Sheldon was feeling nervous. He wasn't completely unfamiliar with that feeling, but the cause of it was new to him. He was about to meet his girlfriend's father for the first time. His apprehension stemmed from the sudden change in his relationship with Penny. When he had shown up on the doorstep of her parent's farmhouse, his only intention had been to assist Penny and fulfill what he saw as his obligation. Yet looking back on his actions, he wasn't sure he would have gone to such lengths for Howard or Raj, or even Leonard. There had always been something unique about Penny. She filled a role in his life that no one else ever could. The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became that in some small, subconscious part of his brain which he ignored, he had always had feelings for her. That being the case, he was certain that the obligations of a boyfriend visiting his girlfriend's parents were quite different than that of a friend helping out. He was fairly certain that, had he been dating Penny when he arrived, social convention would have dictated at least one visit to Wyatt in the hospital. Even though he had never dreamed he would end up in a relationship with Penny, the sense of a missed obligation ate at him.

He heard a car door slam. Looking out the window, he could see Penny and her mother helping Wyatt out of the car and up the steps to the front porch. Penny's dad looked small and stooped, but he tried to wave off their assistance. He was grinning happily as he walked up to his front door. "There was a time I thought I'd never see this place again. It's so good to be home," he said, squeezing his wife's hand. Connie beamed back at him.

Sheldon made his way downstairs with a reluctant backwards glance at his whiteboards. He'd been too nervous to concentrate on his work today. He made his way down to the living room, where Wyatt had been ensconced in a recliner and was being fussed over by his wife and daughter.

"Hello, Mr. Larson, sir," Sheldon said. He had paused at the threshold, unwilling to cross that invisible demarcation.

"Sheldon, is it?" Wyatt asked. "I hear you're dating my daughter now."

"Yes, sir," Sheldon nodded. "That is correct."

"I liked the other one better. What was wrong with Leonard?" Wyatt complained, turning to Penny.

To Sheldon's surprise, she fidgeted uncomfortably. "Daddy, don't give Sheldon a hard time. It just didn't work out with me and Leonard."

Sheldon peered at Penny in confusion. "He cheated on you," he protested, taking a few steps closer to the family tableau.

"What? That whiny little bastard! I'm gonna rip him a new one!" Wyatt struggled to get up, turning red in the face.

"Stop it! The only one you're going to hurt is yourself," Connie scolded her husband sharply. "It's over and done, and I think Penny's better off now."

Connie eventually succeeded in calming Wyatt down. During the commotion, Penny hissed in Sheldon's ear that this was why she hadn't told her dad the truth behind her breakup with Leonard. He replied that he wouldn't have done anything to jeopardize her father's health, and although she was still annoyed, she accepted it as an apology.

After he was settled comfortably in his chair, Wyatt was eager to talk to Sheldon about the way things had been going on the farm. This was much more familiar territory for Sheldon, and he spent the better part of an hour telling about the work he had done. He even credited Penny as being partially responsible for all the repairs made around the place. He tried to explain his the theory of kinesthetic learning to Wyatt. It wasn't obvious how much the older man understood all the terminology Sheldon tossed out, but he agreed that Penny had always been athletically gifted.

As they talked over the next few days, Sheldon won over Penny's dad both with his work ethic and his intriguing ideas to make the farm turn a profit. Wyatt was astonished to learn that there were organizations which would give him a grant to help convert the dairy to organic production. He had been running his dairy mostly chemical-free for years anyway. Now it was just a matter of getting the right certifications and finding a new distributor for his products. Penny and Connie were both amazed at how much Wyatt's enthusiasm seemed to speed his recovery. In a week, Connie was treating Sheldon like he was both a saint and her son-in-law.

It made Penny a little nervous, to tell the truth. She knew the saying that opposites attract, but was there such a thing as too opposite? Yet every time she started thinking she was too stupid to belong with Sheldon, she remembered his praise and encouragement as she started to grasp physics through object lessons. And every time she thought he could never fit into her world, all she had to do was look at him, dressed in jeans and flannel shirts and working alongside her to milk cows or fix the tractor. He'd even gone dancing with her, and she couldn't forget that he had left a Doctor Who marathon to keep her safe from her own destructive impulses.

The one part of their relationship that wasn't quite lining up was the physical aspect… or lack thereof. After he had kissed her in the hospital, she had assumed that he would be okay with kissing at the very least and maybe more than that. After all, he knew exactly why she had gone out to that bar—she'd wanted to get laid without any emotional attachments. She knew it was a mistake, and she was glad he had stopped her. But now she had a boyfriend who refused to do any more than give her a few brief, chaste pecks. When she asked him about it, he said he was courting her. Of course, she had no idea what he meant. He explained that he had asked her father for permission to spend time with her under the chaperonage of her family. In his mind, that meant that he chose to tone back the physical aspect of their relationship in favor of getting to know each other better. When she retorted that her parents already seemed to love him, he asked her how she felt about him. The question left her speechless.

"The purpose of a courtship is to acquaint a family with the man's character so that they will feel comfortable with his ability to care for and protect their daughter," he explained.

