The Venn Diagram Principle Part IV
Title: The Venn Diagram Principle
Spoilers: Nothing really.
Rating: PG -13 (Just in case)
Word Count:6,369
Disclaimer: Not Mine. Sadly no.
Summary: Penny comes to terms with jealousy and other typical relationship pitfalls (although nothing is typical when it comes to Sheldon Cooper), and the guys get a surprise.
Well here's the final chapter of my fic. Had no idea it would go this far. I must say I enjoyed the ride. Dedicated again to this great community. Hope you like.....
Check out:
Part I http://community.livejournal.com/sheldon_penny/155910.html#cutid1
Part II http://community.livejournal.com/sheldon_penny/168962.html#cutid1
Part III http://community.livejournal.com/sheldon_penny/203834.html#cutid1
The Venn Diagram Principle (Part IV)
The next day was Saturday - a day for sleeping late and doing chores and generally just goofing off. Laundry day thought Penny, and frowned a little as she realized that she’d started thinking of Saturday as such for a long time. Sheldon’s habits had started affecting her long before she’d realized it.
She was up earlier than she usually was and couldn’t get to sleep. She got up and made coffee, watching the city outside her window and sipping. She didn’t have anything particular planned for the day, and it was nice to just let the idleness sink in.
Someone knocked on her, and her heart jumped a little. But it was only a handful of knocks with no rhyme or reason. Not Sheldon. Who the heck was it?
Kurt’s face looked crazy and huge through her peephole. Surprised she opened the door before really thinking about what she was wearing. She didn’t usually care much, but she really didn’t want Kurt to get the wrong idea.
“Hey sweetness,” he said, giving her tank and her extra short pyjama bottoms under her open robe a pointed once over. Too late.
“Kurt? What are you doing here?”
“I was in the neighbourhood, was going to meet up with a guy at the gym, but he cancelled until later. Had a few minutes to spare, thought I’d just drop by and say hi. Someone was walking out when I came in the door”
His eyes bore into her with an expression she knew. A little shiver ran through her like the memory of an old wound - there was no immediacy to it, and she observed it absently. She had a much stronger sensation of this being same old, same old.
“Do you want to come in?” she said. She felt uncomfortable leaving him standing in the hallway, and he eagerly accepted her invitation.
“You look great,” he said as she walked ahead of him to get him some coffee. “You lost weight.”
He always noticed stuff like that first. Penny gave him a tight smile. “I’ve only got Splenda,” she told him.
She ignored his unspoken invitation to join him on the couch and sat on one of her stools, watching him talk more than really listening. She had realized when they had dinner the time after he had repaid her for bailing him out that he really didn’t have much to say for himself.
He looked strangely out of place in her apartment, surrounded by the home and the life she had crated. After that dinner, she had realized that it was all over between them, and gone home and cried a little, but the sadness was not a crushing sadness, and even that had lessened, had waned. She’d moved on.
“You wanna go grab a bite to eat sometime?” said Kurt, breaking into her thoughts. “I’m free next Wednesday.”
Wednesday night is Halo night.
The thought made her smile. Wednesday night was always Halo night in her mind, even when she was out with her friends or she wasn’t in the mood or had to do something completely different.
She turned the smile on Kurt. “Aw sweetie, that’s nice of you, but I can’t. I’ll be busy that night. I’m surprised that you won’t be busy too. You remember my friend Jamie? She said you looked pretty busy the other night making out at the club with Miranda Bellamy.”
Kurt’s face fell, and his eyes took on a slightly panicked look. “Oh....Jamie was there.”
“Yes,” said Penny, smiling sweetly. “She saw you, but you guys didn’t see her. She recognized Miranda from that time we found her picture on your phone. Remember? When we were still together.”
“Aw honey....that was a long time ago...water under the bridge.”
The smug feeling went out of Penny then. Lots of water under the bridge, she thought, watching him flail mentally for some face saving response.
“Kurt,” she said softly. “You’re right. I understand. Really I do, but I think that you’re going to have to take me off your list of booty calls okay?”
He gave her a wan smile.
