The Milestone
By gertie_flirty
Summary: Sequel to "The Problem is the Noble Prize (And Also Leonard)." Penny tells Sheldon something important, and he has no idea how to react.
Spoilers: Nearly everything aired will more than likely be mentioned or referenced. Please don't read if you don't want to be spoiled.
Rated: Teen, for makeouts and talk of sex.
A/N: Okay, now it's just getting shippy. Enjoy!
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Part One: This Concept Of 'Wuv'
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Sheldon could play the piano.
She liked to watch. Straddling a chair backwards next to the keyboard set up in the bar at the restaurant. Watched as his thin, strong hands moved capably over the keys. It was the end of her shift, and the bar was emptying out.
"I wish you all had a proper instrument," Sheldon muttered.
"It's a bar in a chain restaurant, honey, you're lucky we have that." Penny rested her arms on the back of the chair, then rested her chin on top.
Sheldon shrugged.
"What are you playing? It doesn't sound like classical." Penny said.
"It's not. It's some terrible pop song I heard on the radio today. It was stuck in my head, and this is the only way to get it out."
"You can play a song after only hearing it one time?"
He looked up at her. "Yes."
She smiled. She wondered why she even asked anymore. Sheldon always answered questions the same way; baffled they were even asked in the first place. He really believed himself capable of anything.
Sometimes, she believed it too.
She watched his hands again. Wondering when those hands, those fingers, would move over her like that. He tried, sometimes, but they had never gone all the way. He had touched her, in places she liked to be touched, but only briefly, nervously, with a great air of hesitation.
It didn't help that she was just as nervous. She was a mature, experienced woman, but having to teach anything to Sheldon was frightening. And she had to be the one to teach him, because he just didn't know.
They just weren't ready. She'd never thought she'd say that after being with a man for three months, but it was true.
"You ready to go?" she asked him.
He plunked out the last few notes of the song. "Yes."
They grabbed their jackets and left the restaurant. The night was cool and brisk, a bit early for autumn in Pasadena, but definitely windbreaker weather.
"I had to park down the block," Penny said. Sheldon nodded.
She liked this. Walking next to Sheldon, even though they weren't holding hands or touching in any way. "How was work today?"
"The same as always."
"How's Bridget?"
He wrinkled his nose. "My research assistant? Why do you care?"
"Dunno." Penny shrugged and looked up at the sky.
After a moment, Sheldon said, "Penny, are you jealous?"
"Maybe a little." Penny suddenly found the sidewalk extremely interesting.
"I want you to know your jealousy is purposeless. I learned long ago that I am not the type of man who attracts women superfluously. Frankly, it's what my mother considers a miracle that I'm in a relationship with you."
Penny stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and spun around to face him. "You know, Sheldon. For a guy with an ego like yours, sometimes you just don't get it."
"Get what?"
"Forget it, Sheldon."
"Am I forgetting the same 'it' that I don't get?"
She couldn't help but laugh as they neared her car. "Just get in the car, Sheldon. Let's go home."
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He walked her to her door, like always. She kissed him goodnight. Asked if he wanted to come in. He did. They didn't have sex; neither was expecting that. The sat on the couch together and watched Conan. She curled up next to him, and he loosely placed his arm around her.
"You smell like liquor."
"You smell like science."
"Science does not have a smell."
"Yes it does. It smells like you."
"I smell of a mixture of hypoallergenic soap, lotion, a no-fuss hair care product, and laundry detergent. "
"You smell like dry-erase markers and cinderblocks and notebook paper. You smell like calculators and shoelaces and a wooden desk. You smell like science."
"I don't see how calculators can have a smell," Sheldon said. "But I will concede on the other points."
"I like it when you let me win," Penny smiled. She kissed him on the cheek. She stared at him for a long time, at the profile of his face. His set jaw. His serious eyes. "I love you, Sheldon."
Sheldon froze. As if balanced on a steel pole, his head swiveled stiffly to face Penny. His eyes were so wide she could see the whites all around the irises.
"Oh." Sheldon squeaked. "Thank you. Excuse me."
He slithered free of her grasp and ran out the front door.
Penny stared after him, debating or not whether she should follow. After a minute, she shrugged, got up, closed the door, then sat back on the couch and watched Conan, saying to herself, "Yep. That's about right."
