In the Sunlight
by:muaaimoi
1.
Penny appears in two commercials before she's offered a role in a sitcom. It's strictly small time, but it's more than she's ever done before so she's exceedingly excited. It's not a popular channel and she only appears once or twice every few episodes as the main characters hot country cousin. She seems to find it especially amusing since she beat out real country girls in the audition. Sheldon is regaled with banal tales about life on set and dragged to functions with the rest of the cast.
He still finds it rather remarkable how very little he minds. He's come to look forward to it, actually. Any function where he can spend time with Penny is worthwhile. There are still times when he wonders if he is failing at certain aspects of being a boyfriend, but Penny has promised to be very frank with him, and offers nothing but constructive criticisms. So far, he seems to be an excellent boyfriend.
When she surprises him with tickets to Nebraska, he worries. Meeting the parents, popular culture assures him, is a very big deal. Mark is unexpectedly helpful. Full of tips, like shaking hands rather firmly with her father, that Sheldon would not have thought of on his own. His skills as a bartender come in handy as most of Penny's family seem to enjoy their alcohol. He would have thought he was doing rather well, but a trip to the kitchen in conjunction with his vulcan hearing, help him overhear a conversation between Penny and her father.
"A bartender of all thing?" Robert-Wyatt says,"That boy has no future Penny. You could do so much better than that! You're following your dream and appearing on TV. Why don't you date another actor? Someone that's gonna go places."
I have two PhD's, Sheldon thinks to himself. He walks away when Penny begins defending him. He hasn't given up on science. Can't picture a world where physics isn't what he does. But there is no denying that his career hasn't gone anywhere since he left the university. He still publishes, but it's been almost a year since he has put his dream of receiving a Nobel in Physics on hold.
Penny commutes to Pasadena to shoot her sitcom. It's not terribly far, but it does cut into the time they could be spending together. Besides, acting takes it out of her, and Penny isn't a terribly safe driver to begin with. He worries about her state of mind when she drives back.
When he left the university Gablehouser had assured him that there was always a post available should he want it. He still hates the thought of going back, thinks about the ridicule that he will be forced to confront and balks. But then he thinks about Penny. His girlfriend will be a star someday. She will require security guards to walk down the street, and be incapable of appearing in public without being recognized. She deserves to have someone at her side who hasn't given up. Someone strong enough to follow their dreams beside her.
Sheldon thinks about it, and plans what he will say once they get back home.
2.
Sheldon tells her he wants to go back to Pasadena and Penny doesn't know what to think. She hates the thought of him surrounded by those jealous little trolls she wants to hurt very badly. But Sheldon is a science guy, he belongs in a place where that matters. Surrounded by people that actually know what he's talking about and can appreciate how smart he truly is. Penny loves him with all she has, but she's never going to be a scientist.
It's closer to the set for her, so she doesn't mind moving. They've saved up a lot of money between living in a hole in the wall, and sharing all their bills. Sheldon did some magic with her credit card bills and she managed to get out of debt and is now the proud owner of a decent credit score. It would be pretty easy for them to snag a place near the university. And Sheldon would be making more as a college professor than he does as a bartender.
"Are you sure?" She can't help but ask, late the next night while they're snuggling after a round of fantastic sex.
"Positive." Sheldon replies, and kisses all her worries away.
Packing is performed with military precision. Mostly because Sheldon won't let her do any of it and instead leaves her to find their new home and make the arrangements for their utilities.
Penny is surprised by how sad she is to see their little place go. This is the place where she first woke up next to Sheldon. The first place where she had kissed him without an excuse. It was their beginning. Sheldon smiles when she complains about everything they're leaving behind while they drive to their new house. Calls her sentimental, and tells her all her woes will be forgotten once she realizes they will have actual closets and a real bed.
He says nothing when Penny points out that he'd insisted on keeping the sofa bed for similar reasons. She can't tell for sure in the dim lighting of her car, but she just knows he's blushing. She can't hold back a smile at the thought. Doesn't even try when Sheldon is being accidentally adorable.
"Sofa beds provide a convenient function." Sheldon finally says."They are great for when we invite over guests."
"We never have guests over."Penny smirks. She had tried once, but they had barely had enough space to fit her and Sheldon, even one other person was pushing it. Besides, she liked that their apartment was just theirs. It had made it extra special.
