Thursday afternoon, Penny arrived home from her lunch shift. She knew Sheldon was still at work for another hour or so, so she was in no hurry to get up to her (or his) apartment. As she strolled up to the entrance to their apartment building, she saw a little ball of fur next to the bench, mewing. She immediately hurried over to it.

"Oh, look at you poor thing!" she said as she picked it up and sat down on the bench. Softly stroking it, she looked for a tag, or some kind of identification. Finding none, she proceeded to carefully check the little ball of fur for any injuries. Thankfully, she found none. As she continued to cuddle and pet him, he slowly stopped his mewing, and a soft purr took its place.

After a few minutes, she realized she was in kind of a pickle. She had this poor, innocent kitty sleeping in her arms, and no idea who's it was. And even if she did, she wasn't sure she'd want to give it up. But that meant she now had a cat to take care of. But then again, she hadn't had a cat since she'd moved from Nebraska, and she really was falling in love with the adorable little thing. She glanced around to see if she saw a mother cat anywhere, but not seeing one, she came to the conclusion that someone (a very mean someone) had probably dumped her. At this thought, she immediately decided to adopt the poor thing.

The problem was, she didn't exactly have the cash flow at the moment to take in a stray. Especially one that drank milk, which she never had around. As she walked up the stairs, a fabulous idea came to her; all she had to do was convince Sheldon to adopt the poor little kitty, and then she could play with it whenever she wanted. But how to get Sheldon to adopt it?

When she reached the fourth floor, her legs carried her to 4A, and she found herself unlocking her neighbors door. She dropped the kitten off in Sheldon's spot, and headed to the kitchen to get some milk and a saucer. Filling the saucer, she carried it back to the couch, and setting it on the table, she moved the fuzzball from Sheldon's spot over to the table, and then sat down in her own spot.

The kitty immediately started lapping up the milk, as if it were half starved (which it very likely was, she reminded herself). Looking around, hoping to see something that would spark an idea for how to get Sheldon to willingly take in the kitten, her eyes fell on his bedroom door.


Sheldon Cooper, PhD (x2) had had a very annoying day. His schedule had been messed up several times, and all he wanted was to get home, and finally be able to relax in the set schedule that was Thursday evening. As he climbed the stairs to his apartment, he mentally thanked Penny for forcing him to change 'Anything-Can-Happen' to yesterday. No possible surprises to further mess up his day.

He unlocked the door to his apartment, and headed to his bedroom to put away his messenger bag. When he opened his bedroom door, he quickly realized his Thursday evening was not going to be quite the predictable schedule he had desperately been expecting. Seconds later, he blew past Leonard, who had just made it into the apartment.

For a brief moment Leonard thought Sheldon had been carrying something, something soft and fuzzy. But then he shook his head; I must have been hallucinating. It almost looked like kitten.


Slam! Slam! Slam!
"Penny!"
Slam! Slam! Slam!
"Penny!"
Slam! Slam! Slam!
"Penny!"

"Yes?" she asked as she opened her door, smiling up at him innocently.

"What was this doing on my bed?" he demanded, holding out his hand.

Looking down with a look of fake curiosity, her eyes popped open for real. She knew he had large hands, he was over six feet tall after all, but she was still taken aback by the sight of the kitten curled up in the palm of his hand, his hand slightly cupped and his long fingers lightly curled around it to keep it from falling. The sight was too adorable for words.

"Why did you put a kitten on my bed?" he asked again, as Penny continued to stare at the kitten.

Her brain finally unsticking, she reached out with one hand to stroke the sleeping kitty, and looked up at Sheldon. She thought about saying 'How did you know it was me?', but didn't really want his lecture on how she could be the only possible person who put it there. "I found the poor thing abandoned outside our apartment building when I got home from work this afternoon."

"That might explain why you have a kitten in your apartment, or even why you have a kitten in your lap sitting in your spot on my couch, but not why I found a kitten on my bed. Especially since no one is allowed in my bedroom, kittens included."

"Well," she said sheepishly, looking down at the floor, "I was kind of hoping you might take him in. I don't exactly have a lot of spare money right now to take care of a cat, so I thought maybe if you adopted him, and then I could come over and play with him," a pleading look in her eyes. "And look, he really likes you!" she finished, pointing at the now purring fluffball asleep in Sheldon's hand.

"If it's a matter of financial instability, then why didn't you just ask me to help pay for it's upkeep?"