At the door, he called up his old smile - the one he had used countless times to placate her after his indiscretions. It used to really work.
“For old times sake,” he said spreading his arms.
He had to lean really far down to put his arms around her. She returned the hug, saying goodbye to old ideas and old loves.
The hug went on rather longer than a ‘just friends now’ hug. Over Kurt’s shoulder she saw Leonard step out of his apartment dressed for paintball. He took one look at the man mountain wrapped around Penny and darted silently down the stairs. A second later she saw that Sheldon had followed him and was standing looking at them from their doorway.
Penny started back quickly, frantically. I wasn’t doing anything wrong, she told herself fiercely, but a blush had already spread traitorously to her cheeks.
“Good morning Penny,” said Sheldon, walking across the hallway toward them and stopping. His eyes shone as he looked at her.
Kurt stared at Sheldon as if an alien had suddenly teleported into the hallway. The sight of Sheldon Cooper in full paintball gear was wonderful to behold, but Penny knew that Kurt couldn’t appreciate it as she did.
She felt confused and uncertain. Sheldon was smiling and looking warmly at her as if he just hadn’t discovered her in the arms of an old boyfriend. Her mind raced, but she managed to say, “Hey sweetie. You remember Kurt?”
It was amazing how quickly his face went from animated to cold and disinterested in a second.
“Yes I do recall,” he said, looking at Kurt for the first time. “I’m sure you remember me as well.”
“Huh?” said Kurt. “Penny, who is this guy?”
Sheldon’s mouth opened in shock. “You really don’t remember me? Oh this is absurd.”
People like Sheldon could rub people like Kurt the wrong way very easily, and it was already working. Penny knew the signs. Hastily she said, “Sheldon honey. What did you need?”
“Oh yes.” He turned his attention back to her. “We’re on our way to paintball. Later on this evening after I’ve done some work, I will be doing my laundry. Leonard forgot to buy my detergent.” Sheldon rolled his eyes. “I would ask him to take me to the supermarket, but he’s planning to go to Pottery Barn to pick up sheets with Koothrappalli, and then Howard will join them for a movie afterward. Since the market is in an entirely different direction, I was hoping you could take me?”
“Of course honey. I’ll see you later then okay?”
“Shall we say six?” said Sheldon, pleased with her compliance.
“Fine,” said Penny.
Sheldon looked blandly at Kurt, nodded at Penny and walked away.
“Who the heck was that?” said Kurt.
“Sheldon. He lives across the hall.”
“What is with you and these geeks these days?” Kurt said incredulously. “He looks like a....a....”
“A praying mantis?” Penny smiled to herself. “That would make him my praying mantis friend Kurt. He’s one of the people in my life now, that’s all.”
Kurt looked at her with puzzlement. “Sorry,” he muttered.
“Nothing to be sorry for,” said Penny briskly. “Won’t you be late for your gym date?”
“Yeah I guess. So long sweetie. I’ll see you around,” he added and walked away, glancing back at her before heading down the stairs.
“My best to Super Skank Miranda,” said Penny softly into the empty hallway and closed the door on that.
She wondered again and again what Sheldon had been thinking that morning in the hallway. Had he been angry? But anger wasn’t something Sheldon hid. He would have spoken up, if he thought she was doing something wrong.
Perhaps he saw it for what it was: an innocent hug. She hoped he did, but considering that it was Kurt, and they knew what Kurt was like, she could not be sure.
After mulling about it long enough, she decided to put it out of her mind, and focus on doing Saturday stuff. She washed her hair and cleaned the apartment. (She would never, ever, ever admit to Sheldon that she sometimes used his cleaning schematic.) She called some friends and did her toes.
There were noises coming from the opposite apartment when she was taking out the trash She figured she had missed the boys’ return while she was washing her hair. She had lunch, watched TV and took a nap, but she couldn’t shake the sense that she was waiting for something, and the day still seemed to go rather slowly.
She was ready to go well before the triple knock sequence rang through the apartment.
Sheldon was looking fresh and lively (for him), vanilla body wash tickled Penny’s nose, and she breathed in and grinned at him.
