This story will move along rather quickly, at least for the first few chapters. Due to 's little vacation, I've gotten a head start on it. Some might have already read it on LJ, but for those of you who haven't...enjoy!

Disclaimer: Sheldon's mine! (not really)

Penny's Curiosity

It was almost completely obvious to her after he sat down that he was hiding something. The only other person in the room that seemed to notice was Leonard, but of course he wouldn't open his mouth to ask about it. Instead he just glanced curiously at his best friend then went back to the Thai food on the table. But Penny wasn't Leonard, and immediately a thousand questions entered her mind on that completely unexpected bit of news, and the secret Sheldon was keeping about the rest of the discussion he'd had with his sibling.

Howard seemed a little put out after the news, obviously realizing that his hopes of getting into bed with Missy were dashed. Raj seemed a bit down as well, and Penny almost felt sorry for him. After all, it had been Raj that Missy had been attracted to all along. But her sympathy for Raj and her disgust at Howard's comments of dismay paled in comparison to her curiosity at what else had been discussed on that phone call.

She watched Sheldon discreetly out of the corner of her eye, watched every calculated move he made. His Thai food still remained on the table, waiting for him, his diet coke getting warm. But he seemed too caught up in his own thoughts, as he stared unblinkingly at his hands which were kneading the material of his plaid pants. After a moment he seemed to realize what he was doing and stopped, reaching forward and picking up the container that awaited him.

Penny spent the rest of the evening dining with the boys, her attentions most closely paid on the tall lanky nerd with the green lantern shirt. For the most part he seemed ok, rarely drifting off into that momentary dreamland he'd been in after the phone call, but she'd still caught him from time to time, his eyes focused straight ahead, his fingers moving just the smallest bit in his lap. She stayed there by his side; hyperaware of his limbs his words and especially his eyes. If there was ever anything that you could read on Dr. Sheldon Cooper it was his eyes. They were the windows to the soul all right, the only window sometimes.

As the hour grew later, Raj and Howard made to leave. The night had been relatively peaceful, in regards to Howard's constant pathetic and sometimes crude remarks. She'd only had to smack him on the back of the head twice, each time earning short spurts of hidden giggles from Leonard and Raj. Of course the action earned no response from Sheldon, but that was nothing unusual. Physical contact of any sort only ever caught his attention when it was happening to him, which was rare if at all.

But there had been moments.

Like Christmas.

Penny's mind flooded with the memory of Sheldon's excited face as he stared in awe at the napkin. She'd not realized it at the time, but she'd given him possibly the greatest gift she could have ever given him. His idols DNA, and signature. She remembered with a smile the way he'd enveloped her in an awkward hug, his thin arms almost wrapping completely around her to touch again in the front. She'd been too shocked to state more than the obvious.

After the door had closed, leaving the three together in the apartment, Sheldon rose to his feet, taking his trash with him to the kitchen and neatly disposing of it in the trashcan. Leonard was still seated in his chair only now he was staring at her, and Penny in turn was staring at Sheldon.

"I think something's up Leonard." She said in a soft whisper.

"What do you mean?" he asked, looking over to Sheldon whose back was to them as he washed his utensils in the sink.

"He didn't just talk to Missy about her getting married. His sister said something else, and it's got him acting strange."

"What, you mean he's hiding something?"

"Well, yeah."

"Sheldon couldn't be hiding something. Remember, he's really not able to keep secrets."

Penny thought for a moment. "Well, he's not able to keep secrets for other people, but I'm sure he's able to keep his own. There are probably loads of things he doesn't want any of us to know about him, and he's easily able to keep them hidden away inside that enormous brain of his. He's practiced at it, just like he's practiced at everything else. It's a routine, one of his crazy Sheldon routines."

"Even if he were keeping something, what does it matter?" She looked shocked, and her reaction made Leonard's eyes widen. "Well, what I meant was, why should we try to coax it out of him. I mean, we all know there's no changing a Sheldon routine."

"It's making him act strange." At that very moment Sheldon pulled out his rubber gloves, ready to clean the few dishes lying in the sink. "Well, stranger than usual anyway. And I don't like it."

