Penny showed up early for Halo night with a crocheted bag full of knitting supplies and cheerily mentioned she was finishing up a pair of scarves she was sending home for her sister to put in a charity collection bin. "There are a lot of families who need warm clothes this time of year back in Omaha," she explained when she pulled out a pair of bamboo knitting needles and unfurled a long, striped scarf. Sheldon had watched her curiously for the first ten minutes, then joined her on the couch, and when Leonard came back from the bathroom, she was guiding his hands along the yarn and explaining how she didn't employ many fancy tactics these days.

"I used to make ribbons and twists. All sorts of details." She guided his fingers over the needle tips and smiled. "Just straight knit now—it goes much quicker. I make about twenty a season when I can—no time for frills."

Sheldon ran his fingers over the length of the scarf. "It's perfect. How tightly do I pull? Did I make a mistake?"

"You're doing fine. And it's all right if there are mistakes. I can go back and sew them closed." She watched as his pace picked up with the compliment and sat back, proud to have taught him something for a change. She hardly noticed Leonard.

Sheldon's voice was quiet. "I bet you don't make mistakes anymore, do you?"

"Sure I do. I get distracted sometimes and drop a stitch, or change colors a row too early." She smoothed her hands over the scarf draped over his knee. "But it's really nice. Meditation, almost. And when I go home, I always see someone wearing one. Usually one of my cousins snags one, but I love that, too."

"Do you ever think it's a colossal waste of time?"

Leonard winced, expecting her to be angry, but sighed in relief when she pursed her lips and refused to let her ire take over. "No." She dragged the word out and smiled when Sheldon paused mid-stitch and looked up, sensing he said something wrong.

He cleared his throat. "I sometimes find myself wondering if I'm wasting my time doing a lot of things I enjoy."

"But it's not time wasted when you enjoy it." Penny asserted softly, finally noticing Leonard. She smiled and pointed at Sheldon's busywork, clearly amused. Leonard smiled back, truly tickled by the image.

The situation averted, Sheldon finished the row and held out the nearly-finished work and surveyed the progress he'd made. Penny seemed to trace her eyes over it carefully and bit her lip, reaching for it to hide it away. It could wait.

"Oh, damn." Sheldon lifted it closer to his face, his expression falling flat. "There were twenty before? There are eighteen now!"

"I'll find them and sew them shut, it's fine," she promised. "My cousin Jack would have probably taken this one anyway. He has a new coat and needs new gloves, hat, all that."

"My error is more out of clumsiness than ineptitude," Sheldon added, looking at Penny hopefully. She nodded, grinning, and looked pointedly at the game controller resting on the table. Sheldon shoved the needles into her hands, folding his arms, and she let out a beautiful, gloating laugh. As she passed behind him, walking from the couch to the kitchen without getting between him and the television, she let her fingers drift over him, trying to feel like a spider or ghost tickling across his shoulders. He ignored her, but Leonard knows it's not a typical reaction. As if to test his hypothesis, he joined Sheldon on the couch and felt his knee bump into part of his roommate's leg and waited.

"You're in Penny's spot." Sheldon stood up and walked toward the kitchen. "I suggest you vacate as soon as she returns."

"For you, or for her?" Leonard helplessly quipped.

As if answering the question herself, Penny leaned out from the open fridge. "Hey, Sheldon, do you need a scarf? I have extra yarn and it only takes me a few days to finish one."

Deliberating a moment, Sheldon thought of his scarf. It was adequately warm and soft. The yarn Penny was working with was neither warmer nor softer, and yet he nodded the affirmative and stopped short when Penny squeezed his forearm as she floated past him and into the living room again. He watched her walk away, curiously interested in finding more of her mindless hobbies. He had half a mind to make a note of it in a journal of some kind, but refrained.

She sat down in the middle of the couch and stretched a little, feeling more at ease than she usually did while visiting their apartment. The only discomfort she felt was when Sheldon, in his infinitely detached way, sent her a look that said he'd absolutely not forgotten their unexpected makeout session in her apartment.

Sheldon sat beside her delicately, but Leonard noticed it was more of Sheldon's curious natural grace than anything else. His knee and hers bumped and neither did much of anything about it. Penny started to tell a story about work and Sheldon, though looking at her as if bored, did not interrupt. He asked a question at the end, related to her story, and when she dismissed the answer as unimportant, he began to tell her about the amino acid strain he'd constructed out of jellybeans during a particularly boring, mandatory lecture he'd attended in Germany.

She snorted at the end of his story, which he'd ended with a tired, snappy diatribe in German. Leonard felt the palpable tension in the air and watched as Penny scraped her eyes over the inside of the apartment.

"Who is it that has all those graphic novels?"

"Which universe?" Sheldon asked, not looking up from his dinner. "DC, Marvel?"

"I'm looking for the original detective of the Detective Comics world, I suppose. He's the shadow of the night, an ordinary man pushed to extraordinary measures." Her voice dropped into a gruff, almost sexy register. "I'm Batman."

Sheldon cleared his throat, but his voice was lower than usual, too. "That would be me. I can get you started with some of the more famous—that should be sufficient for your interests."

Penny nodded, looking pleased with herself. "Great. Thanks, Sheldon."

