Here it is the next chapter, and sadly, the end of our journey. It's been a blast and I hope you enjoyed the ride as much as I have.

Please read and review!

Chapter Four

He saw Raj, who was there with his dog Cinnamon and both again were dressed up as pirates.

"Hello Leonard." His mother went over to him, sipping on what looked to be a beer as she did so. "I see that you didn't dress up for the occasion." She sniffed, murmuring, "Pity."

"Mom?" he said in a strangled voice when he saw her outfit of a white peasant blouse, long brown skirt and brown leather corset, which had her breasts practically falling out of the top. "What are you doing here?"

"I was invited," she answered. "Sheldon and Penny certainly know how to throw a great party."

"But why…How…Why?!"

His mother blinked at him a moment. "This is their house warming party. The fact that it's on National Speak Like a Pirate Day just worked out perfectly for them." She turned to look at him. "If you aren't here for the party, what are you here for?"

"I'm here to talk Penny into taking me back," he said, sounding unsure for the first time since he set his path an hour before.

She sniffed and muttered, "I don't see that happening."

"She needs me," he told her.

"Whatever for?" His mother tilted her head, looking like she was recalling a conversation. "From what I was given to understand, her new employment as a sales person now pays more than your job at the university. And as far as her one time need to be paired with a man goes, she has explained to me that she discovered that she would rather be alone than a part of a dysfunctional couple yet again." She gave one of her tight smiles. "I'm so proud of her."

"What?!" he asked, totally stunned at her words. "Why?"

"She's bettered herself and gained more ground in life and self-confidence on her own terms than she ever imagined she could, Leonard," she said, looking around the party again. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm your son and you've never said as much to me!"

"That's because you are a blatant underachiever, dear," she told him, as soon as she saw her date. "And now you're a buzzkill."

A gray haired, muscular man took her outstretched hand, placing it on the curve of his elbow. They walked away with him whispering something to her that had her laughing more than Leonard had ever seen her do before. Which, if he were honest with himself, he had no recollection of her doing at all within his company ever.

"AARG! There be a land lubber!" came a yell from behind Leonard, which made him jump and turn around to see Penny carrying bags of ice into the backyard shindig. She looked like the sexiest pirate he had ever seen in a sparkling hot pink bandana covering her hair (was that Hello Kitty in the design?), cropped white peasant blouse showing off her toned abs, skin tight black pants, and black boots that made her tower over him. "This will put the Black Hearted Captain Cooper in a foul temper fer certain."

"Penny? We need to talk…"

"Nay! There will be no jaw waggin' at me, ye scurvy nave," she told him, looking around at the party goers. "Yo, Dread Pirate Bernadette?!" A giggling Bernie came over. "Have your wench and a party of strong arms fetch the grog from me boot."

"Aye, aye, Spectacular Captain Penelope!" Bernadette answered, still laughing as she added, "Hi, Leonard!"

"Hi," he said weakly, unable to come up with more before she left for the beer.

He ended up following Penny over to the bar/outdoor kitchen area where Zack and a couple of other big guys took the bags of ice from her.

Turning to face him, she said, "So, Leonard, talk about the last person I thought would be here tonight."

"We need to speak in private…"

She shook her head no.

"Come on!" She winced at his whiny tone, making her wish that she hadn't of promised Sheldon that she wouldn't drink that night.

"It's over," she told him. "And I'm okay with that."

"Why? How can you be okay with it?" he asked her. "I love you!"

"I'm getting to like me again," she explained to him. "I'm enjoying life. And, best of all, I'm not having to make excuses about anything to anyone." She smiled. "That feels good."

"Good without me, you mean?" His face went tight at those words. "Well without me, you wouldn't have that car you're driving. I know for damn sure you couldn't balance a budget without my aid. You'll end up spending more on shoes than you can afford and then what? Between you stealing Wi-Fi and the milk, just how long do you think it'll take Sheldon to have one of his fits? If you think Sheldon's going to put up with you for longer than he has to…"

Her face crumbled under his criticism and was bellowing out, "SHELDON!"

The party went quiet and the only thing that could be heard was the steady fall of booted feet coming from the garage only to stop right behind him. Leonard spun around to see Sheldon Lee Cooper, Ph.D. standing directly behind him dressed in all black from head to toe with a large brimmed feathered hat and an eye patch.

"We have a land lubber, do we, lass?" he asked, glaring at Leonard hard enough to make him nervous. But when he looked over to Penny, the act fell away. Turning the eye patch to rest on his forehead, he looked at her with concern. "Are you okay, Penny? Do you require a hot beverage?" He went over to her side.

She pointed to Leonard. "He was being an asshole."

"Do you want him to walk the plank?" he asked, looking at his watch. "No one's walked it in the past forty-seven minutes."