"You just want to know what she told him don't you?"

"A little." She conceded. "But I'm going to ask mostly because of everything else I said."

Penny then rose to her feet. She walked slowly around the table, heading toward the kitchen. She heard Leonard mumble something about asking him alone before she saw him too rise and head for the hallway. She was sure he was heading to his room to avoid being caught in the crossfire of another one of their heated battles of wits. But Penny had no intention of arguing, actually most of the time she didn't. More often than not Sheldon's enormous ego goaded her into it, and she found herself standing toe to toe with the genius arguing over why she was unable to sit in the seat at the far left of the couch, or some other of his most ridiculous rules.

He didn't seem to notice her stop beside him, leaning her left side on the counter. She stared up into his face, watching the pure concentration that he put into the task at hand. His methodical scrubbing was a rhythmic brush-brush-brush against the ceramic of the plate, the squeak of wet rubber like a crash of symbols to the sponge's drums. After a moment his movements stopped and his head slowly turned to look at her, and for once he actually met her gaze without fidgeting before looking away over her shoulder.

"Is there something I can help you with Penny?" he asked politely, but with the same dull tone as always.

"Yes, actually there is." She said straightening up.

He was observing her in much the same way he'd observe the board in the living room, as if he were searching for the answers on the surface. His head was cocked to the side, just the slightest bit, his brows furrowed in a mixture of curiosity and confusion. Without looking he reached out and turned off the water in the sink, and reached for the towel that he used to dry the dishes. He swiped off the dampness before placing the dish in it's labeled place, then followed Penny to the sofa.

She took her usual place on the couch, putting a few extra inches of distance between herself and the physicist. He carefully placed himself beside her, but didn't turn his attention immediately upon her. Instead he fixed what few things still remained on the glass coffee table, before looking past her, all the while they were seated there in awkward silence. Penny, for the life of her, couldn't figure out how to begin.

"You needed my assistance." He stated encouragingly.

"Well, not really, I just wanted to talk to you."

"Penny, you know of my distaste for small talk."

"It's not small talk Sheldon. I just have a question."

"Oh. All right then." He seemed almost excited, his eyes brightening slightly, as his voice rose just an octave or so on the last word.

"Sheldon, I was just wondering, you know, if there was anything you wanted to talk about."

"I don't understand the question." He said immediately, his eyes clearly unfocused, his hands drifting over his knees nervously.

He was definitely hiding something.

"What else did Missy say on the phone Sheldon?"

"What makes you think-"

"Its obvious Sheldon, come on. You can tell me, we're friends." She said, turning her body to face him.

Sheldon eyes were still not wandering her way. Instead they were flitting around from object to various object around the room, unfocused. He was nervous, his back straight his arms limp at his sides. She pulled a leg up onto the couch and noticed his eyes following her movements. They seemed to slide slowly from the tip of her toes, along the delicate curve of her calve only to flick away again, she smallest trace of a blush gracing his cheeks, and a tiny twinge in his shoulder. Penny smiled, sometimes she enjoyed the impact subtle things seemed to have on these nerds, Sheldon especially.

"Would our being friends imply a code of secrecy in regards to whatever I might say following your answer?"

"Plain English sweetie." She mumbled.

"Would you keep what I say a secret, since we're 'friends'?" he explained, rolling his eyes and sighing heavily.

"Of course, if that's what you wanted."

He seemed to glance back at the hall, almost expecting Leonard to wander wearily into the living room, rubbing his eyes and tying his robe, feigning sleepiness, so as to not seem so eager to hear a secret. But the bedroom doors remained closed, and the silence that emanated through the house almost seemed Sheldon's signal to continue, though it would obviously be hard for him.

"As you predicted, the wedding was not all my average twin called to relay. That could have easily been expressed through the traditional invitation. No her reasons were much more selfish and dare I say threatening."

She noticed his hands seemed to hover around his privates, as they had earlier on the phone. Penny wondered as she watched him what exactly that meant, since it was a rather new action she'd never really observed before. He was staring off over her shoulder, almost as if picturing the conversation the way it would have gone if they'd been face to face. He winced.

