Author: g_girl143 / gwendy Rating: G Summary: Sheldon finally confesses to Leonard. Wishful thinking to Big Bang Theory's Season 3 Finale. Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or the series A/N: I was finishing my fanfic, The Elevator Conundrum, which I had wanted to become an episode in TBBT Season 3. Eventually, it got me thinking of other possible s3 episodes and this plot bunny just wouldn't stop gnawing at me, so I had to write it. It's set in...well, sort of Leonard's POV, and is not your typical laugh-fest.
This is what I want to appear in the very last portion of the last episode of season 3. Sort of like a cliffhanger, so really, this wouldn't be too long. I just have to get this out of my system.
Oh, another thing. I wrote this PRIOR to knowing about the new Season 3 spoilers on a development between Leonard and Penny's relationship, so if you're wondering if I wrote this fic because of that, it's totally not. But it seems to fit nicely.
By the way, this is totally UN-Beta'd because I couldn't wait to post it after that whole L/P article thing. So if you see any errors, let me know so I can correct it ASAP. ;) Forgive me, it's three in the morning and I couldn't sleep unless I wrote this. Waah! One shot fic/drabble!
"I have feelings for Penny."
Leonard almost dropped his coffee mug as he spun around to stare at the tall man, standing by the door with his pre-packed disaster evacuation bag. He'd done this before, when he tried in vain to keep Penny's secret, but this man before him was not his roommate. There was no way Sheldon Cooper had just said what he said.
"Excuse me?"
"Oh, Leonard. Must I have to repeat myself with you?" He sounded annoyed. Nervous in fact. Unsure. Leonard could only relate to the latter.
"I'm sorry, but...did you just say that you...you, Sheldon...have feelings? Actual human feelings?"
"So you did hear me the first time. Why are you asking me to repeat it?" Sheldon's hands were wringing on his bag, and he was looking at everywhere in the room except Leonard.
This was Sheldon alright, but still, was not Sheldon.
Leonard set his mug on the counter and sat on the sofa, his eyes never leaving his roommate. Or soon to be ex-roommate. Prior to making this earth-shattering announcement, Sheldon had said he was moving out. Knowing what happened the last time, Leonard had hounded him mercilessly for the answer.
Now he was suddenly wishing he hadn't.
"Sheldon...I'm still waiting for you to say 'Bazinga'."
And he did wait. He waited for almost a full minute but was responded by silence, and the endless shuffling of Sheldon's feet.
Leonard's eyes widened. "Oh my God. This is real."
Sheldon still didn't reply, and Leonard felt a hole open up in his stomach and swallow up his internal organs. Gruesome, but that was the only way he could describe the feeling. "Sheldon you're...you're in love with Penny? Our neighbor Penny?" Then he added, "My Penny?"
"Yes, Leonard. Your Penny." Sheldon practically spat out the words, and that in itself was already shocking.
"W..when did this happen?"
"I'm still trying to pinpoint the exact month, day, hour or second but I was already half-way through developing these feelings when I was even aware of its existence. And by then it was already too late to stop the process."
That gave Leonard a pause. He knew the explanation was supposed to be cold and clinical, but it turned out differently. Almost like a line from some sappy chick flick which he knew Sheldon wouldn't even dare watch.
Galileo's beard, this was serious.
"Sheldon...why are you admitting this to me now?"
"I didn't want to. You forced me to. You wanted to know why I was leaving. You know how I am with secrets." Sheldon tightened his hand on the strap of his bag. Leonard could practically see his knuckles turn white. "Either way, I wouldn't have kept it from you. I've searched through the internet and found that best friends falling in love with the same woman will always have a falling out. It's never going to end well, so I might as well confront it head on and save us both the misery. I shall be bypassing the middle process of stagnation and avoidance, and just move forward to terminating our friendship on these grounds. The agreement will be mutual, so there shall be minimal ill feelings as possible. We won't have to go mano y mano. Besides I'm not one for fist fights."
A momentary image of Sheldon with boxing gloves appeared in Leonard's head. It hardly looked threatening. Funny in fact, but he wasn't even compelled to laugh. "Sheldon...I'm sorry, this is just...too unbelievable to digest. Are you sure this is not some sort of trick to get me to do one of your biddings?"
Sheldon let out a deep, frustated sigh, his head tilted, his eyes rolling. "This is hardly the type of practical joke I would conceive of, let alone execute."
"Does...does Penny know?"
"No." Sheldon shook his head emphatically. His face was straight. He was telling the truth. "And she doesn't need to know any of this. Scratch that, she CANNOT know any of this if you and her are to continue dating. You're half-way through finally achieving coitus with her, Leonard..." A swallow. "...and that's something you should not give up on just because I happen to hold a great deal of affection towards her. I have no right to hold you back and to force you to give her up for my sake."
