I apologize for the delay but so much is happening right now, that I didn't even realize how time passed by so quickly. With the things going on right now, I'm actually shocked that I actually got this done. And that this chapter is horrible and is probably the worst of all of the chapters I've ever written. Also this slightly centered around James. kind of like his closure. I'm not sure if you'll like it, but it is closure but he will appear again. And there's more to Chloe's story that won't be resolved til the very last chapter! And no, she isn't bad.

Moving on, I'm looking for angst fics, cause i LOVE me some angst fics. Oh and I'm anticipating how season 7's first episode will be- with, or without Leonard? But eh, I'm just enjoying this as it is. Really glad that Raj can talk now, but it kinda ruins the fun on how he's the silent guy when girls are around. But character development is good every now and then.

I also apologize for featuring Gregg and Bailey more than the actual gang. It's just that, it's way more easier for me to write them since they're my characters, and nothing they do can possibly OOC, unlike the others. The first part heavily features Gregg and Bailey and as I call them, the holy Graile. Pun intended.

Disclaimer: No, this is unbeta'd, so don't get mad when you see errors. Only the original characters and plot is mine, everything else belongs to Chuck Lorre.

Raj blinked as he entered the apartment, watching as the others indulged themselves in awkward silence. Howard stared at Bernadette while Gregg and Bailey inspected their nails.

The silence was killing them, and they still didn't understand what the hell was happening. They had all received a text from Penny saying that she needed to talk to them immediately. Thinking that it was an emergency, they all raced over there and discovered that instead of seeing an accident, they were met by each other and their new friend, awkward silence.

"So..." Amy started, rubbing her hands on the edge of her skirt, "I assume you all received the hazardous message from Penny?"

"I want you guys to all come here as quickly as you can?" Bernadette said, earning a nod of approval from the neuroscientist. Bailey huffed, "she better make sure that this is important. I have an appointment in an hour, and I said that there was a family crisis." Gregg glared at Bailey, "tone down the negativity, girl. You're draining the hope from this room and making things worse. This could be about anything."

"Don't start with me, Gregory." Bailey warned, her gaze lifting as Penny exited her room, "Honestly, Penny, don't invite people over then leave them in insufferable silence."

Penny held her hands up, "I'm sorry about worrying you guys, I really have something important to tell you, I'm just waiting for Leonard and Sheldon to return." She sat herself on Sheldon's spot earning a shocked look from both Raj and Howard, "Penny, I know you're roommates and all, but I think that would change if he sees you there." Howard cautiously said. He knew how Sheldon would react if someone was stubborn enough to NOT move from his seat, and he did not call in late for work just to see that.

"No it's okay Howard, I'll handle it." She reassured him, causing Howard to roll his eyes.

"We're sorry we're late," Leonard said as he and Sheldon entered the apartment, "someone just had to get donuts." Sheldon glared at him as he made his way to the kitchen, "it is not my fault that they seemed delicious. And with that free donut we got in line, our tests proved that it is delicious." He gestured to the donuts, "once you wash your hands, feel free to get some."

"Now that barf boy is here, can you finally tell us why the hell you called us here?" Bailey complained as Bernadette gave Penny a sympathetic look, "like Gregg said don't mind Bailey, you know how she is." The dark haired lady shook her head, frowning at her friends, "sometimes I feel like all of you are against me, you know." Gregg patted her shoulder, giving her a soft smile, "oh darling it isn't just sometimes, it's most of the time."

Penny quickly latched onto Bailey's arm, stopping her from strangling their gay best friend. This was actually a very normal thing in their group of friends, and it really meant no harm. She just didn't want Bailey's nail to get stuck in Gregg's skin again. "Let's just calm down okay, I still have something very important to announce." She sighed as Bailey glared at Gregg, "you're lucky that I love you." Gregg nodded, "I can say the same about you, darling."

