Author's Note: Thank you to all who have already reviewed the first chapter it means so much to know that my story is being so well received. I can only hope that you will like this chapter just as much. Please leave a review!

Chapter Two: The Date

"Wow Sheldon," Penny stated for what felt like the hundredth time as she finished up her desert. "Thank you so much for bringing me here. This place is amazing."

"Yes the Chateau Blanc is a rather fine restaurant."

"How did you find this place?"

"It might surprise you, but when I first moved to Pasadena I was quite adventurous as I tried to find my own routine. This restaurant was one of the highlights of those months, though it seemed rather out of sorts with the other places that I chose to spend my money in terms of sustenance and I have not been back since."

"Well you should definitely come here more often."

"No, I think I won't." Sheldon told her.

"Oh?" asked Penny curiously. "Why not."

"Amy Farah-Fowler does not appreciate French Food."

"Well you don't have to go with Amy," Penny pointed out as she took a sip of her coffee, trying to ignore the surge of jealousy that went through her. She cared for her 'beastie' a lot however she had been the first regular female into Sheldon's life and Penny wasn't happy that Amy had come and manipulated a lot of his time.

"Who else would I go with?" asked Sheldon.

"Well..." Penny began hesitantly. "You could always come back with me..." she paused and caught a glimpse of Sheldon's face and knew that she would have to keep talking in order to keep the conversation sounding casual. "I mean this place is terrific but I would never be able to come here on my own what with my waitressing salary and all and I really would like to come back here again and – "

"Curious," Sheldon muttered to himself as he neatly folded his napkin and placed it beside his plate.

"What's curious?" Penny asked, caught off guard by him interrupting her.

"Oh nothing, just something that I have observed."

"And what have you observed? Something about me I bet."

"Well yes," Sheldon admitted. "I am sitting across from you after all."

"Alright, let's here it. What have you observed," Penny goaded, thinking that he had observed something unpleasant about her eating habits.

"Just that you tend to babble when you're nervous."

"You're just noticing that?"

"No," Sheldon answered. "I just found it curious that you seem to be nervous with me when you've never shown yourself to be nervous before."

Penny found herself at a loss for words. She knew innately that Sheldon was right. She was quite nervous, but even she couldn't pin point why so instead of agreeing with him, she chose to shrug it off. "Well I don't know what you're talking about Sheldon because I'm not nervous at all."

"I'd beg to differ."

"You know I do babble sometimes when I'm having a good time." Penny pointed out; it wasn't a lie per say but she more often than not babbled when she was terrified or nervous. Sheldon seemed to accept this answer and flagged down the waiter for the cheque.

Relative normal chitchat about the food continued out of the restaurant and in Penny's car. He only stopped every so often to direct her to where they would be dancing. All conversation ceased after that as Penny lost herself in Sheldon's arms as he waltzed her around the ballroom floor. Unlike the last time that they had gone dancing where it had been more like a class, this time Sheldon had found somewhere that there were professionals enjoying their evening and among them, Penny could almost forget all her troubles.

...

"Sheldon thank you," Penny said sincerely as Sheldon walked her to her door later that evening— although technically speaking it was morning for it was well after midnight. "I had a wonderful evening."

"Me too," Sheldon confirmed, caught off guard as Penny kissed his cheek. "What was that for?"

"It's a goodnight kiss Sheldon," Penny explained. "It's a non optional social expectation at the end of a date."

"Oh," Sheldon stated with a nod, accepting Penny's answer. "Excellent. Would you make sure to tell Amy Farah-Fowler that we partook in a goodnight kiss and a very pleasant evening to boot?"

"Tell Amy? Why would I..." asked Penny, feeling the elation of the evening coming crashing to the ground. "Oh my god Sheldon!" she shrieked as she realized what he had done. "You lied to me. This was to make her jealous."

Sheldon shook his head. "I didn't I—"

Penny didn't stop to listen to what Sheldon was saying; she just opened her door and slammed it in his face. Sheldon looked at the door for a moment and considered knocking on it, however he realized that that would be an unwelcome course of action and so instead he turned and entered his own apartment where he found Leonard watching an episode of Doctor Who that had been taped on their PVR.

