AN: Imagine your OTP… at the beach. Person A gets the brilliant idea to balance on the railing of the dock. They lose their balance and fall into the water. Person B freaks out and tries to save them, even though they can't swim. Person A ends up saving them both, ending on the beach, laughing and giggling at what just happened.
"Come on, Sheldon," Penny called over her shoulder to her theoretical physicist friend. He sighed softly and picked up his pace to catch up with the bubbly blonde.
"Thank you for taking me out, Penny. It's the one Sunday of the month I spend quality time outdoors." Sheldon looked at his surroundings and sighed again. "However, Penny, did you have to take me here?"
"Hey, what's wrong with the beach?" Penny stopped dead in her tracks to put her hands on her hips and glare at the tall, blue-eyed man. He seemed unmoved by her sudden change in stance and just stared at her, focusing on her green eyes. After a few silent moments between them, Penny's gaze softened as a small smile tugged at her sun-kissed cheeks. "Sheldon, you asked me to take you out on the condition that I got to pick where we went. Sadly for you, sweetie, I love the beach… and the sun." She paused, sighing softly. "They don't have any back in Nebraska." The blonde turned to continue walking down the pier as she heard her neurotic friend sign again.
Sheldon followed her, staying a few steps behind. He took in his surroundings again and slightly shrugged to himself. Maybe it wasn't too bad here this time of the year, he thought to himself.
Usually on a day like this he and his friends would go to the park and fly kites. On this particular Sunday, however, Howard decided to go to church with Bernadette (even though he thought he'd feel uncomfortable, which he probably is), Leonard was having lunch at Raj's place so they could spend time with Priya while she passed through on business. Actually, if Sheldon had known that Penny was going to take him to the beach he would have brought his kite. Then again, Penny always said that grown men flying kites was childish. What does she know about childish?
"Hey, Sheldon, I think I'm gonna walk up here for a bit."
"What do you mean up…?" A soft gasp escaped Sheldon's lips when he finally saw exactly where she was walking: she was walking on the railing on the pier! "Penny, the probability that you are going to fall is so high that—"
"Sheldon, I'm gonna be fine." She smiled and continued down the railing, swaying her hips slightly.
Sheldon groaned to himself following Penny very closely now. He kept his eyes trained on her every move. He wanted to make sure that if there was any sign that she was going to fall… well, he's not sure what he would do if she were to fall, but he was sure he would do something. He noticed that she was wearing the jean shorts she wore the first day they met, a tight striped orange t-shirt, and she wore her naturally wavy hair down. She carried her pair of brown sandals in her hand.
After a while, Sheldon wasn't sure if he was watching her to make sure she'd be safe if she fell or if he was, in fact, checking her out. In all honesty, he couldn't tell.
While Sheldon was off in his own little world trying to figure out exactly what he was thinking he heard a faint scream. This sound brought him back to reality and he noticed something was missing. Well, someone. Penny was no longer in his sights. He rushed to the edge of the pier and looked over into the water. He couldn't see her anywhere and his heart started to beat faster. He started to panic. "What do I do?"
He was worried that, if he safely made it into the water, would he be able to do anything to help Penny? Two thoughts kept clouding his brain: I can't swim but I kind of taught myself on my living room floor. Pushing everything out of his head, so he could concentrate, he cautiously climbed up onto the railing of the pier. He closed his eyes, clamped a hand over his nose and jumped.
He hit the water a lot sooner than he originally calculated (in his head). When he finally came back to the surface, he searched the waters surrounding where he landed. The blonde was nowhere to be seen.
When Sheldon tried to "swim," according to his self-taught lessons, he found the he could only tread water. The only reason he even stayed afloat was due to the face that he jumped into seawater, almost anyone can float in seawater. He finally realized that now he was in distress and was about to call for help. He didn't need to.
Penny swam up to Sheldon. "Do you need some help, sweetie?" He bashfully nodded. She rolled her green eyes and took him by the hand and gently placed him on her back as she carefully swam them to the shore.
When the pair finally made it to the shallow enough water where both of them could stand up, Sheldon tried to run frantically to dry land. Sadly, for him, he wasn't use to running through wet sand and fell flat on his face. Penny tried to run to his aid, but she tripped and fell right on top of him.
"I-I'm so sorry!" Penny's normally sun-kissed cheeks turned a light pink. When she tried to get off of him, she only made it worse. When she fell again, due to lack of balance, her face came so close to his that their noses were touching.
What made the whole situation worse, when Penny tried to get up (and failed), so did Sheldon, except he tried to get up right as she was falling on him again. His timing made it so that his face came so close to Penny's that their lips touched for a fraction of a second! This fleeting moment between the two made both of their cheeks turn bright red. Sheldon was speechless.
Penny finally succeeded in getting up and helped Sheldon do the same. They quietly made their way back to the sandy shore, not looking at each other or anything else except the water and sand at their feet. They actually moved further away from each other until they finally made it to dry land.
"Well, uh, thanks for trying to save me, Sheldon." Penny gradually made her way next to him as he was cautiously sitting down in the sand. "Once again, Dr. Sheldon Lee Cooper comes to the aid of a lady in distress!" She tried to laugh, but it didn't come out right. She sat down next to Sheldon. "Sweetie, you haven't said anything for a while," she smiled. "I'm not used to you being so quiet."
Sheldon finally looked at Penny and she couldn't figure out what he was thinking or feeling, not that she usually could. Slowly, he finally said, "Penny. Thank you very much for saving me. I honestly have no idea what compelled me to try and attempt to rescue you when I can't even swim."
"Well, you saved me that one night when you took me to the hospital, when I dislocated my shoulder, and you can't drive. In fact, I don't think you've driven a real car since that night, have you?"
"Well, no. I haven't had a need to." He paused, taking a deep breath. "But I think I see your point, Penny." He paused again, looking away from the blonde. "By the way, Penny, that was my first, um…"
"Sweetie, it's okay. I'm sorry." She knew better than to touch him, especially right now, so instead she smiled. "It'll be our little secret." She giggled, which prompted Sheldon to join in and laugh along with her.
Actually, Sheldon was very confused about the whole situation in general. He didn't have time to sort out what he was thinking, so he laughed along with the pretty blonde that lived across the hall.