It was that moment, as he leaned over, a small smile on his face, pleased to have done something right again, she noticed his shirt pull a little and reveal a fading red mark on his neck. Every time she saw it, she kicked herself a little. She was glad, on days like these, Leonard could be so oblivious.

And yet, Sheldon seemed to allow her moments of insanity, just as she allowed his. Only, and she could only wonder about that brilliant mind of his, she was less allowing his insanity, and more embracing it. It boggled the mind to think Sheldon Cooper, homo novus, was actually enjoying her lapses of judgment and silently encouraging her to continue.

Leonard smiled gently at the pair of them before silently taking his keys from the bowl by the door and slipping outside, zipping his jacket. Experiment No. 001. He passed Howard and Raj on the stairs, nodding curtly to the pair of them as he descended.

Howard entered the apartment first, peeking around the corner, and spun back around, looking pointedly at Raj. "Nothing too weird yet. Did you bring the keyboard up?"

"Are you on crack?" Raj puffed, juggling the enormous keyboard they'd borrowed from a friend. "This things weighs like a ton! Didn't you hear me bringing it up?"

"Right, sorry." Howard smiled painfully and pushed open the door. "Greetings, friends!"

Penny looked over and her face split open into a confused but unforced smile. "What's that, Raj?"

He laid it gently on the ground in front of the TV grandly, letting it speak for itself. Penny made a noise and scooted off the couch, waiting patiently as Howard plugged it in and Raj turned it on. He played some chords, not too perfectly, Sheldon noted, and let Penny at it. She started to play the familiar, rudimentary notes to "Heart and Soul," which made Sheldon roll his eyes dramatically as he looked at his watch grumpily.

"Need I remind you all that Halo Night begins in five minutes?"

"Relax, Leonard's not even here yet."

"He's here!" Sheldon protested loudly. "He just...went to his room, I think."

Howard lifted his phone and shook it at Sheldon, eyes still on the keyboard. "Raj and I forgot to stop for the food, so he went to grab it."

"Oh, for heaven's sake!" Sheldon folded his arms and rubbed his face tiredly before growling softly and sliding down next to Penny, kneeling on the floor beside her.

He wordlessly found the background chords for her little, childish ditty and hammed it up, making it sound like a big-band swing part written for the piano somehow. She giggled, almost losing rhythm, and spread her fingers out, trying to play in intervals, but not understanding the art of staying in the correct key. Instead, she stopped and laughed, looking over at Sheldon's watch. "We could take five minutes out of game-time while we wait for Leonard and play with the keyboard a little more."

Raj sent Howard a hard look and swallowed. When Sheldon finally glanced up from the keys and stopped playing, his expression was warm. He seemed to be pleased with what she was suggesting, that they change routine by substitution—one of his established alternatives. He felt almost at ease disregarding the norm. While he really could have cared less if they screwed around with the cheap keyboard for a moment longer, he didn't want to have Raj and Penny team up against him and Wolowitz. It was a guaranteed failure.

Her lips twitched. "Chicken."

"It wasn't me who suggested we wait for Leonard. It seems to imply you're afraid of me, Penny. Not the other way around."

"Mm, but history seems to indicate you should be afraid of me." She shot him a smile full of teeth and he almost reached to tug her hair as a warning, but knew he probably misunderstood that social interaction, too. Sighing instead, he stretched his fingers and began to play what he remembered of Für Elise.

"The list of things you can't do just keeps getting shorter," Penny grumped as the rest of the song came to him and it became more fluid, more musical.

Pleased with her irritation somehow, Sheldon smiled at her, and Howard found it a thousand times more terrifying than his famed 'Kill Batman' smile simply because it was effortless, genuine, and warm. It was a smile that reached his eyes and didn't warp his other features, one that made him look twelve years old, which was probably the last time he truly smiled like this.

"Meanwhile, the list of things you can do is growing exponentially." He gestured at the keys while his left hand did all the work. "You can play some songs, I see. And knit scarves, and beat me at Halo. I keep saying it, but there really is hope for you yet, Penny."

She grinned over at Raj and Howard, unable to help it. While it was a little insulting to have her list of abilities reduced to such inane, useless tasks, she had to take it through a specially designed "Sheldon-Filter." If it wasn't aimed to humiliate or belittle, she would take it as a mild compliment. When he came right out and said the compliment, then it was even better. It was progress, and it made Sheldon appear at ease.

Howard smiled back at her politely, which she incorrectly interpreted as his disbelief or indifference. Clearing her throat, Penny turned back toward Sheldon, who was still touching the keys with practiced fingertips, a little of the smile leftover on his cheeks. She found a small reservoir of courage, not her typical assertive courage, but a long-term, three-sheets-to-the-wind kind of courage. And so she leaned and kissed him rather wetly on the cheek, giggling to herself when he first turned a little pink and then reached up, scrubbing at his cheek with his sleeve.

Glowering at her, Sheldon leaned away from the keys and took a slow, even breath. He didn't think to look over to see what Raj and Howard were thinking. Instead, he sneaked a glance at Penny, who had switched the keyboard into a new mode, where each key made a sound effect rather than a pitch. Delighted, she made a chorus of grunts, shouts, and screams. Water rippling, horses galloping, which she liked immensely, and frogs croaking filled the apartment.