"What'd she say?" Penny asked.

"She informed me that I am required to find a female companion to accompany me to the wedding and reception, and that if I do not, she will injure both my body and my ego by inappropriately and quite painfully, I might add, grabbing and twisting my testicles." He explained, lifting his eyes to meet her own, his tone as plain and simple as ever.

Penny sat there a moment, processing his explanation and trying to decide the best way to handle her reply. Unconsciously she twisted a ring on her finger around and around, an action he observed with a scientific astuteness that she figured he only reserved for his theories and equations.

"Judging by your lack of speech and your jittery movements, something I said has made you uncomfortable." He said, sounding almost as if he were defining an experiment.

"I just wasn't expecting so much…detail."

In all honestly she was a bit unnerved hearing anything at all about Sheldon's testicles, but of course she wouldn't, and didn't even think she could, mention anything about that to him. She watched him nod wordlessly, turning his eyes away from her face once more to study something else about her, or the room around them, or anything other than her face.

"So you need a date then. Why are you so nervous?"

"I'm not nervous. I'm if anything, concerned for my testicles."

"Ok, stop saying that."

"What, testi-"

"Yeah, that."

"What do you prefer I call them?" he asked, his face tilted to the side once more, an action she noticed he only did when he was asking a question.

"How about you just stop talking about them." She suggested, now unable to look at him herself.

"If you say so."

They were getting sidetracked. Penny wanted to know why he was concerned about, well, why he was concerned. All he needed to do was find a female to accompany him to a wedding. It wouldn't be that hard to do at all. He had to work with girls at the university, right? Other than Leslie Winkle of course. She'd almost thought about suggesting he ask her, until of course she remember that not only was Leslie Leonard's ex, but also they had a mutual hatred for one another.

There was always that intelligent 'labradoodle' that Sheldon had officially, yet unofficially been dating. Penny opened her mouth once more to suggest her for company only to remember the terms on which they'd parted. Apparently she'd been trying to take joint credit for Sheldon's work, something that he found completely absurd, and commenced kicking her out of the apartment, and moving on with his daily routine.

Penny didn't blame him, for she'd have done the same thing.

"I don't know why you're concerned. You'll find someone to go with."

His head snapped to her once again, only he seemed to be looking at her as if she were the one with all the problems, as if she were in fact, him. His look was almost comical, the surprise clear in his eyes, the streak free disinfected windows to Sheldon's emotions.

"Penny, I don't want to. I do not wish to compromise my work for frolicking with a female at a matrimonial event. As you know quite well, I dislike all forms of alcohol induced frivolity, and I do believe quite a bit of that takes place at the traditional reception, does it not?"

"Well, yeah. But you don't have to drink Sheldon. You can just sit there, and dance with your sister, and then head back to your hotel room. She probably doesn't expect much from you, she does know you after all."

"That is true, but any 'date' that I should happen to take with me might not. Of course females enjoy dancing, and if I were to go with a woman, I'd be obligated by the non-optional social convention of a traditional wedding to dance with her." He seemed to be almost panicking now. "And Penny, I can't dance."

"That's ridiculous, anyone can dance." He opened his mouth to argue, as she'd expected. "Ok ok, anyone can dance with the right teacher."

"As flawed as that hypothesis might be, I'll accept it if only to make my second point. I have work to do. I cannot go off gallivanting at a wedding, and possibly compromise the integrity of my mind. I must continue my work if I wish to win the Nobel Prize."

"Sheldon, do you even know how long you'd be in Texas?"

"Well, no. She informed me that the invitation would be arriving within the week."

"Well then how about we continue this discussion when it does. Then we can argue about the exact amount of minutes you'll be away from work, you know, just to be precise." She mocked rising from the couch.

He merely glared at her, rising as well.

"Don't you have dishes to finish?" she asked a smile on her face as she turned away from the lanky man before, and headed to the door, slipping on her shoes.

"Good night Penny." He mumbled, heading toward the kitchen.

"Night Sheldon."

So that's chapter two. Hope you're enjoying it. Review por favour!

Starry