The Intimacy Acceleration Rectification
After Penny and Sheldon have a few days to think about their falling in love experiment, Things come to mind, things that start the group thinking about each of their partners. Hold on tight... and take a deep breath… but don't give up…
I wish I could have just a little piece of this action, but sadly... don't own a thing
Penny sat at the dining table with Leonard eating what seemed to be the fifth spaghetti meal that week, … and it was only Tuesday. She spent most of the meal twirling the spaghetti onto her fork and then managing to lose most of it by the time she lifted her fork to her mouth.
Leonard noticed that it was a quieter than usual meal. He could see that his fiancé was preoccupied with something. It could be work… Penny had been given a new product line of Cholesterol lowering drugs. These were supposed to solve the nasty side effect of the runny burning poop that the last drugs had caused. Leonard started to over think just a little and his mind went to a dark place that he hadn't been visiting lately. Everything was going so well for them on the relationship front, he had posed the possibility of picking a wedding date. Unfortunately, he had done that just before they sat down to eat and then the quiet settled in. Leonard was now beginning to think that Penny was preoccupied by the thoughts of being pressured into actually picking a date to get married and therefore, bringing up her commitment issues. Leonard looked over at Penny and the preoccupied expression on her face. He was quite sure that she could be a million miles away. "So… the spaghetti is good…"
Penny snapped out of her thoughts. She blinked quickly a few times and then focused on Leonard's concerned look. It was a look she had known all too well. She immediately knew that her demeanor was probably the culprit for the concern she could see on Leonard's face. "What? … Oh… yeah… it came out pretty good… this new sauce is tasty…"
Leonard put his fork down. "So… what has you so quiet? Work or?"
Penny needed to get away from the conversation that she knew Leonard was trying to bring up. "Yeah… that is what I was thinking about… those new drugs are gonna be a bitch to sell… I hope not too many offices were put off by the 'ring of FIRE' that came with the old ones. Hopefully… when we throw in some butt cream… it will be a little easier…"
Leonard was not all that convinced considering he had spent a considerable amount of time thinking of why Penny would not choose a date to get married. "Are you sure that it's just work?"
Penny sighed putting down her fork. "Sweetie… can we talk about this later? You know what? I'm not that hungry… I think I'll watch a little TV with this wine… Wanna join me?" Penny got up from the table and walked over to the couch, flopping down with her back to the kitchen and flipping the channels until she found America's Next Top Model.
Leonard watched as Penny quickly slipped over to the couch. "Sure, but I'll be over when I'm finished". The thoughts wouldn't keep from drilling into Leonard's mind. What was it that was keeping Penny from committing to a date for their wedding. She had been acting funny since she did that stupid experiment with Sheldon. As he ate, Leonard looked over at Penny sitting on the couch. It didn't even look like she was paying attention to the TV as she sipped on her wine. He even caught Penny glance in the direction of the apartment door once or twice.
Penny sighed and then picked up the remote and started to flip through the channels looking for something else to watch. "I am so bored… there is absolutely NOTHING on TV!"
Leonard wiped his mouth with his napkin and rose with his wine glass. He took the wine bottle with him to the couch and refilled Penny's glass as he sat down and lifted her feet into his lap and started to massage her feet. "What would you like to do this evening? We could go out to a movie… They are showing that Fifty Shades of Grey at the Cineplex…" Maybe the movie would take Penny's mind off whatever it was that was troubling her…. And maybe… it would put her into a better mood for later that night…
Penny was sitting with her eyes closed trying to concentrate on the feeling of Leonard massaging her feet. He really did learn how to do that pretty well. All she had to do was put her feet in his lap, and he would start messaging. Sheldon would be so proud that she had succeeded in altering Leonard's behavior. The only thing was… she was going to have to give Leonard some positive reinforcement. And that usually meant putting out… in the bedroom. Not that that was a problem or anything… Leonard was a wonderful lover. He was always so tender and caring… always making sure she was satisfied before he was. Now he wanted to go see the Fifty Shades movie? Who was he kidding… He hated those kind of movies… he wouldn't even LOOK at the book… much less READ it! This was just a poorly veiled attempt on his part to get her into the bedroom… Hopefully, Leonard hadn't borrowed any of Howard's 'toys' to enhance the fantasy. "Oh… Sweetie… I think I'm just a little tired…" Penny switched her position on the couch and moved so she could lean into Leonard's shoulder with his arm wrapped around her. It was one of her favorite cuddle positions. "Let's just sit here for a while and not think about anything Okay?"
Leonard was a little dejected, although he did like the cuddling. "Oh… Okay… Are you sure you're not upset about something else?"
Penny looked up and put a quick kiss on his cheek. "Sweetie… no talking… just cuddling… Please? Why don't you find something you want to watch and I'll just relax here."
Leonard gave Penny a kiss on her head. "Okay… just relax." Leonard took the remote and flipped until he found The Lord of the Rings… They were showing the trilogy back to back to back.
