Chapter 29
It was quite exciting to watch my friend, Howard Wolowitz, take off to be in space. It was something all of us had dreamed of in our formative years and to the present, but Howard had the opportunity to live that dream. I tried not to be envious of his good fortune, but I must admit to a bit of envy. After all, he only possessed a master's degree and yet he was selected to travel to the International Space Station?
Although, I must admit that Howard was always much smarter than one would think a man with only a Masters should be. Should he so desire, he could most certainly earn a doctorate. But for reasons known only to him, he chose to end his education there. It perplexed me, but Howard and I have always been very different men, both in our pursuit of knowledge and our pursuit of happiness in our personal lives.
Yet, Howard had managed to find a woman to love him despite his usual despicable behavior with the opposite sex. And Bernadette was an intelligent woman who had her own doctorate. Yet she loved him and had married him and pined for him when he went to space.
My friends believed that Penny might feel the same for me. Although I knew myself to be a superior human to most others, it was hard to accept that the attributes I brought to the relationship would be of lasting interest to a woman like Penny. I was also aware of the idiosyncrasies that some found annoying, though I simply considered them necessary to continue my life. But would Penny be willing to live with them in the long term?
(from the personal journal of Sheldon Cooper, PhD)
Penny hadn't seen Sheldon in three days with working all of the extra hours. She'd been working both Thursday and Friday evenings and when she worked late, she usually didn't bother him, since he needed his sleep. She had the lunch shift on Saturday, which was good, since that was their date night.
When she trudged up the stairs, it was late afternoon and she decided to stop in and see her boyfriend before she went to get a shower. She knocked on 4A and Leonard opened the door.
"Penny, thank God you're here!"
"Why? What's the matter?"
"It's your crazy boyfriend." He led her inside.
What she saw was astounding, but not surprising nor unfamiliar. The room was filled with white boards with equations covering them. Sheldon was in the middle of them, hastily scribbling on one of them, then moving quickly to another one to make a note.
"Uh-oh," she said. "How long has he been at this?"
"Since Thursday. Or more specifically, Friday morning. He woke up in the middle of the night and started in on it. He didn't go in to work, just kept at it. He hasn't eaten or been to bed since."
"Uh-oh," she said again. She saw that he was still wearing his Thursday pajamas, which she knew would upset him, but there were more important things to worry about now.
"I'm supposed to meet Nancy for dinner, but I was afraid to just leave him like this." Leonard told her.
"No problem. I'm on it. Just give me five minutes to go home and get some stuff.'
"Sure."
When she returned, she had an overnight bag with some clothes and her toiletries. With a quick thanks and goodbye, Leonard was out the door. She was actually surprised that he stayed as long as he did.
She went up to Sheldon and kissed him lightly on the cheek and said, "Hi, sweetie."
"Can't talk, Penny, too much work to do." He said without looking at her. But she was fine with that, because he knew she was there and that meant he wasn't too far off the deep end.
First she took her bag and went to the bathroom and took a long hot shower, then dressed casually in some sweats and a tank top. Next she went to the kitchen and opened the fridge to see what he had there. Bread and cheese – perfect!
She made a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches, then poured a glass of diet coke for Sheldon. She went to him and placed half of the sandwich in his hand.
"Eat, Sheldon." She ordered.
He barely registered the food in his hand, but he took a bite. She sat on the sofa with a magazine while she ate hers. After a few minutes, she looked at him and saw that he had finished the food in his hand. She got the coke, placed a straw in it and brought it to him.
She held out the glass and said, "Drink!"
He glanced at the glass, then took a sip from the straw. She put the glass on the coffee table and got the other half of the sandwich. She gave it to him and he took it absently, but he ate it. She held the glass for him again and he sipped some more soda. She put it back on the coffee table while he continued to work. But every now and then, he stepped back from his work and took another sip of soda.
A little later, she pulled out a package of cookies and again made him eat some of them and refilled his soda glass. She took out her laptop and did some surfing and online chats with friends. She window shopped some shoes and other things, but she couldn't buy anything. Money was really tight and she had promised Sheldon she'd be responsible with her money.
When she started to get tired, she closed her laptop, made sure food was put away and the kitchen cleaned up. Sheldon would have her head if she left a mess. Then she went to him.
"Come on, sweetie, time to go to bed."
"Too much to do."
"It'll be there later. Come on." She took the marker out of his hand and led him to the bathroom. "You can either do your business yourself or I can stay here and make sure you do."
He looked at her then and nodded. She stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her. She waited a few minutes and then when she heard the toilet flush, she opened the door again.
"Okay, brush your teeth and then bed." She stood there and watched as he did the task. Luckily he was so ingrained in his routines that he could do it without thinking too much about it. Which was good, since the entire time he did it, he was muttering numbers and equations.
When he'd finished, she led him out of the bathroom and into his bedroom. She thought about getting him to change, but at this point, the most important thing was that he get some sleep.
"Okay, sweetie, into bed."
"No, need to work."
"No, Sheldon, the work will be there tomorrow, but you won't if you don't get some sleep."
