Chapter 3

The ride in the car began as a surprisingly quiet one. Sheldon seemed to be holding back his usual driving lectures regarding check engine lights, safest distance between cars and shortcuts. In fact the only thing he prattled on about was her choice of pajamas.

"Wonder Woman was my third least favorite member of the original Justice League," he said after several minutes of silence. "Are you wearing those because you are an actual fan of the character or is it more of a symbol of feminist propaganda?"

Penny started laughing. "Feminist Propaganda?"

Sheldon opened his mouth to further comment but decided against it. She would have guessed his comments would have been, perhaps, a little sexist.

"Neither. They were a Christmas gift a few years ago. I mean, I watched some of the old Lynda Carter reruns when I was a kid, but was never really a fan."

"Are you a fan of any comic book characters?"

This was a little different. She couldn't recall him ever asking her about things she enjoyed. "Well, while I am not anywhere as die-hard as you or any of the boys are about those types of things, yes. A few actually."

Sheldon's face seemed to perk up. He was intrigued. "Do tell."

"I really like the Batman universe. Not so much Batman himself, don't get me wrong, he's awesome too, but ever since I was a kid watching Batman: the Animated series after school I really dug Catwoman, Ivy and Harley Quinn. Harley especially. I even dressed as her for Halloween in 5th grade."

"Harley Quinn always seems to be brought up by females when speaking of favorite comic book characters," he said matter-of-factly. He quickly added, "not that there's anything to that. She's not a bad character. Did you know she was created for the animated show first? After that she began to make appearances in the actual comics."

"Huh," was all Penny could say. She didn't know that.

"Is that it? Just the Femme Fatales of Gotham?"

"I like the X-Men. Nightcrawler is my favorite there. Spiderman is good too. And Iron Man is pretty awesome, but I'm biased. That's Robert Downey Jr's fault. To be honest, my love of them comes from the old cartoons and the newer movie versions. I never really read the comics themselves as a kid."

He stared at her. She was expecting to get the third degree regarding comic-verse versus movie-verse but he didn't say anything. He swallowed hard and said in a sort of forced kindness, "Well, if you ever would like to start reading any of those, I have them all. Back and current issues. You are welcome to borrow them if you'd like." He raised his arm a bit and it hovered about her leg, as if he was going to pat it, but didn't. He cleared his throat and turned away from her.

All the confused thoughts and emotions she was dealing with suddenly got a lot more complicated. She was, after all, a girl and regardless of how completely uninterested, non-compatible and seemingly asexual any man was, a girl does not ignore body language. A girl will remember every little movement and break down and analyze it, even if she herself is not at interested in the subject. Even more so if she is.

"Thanks, Sheldon. I may take you up on that offer," she said softly. But in her mind she was screaming "SHIT!"

He didn't say anything. Penny could see him in her peripheral looking out the passenger side window at the passing houses. He wasn't fidgeting as much as he was in the apartment and was sitting with his hands folded in his lap. She immediately thought of her dream earlier and that warmth came back. No. She refused to do this. She needed something to take her mind off of it.

"Sheldon? Do you wanna play that name game you and Leonard play when you two are in the car? I can't do the elements but I might be able to hold my own with fictional characters."

He glanced back to see her grinning at him.

"Jean Grey"

"Yogi Bear"

"Reed Richards"

"Who's that?"

"Mr. Fantastic from the..."

"Fantastic Four. Right I knew that..."