Between the kiss and the fact Halo Night was steadily being pushed back, Sheldon began to get antsy. The way Leonard had been conditioned to do things exactly as his mother (and later, his equally fussy roommate) wanted them done meant Sheldon very rarely got close to his melting point. Penny had seen Rain Man and wondered if the eclectic scientist had it in him to curl into a small ball and scream, to cry until he got his way. It was his safety net—she assumed he'd had very little control over his life as a child, but even then it seemed he'd been fussy, particular, and insistent. The stories she heard from Sheldon's mother were a great indicator, and yet Penny couldn't figure out exactly why she occasionally called the older woman all the way in Texas. She told herself it was because her own mother only nagged her to give up and return to Nebraska at the first opportunity, and that she could easily hang up on Mary without guilt or repercussion. She never did, even when Mary Cooper started thumping her Bible and thanking Jesus Penny was there to reel in Sheldon when he went "all prima-donna like he's the only genius the world's ever gonna get."

Penny first noticed Sheldon teetering close to oblivion when he started pacing by the window, watching for Leonard's car. The minutes dragged on for her; to Sheldon, they flew by. Before he knew it, it was 8:30 and he had yet to throw a single plasma grenade. He started to grind his teeth and fidget with his watch, his shirt sleeves, to worry the belt loop on his slacks. Penny guided him quietly to his seat on the couch, his usual spot, and sat beside him, rubbing his arm encouragingly, promising him Leonard was just running a little late, and if he really wanted, she would fill in for him so they could get started.

"Every Wednesday we have spent at this apartment, Leonard has either given adequate notice of his absence, or attended Halo Night. Penny, every Wednesday--"

"I know, Sweetie," she interrupted, putting her palm on his cheek, tilting his face to look at her. "He'll be here. You can skip your shower tonight, go to sleep on time, and wake up a little early, take an extra-thorough shower in the morning."

"That hardly helps—no!" Sheldon looked at her as if she were completely missing the point, and she was. "You want me to further go out of my way?"

"You don't ever go out of your way!" she protested loudly. "Most people bend over backwards for your needs and we hardly get a thank-you for our trouble!"

Sheldon's face indicated he was going to fight this one to the death. He inhaled sharply, his mouth forming the shape of a tirade-in-progress, one that would leave Penny in tears, perhaps. She steeled herself against the onslaught of reasons why the rest of the human race ought to cater to his will, and not the other way around, Spock be damned.

"Well, thank you!" Sheldon finally spoke, the tone of his voice sounding completely out of character for the sentiment he expressed. He looked away from her, cheek still in her palm, and felt his face start to twitch softly.

Penny ran her thumb over his cheek softly, feeling the start of stubble, though it was largely invisible still. He was terrified. And embarrassed to be so terrified of something he knew literally every other person on the planet to think insignificant. He tried to shrug it off, but before he could pretend he had done so, he had to fool himself. So he took several deep breaths and focused on Penny's hand on his cheek, soothing him. He imagined a plate of peach cobbler, theorems he hadn't needed to remember since high school, and the reliable comfort of knowing at 9:30 he would go into the bathroom, shower, and get ready for bed. Slowly, he calmed until he could open his eyes again.

Howard swallowed loudly when Penny sat back a little to see if Sheldon was about to explode. "You okay there, Dork-zilla?"

Penny turned to give him a glare fit to flay him alive, but relaxed when Sheldon sat up a little and put his hands on his knees, fixing Howard with a look of mild irritation. "Of course. Shall we start so I'm not late for the rest of my evening?"

After a few moments adjusting herself on the couch, handing out controllers and changing the settings so they could do battle on randomly assigned teams, she noticed Raj staring at her. Keeping an eye on him as carefully as possible, Penny noted their entire team had been dropped in a live game somewhere on a map, fighting against four people from who-knew-where.

When Leonard finally came back into the apartment, looking a little peeved despite this being part of the plan, he gave pause to see Penny giving Howard a playful noogie while Sheldon, his jaw tight, mashed buttons on his controller. Fighting the urge to smile, Leonard put on an apologetic face and held out the plastic bag with their dinners in it.

"Sorry, everyone. Traffic was awful—I thought for a minute it'd started to snow. Just rain, false alarm."

"I miss the snow," Penny mentioned in a curiously soft voice as Howard smoothed his hair. "I would make a huge fort every year from the pile the snow plow made on the corner of my driveway. It was big enough I could hollow it out and slide in and out. Big enough for me and a few friends. We'd tell secrets for hours."

"Are you going home this winter at all?" Leonard asked as she accepted a container and a set of chopsticks.

She shook her head. "Not until March, probably. That's why I'm sending the scarves. Otherwise I'd just hand-deliver them." She poked at her dinner. "Not a lot of money to spend on plane tickets right now."

"Penny, if your financial situation is preventing you from visiting your family in a time of need, remember that I have offered before and will offer again the use of our secret money stash." Sheldon heaved a sigh as if everything were so simple, and should be assumed so easily. "How much would you need?"

