A/N: These are the hard chapters to write but will make the ending that much sweeter.

Thanks again for reviews everyone :D

I do not own any of the characters on the Big Bang Theory. Leanne and Tina, however, are mine.

The next morning Penny awoke with Sheldon's legs tangled in hers and his arm heavy across her waist. She wished she could wish for more mornings like this with him but she knew the reality: the idea of him consciously choosing to stick with one person, to even open himself up to her even more than he already had… she had a better chance of landing a role with Angelina Jolie.

She shifted her way out of his arms trying not to wake him by jostling him too much. She managed to escape the bed with only a slight sleepy mutter escaping Sheldon before he drifted back off. The good news was her cold seemed to have dissipated. The bad news was she hadn't showered in two days.

She gently made her way out of Sheldon's room and to her own suite so she could change out of Sheldon's pajamas and into her own clothes. She was going to shower, then go downstairs and have fun. Then, she was going to be a big girl and tell Sheldon how she felt. She couldn't play games any longer, but she needed just an hour or so to build up her courage.

She felt like all she was doing this morning was sneaking through doors as she gently closed the hall door behind her, hoping she wasn't waking Amy and Raj. Crap. Her clothes were in the bedroom.

She listened through the door but couldn't hear so much as a muffle so she decided they were probably still asleep. She (yet again) gently opened the bedroom door and tiptoed past the bed where a shirtless Raj was holding Amy against his chest. Both had soft smiles on their faces. Even in her little funk and on her little mission she paused and sighed a silent "Aww" at the sight. It was just too gosh darn adorable.

Once she got what she came in there for she closed the door, leaving it open a crack so she wouldn't make more noise with the lock. Immediately Amy and Raj jolted out of bed and to the door, peaking through to the crack to see Penny clad in Sheldon's pajamas enter the bathroom and start the shower. Once they were sure she was under the spray and wouldn't hear them they set to texting their friends. Code:P 11-22-14. Howard grabbed Bernadette's phone as it woke them up and deciphered the text through his packet from Amy.

It read: Penny. Sneak in. Worn clothes. Sheldon's. He took a minute to translate that to a coherent thought. "Oh my God, Bernie! Penny snuck back in wearing Sheldon's pajamas!" She did a little happy dance.

-T—B—B—T—

While Sheldon and Penny were eating dinner the night before, Leonard and Leanne got into a conversation with one of the hotel managers while sitting at a bar waiting for the rest of the gang. The assistant manager, Tina Grey, had recognized Leonard as Sheldon's friend from the ball the night before. She had been impressed with the excitement of the crowd.

The conversation had turned toward Sheldon and his work and then to how Sheldon was changing in every way, especially when it came to Penny. Tina Grey was a true romantic. She had met and married her husband her first night in Las Vegas twenty years ago. He worked as an events planner, scheduling conventions (though none as geeky as the one the guys were there for) and she fell head over heels in a matter of minutes. Even though it was so different from her own story, she thought it was such an incredible event that two friends who were polar opposites were finally finding one another, and at her hotel! Oh, she was delighted.

She and her husband were invited to dinner with the group and they both got caught up in the planning and plotting, informing some of the wait staff and other employees of the situation. By the end of the night nearly thirty employees were made members of the Shenny Squad. It was getting out of hand but Raj made a good point: "Its Penny and Sheldon guys. We need all the help we can get." No one could argue.

There was such devotion among the staff there that they were given a small unoccupied conference room for their full use during the duration of their stay. They had real white boards and markers, projection equipment and most importantly a neutral territory to plot in secret. Vegas might be the city of lights but was also a city of love. Their luck was astounding and surreal.

After Amy woke everyone up with her text about Penny sneaking in, the all readied for breakfast. Penny declined her invite, deciding she wanted to get a jump start on gambling. Sheldon said the schedule of his bowl movement was all off and he had to try to correct the problem. Both reasons were perfectly in line with their personalities and thus likely true.

"So after we eat do you guys want to try to let Sheldon in on this?" Leanne asked the group.

"Is she frakin crazy?" Howard asked Leonard. "I don't think he would appreciate a task force of this type. Robbing the casino? Maybe, if it was something batman might do. But plotting his personal life, his newly discovered personal life?" but Leanne just shrugged.

"That's why I think we should tell him. He had asked for my help at the reception. I think he needs the space, the physical space of our little HQ to chart out this problem for himself. If even just for a while." She interrupted Raj's interjection. "If he found out by other means and thinks we think this is so impossible he might just stop in his tracks. But if he sees that so many people are behind him and that we have strategies in place he might relent."

It was sound reasoning. Yet again, Leanne managed to woo Leonard's friends. She was a psych-babble-manipulative genius. He loved it, finally he understood Sheldon's desire for some diversification among their friends. Her skills were a vital asset to the situation.

Everyone decided that if they were going to confront Sheldon about his feelings for Penny that they needed to do it all together. He could take them all down even in a group, but sending someone alone would surely be a suicide mission. Leonard unlocked the door with his magnetic key and they all stepped in watching in horror as Sheldon, still in yesterday's clothes, sat rocking himself on the bed clutching a pillow to his nose. Leonard went for Sheldon's torso, Howard secured him on the other side. Leanne looked right into his face to try to discern if he yet reached catatonic and Amy grabbed the pillow.

