A/N: Thank you all so much for your feedback and support! XOXO

Alright, we're rounding out to the end, folks. As you all already know, this is obviously a very OOC Sheldon we're dealing with, but try to keep an open mind. Even IC "sitcom" Sheldon is human, and as for every human in existence, when faced with difficult situations, we find out who we truly are.

Sorry if this one is a bit short, but it's the last piece of the puzzle until the picture becomes complete. It will not fit with the movement planned for the last few chapters, so it serves as a stand-alone. Shutting up now-Enjoy chapter 15!

Kurt's instructions had been precise.

Junior parked Penny's car a few blocks away from gym, careful to keep it out of sight. He locked the doors and set off on foot towards The Golden Glove, where Kurt said Marky would be. It was his second home.

He slipped into the entrance, removing his sunglasses as his eyes adjusted under the florescent lights. He nodded at the clerk at the front desk, a middle-aged balding man reclined in a leather chair, reading an issue of Hustler. Not much of a gatekeeper, he realized. He kept close to the wall, internally following the direction in which Kurt told him to move. When he was on the opposite side of the building, he saw the brown metal door with a brass knob. Turning the knob quickly, he took a deep breath and allowed himself through the door, shutting it behind him. A flight of steps was the only option, so he descended them slowly, peering into the dimly lit stairwell and paused every few steps.

He should have known then and there that this was a bad idea. He was alone, armed only with his fury. When he reached the end of the stairs, there was one more door to walk through. On the other side of it, he heard the unmistakable sounds of fists flying and meeting a gym bag. The cacophonous curses of the red-haired man who had once been his best friend and ally as he yelled at whomever he was training to hit harder! jab quicker! protect your neck!

It was now or never, and Junior had decided now. He flung open the door and came face-to-face with the man whom he had dreamed of killing for a decade.

"I do believe in spooks!" Marky crowed, not the least bit troubled by Junior's sudden appearance in his underground training area after all these years. "Look, Rick! It's ol' George Cooper, back from the dead!"

The man he was training turned away from his punching bag and looked dead straight at Junior, causing him to lose his bearings. It took him several moments to recognize who it was, but by the time he did, it was already too late. Two men advanced on him and on Marky's word, they attacked. And this time, Junior did not stagger away victorious. As he lied on the ground, battered and bleeding and struggling to keep conscious, Marky walked over to him and leaned down, hovering just above his face. "I've been training Rick for a few months now. It's funny you show up here actually, when we were so close to coming to pay a visit to you." He sneered down at Junior, his pale face twisting into an ugly grimace. "He wants payback. But not just on you. On that freak brother of yours."

Junior's eyes narrowed in fury and he tried to speak, but Marky straightened out and gave a swift kick to his ribs, the pain silencing Junior for good.

"You tell Shelly where to find us. We're ready."

Marky's men were ordered to dump Junior in the street when they were through with him, and he had just enough energy to drag himself into Penny's car and drive like hell to Sheldon so he could warn him. But in fear of being followed, he left Penny's car in an alley a block away from the apartment and walked the rest of the way, unwilling to lead Marky or his men straight to them.

Because of Junior's foolish decision to try and sneak up on his enemy, Marky now knew Sheldon would come looking for him. And he had a hell of a surprise waiting for him when he finally found him.

They tumbled in a circle, cocooning themselves in Penny's sheets with her on top of him, their naked bodies pressed together in the most intimate way. The only light was the faint outline of the nearly closed bathroom door.

"I won't ever get tired of this," Penny said, nudging Sheldon's long neck with her nose and placed a wet kiss in the soft crease between his throat and collarbone, where his skin was warmest. He was silent, his chest rising and lowering at a rapid pace beneath Penny's breasts. She could tell he was still trying to catch his breath after their latest act. Her hands were wrapped around Sheldon's waist, and his were very casually gripping her rear.

"I'm not as young as I once was, Penny," he finally breathed, blowing strands of her hair that had fallen onto his nose and mouth out of the way. "Although I find the idea of achieving orgasm as often as possible ideal, my back and limbs aren't limber enough to hoist you up like I just did fifteen minutes ago on a daily basis." He added a moment later, "Up until two days ago, I never though the idea of achieving orgasm as often as possible would be anything I could ever find interest in."

"Really? You?" Penny feigned shock.

"Really," he answered, oblivious as always to her sarcasm. "And up until five days ago, I thought I knew who I was."

Penny bit her lip at the low tone his voice had taken. "What do you mean?"

"I have always found you sexually attractive, Penny," Sheldon began carefully. Penny kept her face wedged in his neck and he stared up at the ceiling, studying it as though it would supply him his next lines. "But had never processed feeling anything for you beyond the need to take the occasional second look when you wore something particularly revealing. Let's face it; hearing you talk about the trivial adventures about your trips to the mall and cow-tipping back in Nebraska wasn't exactly up my alley."

