A/N: Thank you for all the follows/favorites and wonderful reviews :) they mean a lot.

xxxxxxx

Knock, Knock, Knock.

Penny.

Knock, Knock, Knock.

Penny.

Knock, Knock, Knock.

Penny.

Penny looked up from the book resting on her knees, casting her eyes over to her door, set ajar, the bright yellow fabric of an all to familiar 'Flash' t-shirt showing against the harsh hallway lights.

"It's open." She called, snapping her book shut and sitting up.

She heard him sigh, it was a long, exasperated kind of noise.

Like she was REALLY that hard to deal with.

"Have you ever saw a horror movie?" His voice firm as he finally pushed the door open, making his way in before closing it softly behind him. "You never say 'it's open'." He shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest, his fingers tapping against his lean upper arms. "Out of the few I've seen whoever says that inevitably dies. Much like the person who hears a noise and idioticly goes looking for the intruder calling 'who's there'."

She could help the small smile that creeped across her face, pulling the corners of her lips up.

"Not a fan of horror movies, are you Moonpie?" Her voice was pleasant as she watched her neighbor stroll around her living room, looking down his nose disapprovingly at the stray clothes and unwashed dishes thrown haphazardly around.

"I find them grating and unnecessarily terrifying." He stated, pausing his words as his eyes dropped, his light gaze meeting hers. "And don't call me Moonpie. Only my meemaw calls me that."

"Why does only your 'Meemaw' get the pleasure?" She found herself asking, basking in the glow of the stunned expression on his face as he stared down at her. "Aren't I special?"

"Well...I...you're..." he said, seeming to almost trip over his own words until he trailed off, dropping silent as he stared down at her, his jaw dropping open as if to continue only to snap back up and clench in place.

she watched in astonishment, his eyes bouncing uncomfortably from her face to the wall, his gaze raking over her lips before it was cast away.

"Because...she is the one who came up with it." He concluded, his voice tight, words rushed.

Penny shook her head, chucking her book onto her coffee table as he stood, watching with a sense of dark amusement as Sheldon teetered back and forth on his heels, eyes still set away from her as he studied the wall beside him.

Scowling as if her brightly colored wall had suddenly become the most amazing and interesting thing in the world.

She had always loved making Sheldon uncomfortable.

She knew it might be cruel, to torture a man who was so out of touch with his feelings as Sheldon was, but...the blush that always splayed across the cheeks and ears was just so...

...endearing.

It made him look almost human.

"Well," Penny continued suddenly, tearing her eyes from Sheldons profile and stuffing her hands down into her pockets. "I know you well enough not to mistake this for a social visit, so...what can I do for you, sweetie? You need a ride to work?"

"No, thank you though. But you are correct to assume I have came here for a reason." He paused, and, though she couldn't be sure, she could have sworn he saw him take a deep breath, swallowing visibly before continuing. "Have you made any plans for Christmas this year?

"Uhh...no, actually." She smiled, her head tilting to the side as her shoulders rose and fell in a shrug, almost missing Sheldons eyes dropping, running along the small strip of skin that appeared as her shirt rose with her movements. "Why do you ask...?"

She scowled internally, wondering if she had really saw what you just thought she did, only to check it off as withdrawals from her recent cold streak in the dating category.

Single life can be a cold hearted bitch.

"Sweetie?" She asked, her tone questioning when he didn't answer.

He cleared his throat, lowering his head closer to her level as he dropped his eyes to meet hers.

Those blue, almost icy eyes that, at times, seemed to slice straight through you.

"I was curious to if you would like to accompany me to my family's this year. They hold a ridiculously large party every year...the entire block comes and invades my mother's home." He shook his head almost sadly. "It is a terrible night."

"Then...why do you wanna go again? You know...sense you think it's that bad." She couldn't stop from asking.

He shrugged, his head dropping slightly, not saying a word.

The silence grew as did the urge to hug the tall man that stood before her, now more closely resembling a lost little boy than the brilliant Physicist she knew him to be.

"I think that it is time I go home. As much as I try to deny it, I know my mother misses me."

