A/N Well, here is the fourth chapter of The Battered Physicist Anomaly and I'm just loving the reviews and support I've been getting so far. I'm seriously in love with you guys(too weird?) and I hope you all continue being totally awesome! ( I have faith that you will).

Enjoy!

Chapter Four

Penny barely heard the knocks on her door over the TV and her gentle snores. She had decided that she would take a little nap before she went downstairs with Sheldon. She had no laundry of her own, having done some the other day, she wanted to keep him company as he did his. Maybe she could get some information out of him.

Like whose dumbass did this to him. Forget going Junior Rodeo on them, she would just go straight to the castrating part.

She answered the door with a smile; hoping he would return it. He did. And he had changed clothes, probably the first thing he did when he got into his room.

She didn't blame him. She would have probably burned them, but peering down at the basket beside him, she saw his Flash shirt folded neatly on top.

"Hello, Penny. Are you ready?" He stood with arms behind his back, well one of his arms the other was in a sling.

"Yep." She stepped out in the hallway; shutting her door behind her. "Let's go."

He studied her. "You don't have any laundry of your own?"

She shook her head. "Nope. I'm coming to keep you company!"

He gave her a tiny smile, and then bent to pick up his basket. He was having trouble since he only had the use of one hand.

"Here." She bent and grabbed it from him. "I'll carry it for you."

"Penny, you don't have to do that." He straightened his voice softer.

"I do, unless you want to be fumbling with it as you go down the stairs." She headed towards the stairs; ending in argument he was about to start. "I don't need you falling down the stairs too."

"Thank you, Penny."

His voice was close now; she turned around and almost ran into his chest. His head bent down a little and he was staring right at her. If she only lifted on her toes, she could…

Wait. Was he leaning towards her? He was!

She just wanted to feel his lips on hers...

The door to 4A whipped open. Leonard, Howard and Raj stepped out.

Damn their timing.

"Um, hey guys." He said with a smile she could tell was fake. "Laundry night, huh?"

The other two stood slightly behind him, looking down and not saying a word.

"Yep." She showed him the basket full of Sheldon's clothes. She took a peak at the watch on Sheldon's watch. "Well, it's almost 8:15. So… bye!"

She was disappointed that they had interrupted their kiss. Was it even going to be a kiss?

Probably not. She had most likely imagined him leaning towards her.

Without another word, she turned back around and walked down the stairs. Sheldon wasn't far behind.

In the laundry room, she placed his basket on the table for him to sort through.

"Do you need to my help?"

He shook his head, picking up his Flash t-shirt first and throwing it in the nearest washer. It was done rather quickly and she could imagine he hadn't wanted to see the bloodstains on it.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Penny. You've already done more than enough for me." He looked her in the eyes. "Thank you."

Sheldon Cooper hardly said thank you to anyone and he had already said it numerous times to her.

She felt honored, as well as heartbroken.

He would never have to thank her if this had never happened to him. In fact, she would sacrifice him ever saying it if this had never happened.

She would do whatever he wanted without expecting a thank you.

So, with one final look at Sheldon meticulously sorting, his clothes and she hoped on top of the nearest dryer.

He gave her a look then and she knew he was about to tell her that dryers were not meant to be sat upon, but he held his tongue. Instead, he just shook his head.

She could only smirk and swing her legs, careful not to slam them against the metal of the dryer.

"So, were you able to rest for a little bit?" She tried making conversation.

"I was able to lie in my bed, but the noise coming from the living room kept me from actually getting any sleep." He closed the lid to one of the washing machines and then moved to another.

"Why didn't you tell them to shut it?"

"I find myself not wanting to talk to any of them and that included telling them to keep the noise level down."

"Aw, sweetie." She crossed her legs on top of the dryer. "You should have called me. I would have gone all Junior Rodeo on them." They all freaking deserve it!

"The thought did cross my mind." He gazed at her, the corner of his lips twitched. "But I assumed you, too, were resting. You didn't get much sleep last night."

This was true. She had awakened several times in the night, mostly to check up on Sheldon and when the nurses made their rounds. Plus, the chair had not been the most comfortable of places to sleep. She had even debated taking an extra blanket and laying on the floor, but the thought of Sheldon waking up to find her there stopped her. He would have flipped and probably demand her to take a shower or something.

"I still would have done it."

"I will remember that for next time."

Silence stretched over them and she watched as he loaded the second washer, closed the lid and leaned his hip against it when he turned and looked at her.

He wasn't looking at her, finger trailing around the edge of the washer's lid.

He spoke, his voice soft. "I suppose you would like to know what happened."

Tears sprang to her eyes at how small his voice sounded. She nodded her head, but he wasn't looking at her.

"Yea." Her voice was barely above a whisper.

Not wanting him to see her tears, in case he looked at her, she leaned her down and put all her concentration on a loose thread in her shirt.

"There isn't much to say, I'm afraid. I was just walking on the sidewalk, when I passed a bar just as three men being thrown out. They saw me and decided they would 'teach me a lesson' about looking so nerdy, whatever that means. I did try to fight back."

She looked at him; surprise on her face.

"Surprising, I know. I'm proud to say that I did get in a few punches of my own. But there is only so much one can do when they are surrounded by three inebriated men set on giving some one a good lickin'." His Texas showed a little in that sentence. "I don't remember much after that and found myself in a dirty, dark alley."