“I’ll just get my keys.”
“How was paintball?” she asked when they were on their way.
“Oh it was wonderful. One of the best mornings I’ve ever spent at paintball.”
“So you won?”
“No, but I outlasted Leslie Winkle, and I actually got a shot at that guy from the Chemistry department who jeered at me for bringing my own cutlery to the cafeteria.”
Suddenly he paused as if something had just come to him. “And how was your day?” he said carefully and very obviously.
“Well,” said Penny cautiously. “You may have noticed Kurt stopped by this morning. He’s kinda hard to miss.” She smiled at her weak joke.
“Oh,” said Sheldon. “What did you do after that?” he said after a pause.
“You know Sheldon,” began Penny. She hesitated and then said, “You don’t do jealous do you?”
Sheldon looked hard at her. “I don’t understand the question.”
“Well you came out this morning and saw my ex-boyfriend with me. Didn’t that make you feel a bit......well envious?”
“.....oh....” he said after thinking about it for a moment. “Well Penny that doesn’t particularly apply to me does it? Jealousy is a feeling of resentment you feel toward someone who has an advantage over you. Kurt may have a physical strength advantage, but it is not particularly a trait I covet. As Leonard once pointed out, it is the superior mind that has the advantage these days, not the superior muscle tone. What can I want that he has?”
“Well he used to have me - as his girlfriend.”
“But he doesn’t have you as his girlfriend anymore. We’re in a relationship, and frankly I am not sure what would make you go back to him. That would be like a step backward in evolution.”
He could be such a smug sonaf- “You mean that you’re superior to him?” said Penny.
“Well frankly yes. Superior in all the characteristics which are viable. Besides Penny I do not give in to such plebeian emotions like jealousy. It’s not a rational sensation.”
Penny’s mouth quirked. “What about Dennis Kim?”
Sheldon’s superior expression went sour. “What about Dennis Kim?”
“You were jealous of him last I heard. Couldn’t take that another whiz kid was on the scene.”
Sheldon flustered was fun to see. “That was different. Dennis Kim was a pompous, self-centred wunderkind who needed someone to knock him off his self-constructed pedestal.”
“Oh I’ve never met anyone like that before!”
“You’re being sarcastic with me aren’t you?”
“Duh!” said Penny with a smirk. She felt completely relaxed
They bickered the rest of the way to the supermarket.
Once inside they separated after Sheldon explained to her that he would meet her at the snack aisle in ten minutes when he went to get Red Vines. He reminded her that she probably needed to stock up on tampons.
Penny tried to give him a quelling look which did not quite work because she realized to her dismay that he was probably right. Damn him.
When he found her at the designated spot though she was grinning, her annoyance forgotten. “Look Moonpie,” she said, smiling up at him. “Moonpies!”
Sheldon forgot to scowl at her as he caught sight of the packet in her hands. “Aw neat,” he said, taking it from her. “I’m going to get some.” He put several in the cart. “I think Leonard would appreciate them. They have no dairy products in them.”
“I like them too,” said Penny tossing in some more. “They’re all gooey and sweet on the inside. I can tell why your gram gram called you that Moonpie.”
Sheldon looked disconcerted. “I already told you why my grandmother called me that, and I’ve told you not to call me that.”
“I’m sorry I can’t help it. I think you’re nummy nummy too.”
She so rarely saw him at a loss for words, but faced with a flat out compliment he managed to look perplexed and pleased at the same time. Penny was intrigued.
“I bet you were her favourite.”
“She never admitted it, but I’m certain I was,” he said confidingly. “She was a teacher and she really understood the importance of science. She gave me my very first encyclopaedia, and she actually thought to ask me what I wanted for my birthday. She used to live right down the road from us. She let me keep some of my experiments at her house when I ran out of space in my room.”
“Is she still...around?”
Sheldon found his Red Vines and dropped them in the cart without looking at her. “No. She died one of the summers I was home from Germany. She had a stroke. Emma and I found her in bed. She wasn’t able to get up, and she couldn’t move.”
