Realizing a few things

Don't own a thing... (Big sigh).

Sheldon woke at his customary time to get ready for work. It wasn't a scheduled day for work, but he thought he would just like to catch up of a few new ideas he had about Dark Matter. He had briefly thought of calling Raj for his opinion and a ride to the University, then decided against it. Even though Astrophysics was Raj's expertise, Sheldon couldn't for the life of him understand how Raj could come up with anything that would be helpful. Sheldon then sat straight up in bed contemplating the possibility of finding his new roommate still ensconced on the floor of the bathroom. It was a prospect that he did not relish.

He was well aware of the normal attitude of Penny on any day that could be considered "Good" and although the social convention while addressing someone when meeting them in the morning was to comment "Good Morning"… That phrase simply did not apply to Penny. Until recently, she was almost never seen in the pre noon hours so the word "Morning" was rendered moot, and her disposition was most certainly NOT GOOD prior to eleven AM. Any verbal correspondence would most certainly be met with a swift punch to the throat. The fact that there was a real possibility of finding a half-naked female passed out on the floor of the bathroom was simply unacceptable.

There were times associated with occupancy of the bathroom clearly set out in the roommate agreement. Sheldon immediately came to the realization that Penny had not signed the roommate agreement. The discussion and agreement that the experiment would move forward with these new living arrangements did not include a finalization of the documentation. Penny quite possibly might not know of the requirement to be out of the bathroom between 8:00 and 8:20 AM…. This was something that would have to be addressed at the earliest convenience.

Feeling much better about things, Sheldon walked to the bathroom door and opened it to find the room vacated of any occupants that had previously been present. The relief was apparent when Sheldon let out a huge sigh then entered the bathroom to perform his morning ablutions and take a shower.

Right after he put on his bus pants, Sheldon took the flash drive that contained the basic roommate rules and regulations along with the most recent iteration of the Penny specific section and placed it in his messenger bag. If nothing else seemed to be promising, the very least he could get done would be to start on the Penny Affection Roommate Agreement.


Penny woke up at half past eleven. She had not heard a sound when Sheldon had gotten ready for work. Squinting as she opened her eyes, Penny ran her hand through her hair thinking to herself that it simply was a bad idea to finish ALL the wine last night. Her mouth felt like cotton, her head was pounding and her stomach was just this side of making the best impression of the Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone National Park.

Penny pulled the blanket that she was wrapped in tighter around herself and eased her legs over the side of the bed then shuffled over to the bedroom door. Not hearing any commotion, Penny opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. Fortunately, she still had her eyes open when she almost knocked over the small table standing just outside of her room. There was a tall glass of water, two pain medication tablets and a bowl of soup with some dry crackers on a plate. Alongside the soup was a letter written in the tight scroll that she recognized as being Sheldon's.

"Penny, I hope that you are feeling better… as it is social convention to aid in the care of an ill friend… And we have already determined that we ARE friends regardless of what is proven by this expanded exercise… Please accept this gesture as one of aiding you in your time of need… Sheldon Lee Cooper."

Penny quickly reached for the tablets and downed a good portion of the water. Upon entering the bathroom, Penny repositioned the blanket before she sat on the toilet. To her surprise, she was wrapped in the blue snuggie that she had given Leonard before the Arctic Expedition. A rush of memories flew through her head and warm feelings filled her heart about that afternoon when she just didn't want to let him go... Much like now, she had un resolved feelings.

Upon exiting the bathroom, Penny made her way back to the table to get the soup and crackers. When she lifted the soup off the table, she noticed another note.

"Please be advised, this soup was heated to precisely 140 degrees prior to being left for consumption. Once again… Sheldon Cooper."

Penny smiled at how sweet the gesture was and carried the soup to the microwave so she could properly heat it up. Penny took the soup over to the couch and sat on the middle cushion while she finished it. Still not feeling quite up to par, Penny decided she needed a bit more rest before she was going to be able to start this experiment. She thought that the least she could do would be able to be civil to Sheldon when he got back. As she considered the possibilities, she decided that going back into Leonard's/HER room would probably be a little too distracting, so she decided to take a nap on the couch. Good bad or indifferent, as she repositioned the stripped pillow to lay her head on, Penny noticed yet another note.

"In the likely event that you are considering lounging around for the remainder of the afternoon… Consider this… You're in MY spot! … Sheldon"

As much as the previous note had warmed her heart, Penny found this particular reminder of Sheldon's primary idiosyncrasy, while expected, still a bit annoying. As such, Penny laid down on the couch with her head in Sheldon's spot and her feet at the other end of the couch. Not quite sure if it was just defiance or something of a realization that there was a degree of comfort that was actually associated with the spot… be it the location or by some small measure due to the usual resident of that particular space. It wasn't long before Penny lost grasp on the waking world, and drifted off to sleep still wrapped in the blue snuggie.


