Penny opened her wardrobe and pulled out every item of clothing she had. For her first date with Sheldon she had to be perfection. Beautiful but not overdressed, casual but not too casual and of course, like every other woman going out on a first date, she had nothing to wear. She didn't have enough time to go shopping so there had to be something! After many different outfit changes, she finally settled on cropped blue boyfriend jeans that had rolled up cuffs, a plain navy tank top and a navy blazer. She adorned it with a (fake) pearl necklace and her lucky shark tooth necklace before slipping into a pain of silver heels. Looking at herself in the mirror she smiled, she looked quite nice – the layered necklaces and heels added a flirty touch to albeit casual look. When with Leonard, she usually just wore the first thing she picked out of the closet because she knew he would be wanting sex regardless of what she wore. After quickly slapping on a bit of makeup and running a comb through her blonde hair, she was ready.

'Oh wait,' she said to herself and she picked up her bottle of Lady Million perfume and sprayed a bit on. Lady Million was her scent and she only wore it on special occasions because, to a struggling actress working as a waitress, she didn't exactly have stashes of cash to spend on luxuries like expensive perfumes. Looking at the clock she realised she was actually ready on time; in fact she was ready a whole 5 minutes early! Sitting down with a glass of wine to calm her jitters it wasn't long before there was a familiar knocking on the door.

Knock knock knock

'Penny.'

Knock knock knock

'Penny.'

Knock knock knock

'Penny.'

Smiling to herself, she opened the door and gave Sheldon a smile. He was wearing the black blazer she had bought him for his award ceremony, black trousers and his flash t-shirt and was looking extremely handsome, despite the wardrobe malfunction.

'Hey Sheldon,' she said happily and he raised his eyebrows in shock.

'It seems you have rendered me speechless Penny,' Sheldon said softly and Penny blushed. He had noticed her outfit, gosh she was so pleased he had, 'you are actually ready on time!' he added, souring her good mood so that she shot him a dirty look.

'Gee, thanks Sheldon,' she sighed and she reached for her bag, 'Let's go then.' She shut the door, walked past Sheldon and began to head down the stairs, feeling a little upset. Her "date" hadn't even started and he had already insulted her.

'Penny?' Sheldon said, catching up to her on the stairs and stopping her, placing his hand on her wrist and letting it linger there as he pulled her closer to him. Eventually he did let go and Penny couldn't help but notice her skin was tingling from his touch.

'What?' she said, trying to avoid looking at him.

'Have I said something to upset you?' he asked softly. Penny gave up resisting and looked in eyes to see that he actually hadn't understood what he had said hurt her, nor had he meant to. To be honest, she should have known better than to think he actually cared for her as more than a friend, that he would see her and be dazzled by her looks. To be honest, she didn't think he knew what good looking was. And there was also the fact that he was in a relationship with Amy and there was no way he would ever leave her; if their relationship ended, it would be because Amy would initiated it.

'No, not at all,' Penny lied, smiling at him.

'Penny, I know this is difficult to hear but at the moment you aren't being a very good actress. Should I hug you? Or perhaps get you a hot beverage? There's still time for it' Sheldon said and at this Penny sighed, knowing she was beat.

'OK, fine, you want to know what's wrong. I get ready on time for you and dress really nicely so we can go out and all you say to me is that you are shocked that I'm ready to go out on time. You could have said, "Hey Penny you look nice, are you ready to go?" but no… you had to go and Sheldonise it.'

'But you always look beautiful, how is offering you that compliment going to better your day?'

Penny suddenly forgot why she was upset at Sheldon. No man had ever called her beautiful before, especially with such sincerity. She was usually referred to as the hot blonde by men; even Leonard had never called her beautiful. 'You think I'm beautiful?' she whispered.

'Yes, don't you?' he asked, again not realising the impact of his words on Penny.

'Well I've been called hot before, but no man has ever called me beautiful.'

'Really? Hmm… how strange, one would think that with looks like yours and the number of men that I've seen trail in and out of this apartment, at least one of them would have called you beautiful. Did Leonard not say it to you?'

'No, I've always been known as "the hot girl", even with Leonard I was just hot to him.'

'Well, I must say I am surprised, and that doesn't happen very often Penny since I know just about everything. Men should tell you that you are beautiful because you truly are, inside and out.'

'Thank you Sheldon, that means a lot coming from you.' Penny blushed.

'Now, can we get Chinese food?' Sheldon whined causing to Penny smile further. Perhaps she had overreacted… Sheldon wouldn't have noticed what she was wearing, even if it was her birthday suit. That was just him. He didn't care what she wore, he already knew she was beautiful and her hair, makeup and clothes wouldn't change his verdict.