Penny felt her stomach drop. “Oh no. Was she - ” She couldn’t finish.
He looked at her, curious at her tone.
“No. She was still alive. Emma was very upset, so I sent her to call Mom, and I stayed with her. I held her hand. She seemed to find it comforting.’
Penny’s heart ached a little as she saw the scene clearly in her mind’s eye. “When did she die....”
“Some weeks later.” He looked at her carefully. “Penny are you....upset? You seem depressed. It was a very long time ago.”
“I bet you were upset.”
He looked guarded then, but didn’t say anything. “Did you cry?” Penny asked.
Sheldon looked at her, then looked away. “I lost my Meemaw Penny what did you expect?” he said shortly and headed toward the cashier.
And she felt sorry for pushing. Sorry for implying that he didn’t feel anything when he so clearly did - when she saw it in him everyday. There was no way anyone could think that he was emotionless. You just had to see him angry or delighted by a concept or thrilled with his work or a Christmas present he adored to know that he experienced passionate feelings though he didn’t necessarily show them the way others did.
She hurried after him, hoping he wasn’t angry with her. At the register she couldn’t think of anything to say, and he didn’t speak, but as they walked to the car, he said, “I think Meemaw would have liked you Penny. She also liked bright colours and ice cream too. Sometimes I’m still homesick for her,” he added after a pause.
Penny had to stop a moment to swallow down the burn that rose in her throat. “Thank you Sheldon,” she said, and she reached down and slipped her hand into his much bigger one and squeezed. He looked down at their joined hands, but did not pull away, and Penny held it for several seconds more before gently letting go.
Only Sheldon could talk cheerfully about laundry. Penny wasn’t really listening as she walked up ahead of him to their floor, and he explained the merits of his detergent as opposed to Leonard’s. In the curve of the second floor stairwell, she stopped suddenly on the step ahead of him and turned, so they were face to face.
Penny stared into his eyes, and they went hooded and wary. He glanced away and back at her hesitantly though he didn’t turn his head and only fidgeted a little. He wasn’t used to being eye to eye with anyone, but valiantly he kept still as Penny slid her arms around his neck, fascinated by his grey blue eyes, and forgetting for several moments what she had meant to say.
“Hey,” she said at last, surprised at how shy she felt.
“Hey,” he said, cautiously. “Are we testing the boundaries of personal space?”
“ Sort of. I just wanted to tell you I know you have feelings. No one would think so if they saw how you kept your grandmother’s letters or knew how you felt when you can’t get your laundry done when you’re ready. I know you’re not a robot”
“Well of course I’m not,” he said impatiently. He looked up thoughtfully for a second. “You’d tell me if I was though right?”
“Of course,” chuckled Penny. Sheldon shifted under her arms. He wasn’t completely comfortable, but he wasn’t pulling away either. “I was jealous,” she said softly. “Of Jayden Howe. I’m like that sometimes, but you didn’t mind Kurt at all.”
“I told you I don’t get jealous,” he said cautiously. “Why would I be interested in Jayden Howe? I don’t know her.” He looked hard at her, trying to understand. “I said I was committed to you remember? Why would I-“
“I know. I know. I’m crazy and irrational sometimes. But you’re crazy sometimes too, and you’re smug and self centred, and you really, really need to shut your hole sometimes,” she smiled gently at his indignant expression, “but you’re not like other guys, and I appreciate that. I really do.”
He looked like he had several things to say, and as if the things were flying through his mind at light speed, but all he said was “Thank you.”
They took a breath in unison, and Penny felt a buzz of excitement jetting through her. She felt wildly happy and heady as if she’d been drinking. And now she felt shy under his scrutiny. “What were we talking about again? Before?”
“Laundry,” said Sheldon, in a voice which sounded a little deeper than she was used to, and, unless she was mistaken, a little amused.
“Yeah,” said Penny a little breathlessly, and he licked his lips nervously.
There was a thump below them as someone started coming up the stairs.
“Aw,” moaned Penny. “More interruptions. Come on.” She turned and pulled Sheldon up the stairs.