"Well we could have Mark over now." Sheldon argued.
Penny laughed. Mark was the unfortunate recipient to far too much information on their sex life, Penny was chatty when she was tipsy and Sheldon wasn't in grabbing distance. He had actually come over to help them move boxes, and he had refused to even sit on the couch."Mark knows we've had all kinds of sex there. He wouldn't sleep in it if we paid him!"
"That is beside the point."Sheldon grumbled. And his face had to be cherry red if Penny could make out his blush in the dim lighting."The possibility is enough."
3.
Sheldon is given his old office back, And he wishes he had a new one in its stead. Whispers from behind the office door catch his attention and he freezes when he recognizes the voices.
"I can't believe he left to sulk for almost two years." A voice that indubitably belongs to Leonard says."That's a bit much, don't you think?"
"I can't believe he really came back."Rajesh's distinct accent chimes in.
"I can't believe he didn't want the apartment back."Howard says."Sometimes I still feel weird about sitting in his spot. Like I'm being a naughty boy. I kind of like it."
Sheldon wishes at times that his hearing weren't so keen. This is one of those times. He doesn't know what to think. How to feel. He half expects them to knock, despite knowing what cowards they are. He doesn't feel particularly brave himself, he doesn't want to confront them.
It is the curse of an eidetic memory. His feelings never seem to fade away over time the way others do, when the memory of how they'd originally felt blurred. To Sheldon every betrayal felt as fresh as the day it happened. He looks down at his desk, at the picture of him and Penny, seeking reassurance. Mark had taken it one night at closing. They are both looking at each other as though they are the most significant thing in the world. A smile blooms at the memory of that night. The way Penny's lips always felt so soft. The hint of cherry from the gloss she had been wearing, she'd claimed the shade complimented her dress. Sheldon had enjoyed divesting her of both. Enjoying her naked flesh well into the morning. Sometimes the potency of his memory is not a curse.
Sheldon is no longer alone. He has Penny now, and the thought gives him strength. He opens the door and faces his former friends. Feels mild amusement at what he recognises as a look of terror
on their features.
"I do not appreciate loitering while I am trying to work gentlemen." He says coldly. Helping Penny run lines has had the curious side effect of helping him become more familiar with expressions and interactions.
The men who are now solely his colleagues flee.
Nailed it, Sheldon thinks smugly. All of those hours pretending to be a villain to Penny's heroin have paid dividends. He calls Penny to tell her all about it. They get dinner at Penny's former place of employment to celebrate. They have been visiting some of their old haunts ever since they moved back. Sheldon enjoys the Cheesecake factories cheeseburger more than he thought he would. Penny, being the friendly person she is makes fast friends with their waiter, Bernadette.
Sheldon is surprised to find she plans to become a microbiologist. He's impressed enough that he offers to cook once Penny invites her over. It will make her more likely to come back. He's found that Penny's fancy dinner cooking is an acquired taste most have not acquired. He's learned to mostly keep such thoughts to himself. Penny does fine with simple dishes, and she makes great food so long as it's quickly made. But complicated recipes make her cut corners, and anything that takes longer than an hour to cook makes her too impatient.
It's one of their running arguments. As a new couple, they're arguing had worried him in the beginning, reminded him of the fight his mother had with his father. But Mark had assured him that no couple in the world didn't argue. Mewmaw had shared the sentiment and further explained the concept of a running argument, which, much like a discussion, could be picked up exactly where they left off at any point in their relationship.
Sheldon had still been leery of them until he learned that with arguments came both angry sex, and make up sex. When he played his cards right, they often managed several rounds of both. It was just another reason to insist that he cook.
Sheldon was an exceptional card player.
4.
Penny loved their new apartment.
Sheldon may have been onto something about the charms of having actual space. There is a whole new world of flat surfaces where they can have sex. And that stands independent from the sheer convenience of having separate rooms. Theirs is a two bedroom apartment, and instead of making a guest room they basically just stuffed all of Sheldon's comic books, now rescued from storage, and Penny's shoes inside. They also invested in the most comfortable bench they could find. Penny's cabbage patch dolls sit on a bench on top of Sheldon's action figures. She likes basking in the way all of their quirky obsessions just live in harmony in one place. She's had to fight with guys over her dolls before. Swallowed her hurt when they claimed it was stupid and childish. Sheldon had been confused when he told her about it. Kissed her and said he appreciated her whimsy.
