A/N: I am entirely grateful for the reviewage, really, I am. Unfortunately, as much as I love this fandom and pairing, I don't find it as easy to write as some of my others. What I'm saying is, the fic probably won't be very long or very good, and updates may be sporadic, but I'll do my best, and as I say, I do appreciate all the feedback.

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 3

Leonard hadn't said a word for five whole minutes. Penny couldn't really complain since she hadn't spoken either. Honestly, she still felt in a state of shock. Sheldon had kissed her. Sheldon Cooper, the gangly oddball from across the hall, who called sex 'coitus' and went crazy if another person so much as breathed near his food or sat in his spot. He had kissed her, a full-on lip-lock, that was hot enough to make her toes curl. Penny couldn't explain it, not why he did it or why she responded. If she tried she had a feeling her head would explode with the effort, and yet she just knew that before long Leonard was going to ask.

"What the hell just happened?" he said eventually, just as Penny expected him too.

"I... I don't know," she forced out, her hand finally dropping away from her lips. "I mean, Sheldon, he's... he's gone..."

She whistled and spun her fingers by her head in some kind of gesture that seemed to signify 'crazy' to her boyfriend. Penny wasn't sure he was buying that this whole thing was Sheldon's fault. After all, she had kind of kissed him back. No shoving or struggling, no slapping his face. Penny had kissed Sheldon just as much as he kissed her, and Leonard had seen the whole thing. There was simply no denying anything, even if she wanted to.

"I get that Sheldon is quirky, we all know that," Leonard said snippily. "He's decided to let his life go to anarchy, and that's his crazy-ass choice. What I don't understand is why you just let him kiss you like that!"

Penny opened her mouth to answer only to close it again fast. She didn't have an explanation. Her brain had established that long before her boyfriend ever asked the question. Somehow she hoped she would come up with something in the in-between time. No such luck.

"I was just... floored," she said eventually. "Shock is a weird thing, and honestly, I'd've been less surprised if Sheldon put the moves on you!" she said, flinging her arms around in some over the top but emphatic gestures.

It was a lie, a complete and total one. Sure, she genuinely was shocked when Sheldon grabbed her and laid his lips on hers, but she had been pretty sure for a while now that he did lean towards women rather than men, if he leaned at all. For all of his talk about being practically asexual, he did spend plenty of time trying to sneak looks that time she was naked in front of him. Even when he realised he had grabbed her boob rather than her arm, he hadn't been in a huge hurry to let go. Of course, thinking of this now was not helping anyone.

"I can't believe this," muttered Leonard, walking away towards the kitchen, but then immediately circling back. "I should've hit him. I should've. For God sakes, you should've hit him!"

"What? I'm not hitting Sheldon, and neither are you," said Penny, putting her hands on her hips. "This was something and nothing, just Sheldon going all 'chaos theory' and acting out. It didn't mean anything."

"You really think that's all it was?" asked Leonard immediately, watching her closely.

He wasn't buying it. Penny always thought she was crazy when she looked at Sheldon and thought maybe he was looking at her with more than his usual glance. He did like to spend time with her, even when she and Leonard were broken up. She was the one he ran to with his problems or when he was sick, then there was his reaction when she was naked. All in all, with any other guy, she would come to the conclusion that he probably did like her that way, but this was Sheldon Cooper. The idea of him liking any woman that way seemed so completely unlikely, and that included Amy Farrah-Fowler who was technically his girlfriend. Penny couldn't imagine Sheldon ever kissed Amy the way he just kissed her. For one thing the nerd girl would've wanted to share that particular piece of information with everybody ever. Besides, until today when Sheldon decided to put a little crazy into his life, there was no chance of him even considering that kind of behaviour.

"Are you even listening to me?" asked Leonard when he realised Penny was looking elsewhere and not responding to any of his points about Sheldon.

"Of course I am," she lied. "Or, y'know, the other thing."

It was insane. She had done nothing in the last five to ten minutes but lie her ass off to a man that was supposed to be her boyfriend, who she was supposed to love. The truth was, she did love Leonard. He was kind of her best friend in a lot of ways. He knew everything about her, he rarely judged, and they got along great. The sex was less eventful than she'd like, and they really did have trouble keeping a romantic relationship running. It made her wonder sometimes why they bothered trying. Penny always got a horrible sick feeling in the pit of her stomach when she got close to admitting, even to herself, that she got back together with Leonard so often because it was easy, because it was better than being alone.

"Shouldn't we go after Sheldon?" she said after a moment's pause, her hand to her forehead as something in her brain started to pound worse now than when she could hear bongos! "He's out alone in the dark, in his pyjamas..."

"He's not a child," Leonard complained. "Besides he wanted anarchy, that's exactly what he'll get on the streets of Pasadena at three a.m."

Penny's eyes went wide at his attitude. He had his arms folded over his chest and was practically stomping his foot like a petulant child. Penny would've smiled when she realised she got that word from Sheldon, but she was too mad to feel good about anything right now.

"You know what he's like in unfamiliar surroundings, and how he feels about the streets at night," she told him crossly. "The state he's in right now, he could get himself killed! Some friend you are."

She was muttering by the end as she turned and left, slamming the door to her own apartment, even when Leonard called her name behind her. Penny couldn't deal with him right now, she was too angry and far too confused. It wasn't all his fault. Yes, she had hoped that a missing friend who might be in danger would be more important to her boyfriend than petty jealousy. At the same time, if Sheldon had been any other guy daring to kiss her like that, she would have gone crazy. She'd have been beyond mad if the shoe was on the other foot, if some girl had kissed Leonard that way, and right in front of her too.

