It had been extremely awkward over the past week. Penny had moved into the spare bedroom, she and Sheldon didn't exchange words and Penny felt as if a light had gone out in her life. Sheldon spent a lot of time at the lab now and sometimes he even slept there so she wouldn't see him at all.

Knock Knock Knock

Penny's ears pricked up when she heard a knock on the door. A part of her hoped to hear Sheldon say her name but it didn't happen. Obviously, he wasn't coming home again tonight. He probably had another interview or something. She had to keep reminding herself that she had made the right decision but at times, she really did think she had acted too rashly. The person on the other side knocked again, bringing Penny out of her thoughts. Opening the front door, she saw the smiling face of Leonard.

'Oh, hi Leonard, what do you want?'

'Well, today is my 3 month of being clean and I was wondering if you wanted to accompany me for a meal. Just as friends ofcourse.'

'Why don't you bring Priya?'

'She said she's not feeling well, you know being 5 months pregnant and all.' Leonard said and Penny sighed. She had to get out of the flat anyway, there was no point sitting there on her own.

'Alright, let's go.' She said, grabbing her jacket. It felt weird being with Leonard again, it felt almost like old times. She opened the door to his car and sat down, buckling her seatbelt. As soon as she looked up, she saw Sheldon crossing the street and walking towards the apartment. She prayed he wouldn't see her in Leonard's car but unfortunately he did. She saw him stop in his tracks and watched as Leonard got in and drove them away. If he had felt anything on the subject, he definitely didn't show it. He just kept walking.

'Listen Penny, I'm sorry things didn't work between you and Sheldon.'

'Yeah, well me too.' Penny sighed and Leonard bit his lip. The rest of the ride was in silence and when they arrived at the restaurant, they were seated in the bar until a table was free. Penny walked straight over to the bar and spoke to the bartender whilst Leonard tried to barter for a table.

'I'll have a sex on the beach.' Penny ordered.

'It's on me.' A new voice said. Penny looked to her right to see a handsome man standing there. He had dark brown locks that swept over his face and intense green eyes that made her blink twice just to make sure he was real.

'Th-thank you.' She smiled.

'Anytime,' the guy grinned, 'My name's Jason, Jason Briggs.' He put his hand out and Penny gently shook it.

'Penny, Penny Miller.'

'Haha, like the Broadway star. My sister went to see her and said she was really good.' Jason laughed and Penny blushed.

'Well…' she trailed off and looked at him.

'No. Way. You're the Penny Miller!'

'That's my name,' she laughed, 'don't wear it out.'

'Wow, well I have to treat you to a meal.' He smiled as he handed over the money for her drink to the bartender.

'Oh actually, I'm here with my friend so I… Ok, fine let's go.' She said as Jason slipped a dollar to the waiter, which got them seated immediately. Leonard gawked at her and she shrugged, mouthing sorry at him. Sighing he turned around and decided to go home and look after Priya instead. He had really tried to make an effort because he realised that he had to man up and be a father and in the process he had managed to gain back all his friends. Sure he had had his setbacks but Priya had helped him through the bad times immensely well. He had not fallen off the wagon, nor had he used the prescribed medicine. He had just gone cold turkey and his withdrawal symptoms had been particularly bad at some points. However, Priya had been there to support him, as had his friends and he was particularly happy that he was now off of Sheldon's "Mortal Enemy" list and that was his biggest achievement.

Meanwhile, the waiter handed Penny and Jason their menus. Jason quickly scanned the menu before shutting it.

'So, I guess I've never met someone in a bar and immediately been whisked away to a meal five minutes later.' She said softly and Jason laughed.

'There's a first time for everything Penny. I must say, I've never met anyone as beautiful as you.' He smiled as the waiter came over.

'Are you ready to place your orders?'

Penny opened her mouth to order but Jason got in there first. 'I'll have the five spiced dusted fillet of salmon with Asian vegetables and the sweet chilli dressing and my date here will have the breast of chicken tarragon mousse with errrr theeeee pomme puree and buttered savoy in a white wine jus.' Jason smiled shutting the menu and giving it back to the waiter. Penny was slightly shocked that he had ordered for her but she didn't say anything, 'I'm really good at picking out food, I can tell what people will like instantly.' He smiled.

'Well, I guess it's nice not to have to think about what I want to order for once.' Penny smiled, sipping her Sex on the Beach. The next couple of hours flew by and Penny found herself having a great time with Jason. At the end of the date, he drove her home and she gave him her number. It was weird that she wasn't going on a date with Sheldon but it was nice going back into the dating scene with someone who was completely normal.

When she got back into the apartment, she saw Sheldon sitting at his desk and by the looks of it he was in a conference call. However she soon found he wasn't, he was actually playing World of Warcraft. 'Sheldor of Azeroth is AFK,' he said before turning to look at Penny, 'So enjoy your date with Leonard?' he spat.

'I didn't go on a date with him Sheldon. He asked would I accompany him for a meal to celebrate his 3 months clean mark but we weren't able to get a table. So he went home and I decided to walk back.' Penny said, deciding it probably wouldn't be a good idea to tell him she'd met someone a week after their break up. She was kind of surprised that she had been on a date with a stranger so soon when she still found that she had feelings for Sheldon but she doubted anything would happen with this guy. Penny walked past Sheldon and went to her bedroom, opening up her laptop, putting in her headphones and looking for new apartments.

Sheldon sighed, he missed kissing her and sleeping beside her. He found himself reverting back to his old structured ways and that he didn't want to have coital relations with any other woman. His body belonged to Penny and to no one else. He had tried talking to Amy about it but she was firmly on Penny's side. Suddenly the telephone rang but Sheldon decided not to answer it so it went straight to voicemail.