That's how the second bedroom became dubbed the whimsy room. It's her favorite place in the house, aside from their bedroom. It's also where she storms off once she catches her breath from having angry sex. They don't have angry sex often. Sheldon is always intense, and Penny loves that. But he's also never anywhere near rough unless she asks when they aren't fighting, and it's nice not to have to ask, it adds even more excitement than usual in the bedroom. Penny's a fan.
They have the next four days to make up, one of them has to make the meal before Bernadette arrives. She doesn't want to waste the opportunity. But its really hard to remember the reason for her rage when she's surrounded by things that make her, and the man she's head over heels in love with, so happy.
The thing is that she is a good cook. She could totally make a fancy meal. She's done it before. Sure making a simple dish is easier, and it usually does come out tastier if it doesn't take forever and a half to make. It is not her fault that Sheldon is a better cook than she is. She's not proud of it, but it's a lot like the bit where he's better at cleaning too. He's just crazy good at following instructions. Penny's not so gifted, so she focuses on what she is good at contributing to their relationship. Like her driving skills, and ability to talk down angry security guards. Sheldon is terrible at stuff like that, so it's a good thing he has her.
Still, it would be nice if he just gave in for once, but the first time they had this argument, it had lasted a week and there had been pie charts. Pie charts. Penny has a really good tolerance for Sheldon-y weirdness, she lives with the guy, and she's passionately, madly in love with him. But Pie charts on how much people enjoyed her cooking compared to his had been pushing it. Penny tries to hold on to her outrage, catches sight of a pair of adorable flats she'd worn last time she they'd gone for ice cream and fails.
Sheldon interrupts a second attempt with three rhythmic soft taps and a chant of her name. Yet another Sheldon-y quirk. She tries to bite back a smile. It's a little ridiculous sometimes, just how much she loves him. She should not find his little obsessions so cute.
"Penny." Sheldon repeats for the third time."May I come in?"
She makes a show out of sighing, it's a stage sigh, a gusty thing that holds enough exasperation for three people."If you want. I guess."
The door creaks open and Sheldon lingers at the threshold."Are you coming to bed soon?"
Penny crosses her arms, just because she's no longer angry doesn't mean she can't pretend to be. She is an actress after all ."What's it to you?"
Sheldon tries to look at her from under his lashes. He is terrible at seduction. He's only sexy when he isn't trying to be. It probably doesn't help that he tries to use what works on him. It hasn't yet occurred to him that certain things are only meant to be sexy on girls. Sometimes it's pretty funny. "I don't think I can sleep without you."
And sometimes it's actually quite sweet. Penny forces herself to scowl, just because he's being sweet doesn't mean that she should make it easy for him. Sheldon bites his lips thoughtfully, apparently aware that he wasn't getting the reaction he wants."If I spent the next hour performing oral sex on you, would that help make it up to you?"
Then again Penny is incredibly easy when it comes to Sheldon."Yup."
Sheldon smiles, completely self satisfied and almost painfully sexy."Then come to bed."
Penny does, and she comes on the bed so much that they have to change the sheets before they finally fall asleep. Make up sex is always extra vigorous. She wakes up to the delicious smell of apple cinnamon french toast. Sheldon bringing her breakfast in bed is the perfect start to her day. Or at least that's what she thinks until she receives a text during lunch asking if the example breakfast had helped cement his point.
The nerve... She tries not to look forward to more angry sex. It makes it harder to stay mad.
5.
Sheldon avoids most of the ridicule directed his way by virtue of never appearing in the cafeteria. This helps minimize the number of people he interacts with. It also reduces the amount of mockery he is forced to face to the amount of people he is willing to let into his office. Penny and her video camera had come to the rescue in regards to lectures. Simply recording the lectures at home and setting the smartboard to play the video periodically had eliminated yet another pointless social interaction. It was also further proof that his girlfriend was perfect for him. And quite brilliant in her own right.
They had reached a much more stable truce in their running argument for the moment. They had compromised with him cooking the bulk of dinner, and Penny making dessert. Bernadette's company had been rather enjoyable and they had invited her over again. Sheldon copes with academia the best he can. Penny's presence helps. Sometimes she'll bring him lunch in his office. Text's him a multitude of inane things throughout the day. Sheldon attempts to reciprocate. But mostly he just sends her odd animal facts in reply to her LOLcats.