"Get dressed," Penny told herself just as soon as she realised she was still stood half way to the bedroom, staring into space.

She meant what she said to Leonard, they needed to go and look for Sheldon, make sure he was okay. As she threw off her nightwear and wriggled into a pair of jeans and a clean top, Penny mulled it over. The chances were good that if Sheldon got scared in the dark or startled by strangers, he'd run for familiar ground. What she really couldn't explain was the knot in her stomach when she realised the most likely safe spot he would head for was Amy's apartment.


"Not that I'm complaining, but why is it that you're here at such an hour, Sheldon?" asked Amy as she poured tea into two cups.

When he first arrived, bongos in hand, poor Amy had assumed it was some kind of musical booty call from her boyfriend. No such luck, as he had quickly informed her. There seemed to have been some kind of incident in the street, at least that was what Sheldon quickly told her, before moving onto talk of his bongos and how he had them because Richard Feynman had bongos.

"And I don't have to tell you who Richard Feynman is," he had said with an odd smile. "He is not a purple leprechaun that lives inside of anyone's rectal cavity."

Yeah, that part had Amy confused, even more than Sheldon showing up on her doorstep at three a.m. in his nightwear, with bongos under his arm.

"Can't a person drop in on a friend, especially a girlfriend, at any time of day or night?" asked Sheldon, just a little too cryptic for Amy's liking, as she handed him his tea.

One sip and he made a face, stopping her in her tracks when she opened her mouth to answer his counter-question.

"Y'know which tea I like best? Long Island Iced Tea," he sighed happily at the thought.

Amy frowned. Sheldon really didn't drink as a rule. A sip of wine at an occasion perhaps, but that was all. She had heard tales of what he could get up to if he really went to town on the booze, tales that ended with his pants coming off.

"I can make Long Island Iced Tea," she said quickly, scrambling back to the kitchen so fast that she almost fell on her face half way there.

Sheldon wasn't really paying attention. His mind kept wandering. Now that he had let chaos and anarchy into his life, no rules to live to, things were actually a lot more complicated than before. Staying faithful to Amy had never been a consideration because no woman was really of interest to him that way, not even his so-called girlfriend actually. Now he felt he ought to confess his kiss with Penny, even if he really had no explanation to give for his behaviour.

Then he thought of Leonard and how he had betrayed him too. Sheldon was supposed to be Leonard's best friend, and vice versa. Though he knew little of what he believed was colloquially called 'The Bro Code', Sheldon did understand that kissing a woman who was in a relationship with one's friend, best or otherwise, was taboo, or even completely unacceptable. There may have to be a dual or something. Not that it would matter, Sheldon would doubtless win any contest of that kind, but he would miss Leonard if he were forced to run him through.

"One Long Island Iced Tea," said Amy with a grin as she presented the drink to Sheldon.

It wasn't quite as it should be, since she didn't have the exact ingredients to hand, but she hoped it was good enough that Sheldon would drink it without complaint. He took a long swig and made a face that showed surprise but there was a smile in there too.

"Yup, just as I remember. A real kick in the pants," he told her. "The aftertaste is a little... hmm, I don't know exactly how to describe, but then food and drink made domestically often tastes a little different to its restaurant counterpart," he sighed, taking another drink before putting the glass down carefully on the table.

"So, here we are," said Amy with a wide smile. "Just two people, boyfriend and girlfriend, alone on the couch at three a.m.," she sighed, inching closer across the couch cushions.

Just as her hand strayed to Sheldon's knee, he leapt up.

"Amy, I kissed Penny," he said quickly, making her look up at him in shock.

"You? You kissed Penny?" she asked, as if the concept of it were the most insane thing she ever heard.

"I did," admitted Sheldon with a single nod, immediately picking up his glass and downing several more gulps of iced tea. "I know this goes against our boyfriend-girlfriend agreement, and even the general moral and ethical conduct I set for myself," he explained. "I have no real explanation for my actions..."

"None needed," said Amy, making a cutting motion with her hand to draw a line under the whole thing. "I can only assume she made you an offer you couldn't refuse, and I can understand that. In your position, I would've done the same thing and submitted to the moment."

By the end of what she was saying her voice was no more than a breathy whisper and Sheldon frowned at the reaction to his confession. As he understood it, faithful girlfriends were supposed to be affronted if their boyfriends betrayed them by engaging in any kind of physical contact with another woman... or man, for that matter. Of course, Amy wasn't like other women. Sometimes that was a good thing, sometimes not.

"I'm sure I never knew another person more enamoured with Penny than you, Amy Farrah-Fowler," he said definitely. "And that includes both Leonard and myself."

Sheldon sat down heavily in his seat, drinking down the last of his tea. His brow wrinkled twice as hard as he replayed his own words in his head then. He wasn't enamoured with Penny, that was a preposterous thing for him to have said, and he didn't know why he ever would.

"I can't deny that Penny is the finest specimen of a woman I have ever met," said Amy then, cutting into Sheldon's thought unbidden. "She's so sweet and kind... and sometimes she makes me wonder exactly who my loins burn harder for, her or you," she admitted, eyes dipping to the carpet.

Sheldon didn't know what to think now. First he had to deal with his own feelings for Penny that he couldn't understand, and now Amy was confessing that she really was having almost the same problem entirely. Where they went from here, Sheldon had no idea, but he was clear on one fact;

"Amy? Please make more iced tea."

To Be Continued...