She shook her head. "No, Sheldon, it's not that I'm running low on money, it's that I know I have to spend it on rent and other stuff. It's Christmastime—I can't just buy myself a ticket home. I have gifts to buy and ship, and decorations for my apartment."

"And we're having a party," Sheldon frowned. "Apparently."

She laughed. "Good one, Sweetie."

"No, it's true." Leonard rubbed the side of his neck cautiously. "Because...well, Sheldon ruined it, but because we know you're a little homesick. I know it doesn't necessarily solve the homesick part, but at least you'll be surrounded with your typical, nerdy crowd plus whoever you might want to invite, right?"

Sheldon knew she was going to kiss Leonard's cheek for thinking of it. The touched look on her face was one he knew all too well; his memory had inextricably tied that expression to the motion of her kissing him. He braced himself for the feeling of the knot in his stomach tightening until he was certain it would break. Just the thought of letting her near him again after she so clearly gave her touch away as if it were nothing...

He paused the game and took his dinner from the bag, going through the motions of eating it robotically. He listened to her thanking Leonard profusely, and her thanking him for allowing strangers into their apartment so she wouldn't feel so sad around Christmastime. It was 9:15 when he stood and excused himself early for his shower.

Sheldon had tried, ever since moving to California, to have sanctuaries—places he could reasonably insist no one bother him. The bathroom, his bedroom, and his office at work were the three places he could guarantee himself unadulterated thinking time. Tonight, when he slipped from the bathroom to his bedroom, he heard Penny knock softly.

He didn't think to tell her she wouldn't be allowed inside; she knew better than to ask. When he opened the door to listen to her, she gave him a thin, slightly worried smile and held up a paperback, much like the first. "You done with your homework?"

He sighed, torn between lying and admitting he was ready for his second "assignment." Picking the middle ground, he stood up a little straighter and looked above her head, staring at the hall behind her. "Yes, but I think it'd be in our best interests to make sure we're on the same page, so to speak. I'll wait until you finish your book, and then we can discuss both before moving on."

"Actually, I just finished reading this a few days ago—it's only a short story in the middle, here." She pointed at the dog-eared pages, ignoring his wince. "I'm sure you've already read it, actually. It's by Thomas Pynchon."

He had stopped reading for pleasure, fictionally anyway, when he started teaching. His curiosity piqued by an author's name he'd heard before, though never read, he took the book, flipped to the middle where she'd marked the beginning of the story, and blinked at the title.

"'Entropy.'"

"You said my apartment was in a state of entropy once, remember? I had to look it up. Then I had to look it up in a children's dictionary." She smiled cheekily at him and he felt the knot in his stomach return, tightening again. If he could untie it and move on, it would be better, but without a cause or correlation he had nothing to do. So, he suffered, hand massaging his stomach as he read through the first few paragraphs.

Penny took a step back. "I think you'll like it, if you don't read it literally. And, so we're still 'on the same page,' so to speak," she smirked at his mild glare, "you can explain it to me. No reflection or questions. You'll get it better than I do, I'm sure."

He nodded, effectively humbled somehow, and closed the book, wanting desperately to clear his throat and dismiss her. Instead he backed up and sat on his bed, fishing through a low-set bookcase for one of the more famous graphic novels in his Batman collection. After pulling out The Killing Joke, he held it out to her, wordless invitation in his eyes.

"Danger, danger!" Penny couldn't resist screeching as she took her first steps inside and Sheldon snatched the hardcover book back; he had half a mind to give her a strike for mockery, but he had invited it upon himself. So, when her giggled finally dissipated, he held it out again and she took it, biting her lip as their fingers brushed over one another's.

Leonard's rules raced through his head. He struggled, but found no additional help in the short list. Gripping the beaten paperback, clearly a used piece snatched up at a garage sale or flea market, he swallowed silently and frowned gently at the wall beside the door.

"All right, I'm going, I'm going." Penny moved toward the door. "G'night, Sheldon. Sweet dreams."

"I rarely remember my dreams—and when I do, I guarantee they are never sweet. I believe the last dream I had--" he stopped short, remembering first his nightmare about the time machine, and then the last one, where Penny had made a grand appearance, silent and beautiful.

She blinked in disbelief at his sudden loss for words. "You're a weird cookie, Sheldon Cooper."

He made a noise as if he were going to correct her, but, baffled, could not complete that thought either.

Penny's breathing was short. She made an effort to even it out, her fingers tracing the edge of the smooth, pristine graphic novel he'd lent her from his personal collection. This meant no eating, drinking, or nail polishing while reading. No baths or multitasking. She would have to sit down one nightwhen Antimatter was just too much for her and peruse the pictures, speech bubbles, and "story-arc" with thoughtful focus. And he would pick her brain for, she anticipated, well over an hour.

Sheldon closed his mouth and looked at his folded hands silently before looking up at her, a confused light flashing through his eerie blue eyes. "Are you going to kiss me again?"

Taken aback, she laughed gently and gripped the book a little tighter. "You mean...ever?"

He hadn't considered the timeline he'd been questioning—it was the action he was most concerned with. Deciding forever was the appropriate constraint, then, he nodded, undoing her dog-ears and memorizing the page number the short story began on.

