'So this is it.' Penny said, her voice cracking slightly as she stood in front of all her friends at the airport, 'I'm gonna miss you guys so much.' She said, hugging each and every one of them.

'Don't you dare forget about us bestie,' Amy cried, hugging Penny so hard she could almost feel her bones crack.

'Yeah, else we'll come after you or spill secrets to the press,' Bernadette laughed, also hugging her friend.

'I won't forget about you guys, I promise. I'll visit as often as I can and I'll Skype Sheldon every night so you can see me on there,' Penny laughed. The last person she had to say goodbye to was Sheldon. They had had an intense goodbye session last night, well over the past week. During her last week in Pasadena, he had taken her back to where they had had their first date at the swing dancing place, he had taken her out for dinner every night, sexually gratified her whenever she wanted and they had had a long heartfelt talk last night on ways they could keep their relationship afloat. She hadn't slept at all on their last night together as she wanted to savour every moment: the way he sounded as he slept, the feel of him spooning her and the way his arm lay over her protectively. She never wanted to leave him but she knew she had to. New York held so many opportunities for her acting career. She looked deep into her lover's eyes and threw herself at him, hugging him as if she would never see him again. She had thought saying goodbye last night was hard, but this was even worse.

'Don't cry Penny,' he said softly, 'We'll see each other again soon, I'll visit you as soon as I can,' he smiled and he kissed her forehead. They both knew that if they kissed on the lips that would be it, she wouldn't go.

'Goodbye Sheldon,' she whispered and he smiled.

'Goodbye Penny.'

It had officially been two weeks since Penny had moved into her New York apartment. She was making good money from working on "Frozen" and as a result, she had managed to buy a nice spacious modern apartment. She loved her apartment and she loved her job but coming back after the day's work and realising that she would be alone, that there wasn't anyone to share her bed at night, no one to cook with and talk to. She hadn't realised how lonely it was living alone again and it wasn't like she knew her neighbours either. She had bought her dress and book the time off work to go to Sweden with Sheldon next month so he could collect his Nobel Prize and she really couldn't wait. She missed Sheldon, she missed him so much, she wanted the life he had imagined for them and she already was starting to feel the strain of a long distance relationship. Now she was in New York, it felt like her relationship and life with him was slipping away more and more with each passing day; sure, she spoke to Sheldon over Skype but it just wasn't the same. When her phone rang, she prayed to see Sheldon's called ID, however it came from her new co-star Leon.

'Hi Leon, what's up?'

'A bunch of us are going out after tonight's performance, do you fancy coming with us?'

'OK, sure, where shall we go?'

'We were thinking of heading down to the Algonquin hotel. It's got a good write up,' Leon said and Penny chuckled.

'Alright, I look forward to it,' she laughed and she stayed on the phone talking to him for around 10 minutes before the doorbell rang, 'I've gotta go Leon there's someone at the door, I'll see you tonight,' Penny hung up the phone and opened the door, gasping when it revealed Sheldon, who had a large bouquet of flowers in his hand.

'Surprise!,' Sheldon smiled, 'The internet said I should buy flowers for you and…' he was cut off by Penny throwing herself at him and kissing him.

'I missed you so much! Why didn't you tell me you were coming?'

'I wanted to surprise you; I thought that would be obvious?'

'Well, thank you. I was about to head out in a couple of hours though, I'm on stage tonight and then we're going out… I could get you a ticket and you can totally join us,' Penny smiled and Sheldon frowned.

'I wouldn't want to impose…'

'Sheldon, you're my partner. You could never impose, now you're coming out tonight and that is final!' Penny laughed and before he knew it, Sheldon found himself watching Penny's play with pride; watching her as she sang and acted with all her might, truly showing the audience her passion. Then came the dreaded night out with her cast mates. He was introduced to her cast mates as her boyfriend and they all greeted him with smiles and engaged in conversation with him. He made sure he was civil, for Penny's sake, and swallowed all his urges to point out flaws and impress with his genius. He was kind of surprised that Penny didn't mention that he was a Nobel Prize winner also, but he decided to let her have the limelight. That's what love was about after all, putting the needs of others above yourself.

'We should do this again,' Leon laughed at the end of their evening. Sheldon took in his dark handsome rugged features and felt immediate warning flags go off in his brain. There was something about this guy that he didn't like, the way he always stood next to Penny, or how he thrived off his looks. Intellectually, this guy was no match for him but physical looks wise, Sheldon was a goner. By the time they got in, it was 2am and Penny laughed and pulled Sheldon in for a kiss.

'What a night, god I missed kissing you in the evenings this week. How long can you stay with me for?'

'I booked the week off work, so I'm all yours for this week.' Sheldon grinned and Penny gave him a saucy look before pulling him into the bedroom so she could have her way with him.

The days passed quickly and Sheldon found that he was feeling more and more out of place. The only time he got alone with Penny was at night after they had hit the town with her cast mates. She was living the life of Riley, getting things for free, having photographs taken of her… some of which included him. He had also officially been dubbed "Penny Miller's Mystery Man" by TMZ and E! News. She was living the life of a celebrity and he wasn't sure he liked the lifestyle himself. He much preferred it when they had privacy and weren't bothered for an autograph and could do things without being watched or judged. Penny walked in wearing a LBD and heels and smiled at him, 'You ready to go out tonight honey?' she asked, fixing an earring in her ear.

'I'm not coming out tonight Penny,' Sheldon said, flicking through random celebrity gossip sites.

