Chapter 22

Sheldon was silent the entire ride home, seemingly lost in thought and Penny thought it best to leave him that way, as she didn't want to interrupt what ever thought process was going on inside, that big brain of his. When they pulled up to the building and started to climb the stairs, Penny broke the silence. "Why did you finish work so early today?" she asked as they rounded the corner. "I didn't finish, however Wolowitz and Koothrapali were becoming insufferable to be around." He explained sharply. Penny wasn't sure she wanted to ask what they had done, but she did anyway. "Oh, what happened? Is it junior rodeo worthy?" she chuckled "I'd rather not talk about it, although that would be amusing to watch." Sheldon said as they parted ways at their floor and headed into their apartments. "Well alright. I'll be over later then…make sure you have popcorn ready." Penny called in a sing song voice, just before she shut the door. The rest of the afternoon flew by, once she was inside. Around 5pm her phone rang: it was her agent. "Hi, how are you?...really? You're serious?...absolutely. I'd love to… thank you so much, okay bye" Penny hung up the phone and did a fist pump. She had gotten a second call back for a little independent production that she had auditioned for months ago and completely forgotten about. While it wasn't exactly a big budget production, it was a start – ten times better than that, stupid Gorilla movie she did years ago. Penny did a little dance around the apartment. It had taken 7 years in a 'temporary' job, to even get called back for an audition, but finally things were looking up.

Just before 7 Penny skipped across the hall to 4A, armed with the nights entertainment and let herself in. "Good evening Sheldon." She said as she floated, dreamily to her spot next to his, on the couch. "Hello Penny, you appear to be in a good mood" he said with a small frown. "Yep" Penny replied, popping the 'P'. "Guess what? You'll never guess, I'm just going to tell you! I got a call back for a movie, I auditioned for months ago. Isn't that great?" she beamed up at him, not giving Sheldon time to respond. "Hang on, you can't just propose a guessing game, then not allow me time to guess. That defeats the whole object of the game" Sheldon complained, folding his arms across his chest, as he sulked a little. "You know what? I'm in such a good mood, I'm going to pretend I heard 'congratulations' come out of your mouth." Penny smiled brightly. She looked around the room for traces of the guys. "Where is everyone? Did Leonard have to work late?" she asked, her eyes wondering to the hallway. "Yes, it seems it could take all night, to repair the laser, but I assume Howard and Raj will be here soon." Penny noticed how his attitude seemed to change slightly, as he talked about Raj and Howard. "Is everything okay with you guys?" Penny asked, already knowing that they had done something to upset Sheldon.

There was an awkward silence, before he spoke. "Penny I have something I need to ask you… and it's a little uncomfortable" he said as he shifted in his spot. Penny turned to him and crossed her legs under her, knowing that it must be really awkward, for Sheldon to pick up on it. "Okay, shoot" she said and waited for him to reply. "Is this supposed to be a date?" He turned his head to her and Penny blushed. "Why would you think that?" Penny stuttered out. Please don't let this be Howard and Raj's doing, please don't let this be Howard and Raj's doing, was her silent mantra. "Well Howard said it sounded like a date. I am not an expert in relationships, so I was only left with what Howard seemed to think it was and Raj agreed with him." Beyond dead. They would spent eternity in the deepest, darkest pit of hell, reserved specifically for them, Penny thought. "No, it's not a date sweetie." She said as she tried to control herself. "Oh, well that's good." Sheldon explained and returned to what he was doing. Penny had to excuse herself to go to the bathroom, so she could calm down. Once locked safely inside she text Howard.

Penny: Howard Joel Wolowitz! I don't give a Rat's ass, if Jews don't believe in hell, that's where you're going. You and your little girlfriend Raj are in for a world of pain.

She sent the ominous text. When she got no reply she kicked at the tub, forgetting she had changed into flip flops. She toppled over, clutching at her foot. She must have shouted out in pain, because Sheldon was at the door, quickly knocking. She pulled herself up and hopped to the door. "What Sheldon?" she said harshly as she pulled the door out of her way. "You called my name, I came to see what was wrong" he said and Penny could sense he was unsure of the situation. "I kicked your stupid tub, that's what's wrong!" she said as she hobbled past him and back to the couch, grasping her toe as she sat down; it was already turning an ugly shade of red. Sheldon sat down next to her and looked at her foot. "Would you like me to take a look at it?" he asked curiously. "You're not that kind of doctor, Sheldon" she practically spat back, the throbbing getting worse. "True, however I spent many a day in the ER, as a child and could probably give you the same diagnosis, as any physician." He said confidently, as he walked to his desk to pull out one of the many, first aid kits he had around the apartment. "Whatever. Is it broken?" she asked as he sat back down next to her.