She pulled him to the bed, pulled back the covers and pushed him down. She got him settled in and covered up, but she knew his mind was still going.
She sat beside him on the bed. "Okay, sweetie, you need to go to sleep now."
"Can't sleep, too much to do."
"Not right now there isn't. You're going to sleep, understand?"
"But…"
She gently pushed his shoulders down to the bed and stroked his forehead. "Okay, I'm pulling out the big guns now."
She continued to stroke him, as she sang softly, "Soft kitty, warm kitty—"
"That's for when you're sick. I'm not sick."
"Oh, baby, yes you are. Now be quiet." She started the song again. She knew the rules. "Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur. Happy kitty, sleepy kitty, purr, purr, purr."
She continued to gently stroke him until he fell asleep, then she kissed him lightly on his forehead and left the room.
She felt weird going to sleep in Leonard's room – too many awkward memories – so she got a pillow and blanket and went to the sofa.
Sometime during the night, she was awakened by a sound and when she sat up she realized that Sheldon was back at his board. There was single lamp lighting his way. She looked at the clock – 4 AM – and decided to let him work a bit. But she lay back down and closed her eyes. No way was she getting up at that ungodly hour.
When she opened her eyes again, it was almost eight and Sheldon was still at it, but she could see the dark circles under his eyes. She got up and put some pop tarts in the toaster, then poured him a glass of milk.
She put the pop tart in his hand and ordered him, "Eat!"
He barely glanced at her, but he took the pop tart and munched on it while he worked. She sighed as she watched him. It was going to be a long day.
She spent it giving herself a manicure and pedicure, more online window shopping, reading magazines and watching every trashy reality show that Sheldon hated and refused to watch with her. All of that was interspersed with making sure he ate, drank and went to the bathroom.
When night came again, she got him into bed again. He didn't fight as much this time and fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. She kissed his forehead and pulled the covers up to tuck him in.
She got ready for bed herself, then settled into the sofa for a really corny romantic comedy.
When Sheldon opened his eyes, he was a little confused. It was brighter out than it should be. He glanced at his alarm clock and saw that it was 9:25.
"Oh, Lord!" he jumped out of bed, wondering why his alarm had been turned off. Then he glanced at his pajamas and realized they were dirty! He sat on the edge of his bed, trying to remember and process everything.
Then he remembered his work frenzy and relaxed a bit. It would be alright. But why was he in his bed? Usually when he did that, he just collapsed on the floor or, if he was lucky, the sofa. He stood up and walked to the door of his bedroom and out to the hall, then to the living room.
There he saw Penny asleep on the sofa and he remembered that she'd taken care of him. He smiled and turned back to the bathroom.
Half an hour later, he was in the kitchen, showered and dressed and making oatmeal. He also made a pot of coffee for her.
The smell of coffee brewing roused her from sleep. Before she opened her eyes, she thought briefly, who's making coffee? Maybe Leonard came home. Then she opened them and looked towards the kitchen where she saw Sheldon standing over the stove.
Oh, God, she thought, what now? She got up and went to the kitchen carefully.
"Sheldon?"
He turned and gave her a brief smile. "Good morning, Penny. I'm making oatmeal. Your coffee is ready I believe."
She walked up to him and looked in his eyes. They shone clear and oh so blue.
"Are you okay?"
"If you are referring to the work frenzy which I indulged in, yes, it is over for now and I am fine."
She ran her hand over his hair, needing to touch him to be sure.
"Really, Penny, I am fine. Although after reviewing my white boards, I found that I made quite a bit of progress. It should advance my work a great deal. Can I assume someone called the university to tell them I would not be there today?"
She nodded. "Leonard said he would. He called last night."
"Very well. I am sorry if my actions caused you any distress."
"No, not distress. I was just worried about you."
"Well, apparently you took care of me. I briefly remember receiving food from you and it was satisfying to awaken in my bed and not on the floor in front of my whiteboards. So I thank you for all of that."
"You're welcome, sweetie." She smiled, then reached up on her toes to kiss his mouth lightly.
"I do apologize for ruining your weekend and our date night as well."
"Those things happen. Hey, why don't we have a date morning instead? I have to work this afternoon, but we could eat breakfast, then you could do your laundry, which you missed on Saturday night and then we could watch a movie or something. Just like our Saturday night dates."
"Penny, it's Monday morning. I don't do my wash on Monday mornings."
"Well, you missed Saturday night. Are you going to wait until next Saturday?"
He thought about that. "No, I don't want to do that."
"Then, let's just pretend this is Saturday night and this breakfast is our dinner together. We'll eat and do our laundry. Then we can watch a movie. Or we could fool around."
There was a slight smolder in his eyes when she said that. She loved how she could get him excited.
He swallowed hard before saying, "Penny, it's morning. We engage in sexual intercourse in the evening."
"No rule says we can't do it now."
His mind was arguing with his libido as he considered it. Breaking routine was hard for him, she knew, but she could see the desire and so she pressed her advantage by going to him, putting her arms around him and kissing him hard.
"Let's eat,' she said huskily. "Then we'll see where the morning takes us."
