Sheldon sat anxiously in his car. This was ridiculous. One of the greatest minds of the 21st century and here he was, nearly incapacitated with fear at the thought of spending a few hours with a 7-year-old child. He was desperately trying to figure out why he wished to pursue this relationship. It could only lead to trouble and complication. He drew a breath and tried to still the shaking of his hand. He was not one for personal pep talks as he rarely engaged in situations he was not entirely certain of his expertise. Now he was throwing himself into his proverbial lion's den.

He finally took the keys from the ignition of his car, opened his door and began the long trek up to the perfect 3 story house. It had a big green lawn, plenty of room for any child to play and run a perfect place for Zoe to grow up.

He considered once again turning around and driving away but he did not. Instead he rang the doorbell. He waited nervously, rocking on the balls of his feet. The door opened and Penny stood there. He had an urge to cast his eyes down as Penny locked her fiery gaze on him. He recognized that look, her no nonsense look, he had seen it several times before.

"Okay," she said, arms crossed over her chest. "Here's the deal Sheldon. You have two options right now. You can leave, walk away right now and never come back and that would be fine. Sure, she'll be sad, but she'll get over it. But…"

She stepped closer to him. He felt slightly dizzy, her close proximity making it difficult for him to concentrate. Her closeness has an intoxicating effect on him, some things just didn't change.

"If you decide to do this, you can't half-ass this. Either be in her life or not. I'm not going to see her hurt because of you…" although he towered over her, he suddenly felt very small. "You will not abandon her again, do you understand?"

Sheldon was taken back to their old fights. It was inexplicable, but Penny was always at her most irresistible to him when she was fighting with him, her face flushed, emerald eyes ablaze, voice low and shaky. It spoke to some primal part of him he never knew he had until he met Penny. Unfortunately, this would not end the way their previous fights would.

"Sheldon," she snapped, bringing him back to earth. "Do you understand?"

"Yes," he answered. "I accept those conditions."

"Good," she said with a nod. "I'll go get her."

She turned to leave but was stopped when Sheldon grabbed her wrist. She turned back around, her eyes lingering on the long fingers around her wrist before meeting his.

"Yes?"

"Penny," he said. "I do not wish to push my luck, assuming one believes in such a thing. But, I'm curious, why are you allowing this?"

Penny sighed and looked at him, her gaze naked and vulnerable and worried. He had carefully categorized all of her looks, this was not one he had remembered seeing, the look of a mother.

"Because I love her," she said, voice cracking slightly. "And I can't stand the thought of her being lonely." Sheldon looked at her questioningly. "I would do anything for her. I know her better than anyone but I can't even begin to understand the depths of her mind, and I think she needs someone in her life that's like her. She needs you Sheldon."

Sheldon was suddenly overwhelmed with affection for the woman, for the mother, before him. She loved Zoe so much. She was willing to let the man who had driven her away just for the sake of the child. He never dreamed that the girl who could barely pay her bills, or do her laundry, would be such a capable guardian. He simply nodded in response and Penny turned to go get Zoe. Sheldon mentally racked through possible conversation topics, he knew should have made cue cards.

He didn't have time to think up any before Zoe came running up to the door.

"Oh, I'm so happy you're here," she exclaimed. This time Zoe was dressed in pink dress with fairy wings and a belt with a rubber sword tied to it. Despite her overwhelmingly Sheldon like qualities, this was Penny through and through, she could defend herself but that didn't mean you couldn't look pretty doing it.

"Is this what you'll be wearing," asked Sheldon. Zoe nodded untying the sword and putting it aside. Sheldon looked at her skeptically.

"Again, judgment from the man who dressed up for Halloween until he was 30, really?"

Sheldon felt his face twitch as he struggled for something to say in return.

"It's okay," said Zoe. "Mommy told me despite your IQ that you're wanting a bit in wit."

Sheldon looked back at Penny as Zoe pulled him away from the door. Penny shrugged innocently, watching as Zoe pulled him down the driveway. Penny felt a suddenly warm feeling. She told herself it was joy for Zoe, happiness that she had someone she can talk to. That was it; it had nothing to do with seeing Sheldon with her daughter.

"Okay," said Zoe, looking at the girl behind the counter. "I want the first scoop to be Rocky Road with 5 Swedish Fish, 7 M&M's, and 5 marshmallows." Sheldon stood behind the fairy clad girl as she ordered.

"Rocky Road has marshmallows," said the teenager, who was clearly not happy to be there. Sheldon observed the look that crossed Zoe's face. First it was a look of annoyance and condescension, replaced by irritation, the one of struggling patience. As if she would not know that there were marshmallows in Rocky Road.

"Yes, I know," she said. "But the ice cream to marshmallow ration is not completely satisfactory, so I'm requesting more marshmallows. But that's just the first scoop...the second one will…"

The teenager gave an exasperated sigh and tapped her fingers impatiently.

"You know let's just do cotton candy," she said. Interesting, thought Sheldon. She had mastered the art of altering her schedule for those around her. Why she would bother had no idea. The teenager looked at Sheldon.

"And you?"

"Me?"

"What she meant was, "what would like sir,"" said Zoe.

"Oh of course," he said. "I'll just have vanilla ice cream"

"Thank God," she muttered, disappearing into the back. Zoe and Sheldon heard the clank from the back, metal hitting floor, and then the girl came back out holding a scooper. Sheldon looked mortified. Zoe looked from her nearly hyperventilating father to the girl.

