Author's Note: So this has been written for a few days now, but I've been toying with where to leave off with it, and figuring out how much longer I want the story to actually go one. I myself hate stories where the characters finally get their shit together and have some heart-to-heart, the end. I have read some excellent stories with that formula, of course, but the journey is far from over when a person like Sheldon acknowledges he has emotions. So, I'll keep you guys posted on what's going on in this ridiculous noggin of mine. Suffice to say I'll be lingering in this fandom even when this particular plot bunny has been exhausted.
Read, review, and prosper.
Leonard tentatively knocked on Sheldon's door for the third time in as many minutes, looking back helplessly at Howard and Raj, who were holding game controllers in one hand, and ornaments in the other. If he didn't come out soon, they were going to decorate the tree and forego Halo Night, which had technically started fifteen minutes ago.
Running out of options, Leonard tried the doorknob and found it locked. Biting his lip gently, he called Sheldon's name and jiggled the knob, reminding him of the time and asking if he felt all right. Since Monday, Sheldon had claimed illness but hadn't been his usual insufferable self. In fact, Leonard grudgingly noted, he'd stayed pretty much out of everyone's way and spent hours on his laptop, relocating to his bedroom fairly early. Penny hadn't been around at all, working a ton of double shifts to cover the time off she was taking for New Year's Eve and the following two days.
She'd stopped by twenty minutes ago when Sheldon had still been in the living room in his spot, staring at his laptop blankly, as if it were keeping secrets. She'd dropped off four neatly wrapped packages with bows, tags, and candy canes. Upon seeing the bag of decorations, she'd promised to stop by as soon as her early shift at the Cheesecake Factory was over and help set up for the party.
Without saying a word to Sheldon, she'd left for her apartment, not upset, but not necessarily eager to see if he'd follow her to try to make up with her again. He'd packed up his laptop, straightened up his area in the living room, rinsed out a bowl of cereal—half-eaten and disgustingly soggy—before going in his room. He returned a moment later with three packages, wrapped in what Leonard could only guess was the 'Entertainment' section of The New York Times. He faked a cough and excused himself to his room again, this time locking the door rather than pacing around the main room while Leonard set up for Halo Night without Penny.
"Sheldon, c'mon, buddy. We can't play teams without you!" Leonard called, flattening his palm against the door loudly. "She's just busy, I promise. She doesn't hold grudges very long," he half-whispered against the door. "You're not giving up, are you?"
The door swung open and Sheldon's steely glare loomed over him. "What do you mean give up? What am I giving up? I'm simply keeping the virus I'm harboring away from you so you don't suffer the same symptoms I do."
"Lovesickness isn't communicable—none of us are going to suddenly start feeling what you are," Leonard replied calmly and pointed to the living room. "Quit moping around! If it's annoying when I whine and pout, know that it's a thousand times worse when it's you!"
Sheldon squinted, opening the door wide enough for Leonard to get a good look at him. He wanted to ask what the hell had happened, because Sheldon did look sort of...sickly. He was thin, pale, and had bags under his eyes; his hair was uncharacteristically mussed and his clothes were rumpled. It was as if he were wearing Monday's pajamas still, which made Leonard swallow hard.
Inhaling slowly, a slight rattle audible, Sheldon gripped the door jamb tightly, feeling weak and tired. "I appear to have caught it from you."
Ignoring him, Leonard folded his arms. "Remember when I said I thought Penny liked you?"
Sheldon made a derisive sound and tried to flee within to his room but Leonard gripped the doorknob and gritted his teeth.
"She does. Can you tell, Sheldon? Tell me you suspected, that you're picking up on it a little?"
His cheek twitching, Sheldon simply shrugged and tugged on his sleeves. "Her pupils dilate...when she looks at me." He narrowed his eyes abruptly at his friend. "A sign of attraction—almost as disturbing as what you suggest."
"Ah, so you've determined there's a difference between a biological imperative and actual affection?" Leonard asked sarcastically and went to stick his finger under Sheldon's nose, to complete his 'training' of the inept, lovesick puppy slouched in front of him but Sheldon bared his teeth, looking oddly close to losing his temper in a violent, angry way.
