Chapter Four:
Penny's "attempt to strike up a conversation with him to try and belittle what she did", or so Sheldon claimed, seemed to actually have some substance to it.
Throughout the rest of the day she noticed herself becoming slightly less congested and feverish, and she could tell by his movements that Sheldon was also slowly getting better.
By that late evening, they both seemed in rather decent health, though still feeling rather cruddy compared to normal.
"Penny, I really don't think it would be wise for me to sleep her once again tonight." Sheldon informed her as he began to gather up a couple of his things. "Another accident might occur."
Penny followed him as he made his way through her whole apartment, watching his every move. "But why? We'll both go to bed early so it won't happen."
"That wouldn't completely insure that a repeat of events wouldn't fall into place." he said matter-of-factly, finishing his sweep of the place and turning to face her, standing in the middle of her living room. "Besides, I intend to go to work tomorrow and in order for me to do that I will have to sleep in my own home tonight."
Penny bit back another protest, wondering why she wanted him to stay so much, anyways. Deep down she knew that she was going to miss his company, even though she would never admit that to anyone.
"Who's going to drive you, though?" she finally asked, giving up and accepting the fact that he was going to leave. "Leonard is on vacation."
Sheldon stared at her for a moment. "I was under the impression that you would."
"Me? Why?" She attempted to breath through her nose and, unsurprisingly, found herself stuffed up, though less than before. "I'm still sick."
"I calculated that by tomorrow your fever and congestion will be reduced by a decent amount, therefore giving you the energy to drive me to work and, of course, back to my apartment when the time comes."
Penny rolled her eyes, moving to sit down on the couch. "You know, the polite thing would have been to ask me." she replied. "Instead of, you know, just assuming that I would do it for you."
Sheldon huffed, shaking his head. "No, no, no." he argued. "Since you are the one who infected me with the flu virus, it is only to be expected for you to do a favor for me, such as driving me to and from work until Leonard returns from Switzerland."
"Sheldon, you do realize that there's no proof that I'm the one who had it first?" she questioned, arching an eyebrow and folding her arms across her chest. She propped up her feet on the coffee table.
"Of course you had it first." he told her. "How else would I have gotten sick? I'm always extremely observant in my good hygiene and the only plausible explanation for my recent illness is that you transferred it to me from when we embraced."
Penny smirked up at him. "Oh yeah, about that...strange that you actually hugged someone, isn't it, Shelly?"
"I'd like to inform you that because of recent developments, I will refrain from ever getting into such a close proximity with you again." he retorted indignantly. "And don't call me Shelly."
She smirked, glancing him up and down. "I can't make any promises."
"I wasn't expecting you to." he replied, looking down at her for a moment before finally making his way toward the door. "Now make sure that you're dressed and ready by seven o' clock tomorrow morning."
"No promises there either."
Despite her uncertain attitude from before, Penny forced herself to get up early and drive Sheldon to work. She wasn't going to a fashion show, and chose not to dress like she was either.
Instead she just threw on a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, putting her hair up and not bothering to wear any make-up. When she finally met the tall nerd in the hall, complete with his day clothes and bag, he seemed to notice all of this.
"Penny, I told you to be dressed and ready." he finally told her after a moment's pause, mindlessly playing with the strap on his bag. "Would you like to go back? We still have approximately ten and a half minutes of extra time."
"This is the best you're going to get, sweetie." she said, putting up a half-assed attempt to motion toward herself. She took a sip of the bottle of coffee she had brought along with her. "Why did you give us ten extra minutes, anyways?"
"Well, I figured you wouldn't actually follow my instructions and that would ultimately put us at least three minutes behind schedule. I also factored in the chance you might drive slowly due to the fact that you're health, or lack there of, is still abnormal." he answered as they descended down the stairs.
She rolled her eyes, but left it at that.
When they reached and climbed into her car, Penny pulled out of the apartment's parking lot and onto the street. She was glad to find that silence encompassed around the vehicle for a good while. She almost thanked for her good fortune of what seemed to be the prediction of a completely quiet car ride until...
"Penny?"
She resisted the urge to close her eyes in annoyance, knowing that if she did there would definitely be some form of accident. "What is it?" she asked Sheldon through gritted teeth.
"Were you really inadvertently falling asleep in my presence or was that just a quick lie you came up with?" questioned Sheldon. "It's okay. There is no need to feel uncomfortable in telling me the truth. I will take in account that you were ill and the flu might have been affecting your brain."
She felt her hands tighten around the steering wheel. "Why would I lie about something like that?" She took another sip of her coffee, getting irritated once more.
"I have no idea." he answered in a sincerely innocent tone. "Perhaps because you found yourself feeling insecure and regretful of your actions. Or maybe because society deems it inappropriate and embarrassing. Or it could be simply because of the fact that you knew I would never willingly sleep with you."
Penny felt the familiar sensation of a blush rising up onto her cheeks, and she felt herself getting uncomfortable. Surely he couldn't not know what his words just sounded like? Come on, everyone had to be able to pick up on that.
Except maybe Sheldon.
"It wasn't a lie." she finally said, glancing over at where he sat comfortably in the passenger's seat. "I was just really tired both nights. Why would I want to sleep with you, anyways?"
"I don't think I could reasonably answer that question, but perhaps you find my presence comforting."
She couldn't help but letting out a laugh at that. "Your presence? Comforting? Really?" she asked him incredulously.
It was then that she noticed that they had now reached the university. She pulled up to the familiar building and moved through the parking lot toward the main front doors, part of her relieved that the conversation would be ending. The whole ride had seemed to be awkward, at least for her.
Scratch that. The whole entire situation had been awkward. Valentine's Day, being sick with him, falling asleep with him, everything.
He didn't address her disbelief. "My intelligence does make me a rather good partner in survival, especially in such situations as a zombie attack. Maybe you subconsciously felt safe."
"Yeah. Maybe. I'm sure that's it." she agreed, mostly to shut him up. She didn't bother to keep the sarcasm out of her voice though, knowing he wouldn't be able to pick up on it anyways. Rolling her eyes, she stopped the car. "Off you go, I guess." she said after a moment.
He moved over and opened the door, stepping outside. "Goodbye, Penny." he told her. "And thank you for the ride. Perhaps tonight we can watch more films once I get off of work."
Her jaw dropped slightly. "Are you suggesting that we actually spend time together?"
"Well, why not?" He gave a light shrug and half a smile. "We've slept together, haven't we?"
She didn't know what to say to that, and just stared at him for a few moments. Finally, she blinked and returned his smile. "Yeah." she answered. "I guess we have."
Sheldon straightened up to his full height. "Well, I'll be waiting here in a few hours. Don't be tardy."
Penny smirked a little. "Okay." she said. "But no promises, though."
He glanced up at the sky but didn't say anything else, instead turning and beginning to walk toward the building. She watched him leave and started the car back up once he disappeared through the doors.
As she began to drive home, she couldn't help but hoping that Leonard would stay in Switzerland for just a tad bit longer than he was planning to.
After all, maybe she could find out if it was really true that he would never willingly sleep with her. In a completely innocent way, of course. Because she had no desire to sleep with him in any other sense.
At least she didn't think she did.
She glanced up at her rearview mirror, catching sight of his workplace in the background. She smiled slightly, and then turned her eyes back to the road.
Maybe she didn't get to spend her first Valentine's Day with Leonard with, well, him.
But now that she thought about it, that wasn't such a bad thing after all.
The End