OK, so what started as a one shot has been extended due to all the reviews asking for another chapter. I had to invent a character in here, but I hope you like her. And... What else. Oh yeah, based on "The Scientist" by Coldplay.

Come up to meet you, Tell you I'm sorry, You don't know how lovely you are

I had to find you, Tell you I need you, Tell you I set you apart

The train finally pulled to a stop and Sheldon stood. Reaching up above his chair, he reached above his head and removed his small bag from the overhead locker. Throwing it over his shoulder, he took a few calming breaths and cursed silently when the motion inadvertently reminded him of Penny. She had been the one to teach him that damned mediation hokum.

It was one of the final crushing blows to the best five years of Sheldon's life. Apart from the few years he spent researching his thesis to achieve the Stevenson Award at just 14 and nine months.

But that was different. Penny was something he couldn't figure out in a few years. He didn't understand the stresses of normal life and when Penny asked him for help he had said just that. Even when Marie had been born he hadn't stopped researching. Occasionally, late at night when he was up working, he could hear her in Marie's room trying to calm her. He even heard her crying some nights.

But still he didn't help and in the end, it had cost him. She had walked away.

And following his tradition of stubbornness, he hadn't followed.

But scientists learn from past mistakes, and he wasn't going to make that mistake again. That is what had led him to Omaha. Back to Penny and Marie.

Tell me your secrets and ask me your questions, Oh let's go back to the start

Runnin in circles, Comin up tails, Heads on the science apart

As the people in front of him began to disembark, Sheldon stepped slowly forward. Stepping out on to the platform, he saw relatives greeting their loved ones and Sheldon's heart skipped a beat and began aching in the most peculiar way. He looked at the floor and fought back the aching in his throat that indicated tears were on their way. Looking up, he scoured the outside of the station for the taxi rank.

He needed to get to Penny's house.

Outside of the small ranch style house, Sheldon shut the door of the taxi softly. Walking up the familiar path, he closed the rickety gate and dusted the rubbed off paint onto his pants. He took the further few steps onto the porch, missing the squeaky step and paused at the front door.

Taking a deep breath he knocked.

*Knock knock knock*

"Penny?"

*Knock knock knock*

"Penny?

*Knock knock knock*

"Penny?"

An older woman with Penny's eyes opened the door. Her eyes appeared surprised for a moment, but a smile crept onto her lips as she realised who it was. Her large frame swelled with emotion and her eyes filled with tears. She wiped her hands on the apron on the front of her floral dress and reached out for him.

"Well look who it is, then." She smiled.

"Hello, Molly." Sheldon said as she enveloped him in a hug. It had been apparent a few years before where Penny got her fondness for affection from.

"What can I do for my favourite son-in-law?" She smiled again as she stepped aside to let him through the door.

"Technically, ex son-in-law now." Sheldon frowned.

"Not for long. I take it that's why you're back?" It was Sheldon's turn to smile now. Molly was very intuitive, maybe there was hope for Penny yet.

Well, there was hope.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Well, she's taken Marie out riding the horses for the time being, why don't you come in and have a cup of tea. I remember the way you like it."

"That would be wonderful, thank you very much."

As Sheldon walked through the house, he admired all of the family photos adjourning the walls. It reminded him of his childhood house. He paused at the doorway of the kitchen however, because hanging right in the centre of the wall was a wedding photo.

And he was in it.

"You didn't take it down?" He asked, hurrying after Molly.

"Lord no, honey." She smiled. "You're always family to us now. Besides, it's not over until the fat woman sings and trust me, I ain't singing yet."

Sheldon sat down as Molly began the time consuming process of making him tea.

"How has Penny been?" He asked softly. Molly sighed and turned around.

"She misses you. She doesn't say it, but a mother can always tell. Sad eyes, sad face. Even when she's with Marie she stares out the window. Maybe she's waiting for a superhero." Molly winked.

"I'm not a superhero. I'm just a scientist."