Penny bolted from her, rather, Sheldon's spot, and quickly made her way to Sheldon. He placed his donut down, grabbing a tissue and wiping his hands before rigidly standing beside the blonde. "Sheldon and I have something to tell you guys..."

They were quickly met by a squeak from Raj and a gasp from Howard, "No, this can't be true!" Howard and Raj's eyes widened as they turned to Leonard, who had been smugly smirking the whole time.

"We're together now," Penny softly said, slowly intertwining her hand with Sheldon's. "Must we really hold hands? I thought we talked about this-"

"YOU CHEATED!" Howard exclaimed, furiously standing up and pointing a finger to Leonard. "YOU KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN!"

"Whats happening?" Amy asked in confusion, staring up at Raj and Howard who both looked extremely pissed. Leonard chuckled taking a plastic bag from behind him, "Not only did I get your Invincible Iron Man collection, but I also got your pass to use the new NASA equipment at the lab," Leonard felt Sheldon glaring at him, "I meant Sheldon and I get the pass." Sheldon nodded, happy with the compromise. "Cough up the money, boys," Leonard grinned. Raj shook his head as he and Howard made their way to the table, pulling out bills from their wallet and throwing it on top. "I knew that we shouldn't have made this bet!"*

Gregg and Bernadette gave the new couple words of support and joy, while Bailey remained... bored. "I knew this would happen at one point and believe me when I say that we all wanted this to happen," Bernadette remarked. Bailey yawned, "no, cant say that I thought the same." Amy nodded her head in agreement, "Yes, I too, have seen this coming. I'm very glad that you found happiness in Sheldon, bestie, but," Sheldon raised an eyebrow, waiting for Amy to continue, "don't you think that you should go for someone a bit more Hollywood? That isn't James of course."

"Are you implying that I am not good enough for Penny?" Sheldon questioned, his eyes slightly narrowed. "Not per se," the neuroscientist started, "but I've always imagined bestie to be with a tall, handsome, charming and charismatic man from Hollywood. But I must say, squinting a little, you do make a good match."

Penny was about to say something, but quickly decided not to and simply cleared her throat. "Okay, that was odd... But I still have one more thing to say to you guys-"

"What, don't tell me you're pregnant?" Bailey asked in irritation. "Bailey," Gregg warned, his eyebrows furrowed. The model threw her hands up in the air allowing Penny to continue, "no, Bailey I'm not pregnant, I'm sure." She then ignored the look of confusion on her boyfriend's face and proceeded with her announcement, "well, I got a call from Mr. Fleming the other day and he told me that... I got the lead part in his new show."

Sheldon was slightly shaken as the girls, and Gregg, leapt from their respective seats and pulled Penny into a tight hug, effectively knocking him to the side. He shook his head before grabbing his neglected donut and sitting happily on his spot. "Women and their emotions," he hissed, angrily eating his donut. Howard turned to him with a knowing look on his face, "who knew that our very own doctor Cooper had the guts to get a girlfriend, eh Raj?"

Raj sighed deeply, he was still depressed about the fact that Sheldon had gotten a girlfriend before him. Sadly, as a hopeless romantic, his heart was fluttering at the fact that Sheldon and Penny had gotten together. He had wanted this to happen since he first met Penny. He wished that Penny and her group of friends would finally leave so that he could finally express his conundrum with the 'Shenny.'

"Oh come on, Howard, don't act like you didn't see this coming," Leonard told him, happily collecting the money he had gotten from the other two. Howard narrowed his eyes, "you're only saying that cause you won the bet. Lucky bastard." The experimental physicist grinned, "that and it's kinda cool how i got them together."

Sheldon mentally sighed as each group of friends busied theirselves with a topic of their own; the boys with how Leonard cheated on their so called bet, and the girls, and Gregg, with how happy they were for Penny. Unfortunately for him, he hadnt really been in the mood for such exuberance the others conveyed, and that was due to a thought that had flashed through his head. It had bugged him since he and Leonard went out to get Howard's comic book collection, and it still hadn't stopped. He really didn't know how things went in Penny's 'hollywood' and even with the math done, he still couldn't see the possible outcomes of his problem.