"Its hypoallergenic, the type she uses." Amy declared. Raj was texting some of the hotel staff with the message "Please, find Penny. Make sure she is ok but to not approach."

Howard looked to Leanne. She seemed to have eased her posture somewhat so he relaxed a little inside. "Did they have sex or something? Maybe he is in shock over the germs coursing through his body." Leonard looked thoughtful but then answered negatively. "No. I know for a fact neither Raj nor I reacted this way when we had sex with Penny."

"Penny!" Sheldon shocked to alert. His eyes began to dart around the room like they could take no hold. He didn't see who he was looking for. "Penny, Penny?"

"Oh honey." Leanne cupped his face to get him to focus on her. "What happened?"

"She left. We slept here and I know she was going to just leave anyhow. But she really did it. She really left."

Leanne shut her eyes and threw her head back in near despair. She had just met these people but already she was invested in their happiness. How could she help? She understood what he meant without a great need of dissection. He was convinced she was not into this like he was. He took her leaving this morning as evidence that his first real romantic dalliance was over.

"Get him up. We have to bring him to HQ NOW." She directed Leonard.

"You're the psychologist."

They all proceeded to the elevator and to the third floor room donated to them for their private use. Sheldon didn't understand their explanations until he got into the room and saw the time plots and pictures that were hung up on the white boards. The room was covered in whiteboards on three sides and they were nearly filled with data. His still unbelieving eyes were tracing every last mark, every bit of info his friends has gathered as evidence of feelings between the two.

He almost became sure of himself that maybe his fears were unfounded. He thought back to the bartender incident and looked for it on the chart. Sure enough it was right there in black and white. Penny looked pissed while he was dancing then stormed off- wait. Wait.

He was onto something but it was just out of his reach. He looked to Leonard on his left and Leanne on his right and he knew it was on the tip of his tongue. Then he heard Penny shriek. He turned to look but she was already gone, their friends just outside in the hall all terrified and shocked and staring in the direction she ran off to. He was going to go after her but was once again stopped by Leonard.

"We need you to look at this. Let us find Penny. You need to figure out what it is we are missing. Leanne will stay, you asked for her help and you are going to get it." Leonard spoke with an authority quite foreign to Sheldon. Maybe it was the influence of Leanne. Leanne.

Then the realization he had been waiting for set in. It was the same feeling of epiphany as when he stepped away from his board one hot night at Caltech and realized the P he mindlessly placed on his board solved the problem. Penny saw him dancing with Leanne. He remembered when she saw Leanne leave his hotel room. Oh, lord. He said she was brilliant and she got him to touch things he hadn't considered before. DEAR LORD.

For a long few minutes he forgot that he wasn't a Betazoid and that if he wanted his thoughts heard he would have to speak them. Leanne was trying to wait out the moments it would take Sheldon to commit whatever thought he was having to words.

"She thinks I have been engaging in coitus with you." He summarized

"Why on earth would she think that?" Howard asked having just walked back into the room.

"Because Leanne came to my room and left when Penny got there. She started acting weird right then, like she was hurt. I never explained that she was with Leonard. My poor word choice led her to believe I had some sort of intimate contact with her. And Oh" he was flashing back to the image on an enraged Penny at the conference. "Oh, she saw you in the crowd-not next to Leonard. Oh! And when we danced. And we were just examining this all now. She wouldn't have understood the board if she even stopped to read it. Oh my heavens." His face was set in horror.

He had been so close, so close to having what he wanted. He didn't even realize how badly he needed Penny in his life. He hadn't realized he wanted a real and true relationship with her until he was offered the job in Switzerland and the prospect of leaving her was too much to bear. If she felt even a fraction for him of what he felt for her it would be no wonder she reacted the way she did. His hands went cold.

"Howard. Call everyone back, we need to get the word out. This is probably the one situation none of us foresaw."

Everyone gathered back to the HQ. Sheldon was so distraught that Leonard put him back to bed for a while until they had something for him to do.

"Jesus," Leanne pinched the bridge of her nose, "I am so sorry for this mess."

"Hey, if it weren't for you giving him that therapy session, he probably wouldn't have even realized there would anything to be upset about. You can't blame yourself that Penny misunderstood who you were. If anything, I am to blame. I should have introduced you days ago." Leonard's voice was sinking to the pit of his stomach.

"Hey, we don't have time for all this blame guys. I say we need to find Penny before she does something stupid. I had sent a text to the staffers we know and they said she had been at the craps table, won $3000, cashed out and went looking for Sheldon. Someone told her he was on the third floor. I guess she figured out which room when she saw us in the hall."

"So what are you saying Raj?" Bernadette was getting fidgety and about to go to a tirade if she didn't have answers."

"I think he is saying, honey, that Penny has a bunch of money and is wandering Las Vegas, by herself, pissed off. We. Need. To. Find. Her."

"Oh no." No one ever agreed with one Amy's statements more. They set into action.

A/N: Oh no! Where did Penny run off to? You just might be surprised.