"Sheldon?" he asked in surprise as he turned to greet his friend. "What are you doing wearing that suit?"

"I wore this on my date this evening."

"You had a date this evening?" Leonard asked. "With who?"

"The correct grammar is with whom Leonard."

"I know that," Leonard snapped. "But Amy is out with Stuart."

"Of this I am well aware," Sheldon replied.

"Then with whom did you have a date with?"

"I took Penny out for an evening of dinner and dancing."

Leonard felt as though he had just been punched in the guy. "You took Penny out on a date?"

"Does the idea seem so preposterous to you?"

"Well...yeah Sheldon," Leonard replied, trying to keep his voice as level as possible and his breathing as steady as possible to negate the asthma attack that he felt coming on. "I mean you and Penny can barely tolerate each other."

"On the contrary," Sheldon disagreed. "Aside from her simple Nebraskan ways and her various infuriating faults, I find Penny to be the most important member of our group."

"You mean you actually like her?" Leonard asked.

"Of course I do," Sheldon replied. "I thought that was obvious."

"No," Leonard said as he tried to figure out just what had been going on inside Sheldon's head when he invited Penny out on a date of all things. "No it's not."

"Hmm..." Sheldon murmured as he walked past Leonard on the way to his bedroom. Stopping at the entrance of the hallway, Sheldon turned around. "Leonard, you have more experience with Penny's anger perhaps you can answer something for me."

Answering Sheldon's questions about Penny was the last thing that Leonard wanted to do but before he could think of an excuse he found himself nodding and saying; "Go ahead."

"You no doubt heard her slam her door and I was hoping that you would be able to figure out for me why she was so angry after we had, by all accounts, such a fun evening."

"Well..." Leonard began slowly. "Women usually get angry at men for saying something stupid. That's usually why Penny slammed the door in my face."

"But I never say anything stupid."

"You must have said something to upset her."

"I don't see what," Sheldon stated in confusion. "All that I asked was for her to tell Amy Farah-Fowler that we partook in a chaste goodnight kiss."

"Sheldon did you go on a date with Penny to make Amy jealous?"

"No." Sheldon assured.

"Did you tell Penny that?"

"When I asked her to accompany me for an evening of dinner and dancing." Sheldon explained. "Which is why I am at a loss as to why she would be so upset with me."

"Why did you ask her out in the first place?"

"I figured that if Amy could go out with someone who was less intelligent than her than I should do the same. You know me Leonard, I like being able to keep up with people even if it is in a lowly human emotional way."

"You know that you sound like you're jealous of Amy and Stuart," Leonard pointed out.

"I am not jealous," Sheldon repeated. "I was merely curious as to what was so special about going on a date with someone. I figured that if Amy could experiment with Stuart then I could experiment with Penny."

"Is that all she is to you?" Leonard asked, feeling the jealousy welling up inside you. "An experiment?"

"The date itself was an experiment for me," Sheldon corrected. "I do not view Penny to be an experiment. The subject of it yes... much like when I tried to train her with chocolates but I do not view her as some conquest as you did."

"I never saw Penny as a conquest,"

Sheldon gave his short laugh. "I beg to differ," he argued. "From the very first moment that you laid eyes on her you said that she would be your wife and that she would bare your children one day. From that moment on you were steadfast in your futile attempts to woo her, much like your futile attempts at being top in your field, or succeeding at some video game."

Leonard clenched his fists in an attempt to keep his anger under control. "What is your point Sheldon?"

"My point is that my mother always told me to treat women with the utmost respect and to not look at them as some prize to be won. Now I never have understood why someone would look upon a woman as a prize but I have always known to treat a woman with the basic respects that every human being deserves. You did not extend the same courtesy to Penny."

"I...you..." Leonard stuttered, finding himself at a loss for words.

"Now if you'll excuse me," Sheldon continued. "I need to rest and mull over the events of this evening. Goodnight Leonard."

With that said, Sheldon had disappeared down the hallway leaving Leonard alone.

TBC