If Penny really had to admit it to herself, she was a little surprised at how well things were going. She had been so excited about the new feelings she'd been experiencing that she hadn't fully thought about how a relationship between them would really work. But it turned out that they worked together amazingly well- their contrasting personalities complementing each other in all the right ways. Sure, they'd only been together for a few weeks, but she felt that they were both adjusting well. They still had their time apart-Wednesday was still new comic book and Halo night, an opportunity that Penny often took to go dancing or have drinks with Bernadette and Amy or catch up with other friends. Penny still worked at the Cheesecake Factory some evenings, but was being more proactive about seeking out auditions now that she felt happier in other aspects of her life. Plus Sheldon seemed to have a motivational effect on her, always encouraging her and inspiring her to be the best she could be. But tonight was a Friday, and Sheldon had come over for dinner...she had of course made him the spaghetti with cut up hot dogs that he loved. She knew that eventually she was going to have to perfect cooking other meals, but for now it made them both happy.

They still spent some evenings with the guys, eating takeaway and playing games, and no one seemed to react too strongly to the very subtle indicators that they were a couple. The initial reaction to the news had been slightly hilarious, in Penny's opinion. Raj had as usual been unable to speak in Penny's presence but his face had held an expression of shock that Penny wished she had taken a photo of, and he was too stunned to even whisper frantically in Howard's ear. Howard was in state of disbelief, unable to accept for quite some time that it wasn't a bazinga or one of Sheldon's strange social experiments. Eventually though, they had all come to terms with it, and things were going along pretty much as normal within their little group.

She and Sheldon still spent most of their alone time at Penny's apartment. Leonard was slowly becoming more and more accustomed to their relationship, but Penny hardly wanted to flaunt it in front of him. Sheldon's initial reluctance to spend nights at her apartment were overshadowed by his desire to avoid breaking his own rules about girlfriends in the apartment he shared with Leonard as he had set out in the Roommate Agreement. But to everyone's surprise (and Raj's disapproval), Leonard had just started seeing Raj's sister, Priya. Penny had her fingers crossed that it would work out. Leonard was a sweet guy and a dear friend, and all she wanted was for him to be happy. Like she was. So overall, she and Sheldon's relationship was quite similar to what their friendship had been except that now there was, as Sheldon would say, an "added sexual component". Only there wasn't. Penny was still worried about moving things along too fast and having Sheldon feeling pressured and running away. Though she had to admit that he did seem to be making fairly good progress all on his own...

The cooler temperature of the past couple of weeks meant that it had been perfect weather for spending lazy afternoons and evenings curled up on her couch watching movies and TV series, sometimes watching alertly and other times paying more attention to each other. Sheldon seemed eager to explore these new experiences and pleasures that he had never before been exposed to, sometimes even choosing her over his favourite TV shows (granted though, they were episodes she knew he'd seen multiple times). Astoundingly, he now seemed to be almost comfortable having her close beside him, or even on his lap, and kissing her in that soft sensual way that she loved, his large warm hands hesitantly caressing her waist and hips and starting to venture upwards slightly towards her breasts. It made her simultaneously blush and sigh and desperately want to touch him back. But thus far she'd been very good at demonstrating restraint, her hands roaming his chest and arms and enjoying the positive reaction from him. Penny found that, despite the slight frustration, she was actually enjoying taking things slowly. It was something she hadn't done for a long time, and she loved the charming innocence of it. It made her think of The Beatles song 'I wanna hold your hand', which had always been her favourite of theirs because of the simple and pure sweetness. She had never really had that in real life before, and had always felt a bit like the guy was only with her for one reason. Sheldon was a welcome change to all that.

The two of them had been taking it in turns torturing one another with their movie and television series choices. He had subjected her to a large chunk of the first season of 'Battlestar Galactica', and in return she had made him watch several episodes of 'Desperate Housewives', much to his dismay. But she found that he was getting better at compromise, and funnily enough they found that there were several things that they both enjoyed. Penny had developed a growing obsession with 'Doctor Who', since being forced to watch the first season, they both liked 'The X-Files' (and both agreed to pretend that the last two seasons and the second movie simply did not exist), and Penny adored the 'Harry Potter' movies. Although Sheldon didn't quite share her enthusiasm for the movies, he agreed that it was important to re-watch them all before the final movie was released.

Now they were watching 'Friends' and Penny found her mind wondering, as she had seen the episode several times before. Her head was resting in Sheldon's lap and she was enjoying the closeness and the feel of Sheldon's hand absently stroking her hair, though she doubted he was even aware that he was doing it. She watched the show through pleasantly heavy eyelids. It was the episode where Ross tries to sell the most Girl Guide cookies. She cracked a smile as Monica said "Remember, Dad bought every one of my boxes and I ate them all?" and Ross's response of "Uh, no Mon. Dad had to buy every one of your boxes because you ate them all". Sheldon looked down at Penny with a bewildered expression.

"Would I be correct in presuming that the humour in the Ross character's statement derives from the fact that the character of Monica used to be overweight?" Sheldon queried, trying to make sense of the sitcom.

Penny giggled, finding his complete lack of knowledge of pop culture kind of adorable.

"Well done! I think you're finally learning something," came Penny's teasing response.

He gave one of his breathy laughs and accepted her playful kiss on his cheek.

A short while later, they both decided it was time for bed. Penny had agreed to play paintball with Sheldon and the guys tomorrow, figuring that it would be a good chance for them to all spend time together. Plus she totally kicked ass at paintball. Sheldon was staying over that night in an effort to be more adaptable. Penny could see that he felt more and more comfortable around her and being in her apartment. She'd been making a special effort to make sure it was clean and free from clutter. Sure, it wasn't a Sheldon level of clean but it was a good start, and he seemed to recognise her efforts to make him feel more at home. Of course, he still needed to make a trip home to brush his teeth, clean his face and change into his Friday pyjamas. She smiled as he returned and crawled into bed beside her, allowing her to snuggle up to him.

"Penny?"

"Mmm?" she replied sleepily, turning her face up towards him.

"This is nice."

She smiled and moved slightly to kiss him.

"I'm glad you think so."

"Penny?"

"Yes, Sheldon?"

"Will you be my ally during the paintball combat tomorrow?"

She laughed again, patting his chest reassuringly.

"Always."

And with that she drifted off to sleep with a faint smile on her lips and The Beatles lyrics once again running through her mind.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed the first chapter! More to come soon! Reviews are, as always, love.