"Oh, sweetie!" She cried, wanting to throw her arms around him but knew that it would probably cause more harm then good.

"It's all right, Penny. It's something one is used to if you grew up as I did. Getting a beating by the local bully was normal for me."

"Still it shouldn't happen." She hoped off the washer and took a few steps toward him. "Officer Shane said that he was going to get the guys who did this to you. You didn't know any of them, right?"

"No, I didn't."

He had quickly turned away from her, not before she saw his eye twitch.

He knew! He knew who had beaten him up.

She was about to demand he tell her who the pieces of shit were, but one of the washers went off and the moment was ruined.

But, dammit, she was going to find out!

Leonard, Howard and Raj sat around a high table in a local bar; bar stools pulled up as close as they could get to the table. They were each hunched over their drinks; not looking at one another. Each of them was feeling guilty, but no one had the guts to talk about.

Sure, they gave excuses.

"He was being an ass." Leonard said around his straw. "Who asks if you can date someone's ex?"

"Dude," This was Raj. "You should be lucky he asked. Usually if Sheldon wants something he just goes for it."

"Yea, I mean, have you noticed how much time him and Penny been spending together? I think it only was a matter of time." Howard added on to what Raj was saying.

"Who's side are you guys on?" Leonard asked angrily. "You can't tell me that he hasn't pissed you off any this week."

"He mentioned me only having a Masters degree again." Howard shrugged. He was use to it and it really didn't bother him that much anymore.

"He kicked me out of our office because I was chewing my gum too loud." Raj mumbled.

"See?" Leonard threw out his arms. "We were totally justified in what we did. It wasn't our fault that he pissed someone off when he was walking home."

"Dude, seriously?" Raj said in unbelief. "We got beat up in high school even though we didn't do anything. So what makes you think he did something to deserve what he got?"

"I'm not too fond of the guy but I wouldn't wish what happened to him on anybody. He wound up in the hospital, Leonard. Sheldon doesn't like hospitals."

"Whatever." That was all he could say because he knew they were right. He just didn't want to admit. He felt guilty for what happened to Sheldon and if he could go back to the moment he decided to leave him at work, he would have. He would have still been mad at him for asking to date penny, but he would have still given him a ride home.

Where was a frakkin' time machine when you needed it?

All of them were silent now, each of them in their own heads.

That silence came crashing down when two meaty hands slammed down on their table almost knocking over their drinks.

Looking up, they were surprised to seed Kurt standing there, two other men flanking him.

"You're that tall geek's friends aren't you?"

They could only nod, fear clearly written on their faces.

"Well, you can tell that little snitch that after we get outta court and we get outta beating his scrawny ass we're gonna come after him and give him a beating he won't forget."

Leonard swallowed his fear. "What makes you think you won't be going to jail?"

Kurt smirked, while his two friends snickered. "This isn't the first time I've beaten someone's ass. They'll just slap me with a fine and then I'll be home free. Hell, they'd probably make me do community service or some shit. Big fuckin' whoop!" He twirled his finger in the air and then jabbed it at each of them. "So you better tell your friend to watch out." Then he stalked off.

"Oh my God, he's the one who did that to Sheldon?" Leonard said after he let out the breath he had been holding.

Howard took a shaky sip of his drink. "Sheldon's lucky he's still alive."

Raj pushed his drink away, unable to drink anymore. "He won't be if Kurt gets a hold of him again."

Sheldon and Penny had said anything to each other since Sheldon had lied to her. He didn't know she knew he had been lying and she didn't know how to call him out on it. Obviously that night was painful and she didn't want to make it worse by demanding him to tell her.

She would save it for another day. For now she would act like she was blissfully unaware.

They stood side-by-side as they folded his clothes. Surprisingly he didn't unfold her stuff and do it himself; no matter how sloppy they looked. He probably just wanted to get the chore done and head straight for his room.

This time he didn't protest when she grabbed his basket full of clothes, ready to head back upstairs. The trip up the four flights of stairs would have been in silence if Sheldon's phone hadn't gone off when they reached the third floor.

"Hello?" He stopped to answer while she waited patiently by the stairs.

He was silent as the person on the other line talked.

"Yes, Officer Winslow, Thursday is perfect."

Silence.

"No, she won't be joining me." He glanced at her.

Silence.

"All right. I will see you then. Thank you."

He hung up.

"That was Officer Winslow," he told her without her having to ask. "Although, you probably know him as Officer Shane. He just called me to tell me that he has talked to the men responsible for my hospital stay. They want me to come in to the station on Monday after work to identify them, to be sure they got the right men. If they are the correct men then a court date is set up on Thursday to convict them."

"No, she won't be joining me."

So, he didn't want her to be there for him on his court date. Did he not want her to know who it was? This was obvious, since he had lied to her about. Was he trying to shield her from knowing who it was? Did she know this person too?

She didn't have much time to dwell on those questions since Sheldon was already making his way up the stairs.

He turned to her and gave her a small smile. "Good thing this Thursday is Anything Can Happen Thursday."

A/N I'm sad to say I have nothing interesting to talk about at the end of this installment (some of you are probably happy). Hmmm. So what did you all think of that moment of reflection the guys were having? They are totally feeling guilty!

Until next time! I may have something to rant about then ;)