Squirming a little, she shrugged and coughed gently. "I'm sorry, Sheldon. I must have...I should have known you wouldn't--"

"I haven't said a word about my inclinations toward it. I just wonder if...it's something I should continue to expect." He paused. "Or, rather, if it's something I should now prepare myself for."

Blushing, Penny took a brief look at their developing history. They had shared a number of kisses now—she didn't try to count the individual kisses in her apartment when she'd all but manhandled him into an impromptu makeout session. It made no sense to her. She, being much less anal-retentive than Sheldon, hadn't bothered to have a freak-out over the entire ordeal, but faced with his puzzled, less-than-comfortable expression, she had no choice but to analyze herself. And, despite her much more apparent skills in lying, she chose to be honest.

"Yeah, I guess you should."

He nodded, looking resigned. "I should have expected so much."

"Honey, you wouldn't be able to predict something like that if I hit you over the head with a pillowcase full of soap." She rolled her eyes and marched over to him. "With this sort of stuff, you'll find it's much easier not to predict, experiment, and record your observations. You'll end up thinking about silly stuff and getting hurt. The last thing I wanted when I kissed you was to plant another little neurosis-seed."

"What did you want?"

She blushed again and shrugged. "I wanted to kiss you."

Nodding again, he put the book on his nightstand. "My research indicates that would mean you find me...interesting."

She laughed a real laugh. "I don't think there's a person alive who wouldn't call you 'interesting,' Sweetie."

He snorted, his ego getting the better of him. "Obviously."

Sighing gently, Penny thinned her lips and Sheldon's eyes slid to them helplessly, wondering a great many things without thinking of a single study that could help him. "G'night, Sheldon."

He made a sound of protest and clapped his hands to his cheeks a moment later, feeling for the first time like he was literally insane. Not just particular, not just suffering in a world of idiots, but utterly insane. And his mother, as he frequently reminded his friends, had had him tested. Not once, but twice. He was confident, scientifically, he was sane. Then again, when Penny had first met him, she had said he was one of those "beautiful mind guys" and he had thought of John Nash, wondered, and then dismissed the notion. It crept back in, but he knew Howard and Leonard would tell him to accept the comparison because in the movie, he managed to marry Jennifer Connelly, and that, apparently, was some huge accomplishment. Personally, Sheldon found it took away from the inherent mathematical value of the film and Nash's Game Theory of Economics.

Penny had paused in the doorway of his room, looking like she was trying to escape, like she desperately wanted to, but that somehow a larger portion of her wanted to stay right where she was. Like she wanted him to whisper he didn't feel well so she could creep back over, sit on the bed next to him, and sing 'Soft Kitty' until his eyelids drooped and he asked her to leave.

Clinging to her last memory of Ramona and all the idiocy that had surrounded that poor girl's duration at 4A, Penny swallowed. Ramona had accused her of being in love with Sheldon, and at that exact moment in her life, she hadn't even thought about it when she shook her head and wondered if Dr. Whack-a-doodle had found his "mate." It had literally made her feel sick and uneasy to see them together, but only because she knew it was not a romantic relationship at all, and that had made her sad. Sheldon seemed happier with Ramona than with anyone else Penny knew, and it was a completely inhuman relationship. Other than taking care of his body and all the factors she could control to help his brain work at optimum levels, she was an ego-machine and physicist. Ramona, no doubt, would have made an excellent nurse for Sheldon's famous case of the sniffles.

It was this that prompted Penny to tighten her fists and turn around, looking at Sheldon's embarrassed expression as he lowered his hands from his cheeks, gritting his teeth, about to go into a twitch-fit. She had spent almost ten minutes tonight just rubbing his arm, trying to get him to relax long enough to take a real breath of air. For a moment on the couch, she thought he was going to faint, but then he'd drawn strength from somewhere (she liked to think a tiny part of it came from her encouragement) and managed to get through the evening without completely losing it.

"What's wrong?" she demanded, seeing Sheldon's conflicted face. It was a face that said either he was going to try to lie, or was keeping a secret.

He shook his head. "No."

"No?"

"No!"

Frustrated, Penny tossed her hands in the air, nearly flinging his book into the ceiling. "Good night, Sheldon!"

"Penny, wait!" He jumped up, surprising himself with the nimble hop, but shut off that tiny, self-conscious part of his brain, wedged in there with his self-awareness and social graces. But, it might have an enormous pay-off, and he could at least sleep easier tonight if she responded well to him.

She took the single step back into his room and pushed his door mostly closed, not wanting to alert Leonard that his roommate was having another spaz-attack, and she saw Sheldon flitting around like a nervous hummingbird, closing in on her as his limbs settled and his eyes slowed their search of her face and locked on her lips. Penny took a sudden, hitching breath, backing away on some basic instinct, but desperately wanting him to follow, hoping he wouldn't over-analyze and shove her outside without something to, as her mother put it, "write home about."

Not one to disappoint, Sheldon followed until he heard her bump into the door, shutting it, and then he placed one hand on the knob, the other next to her head. She had a look of an animal pursued, caught, and about to be eaten, but it was as if she lived to prey and be preyed upon. A flash of excitement in her eyes seemed to spark a similar flash of anxiety and excitement in the pit of his stomach. It was a curious sequence of reactions, but Sheldon spent little time considering it as she tilted her head to one side, he made the opposite motion, and leaned in close, scrabbling for information.