Penny shook her head, as he pulled on a pair of latex gloves and wiped her foot down with an alcohol wipe, before he began his examination. He poked and prodded at her toe and asked a multitude of questions, half of which had absolutely nothing to do with her foot. He walked to the freezer and wrapped a handful of ice cubes in a tea towel, before returning and placing the ice on her foot. "It's just swollen. You should alternate between ice and heat, to help reduce the pain and swelling." He explained, sounding like an actual doctor, not his kind of doctor. "Thanks. Can we watch the DVD now? I don't want to wait for the others." Penny asked as she slipped the box toward Sheldon. They had just settled down to watch, when the door opened and they walked in. she followed them with her eyes as they sat down. "What happened to your foot?" Howard asked through a mouthful of popcorn, as he looked at her foot resting on the coffee table. "In a fit of rage, it appears Penny decided to kick my bathtub." Sheldon explained nonchalantly, his eyes following the action on the screen.

Not long after she nudged Sheldon in the ribs. "Here comes our scene." She whispered playfully. As soon as the music started playing, she shuffled uncomfortably, remembering what came just after the scene and she blushed, hoping Sheldon wouldn't read into her comparison, from Saturday. Normally, this was Penny's favorite part, but she just couldn't bring herself to watch it. She dropped her head and kept one careful eye on Sheldon. His eyes widened as the scene played out and then he too dropped his eyes into his lap. Oh God! What is he thinking? Penny thought, wishing for once that he would talk.

When she knew it was safe to look up, she was met with a crying Raj, dabbing at his eyes as he looked at her. Pretty soon after, Penny was crying as she watched Patrick Swayze realize he was dead. She tried to stifle her sniffing and spluttering, as she wiped her face on the sleeve of her shirt. There was a soft tap on her knee and she looked up to see Sheldon holding a box of tissues toward her. She took a handful with a sad smile and blotted her tears. "Stop being sad." Sheldon commanded and Penny chuckled at his attempt to make her feel better. "Sorry, you'd think with the amount of times that I've seen this, I'd be used to it by now… but it gets me every time." Penny quietly told him, in between blowing her nose. "You don't have to be sad, it's natural. We're born, we grow, we die." Sheldon said matter of factly, with a shrug of his shoulders. Penny frowned

"What about all the stuff in between? Family, friendship… falling in love. Does that all mean nothing?" she asked softly. "Essentially yes. At the time it may seem important, but it isn't." He replied, his gaze shifting from the screen to her. Penny knew it was just the scientist in him, but she couldn't help feeling a little sad for him and his way of thinking. Penny laid her hand in the negative space in between them, as she turned back to the TV. Moments later she felt Sheldon's pinky, lightly pressing against hers. She swiftly looked down, thinking she was imagining it and to make sure she hadn't accidently let her hand wander, into sacred Sheldon territory. She went to pull her hand away, thinking it was a complete accident and he hadn't noticed, but Sheldon's long fingers crept over the back of her hand and squeezed lightly, keeping her in place. Penny's breathing kicked up a notch as she averted her eyes, trying desperately to forget that Sheldon was holding her hand, with their friends not 5 feet away.

While Penny had been silently crying, Howard had been looking at him with raised eyebrows. Sheldon frowned to him, trying to decipher what it was that he wanted and Howard mouthed to him "comfort her". Sheldon's mouth fell into a tight line and he narrowed his eyes as he shook his head. Howard shoved the box of tissues into his lap and he reluctantly offered them to Penny. Honestly, emotions truly baffle me, he thought to himself, as Penny explained why she was crying. When she was all cried out, some how her hand found its way into the tiny gap between them and he glanced down at it, not sure what he was meant to do, since he seemed to upset her more with his explanation of why crying about death was irrational. He looked back up at the screen and watched for a few more moments, before Howard somehow caught his attention again. He tilted his head in the direction of Penny, as if suggesting that Sheldon had more comforting to do and he scowled back at him. Since when is Wolowitz an expert in women? I've seen him get punched in the face, by a large percentage of women, before he married Bernadette, he thought with a frown. A pointed cough pulled him away from his train of thought and back to the situation at hand. Sheldon didn't know what to do; was Howard expecting him to put an arm around Penny and let her 'snuggle'? He shuddered a little at the thought. No sir, he would not being doing that. Using his scientific intuition and powers of reasoning, he decided that holding her hand for a moment couldn't possibly be that terrible. After all, he had already comforted her once today in his office, he reasoned. Slowly he placed his hand next to hers and steadying his resolve, touched his pinky to hers.