“What are we doing?” he asked, stumbling after her.
“Suppose it’s Leonard and the others coming home? I’m tired of them walking in on us.”
“I told you they were going to the movies.”
“Oh yeah. Well suppose someone sees us cosying up in the stairwell and tells Leonard?”
“Unlikely. Leonard doesn’t really interact with many of our neighbours.”
Behind them a dog barked.
“That’s Jeanette from the fifth floor,” said Penny. “Everyone will know about this by tonight if she sees us looking suspicious.”
“Wouldn’t running away make us look suspicious?” asked Sheldon
They reached their floor, and Penny tugged him toward her apartment.
“My laundry’s over here,” said Sheldon pulling the other way. He took out his keys and let them in. Before he could drop his keys in their bowl, Penny had reached up and tugged at the front of his jersey. She wasn’t quite done with their stairwell moment.
Sheldon sighed as her lips met his. Penny pressed her hands against his back, and he stumbled forward a little, then braced himself with one hand against the door. Penny smiled against his mouth and slid her hands lower, playing with the edge of his t-shirt. She slipped her fingers beneath the layers, her hands light against his bare skin.
“Mmf. No tickling,” Sheldon began with a little panic in his voice. He pulled away a little.
“Shhhh. I know no tickling,” said Penny soothingly, running her hands further up his back. Sheldon stayed very still, his body tense, trembling a little, his head bent close to hers. His face took on a far away listening expression as if he were contemplating the feel of her hands against his body and was trying to process it. She thought that he might learn to sink more easily into her touch with time.
His skin was cool under her hands; his body lean. She had suspected of late that he had bulked up a little. Surely his shoulders were wider than when she had first met him. She kissed him again, savouring the taste of Red Vines on him and the slight stickiness of his lips.
Then past his body she saw a movement.
“What the hell are you two doing?”
Sheldon yelped and jumped back, jerking his knee up as if he were preparing to make a run for it. Penny stepped back, startled and bumped into the door. They both stared at Raj, Howard and Leonard standing in a row near the hallway.
Howard and Leonard were severely divided between staring at Raj and staring at Sheldon and Penny. Raj was the one yelling, thought Penny in shock.
Raj was glaring at them his arms folded, then he noticed the other two looking at him. An expression of disbelief crept over his face.
“You spoke,” said Howard, flabbergasted.
“Yeah,” said Raj, clearly surprised himself. “Well forget me for now. What about them?”
Leonard and Howard took the cue and focused on staring accusingly at Sheldon and Penny.
“Wha - what exactly is going on here?” said Leonard.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” said Sheldon in obvious confusion.
“And you’re supposed to have the sexuality of a stone,” said Leonard sharply.
Penny was still gazing at them all, her mouth open. After all Leonard had found out about them in one of the worst possible ways. “Leonard,” she said. “I’m so sorry about this. We’ve been meaning to talk to you. ”
“I’ll bet,” said Leonard sourly.
“Yeah,” added Howard, recovering his powers of speech.
“I think we’ll need a little privacy for this,” said Sheldon suddenly and firmly. He inclined his head toward Howard and Raj. “You two will need to get out.”
“What?” said Howard. “You want us to leave? You can’t be serious?”
“You don’t have to go anywhere if you don’t want to,” said Sheldon. “You can wait in the hallway if you like.”
“The hallway,” spluttered Howard. “We’re not going anywhere. We have to support our boy here at this time of betrayal.” He patted Leonard on the shoulder.
“Howard maybe you guys could just wait in my bedroom,” said Leonard apologetically. “I’m sorry.”
Howard looked at Leonard desperately. Raj quietly turned him around and steered him toward Leonard’s bedroom. “This is not right,” Howard complained. “How can you do this?” They disappeared into the other room.
“Okay Leonard,” said Penny, as soon as they were gone. “I’m so sorry about this. So sorry you had to find out this way.”
“At least I found out,” said Leonard. “When exactly were you going to tell me?”
“I’m not sure why we had to tell you,” said Sheldon coolly. “By the same reasoning, you might surmise that Penny should keep you informed of every man she has a relationship with.”