Penny let out a soft sound as he took his sweet time figuring out the exact logistics. He infuriated her with his thoroughness, but she had no desire to rush him, knowing it would be worth the reward if she waited. So, reaching and finding his shoulders, she closed her eyes and waited, smiling when the ghost of his breath danced over her lips. Toothpaste and mouthwash; at least he was predictably clean.

His breath was too close to imagine he wouldn't be kissing her soon, and so she chanced a peek to find Sheldon millimeters from her, smiling deviously.

"Don't you say it—" she warned.

"Bazinga!"

"Sheldon!" she whined, but stopped when he nudged her quiet with a soft kiss and followed it with something that immediately made her legs go weak. She grappled with the arms separating him from her, knocked an elbow into an unlocked position, and he crushed her against the door with a bang. Her arms wove around his neck and Sheldon straightened a little, oddly liking how much smaller she was than he. She was easy to lift—easy enough, anyway—and his concern he would inevitably have to put her down evaporated when she very cautiously wrapped her legs around his hips and he rested her back against the door.

People can't be in my room. People can't be in my room. People, at large, cannot be in my room. Penny, as an individual, can be in my room.

He sighed, copying her motions whenever he particularly liked something she did, and it seemed to serve as a wonderful model. Things were going splendidly until Penny seemed to have a change of heart somehow, and she pushed at his chest, breaking away for air, her legs delicately unlinking, though Sheldon kept them parted, his body wedged too closely and tightly for her to slide back to the ground. She started to say something, but Sheldon's panic had set in and he didn't want her to leave quite yet, despite it rapidly approaching his bedtime. So, he lowered his lips to her collar bone and slid around until he felt goosebumps erupt over her skin. She let out a shaky little moan that made his own flesh crawl with tingling, electric sensations, and he almost had to push her away for a moment to collect his thoughts.

"Sheldon, stop," she begged, feeling limp as he robbed her of all motor skills. It made absolutely no sense. She wanted to hide away in her room, curled around her stuffed animals—the ones Sheldon had gotten dry-cleaned after Howard and her former-friend had gotten them "sweaty"—and figure this all out. But, she reasoned when Sheldon, pausing for a moment, reacted to the little twist she'd thrown in her hip, what was there to figure out? No matter how many times she'd privately thought he looked like a praying mantis, or wanted to strangle the guy, she came back. And, right now, pressed against his bedroom door and fully clothed, she thought she might come, period. And that, she unsteadily admitted, needed to stop. Immediately.

"Sheldon!" She finally grew gutsy and shoved him softly, and he finally snapped to attention, his cheeks flushed, guilt coming in waves off his slightly disappointed face.

"I'm sorry, Penny, I don't know—"

"No, no, Sweetie, it's okay!" She braced herself on his shoulders as she finally wiggled her way back to solid earth, which felt like it was spinning faster than usual. She put her hand to her head, trying to settle herself, and squeezed his shoulder, looking up in surprise when he put his hand on her back to steady her, concern written briefly in his gaze.

"I'm afraid I don't understand," he finally muttered, feeling anxious still, despite the moment being effectively dissolved.

"You and I were about to...if that had gone on much longer, Sheldon, you..."

If, for any reason, you have to refer to sexual intercourse in front of Penny, do not refer to it as 'coitus,' 'intercourse,' 'procreation,' or 'mating.' Acceptable terms include 'love-making' or 'sex.'

Sheldon cleared his throat, making a mental side-note to thank Leonard earnestly for his forethought and real desire to help. "You and I would have," he flipped a coin mentally, figured it was statistically slightly more inclined to land heads-up and assigned that side of the coin one of the 'acceptable terms' Leonard had given him. "We would have made love?"

Penny sank against the door a few inches, her legs momentarily giving out, and she caught herself, trembling a little, before sinking to the carpet in a sitting position, screwing her eyes shut and pinching her legs together tightly. He watched intently, feeling his cheeks heating back up, but not out of embarrassment or guilt. He touched his forehead and wondered if he had a fever, but dismissed it when he saw the red flush spreading over Penny's body, making her cheeks pink and her skin hot to the touch, no doubt.

After a long moment watching her collect herself, or attempt to, she nodded at him and and raked her eyes over his ridiculous plaid pajamas, realizing she had seen him essentially in his underwear, though never all at once. The thought unnerved her a bit and she looked skyward, momentarily considering a heartfelt prayer to whatever deity was listening.

"You don't want that," he reasoned, trying to find Penny's logic.

She snapped her eyes to his face. "I didn't say that. I wanted to stop because...because I didn't even know that was something you thought about at all, let alone were actively pursuing! And because Leonard is in the other room, and while he took our break-up extremely well, I think the last thing he needs is his roommate bonking his ex in the apartment while he tries to watch 'Adult Swim.'" She sighed, feeling scared somehow. "And because I didn't know I wanted it, really, until a few minutes ago. So, we're stopping."