He wondered if it was possible for Chloe to help him.

"Its been confirmed that by James Watson's team that he and Penny broke up."

Harvey raised an eyebrow, "really? But weren't they just seen together at one of their press conferences?"

"They were but look at this," the screen changed to show a video of James outside of a restaurant. James rolled his eyes as the cameraman asked him how he and Penny were doing. "I don't think I have to answer that question, lad."

"Does that mean that you and Penny have broken up?"

James face went blank for a moment before he narrowed his eyes and started walking away, "like the first one, I'm not gonna answer that," he shook his head then glared at him, "but just a hint, the rainbows and butterflies have left the building. It was nice talking to you guys but I have to go. Cheers, mate."

"Did he just quote She Will Be Loved by Maroon 5?"

"Wait there's more," The screen then showed a picture of Penny together with a tall unknown man, "and via his twitter account, James posted this picture with the caption of 'well... cheaters got to cheat. Cant trust em' A lot of cameramen have also released more pictures of those two together, but none of them were clear on the guy's face."

"Where was this photo taken?"

"It was taken in Texas earlier last week. Some of our cameramen also got shots of Penny leaving LAX without any baggage. I'm guessing that this mysterious man of his left earlier and they escaped off on a secret rendesvous."

"Has Penny made any comment about this? Has she confirmed that they have broken up? I mean these are all from James."

"No she hasn't, but I'm sure that she'll respond to her former flame's accusations sooner or later. I mean who doesn't get mad when you're called out as a cheater?"

"But that picture looks innocent, you know. They're just standing beside each other- I don't see how that's cheating."

"Well I'm sure that they've broken up. Cheating or not, that James guy has pretty bad breath!"

"What the hell, James?" Penny growled as she threw the remote at her costar who simply rolled his eyes, "are you really that low? Cause this is low, even for you!"

"Relax, I just confirmed that we broke up," he calmly said, "you're free."

"Oh so the price of being," she brought her hands up to do an air quote, "free is being called as a cheater? Really James, really?" Penny had woken up to various tweets and comments either hating on her or supporting her. She really wasn't that affected but she hated how people were turning against her without even knowing the WHOLE story. Sure she 'broke up' with James on the same day that she and Sheldon got together, but her and James weren't even together! And yeah they kissed in public but come on, that's the only thing they did on the show- it doesn't mean that it meant something to her. This was why she didn't want to even agree with the publicity thing in the first place, because she knew that one way or another she'd be made the bad guy.

"People have been tweeting me since 4 AM calling me a slut and a whore for 'breaking your heart'- which I didn't do! Cause we weren't even in a real relationship, James, why can't you forget that?"

James crossed his arms, mumbling "it could've meant something to me."

Penny's eyes grew wide before quickly narrowing, "oh so now it means something to you! Honestly James, what do you want from me? I thought you're this big shot actor that made me famous? If that's true then why the hell are you running after me?"

The British man stood still, his face scrunched up as he thought of what he was about to say. "You're ruining my reputation, Penny." He drawled, his eyebrows furrowing. Penny stepped back, an eyebrow raised, "your reputation? YOUR REPUTATION? Bullshit, James! You're not the one who has been receiving death threats and being called a cheater even though we weren't even together- sure no one knew that but, how am I ruining your reputation, huh? And you better make it the damn best explanation you can give, asshole."

James sighed, his grey eyes settling on her green ones, "they think I'm gay."

Penny's laughter died as she realized that they weren't the only ones in the room. James quickly straightened his posture, his glare reaching everyone laughing at him, "there's nothing funny about it. They think you cheated on me cause I was gay, and they think that I suck in the sack- and it's not funny, okay?!" He exclaimed as the rest of the cast continued their laughter. "Yeah laugh now, but we'll see who get the last laugh when you're all dried up has beens looking for a job while I am still in the peek of my career!"