"We need to work on your pillow talk, sweetie."

Sheldon ignored her. "But I always knew there was more to you than that. You're very kind, Penny. And patient, especially with me." She fidgeted, letting a smile breach her face as she looked up at Sheldon. He didn't return the stare, but pursed his lips, suppressing his own grin. "I'm a little more observant than my circle of friends give me credit for."

"You're kind, too, Sheldon," she whispered. "In your own strange way."

He was quiet for a moment before he continued. "In the last few days, I have truly come to realize how much you mean to me. How much you've always meant to me." His hands caressed her backside, breathing life into Penny's lower stomach.

"I feel the same." She exhaled as Sheldon placed a chaste kiss on her forehead. It was sweet and overwhelming all at once. Penny was trying to process it over the guilt she felt. Right now, there were a group of people, their friends, that Sheldon and her were deceiving. But she couldn't deny that even after every moment Leonard had poured his heart out to her, it never affected her the way Sheldon was doing so right now. She snuggled closer to him, breathing him in.

"I asked you not to think differently of me after this," he continued, lowering his voice. "After Junior and I do what we had to do, and you promised you wouldn't. And after half the things you've seen and heard, I would have expected anyone else to have left me by now." He took a deep breath and when he exhaled, Penny felt his heart pound hard against her chest. "I wouldn't blame you for walking away. You wouldn't be the first friend I've ever had that cut their losses and left."

Penny's stomach fluttered and she raised her head, staring at Sheldon's milky skin in the dark. "Sheldon, I told you I wouldn't leave you." She pulled her hands out from behind his back and brought them up to the sides of his face, making him look at her. "Don't you believe me?"

"Of course I do, Penny." He closed his eyes. "But my brother is hurt. Now, I'll have to take matters into my own hands."

"Sheldon," Penny started, struggling to loosen the sheets around them so she could straddle his stomach and look down at him. When she was upright, she placed her two palms flat on his chest. "Do you think that maybe…maybe it's time for you to walk away now?" She watched as his eyes went wide and he stared at her as if she had sprouted another head. "I heard you tell Junior the first night he got here that he could just walk away from all of this - "

"I was wrong."

"How?"

"Marky is a monster, Penny, and I feel it a bit redundant to have to remind you of this, being that you saw for your own eyes what he did to Kurt, and what I'm assuming he did to Junior." Sheldon shifted under Penny, motioning for her to get off of him. She complied, slightly hurt, and watched as Sheldon wrapped the sheet around his body and flipped on her bedside lamp. "The man needs to be stopped. And more importantly, he needs to pay for what he did to Junior. To my family."

"So what are you going to do?" she asked carefully.

"I'll face him myself."

Penny felt the temperature in the room drop and goosebumps peppered her skin. "No, you will not." She didn't recognize her voice at first, and only realized that it was her who spoke when Sheldon turned and acknowledged her with wide eyes.

"I've told you before, fighting is physics. And I know physics."

"This isn't some equation you can scratch on your whiteboard and study, Sheldon," Penny's voice became shriller as her panic rose. "You can't face Marky. He is a trained fighter."

"With my help," Sheldon protested, meeting Penny's eye. "Junior isn't the only one I've created and choreographed moves for. I know Marky more than he knows himself. I can anticipate every move he makes." His gaze was now on the floor, avoiding Penny as he licked his lips, formulating a plan in his head.

"Sheldon," Penny tried again, placing her open palm on his bare back. "We don't even know that Marky did this to Junior. Don't you think he would have told you?"

"I know for a fact this was Marky's doing and it is because Junior didn't tell me that I'm sure." Sheldon focused back on Penny's face, his expression stone cold. "He wouldn't want me to face the bastard on my own, but I see now that there is no other way."

They were silent for a moment before Penny pressed on. "I think maybe you should learn to let this go so no one else gets hurt. So you don't get hurt." As soon as the words left her mouth, she wished she could gather them all up and stuff them back inside her stupid mouth. She flinched when Sheldon stood up on his feet, taking the sheets with him. He turned around and looked down at her as she sat on the bed.

"Sure, Penny," he said, his tone raising and his nostrils flaring. "I should just let it go. Let bygones be bygones. I'll let Junior sit in his hospital bed and wait for him to get better, then tell him the good news. All of his injuries are in vain." Finally dropping the sheet, Sheldon began walking around the room, gathering his clothes. When he found his flannel PJ pants, he yanked them on and began muttering to himself so quietly that Penny didn't understand him. She felt her own irritation begin to build up inside of her.

"Where are you going?" she demanded.

"It's late. In order to achieve a sufficient amount of sleep tonight, I need to go be in my own bed with my own thoughts."