Being that it was Saturday, and the concert was at 9:00 PM that evening, Amy thought that it would be a good idea to go over to Howard and Bernadette's so they could get on the road. As she approached the door, Amy could here Forever in Blue jeans playing from inside. Amy was mildly amused as she looked down and noticed that she was wearing a blue denim skirt.

Bernadette answered the door. "Oh Hi Amy… I see that you are all ready for the concert tonight".

Amy smiled. "Actually, this is just a happy coincidence. We're not going to a Grateful Dead concert… Nobody actually dresses up for a Neil Diamond Concert."

Bernadette smiled. "It's sweet that you think that". Bernadette then turned and called back into the house. "HOWARD? YOUR RIDE IS HERE!"

Amy cringed at the sound of Bernadette's voice as she called for her husband. She would hope that Bernadette was trying to sound like her mother-in-law just to make Howard feel better, but was a little afraid to ask.

Howard came around the corner dressed in a complete blue denim outfit, complete with Jacket, shirt, pants and blue denim sneakers. The only thing that wasn't denim was the blue dickey that he wore beneath the blue denim shirt. Howard smiled at Amy as he adjusted the sleeves on his jacket. "Hi Amy… I see that you are all ready for the concert tonight."

Amy was a bit overwhelmed by the outfit Howard was wearing. "Actually, this is just a hap…. never mind… sure… Forever in Blue Jeans!"

Bernadette rolled her eyes at her friend and her husband as they turned and walked down the driveway to Amy's car. Bernadette let out a big sigh and then took a large sip of her mocha latte before closing the door. "Now… let's see what we can get rid of in the basement".

Howard happily bounded down the drive way to Amy's car, Amy following behind excited but a bit surprised at the boyish actions of her friend's husband. Howard strapped himself into the passenger seat as Amy got behind the wheel. "Are you sure that you don't want to take my car?"

Amy looked over at her passenger once again taking in the sight of ALL that Denim bouncing just a little while humming Sweet Caroline… "No… that's quite all right… I'm more familiar with my car and you seem a little too animated for driving right now".

Howard looked a little hurt. "Hey… just because I'm a little excited… doesn't mean I can't drive."

Amy smiled . "Of course not… it's fine to be excited about an outing like this especially if it was so happily anticipated… I hope you can make it through without feeling so sad that you can't be with your mother… but the clothes… possibly a little too much denim?"

Howard looked down at himself. "What do you mean? This is a great outfit for this concert… Ma was going to be all denim'd up too. She had this dress all picked out… you know… one with a bib front? She would have looked great! I don't know what we're gonna do with the dress now that she's gone… I've been trying to talk Bernie into reupholstering the couch and one of the chairs in the den with the material from the skirt… I mean think of how good they would wear... and maybe a couple of place mats with the top."

Amy looked a bit surprised. "Well.. that would be a lot of denim… I would give Bernadette a little time to warm up to the idea… you never know… If you got a dog… or a cat… or some other small animal, primate or otherwise, she might see the benefits in the long run… I mean, who could argue with taking of the slip cover and throwing it into the laundry when it became soiled. Sure beats the steamer rental or dry cleaning fees".

Howard smiled. "See? You get it… Bernie just thinks this is stupid. Sometimes she just treats me like I'm a child… She says she doesn't want any and then she treats me just like one… with an allowance and performance stars for when I do my assigned chores…"

Amy looked quickly over at her passenger before returning her concentration back to the road. "Sometimes your youthful exuberance is a bit much for her… although if you ask me… its better than just sitting in front of a television and watching some reruns from the mid 60's. She just needs to put things in perspective and see that you really are more mature than the horde of siblings she charged with handling while she was growing up. You are clearly a thoughtful and caring individual be it as a son or as a life partner. Perhaps you should just take the initiative in a few more aspects of your life together. We all saw how romantic you could be."

Howard shrugged. "I guess so… it's just so hard sometimes… Bernie expects so much… She wants the laundry done… like EVERY WEEK!... I mean… who does that? And then dusting…. Really? Will someone please tell me WHY you have to move things BEFORE you dust around them? How could dust get UNDER something? …. If you carefully dust AROUND something, you should be good to go…"

Amy sighed. "Howard… just take a little initiative once in a while… It's hard on a relationship when someone always has to initiate and direct things that both people know need to be done. Bernadette treating you like a child is clearly inappropriate… but some of that treatment is self-inflicted if you know what I mean."

Howard looked out the window. "I guess, but I'm not a child".

Amy patted Howard's knee. 'We all know that Howard… now… maybe… later… if you're good… you can drive back from the concert."

Howard turned with a big smile on his face. "REALLY?... COOL!"

The two occupants of Amy's car stared out the front of the car as Howard turned up the CD that was playing in the background. Together they sang out… "Only in AMERICA!"