"Yes, I know there's a difference! I didn't ask to understand this stupid relationship paradigm—we appear to exist in a limbo state between friendship and lovers and I'm not inclined to choose one side or the other because she disrupts every part of my life regardless where she falls. I'm not whatever it is Penny needs, nor am I equipped to learn what I should be. All I'm sure of is my mother and grandmother think she's a gift from God and I don't even know how I got here." He stared around, breathless, bewildered, and reached up, gripping his cheeks like he was about to fall and curl into a small ball, unable to comprehend how everything had gotten away from him so quickly.
Leonard jumped on damage control and reached, ignoring Sheldon's flinch when he clapped his hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "What you're feeling isn't...unique, okay? I'm sorry to say it, but you're not the first poor sap who had a plan and had to put it aside for a while because some girl snuck up on him. It happens all the time."
"False! This has never happened to me before!"
"Because you never let it!" Howard shouted from the other room, marching importantly up the hall, paused by the bathroom door with a scowl. "You have no one to blame but yourself, Sheldon. And you can't undo, so just buck up and be a man. You're trying, as weird as it is."
A look of abject terror, of betrayal and uncertainty played across his twitching face and he started to shrink away from Leonard's friendly hand to curl into the safety of solitude again when Howard lunged forward and slung an arm through Sheldon's, yanking him into the hall, ignoring the yelps of imagined pain coming from the misleadingly wiry physicist he hauled to the living room.
"We're gonna set you straight before Penny decides to take a page out of your book and give up on her feelings. She'll take what she can get—it's what we do when we can't have what we want." He shoved Sheldon into his seat and got a wild look on his face like he was about to start screaming and tearing out his hair. "For God's sake, Sheldon! You might be the only one of us with a chance at this whole thing! Do you understand that?"
Leonard raised a finger to ask why he was suddenly the weakest link among them, why Sheldon was suddenly their hope for visiting a buddy's wife and kids in rural California and he was thrown aside. He wanted to remind them he had Stephanie again, that things were going great this time around, that they were taking an appropriate pace, but he didn't want to distract Sheldon's already unstable brain.
"We'll help you," Raj added suddenly, hearing the silence closing in on them, and sat next to Sheldon, dropping the candy cane he'd been working on onto the table loudly. "Just trust us, okay?"
"I don't want to be like you, though," Sheldon murmured, rubbing his elbows determinedly. "Until recently, I was completely befuddled by your constant pursuit of the opposite sex. To be perfectly honest, I still am. My only snag so far has been...her."
"Penny's not a snag," Leonard stood up taller, pursing his lips a little, getting defensive on her behalf. "You're rubbing off on each other in the best of ways—believe me. I can tell!"
Howard's lecherous smile made a brief appearance. "You're rubbing on each other in the best of ways, too, am I right?"
Sheldon blushed scarlet and curled his lip a little. "Watch your mouth, Wolowitz."
Leonard fell to a crouch in front of Sheldon, eyes widening. "What are you feeling, Sheldon?"
"Like I'm being forced to try out for basketball team. I appear to have all the necessary skills—I'm tall, I've got an incredibly accurate depth perception, and I possess the strength necessary to put the ball in the basket. But, deep in my pathology I harbor several irrevocably terrible flaws no basketball team would want to suffer through. I can't run—my asthma acts up. I hate my teammates, my ankles are weak, my wrists worse." His face got redder as he spoke, his Southern accent returning in full force. "I'd be the first picked up in the draft, but the next season I'd be on my ass and out of a job faster'an y'all could say, 'But, Coach!'"
Leonard was quiet a moment, waiting for one of the others to interject, but they didn't. Finally, looking at his shoes, Leonard cleared his throat quietly and laced his fingers together. "You really think that, Sheldon?"
"Of course I do, Leonard," Sheldon sounded one more idiotic suggestion away from snapping and going completely berserk.
"Where's your data?" Howard asked in a flat, needling tone. "Past experience? Is this pure conjecture, or did Penny say something?"
Sheldon made a face like he'd just smelled something exceedingly unpleasant. "No, but she has kept herself scarce since Monday when I committed my latest infraction. I can't help but offend her—it's only wise to keep away."
Raj, Leonard, and Howard all traded looks, worried, and then Howard took a deep breath and forced a smile, trying to look encouraging, "Look," he started off in a rich baritone, a non-threatening measure that immediately put Sheldon's hackles up. "It's true you're certifiably insane, that you're a pain in the ass, and that I cannot for the life of me imagine the hot blonde across the hall from you wanting anything romantic to come of her interactions with you. But," he swallowed and blinked, smiling with more teeth this time, "you owe it to yourself to roll in the mud with the pigs just once. You know you're going to get dirty, but if you join us down here, you'll know exactly what it feels like."
