Third Person POV

"So what's up Stuart?" Penny asks, leaning against the counter as she waits for Leonard who is standing about two feet away, carefully counting his money to see if he could purchase a new comic (or two).

"Same old, same old," Stuart sighs, "still living here and I'm still lonely. So terribly lonely."

"Aw c'mon Stuart, cheer up!" Penny pats his hand reassuringly, "I'm sure you'll find someone special soon! If you want I can try and set you up with one of my friends."

"Thanks but it's all right Penny. It seems that I'm just destined to be alone forever. Something always goes wrong when I'm interested in a girl. Take your friend Sophia for example."

"What about her?"

"Well Sheldon told me she has a boyfriend after I asked him about her."

Penny's eyebrows shoot up, curiosity getting the better of her, "Wait Sheldon said that?! Really?!"

Stuart nods, lips slightly pursed, "Yeah, he told me that she's dating a guy that's in a gang or something."

Tapping a finger against her chin Penny "hmmms" to herself before saying a quick goodbye to Stuart and grabbing Leonard by the arm to drag him outside. After shushing Leonard's protests of wanting to go back inside to purchase something she recounts what the lonely comic store owner had told to her about Sheldon.

With a shake of his head Leonard says in complete disbelief, "Who would have thought that Mr. Homo Novus would fall in love!"

Now it's his girlfriend's turn to shake her head, "No, I don't think he's in love with her-yet. But he does seem to like her. Enough to lie to another man about her relationship status in order to keep him out of the picture. Now, I don't know if I should tell Sophia or not..."

Crossing his arms in thought Leonard says quietly, "No, I don't think that's a good idea. We should just stay out of it. For now at least," he finishes quickly when Penny opens her mouth to protest.

"Fine," she huffs, "but Sheldon better not f*ck this up."

"And if he does, you'll be there to fix it for him," Leonard smiles, pulling Penny closer to him by hugging her waist. "Besides, I think he's doing a pretty good job all by himself at the moment."

Penny turns her head to look inside the shop and sure enough she's pleased with what she sees. Sitting side-by-side on the floor are Sheldon and Sophia. An open comic book in the physicist's lap as he reads aloud to the small woman next to him. Her head resting against his shoulder, her slim body shaking with laughter at something Sheldon had said. A surprised but happy smile rests on his own face that seems to melt away the cold demeanor the he always wore to protect himself with.

"I had a lot of fun with you this afternoon Sheldon," Sophia says, reaching inside a pocket for her keys.

Sheldon nods but doesn't seem to be too convinced by her words. Few, if not anybody, found his company all that enjoyable causing him to doubt that the small cheery woman before him could find time spent in his presence to be "fun". But he appreciated what she said wholeheartedly, even if it wasn't true. As if reading Sheldon's thoughts Sophia chuckles, "you don't believe me do you?"

The physicist gives her a sheepish smile as an answer.

"Well I can't force you to believe me but I mean it Sheldon. I really enjoyed myself, and not just today. Every time we spend time together is fun. You know what?" She asks suddenly, a twinkle in her brown eyes, "To prove to you that I'm being honest why don't I take you out next week?"

"Take me out?" Sheldon asks in return, confusion eminent on his pale face.

"Yeah, next Saturday just you and me! If you're OK with it that is. If not then we can ask the rest of the gang to join us," she assures him.

After a moment of thought Sheldon shakes his head causing a small frown to fall upon Sophia's normally smiling face.

"No... I would very much like it if it were just you and me," he says so quietly that Sophia almost asks him to repeat himself but the soft blush that appears on his cheeks reassures her that she had in fact heard him correctly.

"Where do you plan on taking me exactly?" he asks her, blue eyes slightly narrowed in curiosity.

The twinkle returns to her irises and Sheldon's stomach flip-flops nervously in response. Why do she and Leonard do that?! It must have to do with their height. Yes, most definitely their height. Short people are too much like elves. Incredibly mischievous.

Sophia waggles her eyebrows, "I would tell you but I'd rather it be a surprise."

"I don't like surprises," Sheldon says automatically.

"I know but it needs to be a surprise. I won't take you someplace where you'll feel uncomfortable, I promise. Just trust me Sheldon, please."

Sheldon's face softens momentarily at the "please". No one had ever said it in that way before. Sure, people had pleaded and begged for him to do something in the past, but it was always for their benefit, never his. But the way Sophia said it, he felt deep from within that he could trust her.

"I accept but it'll be on my terms. I'll stop by tomorrow afternoon to drop off an agreement for you to sign. Have a good night Sophia," Sheldon says quickly and leaves before he can change his mind.

*Knock*Knock* Knock* "Leonard." *Knock*Knock* Knock* "Leonard."