It still mystified him how smoothly their relationship goes. Their only real shared points of interest are each other. Their rough edges should not align as easily as they do, and yet it's effortless. Sheldon doesn't have to try with Penny. He makes the effort, of course he does, he wants their relationship to succeed and he has never shied away from hard work. But it doesn't feel like effort. It's much like his work, he can spend hours and hours thinking, but the time just flies by. And when a problem has him metaphorically at the end of his rope, it's just a sign that the solution will be particularly satisfying. He wants to do physics everyday of his life until he dies. He wants to be with Penny just as much, if not more.
Penny pushes him to be better. Her very presence is a reason to excel. To be a better Sheldon. Sometimes he worries about how much he feels for her. It can't possibly be normal, to have another human being elicit so much emotion. But then he remembers Penny's smile and he finds it hard to care. So when Penny says she wants to see his favorite place in Pasadena he takes her there. Regardless of who they might run into.
They don't run into any of his old friends. But Stuart mans the counter as always. He's startled when he looks up from his perusal of the comics to find Penny speaking to him. He walks over, realizing that they are talking about Thor out of all the comics, and surprised to find them in a heated discussion.
"I'm telling you the Hammer can chose who has the power of Thor!" Penny exclaims once he comes to stand beside her."He's not Thor without the Hammer. Didn't you watch the movie? Sure the guy kicked ass but he wasn't flying around creating thunderstorms, now was he?"
Sheldon takes in the multitude of fellow geeks gawking at his girlfriend and slides an arm around her waist. I found her first, he thinks victoriously, suddenly painfully glad that was the case.
6.
Penny hears someone knocking on the door and drags herself up from her languid sprawl on their bed. She had forgone a shower with Sheldon to bask more in her afterglow, and she does not appreciate having her basking interrupted. But Sheldon is in the shower and someone is at the door. She drags her shorts on, and grabs Sheldon's Flash shirt. Runs a quick hand through her hair before giving it up as a lost cause. She feels a little sex stupid, and if it's clear to their visitor just what she'd been doing twenty minutes ago then well, Penny's kind of too fucked out to care.
She opens the door, finds two short strangers she's never seen before in her life. One wears glasses and the other is committing several fashion crimes at once. Still, something about the pair nags at her, but Penny feels too impatient to give it much thought. She just wants to go back to bed. And if she's lucky she might just catch a half naked Sheldon still wet from his shower on the way. She wants to get him dirty all over again.
"Can I help you?"She snaps when the strange little men just gape at her.
"I think we got the wrong place." Glasses says, hands wringing nervously.
"Stuart did say he got a hot blonde girlfriend."The fashion criminal mutters, not quietly enough for her not to overhear."Bonjour mademoiselle-" He tries to take her hand but Penny snatches it back. Crosses her arms.
"What do you want?"She demands. She wants to go back to bed already and these guys are being creeps.
"Um." Glasses tries."We were looking for Sheldon, Sheldon Cooper."
She nods. Creepy nerds, she should have known, these are totally the type of guys that she saw at the comic book store the other day."Yeah he lives here. I'm his girlfriend, Penny. Why are you looking for him?"
"I finally found parking!" An accented voice announces from down the hall and Penny has a brain wave.
"You're those bastards!" She snarls. And next thing she knows Glasses is on the floor clutching his junk. Fashion criminal squeals higher than she can when he joins him. The Indian one, Raj, if she remembers correctly watches in unadulterated horror. It only last until she's halfway to him. Then he bolts down the stairs. Penny takes off after him, taking him down in the lobby with a tackle that would do her father proud. She takes vicious satisfaction in ball stomping the guy for making her chase him. And smiles in shameless self satisfaction once she realizes she made him cry.
Her trip back up the stairs feels like a parade of victory. The feeling only increases when she reaches the door to find Sheldon looking at the two twerps she'd felled in their hallway.
She ball stomps them as well. In the spirit of fairness of course.
"I take it this is going 'Junior Rodeo on their asses'?'Sheldon asks.
Penny beams."Ye-haw!"
The kiss Sheldon gives her then leave them closing the door and putting their sofa bed through it's paces all over again.