“But this is different,’ said Leonard in exasperation. “You’re my friend. Friends don’t date other friend’s crushes.”
“Yeah,” said Howard, sticking his head into the hallway. “Bros before hos!”
They all turned to scowl at him. Penny took a menacing step forward. “Howard,” she said, her jaw tight. “If you don’t go back in there, and turn up the TV real loud, I am going to personally cut all your already slim chances of physically pleasing a woman ever again!”
Sometimes you had to be rough with Howard.
He stared at her open mouthed for a second, and hastily disappeared into the bedroom. A moment later, the sound of the television filtered into the hallway. Penny turned back to the other two with a satisfied grin which quickly vanished when she saw Leonard’s face.
Sheldon stepped closer to his roommate. “Leonard, I would be the first to admit that you’ve been carrying a torch for Penny for some time, but to be fair, you have not shown any inclination toward her for quite some time. You’ve been fixated on several other women from my observations.”
Leonard looked down at the ground, his mouth sad.
“He’s right Leonard,” said Penny cautiously. She walked slowly toward him. “I mean we’ve tried that way haven’t we? Don’t you think that that ship has sailed by now?”
“I guess,” said Leonard reluctantly. “But that doesn’t mean that I haven’t still felt something for you.”
“I know hon,” said Penny sadly, “but you and I know there needs to be more than that. I’m really sorry it came to this, but you deserve something better than these little moments. You’re a guy who needs a nice big connection with someone, and I know you’ll get one.”
“You think so huh?” He tilted his head up, staring at nothing in particular. “Well I guess the better man won,” he added bitterly.
“Well - ” began Sheldon.
“No,” said Penny firmly.
“No?” said Sheldon.
Penny gave him a sharp look. “No!”
Sheldon looked down at the floor. “No,” he muttered.
“Sheldon’s just different,” she told Leonard. “And it turns out that we’re more compatible. I’d never have thought it in a million, gazillion years, but that’s just the way it is. We work together somehow. I can feel it, and I hope you’ll see that too. Eventually.” She put her hand on his shoulder, trying to rub some comfort into him.
Leonard looked hesitantly at her then burst out, “You know he’s crazy right? He organizes his cereal according to fiber content, and he keeps a measuring cup labelled to hold his body fluids.”
Penny nodded her head slowly. “I know all that Leonard. He’s a complete and total whackadoodle.”
“That’s interesting,” said Sheldon snidely to the air around him. “I seem to have inadvertently walked into another dimension rendering me invisible to everyone else”
Penny shot him a warning look.
“You really think you two have a shot?” said Leonard as she turned back to him. His head tilted to one side. Penny wondered how she hadn’t been able to go the distance with this man, who was such a dear friend to her; who truly cared about her; who, despite the hurt he had received, was even now slowly giving in because she had said that she would be happy with someone else. She really didn’t deserve him.
“I think we have a shot,” she told him. “I know how I feel. I look at him, and I just feel the link between us. It’s kinda like that bond between Viggo Mortensen and Steven Tyler’s daughter in Lord of the Rings.”
“Really?” said Sheldon behind her. Penny turned and felt the warmth in his look from across the room. She held his gaze. “Yeah,” she said softly.
Leonard was nodding slowly.
“Will you be okay?” said Penny.
“Yeah,” said Leonard reluctantly. “Or I’ll be okay eventually. Just promise me one thing.”
“What?”
“That you won’t get all touchy feely in front of me,” he said pleadingly. “No making out while I’m watching TV or feeding each other from your plates.”
Sheldon made a shocked sound.
“Or call each other silly pet names like ‘schnookums’ or my ‘studly God of Love’.”
Penny giggled though she felt a vague sadness as well. It hurt a little to know that other girls had been so callous of Leonard’s feelings in the past. She had acquired a stellar friend in him somehow. She didn’t ever want to jeopardize what they had again.
“I promise to be discreet,” said Penny, making her face serious.