"You brought this on yourself, son," the director said as he emerged from the crowd, "if you weren't so narcissistic and self obsessed to accept that she broke up with you this wouldn't have turned on you. You were just too afraid that people will pity you cause she dumped you and not the other way around. We're also sick and tired of you thinking that you're better than all of us." The director turned to the rest of the cast, and Penny, who had been nodding in agreement, "I've seen that the whole Gen and Geoffrey thing is the new fan favorite, but maybe it's time I take a spin on things. And with the new show Penny and I are working on, this will probably be the end of your pairing."

The blonde turned to the director with wide confused eyes, "I'm stepping down from director and will just stay as executive producer. I know that this will be tough for you guys but it'll be alright," the director sniffed as he prepared the speech of his farewell to the show he'd created and worked on for seven years, "but it's alright, I'll still be here just not as I used to."

"I can't believe you just used our fight to weasel your farewells to the cast," Penny accused, causing the old director to laugh, "well I couldn't think of anything else to say so I guess that it was time for them to know about it, don't you think?" The blonde shook her head laughing along with the director, "I'm not forgiving you for this yet, ruining my confrontation with James." He chuckled one last time before pointing towards a very quiet James. He pushed her towards him before making his way to the other actors who immediately flung themselves on him.

James snorted, "yeah well, you wouldn't even have won that battle."

Penny sighed again, "James, honestly, whats done is done. I've said everything I have to say to you. And yeah you're still an arrogant, egotistical, asshole but can we at least settle this? I mean, we never had feelings for each other, don't lie to me, so there shouldn't be anything wrong with us being friends." She placed a hand on his shoulder, "we're still friends, James. And if you don't believe me, we were friends even before everything. Why can't we be friends now?"

James took a deep breath, a small smile forming on his lips, "I guess. But I mean, I guess I did overreacted. But you did humiliate me, Penny, I'm known as a playboy- the man who went through women like water, the one whose standards were higher than gods. And now just because of you there are several blogs dedicated about me how I'm gay and stuff... and it bothers me."

"James, you know that you're not gay, so why would it bother you?"

Silence.

Penny's eyes grew wide as she slowly stepped back, a hand covering her mouth that had fallen agape, "no!" He weakly nodded, closing his eyes as he uttered something he had feared of saying since he was twelve, "I'm gay, it's true." Penny's mouth closed as she saw the fear and hurt in James' eyes, "hey I'm not disappointed or what im, just really, really shocked, that's all!" The Brit softly chuckled, "that's the reason why I didn't have any long term relationships with any of the girls I've dated- is cause I'm gay and don't want to lie to myself. So I set up a facade of this rude, asshole because even I was scared to face the truth. Then came the opportunity of pretending to be your boyfriend- it was my idea. I knew that you didn't have any feelings for me at all, so I knew that it would work. I apologize for being an asshole, but like I said it was the mask I was forced to wear."

"But why were you so mean to Sheldon?"

"It's the facade, and mostly the fact that I forced myself to believe that I'm not gay and that I did like girls. But it went too far, and I'm really not normally like that. I just decided to build a wall around me, to protect myself. I'm also extremely sorry for using you as a beard, Penny, I can't say that I didn't really want to use you, but I regret it. I just wasn't ready, you know, and now that I've told you, it feels like something has been removed off my chest, I feel lighter."

"James, I," she started, trying to find the right words to say, "you don't have to be afraid. People will love you for who you are, trust me, and though I can't say that I love you, but now that I know who you are, I just might." She patted his cheek, smiling up at him. He gave her a warm smile, "thank you, Penny. I guess I could clear your name, it would probably clear my conscience-"

"No, James, don't do it for me, do it for yourself," she ordered before walking away.

James took one last deep breath and smiled, "I will."

