A/N The support I'm getting for this fic has been great. I'd like to start by thanking you guys who have reviewed both chapters for your continued support. Thanks also to Jslee102, Warriorof theravens HeathRowTottie and mowgli. If stories were a car, then reviews are petrol. With that said, its onto chapter three.

The Morning after the Night Before

Unsure of what time he had even made it to bed last night, let alone the fact he hadn't fallen asleep it was safe to say that when the alarm did go off in the room of one Dr. Sheldon Cooper, it was absolutely clear he would rather have a Ceti eel forcibly inserted into his brain by Kahn himself. Nonetheless, today was Tuesday, which like most other days meant he had to go to work. A voice in the back of his mind reminded him that a certain blonde girl would also have to be getting up for work.

Well if she took my advice and at least drank the tea, then she wouldn't have to deal with the symptoms of a hangover.

It would however take more than some not entirely understood concern about his neighbor to disrupt the schedule of this physicist. With more than a little protest from his weary body Sheldon swung his legs out of the bed and onto the floor. He got to his feet and headed for the bathroom.

Twenty minutes later Sheldon felt refreshed, the memories, as well as the hazy fog of tiredness, appeared to have been washed down the plughole. It was, he thought, one of the quaint little intricacies of phycology and physiology, where metaphorically at least the water cleansed both body and mind. He made his way to the kitchen to make the first important decision of the day. Breakfast. According to the schedule something from the upper end of the scale was not out of the question. Sheldon's hand hovered over the box of Honey Hoops just as Leonard entered the room.

"Good morning Sheldon" the bespectacled shorter man greeted his roommate before also making his way to the small kitchen and going about making a cup of coffee.

"What do you mean?" he said. "Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?" Sheldon smiled at his own joke "Bazinga."

Unfortunately the infinite humor of a J.R.R. Tolkien quote at six o'clock in the morning appeared lost on Leonard. Something which was not lost upon his friend, who, by his own admission was becoming rather good at reading peoples emotions, was the fact that Leonard didn't even pick up on the reference. With a spoon in the one hand and a freshly poured bowl of Fibre O's (which he had decided would be essential given the disruption to his internal clock) in the other. Sheldon took a moment to survey his friend. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, in fact he would hazard a guess that Leonard had had a far better nights sleep than himself.

Except of course, he hadn't.

That was right, the whole reason Sheldon was alone last night, at least for the small amount of time he was alone, was because his roommate had been out on a date with Lesley Winkel. The woman who, despite his objections, Leonard had decided to begin seeing again after his subtle, but definite rejection from Penny. Unsure how to broach the subject. Sheldon just sat at himself down on the couch and set about eating his cereal, which due to the silence in the room seemed a painfully loud experience. This silence which Sheldon was so unaccustomed to lasted all through breakfast, all the way to the lobby and around ten minutes of the usual commute.

"At the risk of regretting this question, I would like to enquire why you seem so lethargic this morning Leonard." He could see his companion mulling over the question. Without taking his eyes off the road Leonard tried his best to answer.

"You know I went on a date with Leslie last night?" It was more of a statement than a question, but Sheldon answered it anyway.

"Against my best wishes, yes" to his surprise the less than enthusiastic retort was not met with an instant comeback. "Did it not go satisfactorily?" Sheldon was only partially interested in the answer, but he feigned interest in an attempt to get his uncharacteristically quiet friend talking again.

"Yes Sheldon it went well" even to ears not adept at detecting sarcasm the answer was clearly laced with it, along with more than a hint of frustration.

Sheldon turned to face his companion, a look verging on offence etched across his face. "Whatever your quam is Leonard I believe if you examine its causation then the origin does not lay with ours truly." Sheldon's voice had hitched up just an octave. Leonard uneasily shifted his hands on the steering wheel, although not so much to earn himself another lecture from Sheldon. His face softened and flashed an uneasy smile. "No, your right Sheldon, I'm sorry" he conceded.

"Of course I'm right." Leonard winced at the fact that it sounded like his apology had caused more offence than the original comment. He hurriedly moved to close the subject "Of course you are, its just I don't know, everything was going well, on the outside." Leonard's voiced trailed off, almost to a sigh

Sheldon narrowed his eyes, "You're referring to your gastronomical problems?" Leonard burst out laughing.

Ok, maybe he wasn't quite as good at understanding people as he had recently been lead to believe. Never the less it appeared to break some of the awkward tension that had built up in the car. Once he had finished laughing Leonard's face once again settled into a steady seriousness. "No it was fine, but that was it, just fine. I wasn't excited, I wasn't even nervous; in fact I only went through one shirt.. That was the problem." Now it didn't take a genius to work out where this was going, but being a genius wasn't exactly making it any easier to prepare for. Sheldon could already feel the seatbelt tightening across his Green Lantern adorned Chest.

"She doesn't make me feel the way Penny makes me feel" Sheldon gripped the seatbelt desperately trying to force himself to breathe as Leonard seemed quite happy, no doubt allowing himself some moment of thought on how exactly the young girl across the hall made him feel. Sheldon on the other hand, was sweating cobs, his eyes darting around the inside of the car. The overwhelming feeling of guilt was crushing him as if it had suddenly multiplied the gravity inside the vehicle sevenfold.

Get ahold of yourself Sheldon! Leonard knew they had gone their separate ways right?

Sheldon gave a little nod of acknowledgement to his conscience. Less of a nod and more of a nervous tick really. Luckily Leonard appeared to still be waxing lyrical about how Penny made him feel.

All you did was get rid of an interloper, and for very little thanks I might add, there is no reason not to tell him, and even less reason for him to be angry, after all, you were defending the honor of his beloved.

Sheldon filed away his use of Penny and honor in the same sentence for a future bazinga at her expense once this had all blown over. The point still stood though, he had no reason not to tell Leonard. Sheldon cleared his throat, stopping his love-struck friend mid sentence.

"Sorry Sheldon, I was rambling, I noticed you didn't get much of your paper written, why?" Sheldon's look of horror was apparent "You left your laptop open, on the desk" Leonard quickly clarified.

Just tell him the voice chimed in again.

"I, I spent the night playing Age of Conan with Penny" Sheldon blurted out, perhaps a little too quickly.

Sheldon Cooper was a chronically bad liar, which explains we he had only told half the truth, he had spent most of the night with Penny. What he couldn't explain was the feeling of guilt and the fact he had felt the need to even tell a half truth.

A/N Thanks for Reading, next time we'll catch up with Penny, I know this is a bit slower than the last two chapters but I tried to throw a couple of references in there. Until next time readers, stay classy.