Sometimes we chose the easy path instead of the one we really want to take.


:Wrecked:

Death by coconut? Tie him to drift wood with vines and watch sharks eat him? Maybe bend down a palm tree and use it like a catapult to launch him over the cliff? Penny glared down at her hands as she plotted. It wouldn't do to let him see his demise in her expression. It might put him on guard. She viciously carved another notch into the scrap of wood and tried to tune him out.


He wanted to stop talked. He knew he should stop talking. He just didn't know how to stop talking. Sheldon sighed as he lashed the ferns together tighter. The winds were devastating to their little hut. 41 days ago Penny had won a weekend deep sea fishing trip. 34 days ago she had convinced him to go with her. Leonard had offered, but with their recent break-up, Penny didn't want to take him. No way was she taking Howard who she had tried to teach to fish. Raj was out of town. So, Sheldon had said yes. He had liked fishing with Poppa Cooper, Meemaw's husband. Besides, it seemed like he and Penny never did anything together anymore. They had been shipwrecked for 22 days now.


She should have just went alone. Just because the trip was for two didn't mean she had to take someone along. But no, she had asked Sheldon "I Know Everything, And I'm Going To Tell You About It" Cooper. The first day was fun, she admitted. She had reeled in a nice marlin, and Sheldon had snagged two big eye tuna. Then a freak storm had hit. The ship had sunk. Only the two of them had washed up on the sand. Sheldon thought they were on a small islet near Anacapa Island. He also thought this was her fault. And that they would die here. And that she had built their campfire wrong. And so on and so on. Anything and everything she said or did was met with criticism and correction.


Why was it so hard to just say "Penny, I apologize. I'm scared and taking it out on you"? Instead, every time he opened his mouth, a lecture came out. Sheldon went to check the trap he had built and set up in a sheltered area of the tiny cove. He was pleased to find a couple of small fish and three crabs. Penny would like that. Maybe a peace offering of fresh crab meat would make up for his behavior.


She watched him cooking over the fire, but kept her distance. She definitely didn't want another lecture on the proper way to cook a fish or eat it. She lay down on the sand and watched the sky get darker. She was starting to doze off when she felt the sand shift around her. She looked up the see Sheldon settling down behind her. He looked at her worriedly and then sighed. Penny was shocked when he laid down and hugged her from behind.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled into her hair.

Penny turned and hugged him. "Me, too."

Sheldon looked at her for several seconds before slowly dipping his head and capturing her lips. Penny froze for a heartbeat and then kissed him back. Within moments hands touched and caressed and roamed while mouths licked, nibbled and kissed. It wasn't until Sheldon was between her legs, pressing his khaki covered pelvis against her jean cover one that he realized what they were doing. He froze and pushed away from her. A couple of heartbeats later she nodded her understanding. Penny's hands unsteadily refastened his pants, while his hands slowly pulled her shirt back down.

Neither of them said a word as they regained control of their hormones. After several minutes Penny rolled back over onto her side. She closed her eyes and gradually drifted off to sleep.

Sheldon stayed awake for a long time, watching her sleep. What if they were stranded here permanently? Surprisingly that thought made his pulse speed back up a bit. He tucked her hair behind her ear and leaned down to place a tender kiss on her brow. Guiltily he looked at her closely to see if she had noticed. He laid back down and laid his hand on her waist. Before long he was asleep, also.

Sheldon and Penny woke up startled. Hands were grabbing at them! They fought back for a couple of seconds before they realized there were other people beside them.

"Sheldon Cooper and Penny Queen?" a portly older gentleman asked. "We've been looking for you two for almost a month! We were about to give up when we saw the smoke!"


It took eight hours to get home. Half of which was spent getting checked out by doctors or answering questions from the media. Leonard and Amy came to get them. They spent the drive home listening to them talk about how much they were missed, how glad everyone was that they were rescued, and how happy they must be to be home again.

The media found a new story within 24 hours and they were able to get back to their lives. Penny resumed her class, Sheldon resumed his job. But something had changed now. They never spoke of what had almost happened. They rarely spent any time together. Whenever one of their friends mentioned this, they shrugged it off. They both always gave the same answer. "Sometimes life gets in the way."

Eventually Penny moved out. She finished college and got a job in Burbank as a grade school teacher. Sheldon married Amy the year after that. Two years later Penny got an invitation in the mail for a banquet at Cal-Tech to celebrate Sheldon winning his Nobel. She didn't go. Instead, she took a trip. She chartered a boat and went back to that little island. She spent the weekend swimming, fishing and lying on the beach at night.

When Amy wrote her an email describing the banquet and speeches and asking why she didn't come to the party, Penny sent her a one line reply. "Sometimes life gets in the way."