“As do I,” said Sheldon, stepping forward. He stood looking down at Leonard, his hands behind his back for a moment. Leonard stared back up at him. “Leonard, I must apologize for any bad feeling caused by me starting a relationship with Penny. I realize that I should have at least given you some kind of warning that this would happen, though I must admit that this came about very suddenly, almost before I realized it.
“You are the Kirk to my Spock, and by this I do not mean to imply that we have a homosexual relationship as is favoured in some fandoms. What I do mean is that we have a strong bond of friendship between us. Something akin to brothers I imagine like the knights of the Roundtable, and though my behaviour has some similarities to the love triangle which existed between King Arthur, Lancelot and Guinevere, I would not at all be happy if our connection was also severed tragically if you get my drift.”
Penny didn’t but Leonard was nodding and smiling a little. “Yes. I guess I do.”
“Aw,” said Penny. “I love a good bromance.”
They each gave her their version of their confused looks, and exchanged knowing glances.
She stuck her tongue out at them, and everything was a little better.
“So buddy,” said Leonard, trying to smile. “You found out what your deal is huh?”
“My deal?”
“What you’re attracted to,” Leonard explained. “Men, women -“
“Department store mannequins,” Penny interjected.
“Oh,” said Sheldon, and considered this for a moment. “I guess that would make my deal Penny then?”
“I....guess so.”
Penny sat down hard on her hands. She had promised to be discrete. She thought that tackling Sheldon and kissing him all over would qualify as one of the scenes Leonard wanted to avoid.
“You’re in my spot,” Sheldon told her.
Sheldon made tea. Somewhere in his life, he had formulated the theory that tea appeased all psychological pain, even bruised hearts.
Thank goodness a broken one doesn’t apply here, thought Penny, watching Leonard.
What she liked better was the peach cobbler he produced. His mother apparently sent him care packages now and then and the cobbler had been in the last one.
“Mmmmm,” said Penny, looking at Sheldon sideways. “This would be so good with ice cream.”
Sheldon looked directly at her, and she sucked slowly on her spoon her eyes on him. He actually blushed, but his expression was fascinated.
“How come you were home?” Penny asked Leonard. “Sheldon said you were going to the movies.”
“We changed our minds and decided to come back here and watch a DVD instead,” Leonard explained. “I was showing Raj and Howard my new Clone Wars figurines in my bedroom when you guys came in.”
“But you said explicitly that you were going to the movies,” said Sheldon shaking his head. “These spontaneity adventures are definitely getting out of hand,” he muttered to himself.
They ate on in silence.
Fifteen minutes later, the door of Leonard’s room opened, and Raj looked cautiously out at them. He gave Penny a nervous glance, but managed to clear his throat and say, “Can we come out now?”
It’s all really awkward thought Penny. But that was to be expected.
Leonard was preoccupied, and despite what he had said, Penny knew it would take a while for him to get over what had happened. He would have to let the old feelings drift away as she had with Kurt. She knew the pain would lessen though, and they could finally settle on a relationship that worked.
Wolowitz kept sneaking them all sly glances. Penny had given him a warning look early on, and she could see that he was fighting to keep silent though he was burning with questions. Her threat earlier was probably still fresh in his mind. She had to keep that one in mind for future use.
They all kept glancing at Raj. Now and then he spoke in a soft, hesitant manner as if he were practising to see if the miracle they had all witnessed would hold true. He even asked Penny to pass him the sugar at one point though he was looking off toward the kitchen as he did.
Oddly no one wanted to remark on it. It was as if they were trying not to jinx it somehow, thought Penny. But she gave Raj a quick, encouraging look when their eyes met accidentally. His eyes widened and he looked away, spooked. But Penny was sure that since he’d started, he would improve.
And once they’d started to get used to the new dynamic of her and Sheldon, things would eventually get back to the way they were used to. Or rather, they would be even better.
For now awkward would be their starting point.
She didn’t stay. She figured Wolowitz would explode if she did. They needed some guy time, and they couldn’t do that now. Not with her there.
But when she got up, Sheldon did too. The other’s eyes locked on to them at once.
“Night,” said Penny after a pause.