"And you're only telling me this, now?" Chloe growled, gripping her glass of orange juice as Sheldon blinked. "It's been a week since you've been together, and you think that I'd be happy?"

"I apologize, I didn't thin-"

"Apology not accepted!" She interrupted, narrowing her eyes at him, "I can't believe you didn't tell me! I'd expect this from anyone but not you." Sheldon sighed, he really didn't understand why Chloe was so infuriated with this. They only told their friends a week after they got together which was two days ago, and he still couldn't get why she was so mad,

"Chloe, I am still appalled at why you're acting this way. May you please explain as to why you are being ballistic?" He said in a calm manner, he had known Chloe long enough to know that when she's acting this way, you must 'understand' her. Women, they were always a puzzlement to him.

"As your personal advisor I would very much appreciate it if you tell me if my advice worked or not," Chloe complained, scowling at him, "maybe the next time that you ask for advice I should charge you." She straightened her posture and folded her hands under her chin, "so, did you see the news about you and Penny?"

"I beg your pardon but, what news?" He asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

Chloe smiled, "the one that Penny had supposedly cheated on James with a mysterious, tall dark haired man who she went with to Texas," she grabbed her purse, gabbing her phone and showing him the article, "I know the back of your head like the back of my hand. Besides with your stupid choice of clothing, it'd be impossible not to recognize you." Chloe stated matter-of-factly.

Sheldon frowned, "It's not a stupid choice of clothing! And didn't you once tell me that it was pleasing on me," he looked down at his attire for the day- his gray and black batman shirt over his light blue long sleeved shirt. He thought the colors suit each other, Penny didn't seem to mind at all. Maybe it was just another one of the many confusions with women.

Chloe laughed softly, recalling the time she and Sheldon went shopping for clothes. Sheldon had brought her to a superhero novelty shop and went nuts on the variety of shirts he could get. It took about an hour and a half for Sheldon to decide that he want all of them, which was ironic how when she asked him to go shopping with one, he said something about women and taking hours to choose one shirt. She shook her head, meeting Sheldon's distressed face. He probably wondered why she suddenly spaced out. "Yeah well I just said that to be nice," she teased smiling up at him, "and besides, I'm sure Penny would agree with me when I say that it's time for you to change a few shirts. A few one layered attires won't hurt ya, Sheldon."

Sheldon stared at her before sighing, "you know how much I hate change, right, Chloe? I don't think I shall be entertaining your suggestion anytime soon."

"Alright, alright," Chloe started, "so hows the dealing with James thing? I mean with the way he started bashing on Penny via twitter he must be furious." He thought for a moment, "I'm not sure, I haven't talked to Penny since this morning when we received endless amounts of phone calls from random people." Chloe's face dropped, she knew how popular James was, and she knew where this was heading, "Penny answered all of them- though I don't know how they got our number- and it seemed like Penny wasn't very ecstatic about those calls. She used to love it when someone called for her."

The surgeon groaned, it was times like this when she was truly irritated at Sheldon's lack of knowledge on anything streetwise. "Sheldon they weren't calling to tell Penny how much they adored her, they were calling to insult her." Sheldon eyes widened, shocked with this new piece of information, "But why? Why would they hate on her- yes she is a community college dropout but unless your IQ is above 140, that is no reason to anathematize her!" He frowned again before looking up at her, "Chloe, do you know what I can do about this? I'm not as educated in this 'hollywood' life as you and am certainly dumbfounded on how this has gone to the extreme. I'm sure you can teach me? I don't want to see Penny be hurt like this, I want to do something to... help her."

Chloe blinked at him, her mouth opening slightly to tell him that it's none of her business. She was about to tell him exactly that, but then he saw that 'koala face' he kept complaining about and knew that she was defeated. She sometimes hated herself for still being involved with Sheldon and it was silly to think that he might change his mind about her. That it was possible for something inevitable to be not happen, but hey, she could dream, right? And besides, a brilliant physicist once said, if you can go for it, do it, don't settle for less, reach for the stars, because you can if you try.

