Penny knew Sheldon's actions and words were all just a way to protect himself.

What a childhood he must have had to believe that the best course of action was to never let others in too much, to never trust another, to never again let anyone have a chance to hurt you. She felt sad just thinking about that.

But Sheldon had slowly let others in his life, not only let them in, but they had become his closest friends and of course Wolowitz was his treasured acquaintance. He missed his friends and treasured acquaintance when they started to hang around at Raj's so much that he rang Zack, Stuart and Barry Kritpke to come around and visit him for a while, to prove that he could get new friends.

"Zack?" Penny smiled to herself, " My that was a meeting of minds."

So when did friends become so important to him, I bet he doesn't remember that happening. So knowing that he can let people in to become friends, doesn't it follow that perhaps he could learn to trust someone so much that they become more than just friends.

Penny's thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. It was Leonard so she let him in and they sat on the sofa, he clearly wanted to talk about what just took place in 4A.

"Penny, I can't get anything out of Sheldon, but what gives with you two at the moment? You aren't fighting again are you?"

"No we aren't fighting, far from it."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know." Penny was looking at the ground.

Leonard is a genius, he is a very smart man, he knew.

"You can't start anything you don't intend to finish and I mean long long hull finish, like to death do you part finish. I won't let you hurt Sheldon."

Penny looked up at him, she had tears in her eyes. "I have no intentions of hurting him, far from it."

"But Penny, you really have to think about this carefully, if you break his heart he will never forgive you and never talk to you again, you will lose him as a friend. Sheldon is a freaking genius, but he is emotionally stunted you know that. If you want to pursue a relationship with him you will have to be willing to let him grow emotionally, this is going to take time, lots of time, could take years. You being a big "05" girl do you think you can give him this time?"

"I don't." she started,

But Leonard interrupted her

"If you don't know I think it best you leave things as they are, because if you take this up and in a couple of months decide it's too hard, I will never speak to you again either."