Chapter Two

Penny is pretty sure these stairs get longer every day, or The Cheesecake Factory is stealing bits of her soul or something. But as she gets closer to the landing her finger finds the spare key she had made which reminds her that she finally gets to setup her new TV tomorrow. That puts a smile on her face and she has a little extra spring in her step as she goes to knock on 4A.

The door bursts open and Leonard angles himself out of it. (Trying to cover the noise inside, maybe?)

"Bad time?" she asks over the sound of Howard talking about being puffy.

"No. No. It's not" Leonard replies.

"Are you sure?" she doesn't think swelling fingers equals the best time to ask a favor, especially when the last one went so terribly.

Before Leonard can respond the door opens up further to reveal Sheldon, Raj and a normal looking Howard.

"Uh, hi guys!" she gives a weak little wave and hopes Howard won't bring up their duet performance from sushi night.

He doesn't, but it may be because Leonard gave him a not very subtle glare before asking, "So, uh, did you need something?"

"Oh right, well my furniture is being delivered tomorrow, and I was wondering if you could sign for it and let them in if I'm not here." She holds out the key, and catches Sheldon's eye.

"Of course we could do it, no problem, right Sheldon?" Leonard replies grabbing the key. At the prompting Sheldon finally nods his head in acquiesce.

"Great, thanks!" she starts to head across the hall when Leonard stops her, asking if she'd like to join them for dinner and a Superman movie marathon. When she mentions her favorite scene they go all nerd debate club and she takes that as her cue to go change.

Penny figures that the intensity of the debate means she can even shower off the cheesecake that got dropped on her so it's been nearly 30 minutes by the time she leaves her apartment, dressed in comfy sweats, a flattering tank and a messy bun at the top of her head.

Surprisingly they're still in the hallway, although Howard's on his knees trying to pick the lock. She notices Leonard is missing and sits next to Sheldon on the steps.

"Wow, what did I miss?"

"Not much, someone stupidly locked us out, there will be an investigation." His voice did sound as into the idea as one might assume. "So Howard went and got his lock picking set from home, Rajesh is attempting to help, and Leonard is out getting fresh food. The stuff in there will be way beyond their prime ingesting timetables."

"Oh" she turns so she facing him with her back against the wall. "Well why don't you tell me about the scientific problems my favorite scene brings up, I somehow missed it.

"I assumed you left during that part intentionally."

"So I could shower and change, not because I didn't care."

"Hmm, well, we do have some time before Leonard returns." he grins, pleased to be able to discuss this again "Well Lois Lane is falling, accelerating at an initial rate of 32 feet per second per second. Superman swoops down to save her by reaching out two arms of steel. Miss Lane, who is now travelling at approximately 120 miles per hour, hits them, and is immediately sliced into three equal pieces."

Penny takes this all in and says "Wow, I think I'd rather take my chances with just falling, maybe I'd get lucky and find a trampoline or bouncy castle to break my fall."

Sheldon smiles and says, "So you do agree, it's more humane to just let her fall."

"Well, yeah, isn't that what I just said."

"I wasn't asking, I was pointing out a fact." Sheldon responds and then stands to let Leonard come up the stairs on his side.

"Leonard, Penny agrees with me!"

"Uh huh, sure she does. C'mon it's time to finally get this marathon started."

They all pile into 4A. Raj gets the movies going and sits in the big comfy chair. Penny plops down on the center couch cushion, as it seemed like the most prime nap real estate. Leonard sits next to her on the right and starts passing out food. "The upside of having to go back and reorder is this time I knew to order for you too," he says as he smiles her way.

"Thanks sweetie, that's so thoughtful."

A few hours later from Howard's spot on the floor she could just about hear him complaining that Leonard stole his spot. Raj gave him a look and hand gesture that implied only looney people have assigned seats in this apartment. Then he threw a worried glance Sheldon's way in case he noticed.

She's pretty sure he didn't because he was too busy glaring at her. She was right about this spot being the best place for naps because she has been on the verge of taking one. Stretched out and a little too much touching for Sheldon' liking if the facial expression is anything to go on She apologizes to Sheldon, thanks Leonard for dinner, and said good night to Raj and Howard before meandering back to her apartment.

She has things to do in the morning and as fun as it was using part of Sheldon as a

pillow, he didn't seem too fond of it.