Chapter Three

Sheldon's mind raced (more so than usual) as he stared at the two pieces of paper in his hands. Both had his name and both were written in Penny's flowy handwriting. One had been given to him by Penny, and the other was found on the couch.

Both must have come from Penny's hat. But if that was the case, then had she lied? Penny said that each piece of paper had a name on it, though she hadn't specified who's name were on them. However, she had also told Howard that he had had a chance of going with her to New York.

Tucking the pieces of paper, he walked back out his bedroom door. The only way to get to the bottom of this was to ask Penny herself.

Penny's heart hadn't stopped beating fast since the moment she had given Sheldon her last hug of the night. Walking to her bedroom was like floating on air (and yes, she knew how cliche that sounded and didn't care). The two of them would be spending the weekend in New York meeting famous people.

Slipping of the ballcap, the smile instantly faded when she saw only two pieces of paper inside. There was supposed to be three. Crap.

Maybe she had dropped on her way to the room. Frantically, she followed her tracks back to the door, glad she had thought to clean up her apartment a bit, but didn't find the scrap of paper. Maybe it was in the hallway. Hopefully, Sheldon had walked right past it, thinking it was trash and unwilling to touch it.

Penny threw open the door and came face to face with Sheldon, whose hand was raised to knock.

"Oh. H-Hello, Sheldon. Forget something?" She tried to act as unsuspiciously as possible while trying to peer at the hallway past the lanky man. No paper, which meant it had to be in the boy's apartment. Crap.

"No, I did not forget anything, Penny. But I believe you did."

Crap.

"No, I did not forget anything, Penny. But I believe you did."

Penny's eyes widened in bewilderment and shock when Sheldon held up the two pieces of paper. His suspicions seemed to be proving true. She quickly ushered him into the apartment and shut the door behind them.

"Did you tell anyone?"

"No. What is it exactly that I am not supposed to be telling?"

"That I had your name in their twice." There was something off in the inflication of her voice, like she was trying to hard to cover something up. Over the years, he had compartmentalized the different tones of Penny's voice.

"Were there still four pieces of paper in your hat?"

"Yes."

"Whose name did you omit?"

Penny cocked her up and raised an eyebrow. "Whose do you think?"

So, Howard had not had a chance of going to New York. If Penny was telling him the truth. Somehow, he knew she wasn't. "May I see the other ones?"

"I threw them away."

Sheldon recoiled. He may have changed a little over the course of the last few years, but digging through the trash was something that he would never do. Unless, his Leonard Nimoy napkin somehow found it's way into one, but that would never happened because it was framed and placed on the wall in his bedroom.

He was getting a little off track.

"Penny, I would ask you to retrieve them from the trash, if they were really in there."

Her mouth gaped open and closed for a few seconds. "But...they are?" The last of the sentence was spoken like a question and Sheldon knew that he had gotten her. If she had been telling the truth, she would have been quick to defend herself.

"Fine," she said after a moment and retreated to her bedroom.

Sheldon stood by the door, hands behind his back. When she returned, she thrust the hat at him and he plucked the two pieces of paper inside and like he suspected, both had his name on it.

"But why?" He asked. "You could have just said you wanted me to go."

Penny plopped down on her aqua couch. Sheldon followed and sat to her left, just like he did in his apartment.

"Leonard would have pouted, Howard would have complained and Raj wouldn't be able to speak to me unless he was drunk. I just wanted them all to think that they had a fair chance of going so they wouldn't bug you about it or me."

Sheldon saw the merits in that plan and would have most-likely done the same if their roles had been reversed. "I see. Then, it was a good idea."

"You're not mad?"

"Of course not. Why would I be? It seems that whatever you had decided to do, I still would have been the one to go with you. Excellent choice, by the way."

Penny smiled and laughed softly. "I thought so, too. You're my best friend, so you deserve to come with me on this awesome trip."

"You have been mine, as well, Penny. You have been since the Arctic."

Penny didn't have to ask why and that was because she understood. The guys may have been the ones to retrieve him from his mother's, but she had been the one to force them to go and had been the one to comfort him. Leonard's chances at being with her had flown out the window the moment his betrayal had been found out.

Sheldon stood from the couch, then. "I should return to my apartment. Hopefully, Leonard has not noticed my absence. Especially, since he has already seen me come back from your apartment."

Penny stood and reached for his arm. "You can not tell him about the pieces of paper, Sheldon. None of them."

"You know how I am with secrets, Penny," he whined slightly.

"I know, honey. Just don't say anything unless they ask you directly, okay? And if they do, I'll straighten them out. I can just picture how Howard will react."

"I can, too." Sheldon sighed. "Very well, Penny. I will do my best to keep this secret. Please don't be mad at me if they find out."

"I won't. Just try your hardest, okay?"

For some reason, when Penny gave him that look, the one where she smiled at him softly and affection for him shown in her green eyes, Sheldon thought he could do anything. He could keep this secret, for her. If not, he was going to try his hardest.

"All right, Penny. I will."

Sheldon found that his right hand seemed to have a mind of his own because he watched as it came up and cupped Penny's cheek. She looked just as surprised as he felt. Quickly, he snatched the appendage back, said a rushed goodbye and fled from the apartment.

Fortunately, Leonard was already in bed when Sheldon returned. The secret would still remain a secret tonight. Fleeing to his room, he changed into his pajamas and slipped into the bed.

Instead of thinking about formulas, theories or Spock in the moments before sleep took him, all Sheldon could think about was how soft Penny's skin had felt under his hand.

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