Truth be told, and Sheldon would express his surprise at such a fact later on to Leonard, Sheldon had only heard part of Penny's tirade. He had listened, his entire being focused on one answer, and when she had said "I wanted it," his mind locked on and ignored everything else. He acknowledged a desire to kiss her again, but forced it to go away, instead picking up one of the pillows on his bed and dropping it on his lap.

She looked at the pillow and snorted. "You didn't have to keep that on your bed."

He looked at the heart-shaped novelty and touched the frayed edges where she'd cut the lace off. "I know I don't have to. Penny, no one makes me do much of anything anymore. Except my mother."

"And if someone called and asked her Moon-Pie to come visit over Christmas?"

His eyes glazed over. "Oh, I do miss Meemaw's cookies."

She laughed gently, fanning her face with her hand as the situation seemed to dissolve on its own. Sheldon, she realized with a relaxed sigh, didn't have it in him to feed the tension to a breaking point. If it were him on the floor trying to talk her out letting things go on further, she might have stood a pretty good chance of him tossing his own three sheets to the wind. But she couldn't shake it from her mind. She didn't want to hurt herself by rushing into this. The pieces were there, but with Sheldon, it hadn't felt like anything too promising. Just harmless flirting that seemed to help him recognize social conventions a little better. And then the kiss, and then the making out part in her apartment, and somewhere in there Leonard had broken up with her. And now Sheldon was cautiously moving toward her, metaphorically speaking.

But she had a terrible power and responsibility. She couldn't play with Sheldon the way she had accidentally played with Leonard. He was so certain and she wasn't—it hadn't been fair. If the same were true of Sheldon, she could damage the poor guy permanently. He'd never let someone this close before, and while it was flattering and honoring to be the first to come this close to his intimate side, he was dear to her, more than she thought. Wanting to cry, she bent her head into her arms and rested a moment, finally starting to calm.

"Penny?"

She looked up at him, wanting to feel miserable but finding it totally impossible. "Yeah?"

Sheldon blinked, expressionless. "You look tired. You should go before I further interrupt your sleep schedule."

"Yeah, I should." She pushed herself up from her seated position slowly, standing on shaky legs. "I'll probably see you tomorrow."

"I look forward to it."

She examined him curiously, watched him hugging her pillow to his lap, no doubt unaware or uncaring of his physiological changes. Taking a deep breath, she tried to shake thoughts of him away but could not. Even with Leonard, it was awful to admit, she'd been able to push all thoughts of him away and focus on work, or her new audition, or her family back home. Sheldon didn't function well if everyone in his life wasn't always dedicating a part of his or her life to him. So she took a moment to figure out exactly what it was Sheldon was going to need from her and knew it would be enough if she walked out tonight without another word as long as he could count on her to be there the next day. And the day after.

She swallowed. "Me too." And then she walked over to his bed, bent just far enough to reach him, and kissed him once more, feeling much more in control of herself as he eagerly returned the embrace and pulled on the strings holding the pillow together.

The seconds dragged on and Penny, pinching her lips shut, pushed herself away from him and made a noise as if she were utterly disgusted with herself. "Good night, Sheldon."

She was halfway to the door when she saw Leonard look up from the TV and frown, pointing toward Sheldon's room with a question on his lips. Penny put up her hand, telling him to shut up silently, her heart fluttering like it might stop at any second. She gripped her chest painfully as she came to the door and threw it open. Just as she was about to disappear into the hall, Sheldon skidded around the corner of the hall with the forgotten Batman book in hand, his mouth tightly pressed. He seemed desperate, Leonard noted.

Penny hesitated, but crossed back over her hurried path and took the book with a meek sound of gratitude. Leonard watched their fingers brush and frowned when Penny's hand jerked away, electrocuted. She put her chin down and hurried out, the door shutting with a quiet click behind her. Sheldon collapsed into the armchair near the couch, staring helplessly after her.

"What was that?" Leonard asked, unable to help himself.

Shrugging helplessly, Sheldon swallowed. "As always, Penny has confused me more than I imagined possible."

"Did you give her another brilliant compliment she has yet to see?"

"To be perfectly honest, Leonard, I am almost certain I did nothing wrong this time." Not seeing the point in keeping a secret from Leonard when he was the only real help Sheldon could rely on at this point. "At least, I would like to assume Penny wouldn't kiss me and then think I've done something wrong."

Leonard's face fell just an iota. "She...kissed you? Again?"

Sheldon nodded, letting his head fall bak against the cushion of the chair. He sighed dramatically. "Yes."

"Oh, so fast?" Leonard sounded a little disappointed somehow, but then straightened as much as he could and cleared his throat gently. "And?"

Lifting an eyebrow, Sheldon waited for a clue but received none. Seeing nothing helpful on the horizon this time, he looked around the apartment aimlessly. "And it's not as unpleasant as I might have anticipated. But, for the record, an obsession with sex is still pathetic."

Nodding and waving at Sheldon's persistent narcissism, Leonard leaned and rested his elbows on his knees. "Focus, Sheldon. What was the kiss like this time?"

"It's not like I have a terribly diverse set of data to work with, Leonard," Sheldon answered, sounding irritated already. "What would you like to know?" His eyes narrowed suddenly and he squinted suspiciously. "I have a feeling like Penny might think I'm stepping over a line of some kind. I think I'll go to bed."