Sheldon sighed, looking at his long fingers, and nodded to himself sadly. "What do I do?"
Leonard exhaled in relief, making Howard and Raj spin to look at him in surprise as he started to talk in hurried, rushed tones. Making things worse, Sheldon started taking notes, and then started to nod, and then started to smile that eerie, evil smile of his that said he was anticipating victory.
***
Penny released a long breath and looked once again at her outfit, twirling once, craning her neck over her shoulder to make sure she could see the low scoop of the back of her dress one last time. Adjusting a strap, she bit her lip, and nodded. It worked. The dark, evergreen color really set off her natural complexion, made her eyes pop, and accented her makeup in the softest, most natural way. She found herself quite unable to resist the prospect of looking festive and draped a necklace of tiny red Christmas lights around her neck and clipped a red Penny Blossom in her hair. She fluffed her waves and wrinkled her nose, knowing the necklace didn't match the sophistication of her outfit, but a quick change of shoes and she'd look like she'd at least tried to tie it all together.
Swirling a drink behind her, Ian nodded with a wolfish smile. "Looks good."
"Thanks, I'm almost ready." She promised, looking at the nearest clock. "Will you check to see if anybody is over there?"
"I don't think I'm supposed to make an appearance without you," Ian muttered and handed her the clutch purse she was frantically searching for. "We're only half an hour late. That's fashionable where I come from."
"The club scene on Detroit has a fashionably late policy?" she asked in surprise and smiled at him, thinking how she would have helplessly fallen for his effortless charm in the past, married or not.
Ian chuckled and tugged the collar of his Green Lantern t-shirt. "No one wants to be the first one at a party. No one wants to be the first one at the concert hall, dancing alone in the strobe lights while the fog machine completely obscures the rest of the 'crowd.' It's human nature to want company, to hate feeling totally alone."
Penny bit her lip again, thinking of Sheldon and his constant desire to be alone, hidden from human contact. It was funny, she thought, that the one man with enough power to keep the rest of the human population always ended up spending time with her. He had the manners, humor, and compassion to be a hermit, which was his ultimate desire for the most part, and yet it seemed to him completely impossible not to have friends. Who would revive him when he choked on popcorn in the theater? Kill the spiders in the bathroom? Bring him the good mustard from the Korean market?
Ian held out a tube of lip gloss. "If you keep doing that, you're going to have pink teeth and no lips."
She snatched it from him with an insincere grunt of gratitude before reapplying the spot she'd destroyed. Smiling at her innocently, Ian put his hand on her waist and shook his head, looking at the pair of them in her mirror. She had to admit, even if she felt absolutely nothing for the musician behind her, they looked good together. Like they made sense.
He wore a nice pair of dark blue jeans, a belt with a plain silver buckle, and a red long-sleeved shirt under the Green Lantern shirt, something that made Penny uneasy but had been Howard's idea and he'd insisted it stay. Ian, his dark hair in a lovable, ruffled style that always seemed to work on the confident, young, and sexy generation, had a natural charm about him that made it impossible not to find something fascinating to talk about.
"You know, it'd be easier to woo you tonight than Sheldon." She inhaled sharply, feeling like she was about to walk out on stage and deliver a monologue for a crowd of scrutinizing casting directors. "Married, successful, and socially competent."
Leaning over her shoulder more, Ian slipped his hand more around her waist and pinched her stomach just barely. "Relax, Penny. You look gorgeous. You're already halfway there, right?"
And right there, she remembered why Sheldon was so unique, so utterly superior. It wasn't that Ian's comment was offensive or off-base in any way, it just went to show how shallow men could be, and she found Ian very sensitive, very honest and genuine. What he would never understand fully, she supposed, was that a woman's appearance, to the right man, would never be 'half' of the attraction factor. She assumed over time she had become more attractive to him, just as he had to her. Before he'd seemed gangly, severe, and awkward looking. She'd called him a praying mantis and almost been sick to her stomach seeing him that silly Flash costume.
