Here's just a tiny chapter while things are pretty crazy here. A longer one will come soon!

Chapter Twenty-Five

Penny and Sheldon gathered up their things by the door and ate a quick breakfast in silence. Sheldon kept glancing at the woman beside him, wishing he could spill the secret that would make Penny smile and not look as if she were about to cry.

"Are you ready, Penny? The cab that will take us to the train station should be here shortly." He shuddered when he thought of having to sit in a cab, but it was only a short ride.

"I guess," she said and placed her empty plate on the table. Later, the maids would come in and clean the room. It would be as if they had never stayed the last few days there.

"I am sorry that we have to leave this place, Penny. I know how much you have enjoyed it here."

"It's not your fault," she said and gave him a small smile. "I consider myself lucky that I was given an opportunity to see this beautiful place. Now, I'm always going to want to come back."

"Maybe sometime in the future," Sheldon said and slipped his messenger's bag over his head. "The University seemed to like my lectures. It could be possible that they will ask me back here, again. I'd bring you along, of course."

"That would be amazing, Sheldon." She gave him a quick side hug, knowing how he felt about touch. Though, Sheldon wished she would just wrap her arms around him. "I'll start saving up, now, so that even if you don't get called back here anytime soon, we could go on vacation."

"That would be an acceptable idea," he said, glad that she didn't seem too sad, anymore. However, he couldn't want to see her reaction when she realized they would be going to Paris.

"Great!" She beamed. Together, they took their bags and went to wait for their cab.

They had been on the train for more than an hour. That Penny knew. She could have sworn that the trip from Frankfurt to Heidelberg hadn't taken them that long. She drummed her fingers on the table in front of her and glanced out the window at the scenery.

"Is something wrong, Penny?" Sheldon looked up from the comic book he had been reading to ask.

"We've just been on this train for awhile," she sighed. "I guess I'm getting a little restless." She had thought they would be on a plane to home, by now. Not that she was complaining that they weren't.

"We've been on the train for approximately one hour and forty-three minutes."

"That's a bit longer than last time, isn't it?"

"You are correct. We aren't going to the same airport as last time," he said, then quickly went back to his comic book. He had said too much.

"Where are we going then?" Penny leaned forward more on the table and Sheldon made sure to act as if something was capturing all of his attention at the moment.

"Sheldon."

"You'll just have to wait and see."

"Fine." Penny huffed and sat back in her seat as she crossed her arms over her chest. Sheldon was glad that she had seemed to give up easily. Though he could be just as stubborn as she, he didn't know how long he could have held out if she had kept pestering him.

"Nous arriverons à Paris prochainement." A woman announced over the intercom and Penny jolted upright in her seat. Had that been French? She had been used to the German announcements and this didn't sound like German.

"Sheldon." She nudged his leg under the table. About forty-five minutes earlier, he had shut the curtains covering the window, declaring that he had a headache and hoped to sleep it off for a little bit. Penny had huffed, annoyed, that the one thing that was keeping her from being bored was covered up, but she hadn't protested.

His eyes opened. "Yes?"

"The lady over the intercom said something in French, I think. I have no idea what she said, though."

"Have you been looking at that French dictionary I gave you?"

"No," she sighed. "We were in Germany, Sheldon. I was looking at my German one."

"I see. Well, the lady said that we would be arriving in Paris shortly, so I would suggest tha-"

"Wait! What? Did you just say we were arriving in Paris, shortly?"

"That's what I said." The corners of his mouth twitched, as if he was trying to contain a smile.

"We're going to Paris?" She practically screamed and when Sheldon nodded his head, she leapt over the table and gave him a fierce hug. He didn't mind at all and if his arms weren't trapped at the moment, he would have returned the embrace.

"Is that why you were acting so weird?" She asked, sitting back down in her chair. "You were keeping this from me."

"Yes, that is why. Though, I almost relented and told you about it when I saw that you got so distraught when you thought we were leaving Europe all together."

"I was distraught. I didn't want to leave. I was having such a good time and it made me forget the boring life I had at home."

"I hope you have just as good of a time in Paris as you did in Germany."

"I think I'll have an even better time! Do you want to know why?" She leaned her elbows forward on the table and fluttered her eyelashes at him. Sheldon felt his face grow warm.

"Why?"

"Because I'll have you all to myself, all the time. There's no lectures or meetings in Paris to take you away from my side."

Sheldon didn't say anything, actually at a loss for words. But he had to admit, knowing that, he knew that he would have a better time in Paris, as well.

"It's so beautiful!" Penny said in awe as they stood in the lobby of their hotel. Her pink suitcase laid against her legs and her head almost tilted all the way back to gaze up at the ceiling and the rest of the decor of the room.

"Unfortunately, it's not a five star hotel," Sheldon shuddered, thinking about all the reasons why the place hadn't been rewarded that last star. "But I suppose it will do for our stay."

They had to carry their own bags up to the room, which Penny seemed fine with. Sheldon was mildly annoyed by it, but at least he figured out why they didn't get that last star. Their room was on the third floor, leaving three floors on top of them. Sheldon had tried to get a top floor, so he wouldn't hear people trampling around over his head, but the rooms were all filled.

Penny slid the key into the slot and opened the door, a bright smile on her face. The room looked almost like the one in Germany, but was slightly bigger and had a balcony that overlooked some of the city.

"Unfortunately, the Eiffel Tower is behind us. You won't be able to see it from here," Sheldon said, placing his bag down by the door, neatly. Penny had thrown hers on the couch in her mad rush to the glass doors leading to the balcony

"I don't care!" She called back. "This place is perfect."

Sheldon figured that even if the hotel was a three-star hotel, Penny would have thought it perfect.

I took eight years of French and I'm NO WHERE near fluent, so if the translation above is incorrect that is all on me.

Thanks for reading!