He sounded as though he was trying to convince himself that this was the right thing to do, and Leonard felt an unexpected pang. Not for himself but for Sheldon.
Leonard did a light cough. He didn't know how to deal with this type of situation. Sheldon had always been predictable, but this...it was too much. He didn't even know exactly what he was feeling at that point. He was too overwhelmed. "So...that's why you're moving out? Because you're...giving her up?"
"That's the most critical of my dilemmas, Leonard." Sheldon looked down at his shoes again. His voice had mellowed and he looked like a little boy. Vulnerable, not the strong, overbearing, knuckle-under-me Sheldon he had known for nearly five years. "I've actually come to realize giving up my feelings for Penny is an impossibility. This would most certainly compromise our friendship and so I've decided to take away the variable in this situation. That would be me. If I leave, there would be no friendship to compromise, and there would be no further obstacles to your relationship with Penny."
"Why would you think yourself an obs..." Leonard paused, and after a moment of scrutiny, his eyes widened. It didn't dawn on him until that very moment exactly how much time Sheldon and Penny had spent in each other's company. They never dated, but it seemed as though they didn't have to. And then there were those little moments he had chosen to ignore because of his own unproven conclusions about Sheldon's deal.
There were too many little moments to count.
Leonard licked his lips and fought the urge to bury his head in his palms. His throat was dry but he knew he had to ask. "Sheldon...does Penny have feelings for you?"
Sheldon seemed startled by the question, and it was a moment before he replied. His eyes never met Leonard's when he did. "Why would you ask me that question? You cannot very well get an accurate assessment from me. For one thing, I'm not Penny."
"I know, but what do YOU think? Does she or does she not...have feelings for you as well?"
"You know I do not particularly excel in reading other people's feelings. If I did, I..." Leonard watched Sheldon swallow. Sheldon had never not finished a sentence unless someone cut him off. Leonard certainly hadn't. "Goodbye, Leonard."
"Sheldon, wait!"
But Sheldon was already out the door and running down the stairs. Leonard grabbed his jacket and ran after him, down the four flights until he reached the ground floor. Sheldon was just getting out the door when he walked into someone.
A soft "oh" and a bounce of golden strands told Leonard who it was.
"Sheldon, honey, you really ought to watch where you're going." Penny backed away a little and smiled. She obviously hadn't seen Leonard, and showed Sheldon a couple of Blue-ray discs. "I got the latest Season of Dr. Who. Thought we could watch it in my apartment after Halo Night. And look." She held up a doggy bag. "I even brought you something from work. Cheeseburger with everything on the side, just the way you like it."
Leonard felt his heart sink. This was just one of those little moments, and he moved his eyes over to Sheldon's face.
Sheldon wasn't looking at the discs or the doggy bag. He was looking at Penny, and Leonard could only imagine it was to process a photographic memory of her.
"Goodbye Penny," Sheldon said, and the way he said it...Leonard could only describe as heart-wrenching.
Then, Sheldon was out the door, with Penny calling after him.
"Sheldon, wait! I made sure everyone wore gloves when they made the burger, I swear."
Leonard followed Penny out the door, and found her standing stiffly by the sidewalk, watching Sheldon board a cab.
Sheldon Cooper. In a cab.
Sure enough, when Penny turned around, her face was a mirror of shock. "Leonard...what did I do?"
It was one of the oddest questions he had heard from Penny. She hadn't asked about what was going on. She hadn't asked why Sheldon left. She had asked what she had done.
Words failed Leonard, and all he could do was wrap his arms around Penny and give her small pats on the back.
The blue-ray discs and the Cheesecake Factory bag fell on the sidewalk, and in moments, Penny was running after the now distant cab while Leonard remained where he was, staring after her and the car until both disappeared from his sights.
A/n: I know. It's sad, right? I don't know if this will become some type of prologue. It does seem like that, doesn't it? But I don't know. I never really came out with a plot for this one. It was just an idea about what the final episode of Season 3 would be, a sort of precursor for a possible future relationship between Sheldon and Penny, a catalyst of some sort, someone leaving like the Season Finale in Season 2. Now, I've released this train of thought, hit me with your backlash, throw your anger and woes and blame it on Evanescence. Hahah! Still, try to imagine what it would be like if this were the Season 3 finale. A definite cliffhanger and we'll be waiting another several months (in which of course there's gonna be a plethora of fanfics), so there. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this marginally at the very least. My first General Rating S/P Fic!