They stayed that way for a moment, but Penny began to pull away and his heart squeezed unexpectedly. He reached out to stop her and found his hand resting on top of hers lightly. He tried to relax into the situation, but he couldn't. Sheldon wasn't necessarily panicking about germs; although the thought had defiantly entered his mind, he was more curious about the soft, warm texture of her hand against his. His thumb brushed against her wrist, directly over her pulse point and it jumped in response to his action. He was intrigued; not just to her reaction, but to his own reaction to hers. He catalogued the sensations running through his body: elevated heart rate and a rise in temperature. Oh no, not again. Penny has made me sick, he surmised as he thought about whatever, new typhoid pathogen she had brought into his home. He quickly released her hand and wiped his palm against his pants, as he stole an accusing look at Penny. She was watching the screen, a small smile playing on her lips. As he returned to the film, he realized he was completely lost, he had absolutely no idea what was happening anymore. He shifted away, as far as the arm rest would allow and refocused on the DVD. It wasn't as awful as he first feared it was going to be… it was no X – Men or Star trek, but it was acceptable. His mind returned to the pottery scene, or what he had seen of it, before he looked away uncomfortably. His perfect memory pulled up Saturday's 'laundry lesson' and he could defiantly understand why Penny had made the comparison of the two, but what did the following scene mean? Did she include that in her initial comparison? Questions he never thought he'd have the need to ask were filling his head.

He was worse than useless at trying to figure people's emotions out, but Penny gave him more trouble than anyone else ever had. He couldn't always make her bend to his will, like he could make everyone else and she could sometimes get him to do things that had anyone else ask, would have been a resounding no. They argued, as his mother would say; like cat and dog, neither ready to submit to the other. He secretly enjoyed how they fought and the way it seemed to intensify, when ever she and Leonard attempted to be in a relationship. In his 33 years, no one had argued with him, the way Penny had, even when she was blatantly wrong, she still wouldn't back down. His heart squeezed again and he sat up straighter, worried that what ever Penny had given him, was causing him to develop some form of arrhythmia. As the credits started to roll he excused himself to the bathroom to take his temperature and start a precautionary course of antibiotics, in the hopes of stopping, what ever disease was currently rampaging through his body.

Penny stretched and flexed her muscles as she stood up to head to the fridge for a drink. She couldn't stop the smile and girly giggle that escaped her. She felt like she was in middle school again and had just held a guys hand for the first time. "So I take it I'm forgiven for what ever it is that I've done?" Howard called from his chair with a knowing smile. She turned back to them and pointed an accusing finger in their direction. "Not even close pal. Don't think for one second, you're off the hook. I told you not to mess with Sheldon and then he tells me tells me that, you convinced him this was supposed to be a date!" Penny said, gesturing to the room for emphasis. Raj tilted his head and asked "Wasn't it a date?"

"No, it was two friends hanging out, watching a movie." She told them quietly. There was a second of silence before Howard spoke again. "Well, we had to see for ourselves… I mean, if we hadn't been here, you might have decided to re-enact the whole pottery scene, this time." He said, a smarmy grin slapped across his lips. Oh how she hated Howard, when he was like that, he'd gotten pretty good at burying the perverted side of himself, but on occasion he would crawl back out of his deep dark hole. Penny blushed and wondered what he meant. "This time?" she asked calmly. "Don't act dumb with me, missy. Sheldon told us what happened down in the laundry room on Saturday… not in so many words, but he told us. Besides, I saw you getting all cozy and holding his hand" He said with a suggestive wink and raj sighed dreamily.

"He held my hand. Not the other way around." Penny explained, trying and failing to keep the excited smile off her face. "You are welcome, by the way. I told him to comfort you, but I didn't think he'd do that, at most I thought you'd get an awkward pat on the shoulder" Howard told her. It took a little bit of magic out of the moment, that he hadn't done it completely off of his own back, but he had stopped her for what ever reason, when she tried to pull away. Penny shook her head tiredly; she knew they wouldn't be able to resist meddling, she had just hoped they could have held off a little longer.