"Because I always feel bad about asking you for money," she replied embarrassingly, looking back down at her feet and shifting her weight.

"Is that why you steal our food, our wifi, our cable, and generally anything else you can scrounge, instead of asking for help?"

Why did he have to be so darn observant?

"Yeah, kind of," she mumbled, still not looking up from the floor.

Sheldon didn't say anything for a few seconds. "We probably have time for a quest before Howard arrives with supper, if you'd like," he finally said, before turning on his heels and walking back into his apartment, leaving the door open behind him.

That was an abrupt change of subject, she thought to herself. But then again, this is Sheldon, he probably doesn't know how he is supposed to respond, so he just changed the subject. But she ran into her room to grab her laptop and followed after him anyway; a quick quest would at least take her mind off the fact she didn't have enough money to spare for a kitten.

Unbeknownst to her, as Sheldon sat down in his spot, he had sent a quick text to Howard.

When Penny walked in, Sheldon was already sitting in his spot, Age of Conan booted up, headset on, ready to start. She quickly followed suit, sitting down in her spot next to him. It wasn't until she was ready to start and looked over at him to tell him so that she realized he had the kitten curled up in his lap.

Forty-five minutes and two quests later, Howard came in with the food. Sheldon and Penny quickly closed their laptops and put them on the table. Sheldon then unexpectedly dropped the kitten into Penny's lap (from about six inches above her lap).

"Sheldon! Don't drop the kitty, you'll break him," she admonished.

He grumbled something about too close and how you couldn't 'break' a kitten by dropping it a measly six inches as he walked into the kitchen to wash his hands before eating supper. At the word 'kitty', the other three guys' heads jerked towards Penny so quickly she was surprised they didn't get whiplash.

"His name is 'Quark'," she said proudly, holding up the kitten. "I found him outside the building this afternoon when I got back from work." By this point, Sheldon had finished washing his hands, and walked back over to the couch with two drinks in his hands. Setting them down on the table, he sat down in his spot and picked up his pasta. Watching her pet Quark for a few seconds, whom she had set back down in her lap, he finally said in an undertone that only she could hear, "I'm not feeding you," before tucking into his food.

It took Penny a few seconds to realize what he was implying, but when she did, she chuckled softly, and picked up her own food. "That's okay," she replied quietly, "I think Quark can survive without petting for a few minutes."

The other three had finally overcome their shock enough to start eating their own food.

"So," said Leonard after a couple of minutes, "You're keeping a cat in your apartment now?"

"Oh, no. Sheldon's keeping him over here. He might get lost in all my mess if I keep him at my place," Penny replied cheerfully.

Leonard almost choked. After he finally stopped coughing, he said, "Here? Sheldon's keeping him?" He turned on Sheldon. "You never let me get a cat!"

"You're not Penny, and Penny didn't get him because she was sulking after a breakup. Anyways, once the kitten either grows to a sufficient size that it is no longer at risk of getting lost in all her mess, or she finally cleans up her apartment, Quark will be able to move in with her. If you got a cat, it would be here forever."

Penny was pretty sure 'no longer at risk of getting lost' and 'clean up her apartment' were code for 'get enough money to support a cat', but being Sheldon, she couldn't quite be sure. It could easily be a combination of both.

Leonard continued to grumble to himself, something about "of course Penny gets whatever she wants", but Howard and Raj were taking a much happier view of things. Or at least Penny thought Raj was, it was kind of hard to tell what exactly he was thinking, not being able to speak at all, but he was at least smiling. As for Howard, he was going through an extensive list of 'pussy' jokes so quickly that Penny was actually slightly impressed by the fact he both had that many jokes (okay, that was mostly disturbing, but still slightly impressive in a disturbing kind of way) and was able to remember and say them all in a constant steady stream.

When he finally stopped, she looked at him and said, "Get 'em all out of your system?"

Howard nodded, slightly out of breath.

"Good," she said smiling at him tightly. "Never do that again."

As soon as supper was finished, the weekly trouncing of Team Perpetual-Motion Squad by Team Sheldor-Queen P began. Better known as Halo night.

After solidly getting trounced yet again (with liberal amounts of grumbling about how couples should not be allowed to play together, and counter-arguments about how it's two against three and if they still can't win then they're getting what they deserve, and counter-counter-arguments about extra practice Age of Conan questing, and counter-counter-counter-arguments (that really no longer qualified as 'arguments') about some people just sucking at Halo and that they should grow up and stop being wimps (only the word 'wimps' wasn't used)), Howard and Raj eventually had had enough, and called it a night.

