them,"You were right Leonard, I used a disaster concerning Howard to get you back here and like you said it was Karma. I'm being punished and now I've lost Howard. All those years of Catholic upbringing and I should have known better. Oh Leonard, how am I ever going to be able to live with myself. I'm the cause if Howard's demise."
He hugged her tighter as she began sobbing, "No, no you can't think that way Bernadette. I was angry and mad, and I struck out. What happened was a malfunction on the capsule and has nothing to do with what you did. I heard Howard was in on it, so you can't blame yourself and just think, if you didn't get me here, I wouldn't be here now to comfort you. I would have felt horrible if I wasn't here to be with you, so don't you dare put this on you. Blame it on the Russians for having such a shitty space program." He held her until she calmed down.
She had her face buried in his chest and once she calmed down, she stared up at him and like a magnet and a piece of metal, their lips came together in a soft, loving kiss.
Leonard kiss her with such love and affection, his hand came up and slowly caressed her cheek with the back of his hand and then his fingers combed through her long tousled hair and he smiled at her and kissed her again.
Bernadette let out a long sigh and buried her face in the crook of his neck. She looked over her shoulder and smiled weakly at Penny, "I hope you don't mind, I just need some comforting right now."
Penny nodded as tears rolled down her cheek, half because of Howard's death and the other part was because she knew she was slowly losing Leonard and with Howard gone now, it left an open path for the two of them to come together.
Sheldon saw how Leonard holding and comforting Bernadette was affecting Penny and he tugged at her arm and she came willingly to the sofa beside him. He enveloped her in his arms and just like Leonard was doing, he swept a stray lock of hair from her cheek and guided her head to his shoulder.
Amy looked to Raj and scoffed, "Nice, why is it that he can comfort her, but never showed that kind of compassion with me? I just don't know how we are going to get past this. I spoke with Leonard last week and he told me Sheldon wasn't going to budge on the changes I'm doing with my life."
Raj drew her into her embrace and hugged her, "You don't have anything to feel sorry about. Just like after winning the Nobel, I told you to make changes and with without any doubt you have made strides in so many portions of your life and you cannot, and I repeat, you cannot go back. You'd just be knuckling under his needs and you'll never, ever feel good about yourself again."
She pulled back and stared at him, "Why oh why wasn't it you I fell for. You know me better than I do myself. How is it that you are the only one here without a woman in your life?"
He scoffed, "Ah Amy, I have you in my life."
She chuckled, "I mean romantically, I don't see you that way."
He sadly replied, "Yeah, that's always been my problem."
After that They all sorta broke apart and congregated in the kitchen where Amy and Raj cooked up a meal for the six of them.
Bernadette stood up, "If it is possible, I'd like each of us to say something about Howard, something that was memorable about him that concerned you."
Raj stood up and cleared the lump in his throat, "I'll always remember the evening we both dressed up in Goth clothes and even wore skin-tight tattoo sleeves on our arms and went to a Goth bar. We picked up two Goth girls and one of them had a special place for us to go. It was a tattoo parlor and Howard told them he would get a tattoo. When the guy began, Howard panicked and ran out after showing the girls the fake tattoos on his arms."
Penny giggled, "I remembered that, I told him he would get beaten up at Walgreens when he went for more make-up." She cleared her throat, "I remember the first year I knew him, I belittled him and he was broken and went home. I went to his house to apologize and we sat on his bed and I told him what a good guy he was. He took it the wrong way and as he tried to kiss me, I punched him."
Amy chuckled, "Belittling people, haven't changed have ya?" She stood up and smiled at the group. "My fondest memory of Howard was when we were paired together during Raj's lame scavenger hunt."
Raj blurted out, "Hey, it wasn't lame, it was adorable."
Amy ignored him, "We went from spot to spot and grew closer together singing Neil Diamond songs. I never felt closer to him, well until recently with him and Bernie, but that's another story."
Leonard chuckled, "Okay, I guess I'm next, I think the most memorable moment was when Leslie Winkle had just broken up with Howard. He was heart broken and we took him to Vegas and got him a Jewish hooker. We never saw him so happy."
Bernie grumbled, "I heard about her, thanks a lot Leonard."
He shrugged and smiled meekly at her.
Sheldon stood up, "I guess that leaves only me. There were so many times I have fond memories of Howard, but I have to say I regret the times I always put him down for being an engineer. I have to say as far as engineers go, there were none better than him and I hate to say I never told him so."
Bernie hopped up and hugged Sheldon, "That's okay, I bet he's looking down at us right now and smiling just hearing that."
As they began to leave, Leonard turned to Penny, "You can head back to the apartment, take Sheldon with you. I know he doesn't wanna be here with Amy."
Penny was stunned, "Why what are you going to do?"
He stared at her vehemently, "I'm staying here to console Bernadette. Something you know very little about. Now take Sheldon with you, as you can see, he really doesn't wanna be here either. You two make a perfect couple."
Sheldon knew he couldn't challenge Leonard right now and he didn't wanna upset Bernadette any more, "Come on Penny, we both have to work in the morning."
She was going to protest, but when she saw the anger in Leonard's face, she relented. "How are you getting to work in the morning?"
Amy spoke up, "We work together, I'll take him."
Penny threw up her hands, "Whatever!" She turned and looked to Sheldon, "Come on, let's go."
She stormed out and Amy chuckled, "Good one Leonard, they ARE the perfect couple!"
There wasn't anything sexual about that night, Leonard was just there for Bernadette, holding her and telling her that everything was going to be okay. They talked halfway through the night remembering all of the good times they had with Howard and finally sleep overtook them and they drifted off to sleep in each other's arms.
Amy woke him up early and she persuaded him to go to the fitness center. He went, but wasn't happy. He did a tiny workout compared to Amy. He decided to take it slow and after a few exercises gave up for the day. He wasn't into it thinking about Bernie and Howard.
They returned to the university to work and just after a few hours, they left.
Amy took Leonard back to his place, but Penny was still at work. Afterwards Penny did come home, but she wasn't speaking to him. He tried to explain that all Bernadette and he did was talk, but she wasn't listening. He was so frustrated, he left and went over to Sheldon's apartment across the hall. He entered without knocking and he stopped dead in his tracks.
Sheldon was watching a DVD of the wild night where Penny was used by each and everyone of their friends. He couldn't believe what he saw and after a few moments he realized he could believe it. It was in her DNA and he knew without a doubt she would never, ever change, but he wasn't gonna leave her, but he was now just a husband in name and title. He was through being her partner. He would fuck her at his leisure, but vowed never to have a baby with her. He turned to Sheldon, "Don't you dare turn that off, I'll be right back." He crossed the hall and walked over to her as she stood in the kitchen. He grabbed her by the arm, "You're coming with me!"
She screamed out, "I'm not going anywhere with you. You left me all alone to spend the night with Bernadette. Who knows what you did?"
He dragged her across the hall and screamed back at her, "I told you, I don't lie! Unlike you, you fucking slut!" He pushed her into Sheldon's apartment and turned her face to the TV, "Unlike you, you fucking whore! I can see you really were sorry about losing the baby, right? We're gonna put up a happy face while we're at NASA for Howard's memorial, but after that, I don't think I wanna be married to you any longer."
