I am sooo sorry! i know it has been months since i last uploaded! but i was stressed with exams and other things and so i physically did not have the time to write anymore... but i have finished all my exams now and so i will hopefully be uploading weekly. i have 9 chapters already written and as an appology i will upload 2 now and i hope that you like them! please review because i want to make sure that i keep the characterisation and storyline realistic, and any critisism or tips are more than welcome! once again i hope you like it! xxxxx

5:

It was finally Saturday, and her 24th birthday. Penny woke up with a very painful headache and her eyes were stinging from crying the night before. She groaned and hauled herself off the sofa, ignoring the pain that shot through her shoulder from sleeping at a funny angle. She made her way to the bathroom and cried out in dismay at her reflection. Her usually unblemished skin was covered in angry red blotches, her blonde curls were messy and tangled and her usually hazel eyes were blood shot and angry looking. She threw herself into the shower, and after two hours she was back to normal. She had dressed in tight denim jean shorts, and a light blue halter neck top. She pulled her hair back into a loose ponytail and decided against make up. She glanced at the clock on her wall and saw that it was almost two in the afternoon and started to make dinner. She had just put the pasta in the hot water when she realised that she didn't have any milk for the cheese sauce. She cursed loudly as she also realised that the only way she was going to get milk in time to save her dinner was if she nipped over to the guy's apartment to borrow some. She grabbed the guy's emergency key from the hook and rushed to their apartment. She knocked hoping that no one would be home. After several minutes there still wasn't a response so she used the key to let herself into their apartment. She had her head in the fridge when a tense voice cut through the air.

"Penny! What on earth are you doing?"

She jumped at least a foot in the air and a metre away from the fridge, her hands held up in surrender. "Wassamadda?" she mumbled around the mouthful of chocolate that she had found in the fridge.

"Penny I have told you time and time again that you cannot just help yourself to the contents of our fridge!" Sheldon scolded standing on the step that led to their bedrooms.

Penny had stopped listening to him and was simply gaping at him. Sheldon appeared to only be wearing a bathrobe with his dark hair still wet from the shower he had left to catch her in the act. She couldn't help but notice that his chest was in fact extremely toned, and not as thin as she had once suspected. He continued to ramble on about social etiquette and she was simply stood there blushing and trying not to think of whether he had any clothes on underneath his robe. All of a sudden she remembered her reason for being in their apartment in the first place.

"Oh no!" she shrieked and ran back to her apartment dismayed to find that the pasta was boiling over. Without thinking she grabbed the handle to pour the contents down the sink causing the boiling water to spill over the sides of the sauce plan and splash over her bare legs. She screamed in pain and dropped the pan in the sink.

"Penny!" Sheldon cried from the doorway "What on earth-?" he stopped as he saw the tears in her eyes and the sore skin of her thigh. He rushed forward and pulled her towards the bathroom. Once inside he lifted her so that she was sat on the edge of the bath with her feet in the tub. He turned on the cold water instantly and thrust her leg beneath the faucet. She wrapped an arm around his neck for balance and squeezed her eyes shut as the water hit the burn. After several minutes the pain died down and she whimpered as he pulled her injured leg towards him to examine it.

He shut off the water. "You were very lucky Penny; we managed to catch it in time. I don't think that you will have a mark once the redness fades." He said with a clinical tone, before he added "Though I must say your idiocy amazes me more and more each day. Did you not consider that the boiling water could burn you?"

She pouted and turned to face him. It was only then that she realised how close they were, his face only inches from her own. However Sheldon being Sheldon seemed completely oblivious to how their close proximity was affecting her.

"I take it that it does not hurt as much?" he said looking up at her.

She shook her head and examined her leg and she could see that the redness was fading already.

"I'm sorry Sheldon" she whispered "I always seem to cause trouble for you, don't I?"

"Yes you're right." He said bluntly towelling off her leg and she felt that familiar pain shoot through her chest. "However it is nothing that I am not capable of handling." He added with amusement lighting up his eyes.

Her eyes snapped to his and she couldn't help but smile as she realised that he was joking with her. It was very hard to tell with Sheldon because he rarely smiled, however she had watched him for so long that she knows all of his little quirks. She hugged him loosely.

"Thank you Sheldon."

"Yes, yes" he said patting her awkwardly on the shoulder before untangling himself from her embrace. "Now that that little drama is over, why were you stealing from our fridge...again?"

"Well I was making dinner," she said ignoring him as he made a face that clearly said obviously "when I realised that I didn't have any milk for the sauce, so I popped over to yours to borrow some. And before you say anything I did knock but no one answered. So I let myself in before my food could be ruined."

He seemed to accept this explanation and led her back into the living room. "I take it that you no longer require my assistance?"

"No thank you, I will be fine now."

"Good" he said and he left her apartment. Just before the door shut it swung open again and he popped his head through the doorway. "Oh and Penny?" she glanced at him questioningly "Happy birthday." He said before shutting the door behind him.