A/N: Welcome to a version of Season 3 where Penny & Leonard didn't make it work beyond one night. Welcome to a Christmas where the gang play Secret Santa. Welcome to a world where Shenny is possible ;)

Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Chuck Lorre, Bill Prady, and other folks that aren't me.

The Secret Santa Series XIII - Penny & Sheldon

Penny had to suppose it was Leonard's idea. It wouldn't be the first time he had tried to do something to her benefit without directly saying so, but he always got that look on his face when he did it. Ever since their almost getting together a few months ago, he had been trying his best to show Penny they should have made it stick past one night. It was his bad luck that she was already way over it.

He kept on trying though. There was that look on his face again that she knew so well. It was how she knew, that even though it was Howard who explained they were planning on doing Secret Santa this year, to save everybody a lot of time, effort, and money in the gift-giving, it just had to have been Leonard's suggestion. He would know how Penny struggled to come up with enough cash for gifts last year and hope to help her out this time around. She took the win, but gave him no credit for it. After all, he could just as easily have screwed up her plan.

The fact was, Penny had one of her Christmas gifts already bought. Well, bought maybe wasn't exactly the right word. It was a little more paid for than the napkin she got Sheldon last Christmas, which had cost her nothing more than a polite request and her best smile in the direction of one Leonard Nimoy. Still, the fact remained, she had a gift already stashed away in her closet, just waiting for some sparkly paper and a bow. It meant she had to do a little fancy footwork after they all drew names for Secret Santa.

The sigh she let out when she saw her piece of paper got Sheldon's attention from the other end of the couch.

"I know," he said, shaking his head. "Such a ridiculous waste of time, since not one of us is religious enough to even celebrate Christmas in the first place, but one can hardly call the event anything but Secret Santa. Saturnalia had no such figure."

"At least we're all saving a little time and money, right?" Penny said with a half-smile, contemplating first the paper in her hand and then each of the guys in her friendship circle. "That's good."

"I suppose," Sheldon agreed, though the expression on his face was odd to say the least.

That wasn't altogether a new thing. Sheldon looked weird a whole lot of the time, confused as he was by social conventions or whatever he called it when other people acted normal and baffled him beyond words. Penny smiled just thinking about it. He really was her favourite little weirdo.

Her second favourite was sat on the floor not too far away. A little peek over Raj's shoulder proved he had drawn Howard's name. Well, that should work out okay for him anyway. That meant either Leonard or Howard - who were both over by the kitchen counter talking - were her target. Penny wasn't sure which was worse to deal with in the circumstances. Watching them closely, she realised it was Wolowitz who looked most pained by the name he drew from the bag. Bingo.

"Penny, are you feeling well?" asked Sheldon then, catching her attention.

"Sure, sweetie, I'm fine," she promised him. "Why'd you ask?"

"You're smiling in the general direction of Wolowitz," he noted, frowning hard. "Unless you're imagining the best way to hog-tie and castrate him, I can't think what about him would evoke such a reaction in a woman of taste."

Penny was momentarily stunned by the compliment, but recovered fast enough.

"It's nothing, Sheldon," she promised, daring to pat him on the knee as she stood up. "Don't worry about it."

She got up to leave then and Sheldon watched her go, a warm feeling in his chest that he would never admit to in a million years. Penny was special, in some abstract, inexplicable way that he couldn't quite explain in any sort of scientific way. She was the first and only woman he had ever met in his life that had made him feel this way, more so now than ever before. He had no idea what to do about it, therefore, so far at least, he had done nothing. Well, except for buy her a very particular Christmas gift that he was delighted to know he could now give to her without too much fuss being caused.

When Leonard suggested Secret Santa, using the convincing argument that none of them liked shopping and Sheldon never enjoyed gift giving either, he had to agree to it, finding he had no suitable rebuttal to make. Of course, he had started wishing, albeit pointlessly, that he would pull Penny's name from the bag, given that he already had her gift purchased and wrapped. Apparently, wishes could come true sometimes, even if Sheldon did know it was all chance and coincidence in reality. Still, it had been a one-in-five chance of his getting her name and it had happened without any intervention necessary. Sheldon chose not to examine it too closely.

When it came to Penny, there was a lot that he refused to think on too much or look at in too much detail. It never did him any good, even when he did try. Why her smiles made his stomach flip. Why he was never quite as bothered by her touches as anyone else's attempts to make contact. Why knowing she and Leonard had tried to be closer than friends and it hadn't worked gave him a strange feeling akin to hope. There were always these questions, but there were never any answers that made sense.

"Happy with your choice, Sheldon?" asked Leonard as he returned to the couch.

"I would hardly call a name drawn at random a choice, Leonard," he told his friend, rolling his eyes, immediately getting up and walking away to his room.

There was no need to be so snippy and he knew it, but sometimes, Sheldon couldn't help himself. That was another thing he wasn't wondering about any more than he absolutely had to. Better to focus on things he did understand. Sheldon pushed the piece of paper bearing Penny's name into his pocket and picked up a comic book to read instead, to while away the time.

