On the following day, Penny came to the hospital to help Mary bring Sheldon back home. He fussed over the delay in getting the attending physician's signature on the forms. Penny just smiled at him and patted his hand. It was good to have Sheldon acting like his old self, she thought. Then she glanced down to where his hand was wrapped around hers and amended that thought. The hand-holding was different. Although Sheldon was still recuperating from his surgery, that hadn't stopped him from touching her and insisting on being close to her whenever she was in the room. Mary's eyes had almost popped out of her head the first time she saw Sheldon reach for Penny's hand. Up until then, she hadn't quite believed him.
The next problem cropped up unexpectedly. Getting Sheldon up the stairs of 2311 North Robles had been difficult since he was still weak. Mary and Penny propped him up between them. They took the stairs at his pace, stopping as often as necessary. But the real issue arose when they arrived at the fourth floor landing, and Sheldon saw that he still roomed with Leonard. He refused to enter the apartment. His increasingly loud protests alerted his roommate, who had just gotten home from work.
"You wanna catch me up, Sheldon?" Leonard asked, standing in the doorway.
"You don't live here anymore. Penny lives here, with me. You live across the hall," Sheldon objected vociferously.
"Come on, Sheldon. You can sit in your spot," Penny pleaded, indicating the leather couch.
"My spot, as you put it, is no longer a position on a piece of furniture. My place is with you," he said, smiling at Penny even in the midst of his outburst.
"All right, Sheldon, that's it!" Leonard suddenly yelled. "I've had it with you! There is absolutely not the slightest shred of evidence that your delusions are true. Penny is mine... I mean, she's my girlfriend, not your wife. You're not married, especially not to Penny. If nothing else, you should still remember that I called dibs when we first met her."
"You did what?" Penny exclaimed in shock.
"Well, you know... it's just an expression," Leonard backpedaled.
"You know, Sheldon's been my friend every bit as long as I've known you, and at least he's never treated me like a shiny toy!" Penny spat out furiously. She dug in her purse and pulled out her keys. "Here, Mary, can you unlock my apartment door? Sheldon can stay with me until we get this mess straightened out."
Leonard's jaw dropped as he was subjected to twin withering glares from Sheldon's two female advocates. He watched forlornly as they helped Sheldon cross the landing to Penny's place. Was it his imagination or did Sheldon smirk at him before the door closed?
Whatever dregs of energy Sheldon had left after climbing the stairs had been expended by his hissy fit. He was so tired that he didn't argue when Penny tucked him into her bed. He didn't even object to the fact that her sheets weren't clean, or that her bedroom floor was littered with dirty clothes. She sang Soft Kitty a few times until Sheldon fell asleep. As she closed the bedroom door softly, she took a good look at her apartment.
"If Sheldon's going to be staying here for any length of time, I guess I'm going to have to clean up."
To her surprise, Mary poked her head up from the other side of the open refrigerator door. "Looks like you could use some groceries, too, darlin'."
Penny blushed. "Well, to be honest, I usually just eat with the guys."
"Don't know how you can afford take-out every night on a waitress's tips," Mary said astutely.
"Umm... they kind of pay for me?"
"They do, or Leonard does? I gotta tell ya, dear, seems to me like you don't wanna be under his thumb like that. Trust me, that kind of thing will blow up in your face."
"I just don't make much money as a waitress..." Penny began.
Mary put her hands on her hips. "Now, did you not leave your family and come out to this God-forsaken place to be an actress? Don't call yourself a waitress, darlin', unless you've already given up."
"I... I guess I already have," Penny admitted, her face crumpling suddenly. "Recently, I thought I had finally gotten a small part on one of those CSI shows. I was so excited. I thought I'd finally gotten my big break, but then my part got cut. And Leonard... he said some really rotten things. He doesn't think I have what it takes to make it as an actress. After that, I got pretty hammered, and that's when I proposed to him."
"And are you engaged now?" Mary asked shrewdly.
"No, he... he didn't know what to say, so I kind of got mad and took it back."
"Well, of all the cockamamie, screwed-up bullcrap... excuse my French... that really takes the cake. Penny, I like you. You seem to be a pretty down-to-earth girl who has her head screwed on straight. Why are you dating someone who makes you feel bad about yourself?"
"Well, he's really sweet... sometimes. And he's so nice... as long as he gets his own way. I guess I really don't know why I'm with him."
"Hmmph. Maybe that's something for you to think about, instead of just keepin' on doing what you've been doing. Now, how 'bout I give you a hand cleaning up around here? I know how particular Shelly can be."
Two hours later, Penny's apartment was spotless. She now knew where Sheldon had learned his cleaning skills. Mary had mopped, wiped and disinfected places that it had never occurred to Penny to clean. They were almost finished when Sheldon emerged from the bedroom. The two women fussed over him, making him comfortable on the sofa while Penny surprised him by pulling out a DVD set of the Doctor Who reboot. When he asked her about it, she just shrugged and said that David Tennant was a hottie.
He smirked, and that was when she remembered what he had told her about the two of them dressed up as Rose and the Tenth Doctor. Face flaming, she tucked a blanket around him and settled down next to him to watch the show.
Mary cleared her throat. "If it's all the same to you kids, I think I need to go have a little heart-to-heart with Leonard. If Sheldon's staying here, that changes the bunking-down situation."
Before either of them could respond, she was out the door. Sheldon laughed his breathy little laugh.
"What's so funny, sweetie?" Penny asked.
"If my mother makes up her mind things are going to be a certain way, there's no power in the 'verse that can stop her," he said. "I almost feel sorry for Leonard."
"That's a Firefly quote, isn't it?" she asked curiously.
He grinned at her. "Serenity, actually, but I do believe there's hope for you yet," he replied and dropped a kiss on her forehead.