'Yes, we can get Chinese food.' Penny took Sheldon's hand and led him down to stairs.

'Penny, I'm still not sure I am comfortable holding your hand, it's ever so unhygienic.'

'Oh shut up Sheldon, it's just me holding your hand. I washed them and everything.' Penny laughed as they went down each flight of stairs.

'With antibacterial soap?'

'Twice, with Aloe Vera and lemon so it's taking care of my skin and it smells good.'

'…. Good, I suppose I can let you hold my hand then,' Sheldon said, gripping her small hand a bit tighter, 'Perhaps you could tell this to Amy? She is always after holding my hand but it just doesn't feel right. I seem to find myself enjoying holding hands with you so perhaps if Amy learns the proper techniques I can let her do the same.' Sheldon said. Penny smiled as she opened the front door to the apartment building.

'Alright Sheldon, I'll pass on the message to her,' she chuckled and together they walked towards the Chinese restaurant hand in hand, 'So err, I didn't think I'd be asking this but how is Leonard?'

'He's as can be. He's been trying to win you back but I told him straight he wasn't worthy of your love. I went all Jean-Luc Picard on his ass and put him back in his place.' Sheldon smiled and Penny clasped Sheldon's hand tighter and held onto his arm as they walked.

'Who?'

'Captain Jean-Luc Picard?' Sheldon sighed with annoyance, 'Picard was the captain of the Federation Starship Enterprise in Star Trek: The Next Generation. He is often described as being disciplined, intelligent, logical and articulate; he brings out the best of his crew and respects others which in turn gains either their respect.'

'Right, and you think you are like this Picard guy?' Penny asked, biting her lip whilst trying not to laugh.

'Of course, I am extremely intelligent and logical and I am the meshy glue that sticks everybody together. Just admit it… you'd all be lost without me.'

'Well we did theorise what it would be like if we hadn't met you. None of us would have ever met Amy, I wouldn't have met Leonard, which is probably the only good thing at the moment and Bernadette wouldn't have met Howard.'

'Hmmm a plausible theory, however you would still live across the hall from me and would therefore have eventually gotten to know me.'

'Well Amy came up with a lovely theory for us,' Penny blushed, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear.

'What was that dare I ask?'

'She said I would try to seduce you whilst you were doing laundry on Saturday because…'

'But Saturday is Laundry night… everyone knows that, I wouldn't have time for your seduction attempts.' Sheldon interrupted and Penny shook her head with a smile.

'Yes, Saturday is laundry night. Either way, long story short it ended up me stripping me of my clothes in attempt for you to have sex with me on the washing machine.' Penny laughed, almost wishing she could.

'Do you know, I truly believe that Amy's libido is out of control… as if that would ever happen,' Sheldon shook his head as he opened the door to the Chinese restaurant. Sadly for Penny, she had to let go of his arm in order to get inside, 'Right, let me get us a table. I've been refining my mandarin and I believe it's now in top condition for them to understand me,' Penny placed her hand on her face, predicting disaster as she watched Sheldon walk up to the host and start speaking Mandarin, 'My cookie drowned, how long will it take for my birds to grow?'

Penny watched the host's face grow in confusion before he replied in mandarin, 'The fortune cookies are prewrapped sir and we don't sell birds here, eat in or take out please?'

Sheldon sighed and turned to Penny, 'You cannot get the staff these days… it's like talking to someone with the intellectual capacity of a parsnip… he asked did I want to eat in or take out when I asked for a table for two!' Sheldon turned back to the man, 'Yes sir, my cookie drowned, do you need plastic paper for dinner?'

'Sir, we'd like to eat in and have a table for two please,' Penny cut in before the host could respond to Sheldon's poor language skills. The host nodded, grabbed two menus and seated them at a booth at the far end of the restaurant.

'You know, this is kind of quaint,' Penny smiled, opening her menu.

'Yes, well we are in a candlelit booth at the back of the restaurant away from other people.' Sheldon said and he looked at the woman sitting opposite him. The candlelight illuminated her features and her smile captivated him, especially when he saw that her eyes were twinkling again. 'Penny, may I ask you something?'

'Sure, go ahead Sheldon.'

'Well earlier, you asked me how Leonard was doing. I should have asked you how you are doing,' Sheldon said, taking a sip of his water that the waitress had just poured him.