7.
Sheldon goes to work the following Monday with genuine pep in his step. There is something deeply satisfying about knowing that his girlfriend has done her best to avenge him. That he will never forget the looks on Howard and Leonard's faces is just the cherry on top of the proverbial sunday. Some frantic rapping on his door interrupts what would have otherwise been a perfect day and Sheldon sighs, standing to open the door.
"Who was that maniac in your apartment?"Howard demands once he catches sight of him. Sheldon considers closing the door in his face, but Howard is clearly frazzled and he finds himself enjoying his distress enough to leave it open.
"I see you've met Penny." Sheldon smirks. His girlfriend is no such thing of course. But he understands how Howard may have found himself under that particular misconception. What his girlfriend is, is intensely protective of him. He loves that about her, loves everything that makes Penny, well-Penny.
"And to think we came over to apologize! Leonard has a torn scrotum! We had to take him to the hospital!"
Sheldon can't hold back his smile at the thought. Penny will be pleased at her prowess.
"And you're smiling" Howard squawks." Since when do you smile? Well this'll wipe that grin off your face! We're going to sue the crap out of you and your crazy girlfriend! It's her fault if I can never have kids!"
He watches Howard storm off with a frown on his face. He doesn't truly care about the lawsuit, but Penny's just making it into the public eye. He doesn't want to be the cause of bad publicity. He turns back to the white boards. He will see Penny at home, and there is no reason to ruin her day on set.
Later than night, after Sheldon explains, she just stares at him. It had clearly never occurred to her that she might face any repercussions for her actions. Sheldon doesn't blame her, he hadn't seen legal action coming either. They gather on the couch to snuggle and brainstorm. As far as war tribunals go, Sheldon finds it almost pleasant. But they mostly talk themselves in circles. Getting a lawyer of their own is a given. But there is not much they can do while they are waiting to be charged.
Penny scrubs at her face with her her palms."Man this would be so much easier if we had an inside man."
Sheldon freezes. That's it. That's perfect. If he could get one of his fellow friends to sabotage the lawsuit effort the same way they had hoodwinked him. It would solve all of their problem.
"If only we had something over one of them." Sheldon muses wistfully aloud.
Penny hums thoughtfully."Well it's not like you don't know them. Don't you remember any of their weaknesses?"
"Nothing we can use. Unless you count women. Rajesh has selective mutism and can't speak in front of them. And I can't think of anything Howard wouldn't do for an attractive date."
Penny's hand jumps to grip his knee."I got it! Bernadette told me she's trying not to rebound anyway. If spending five minutes with that Howard creep doesn't convince her she's better off being single for a while nothing will."
Sheldon approaches Howards office the next day. Glad to find him alone, he slips in while Howards on the computer. Howard startles when he shuts the door."Wh-what do you want?"
Sheldon brings himself up to his full height and stares him down." I have a proposition for you."
No one ever gives Penny enough credit for her cunning.
8.
Penny can't quite believe that their plan works out as well as it does. Mostly because she was the one to come up with it. But she lays her cards down on the table for Bernadette, and since she seems curious about 'the woman repellent' as Penny describes Howard, she agrees to the date. That's not to say that it all actually goes according to plan. For one thing it turns out that Bernadette actually likes Howard, and she agrees to a second, and-here Penny shudders-third date.
But her interest does secure Howard's loyalty. He gets Raj to agree to drop his grievances somehow. And he even offers to testify that Penny was innocent. Without any witnesses there is no one to back up Leonard's story.
Penny's vaguely aware that Howard and Raj have apologized for their part in the Arctic snafu and have made some attempts to regain Sheldon's friendship. But she's far too busy with a real emergency. Sheldon's mom drops in unexpectedly and it takes every ounce of self control she has not to freak out.
Meeting Sheldon's mom is an experience. Yeah, that's what she's going with. An experience. Mary Cooper smiles at her too brightly and makes no secret of judging her for the lack of Jesus in her life. That doesn't keep her from hugging Penny warmly, or inviting her down to Texas to meet the rest of Sheldon's family. Penny has found Sheldon's stockpile of letters from Memaw and looks forward to it more than she can say.
