"Nine million terrorists in the world and I gotta kill one with feet smaller than my sister," Penny recited along with the movie. She took a large swallow of hot chocolate laced with Butterscotch Scnapps and smacked her lips.

It really wasn't so terrible, all things considered. She still had all of her limbs. She didn't currently have a terribly disease. She was all in all, pretty good.

The oven beeped, letting her know it was pre-heated. She paused the DVD and rose to put the pan of sugar cookies in the oven. She set the timer and stood in the kitchen, deep in thought.

Well, she wasn't actually good, but maybe okay. It was blizzarding in Nebraska, and the Omaha airports were closed. So, Penny sat in her apartment alone on Christmas Eve, watching John McClain save the day once again. Penny had spent a good deal of time convincing herself that was the best thing that could have happened, given the situation. She wasn't feeling terribly festive anyway.

She'd made a mistake, Penny knew this. Somehow, she'd managed to scare Sheldon away from her, and he was already sixteen hundred miles away as it was. The moment she'd sent the text, she'd known it was a mistake. He of course hadn't answered, choosing for the first time in three weeks to ignore her.

Why had she done it? They'd found some strange middle ground, and within their parameters, it was okay to joke. He'd even told her a couple small details about his Meemaw. They'd used banter that to anyone else would be considered flirting. Not that Penny would have used that word if asked. He was just beginning to act like a real boy and she'd ruined it. Penny plopped down on the couch and was just about to play the movie when a sound stopped her dead.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Penny."

Her heart was in her throat. She was hallucinating. She had to be. There was no other explanation for hearing-

Knock, knock, knock.

"Penny."

She climbed over the couch cushions as quickly as she could.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Penny."

Breathing heavily, Penny wrenched the door open.

He was here.

He'd come home.

Beaming, she rushed toward him. He flinched slightly, but enough for Penny to stop in her tracks and think better of the hug she'd been about to give him. Instead, she waved her arm near his shoulder before crossing both arms over her chest. He gave her a awkward, tight smile in return before looking down at his bag distractedly.

"You're here," she finally stated, chewing her lower lip.

"Yes," he answered. He cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"You…you want to come in?" Penny asked, jerking her head backwards toward her apartment.

His hands clasped ineffectually at the bag he had slung over his shoulder. "Alright," he agreed, following her into the apartment.

"I can't believe you're here," she noted, surprise evident in her voice.

Sheldon shrugged. "My work in Texas was done, and I was anxious to…." He purposely wouldn't meet here eye. "…get back home."

"Home," Penny echoed, nodding. She felt her face heating up and bit the inside of her cheek. She was acting ridiculous and needed to get a grip on herself. This was still Sheldon, after all. Any moment, he would start reciting the average annual rainfall in Utah or organizing her spice rack alphabetically. Looking down at herself, Penny cringed. She was wearing her flannel two-piece pajamas. The blue ones with the eggs and bacon on them. They made her feel like a five year-old, and was sure they made her look like one too. Yeah, that would do the trick. She rolled her eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked, placing his bag on the floor next to the couch. His eyes had apparently not left her as she'd been quietly spazzing. Great.

"Nothing," Penny lied. Nothing except he'd flown halfway across the country on Christmas Eve to see her and she didn't know what that actually meant because it was him.

Wait.

Christmas.

"I…um, have something for you," she'd said quietly before exiting into her bedroom. It lay on her dresser, still in the paper bag in which she'd acquired it. Penny picked it up and hurried back to the tall man, thinking the mass of butterflies in her stomach would actually cause her to take flight at any moment. "Here," she continued as she held the bag up. "I didn't get it wrapped yet. I didn't know I was going to be seeing you so soon. Happy Saturnalia." Her weight shifted from foot to foot nervously. She hoped she didn't throw up on him in the next moment.

"Penny, it's as if you haven't learned anything after last year," Sheldon scolded, although he didn't seem sincere.

"I know I liked the reaction I got," she answered truthfully and felt her cheeks grow warmer at the indiscernible look he gave her.

He tipped the bag over and the slim book slid out into his hands, still in it's protective plastic sleeve.

Flash 123, 'Flash of Two Worlds'.

It trembled in his hands, and she watched as he stared at it with an concentration she'd never seen from him before. They sat in silence for what could have been a full minute before she finally spoke.

"Sheldon? Are you okay?"