"Sheldon, wait!" Leonard jumped up, nervous that he would mess it up somehow if he let Sheldon try to sort it out on his own. "I don't need all the details, and if you don't tell Penny we talked about it..."

As if anticipating having to lie, one of Sheldon's eye started to shut, and then flutter. "Leonard, you know I can't...not to Penny!"

A force of habit now, Leonard thrust his finger under Sheldon's nose. "There, again."

"I wish you'd stop that!" He swatted the hand away and huffed a little, folding his arms. "What would you need to know?"

Puffing himself up a little, preparing for a possible showdown with the frustrating man-child waiting patiently beside him, Leonard blinked furiously and adjusted his glasses. "Well, first of all...the brevity is an important factor. And if there was any tongue, and if she came back for more. Your response, sounds you both made." He tried to look hopeful and non-threatening.

To Leonard's amazement, Sheldon blushed gently and coughed into his closed fist, wrinkling his nose. "Are you certain she won't mind?"

"Again, don't tell her and you'll be fine. If you want to make sure you don't screw it up and send her back to her apartment in tears every couple nights, just listen."

Sheldon shook his head. "I can't, Leonard. I can't lie to her."

"You're omitting the truth. And, if you want, you can tell her I asked because...because I know you need a prod in the right direction now and then. If you're not nervous, she probably won't even think to ask."

"You know, as her ex-mate, I would think you wouldn't be helping the so-called enemy." Sheldon lifted his eyebrows. "You did say I was a potential romantic suitor, didn't you?"

Leonard gritted his teeth. "No, Sheldon. It's probably that I'm insane and a little sadistic. I'm also a scientist, and I can't help but wonder exactly what is going on between you two."

"Still, you're manipulating the results, Leonard. You're attempting to take all the data—or symptoms, however you prefer to think of them—and make a certain outcome develop, are you not?" His voice was a little squeaky as he shifted his weight from foot to foot.

Sitting heavily on the couch, Leonard shook his head. "No, Sheldon. I have enough data to form a hypothesis. Now I need to confirm my hypothesis, which isn't technically in my hands. I need to make sure you do what's necessary."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, and I very well may be considering the fragility of this social endeavor, but if this concerns Penny's attraction, or lack thereof, for me, shouldn't I behave normally? To see if it's me she's really interested in?"

"I'm more interested in you,to be honest." Leonard smiled a little. "You realize what you've been doing, don't you?"

"I'm under a social contract, Leonard--"

"Of course you don't." Leonard rubbed his eyes. "Sheldon, you're impossible."

"Once again, Leonard, I clearly exist. I can't be 'impossible.' I might be improbable, but once again, I am clearly here." He gestured at his Batman t-shirt as if that were proof were enough.

Leonard sighed and looked at his palms. "No, Sheldon, you are impossible to reason with. That's what I mean." Refusing to wait for Sheldon's rebuttal, he cleared his throat and waved off Sheldon's huffing, whiny noises before speaking again. "Tell me about the kiss, okay?"

"It was wet," Sheldon answered emotionlessly. "It was difficult to breathe for a while, but I found a rhythm of sorts."

"A rhythm?" Leonard lifted his eyebrows, scooting forward. "So, it was more than one kiss. It had to be, right?"

Sheldon rolled his eyes. "Obviously."

Leonard stared past Sheldon. "You've been making out with Penny. As in, it's happened more than once."

Sheldon consulted his watch. "About ten minutes ago."

Leonard's stomach turned, but it wasn't the usual jealousy he felt when he heard of Penny's exploits. It was a mixture of nerves and his self-proclaimed revulsion at the idea of Sheldon kissing anyone. But, and he could see it faintly in his friend's eyes, this wasn't the same Sheldon that would have disgusted Leonard before. There was a delicate something on his face, like he was remembering the notes to Für Elise,or thinking of his favorite copy of The Flash.

"And your horrible fear of germs did what about this?"

Sheldon frowned gently and his eyes turned slightly to the right, trying to remember. "I..."

"Nothing?"

"Interesting!"

Ignoring the urge to shake Sheldon senseless, Leonard took a deep, slow breath and smiling encouragingly at Sheldon's startled expression. "See? There."

"You seek to prove I am attracted to Penny?" Sheldon finally seemed to catch on, having enough of the old Sheldon left in him to look wildly offended.

"Again, as far as I'm concerned, you are. It's just getting you to realize it. I have a horrible feeling I'm going to have to take drastic measures. Penny is an easier sell."

"I very much doubt it," Sheldon grumped, withering a little, backing away from the fight too easily. "She's concerned her constant attention to me is making me uncomfortable, that I'm not equipped to deal with a relationship, no matter how casual or friendly it is. I'm inclined to agree with her."

Leonard replied, "Penny follows her impulses, Sheldon."

"If that were always true, I believe my evening would have turned out very differently," his retort had the sounds of teasing or confusion in them, Leonard couldn't be sure which, and Sheldon stood, bidding his roommate goodnight as he silently whisked himself into his bedroom and closed the door.

Author's Note: Peek-a-boo! Hope you totally loved the chapter. I'm totally wearified. Review and wake me from my sleep of the dead so I can get busy writing the next installment. And, I might add, muahaha!