And he'd known, after some time, that she was pretty in her own way. She was too attractive to be good at video games. She stuck out when they were in the comic book store and he would loiter near her sometimes, when Captain Sweatpants was giving her the once-over. Intelligence was much more important to him, though; no matter how much prettier she became in his eyes, she was still a little dumb and with a relatively short attention span. But, and she finally put her shoulders back and found a natural source of confidence and certainty, there was hope for her. And, like Leonard said, she was the only woman in his universe, the only one he'd bothered to let in.
"Ready, Princess?" Ian asked as he finally moved away from her and slipped his necessary false credentials in his wallet. All Howard's idea—a Justice League of America membership card, a half-punched visitor's card to a museum in Chicago Penny had never been to, a library card with his photo—not faked—from the University of Michigan. He had another, from his graduate studies, from Princeton, tucked behind his credit card.
Penny put her cell phone, her digital camera, and a pack of gum in her tiny purse and forced the zipper shut, slipping the strap around her wrist. Shaking the last of her nerves from her wrist out of habit, she nodded, turned off the bathroom light, and exited her room, sliding her arm through the crook Ian present before putting on her face for the evening. She glowed.
"You're going to love the decorations," Penny gushed as they locked her apartment behind themselves. "Sheldon was going nuts for a while, but then he really got into it. I went over last night and he was in this impossibly good mood. Did you know most traditional Christmas trees are edible? The needles are high in fiber and vitamin C."
Snorting and shaking his head, Ian lifted his hand and knocked loudly on the door, shooting her a goofy smile. It was almost as if he'd forgotten already what it was like to still be in that awful phase of finding the happy middle ground where relationships were healthiest. A success tonight would lay a wonderful foundation.
Raj opened the door, holding a mostly empty glass of eggnog and smiled lazily. "You're late."
"Just on time, my friend." Ian produced a bottle of Peach Schnapp's from behind his back, surprising even Penny as he winked. "Do you have orange juice?"
"We do!" Raj laughed and held out his arm. "Come on in—somebody brought a bunch of cookies and somebody else brought fudge and candy canes. We're sending everyone to the dentist tomorrow..."
Penny kissed his cheek, messing up her new coat of lip gloss, but Raj just beamed at her, looking a little like the old shadow of him wanted to return and become silent, but he knew the dress, the smile, the glow was all for Sheldon. Besides, he still had the eggnog if he forgot she was essentially taken. He closed the door and moved out of the way when Yvette and a handful of Howard's visiting friends resumed a game of darts, laughing. Someone had put on a Christmas album and Leonard was in the kitchen looking dejectedly at a plate of yogurt-dipped pretzels.
Penny steered Ian toward the kitchen, surprised with how many people were milling around in the small apartment. Nearly everyone Penny knew from Pasadena was there—Bernadette and several of the friendlier waitresses from the Cheesecake Factory were gathered around Howard, actually laughing at something he was saying. She wanted to thank him for not scaring everyone she knew in the greater California area, but restrained herself, forcing a lovesick look toward Ian.
Her ears always seemed to find his voice, no matter where he was in the room. He never bothered to whisper, and if he had something private to say, he'd generally pull her away from the group for a minute, but Sheldon was not one to keep his voice particularly low. She heard him squawking away in the kitchen, complaining to Leonard about the day after, when they would all end up cleaning after this party on Christmas morning.
"As much as I loathe it, my mother does make me call her every Christmas morning so I can hear her open the gifts I send home." Penny turned her head to find Sheldon's familiar figure and watched him gesticulate wildly toward the bathroom as he continued, "If anyone vomits in that bathroom, it being your idea, I say it's your duty to clean it!"
"Sure, Sheldon, what-ever." Leonard held up a stack of plastic cups. "Would you put those over on the card table? Yvette is bringing punch."
"But I thought Yvette was out of town and that's why we had to throw the party?" Sheldon's forehead wrinkled.
Penny spun quickly, tucking herself in next to Ian's warm chest snugly, putting her mask back on as several co-workers and friends appeared and introduced themselves. She lost herself for nearly an hour in chit-chat, repeating the 'backstory' Leonard had developed for Ian and Penny, for when they were asked how they met, how she'd been asked out. Finally taking a break, Penny removed herself from Ian's arm and made her way to the snack table and looked over what was left.
Leonard expertly weaved his way through the throngs of people and smiled weakly at Howard, who winked exaggeratedly, turning back to put his arm around Bernadette's waist. Finding Sheldon, Leonard looked around and saw Penny enjoying a rare moment alone by the food table, staring blankly at a dish of deviled eggs. He sat heavily beside his silent friend and leaned onto his elbows, resting on his knees, and glared.