She looked at Leonard with disappointment and more than a little anger. "Please get him out of here. We just moved in. The last thing we want is someone calling the cops, because I went junior rodeo on his lame ass." Turning heel, she walked away and went into the house.

They were quiet for a moment before Sheldon turned his hard blue eyes on Leonard and growled, "What did you say to her, Leonard?"

"The truth!" he snapped.

Raj came over and murmured what was said to Penny. Sheldon glared at his one-time roommate, as he thanked Raj. He went over to Leonard, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck and walked him out of the backyard.

"Penny is my best friend," Sheldon told him. "That isn't something I can say of anyone before. And I refuse…" He lowered his head and snarled in his face, "Refuse to have her insulted in our home, Leonard." He let go of the scruff, pushing him away towards the sidewalk. "Go away. You're not welcome here until you learn to be civil."

"Penny and I belong together! We're meant to be!" Leonard exclaimed.

"You insulted her ability to take care of herself," Sheldon said to him. "How are those sweet words requesting reconciliation by anyone's definition, Leonard? If that weren't bad enough, you have the nerve attempting to tell her that I would get tired of her."

Standing up all the straighter, he stated him, "What I am quickly weary of is your little big man façade that covers up a very insecure, petty child." He turned to leave, stopped and looked at him. "My mother told me about how you phoned her. Needless to say, your piteous bid to get her to your way of thinking failed."

Scowling Leonard walked away only to have to turn around and head the other way, as he had gone the wrong direction. Sheldon turned and was a bit shocked to see Zack with several other of the big guys there.

"Got your back, man," Zack told him.

Bewildered Sheldon asked, "Why?"

"That's what friends do," Zack explained to him. "You better check on Penny. She didn't look too happy when she left."

Nodding he rushed up the stairs and proceeded to knock on her bedroom door. She opened the door, sniffing into a tissue.

"I didn't know Leonard could be such a self-centered homunculus," she muttered, blotting at her eyes and thanking heaven that she had gone with her waterproof makeup that night.

"No one with that many allergies is perfectly formed, Penny," he said absently, as he studied her face. After a moment, he looked back down at the floor. "Did I tell you that he called my mother?"

Her eyes went wide, as she breathed, "No, you didn't. What happened?"

"He told her that we were living in sin and that we were both a hot mess," he told her. "If not for Missy setting her straight, she would have been here last week."

"Oh sweetie, I'm so sorry."

"I informed her that the only hot mess I knew of was Leonard," he said, making her laugh.

"That was perfect!" She threw her arms around his waist, hugging him tightly.

He lifted his arms and hugged her awkwardly, patting her back as he did so. The idea to move had come when they had been in line for The Pirates of the Caribbean ride. It had been then that he had told her about the holiday that they were currently celebrating.

"We'll have a party on that day! It'll be our house warming party!"

"I don't know, Penny," he said hesitantly. "That only gives us about a month to see all of this done. I don't know if we can make it happen."

"We can do anything we set our minds to," she told him.

It had been the best decision he had ever made.

Kissing her hair covering, he said quietly, "Happy Speak Like a Pirate Day, me lassie."

Beaming up at him, she said, "Thank ye, ye lowly reprobate. There be no day as grand!"

"Aye! That be the truth of it, ye scallywag." He stepped back, as he asked, "Now how about we send the wench that is Wolowitz to walk off the plank?"

Clapping she cheered, "Yes!—I mean, aye!"

The Spectacular Captain Penelope—this had Sheldon rolling his eyes at the thought of it not being a proper pirate name—was jubilant once again. Penny took off ahead of Sheldon, who followed her at a more sedate pace. Sheldon heard Wolowitz screaming like a girl, as he arrived at the back porch in time to see Penny dragging him over to the kiddie pool for a dunking. They stopped and looked over to him for the final verdict. He gave a decisive thumbs down.

Sheldon smiled to himself, even as Howard was performing an overdramatic death in the six inches of water he was in. It would be a miracle if the inflatable kiddie pool survived the night. Absently he reminded himself to replace the water and clean the pool as soon as that bit of bad acting was finished. It was while he was standing there that he realized that normally he'd be upset that there were so many people in and about his house. His grin grew broader when he thought of why he wasn't.

This was now his absolute favorite holiday ever!

The End

Well that's it! Hope you like it. Special thanks goes out to Risknight, who issued the Speak Like a Pirate Day challenge. Now here's a challenge of my own. Write a fanfic about Flag Day. Yeah, you got it. Flag Day. It's such a Sheldon holiday, how couldn't I use it? It can be any pairing or no pairing at all. Go wild! Have fun with it! Thank you for reading and have a shiny day!