'Hi Penny, it's Jason… Jason from the bar? I really enjoyed our dinner together this evening and was wondering if you wanted to go out on a date sometime. I forgot to give you my number when you gave me yours so if you could give me a call back on 555-0193 that would be great. I look forward to hearing from you. Ok, bye.'

Sheldon looked at the telephone set and frowned. So Penny had been on a date but just not with Leonard. Getting up, he replayed the message and he couldn't help but feel a bit betrayed by Penny. Their relationship had only finished a week ago yet already she was gallivanting off with strange men! He walked over to the machine and left his finger to hover over the delete button, debating whether or not he should delete the message.

"Message. Deleted."

Sheldon let out the breath he had been holding. Penny wouldn't ever find out, unless the guy called again. He would have to keep an eye on the machine and make sure that there were never any messages for her.

The next few days went by quickly and each morning Penny woke up wondering if she would have a message from Jason yet. She walked over to the machine to see if there were any messages but there was nothing. Sheldon watched her check the machine before staring back at the TV and continuing his gaming. Penny could feel the air was tense and she sighed before trying to lighten the atmosphere.

'So, today's a nice day. I think I might go for a walk.' Penny smiled, trying to strike up conversation.

'What part of that statement was supposed to lure me into conversation?' Sheldon asked, not removing his eyes from the screen as he battered a zombie.

'I was just trying to talk to you,' Penny sighed and she watched the game's cutscene play as Sheldon completed the level. Two of the character's hugged and she smiled but Sheldon grimaced.

'Why do people have to hug all the time? It's such an invasion of personal space.'

'Sheldon, if I recall you and I used to hug a lot when we were together. I think hugging is very healthy. I read somewhere that if you have physical contact on a regular basis; it can actually extend your life.' She smiled; glad they were finally making conversation.

'Well in that case, you'll outlive Styrofoam.' Sheldon said as the cutscene finished. Penny rolled her eyes and left the apartment. As she walked down the street, a car pulled over and Jason stepped out.

'Penny! I thought that was you. I called you the other night after our dinner but you never called me back!'

'You did?' Penny frowned and Jason nodded.

'Yes, I left you a message and everything. I was wondering if you wanted to go out sometime.'

'Sure, I'm free tonight if you want,' Penny smiled.

'Well, here's my number if you need to call me, hopefully your machine won't play up again,' Jason handed over his business card and Penny took it graciously.

'I wonder why I never got that message. My roommate only buys the most reliable of…' Penny trailed off as she realised what could have happened, 'technology.' She said quietly.

'What's wrong?'

'Nothing, I er… I need to ask my roommate something. Pick me up at 7 ok?' Penny smiled before marching back into the building. She threw the door open so it slammed against the wall and knocked down Sheldon's prized Game of Thrones Valerian replica sword.

'AHH! Watch it Penny!' he yelled, jumping up, 'That was $500! Just because you don't care for prize merchandise or collectors items and would rather give your number out to strange men at bars doesn't give you the right to knock them over.'

'How do you know I gave my number to a guy at the bar?' Penny growled. Sheldon looked like a deer caught in the headlights but decided it wasn't worth trying to make up an elaborate lie.

'Because he called here and left a voicemail for you! We've been apart for just over a week and a half Penny and already you're hitting the bars and giving your number out. Did our relationship mean nothing to you? If you had told me, I would have been sad yes but you don't even have the courtesy to tell me!'

Penny folded her arms and looked at Sheldon, 'What happened to that voicemail? Why didn't I get it?' she asked. Sheldon suddenly realised that he had landed himself in even more trouble.

'W-what?'

'From Jason. You know, the guy from the bar? Why didn't I get the voicemail he left for me?'

'Because…. I deleted it and sent it into… subspace?' Sheldon said, knowing he had been caught out, 'Did you… um did you not look there?'

Penny glared at him, 'Sheldon.'

Sheldon let out a sigh of defeat and looked at her, 'I didn't want you to get it OK! So… I deleted it. I thought if I did that, maybe we could try again and get back together.'

'I don't believe this… I…' Penny found herself struggling for words as she looked at Sheldon, 'Who do you think you are?'

'I'm Sheldon Cooper, brilliant physicist and…'

'No Sheldon, who the hell do you think you are to tell me who I can see and who I can't see. Who are you to tell me what messages I should and should not get? I cannot believe you sometimes Sheldon.' Penny yelled. Suddenly Howard and Raj strolled in and interrupted them. They soon realised that they had walked into a middle of an argument and were unsure of how to proceed.

'Hey guys, what's cooking?' Howard asked awkwardly and Penny rolled her eyes.

'Not now Howard, Sheldon and I are in the middle of a serious conversation.' Penny said.

'Oh, anything we can do to help?' Raj asked and Penny looked at Sheldon before looking back at Raj and Howard.

'I don't know do you have any chloroform and a rag? Or maybe a baseball bat?' she asked and somehow all three men understood that Penny was severely pissed at Sheldon. Penny opened her mouth to speak when the phone rang. 'Hello?' she asked, 'Leonard, slow down, what's up. What? Ok, we'll meet you there as soon as we can.'

'What's wrong?' Howard asked.

'Priya's gone into labour.'

Hiya guys, thank you for all your reviews. A couple were quite interesting, especially in regards to Broadway. I'm only from England so I didn't actually know Broadway was just in New York, when I did a google search it said they held Broadway productions in California. So I guess I've learnt something new :] If they don't, I'm not too keen on rewriting the story lol so let's just say for now they do. Maybe I'll make Penny move to New York or something as the show moves there too. Anyway thank you for the constructive criticism, I will take it to good use :] I hope this chapter is better for you all, so let me know what you think, have a nice day! xx