A/N: I know, I know! I'm a horrible person! Please forgive me. My only excuse is that I was catching up on Game Of Thrones. O.o omg! Anyway! Please don't hate me because I promise promise promise that the true romance will begin sooner than you think!

Enjoy!

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Penny's breath was caught in her lungs as she stared down at the man kneeling before her, his head tilted up towards her, one of his hands outstretched as the thumb and index finger constricted around a ring of twisted paper, faint black ink scribbles visible against the abused yellow page.

"Will you do me the honor?" He said, his voice dropping a few notches, almost lost against the rush of the waves breaking against the shore a few feet from where they stood.

"Are...are you...?" She tried, trailing off as she realized as she had nothing to say, her hand, that hung limply at her side, itching to reach out and touch his offering.

To slip it onto her finger and make everything real.

"I decided that, to ease the strain of lying, an actual proposal might be in order."

The ground seemed to fall out from under her bare feet when his words dropped from his lips and reached her ears, her stomach falling in a way she never thought it would for her nerdy neighbor.

Her arms drew behind her back in a frail attempt to hide her clenched hands, her eyes casting up towards the sky as her head tilted back, her eyes burning with confusing tears she refused to shed.

Had she actually expected Sheldon to propose?

For real?

'I'm so damn stupid...' she cursed herself, forcing a small, bitter laugh from her throat. 'So very stupid.'

"I've disappointed you..." she heard him say, his voice saddened and confused all in one, something very much unlike him.

"No, I..." Penny after a short pause, dropping her gaze back down, placing a small, weak smile onto her lips. "I just...this is just like how you told your mom it was."

A corner of his mouth lifted up, reaching out his hand to take hers, the warm, surprising roughness of his skin against hers making her heart flutter, jumping up into her throat as she watched him slowly slide the makeshift ring onto her finger.

"That's the mastery behind it." Sheldon said, running his thumb in light circle against her palm causing goosebumps to erupt over her arm before she pulled it back to her body, a blush burning its way up her neck and ears. "It is no longer a lie."

"Yeah..." she heard herself say before clearing her throat and turning away, grabbing her heels up off the cooling sand. "If you say so."

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The walk home had been long and silent as they made their way down Galveston's now quiet streets, the only sounds were their breaths and soft steps against the sidewalk.

She was almost thankful when the front door was flung open as they strolled up the pathway to the house, Sheldon's mother appearing in the door way, shadowed by the lights that shone brightly behind her.

"I'd like to talk to the both of you before bed." She said as they entered, ignoring Sheldon's attempt at declining as she ushered them both into the living room, taking their hands into hers.

She heaved a great, tired sigh before speaking. "I...was very upset when y'all left this morning during breakfast, I just kept thinking 'Shelly knows how Ernie is, why would he act this way and embarrass me like this', but-"

"I 'acted' the way I did because that crass man, if you can even call him that, was inquiring about a very private matter between Penny and I." Sheldon interrupted, not seeming to notice the not so subtle rolling of his mothers eyes. "I found it very distasteful."

"You made that abundantly clear this morning, Shelly." She snapped, taking a deep breath as she caught her temper, trying to let it go.

Penny got the feeling it wasn't very often that Mary admitted that she was wrong, especially to Sheldon, who, at that moment, was making it even harder.

Not on purpose of course, Penny knew that. He was just being...Sheldon.

"Missy talked to me after you left and..made me realize that, while you may know better, Ernie does not and all you were doing was trying Penny's honor against his vulgarity." She rushed, dropping their hands and wiping her forehead with the heel of her palm. "I am sorry. I realized I put Penny in an uncomfortable situation and that you were just doing what every good husband does. But you know him...the word 'no' means diddily in his world."

Out of the corner of her eye ahe saw Sheldon nod, seemingly unmoved by his mother's apology, appearing more like the man she was used to.

"Thank you, mother." He said, reaching out and taking Penny's hand into his. "We will see you in the morning."

Without another word she found herself being pulled from the room, barely getting out a decent 'goodnight' before he was pushing her up the stairs into the darkness.

"You didn't have to be so rude, Sheldon." She snapped, her voice whispered against the silence of the hall. "She's your mother!"

"I am very aware of that fact, Penny." He replied, watching as she hurried ahead. "And I was not being rude. I accepted her apology."

"Yes, in a rude way." She said again, pushing the door to her room open with a slight crack, preparing to step inside when she was pulled back.

"Before you leave, I have a question."

"Doctor Sheldon Cooper has a question?" Penny let out in a humorless chuckle.

"Sarcasm." He said, his voice matter-of-factly.

"Obviously."

She was ignored.

"Today, on the beach when I gave you the ring and told you my idea of easing the lie, why did you look...upset."

She felt her heart stop only to pick back up into overdrive as panic rolled over her, realizing he had seen it.

Saw the probably all too telling expression that plastered itself onto her face in her moment of shock and weakness.

She felt her mouth open and close but no words seemed to come as she stared up into those blue eyes that had been haunting her dreams lately, sending her heart and mind ablaze whenever he was close.

His grip around her wrist tightened as she tried to pull away, watching as he stepped closer, pressing her back into the wall as she stumbled staring up at the man towering above her.

"You have an answer."

It was not a question.

Not even close.

It was a demand in it's rawest form, sending shivers up her spine.

"I...I wasn't upset..."

"You're lying."

"No I'm not."

"Your nostrils flare whenever you lie." He said, his free hand rising to brush her nose, slowly sliding down across her lips, his touch so light it felt almost like a breeze, leaving her unsure if it had actually happened at all as his hand dropped back down to his side.

Suddenly she pulled away, shoving him as best she could as she slipped under his arm, ducking her head to hide the red that had smeared itself across her cheeks and chest.

"I can't do this." She mumbled just before her door shut with a soft click.