"Excuse me miss," said Zoe, standing on her tip toes to look over the counter at her. "Did you drop that scooper?" The girl turned and looked at her clearly aggravated.

"Of course not," she said.

"I'm sorry but the cacophony from the back, the shifting of your eyes and your dilated pupils suggests that you did. Either way, we'd feel better if you switched the scoopers.

The girl looked as though she had it in her to throw the scooper at Zoe but she turned and went to the back again.

"Don't worry," said Zoe, looking up at Sheldon with a smile. "I've got your back."

"So it would seem," he said, a small smile on his lips.

"So I read Leonard's paper and found it fairly easy to understand and consulted very minimal outside sources for clarification but I have had trouble understanding your papers, even with outside sources, which I have found to be limited…"

"Well that's to be expected," said Sheldon, sitting across from Zoe in a booth. "Most geniuses at their peak cannot interpret my theories, let alone a child of 7 who has yet to meet her mental zenith."

Zoe nodded and continued, what followed was what anyone who passed by would say was a sweet father-daughter chat, but anyone who would care to stop and listen would think the conversation was in a different language. And anyone who knew Sheldon would see a man happier than he had been in a long time. With amazing recall and eloquence, Zoe cited specific pages, examples and experiments, asking questions he would have been overjoyed to hear from any of the labradoodles who stopped him in the halls at CalTech. But it was more than the quality of conversation. It was the way she looked at him with eyes she had inherited from him, how much she sincerely enjoyed speaking to him and being with him. Her eyes did not glaze over when he explained the history of Rocky Road ice-cream or the different kind of nuts that were not technically nuts. It was a strange sensation. Is this what he had been so afraid of all those years ago? He couldn't' seem to remember why.

After a trip to the comic book store, where Sheldon purchased ten comic books for Zoe after the startling revelation that his daughter was unfamiliar with the DC universe, Sheldon drove her home. He found that he was somewhat sad as they walked up to the door; Zoe was skipping merrily beside him. Zoe knocked at the door; Penny opened it immediately and took Zoe up in a tight embrace. Sheldon could see the relief on Penny's face as she kissed Zoe on the head.

"Did you have fun," she asked her daughter, still not looking at Sheldon.

"Yes I did," said Zoe with a nod. She held up a bag. "Father bought me some comic books." Penny looked up at Sheldon and stood.

"Of course he did," she said, a smile creeping onto her mouth. "I suppose it was inevitable, I couldn't hide your from the world of comic's forever."

"Mommy, they're comic books," said Zoe, this provoked a proud smile from Sheldon who nodded in agreement. Zoe turned around to face Sheldon and looked up at him with a grin.

"Thank you so much for a lovely outing father. I hope we can do it again soon," she said, the last part of her sentence lilting as if it were a question.

"Yes," said Sheldon. "I'll call your residence sometime in the near future."

"Good, maybe we can go watch Superman."

"They are having a back-to-back showing of Superman 1 and 2 at the theatre this upcoming Wednesday, would you like to join me?"

Zoe looked up at Penny who nodded her head in assent. Zoe jumped up and clapped her hands in excitement then hugged Sheldon around the legs. Sheldon nervously patted her head, before she disappeared inside the house holding her comic books to her chest. Sheldon stood there a moment, not sure if he was supposed to report to Penny the happenings of their day or if he was supposed to leave.

"So," said Penny with a smile. "What do you think of her?"

"You mean of her person?"

"She's…" perfect, he thought, "a very bright child."

Penny raised an eyebrow.

"Sheldon, she'd have to lose 80 IQ points to be classified as bright."

"Of course," said Sheldon. "I found discussion with her to be much more agreeable then I imagined it would be, and I would very much like it if you would allow me to take her for the day again."

"Sheldon, I already told you that you could take her Wednesday."

"I know but I didn't really ask, I assume this is something that I will need your approval for beforehand." Penny nodded.

"Ummm…well then, I'll call you when I know what time the movie is," said Sheldon, still uncertain if he should leave and hoping for some cue from Penny, who again just nodded.

"Well, goodbye Penny," he finally said. Then he didn't know why, if it was just because he wasn't thinking clearly or because it was just what he used to do with Penny when he would leave for work, he awkwardly hugged her, even after he dated her for a year, it was not a graceful sight. He was surprised when Penny hugged him back momentarily before pulling away.

"Bye Sheldon," she said, her voice quiet. Sheldon stepped away from her.

"Thank you Penny," he said, the words foreign to his mouth and falling hard on Penny's ears. She had rarely heard those words from him and never with such earnest. She nodded and the shut the door. She looked out the peephole and watching Sheldon's retreating form, before resting her forehead on the door.

"Shit," she muttered, tears stinging the back of her eyes. Maybe this wasn't a good idea, seeing him again was so incredibly…heartbreaking.

"Mommy?"

Penny felt a tiny hand grab hold of hers.

"Are you in some sort of distress?"

"No baby," she said. "Just tired."

Zoe wasn't buying it, but she didn't press the matter.

"Now come along mommy," she said pulling her toward the living room. "Let me read my comic book to you."

Penny laughed, she had heard that before, but this time, she couldn't say no.