"Are you seriously upset with me that I'm asking you to let this go?" He remained silent, stepping inside of his slippers at the foot of Penny's bed. "Sheldon!"

"I'm not upset with you, Penny," he finally answered. He hovered at her door, half of his body in her room and half out, still topless since he had not found his shirt that was somewhere on her bedroom floor. "I just know what I have to do."

"You promised me." She felt her bottom lip quiver as she reached for her tank top that was on the floor. She pulled it over her head and looked up at Sheldon. "You promised me that you wouldn't do this."

"The circumstances have drastically changed – "

"Fuck the circumstances!" Penny pulled on her shorts and was now on her feet. She walked closer to Sheldon. "I can't stand by and let you do this."

"You can't stop me," Sheldon said quietly, his eyes still looking everywhere but her.

"Then I'm going with you." She walked over to her closet and began yanking clothes off of their hangers, tossing them onto the bed.

"What are you doing?" Sheldon asked, exasperated.

"I'm getting dressed so we can go do whatever it is you need to do." She grabbed the pair of jeans she threw on the bed and changed out of her shorts, slipping the denim on in place.

"You're not coming with me. It's too dangerous."

"You know, I'm getting real goddamn tired of you telling me what's too dangerous for me." She walked away from him, heading out of her bedroom and into her kitchen. When she reached the island in front of her refrigerator, she reached into the cabinets and yanked out an aluminum bat. She turned to see that he had followed her, watching her carefully as he stood near her couch. "You think you're the only one who's ever been in a fight?" She pressed the tip of the bat to the floor, leaning on it like a cane.

"Good Lord," Sheldon sighed with a roll of his eyes. He crossed the room and met her in the kitchen then pulled the bat from her grasp in one swift movement. "That's enough, Penny."

"Give me my bat." She narrowed her eyes at Sheldon as he towered over her and held the bat behind his back. When he didn't listen, she grabbed at the air, trying to get around his body to take it from him. He was playing keep away with her only home protection weapon, and she blew air through her nostrils like a bull. At this point, Penny knew she was being childish. But she was tired of Sheldon acting as though she were some delicate flower when in all honesty she thought she would survive more rounds in the ring with Marky than he would. So she brought up her hands, placed them flat on Sheldon's bare chest, and pushed him with all her might.

"Hey!" His eyes widened as he flailed back, barely catching his balance in time before he collided with her refrigerator. The bat clattered to the tiled floor behind him.

"I told you to give me back my bat," Penny warned. She met Sheldon's glare with matching intensity. They were silent for a moment, basking in the discomfort and palpable anger that wafted around them. When she felt like her point was made, that she had shown him that there was nothing delicate about Penny at all, she took two steps towards her bat and bent to pick it up, feeling Sheldon's eyes on her the whole time. She wrapped her fingers around the handle and was about to straighten her back when she saw Sheldon's long arm shoot out and smack her wrist, causing her to drop the bat back to the floor.

Before she could process another thought, she felt both of Sheldon's strong hands grab either side of her waist, gripping her tight and pulling her to him. "Let me go," she muttered, her back to still him. Her heart rate picked up slightly when Sheldon didn't say a word and only gripped her tighter. She was about to bring her hands down to pry his fingers off of her hips when he whirled her around and pushed her against the island. "Hey!" she cried, echoing Sheldon's sentiment from her surprise attack. He pushed against her, his lower body firmly attached to her lower back. When she turned her neck to try and look at him, he grabbed a fist of her hair, just the way she liked it, and gave a gentle tug. He controlled her neck now and made her face forward as he leaned into her, pressing harder while he bent her slightly over her counter top.

"You've always been so thick-headed," he drawled near her ear, his voice just above a whisper. A whole new rash of goosebumps trailed down her skin that was exposed around her tank top as his breath washed over her. "There's a saying we have down in Texas." He let go of her hair and brought his hand down, firmly attaching it to her waist, pinning her against the counter and his body. The other hand ran over her neck and squeezed her shoulder. He removed his lower body from her before continuing. "A hard head makes a soft behind." He barely finished his sentence before Penny heard the smack ring in her ears, then very quickly thereafter felt the sting on her ass.

"Sheldon!" she hollered, her body temperature rising by the second. She braced herself on the counter, daring a look back at him. "You just…spanked me."

"Indeed," Sheldon answered simply. He returned his crotch to her bottom that was still tingling. He groaned and pressed his very obvious erection into her. "Do you object?"

She wanted to say yes. She wanted him to let her go, except she didn't. Still angry from his earlier insinuation that she was weak, she tried to be strong and hold her ground. But when she formed the words to say yes, instead, she breathed, "No." Then her hands were at her fly, unbuttoning and pulling down the zipper. Sheldon did the rest of the work, yanking the jeans down until they were around her knees, then he lowered his own PJ pants, exposing his flesh to hers. He moaned loudly, his member growing stiffer by the second as he grinded between the softness of her rear end.