'Why not sweetie?' Penny frowned, noticing that something was up, 'Are you Ok? What's up?'

'I feel weird,' Sheldon sighed, turning to face his girlfriend.

'Why do you feel weird?'

'Because…,' he sighed sadly before continuing, 'these past few days, I've been feeling like I'm not really a part of your life; I feel like I'm on vacation. Well, I don't know. It's not how it feels, it's just… I don't know. It feels weird.'

Penny frowned, 'Well you kind of are on vacation but I see what you mean… I guess you're not used to New York life. Maybe… well, would it be easier if you felt like you could see other people when we're not together?'

Sheldon gave her a look of shock and he couldn't deny that that hurt him deeply. Why would she say something like that? 'Is that what you want to do?' he said, almost whispering. Penny looked at her feet and shook her head, 'Then why did you bring it up?'

'Because… I don't want you to feel like you're not living your life properly when… when we're not together,' she said quietly but Sheldon couldn't accept that explanation.

'Are you attracted to someone else?' he asked and she paused for a moment.

'No, I'm not attracted to anyone else.'

'Then why did you have to think about it?'

'Because… it's a silly question! You know I love you and only you.' Penny smiled at him but Sheldon wasn't having it.

'No, it's obviously not if you haven't to think about!'

'Sheldon, the only person I am attracted to is you. I just didn't want you to be alone whilst I'm here… I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings, I didn't mean to.'

'Yeah, well enjoy your night out.' Sheldon said, turning his back on her and looking back at the screen. Penny sighed and moved towards the door.

'I'll see you later then,' she said and Sheldon nodded in response, 'I love you.' When she didn't receive a response, she sighed angrily and walked out. Sheldon wanted to say it back but at the moment he was feeling like he didn't have a girlfriend anymore. Scrolling down the TMZ website, he read the headlines to see if there was anything on Penny and as he predicted, there was. It was a picture of him and Penny walking down the street after her performance and it was entitled "Penny Miller continues to fuel romance rumours as she steps out AGAIN with mystery man". Clicking on the link he began to read the article.

As the star of "Frozen", Penny Miller is no doubted one of Broadway's most sought after Bachelorette's. She first fuelled speculation that she has a new man in her life after she was seen embracing a mystery man after a late night date in New York four days ago. The blonde beauty continued to court the romance rumours as she was seen out and about in the city with the same companion on Tuesday morning.

The new romance could explain the spring in the actress's step as she failed to contain her glee whilst strolling around Time Square. The 25 year old singer/actress showed off her slim pins in pair of skinny jeans with black knee-high boots whilst she wrapped up for the New York weather in a long black cardigan. Finishing off her ensemble with retro rounded shades and a white handbag, Penny was seen carrying two large Bloomingdales shopping bags. Her male companion sported a dark ensemble as he teamed a black coat with black trousers.

Penny was happily affectionate with the handsome male pal as she was seen looking lovingly into his eyes and at one point even kissing his cheek. The blonde star was also seen with her arm draped across the mystery man's shoulder as he rested a hand on her behind.

Sheldon scoffed, was it not plainly obvious that they were dating? Why state that Penny was "fuelling romance rumours". Clicking on similar stories, he was surprised to see another headline on Penny, only this time it was more focused on him: "Broadway star Penny Miller's mystery man revealed to be Nobel Prize winning Physicist." 'How did they find that out?' he said to himself, clicking on the link.

He's been seen being amorous with Broadway's beauty Penny Miller but just who exactly is the 25 year old starlet's mystery man? TMZ decided to dig a little deeper and was amazed to discover that Miller's new beau is in fact Nobel Prize winner Dr Sheldon Cooper. Cooper, who is due to be presented the prestigious award in three weeks in Sweden, is the head of Caltech University's Science and Physics department and is also a senior theoretical particle physicist. Originally from East Texas, 34 year old Sheldon Cooper can be described as somewhat of a child prodigy.

Starting college at the tender age of 11 and receiving his first PhD at 16, Cooper has gone on to achieve many accomplishments which include him proving the existence of String Theory. For his contributions to theoretical physics, Cooper was awarded the Caltech Chancellors Award for science, has lead an expedition in the Arctic Circle and has had numerous articles written about him in well-respected scientific magazines, such as "Physics Today". Though despite his achievements, the real question we all wish to know is how this Physicist managed to woo a beauty like Penny Miller.

Sheldon chuckled to himself. If these TMZ people thought they had just uncovered something new, they were deeply wrong. He sighed as he thought of Penny; he needed to make things up with her because they had such little time left together already it really wasn't worth them fighting. Picking up his phone, he called Penny.

'What do you want?'

'Well hello to you too, I just wanted to say that I love you and I'm sorry for going all species 8472 on you.'

'Species 8472?'

'A highly resistant and volatile alien life form in Star Trek, they…'

'Sheldon, I'm not interested in your poxy Star Trek shit, I'm trying to have a good night out despite our argument and your irrational behaviour earlier. I'll see you when I get home.' She said before hanging up. Sheldon looked at his phone as the line just went dead. She wanted to deny his apology, insult Star Trek and then give him the hump? Fine, then he wouldn't stick around to bear the brunt of it. Writing a note to Penny, he then booked an overnight train ride back to Pasadena and began to pack his bags. As soon as he was done, he left without looking back.

Past 300 reviews! Wow, you guys are amazing! Thank you so much! Now, on with the story, I am currently reviewing the next chapter before it goes up tomorrow, so your input is very helpful! xx