'Well, I know it's only been two days since I found him cheating but it feels like it's been much longer than that. Yes, I'm still hurting but I know I am better off without him, we've had our argument and I've made it clear that I don't want him back. I'm ready to move on and find a guy who like you said, loves and cherishes me.' Penny smiled, taking a sip of wine. 'I feel like I should still be heartbroken, drowning my sorrows in alcohol but I don't think I truly loved Leonard like I thought I did. It's been far easier to get over him than I had thought because I realised that there was someone else… someone who's been there far more for me than Leonard, I just didn't realise it until now.'

'I'm glad to hear that Penny. Though, I must ask do I qualify as a player now? You know, since I have a girlfriend and I am taking you out for dinner.'

'Sweetie, you are the furthest thing from a player. Even Leonard isn't a player.' She laughed and scooted over next to Sheldon.

'Penny…' Sheldon said quietly.

'Yes Sheldon,' she replied, just as quietly.

'I find myself troubled.'

'Troubled?'

'Yes I…'

'You ready to order?' a new voice came, frightening the living daylights out of both Sheldon and Penny.

'Er, no give us another minute,' Penny said quickly before returning back to Sheldon, 'Go on Sheldon.'

'It doesn't matter…'

'Sheldon, just tell me.'

Sheldon sighed, debating whether or not it was a good idea to tell Penny but he had started now, there was now turning back. Swallowing his doubts, he looked at Penny. 'Penny, I find myself troubled because whilst I know that I have Amy, I cannot help but harbour feelings for you too. When we first met, I tried to woo you; however Leonard was far more determined to obtain your affections and it seemed that you were more attracted to him than I, so I backed off. I have admired you from afar but only since this whole fiasco with Leonard and Priya have these feelings become stronger. I have tried to embrace the Vulcan way of life by controlling my emotions but the more I try, the more I think about you. If I was a jedi knight, I would feel that the force is most definitely unbalanced, I cannot make heads or tails of this.'

Penny was shocked, she never thought he could return her feelings let alone tell her straight out like this. 'Sheldon…' she started.

'There's more too… Penny… I know you feel the same about me.'

'What… how?' she whispered, shocked. Sheldon swallowed as he decided to put aside the awkward geek for these next 5 minutes and unleash the personality he only lets out around his music. Imagining Penny as his music was the trick to this and it succeeded, he was overcome with confidence and taking Penny's wrist in his hand, he leant in close to her ear.

'Because I took your pulse…' He whispered and Penny gasped pulling away slightly, but their faces still remained extremely close to each other. She went through the past two days in her mind… slowly realising that every touch they had had had been when her heart rate had soared because she was with him, thinking about him, wanting him, touching him. Him holding her hands, taking her wrist, hugging her… he knew that she liked him; he had figured it out himself. She couldn't help but find that his voice extremely sexy as he continued, ' Your heatrate is elevated, your pupils dilate when you look to me…' Penny found that she was feeling very aroused and hot. In a matter of two minutes, Sheldon had managed to make her feel as if they had had a very passionate romp session, yet he had barely touched her. No man had ever had this effect on her. Sheldon pulled away and looked at her more seriously, 'I imagine a lot of people think that love and romance is a mystery to me but the chemistry is incredibly simple and yet it can be very destructive. Although I have not experienced love, what I feel for you Penny is extremely strong, possibly stronger than what I feel for Amy.'

'Sheldon… I don't know what to say or do. Amy is my friend and I don't deny that I too do return your affections. It happened so gradually, that I think it started way before I even realised it.'

'And there you see my predicament and why I am troubled.' Sheldon said, slipping back into his old geeky self.

'Well, you have to do what you think is best and I guess you have to make a choice between myself and Amy. Perhaps speak to her about your newfound feelings for me and see what she says?'

'I think I shall, I need time to think about everything, discover the logic behind everything. Thank you for listening,' Sheldon smiled and he smiled at her. He was quite shocked at himself, at how he had completely changed his character. Perhaps he was more human and less Homo Novus than he thought. It felt good that he had let Penny know his feelings, it was like a heavy weight had been lifted from his chest. His Meemaw had always told him to tell people of his problems in order to feel better, Meemaw always knew best.

'Sheldon? Penny? What are you doing here?'

Both Sheldon and Penny turned around to see Amy standing there with Burt and a waitress.

'Amy!'

Hope that you enjoyed this chapter… I had a massive writers block with this, so its taken me three days to write hence the delay! And it's the longest chapter so far so hopefully that makes up for it. I hope Sheldon isn't too OOC for you, I kind of like a more loose Sheldon as opposed to an uptight one; also took a bit of inspiration from the amazing Sherlock with this chapter. Also I'm not sure if Leonard has ever called Penny beautiful in TBBT series… if he has, he hasn't according to this story (if that makes sense) Thank you for your lovely reviews so far, keep them going and making me happy. Always wanting to know what you think :] xx