Chapter Two:
It was morning.
Penny could hear the sounds of cars zooming up and down the streets, and gentle tweets from birds outside the window slowly brought her back awake from her deep sleep.
She refused to open her eyes, and could feel a warm body pressed against her. Slowly, without thinking, she snuggled closer. Had Leonard come back early and decided to climb into bed with her? Or maybe some time had passed and she wasn't sick anymore.
But as she slowly regained consciousness, she became suddenly aware of the fact that this particular body felt a bit taller than Leonard's usually did. It was also noticeably lankier and skinnier.
The realization hit her like a wave and before she could think, she screamed.
Sheldon almost instantly awoke at the shrill noise, and he bolted up in his bed. Seeing her lying there, he yelled too, and scrambled to get out of bed but ended up falling onto the floor with a thud.
Penny pressed her hand over her mouth, wondering if he was okay or not. How could she have let this happen? She had been careless, too tired to go back to Leonard's room.
Before she could move to check on him, he had sprang up into a standing position and was glaring at her, looking frenzied.
"Penny, has dealing with the flu made you completely insane?" he asked her incredulously, but didn't wait to let her respond. "When I permitted to let you stay here, with much negotiating from Leonard, it never once occurred to me that you would try and commit coitus with someone such as myself!"
"What?" she asked him, her jaw dropping. "Is that what you think I was doing?"
"Well, of course it is!" he answered, grabbing his robe from where it hung on the door and pulling it over his pajamas. "Due to your past history of sexual acts and your sure frustration that Leonard is away, it is only logical that you try to mate with the closest male within reach!"
Penny felt herself growing defensive, and her face suddenly became hot at his words. "Don't flatter yourself!" she told him fiercely. "I can't breathe, my head feels like it's about to explode, and my body aches like nothing else. Do you really think I would try to have sex right now?"
"Well, assuming your implication is true, then please explain what exactly you were doing in my bed."
"I...I..." Penny knew her excuse would sound lame, and he most likely wouldn't believe it, but the truth was better than nothing. "After I sang to you last night, I was so tired that I fell asleep here."
Sheldon attempted to snort, but it was futile considering his current state of health. "A likely story." he replied. "And do tell me, did flying pigs also sleep next to me last night?"
"Ugh!" Penny felt herself getting fed up, and she picked up the pillow from off of his bed and threw it at him. "You are such a condescending asshole!"
The pillow hit him square in the face and he gave her a fierce stare, which wasn't much considering who it was coming from. "And now you have the indecency to attack me!" he retorted. "Penny, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you to excuse yourself out of my apartment."
She gaped at him for a few seconds, wondering which planet he had actually come from. Because no one, not anyone on the Earth, could have possibly given birth to someone as difficult and senseless as him.
Honestly, she felt a bit hurt that he was actually kicking her out for everything, even though she hadn't really meant to fall asleep on his bed. But, of course, she wasn't about to let him know it.
"You know what? Fine!" she huffed, moving from off of his bed and pulling her pajamas closer to her body. "But you'll miss me. I know you will." She then began to storm dramatically out of his bedroom and down the hall.
"Miss you?" asked Sheldon incredulously as he followed her. "Oh dear, it appears that you do have a rather nice sense of humor, Penny."
She didn't even bother to throw a glare over her shoulder as she stalked toward the door, already wanting to just go into her apartment and get away from him. Any place was better than there. She knew she had made a mistake thinking it would work.
Wordlessly she went over to the door the door, opened it and walked out, then promptly slammed it shut.
It was noon before she heard anything from Sheldon again.
When Penny had finally gotten settled in her apartment, all the while cursing the tall nerd under her breath, she got a tub of ice cream and proceeded to finish the whole thing off.
It wasn't something she normally did outside of breakups, eating all the ice cream, but she decided to make an exception. After all, she deserved an award for actually managing to spend a whole night alone in an apartment with Sheldon.
As she stabbed her spoon into the frozen treat, she could practically hear his overly-factual words ringing in her ears.
Why Penny, it appears that you're eating chocolate ice cream. Did you know that chocolate comes from cocoa beans found primarily in the Americas?
And she'd respond with something sarcastic that he wouldn't get like: Yes, of course. I saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
As she continued to think all of this, the jabs she was making at her ice cream became a little bit harder.
It was around that time that she heard the all too familiar knock.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Penny."
Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Penny."
Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Penny."
She reluctantly got up from her seat, still feeling awful, and flung open her door a bit more fiercely than she had intended. As expected, Sheldon was standing there in his robe, fidgeting slightly.
"Penny, I just wanted to inform you that I believe I was being a bit too rash back there." he told her after a long moment of silence.
She stared at him evenly, arching an eyebrow. "You think?"
"Yes. That's what I just told you."
She rolled her eyes at his lack of understanding of sarcasm, leaning onto the end of her door. "And what exactly do you want me to do now?" she asked, knowing good and well what he was getting at but just wanting to make him say it.
He fidgeted a little bit more. "Well, I'd appreciate it if you'd come back to my apartment." he answered.
"And why is that?" Okay, so maybe now she was just being mean.
"Penny, I'm lonely."
She considered dragging it on just a little bit more, just to see him get even more uncomfortable, but felt gracious right then. After a second of contemplation, she moved more into her apartment and motioned inside. "Get your ass in here and I'll make you some hot chocolate."
Sheldon hesitantly stepped inward, glancing around as if expecting something to jump out at him. He caught sight of the tub of ice cream sitting on her coffee table. "Why Penny, it appears that-"
"-If you start, I will kill you." she interrupted him, not in the mood for his usual self.
He seemed to take her words seriously and shut up, instead sitting down onto one side of her couch.