Penny frowned. She leaned the pitchfork she was using to muck out the stalls against the barn wall and turned to face him, arms crossed defensively. "I don't need you to take care of me. What's the deal with the old-fashioned ideas?"

"You know my mother raised me with certain expectations of gentlemanly behavior. I admit that I have strayed rather far from some of those principles, especially in pursuit of my academic goals. But I have no experience in dating, nor do I wish to. With all due respect, I have seen you jump in and out of casual relationships, and I am certain that lifestyle is not for me. Courtship implies a more serious motivation."

She paled. "How serious?"

He sighed, wishing that this particular conversation could have happened after they had been together for months instead of a few weeks. "The goal of a traditional courtship was to facilitate the integration of the man into the woman's family. He declares his intentions to her family, and unless the woman rejects him, the courtship eventually leads to marriage."

"Holy crap." In shock, Penny sank down onto a nearby bale of hay. "Did you really tell my dad you wanted to marry me?"

"Not in so many words, but it was strongly implied."

"And he was okay with that?" she screeched.

"He told me that he was extremely grateful for all I'd done for him and his family, but that you were an adult and would make up your own mind. I assured him that I understood the choice was entirely yours, and then he wished me luck." Wyatt had also looked him in the eye, shook his hand, and called him "son". Sheldon had been more moved by that gesture than he thought possible. His own father had too often been emotionally absent, even borderline abusive at times. Having Penny's dad approve of him fulfilled a need he hadn't realized he had.

Penny jumped up. "Sheldon, I don't want to marry you." She saw the stricken expression on his face and tried to backpedal. "I don't want to marry anyone. I'm only twenty-four; I've got my whole life ahead of me yet."

"So you wish to spend more time getting drunk, having casual assignations with strangers, and throwing away your meager salary on overpriced fripperies? I can't understand the appeal of any of those activities, nor do I wish to participate in them. If that is truly the direction that you wish your life to take over the next several years, then I believe we are at an impasse."

"Oh, come on, Sheldon. You know that's not what I meant," she protested.

He sighed. "No, I don't know what you meant. Emotional subtleties elude me, so I prefer that you speak plainly. Your family no longer needs my help as much as before, so if you no longer wish to be involved with me, say so and I'll return home."

She winced and dragged a hand across her eyes. After a long pause, she patted the hay bale she was resting on. "Come sit next to me," she invited. The words and gesture reminded him of the first day they had met. She'd sat in his spot on the sofa and then asked him—him and not Leonard—to join her. Thoughts of Leonard brought to mind how his clingy neediness had driven Penny away. There had to be some middle ground. Much as he hated the idea, he may have to compromise.

"I'm not breaking up with you, and I don't want you to go home. Can't you understand that it's just way too soon to be getting serious?" she asked him.

"I'm not in any hurry to make that kind of change to our relationship dynamic either. In fact, I would very much prefer not to be having this conversation so early in our relationship, but I can't lie to you, and a refusal to answer your questions would have a similar deleterious effect."

Penny sighed and looked down at her hands, clasped tightly in her lap. "You can't just decide stuff like that, I mean like getting married. I know you think you're like Spock with no emotions, but I have to go with what I feel."

He reached out and tilted her chin up to look him in the eye. "Do you really believe that leaving my job and my home to work as an unpaid farm hand for three months was a rational decision?"

Her eyes widened. "I thought you did that because you had to... you know, that tier one thingy."

"Certainly that is what I told myself at that time, but I'm not sure I would have done so for anyone else, not even for Leonard. Perhaps I am better at self-deception than I am at lying."

"You mean, maybe you had feelings for me all along?" she gasped.

He nodded. "I consider that a distinct possibility."

"No one's ever done anything like that for me before," Penny said quietly. She looked at him adoringly. Resting her hand on his shoulder, she leaned in and kissed him gently. She pushed down all of her sexual frustration and just focused on showing him how she felt. His hands rested at her waist, and she reveled in even that small indication of interest from him.

After a few minutes, he drew back, although he took her hand in his, which made it seem less like a rejection. "I believe we can agree that there are certain aspects of a romantic relationship in which we both need more time," he said.

She nodded mutely, feeling dazed. He pulled her to her feet and held her hand as they walked toward the barn door. Just before they reached the entrance, he stopped and brushed his lips against hers in a brief but tender caress. She hardly knew or cared where she was going as he led her back toward the house. At this rate, she was going to either spontaneously combust or forget her own name.

Inside the house, he was once again the perfect gentleman, but every time their eyes met, Penny thought she might swoon. How was it that after years of casual dating and too frequent one-night stands, this man could make her toes curl with only a look? Something had changed for her since Sheldon's confession. The idea that he might have had feelings for her, far longer than he had let on, had begun to break through the wall she had built around her own heart. For years, she had only been in relationships to have sex on a regular basis and to let the guy pay for stuff she needed. Now, she began to experience a deep connection with Sheldon like she had never known before. She became more patient with him, and she stopped pressuring him for further intimacies. Instead, they talked, laughed and worked together. Without even realizing it, Penny was falling a little more in love with him with each passing day.