Leonard agreed to take Sheldon to the grocery store (he needed more dairy-free milk, anyway, and no one else was going to get it for him) to get necessities for keeping the cat, while Penny stayed at the apartment and played with Quark. When they got back from the store, Leonard was fed up with Sheldon, and grabbing his milk-less milk, he stormed up to the apartment, quickly threw his lactose-free liquid into the fridge and retired to his room, leaving Sheldon to carry all the cat stuff up to the apartment by himself.

By the time Sheldon reached the apartment, Leonard was already sulking in his room. Sheldon quickly put everything up, before making a bottle of kitten food for Quark. He had noticed that Penny and Quark were nowhere to be found, so before heading over to Penny's apartment to find them, he quickly headed to his room to put away his coat.

When he reached the door, he saw that it was already open, and cautiously looked in. On his bed lay Quark, similar to how he had found him earlier in the day, and Penny, sprawled across half of his bed, sound asleep. When Sheldon flipped on the light and walked in, Quark woke up, and started mewing lightly. Penny remained sound asleep.

Sheldon carefully sat down on the other side of his bed, and scooped up Quark, bringing the bottle to Quark's mouth, who quickly began to drink. When he had finished the bottle, Sheldon gently set him down. He quickly scampered across the smooth comforter, and curled up next to Penny's stomach, instantly falling asleep.

Sheldon got up from the bed and walked back into the kitchen. As he cleaned Quark's bottle, Sheldon looked at the clock. He was in trouble. Or rather, Penny was in trouble. It was 15 minutes till his bedtime, and she was sleeping on his bed. Beside the obvious problem that she was in his bedroom in the first place, there was no way for him to be asleep on time unless she was out of his room in less than 15 minutes, and that did not seem particularly likely. He had already been very flexible with her that day, what with her introducing a infant feline into his life, the least she could do is respect his scheduled bedtime.

After he finished cleaning Quark's bottle and putting it up, he went back into his room. Gathering up his Thursday pajamas, he paused next to Penny's sprawled figure as he headed to the bathroom. Very gently, he poked her in the calf. She didn't even flinch, so he carefully prodded her a little bit harder; she stirred slightly, but stayed soundly asleep.

By this point, Sheldon was really starting to get worried. He hurried into the bathroom so that he would at least be ready for bed on time, even if he couldn't actually be in bed on time. Walking back out of the bathroom, he hoped she had magically disappeared while he was in the bathroom. But as he got to his door, he could tell that magic was just as much a bunch of hocus as he had always thought.

He tapped on her arm a few times, but she remained resolutely asleep.

Sheldon really didn't want to sleep on the couch; it was longer than Penny's, but it still offered horrendous lumbar support, and his back would be aching all day if he did. He briefly considered going to Penny's apartment and sleeping in her bed, but he didn't know when the last time she had washed her sheets was. After a brief moment's struggle, the fear of unwashed sheets overruled his need for personal space and fear of physical contact, and he very carefully slipped under the covers on the far side of the bed from where Penny lay sprawled out with Quark sleeping contentedly curled up against her. Sheldon made sure to stay as close to the edge as humanly possible, in order to maintain as much of a space gap between himself and Penny as possible. It took him nearly twice as long as normal to fall asleep, but eventually he did. His rigid, coffin-like sleeping style for once proving advantageous, as he didn't have to worry about accidentally rolling off the side of his bed (or rolling towards her, which would be even worse).


Around 04:00, Penny awoke, to find herself in an unfamiliar, yet not that unfamiliar bed. After a few seconds, she realized she had apparently fallen asleep on Sheldon's bed while playing with Quark, who was nestled up next to her. She could see Sheldon's rigid form on the far side of the bed, as was surprised he hadn't fallen off, as close as he must be to the edge. Knowing that Sheldon did not approve of her being there, she very carefully shifted Quark over next to Sheldon, and got off the bed. As quietly as possible, she left his room, making sure to shut the door back behind her, and headed across the hall to her own apartment.


Despite having the evening shift that day, Penny awoke early, and headed back across the hall for breakfast. Normally she would have just rolled over and went back to sleep, but she wanted to see Quark, and she felt bad about making Sheldon sleep next to her, and wanted to make sure he was okay.

