Final chapter. I wasn't sure when I posted the last one if there would be one or two more, but I found it fit better to just put the last two sections together.

I sure do appreciate everyone who spent time with this fic over the last five years. When I started it, it wasn't supposed to go on for so long in real time. But life happens. Since this fic started, I was diagnosed with depression, then anxiety, then CFS, then paranoia, then schizophrenia. I graduated college, moved, moved again, was put on medications that were good for me and that were bad for me, and didn't really figure much out when it comes to life. But hey, I'm still here, and so is our show, at least for a little while longer.

She opened the door after only a few nervous knocks.

"Hi."

"Hi."

"Hi."

Penny cocked her head to the side, a small smile, somehow both tired and amused, coming over her face. "You uh, you said that already."

"Yeah. Uh…" he hastily thrust the flowers he was holding toward her. "These are for you."

"Um. Thank you." Penny took them, holding the bundle awkwardly against her. "Leonard, what are you – "

"Can I just say something?" He asked, holding up a hand, afraid if she gave any resistance at all he might lose his resolve. "And then I'll leave you alone. F – forever, if that's what you want."

"Leonard," she said, tipping her head. "I can't imagine a scenario where I want nothing to do with you at all. Although," she said quickly, "there are a lot of plausible scenarios I can't necessarily imagine."

"Great, that's very comforting. May I continue?" He did, off her nod. "I know I've come on too strong. I believe in science perhaps to a fault. I didn't think that was possible, because science is fact, but sometimes taking things too seriously, too literally…that can make things worse than proceeding with caution. Oftentimes, scientists are pressured to rush forward with results that haven't been peer reviewed, and when those results end up being misleading or wrong…it's…" he struggled for the word. "It's bad. So while I still believe in the TiMER…and what it says for us…I understand that you need time. And that it isn't enough to just go on the science without really understanding why. And that's something you and I do have in common. I believe it works, but only because the experts in the field say it does…and when it comes to you, because I want it to work. But end of the day, you don't understand it, and I don't either." He licked his lips. "Penny, I want you to come with me while I do something. Something specific. Something that I hope will show you that I'm as serious about doing this your way as I am about you in general. What I want to know, before I proceed, is…is that something you're open to?" He touched the tips of his fingers together anxiously.

"I…" Penny hesitated, and he noticed she was curling her fingers around the bottom of her top. Maybe she was nervous, too. Maybe he wasn't the only one who wanted this to work but just wasn't sure how. Maybe… "I think that is something," she said. "Something I'd be…open to."

He smiled. He couldn't help it. "Okay. Then, uh…" he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. "I've made an appointment."

Penny took the piece of paper. It was upside down. Leonard watched nervously as she flipped it and her eyes scanned the subject line. "Rem…" she trailed off, her eyes flashing up to him. "Leonard."

"Just tell me yes or no."

She looked back down, her eyes scanning the rest of it. Then she looked back up at Leonard, smiled, and stepped forward, throwing her arms around him. "Do you mean it?"

"Yes," he said, hugging her back, grateful to feel her closeness again. "Yes."

"Then," she said, squeezing him hard, "it's a yes on my end, too."

"And so, that's basically it," Leonard finished. "We went in that day and I got my TiMER removed. It was the gesture she needed from me. It wouldn't erase the fact that we'd had them and they'd gone off for each other, but it showed her that I was willing to take that out of the equation." He shook his head slowly, looking at Penny and smiling. "I'd been thinking it would take moving mountains to even have a chance at getting her back, and in the end it was pretty simple. Just let go of science, just for once, because love is something that shouldn't be explained by research."

"I'm confused," Halley said. "Mama and Dad wouldn't be married without the TiMERs."

"That's quite possibly correct," Penny said. "But that just goes to show how very different people are, even close friends. Maybe your parents wouldn't have known each other without the TiMERs, maybe they would have. Maybe Uncle Leonard and I still would have gotten married without them, maybe we wouldn't."

"Maybe we would have only had one proposal if we'd kept them, or if we'd never had them at all," Leonard said. "Maybe the history we do have is why we each proposed about four times before we actually got married. But that's not a part of the story I would change, either."

"Because it led us to where we are," Penny said. "It sounds cheesy and corny and all that, and maybe it is…"

"It is," Bernadette said, from where she sat nursing her toddler at the kitchen island. "It may still be true but it definitely is."

"But," Penny said, ignoring her, "you can never know what would have happened in any situation. Only what is."

"Does that help, Halley?" Leonard asked. "For your TiMER story for school?"

Halley nodded. "If I forget what you said, Mama says I can just tell her and Daddy's. I can't do my parents but she says if I says it's someone else no one will know."

"Halley," Bernadette said, her voice coming out sternly. "I said that off the record. Don't roll your eyes at me, little girl."

"I think she'll remember just fine," Leonard said, reaching out to tug gently on one of Halley's pigtails. "Won't you, Halley?"

She nodded. "I'm smart."

Penny chuckled. "That you are."

"She listened to our whole story and didn't even take notes," Leonard said with a grin.

"I'm glad she didn't take notes," Bernadette said, "what with the adult details you provided."

"We used tasteful metaphor," Penny said.

"Which, knowing our luck, she will be including in her little talk to her class."

Penny gave a little laugh, leaning back against Leonard's arm. "You worry too much, Bernie."

"You're one to talk," Leonard joked.

She smiled at him. "You ever think about that kind of thing?" She asked, gesturing to Halley. "Like, what would have been if we'd never even had the TiMERs at all?"

"Well," Leonard said, "you know I believe in science. And whether or not someone had ever come up with the idea to look into and channel that science, it would still exist. So I think we would have ended up just about where we are now, and so would have Howard and Bernadette, and Sheldon and Amy, because we are all scientifically destined to be where we are." He smiled. "And I can say that, because since you're my wife, and you love me, that won't scare you away."

She reached out and squeezed his knee. "Since I'm your wife, and I love you, I think it actually does the exact opposite." She kissed him affectionately. "Because we're here, I think I kinda like it."

THE END