"Listen carefully, okay?"

"So James, I'm so sorry about you and Penny's breakup, have you moved on from it?"

James bit back a scowl, turning to the interviewer and giving her a bright smile, "it's all water under the bridge to be honest. I'm not over her, I won't be over her so quickly. But we do have a great friendship, and that's something we're not letting go."

"Oh, but wouldn't that be awkward with her cheating on you with the mysterious man in that picture?"

He chuckled, "I've forgive everything she's done, and to be honest, you can never blame someone for loving someone else. Some might be against my opinion but, you don't choose who you love, right? You don't just go into a room full of people and say eenie, meanie, minie, mo and say that you're in love with them. It's not that easy, because love, it just happens and you won't be able to explain it no matter how hard you try. Like I said you can't choose who, or what you love, it just comes naturally."

"Those were very deep and meaningful words, James. Does this mean that you too, have found someone you love? A new lucky girl who has caught your affection"

James shifted in his seat, licking his lips. It was time for him to be free, he had to do this for himself, for Penny, and most for himself. He took a deep breath, and finally allowed the two words he'd dread of saying go naturally from his lips, "I'm gay." Once the words slipped out of his mouth, he finally felt like he could breathe. He smiled softly at the interviewer who now had her mouth wide open, "you're what?"

"I'm gay," he proclaimed more confidently, "I like guys, yes it's true, the rumors that have surfaced are all true. And it feels great to finally get that off my chest, I feel as light as a feather!" Sensing that relief from his words, the interviewer smiled bright, "I'm glad that you finally got that out. That wasn't a very easy thing to do,"

He shook his head, "no it wasn't, but I'm glad that it's over and done with."

Leonard's jaw started to go numb as he, Howard and Raj watched the latest interview about James. They had initially decided to watch it to report to Penny what lies he would spread next but they were met by James finally coming out of the closet. He closed his mouth and turned to Raj who had spilled his beer on his shirt, "was it just me or did you guys hear that James say that he was gay?"

Raj nodded quickly, wiping the beer from his chin, "that was quite the turn of events if I may say so myself." He tapped a finger over his chin wondering, "why are the hot ones always the gay ones?" Leonard stared at him in confusion as Howard picked the remote off from the floor, the one he had thrown when James spoke. "If I thought that things couldn't get odder with Sheldon and Penny finally getting together then I was wrong. This is really the highlight of my year." He turned to his two friends, "Should we tell Sheldon? I mean he'll be thrilled."

Leonard shook his head, "nah, he's out with Chloe again today. They had met up yesterday to plan about the traveling concerns for the convention today, you know the one that got pushed back? It would probably ruin the fun of their little hangout, it can wait."

"Are you sure?" Raj asked.

"Absolutely. It's time for Sheldon to find things out by himself," Leonard stated, chuckling as he grabbed the remote from Howard's hands, "he's a big boy, and a little secret won't hurt."

*they made bets during Chapter 18: The Gold Realization

So the whole James thing huh? Did any of you see that coming, cause I didn't. Really, when I was typing the part with Penny and James it suddenly popped up in my mind. And the whole Chloe thing, yes that's right, she still has feelings for Sheldon. I'm sorry you hate me, I know, but I don't think it takes a minute to just move on from someone especially if you hangout as often as Sheldon and Chloe do.

No worries, she won't get in the way of our Shenny, and this whole new hidden arc with her is needed for the coming chapters. The next chapter will feature Sheldon and Penny's first date. But just a warning, nothing in this fic is rainbows and butterflies, I still want it to be in touch with reality and be as realistic as possible.

So yeah, thanks for still reading. I've finally found the motivation I lost and am 100% motivated to finish this! Though I still might not update as often. So leave a review! (Wow it's been a while since I said that huh?" But I doubt anyone still reads this fic.