For the first time in years, Sheldon wished Christmas would come more quickly than normal time allowed. A week suddenly seemed like forever.


It hadn't taken much to get what she wanted. Penny was used to using either her looks and charms or threats of violence to get her way, but this time, things had been a little different. After all, as much as Wolowitz would have tried to get what he could out of her for any favour she asked of him, he couldn't even try this time. Not when he was dating her good friend, Bernadette. Not when he was just so desperate to not have to buy Sheldon a Christmas gift. Switching Secret Santa giftees came so easy, Penny didn't even break a sweat, just congratulated herself on a job well done and waited the few days necessary for Christmas Eve to roll around.

Of course, they all convened at Leonard and Sheldon's place for the gift giving. She wore her Santa hat for the occasion, just as she had last year. Though she lived closest, she was the last to arrive, something Sheldon felt the need to comment on as she walked in the door.

"The best is always saved for last," said Leonard with a grin a mile wide.

"Actually, the best is yet to come," Sheldon corrected him. "At least according to Shakespeare."

"And Tina Turner was Simply the Best," Howard threw in. "Now, did we cover all the references? Because I thought we were here for gifts."

Raj leaned over to whisper in his ear then and Howard huffed.

"I'm not being a Grinch, but I told my mom I was going to the corner store and if I'm not back soon there are going to be questions, and then, the truth will come out. Do you know what happens to Jewish boys who play in Secret Santa?" he asked with a look.

Nobody bothered to hazard a guess. It just wasn't worth it.

"Okay, presents!" said Penny happily, rushing to the tree where they were all safely stashed.

Since it was Secret Santa, nobody ought to know who bought what, and so, with labels duly attached to say who they were for, the gifts had been slipped under the tree in the past few days, all without anyone else seeing who left what behind. Penny took it upon herself to hand around the gifts and then they all sat in their usual spots, tearing into the shiny paper on each gift.

Penny wasn't bothering too much about her own present. She already knew that Howard hadn't pulled her name, since she traded him for Sheldon, and Raj had drawn Wolowitz himself. That meant Leonard probably bought her gift, on purpose, no doubt, so she was probably better off not knowing. Instead, her eyes were focused on Sheldon as he prised open the box lid and peered inside at his own Christmas surprise.

"Aren't you going to open yours, Penny?" Leonard asked then, even as he made a face at his own underwhelming gift.

"Oh, sure," she said, forcing a smile as she tore into the wrapping. "Huh, a football jersey. The Huskers," she said, trying not to sound like she was underwhelmed, but of course, she did already have one of those.

It was only when she held the shirt up higher that she realised it wasn't just another jersey. There was black writing scrawled on one side of the chest. A signature. She could hardly believe her eyes.

Before she had much of a chance to react, there was a commotion. Penny let the shirt fall back into the box, it dropping like a curtain and revealing Sheldon, backed up so far into the corner of the couch, he almost disappeared.

"Sheldon?" said Leonard carefully. "What's wrong?" he asked, peering down into the box his friend had abandoned onto the coffee table. "Oh, Detective Comics, number thirty-eight. First appearance of Dick Grayson's Robin," he said, looking to Penny and clearly feeling the need to explain. "He has that already."

"Yeah, I guess so," said Penny softly, scrambling to her feet and making a hasty exit.

For the second time in a week, Sheldon watched her go and wished to follow. This time, he gave in to the urge, grabbing up his gift as he went. He didn't stop when Leonard called his name, just rushed right out the door, slamming it shut behind him.

"Penny?"

She stopped at her own door and looked back at him cautiously, not saying a word. That meant he was going to have to be the one who knew what to say. Sheldon wasn't good at that, never up on the correct social protocol, and certainly not in a situation like this. Best to stick to what he was good at perhaps, just stating the facts as he knew them.

"I know it was Secret Santa," he said pointedly, "but all my other friends know I have this comic book already," he said, waving the thin volume in his hand, "and I can't imagine any would take the trouble of getting such a signature on a copy of it. Not for me, in any case."

Penny smiled, though the happiness that ought to go with it didn't reach her eyes or light up her face like it usually would.

"I actually wasn't so sure it was a good idea," she said, leaning her back against her door, hugging her own gift to her chest without even seeming to realise she was doing it. "I wanted the guy who wrote the book or drew the pictures or whatever, but apparently they're both dead, so..."

"Yes, that would make it an impossible task." Sheldon nodded. "Bob Kane died in 1998, Bill Finger back in 1974."

"So I'm told." Penny nodded. "Stuart told me," she explained, proving that Sheldon looked as confused as he felt. "It was him that helped me with the book. I mean, you've mentioned your Robin collection before, more than once. I asked him what the first issue was, you know, with the original guy, and we talked about me being able to get something signed. He did all the leg work."