She didn't hear a sound out of him until she was almost done making him his drink.
"Penny, why are there a bunch of tissues on and around the area of your couch?" asked Sheldon curiously, tentatively moving his foot to the side to avoid stepping on a particular one.
She didn't even glance up from what she was doing. "That's because they're used."
Almost instantly he bolted upright into a standing position, letting out half a scream as he did so. "And you let me sit there?" he inquired, turning to look incredulously at where she stood.
"I'm sorry. I forgot how big of a germ freak you are. But we're both sick so it's okay." she told him, moving from around the counter and handing him his cup of hot chocolate. "Hopefully this will make up for it."
Sheldon stared down at his hot drink as if it might be infected too. "As far as I know, you could be carrying some other very real illness that I could acquire simply by being in this apartment."
"Or worse." Penny told him as she made herself comfortable. "I could have had sex in this room."
It took a couple of moments for Sheldon to catch on, and he slowly sat on the edge of the couch, all the while lightly glaring in her direction. "Your attempt at humor isn't particularly funny, Penny." he informed her, but took a sip of his drink all the same.
"Really? I thought it was cute."
All in all, it really wasn't that bad of a day.
Penny managed to watch TV with Sheldon and not get fed up and strangle him in the process. She also found herself capable of sitting down and discussing things with him, even if he did make jabs at her being a "community college drop out" and "destined for caring for infants".
She even got through a whole hour of him trying to explain to her what he actually did at his job, and she made sure to nod and make a few noises even now and again. He didn't know the difference.
Finally, night was approaching and Sheldon stared blankly at the TV as they watched a movie.
"Penny, I'm not sure I understand this film at all." he said. "If Regina George is a 'mean girl', why on Earth would Cady choose to socialize with her?"
"To get revenge, Sheldon." she answered, already deep into the movie. "She's only pretending to be friends with her in order to get back at her."
Sheldon looked over at her. "I'm sorry Penny but you're not making any sense at all." He turned back to look at the screen. "This movie is defective. I want to pick one now."
She rolled her eyes, knowing he wouldn't shut up if she didn't let him do what he wanted. "Fine." she agreed. "What do you suggest we watch, then?"
He glanced at the watch on his wrist. "Well, I don't know about you but I think there's still enough time to watch Back to the Future from beginning to end, don't you think? Granted, bathroom breaks would have to be kept at a minimum."
Now it was Penny's turn to stare blankly. "What's that about?"
Sheldon looked at her wide-eyed, silent for a few moments. "You've never seen Back to the Future?" he finally managed to ask.
"No. Is that a bad thing?"
"Dear Lord, Penny, you're even worse than I had initially thought." He stood up abruptly and made for the door. "But perhaps there's still hope..."
Leaving her on that notion, he disappeared out of her apartment and didn't return until a couple of minutes later. When he did, his right hand holding a DVD container, he preceded to move toward the TV.
As he pressed the DVD in and began to work with the remote, she glanced down at the box. "This looks lame. Why does the car have suicide doors, anyways? It says here on the back that the movie was made in the eighties."
Sheldon rolled his eyes. "Shh, Penny. And, for your information, it has gullwing doors."
She begrudgingly kept quiet as he pressed "Play" and they began to watch the movie. Occasionally she'd ask him a question, but for the most part they both just stayed silent as they watched.
As the film dragged on and on and finally the end was approaching, Penny found herself getting tired. "Ha. It's funny because the mother still doesn't know who he is." she said, but Sheldon wasn't paying any attention.
"Penny, I told you to be quiet."
"Ha. It's funny because the genius still doesn't know I don't care."
He shot her a sideways glare and clenched his jaw in annoyance, but didn't take the bait. Instead he continued to watch the movie, and Penny noted that he also seemed to be getting a bit sleepy himself.
He leaned against the back of the couch, his eyelids slowly beginning to fall. Soon enough they were shut, and she was left to stare at him in awe. Sheldon, sleeping somewhere other than his bed? With an awake stranger in the room? Impossible.
She poked him. "Sheldon?"
He didn't move.
Apparently it was very possible.
For a moment she considered to do something mean, like a juvenile sleepover prank. Dipping his hand in water would work, but she knew that if he woke up and saw that he had pissed on himself, he would have a heart attack from the uncleanliness of it all.
So, instead of that, she just chose to simply draw on his face.
She had to dig through one of the drawers for a marker to use, and also to make sure he wasn't going to wake up at the slightest noise or touch. He seemed like a light sleeper, but as it turned out the fact that he was ill gave her an advantage. He didn't wake up even when she ended up accidentally slamming the drawer closed.
After she knew everything was set, she didn't waste anytime.
And five minutes later Sheldon Cooper was complete with a drawn mustache and a goatee. When she was done, she capped the marker and smirked, glancing down at the label.
Permanent.
Uh oh.
She froze, knowing she couldn't possibly scrub his face because he surely wasn't that big of a heavy sleeper, even when sick, and she couldn't rub it off. No other ideas came to mind, and inside she began to panic.
But after a moment she forced herself to calm down, and in the end it was clear that she would just have to deal with whatever he would do when he woke up.
Sitting back down on the couch, she looked at the screen. The credits were rolling, and she blinked. So tired.
Almost instinctively she leaned back into the couch, right next to where he slept, still oblivious to her putting graffiti all over his face. She found her eyes beginning to close, and she didn't try to prevent it.
She also didn't try to stop her head from moving over to rest on his shoulder, or for her arm to wrap around his body and snuggle closer to the warmth.
And for the second time that in two days she was so close to Sheldon that she could hear his steady breathing, but that time not only did she hear it, but felt it as his chest rhythmically rose up and down.
And also for the second time in two days, she fell asleep next to him.