Penny smiled to herself and pushed just a little deeper into Leonard's hold. She thought to herself… That should keep him occupied for a while. It wasn't long before Penny had slipped off to sleep snoring ever so lightly as Leonard watched the TV.
Across the hall in 4A Sheldon was sitting on the couch with Amy. "Honestly Amy… whenever we decided to have a quiet night in the past, we never held hands while seeing who could not say anything first."
Amy smiled. "That's one for me… I suggest you try harder not to say something… according to the new rules… two out of three wins the right to pick what activity we partake in on our next date night. So are you up for round two?" Amy then let go of Sheldon's hand and snuggled into his chest as she brought her feet up onto the couch.
Sheldon pursed his lips as he took a deep breath. It wasn't so much the cuddling that was upsetting him, he rather liked the smell of Amy's dandruff shampoo. It was that he couldn't stop thinking of that experiment that he and Penny partook in. It was supposed to make them fall in love, and he just wasn't convinced of the outcome. Penny and he had agreed that they had felt that they had become closer by divulging some personal secrets. Although, how and when Penny had managed to leak that it was his birthday completely failed him. Penny had seemed to be a much more understanding person when he had gotten her to stop fooling around and actually be honest. For his part, he had let down what he considered some pretty significant fire walls. In the end, after the four minute stare down, he indeed did feel something different toward his roommate's fiancée. Leonard and Penny were allegedly having dinner and were no doubt about to partake in some after dinner bedroom rituals. The soothing smell of Amy's shampoo mixed with the unmistakable scent of bath powder was somewhat intoxicating. He wasn't quite sure which mixture he found more pleasing, Amy's or Penny's mixture of vanilla oil and green apple shampoo. Sheldon found himself gazing over toward the apartment door. Perhaps some more study into this experiment was necessary.
Bernadette stood in the kitchen drying some dishes as she watched her husband fiddling with his ipod. "Howie… could you maybe find some music that is a little more up to date? Neil Diamond is nice… but there's only so many times you can listen about someone's imaginary friends. I mean… I get it… you were picked on and things were rough… but sometimes, you have to pick up your pants and move on…"
Howard looked over. "It's not about me and not having any friends OKAY? It's just that Ma really liked Neil Diamond… that's how I got to start listening to him… his old stuff really hits home… Ma would hear the music and she would come over and hold me by both hands and we would dance in the living room... Then she got me that blue jeans jacket the summer Neil came out with Forever in Blue Jeans… And Ma was from Brooklyn…. So… you know… Brooklyn Roads…"
Bernadette looked on feeling bad. "Whaddya say we go and see if they have that new Star Wars Lego set you were looking for?"
Howard immediately perked up. "Okay".
Raj finished putting the last dish in the cupboard and picked up his wine to join the beautiful redhead that he could call his girlfriend on the couch. Emily immediately pressed herself into his shoulder as she turned off the television. Raj was a little surprised. "Do you have something else in mind for this evening my pet?"
Emily smiled and sat up a bit, putting her glass of wine on the coffee table. "Have you talked to Sheldon about that experiment he did with Penny?"
Raj looked curiously over at Emily. "Not really… I haven't given it much thought after that impromptu birthday party for Sheldon… Boy was the food lame at that party."
Emily chuckled. "Give Leonard a break… Penny didn't exactly leave a lot of time to set anything up… So what do you think of that experiment?"
Raj looked over. "Like I said, not much… Leonard and Amy gave it a one question shot that went over very badly, and then we came to pick you up and solved that zombie mystery. They didn't seem to think anything of it and Sheldon and Penny said they were not in love after their go at it. Did you want to try?"
Emily shrugged. "I don't know… It's not like we HAVE to… I mean, we're doing fine… right?"
Raj smiled and held Emily close. "I think that the way we are seeing how this works between us is fine for us. Let the other's take their chances. I kind of wish that Leonard and Amy tried harder. Although I think Leonard is a little more insecure in his relationship with Penny… He really can't believe that he landed someone like her… while Amy is such a good match for that crazy bastard Sheldon… They were literally cast from the same mold."
Emily sighed. "Well, I don't know about Penny and Leonard. I mean she's your typical gold digger flirt… jumping from one guy's bed to another... just because she can and they want to… but Leonard seems like such a sweet guy… cute… smart… and Penny seems to think he's really something in the bedroom… didn't your sister say he was the king of foreplay?"
Raj looked jealous. "Hey… don't start sniffing around for his truffles… He has Penny… cute, smart and sweet are mine… plus… he could never match me in the kitchen…"
Emily smiled and put a hand to the side of Raj's face and patted his cheek. "Don't you worry… I don't have any complaints about you in the bedroom. Still maybe he could give a little continuing education?" Raj pouted until Emily kissed him. "Kidding… I'm kidding…"
A/N: I have the idea set for this story, but it is far from finished...