"Just a scientist." Molly scoffed as she placed the tea in front of him. "Who better to rig the universe in his favour?" She smiled.

"You're suggesting I cheat my way back in?"

"Not cheat, honey. Just change the circumstances." Sheldon must have looked confused because she continued. "You know Penny better than anybody. Even me. You know her secrets, her dreams. Use the universe to help you get what you want."

At that moment, the front door slammed and a small voice called out.

"Grandma?"

As Marie turned the corner and spied Sheldon sitting there, she squealed and ran towards him. Her arms wound tightly around his neck and he picked her up. Her hair smelt exactly the same as the last time he had seen her. Strawberries.

As she pulled away and looked at him with the same eyes as her mother, Sheldon bit back tears again. It amazed him how much holding her transported him back just two years. To when everything had been ok. Or so he had thought.

"I missed you daddy." She whispered as she snuggled into his neck again. This time the tears overflowed. He juggled her for a moment and pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket. At that moment, Penny followed Marie around the corner.

"Sheldon?" She looked surprised to see him there. And she had every right to be, last time, Sheldon hadn't followed her here.

"Penny." He whispered. He unwound Marie's hands from around his neck and set her onto the floor, never taking his eyes off of Penny.

"Come on, honey." Molly interrupted, taking Marie's hand. "Let's go put the horses away."

"But we already did!" Marie cried, her hands crossing across her chest in a perfect imitation of a Sheldon tantrum.

"Come honey." Molly said as she pulled Marie away. The front door slammed shut.

"What are you doing here?" Penny whispered as she stepped towards him.

"I made a mistake once Penny. I wasn't going to make it again."

"What do you mean?"

"I let the two most important people in my life leave. A great scientist never makes the same mistake."

Penny sighed.

"You still don't understand. I don't need a scientist. I need my husband. The father of my child. The person I loved. The person I still love."

"Then let's go back to Pasadena and give it another go..." Sheldon pleaded, his eyes searching Penny's face.

"I can't just yet. I don't want to make the same mistake either. I don't want to give my everything to you to have it all fall apart while I watch."

"What do you want me to do Penny?"


Nobody said it was easy
It's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard
Oh take me back to the start

I was just guessin, At numbers and figures, Pullin the puzzles apart

Questions of science, Science and progress, Do not speak as loud as my heart

"You want me to do what?" He yelled.

"Give it up. Or give us up."

"Penny, you cannot be serious. Physics is everything I was put on this earth for."

"What about being a father and a husband?" She was getting angry now. "Do you honestly not remember how hard it was when we bought Marie home? Because I do Sheldon. I was the one up with her every night. I was the one who looked after her everyday. The only time I saw you were when you came into the room to see if she 'reacted positively to flash cards'". She finished with a perfect imitation of Sheldon.

He stood there silent. She was right. This meant, for only the fourth time in his life, he was wrong. He hung his head.

"I'm sorry." He whispered. A hand pressed against his cheek and he raised his head to find him eye to eye with Penny. Her eyes mirrored back his emotions and it was startling for him to see himself, perfectly reflected, so vulnerable. "I'll do it Penny. Just please come home."

Tell me you love me, Come back to haunt me, Oh when I rush to the start

Runnin in circles, comin up tails, heads on the science apart.

Nobody said it was easy

Oh It's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be so hard
I'm goin back to the start

She smiled. How such a single visual could contradict itself to him was still a mystery. She was smiling, but her eyes were still sad.

"But I don't want to jump straight back in only for this end the way it did. I want to start again. From the beginning." Sheldon smiled.

"Hi, I'm Sheldon."

"And I'm Penny." She smiled back as she leant up to kiss him. When she pulled away, Sheldon looked confused again.

"Is that normally how you greet new people?"

"No, but I felt like I've known you for years." She giggled.

And outside, Marie was squealing with delight from her vantage point in the tree as she saw her mother and her father kissing.

If you guys enjoyed it and would like to see what happens next when Sheldon has to re-woo Penny, let me know, otherwise, check out my other fics and have a nice day!