Her bones turned to jelly as she gripped the wooden sides of the counter. She felt nothing except the heat radiating off of Sheldon as he brought both of his hands down to cup her cheeks then slid down to the backs of her legs, slightly spreading her thighs apart. "Now," she pleaded as he nudged the tip of his dick into her opening. She hadn't been taken in this position in so long, she could cry at how satisfying just the anticipation alone felt. But she didn't have to wait long before Sheldon plunged into her, causing her to growl his name. And she moved back onto him, not letting him do all the work on his own. He rocked back and forth, supporting her as she bounced in rhythm to his thrusts. He brought one hand up to grasp her hair again at the base of her neck, and the other felt around until it found her breast, palming it desperately as they raced to the finish.

"I'm almost there," she cried as a warning for him to slow down, it was coming to an end way too fast. But her body was calling and the fire in her abdomen roared as Sheldon continued to pump into her, his whimpers like music to her ears. And before she knew it, she was speaking in tongues, thrashing her head back and coming harder than ever before. Sheldon surged right behind her, holding his grip on her blonde, silky hair as he filled her to the brim with his release.

Words failed them both as they struggled to regain their breaths, Sheldon's hips bucking still as the remnants of his orgasm rolled through his body. He finally slowed and slipped out of her, still leaning over her as she laid her upper body flat on the counter. "I love you, Penny."

If the roof was to cave in, or the couch behind them was to spontaneously catch fire, Penny would have never noticed. Her ears popped as if she were ascending into the clouds on board an aircraft. She turned in Sheldon's arms until she was facing him, her arms extending until they were around his neck. His blue eyes never looked clearer.

Nothing had ever been more clearer.

"I love you too, Sheldon." She pulled his neck down until his lips hovered over hers, then she closed the gap, kissing him with more feeling than she ever thought possible.

Junior lied flat on his back in the dark, breathing evenly through his nose as he waited for the pain medication to kick in. The soreness in his ribs and his head was loud like an alarm, bright like headlights. The orthodontic brackets that were surgically inserted to wire his broken jaw made every crevice of his mouth sear with pain. He could barely move his lips and communicate very little with the nurses. But they warned him it would be a few weeks before he could have the wiring removed and be able to functionally speak once again.

But in a few weeks it would be too late.

He had seen the veil of realization fall over Sheldon's face when he was standing over his bed, begging Junior to tell him what happened. And Junior fought it. He tried telling Sheldon he didn't remember. That he didn't know. But all his little brother had to do was look into his eyes and he would know that this was Marky's doing.

Junior screwed up. He jumped the gun. And his actions would now send Sheldon to fight his battle for him. The fact that Junior had landed himself in this hospital bed made it all worse. Tears accumulated in his bloodshot eyes as he idled helplessly. He knew Sheldon would go after Marky. And there was nothing Junior could do about it.

Unless…

He buzzed for his night nurse and moments later she appeared in his room.

"It's only 4:00 AM, hun. You can't have more meds until 6 o'clock." She walked further into the room, noticing that he was waving her over. She leaned over his bed as he painfully moved his lips and asked for the pen and paper near his bed. Then he wrote down exactly who he wanted the nurse to call, and what she needed to say when they answered.

Sheldon slipped out of Penny's bed and gathered his clothes in the dark, careful not to make any loud noises that would stir her. She snored loudly, and flipped onto her stomach, oblivious to anything besides her dreams, and Sheldon took a moment to be in her presence for a few more seconds. Then he made himself leave.

After he showered and changed into his clothes, he wrote a quick letter explaining his absence to Penny as a matter of business with the University that could not wait until he returned back to work on Monday. He wrote that he would be back this afternoon and that he preferred she stayed put until he returned. He hoped like hell she would comply. Then he left the letter on the couch cushion in his spot.

The cab he had ordered before showering was waiting downstairs for him. He slipped into the backseat and asked the driver to take him to East Hollywood, The Golden Glove gym. On the drive, he thought of Penny and his confession that he loved her. He truly did. Never had he felt this way for anyone. And he would never let her get hurt as long as he was alive.

Then he thought of the past and what brought him here. He thought of Junior, lying in pain at the hospital. He thought of Rachel, wherever she was now, and how he had wronged her by scouting her brother and preparing Junior with the moves that ultimately led to him gravely injure Rick, an act she never forgave him for, as he had never forgave himself.

He couldn't change the past, but maybe he could rectify it.

He checked his watch and saw that it was a little after 8:00 AM. If Marky wasn't at the gym when Sheldon arrived, he would wait for him. He had nothing but time.