They all replied. Even Raj in a hoarse but rather triumphant voice.
Sheldon followed her out. He had gone back to his packet of Red Vines and was chewing on one.
Wolowitz started talking urgently to Leonard even before the door closed.
Penny felt Sheldon’s eyes on her, but she didn’t look around until she got to her doorway. She faced him, her hand on her doorknob. Sheldon stood and looked at her. He looked like the boy he wasn’t, his lips curled up at the corners. His eyes were ethereal, deep ageless. She recognized the look from his photo shoot. Her hand tightened on the door. She didn’t know if she was able to let go of it right then. She needed the support.
The voices of the guys in the apartment rose though she couldn’t make out any words.
“They’ll want all the details,” she told Sheldon. “About us.”
“I suppose,” said Sheldon. “I know Wolowitz will be particularly intrusive.”
“It’s okay. I know guys have this full disclosure thing going on.”
“They do?”
“Yes. Just be discreet.”
“Is there any basis on which I can determine what details would qualify for discretion?”
“Just don’t answer most of Howard’s questions. Then you should be okay.”
He nodded, and they were both silent again. Sheldon’s eyes glowed.
“Let’s go somewhere,” he said in his quiet voice.
“What? Now?”
“No. Of course not. It’s frightfully late, and I still have laundry to do. I should have sorted my clothes by now.... but sometime....next Saturday perhaps. Oh!” He held up his Red Vine as if pointing at his great idea. “Let’s go to the Planetarium next Saturday. They have a new exhibit.”
“Saturday is the day you play paintball.”
“Afterward. Leonard will bring me home early. We can have lunch then go.”
I’d like that,” said Penny, wondering if she would ever get the goofy smile off her face. “I’ve never been to the Planetarium.”
“What? What! Never?” Sheldon opened his eyes wide. “Then we definitely have to go. I have so much to show you.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” said Penny softly.
They looked at each other, and Penny went very, very still, staring at him and waiting. She thought of how Sheldon’s mother had talked about taking time with him and about hunting - both took patience.
She waited and watched his mouth, fascinated by his full lips as he finished the rest of his Red Vine.
Then he stepped forward.
His hands slid up her neck and into her hair. Then his lips were on hers, and she realized that it was the first time he had initiated a kiss, and his whole heart was in it. This was the focused intensity Leonard was talking about!
Then Penny stopped thinking coherently. Sheldon was nuzzling at her mouth. Her lips parted with a little gasp, and he kissed the upper one leaving her tingling, then he turned his attention to her lower one, sucking it into his mouth. A little moan escaped from her.
Not perfect. Not practised, but so good!
A shiver ran down her spine, and she made a pleading sound as he pulled away too soon. Penny didn’t let him get far. She pressed herself against him and tried to catch her breath. His chest was rising and falling erratically beneath hers, and her heart thumped wildly. He didn’t know what he was doing to her, but at least his body was responding.
“Where did that come from?” she gasped.
“Your Cosmopolitans,” said Sheldon quietly. His voice above her head was breathless.
“You read them?”
“You said I should. They’re not very academic at all, but some of the articles had some practical usage. It seems to have a definite female slant, but I thought some of the information could apply to males and females. They led me to other resources as well.”
“Wow,” whispered Penny. Focused and committed. All the research he’d been doing for the last few days was for her. For them. And crazy, calculating and just plain adorable that he was, it awoke something in her; or rather, her attention was more fully turned to something which had been scrabbling at the edge of her consciousness.
I may be falling in love with you, she thought but did not say. She felt too much; the concept shook her to the core, and she leaned against him for support as she contemplated it. Maybe I’m there already or almost there. Don’t be afraid. I am. But we can fall together, if you want….
She looked up at him and smiled.
He wasn’t looking at her. His eyes were squeezed tightly shut as if to hold in the emotions within him which were threatening to spill out. She remembered how staggered he had been at Christmas when he couldn’t contain his feelings about her present, and she smiled at the people who thought he was incapable of strong feelings - even love.
She was witnessing another miracle, and it wasn’t even Saturnalia.