Lifting his chin from his hand, Sheldon lifted an eyebrow. "Can I help you?"
"What happened to telling Penny how you feel?"
"It's hardly the time or the place. Even I know that." Sheldon inspected his nails, wondering if it was too early to partake in his ritualistic bedtime activities, clipping his nails, brushing his teeth, washing his face. "Besides, she brought a date."
Leonard smiled. "Yeah, he's a musician from Michigan. He was one semester away from a degree in mathematics, too. From Princeton."
Sheldon craned his neck, looking hatefully at Ian, who chose that moment to produce his Justice League of America card to a group of squealing girls. Faintly, Leonard and Sheldon heard him remind them that Mark Hamill had the hands-down best Joker laugh in all the Batman television and film forays. Sheldon made fists with his hands.
"I'm sure they're not involved. Not like that, anyway," Leonard placated. "You know Penny. She doesn't like to come to these things alone."
"If she didn't want to be alone, she could have attached herself to your hip, or mine. As she usually does when we end up at social gatherings together," Sheldon moped, inspecting his fingernails again, wanting to clip them so badly he almost excused himself.
Leonard sighed. "Come on, Sheldon. Try to enjoy yourself, okay? And just...wait. Look at it like this—she brought a math-minded, comic book reading, superhero shirt wearing geek who just happens to channel his nerdy powers into the disc jockey world."
"He's the diamond who doesn't have the good grace to hide in the rough, Leonard," Sheldon replied flatly, rubbing his palms over his thighs. "I'm going to bed."
"Stephanie is coming later," Leonard blurted, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm going to be preoccupied, and you gave Penny the impression that she...annoys you. That you don't want to spend your time with her. Her bringing a date is an out for you, but if you decide to have fun tonight and show her you can play nice..."
Penny returned to Ian's side, finding him standing behind the couch, perusing the more public of the boys' comic book collection, and traced a finger over the can of peanut brittle Sheldon stashed his emergency cash in. Ian pointed to the mistletoe above them and Penny felt her heart drop into her stomach. She let him kiss her; it was a polite but wildly intimate kiss, something that insinuated interest. Paralyzed, she was unable to respond more than closer her eyes and tighten her hands into fists, holding her wrists shoulder level, inches from his body. Afterward, she smiled weakly, wanting to cry.
Sheldon spun away from the scene and realized he was breathing heavily. His entire body felt ill somehow, like it was completely rebelling from existence itself. His mind, for one precious moment, was completely blank, and then the grief, terror, and rage came crashing down and he hated himself for assuming so much and doing so little.
"What can I do, Leonard? What can I possibly do?"
Penny put her hand against Ian's chest as he moved closer, grinning encouragingly. "This wasn't a good idea. I haven't even spoken to him since we decorated yesterday. I panicked Monday because he wanted to go to bed instead of staying up to sit with me." She rolled her eyes. "He's so deliberate, I have to think everything he does is intentional..."
Ian smoothed his hand helplessly over her arm. "Hey, please, Penny...don't get upset. The night's not over. From what Howard tells me, he's absolutely crazy about you. Mostly crazy, but some of it if not most of it is for you." He smiled and touched her chin, tilting her head up a little. "We can switch the game, but we can't quit. At this point, I'm invested."
Laughing carefully, Penny nodded and reached to wiped away the tear she thought she felt escaping from her glittering eye and gave a start when Sheldon, looking faint, starved, and oddly, sexily determined, inserted himself between the two of them. She gawked when he stuck his elbow into Ian's stomach and pushed him away.
"Why did you bring him?" Sheldon demanded, not bothering to acknowledge Ian's bellow of surprise as he nearly tripped over one of Penny's friends and knocked over the punch bowl.
Startled, Penny picked at the straps of her evergreen dress and shrugged gently. "I dunno, Sheldon...you guys are doing so much for me and I didn't want to spend all night being the center of attention. It's not a party for me this way. I'm just another face in the crowd, here with a nice guy I met waiting tables."
Sheldon shook his head, getting some color on his face as he angered. "That's particularly ridiculous, even given your track record, Penny. We went through this effort for you. If you didn't want to wander this party alone, you could have informed me. You know I'm no fan of these social gatherings—I stick out like a sore thumb, to borrow my mother's phrasing."
