Chapter Eleven (I'm just going back to what Fanfiction says…)

Leonard sat in the passenger's seat of his car as Anne drove them to the Cheesecake Factory. Anne wanted to drive, she had some reason but Leonard just agreed without listening. He was done arguing.

Anne was forcing him to apologize to Penny, and needless to say, he wasn't too excited about it. He knew how fiery the blonde could get, and he was sure Anne could get like that too.

Leonard's phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out. There was a text from Howard. 'hey whas up?' Leonard read. 'going 2 the cheesecake factory, Anne's making me apologize 2 Penny, they're so gonna kill me' Leonard typed and hit the send button. His phone buzzed again and he looked at the newest message: 'LOL' Leonard frowned. 'cant u back me up or something? txt Penny?' he typed and sent the message.

"Who yah talkin' to?" Anne looked over at him. They were sitting at a stoplight.

"Howard," Leonard said flatly.

"Oh, tell him I say hi!" she said as his phone buzzed again. Howard's response said, 'no way. if im gonna b on anyone's side, it'll b Anne's'

'what? Y?' Leonard sent his message and the traffic light turned green.

Howard: 'she's hot! need I say more?'

Leonard: 'wtf! u have no chance with her!'

Howard: 'I have no chance w/ her? O rlly? Ask her!'

Leonard: 'ask her what?'

Howard: 'ask her if she would go on a date with me!'

Leonard rolled his eyes. "Anne?"

"Yes…?"

"Howard wants to know if you would go on a date with him."

"What? Like, he wants to out to dinner with me?" Anne seemed surprised, but Leonard didn't know why. She was quite a looker, and he was sure she knew it. If she knew Howard better she wouldn't be so surprised he was asking her out. The dude would ask any woman out, especially a pretty one.

"Yeah, I guess so," Leonard told her.

"Well… hmm… I don't see why not? He seemed nice after I told him to talk to me normally. How about tomorrow at eight?" she said sweetly. Leonard was shocked. Sheldon's cousin just agreed to go to dinner with Howard Wolowitz, skinny jeans and turtle necks and all. 'she wants 2 know if 2morrow at 8 is good' he hit the send button reluctantly. Howard's response read, 'rlly? She said tht? Ok, 8 it is!'

Anne pulled into the Cheesecake Factory parking lot and chose the closest parking spot. They walked in and a waitress started to lead them to a seat. "Oh, I er, is Penny here?" Anne asked. "Yes, she's working at the bar tonight," the waitress replied and pointed to the bar.

"Okay, we'll go there. Thank you!" Anne dragged Leonard to the bar and they sat down. Penny walked up and smiled at Anne.

"Hello Anne," she said cheerily. "Hello Leonard," she said crossly.

"Leonard came with me to tell you something, didn't yah, Leonard?" Anne elbowed him.

"Yeah, uhmm. Penny, I'm really sorry about last night. I was an ass and I really am sorry." Penny sighed. She wasn't sure if she really wanted to forgive him yet. She still needed some time to be angry. "Want something to drink?" she asked them and held up a bottle of some type of alcohol.

When Sheldon woke up, he felt funny. His head was spinning and his mouth was dry. But, none of his burns hurt! He sat up and looked over at his bandaged shoulder. He wondered when they would take the bandage off, and when he would get to leave. He knew they wanted to keep him there long enough so that they could make sure he didn't have another seizure…

He looked at the clock on the wall. 4:15 am. In other words, early. He wished someone was there to keep him company. Like Penny. He wished Penny was there. That sounds…weird. Sheldon Cooper wishes Penny were here with him. This would take some getting used to.

"So how did it go with Shelly? Well, obviously good based on what me and Howard walked in on, but still! What'd you say? What'd he say?" Anne asked Penny as they left the Cheesecake Factory. Anne already knew the answers to her questions because she had talked to Sheldon, but she asked again because she was drunk. Penny had cut her drinks off after a couple glasses, but apparently it wasn't enough. Anne was only a little better than Sheldon. At least she didn't pretend to be super heroes.

Penny opened her mouth to talk but Anne didn't see it and started talking again. "Oh, I'm so glad Leonard left an hour ago! He's just weird, yah know?"

"Yeah," Penny lead Anne to her car and opened the passenger's car door. "In you go," she muttered as Anne slipped in the car and shut the door. Penny walked around to the driver's side of the car and got in. She started the car and drove out of the parking lot. First stop: Anne's hotel.

"So, Anne, how long are you staying in California?" she tried to start a conversation to keep herself awake, dealing with the people at the bar was always exhausting.

"Oh, I dunno! Till Shelly's all better?" she was rummaging through her purse and then finally pulled out her cell phone. She pushed the power button and the screen lit up. She squinted her eyes and started pushing some buttons on it. She started looking frustrated but the screen started getting darker and she seemed satisfied.

"Now," she said to herself, "what was I gonna do…? OH! I remember!" she exclaimed and pushed some more buttons.

"Anne? What're you doing?" Penny glanced over at Sheldon's cousin worriedly.

"I'm texting Leonard. I need to get Howard's phone number from him," she said to Penny, but then started talking to her phone, "goddamn it, no! that's supposed to say 'number' not whatever that says!"

"Why do you need Howard's phone number?"