Penny nodded her head slowly, letting his confession sink in and echo weakly in her mind, the smile of her face warming.

"That is a wonderful idea, Sheldon." Penny encouraged, her voice gentle as her hand extended out. "That's very mature of you."

Sheldon jerked his arm away out of her reach as her fingers landed against his surprisingly warm skin, dropping it down to hang tensely at his side.

"Well...I am a very mature person." He replied quietly, shifting his eyes away once more.

Penny nodded in reply as she turned, trying to hide the smug smile that plastered itself across her face as she made her way into the kitchen.

Yes, Sheldon was very mature...in his own special way.

Mature in the sense he could solve almost any equation forward and backwards, a skill he never let slide by without acknowledgement, before Penny could even start her dishwasher, and the fact he could spit out fancy, college level words without a second thought.

Not so much in the sense he flew off the handle if anyone happened to touch one of his 'vintage' comic books without the special gloves heh ad stores in his dresser, or, more to the point, that he had almost an entire wall in his room covered with shelves solely designed, by him, for his vast collection of comics.

"You want a drink, sweetie?" She asked, pulling the already opened cork from the sweating bottle of wine she took from her fridge. "It's not boxed."

The look on his face made it clear he saw no difference. That he didn't care if it was cheap wine poured from a bottle or even cheaper wine sealed in a box.

Wine was wine in his opinion.

Nasty, unneeded, and a waste of money.

"No." He said simply, making his way over to her table, sitting down, uncomfortably, in one of the stools. "Shouldn't you wait until you've given my invitation a proper thought before you inebriate yourself?"

She shot him a look, raising her glass up to her lips and taking a long, slow drink just to irritate him further, smacking her lips like she knew he hated at the end, watching as his eye twitched and his hands balled into fists against the table top.

"I've already given it 'a proper thought', Sheldon." She said, setting her glass down with a small twang, lifting her eyes to meet his. "I'll come. I mean...if it'll help you feel more comfortable...I really can't say no, can I."

"Well, you could." He replied, lacing his fingers together, his eyebrows lifting as he watched her tilt her head, leaning across the island as she drew close to him.

"You don't say...?"

"Sarcasm?"

She laughed, a small twinkling sound that seem to reverberate through the small combined space of the kitchen and living area. "Yes, Sheldon."

"Drat." He almost groaned, the sound foreign, unexpected for Penny to hear from him.

"When do we leave?" She asked, breaking up his pity party, causing him to look up.

He shifted in his seat, his pink tongue poking from between his lips, not enough to assume he was giving her a raspberry, but just enough to draw Penny's attention as he pulled a small piece of paper from his pocket and setting it out smoothly in front of her.

"We leave tomorrow at six." He read, running a lean finger along the gentle ink strokes that swirled across the blindingly white surface of the paper.

"It's funny, the 'P' in the P.M looks a lot like an 'A'."

"...that's because it is an 'A'." He replied in a cautious tone, sounding unsure of whether or not she was kidding or actually serious. "We are scheduled for the 8:25 A.M flight to Dallas...it's common knowledge to be there two hours early, and, factoring in the time to pack the car and make our way to the airport, barring the roads being bad-"

"Six A.M it is!" I butted in, forcing a smile onto my face as I slide the paper from under his fingers, glancing down in disbelief at the utter organization he had laid out.

Meal times, break times, times to arrive at the gate, times to leave the gate...

'He even has bathroom breaks scheduled.' She thought incredulously, shaking her head.

"What's wrong?" Sheldon asked, obviously watching as she took in his plan of action. "Did I leave out a womanly function? Your time of the month isn't for another two weeks if that's what your worried about."

I decided to let that slide, not really feeling up to having the same argument for the bazillionth time.

"What if I have to pee at 7:25 instead of 7:38? Is there any...leeway?"

A small smile crosses Sheldons lips as he found humor somewhere in my serious question.

"For you?" He answered. She felt herself being drawn to him as his voice dropped, leaning cross the counter and turning her eyes to look up at the genius that towered above her, both physically and mentally, his warm, minty breath fanning across her face in a way she couldn't help but wonder if his lips would also. "Always."