A/N: That last chapter was the shortest, so I'm posting two today. I'm off Tuesday-Thursday, so I literally have nothing better to do than sit here and wait for your reviews. It's actually kind of pathetic, but I'm a feedback whore. ;)
Prepare yourself for anguish. I'm not 100% happy with this chapter, but it's about as good as it's gonna get, so I'm not gonna mess with it anymore.
As they walked up the river hand in hand, Penny took a moment to really look at them together. She stopped and turned them toward the stream that served as their mirror and took in the sight. The colors bothered her and she couldn't quite put her finger on why until now.
She was getting steadily brighter, but, if anything, Sheldon had only faded.
Penny's eyes widened and a small gasp escaped her lips. Sheldon tensed next to her and gripped her hand tighter.
"I was hoping you wouldn't notice."
Penny turned her head and searched his face, hoping to find something, anything other than sadness. She was disappointed.
"You're fading." He nodded.
"And you're getting brighter."
"I'm getting better and you're not." Tears shone in her eyes and he nodded again, but kept his head down this time. He couldn't look into those eyes when they looked like that. Not when she looked so heartbroken over him.
"Penny, you have to promise me that if I don't get better, you will. If you wake up and I don't... I don't want you to destroy yourself over me. I couldn't handle it if you weren't okay." He looked back up, into her tearstained face, his own eyes shining. "I need you to be okay."
Penny wanted to argue, wanted to tell him she wasn't going anywhere without him. She wanted to yell that if she was getting better that he had to too, or she just wouldn't. She wouldn't wake up if he didn't also. But she knew she couldn't control that. She couldn't make his brain repair itself, couldn't speed up his recovery to match hers.
It hurt more than she could ever have imagined, but she nodded. Determined to show him how much he meant to her, she crushed herself to him and sobbed into his dull Flash t-shirt, of which only the Flash emblem still had any vibrance. Right around his heart.
Sheldon let her cry for a while, and when her breathing evened out again he tilted her head up and captured her lips. It wasn't like the other kisses they had shared. Those had been carefree, full of happiness and lacking any desperation or urgency. They had been lazy and loving. This kiss was everything the others hadn't been. It was fast and hard and a little sad. It was the beginnig of goodbye.
Penny, ever the Big Ol' Five, only knew of one way to express her feelings. She broke the kiss long enough to remove her shirt and let him know he should do the same. Both their hearts skipped a beat when she brushed a hand against his pants trying to unbutton them.
She paused there, and broke the kiss again. "Sheldon, we don't have to do this if you don't want to."
Sheldon stopped her there with yet another kiss. "Penny. Nothing bothers me here. If we were to ever indulge ourselves, it would have to be here, in our dream." He briefly closed his eyes and rested his forehead against hers. "I love you, Penny. I want this, and it can only happen here. Please let it happen."
Penny responded by spreading out his Flash shirt and pulling him down to lie with her.