His head snapped up and his eyes met hers, vividly blue in their intensity. He simply stared at her for a moment. "How….?" he finally croaked out as he glanced back down at the comic book in his hands.

"I got it back from Howard," Penny replied, a mischievous grin taking over her face. "Beyond that, it's best not to ask."

"Penny," Sheldon said, his voice tremulous.

"Okay," Penny conceded with raised arms. "I had to agree to pretend to be his girlfriend for Hanukkah." She crossed her arms over her chest. "That's eight dinners with his mother," she finished pointedly.

"Penny," he repeated, his voice actually cracking this time. She swallowed over the hard dry lump in her throat and tried not to show that he was holding her psyche in his large capable hands. He opened his mouth, and then closed it. Tried again with no success. "Thank you," he finally managed with a tight smile before lovingly slipping the book back into the paper bag in which she'd given it to him.

Penny tried not to show her heartbreak, and knew he was oblivious enough to the human condition that she probably didn't even have to try to hide it at all. There was honestly no reason she should be surprised by this reaction at all, but it still hurt.

"Penny," he noted in a disappointed tone. She glanced at him to find him staring down at her doormat. "This is so disorganized." He bent to start lining her shoes up against her wall and Penny choked quietly.

Even when he was being him…

No, because he was being him.

The oven timer went off and Penny distractedly turned her back to him to pull the cookies out. The small sheet was full of reindeer and Santas, all blobby-looking and mostly not identifiable. She carefully scooped them off the pan and onto a cooling rack.

"Do you want a cookie?" Penny called out, still facing away from him.

"A reindeer, please." She turned to find him much closer than she expected.

"Done rearranging my life?" she smirked, nodding her head toward the perfectly straight lines of shoes by her door.

"For now," he answered as he pulled a cookie off the cooling rack. He met her gaze and Penny absent-mindedly dropped a cookie on the floor. "Has you kitchen floor ever been cleaned?"

"Not since the last time you snuck into my apartment and cleaned it," she shot back with a sarcastic grin as she stooped to pick the cookie up and throw it away. Stealing herself, she met his eye line. "So, couldn't stay away from California, huh?"

"I was getting homesick," Sheldon answered simply with a shrug.

Penny grabbed her own cookie and sauntered past him to the couch. "And your mother wouldn't sing 'Soft Kitty' to you?"

Sheldon frowned. "She told me I was too old to be sung to." He sat to the left of her on the couch.

"But you still asked her?" Penny grinned as she bit into her un-frosted Santa-blob.

"Well, it doesn't come across very well in text," he replied as he studied his cookie much more closely than he needed to.

"You okay with 'Die Hard'?" Penny asked him, choosing to side-step his comment entirely.

"Yes, but first…" He leaned over the arm of the couch and pulled something out of his bag. He handed it to her and Penny took it from his grasp blankly, depositing it in her own lap before she really had time to process what was happening. Penny found herself staring sedately at the wrapped gift he'd just handed her.

"What's this?" she asked, glancing up at him.

"If I remember correctly, this is the custom," Sheldon answered without missing a beat. "After receiving a gift, I am to return the gesture by giving you something." He stared at the gift in her lap pointedly.

Her eyes fell back to the package she was gripping. He'd gotten her a Christmas present. The wrapping paper, no doubt from his mother's collection, depicted baby Jesus surrounded by barnyard animals. The package was rectangular and had some weight to it.

Oh.

He'd bought her a book.

Well, it was a baby step at least.

Penny bit her lip nervously and glanced at him one more time before tearing into it. It was hardcover, bound in a deep blue leather. She looked up questioningly. He rolled his eyes before reaching over and flipping the cover open.

'The Odyssey'.

Oh.

The book itself was clearly not new. "Where did…how did…?" All words died on Penny's tongue as her eyes caught the top of the opposite page. There, in perfect penmanship was a short inscription.

Property of Margaret Sullivan.

"Sheldon," Penny said, still staring at the book. "Who is Margaret Sullivan?"

Sheldon cleared his throat slightly. "That is my Meemaw." Penny gave a small nod, still not allowing herself to look at him. "It isn't an original translation, but it is supposedly rather good."

Truthfully, Penny hadn't really given any thought to the fact that Sheldon had just lost the person he cared for most in his life. She'd somehow selfishly only been thinking of herself, how his being in Texas affected her. Biting her lower lip, she grasped the book to her chest protectively. "Do you want to talk about her?"