"Even so, the money involved would be prohibitive for a woman working at the Cheesecake Factory," said Sheldon, eyes moving from Penny's face to the comic book in his hands. "An autograph could be obtained without charge, as you did last year with Leonard Nimoy, I suppose, but the comic book itself, in this condition..."

"It wasn't so much." Penny waved away his concern with one quick movement of a hand. "I... I kind of did Stuart a couple of favours - nothing sexual or gross," she insisted quickly, not that Sheldon ever would've accused her of that. "He just needed a date to a wedding and a party. He wanted to look cool in front of his family and friends, that's all. Guess we all want that sometimes, huh?"

Sheldon nodded absently, still a little overwhelmed.

"Thank you, Penny," he said at last. "I am very grateful for my gift."

"Yeah, well, me too," she said, nodding her head. "Sheldon, you did...? I mean, this shirt... There's no way anybody else would've..."

"I bought it," he admitted then. "I hope the autograph is appropriate. I'm afraid my knowledge of current college football is decidedly lacking, and even when I was aware of the team rosters, it was Texas colleges that were my focus, out of obvious necessity."

Penny smiled and this time she did look like she was more genuinely happy. That was a relief and a blessing too, Sheldon thought.

"Ndamukong Suh is absolutely the right guy to sign this shirt," she assured him. "I was more worried about the autograph on your comic book. I mean, isn't that like crossing the feeds? The guy from the TV show signing the comic book?"

"Penny, Burt Ward was a classic Robin. His signature is welcome on any piece of Batman memorabilia in my collection."

When he smiled at her then, Penny felt her heart skip in her chest. She had made him happy again. It always thrilled her to manage such a feat, though it had taken a while to realise exactly why that was. It was a lot to admit, even to herself, that she just liked him that much. Leonard was nice enough, as was Raj, and she could even bear to like Wolowitz some days, as a friend and no more, obviously. Sheldon was different, everybody knew that, but Penny's feelings for him were different to anything she had ever felt before too. She sort of hoped he would figure it out eventually, with that massive brain of his, but this kind of thing wasn't really his strong suit and she was starting to lose hope.

"Penny," he said then, eyes meeting hers and fixing her to the spot with the intensity of his gaze. "It seems to me that you might have deliberately ensured that you were my Secret Santa, and I am willing to admit that if I had not drawn your name by chance, I may have found some way to make it so, somehow."

"Really? You'd have made it so, Jean-Luc Picard?" she teased him lightly, knowing it would please him that she even knew such a reference, feeling proud of herself that she did. "Sheldon, it almost sounds like you might be trying to tell me that you like me. Is that what this means?" she checked, gesturing with the shirt in her hands, meaning the gift as much as determination to give it to her today.

"I think that's what it means," he admitted, nodding his head, taking one step towards her as she did the same from her side. "I have to admit that there is no scientific explanation for any of this. I find myself quite at a loss to explain what has been happening to me lately. In fact, I think I may have been struggling with it since the first day you moved in across the hall."

Another step forward each brought them within a few short feet of each other. Yet, nobody spoke. Penny wanted to. More than that, she wanted Sheldon to. She supposed she was going to have to get used to being the one that pushed forward ahead of her man on these things. It probably wouldn't be so bad.

"Thank you for my shirt," she said, smiling slightly. "After last year, I'm guessing it's okay, right?" she checked, arms already reaching out to hug him.

Though he stiffened a little as she drew nearer, he did nod his consent, moments before she actually touched him. Penny put her arms around Sheldon and felt his own slip around her too. It was oddly familiar for something that had only happened once before, though they had been closer than this in other ways since then, not least when he had to help dress her after her slip in the shower weeks before.

A hug was at least previously explored territory. When Penny pulled back a little and tilted her head back to meet Sheldon's eyes, she wished it was as simple to initiate a thank you kiss too. Parting her lips, the request right there ready to be spoken, she never needed to find the words.

"Thank you for my comic book, Penny," said Sheldon softly, leaning down a little. "I know we don't have any mistletoe out here, but since that's hardly necessary..."

"Sheldon, I love the whole gentleman thing as much as the next girl, but could you please just kiss me right now?"

Though he looked nervous about it, it didn't take him long to comply, and maybe he wasn't the best kisser in the whole world, but that was okay. Penny could help him with that. In fact, she would love to be given the chance to try. The fact that Sheldon didn't let up from kissing her for quite while seemed to prove he would be a willing student.

"Wow," she said when they finally parted. "Was that all thanking me for the gift?"

"No," he told her easily. "Penny, I think I've been wanting to do that for a long time."

"You think maybe you're going to want to do it again any time soon?" she checked.

Sheldon looked thoughtful for a moment. "Yes. I believe so. It is much more pleasant with you than with Leonard's mother"

Penny laughed, she couldn't help it, and she couldn't think of anything to say in response, except maybe one thing.

"Merry Christmas, Sheldon."

"Merry Christmas, Penny," he replied with a smile, and then, much to her delight, he kissed her again.


Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight ;)

(or best wishes for whatever else you celebrate!)