"So I can text him, of course!" she said and her words slurred together a little.

"Why would you want to do that?"

"Why wouldn't I?" she looked up from her phone.

"Well, it's Howard, for one!" Penny said exasperatedly.

"I know! He's so damn cute! I'll admit the skinny jeans are a bit much, but I—"

"WAIT!" Penny cut Anne off, "did you just say Howard was cute? Holy crap, you are drunk!"

"I ain't drunk, what're you talking about? Ah, never mind. But anyway, I need to tell Howard where to pick me up tomorrow!" she looked down at her phone and started typing something again.

"Where to pick you up? You're going on a date with Howard Wolowitz? The Howard Wolowitz?" Penny was shocked, and a little worried. Howard didn't deserve someone like Anne.

"Yeah, but I don't know why. It's not like I'm staying here, I've gotta go home when Sheldon's better. Do you think he just wants to get me into bed?"

Penny sighed. If only Anne Cooper knew Howard Wolowitz they way she did. "I don't know, Anne. When you go to dinner with him, why don't you just ask?"

"Okie dokie." Penny parked the car in front of Anne's hotel and helped her out of the car and up to her room. Sheldon's mom took care of Anne from there. Penny walked back to her car and thought about what Anne had just said. She hoped Howard wouldn't do something stupid with Anne, she was Penny's friend now and she didn't want to see her get hurt. First thing tomorrow morning, text Howard and tell him to be good. I'll threaten him with my rodeo experience…

Anne knocked on Sheldon's hospital door and he told her to come in. It was early afternoon, but Anne's head still hurt from drinking the night before. "Hey there, Moonpie." She had a ginger ale in her hand and Sheldon immediately knew why.

"You went drinking last night, didn't you?" Anne frowned.

"Now, Shelly you don't need to go assuming anything…" Sheldon gave her a knowing look and she plopped down into a chair.

"Okay, you got me!" she set the bottle down after taking a sip. She set her purse down next to it. "This headache isn't helping, either," she told him.

"Of course it's not. How could a headache help anything?" Anne flashed a glare at him.

"You're testing my patience, Shelly." She took another sip of the ginger ale.

"Sorry."

"Have you talked to your 'wife' at all today?" Anne tried to distract herself from the pain in her head.

"She came in earlier today," Sheldon said. "She took that book back and brought me another one… it's not any better, though." Anne laughed. Sheldon was probably wishing he had an encyclopedia instead of one of Penny's books. "We also discussed the kiss that you and Wolowitz walked in on."

"Sorry about that. I just got so wrapped up in our conversation that I forgot."

"It's okay, Anne. We decided that when they let me out of here we will go on a date and 'see how it goes.' Then, maybe I will write up a relationship agreement." He seemed keen on the idea of writing an agreement.

"Sheldon, why do you need to write an agreement?"

"Without guidelines and regulations things will fall into chaos!" he said it like it was obvious. Oh Jesus, let's hope he doesn't get himself killed for being such a control freak!

Anne glanced down at her phone to check the time. "Oh, gosh… I need to go!" Anne exclaimed and stood up. She had been keeping Sheldon company for a few hours.

"Where are you going?" Sheldon looked puzzled.

"I'm going shopping with Penny…" Sheldon was still confused. "I didn't pack anything too terribly nice and I need something nice to wear this evening…"

"Where are you going this evening?"

"On a date…" she bit her lip, "with Howard."

"What? Anne, he's an engineer, an Oompa Loompa of science! He's not even a doctor! Good Lord, what's gotten in to you? I do not approve of this!" Anne rolled her eyes.

"I don't care if you don't approve of it, Shelly! And I'm not a doctor either! I'm goin' on a date with your friend Howard, whether you like it or not!" she paused and sat down on the bed next to him. "Look Sheldon, I'm not a little girl anymore. I grew up, we both did," her voice softened.

"I know, but… It's hard to think that you're going on a date. The last time I saw you, you were twelve! Now it's like I'm…" he was at a loss for words, "giving you away!"

"Giving me away? Oh, Shelly," she smiled at him and took his hand in hers. He still had the bracelet she made for him on. "You know, it's hard for me to even picture you liking someone, but guess what, you do! And I'm glad that it happens to be Penny that you fell for 'cause she's a nice girl. But if you're going to be in a relationship you can't control everything! Consider this as practice for letting go, alright?" He didn't look happy, but she ignored it. She stood up and walked to the door. "Bye, Shelly," she said and walked out the door.

A/N first thing, everyone should say thanks to the user Severus-Snape-Forever-Young because they gave me the confidence to make Howard and Anne hook up! :) I was afraid that people who like Bernadette might get pissed at me, but this is written before Bernadette so hey, why not? (I like Bernadette, too btw) so anyway, writing the Howard/Anne relationship should get interesting… and quite funny. xP (and there will be a point to it, it's not totally random, I pinky swear!)

I would like to apologize for the fact that I have not put Sheldon's mom in most of these chapters, I'm really not good at writing her so I've been avoiding it…

Anyway, thanks for reading! I love getting reviews, please keep them coming! (that review button is so lonely, you need to stop leaving it for the 'exit browser' button!)

LUV Y'ALL! Thanks for putting up with these insanely long author's notes.