Sheldon looked at her for a moment, thinking it over. "My grandmother was diagnosed with cancer the day after Missy graduated from high school," he started in a soft tone. "It was in her colon, and she wasn't supposed to make it a year." His mouth quirked. "I wanted to move back to Texas then, but Meemaw kept telling me that she wasn't going anywhere. She would…call me and ask me about my work." His eyes were downcast, staring at his hands gripping his knees.

Despite this, Penny ignored the wetness that was pooling in her eyes. "Did she understand it?"

Sheldon shrugged. "It didn't really seem to matter with Meemaw." His eyebrows furrowed in thought. "She's the only person who has…ever…understood me." He swallowed. "I'm highly evolved, as you know."

She was going to explode. She could feel it. Any moment now Penny was going to turn into a blubbering mass of girlishness and make him uncomfortable. "Sheldon," she whispered and finally made eye contact with him. He seemed fearful, as if she might at any moment reach across the couch and throttle him. "Thank you," she finally managed to get out after two failed attempts. The smallest smile appeared on his face.

"You appear to be pleased with it," he noted with question in his voice, his eyes moving toward the book she clutched to herself.

Penny wiped a tear out of the corner of her eye with her thumb and sniffled. "Yes, I like it."

"Well, it seemed pretty obvious you didn't know the story very well," Sheldon went on in a condescending tone. But the damage had already been done. Penny didn't have to suspect or guess any more.

She knew now that she loved him.

"You didn't even know I was going to get you something," Penny finally said when she found her voice again.

"No," Sheldon agreed. "But someone once told me that one of the ways we show we care about people is by putting thought and imagination into the gifts we give them." Penny's felt her lip quiver. "There's no need to get emotional. Penny, I have an Eidetic memory. It's not…."

"I might hug you now," Penny warned in a watery voice. She carefully placed the book on the coffee table.

"That's…unnecessary." Sheldon straightened up. She smiled at him widely and her heart fluttered in her chest when he returned it with his own nervous grin. Not allowing herself to think another second, Penny threw herself at him, sufficiently tackling him against the arm rest. She wound her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. His remained still for a moment, then tentatively let his hands rest on her back. Penny heard the small contented sigh, felt it vibrate through her ribcage, and couldn't be sure which one of them it came from.

Finally, she pulled away from Sheldon just enough to look at his face. His eyes were dark, clear. It took him several seconds before he would meet her gaze. Penny simply watched him, taking in every tiny detail of his features. He looked at her steadily, unyielding to the challenge she was silently giving him.

Then, Penny saw Sheldon's brain catch up with him. His right eye twitched so slightly that if she hadn't been eight inches from his face, she wouldn't have seen it. She knew the moment he switched himself off, closing the door on whatever had been about to happen. She blinked slowly before she awkwardly climbed off of him and back to her side of the small couch.

"Are we going to continue your movie?" he asked into the uncomfortable silence as he leaned forward to pick up his cookie again.

Penny looked over at him sadly. Any expression that had been there a minute ago was long gone. She sighed. "Yeah." She hit 'play' and the frozen scene sprang back into action.

"I wouldn't really consider this a Christmas movie Penny," Sheldon scoffed quietly. She glanced at him and he was looking at her with a combination of guilt and humility, two expressions she'd never seen on his face.

"There's the part where Bruce Willis dresses up that dead guy in the Santa hat," Penny suggested, relaxing ever so slightly. "Besides, Alan Rickman is the best thing that ever happened to Britain."

"My sister seems to find him highly attractive as well," Sheldon noted in a conversational tone.

Penny couldn't stifle the snort that came out of her at this.

"What?" he asked, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

Penny stared at him wordlessly, shaking her head for a moment. "I…just…." She turned toward the television screen with a secret grin. "…nothing." They sat in silence, absorbed in the movie for several minutes.

"I'm glad to be home." Penny turned her head to look at him. He was watching her again. She swallowed.

"Me too," she said softly. He gave her that awkward, tight smile again before turning his full attention back to the screen. Penny let her eyes linger over his frame. Sheldon Cooper was sitting on her couch on Christmas Eve, quietly eating a cookie she'd just baked.

It suddenly felt like she already done the impossible.

Anything else would just have to wait.