"I figured you'd just ask me to leave you alone at some point, when you got tired of being out with all the neanderthals," she muttered, feeling meek as he shot a warning glare at Ian, who didn't bother pressing the taller man for answers, backing off with a grumble.
"Penny, I'm sorry I'm so chronically misunderstood. I don't know what's appropriate to say, if it's acceptable I'm so angry right now, but emotions are the bane of my existence. They make no sense. I abhor them." He inhaled shakily and seemed to relax. "Send him away. Tell him you're unavailable for the evening."
Her heart racing, Penny shook her head. "But I am. I'm available."
Fidgeting, his cheek twitching, Sheldon finally lost his bravado and quietly asked, "Will you accompany me to this stupid party, Penny? Please?"
"There's a psychological term my recent intern has been throwing around; 'lovemap.' Have you heard of it?"
Sheldon gently dropped a tea-bag into an empty cup and looked up at her, unimpressed. He had thought she would have left the topic alone when he hadn't responded well before, but he found a lack of upfront frankness often put him in more hot water than expressing his concerns.
"Our interactions with family, friends, and others we may love in our lives shape who we will love and feel attracted to in the future." After a long pause, Sheldon added, "Please do not take that as an invitation to pursue a discussion on my sexual proclivities. I have no interest in taking stock of my possible zoophilic or homosexual tendencies."
"No, of course not." Beverly looked over the tops of her glasses as Sheldon fetched the singing tea kettle. "I mean to leave it to you to do the exploring. I have no doubt a man with your mind will realize exactly what his 'deal' is. Isn't that how Penny put it?"
He spilled a little bit of the hot water on the counter and put the kettle down, losing his interest in preparing himself the beverage. "I try to ignore her."
"It's a common Freudian misinterpretation of sexual desire, to think that one seeks a suitable replacement for his or her father or mother. We select characteristics instinctively, knowing something in our parents was conducive to procreation. As for the emotional side of things, that's unique. We form our lovemaps as infants and development ceases around age 6. You, with your mother and father, have formed a very clear and very uneasy lovemap. Have you ever thought about that?"
He hadn't and he informed her had no desire to. She had informed him of her need to use the bathroom and walked stiffly from the room.
"Sheldon..." Penny finally started to reply, her eyes watering again. She wanted to find the endless source of strength she always managed to dredge up when she was in some sort of physical pain, but this was different.
He walked away, all knees and elbows, and Penny blinked in surprise, her tears disappearing as if they hadn't threatened to fall at all. Inhaling sharply, she looked at Ian, confusion written on her face as he neared, his jaw tight.
"Just wait," he whispered, hiding a smile, and Penny frowned when she saw familiar forearms invade her field of vision, once again relegating Ian to a secondary position. She stared at Sheldon's heaving chest a moment, wondering why he was so wild, so obviously flustered and uncomfortable when he was the one actively doing anything to make the evening so dramatic.
She followed the shape of him, wishing dearly he could be more lenient with her, that he would let just a little bit more of her slide through his defenses, but she could only count the miracles he allowed her as blessings for now. She followed the curve of his surprisingly firm arm up to his extended forearm, his delicate but masculine wrist, and long fingers, where he desperately clutched a sprig of mistletoe like a final lifeline.
Her eyes fell to his face and he groped, found the back of her neck, and crushed her to him, kissing her with a passion that would have peeled the paint off the walls were she not in a room full of her closest friends. In the silence that fell around them, Ian slipped from the apartment with a wry grin. Howard scrabbled to change the CD, and Leonard bit the back of his hand to hide a simultaneous grin and gag. Raj jumped when one of Penny's friends slipped her hand in his, sighing at the romance unfolding.
When Sheldon released her, panting as he dropped his arms to his sides, Penny cleared her throat softly, feeling like she was swimming through cotton.
"Let's go outside for a minute," she whispered, sounding hoarse, and Sheldon wordlessly nodded, following her through the crowd to the door, where they exited together, Penny almost tripping over her own feet as Sheldon's hand came to a rest on the small of her back.
She stopped by the elevator, dropping her clutch purse to the ground. It took all her willpower not to yank him to her and try to get his pants off through his mouth. Tonight was less about the smoldering sexual tension she'd achingly acknowledged in the past few weeks. Tonight the careful dance would end with a bow; whether or not the show was a comedy or a tragedy had yet to be determined.