She had just poured her first cup of coffee when she heard a soft mewing and saw the ball of fur padding across the floor towards her, soon followed by a still yawning Sheldon. After a succinct "Good morning", he set to making Quark her breakfast bottle. As Penny watched him, she stuck a bagel in the toaster, and grabbed the peanut butter out of it's spot in the cabinet. By the time Sheldon finished making Quark's bottle, Penny had sat down on of the island chairs. She reached down and scooped Quark up.

"Here you go," she said, holding her hand out, "let me feed him while you make your breakfast."

So Sheldon handed Penny the bottle, and proceeded to prepare his own bagel. He had just sat down on the chair next to Penny with his bagel and morning tea, when Leonard wandered in, looking typically disheveled. He took one look at the couple, Penny feeding Quark with one hand, whilst feeding herself with the other, and Sheldon carefully sipping his tea, before turning towards the fridge so that he didn't have to look at them. They were looking far too domestic for his liking; Sheldon wasn't supposed to look domestic next to a girl, especially not someone as hot as Penny. And while it was just a kitten, if he let his mind stray slightly he knew where it would go, and that was way too much to think about this early in the morning. He grabbed a bowl out of the cabinet.

"Oh, by the way, Sheldon, thanks for not kicking me out of your room last night," Penny said nonchalantly as Leonard poured his bovine-free breakfast juice into his bowl.

Leonard nearly sloshed the entire thing onto the counter.

When Quark finished his bottle, and Penny finished her bagel, she carried him over to the couch, and sat down to play with him. As Sheldon began to clean his and Penny's plates, and Quark's bottle, Penny said, "I'm going to go take a shower real quick before you guys leave for work," picking up Quark and starting to put him in the spot next to her.

"Don't put him in my spot."

She looked up, to see Sheldon's back as he took something out of the cabinet. How on earth did he know?! Does he have eyes in the back of his head or something?! But she turned at put Quark down in her spot.


When Penny walked back across the hall, she hadn't even managed to close the door behind her before Sheldon went into lecture mode. Tuning him out, Penny picked up Quark from where he was still sleeping in her spot, and carried him over to where Sheldon was standing in the kitchen. Setting Quark down on the chair, she put her chin in her hands, and looked up at him expectantly. "You were saying?"

After glaring at her for a few seconds, he firmly put Quark's bottle down in front of her. "Give him one at eight, twelve, and four. The other two are in the fridge."

With a final glare, he headed around the bar to get his laptop in order to leave for work. But as he came around the bar, Penny grabbed his arm, gave him a quick peck on the lips, and let him go before he could even react. "Of course, Sweetie."


Just before twelve, Penny walked across the hall to 4B to get herself lunch before feeding Quark. She thought about stealing some of Sheldon's food, but considering how much he was already doing taking care of the cat she had adopted and then dumped on him, she figured she probably ought not. So she wandered into her kitchen, wondering what she might have. What she certainly knew she did not have was the four to-go containers that were neatly stacked on top of one another that she saw when she opened her fridge door. She looked at them carefully, before noticing the note on top:

Sheldon ordered these for you last night while Howard and I were picking up supper. They are safe to eat, Sheldon insisted I be the one to put them in your fridge (along with this note), as opposed to Howard. He did insist you eat them within three days (Sunday, 17:30), as even though they are somewhat sealed and put into the fridge hot, they will still grow mold over time (though seriously not that quickly, eat them within a week and you'll be fine. Just don't tell him I said that).

Raj

She gaped at the note for a whole minute, before finally shaking her head. Sheldon really did do the sweetest things sometimes, even if he was a complete Whack-a-Doodle the rest of the time. Grabbing one of the containers, she headed back across the hall.


Saturday morning, Sheldon woke up five minutes before his normal time, a small paw with sharp little claws bopping his nose. As soon as he awoke, he smelt coffee, the telltale sign that a certain neighbor was stealing his milk yet again.

"You're up earlier than normal," she said, glancing down at her watch, as he walked into the kitchen.

"Yes, well, this little guy hasn't learned my schedule yet, and he has informed me that he is hungry."

"Sheldon, honey, he's a cat. Cats tend to follow their own schedules. I don't think he's going to learn your schedule, no matter how many strikes you give him."

"Like a certain neighbor that lives across the hall?"