She forgets sometimes that Sheldon has a family. He's the island unto himself kind of guy. Someone you can't really picture as a kid, growing up like everyone else. He's still a guy, of course he is. She should know that better than anyone else. Penny is going to marry Sheldon someday. They'll have kids. Neither of them care whether they have boys or girls. All she knows is that they are going to be wicked smart and gorgeous because they will have great genes.
And they will have a loving family. With a very religious grandmother in Texas and hardworking blue collar grandparents in Nebraska. Penny looks forward to it. The same way she looks forward to spending every day she can manage with Sheldon until the day she dies.
9.
Sheldon begins to gather scientific awards and can't wrap his mind around how right their lives are going. Penny has appeared in several movies now and has finally been chosen for a leading part in a Victorian Romance. He is instrumental in the discovery of a new element. His dream of receiving a Nobel prize seem to be just within his grasp.
He almost can't quite believe it's happening when Penny proposes. The ring baffles him, goes against the traditional rhetoric that declares that the man should be the one to propose. Penny pulls it out of her pocket while they sit on the comic reading/shoe trying bench and asks. He says yes, of course he says yes. They have never been terribly traditional to begin with. As Mark emphasizes when he awes and horrifies the crowd by equal turns at their wedding with his best man speech. He simply tells everyone how they met. Their failure at recognizing that they were a couple before they officially became a couple.
It's a very good speech. Sheldon approves.
Bernadette is Penny's maid of honor. And with her comes her fiance, Howard. He has come to forgive Leonard as Raj as well. For no matter how terrible their betrayal, his reaction to it is how he came to know Penny. And over the years Penny has come to mean more to him than being the one who proves string theory.
He loves her with everything he has.
10.
The years pass almost without her notice. Her first Emmy. Their first child. A boy with Sheldon's eyes, and Penny's blonde hair. Sheldon wins his Nobel at last and Penny gets pregnant with their second. Another boy. He has Sheldon's cheekbone and his pianist hand, but his coloring is all Penny's. By the time Jacobs in middle school, and Michael's made it to third grade Penny is on Emmy number two. She gets recognized all the time, and she's so happy to have the money they do, because private school is very expensive. Their one bedroom LA apartment seems like another life.
Child number three is a girl. She's dark-haired and green-eyed and just as perfect as her brothers. They mutually decide to stop there. Penny life is perfect. She says it often, on interviews, to her children, to Sheldon, every night because he has done the most to make it that way. Her life is perfect. She has the dream job, the dream husband, the dream kids, dream house, dream life. Sometimes, irrationally she knows, but it happens none the less, she gets scared that she's lying in a pool of her own vomit somewhere and that it all really is a dream.
If it is, Penny refuses to wake up.
x
So guess who made the mistake of watching the first episode of season seven? Yeah, so that happened. Tell me how Leonard loves penny again? Seriously, he objectified the fuck out of her, showing everyone that video...And guys, that is the straw that broke the camels back. When I started watching the show I loved that Penny was a sex positive person, that she was so confident and that she liked having fun. But we just don't see that anymore. These things build up, now they treat it like sex is all she's good at, and for, and I'm so fucking upset and offended. On behalf of my gender, I'm fucking offended. How the fuck is it that Amy and Howard are stuck together for a while and they bond over music, and Bernadette and Amy finally get a chance to talk about geeky stuff and they spend their time talking boys the way they always do? It's just a lot of shit. Like the part with Bernadette not wanting children. Her mom ran an illegal daycare! She knows the horror of no sleep and dirty diapers, but she sits Raj's dog and she suddenly budges on the issue? Not to mention that while Amy and Bernadette definitely count as smart nerds they never do anything geeky! Where are their obsessions with tv shows, their fandoms, their interests, this is some bullshit, I hate the way the writers treat women!
If I hadn't finished this on Thanksgiving I wouldn't even be able to post anything right now. I'm so fucking mad. I set today aside to do a bunch of writing and I was so pumped, but I got curious about the rest of season seven and it really fucked with me. Usually anger is one of the best stones on which to sharpen my tongue but I don't even have a good rant in me right now. Im just mad, mad and upset. Rage editing was definitely a new experience. I hate to say it, but I need a break from this fandom. I can barely look at it right now. I'm going to hide in some of my other fandoms until I feel better.
Sorry guys.
And before I forget, Kudos to adodcefa, for reminding me that this existed. I tried to make it as long as possible because this is the official end. I hope you liked it!