"Coming Sheldon!" Leonard yells as he ties his bathrobe's belt 'round his waist. Cursing under his breath the tired man shuffles over to open his bedroom door.

"What?" he half-yawns, half-growls at Sheldon who enters the room and sits on the edge his roommate's bed.

"I need more information on the subject I'm conduction research on."

Leonard rubs his face and says with another yawn, "Can't it wait until morning?"

"Obviously it cannot Leonard or I wouldn't be here. What does it mean when a woman asks a man out?" Sheldon asks, wringing his hands nervously.

"Why?"

"Research Leonard."

"Did someone ask you out or something?" Leonard asks as a joke but the wide eyed look on his friend's face causes him to question, "Wait did someone ask you out?"

"Sophia might have asked me on a friendly outing."

"So what you're saying is that she asked you out on a date?" Leonard questions, trying but failing to hide the huge grin that had taken residence on his face.

"It's not a date," the other man huffs, "We're just going to 'hang out' as people say."

"I don't know Sheldon, it sounds like a date to me."

"It's not a date! And stop smiling like that!"

"Fine, fine I'll stop. So where's she taking you?"

Sheldon shrugs with an annoyed look, "She wouldn't tell me."

"Oh, so it's a surprise date?"

"Leonard!"

"Right sorry. Well knowing Sophia it'll probably be somewhere you like."

Sheldon's blue eyes light up at that statement, "Oh trains! I hope it's train related. Does she know I like trains?"

"Don't know," Leonard says truthfully.

"Well I'll include that in the agreement."

"What agreement? Don't tell me you're going to write Sophia an agreement to sign!"

Sheldon tilts his head, "What's wrong with that?"

"Ugh Sheldon never-mind. Let's just hope that you don't scare Sophia off with your little 'agreement'."

The next week passes by uneventfully for the physicist from 4A, except for when he had to give Sophia the "Outing Agreement", who read and signed it without any reproachful comments. Only the occasional phone call to ask Sheldon a question or two along the lines of, "Can you explain section four article B, please."

As for the small woman living in 3A the first few days of the week were a bit hectic with work, school, and trying to find where to take Sheldon on the outing. Fortunately for Sophia Penny suggested the perfect place while chatting at work and all now she needed was to wait for it to be Saturday.

"That's what you're wearing on your date?"

"It's not a date, and of course this is what I am wearing. What else would I wear?" Sheldon asks with a roll of his eyes but nervously looks down at his attire nonetheless.

"Well, you should at least change into something a little less toddler and a little more formal. You want to impress Sophia on your date don't you?" Leonard asks with pursed lips and lifted eyebrow. Sheldon quickly glances down again. Maybe he's right, I should change... I do have that orange and purple button-down... Sheldon gives his head a shake ridding it of any negative thoughts.

"I-It's not a date and I don't need to change clothes in order to 'impress' her Leonard."

"Oh, so you do plan on impressing her?"

"That's not what I meant Leonard. What I meant was-"

A knock on the door and a muffled, "It's Sophia!" cuts him off. Sheldon rushes off to the bathroom with a quick ,"Be right back," leaving Leonard to open the door.

"Hey Leonard!" Sophia greets her friend with a toothy smile, "Is Sheldon ready?"

"I am," Sheldon says from behind the shorter man, "but I would feel much better if you told me where you are taking me today."

"Sorry Sheldon that's my little secret," Sophia winks at him, "Don't worry though, you'll know soon enough."

Leonard pats Sheldon on his back,"Yeah, don't freak out buddy. You're going to really like where she's taking you."

Sheldon's mouth drops open in surprise, "Wait, you told Leonard where we're going but you won't tell me, the person who you are actually taking? I hardly think that's fair Sophia."

"Oh Sheldon leave her alone and hush!" Leonard scolds Sheldon then turns his attention to Sophia, "Are you sure you actually want to go through with this Sophia?"

"If I wasn't sure about this then I wouldn't have asked Sheldon in the first place," the brunette responds curtly.

"Right, sorry," Leonard mumbles sheepishly, "You two should probably go now if you want to avoid traffic."

"See you later then Leonard," Sheldon tells his friend before walking out into the hall with Sophia.

"Have fun you two," the curly-haired man smiles at the odd couple before him. They wave goodbye before heading out on their fist date-sorry "friendly outing".

Thank you all for your wonderful comments! They mean the world to me so thank you :) Hello to all my new readers, I hope you're liking this story so far. I took some of your suggestions and tried including them in this chapter, hope this is what you had in mind:) I'll be revealing stuff about Sophia throughout the rest of the story, maybe in the next chapter.

If any of you have any other suggestions on what you would like to happen please don't be shy and leave a comment :D Cookies and hugs for all!