Okay, so she walked right into that one.

"Hardy, har, har. So when is Quark going to be old enough to start eating regular food? He drank milk out of bowl the afternoon I found him."

"He should be able to start eating solid food within a week or two. He might be able to now, but as malnourished as he was when you found him, it would be safest to continue feeding him cat milk for a while longer."

Sheldon then launched into a lecture about how actual cat milk would be best, but the store-bought formula he had gotten was close enough to make do, and Penny tuned him out and carefully took Quark from Sheldon and went over to the couch and began petting him. As Sheldon continued to ramble, he made Quark's milk for the day, and after putting the rest of the bottles in the fridge, he carried one over to the couch and handed it to Penny. While Penny fed Quark, Sheldon made breakfast. Minutes to spare before seven o'clock, Sheldon sat down in his spot on the couch, placed the plate of pancakes he'd made on the table, handed Penny one of the two empty plates he had, keeping the other for himself, and flipped on the tv to Classic Who.


"Oh, by the way, Sheldon," she said during the first advertisement break, "thanks for the extra pasta. You really didn't have to do that."

"You said you were running low on money, and Howard and Raj were already at the restaurant. It wasn't any inconvenience to anyone. And if you would let me look at your finances, I'm sure I could easily find a way to make you more financially solvent."

"That's really sweet of you, dear, but this is where you normally just say 'you're welcome'," she replied, lightly rubbing his arm.

"Oh. Well then, you're welcome." He paused for a few seconds, and then said, "I suppose this is where I should thank you for not staying in my room two nights ago."

"Of course, Moonpie!" she said, leaning over to hug him. He still slightly tensed up, but not as bad as he used to. "I know you don't like people in your room. I didn't mean to fall asleep, I was just putting Quark in there so he'd be there when you got back, and then I started playing with him and apparently was more tired than I thought, and, well, obviously fell asleep," she finished with a rush. "So when I woke up in the middle of the night, and realized I was in your bed…" she trailed off. Fortunately the show returned a few seconds later, and she didn't have to continue.

"Why didn't you wake me up, though?" she asked when the next advertisement came on.

"Believe me, I tried," replied Sheldon. "Several times, in fact, but you never woke up. I contemplated sleeping on the couch, but it doesn't supply enough lumber support, or sleeping in your bed since you were sleeping in mine, but I didn't know when the last time you washed your sheets was."

Penny was about to snap back that her sheets were plenty clean, but she knew that Sheldon probably considered sheets that she'd slept in once to be too unclean for him to sleep in, so she kept her mouth shut. They continued eating pancakes and watching the follies of Fourth Doctor in silence for a while. As the episode ended and the credits began, Penny broke the comfortable silence once more.

"You know, Sheldon, you're eventually going to have to get over your fear of physical contact. Just because I'm not pushing you, doesn't mean I'm not still a big ol' five."

"Have I not acquiesced to your continual touching of me and the highly unsanitary act of you putting your mouth on mine?" he replied, looking surprised and slightly offended. "I do believe I even 'kissed back' once, as you refer to it."

At that, Penny couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"Yes, Sheldon, you have definitely improved. But it has to keep moving forwards. And it can't just be a one way thing. I know things like getting me extra food, and taking over the main responsibilities for Quark are much more comfortable ways for you to show you care, but you're eventually going to have to take a more active roll in the physical side of the relationship."

"Oh." replied Sheldon in a way that made her wonder if perhaps he really had thought simply letting her be affectionate towards him was enough. After all, he hadn't ran away from any contact she had made, although she had thought that was mostly because she had been careful to take it slow. Perhaps he was more receptive to physical contact than she had thought, even if he did still tense up. At this thought, she placed her arm around his shoulders, and leaned her head against him. To her surprise, he very slightly turned his head, and very lightly and quickly pressed his lips against her hair before turning back to the tv, where the next episode had just started.


A/N: Assume Penny left her door unlocked when she grabbed her laptop to go questing before supper, thereby giving Raj the ability to put the extra pasta Sheldon ordered in Penny's fridge before entering 4A.

A/N 2: And I don't really like the 'Penny struggling for money' plot line, but it seemed the most likely way Sheldon would be willing to adopt her stray kitty, and it does give Sheldon the chance to show his inherent niceness. Maybe I'll get her an acting gig soon, I much prefer a self-sufficient Penny who steals their food because that's just what really good friends do.