Okay, apparently this one is NOT going away.

The Talent Showcase

Part Four: Patchwork

"What I make with my hands, I give of my heart."

Diana Crescent

Penny sighed as she put the finished touches on her wrapping paper. It was hard to believe that she'd managed to finish their Christmas gifts so soon.

Heck, it was hard to believe it was Christmas again.

Things had only heated up since she and Sheldon had gone dancing. She hadn't had a Thursday off since, but that didn't seem to bother her. Every now and again, she'd go over to the boys' apartment (when Leonard, Howard, and Raj weren't there) and dance with Sheldon.

It didn't seem to bother him.

In the last seven months, she'd finished her associates in English and theater. She'd been devastated (to the point that Sheldon wanted to know if she was relapsing) and hadn't known what to do. A friend from her Intro to Shakespeare class had solved that problem for her. She'd asked if Penny was going to transfer to USC.

It wasn't something Penny had thought about before. Actually moving on to the big-girl college. She still hadn't told Sheldon about Pasadena City College. But the more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea. So she'd done some research, gotten her finances in order, and applied to double major in English and theater. So she was a late applicant. That hadn't stopped her from getting in. They'd accepted her and she'd spent the last six months paying off her tuition and fees.

While the good news was that she was amazingly half-way through with her junior year, and currently four semesters from completing a double major (she'd killed herself with hours, taking shortened classes, on-line classes, and still managing regular classes and work), she was as poor as a church mouse, despite the two dollar raise at work and all the extra hours.

Which was what had brought her panicking about Christmas back in October. She didn't have enough money to buy Christmas presents. Her mother, bless her, had solved that problem for her.

She'd been kind enough to remind Penny that besides teaching her the piano (she was a piano teacher and REFUSED to have a child that couldn't play), she'd also taught her daughter to quilt. Her mother sent her some fabric and her old sewing machine the next day, overnight.

Penny had gone to garage sales, estate sales, and fabric stores finding the rest of the fabric that she needed and had begun sewing (after the fabric had gone a round in the washer).

She'd designed a different quilt for each man, paying close attention to their likes and dislikes.

For Raj, she'd included images of Hindi folklore, religion, and culture. She'd also been sure to add stars and moons and planets for the astrophysicist. His blanket was dark blue and white, as she knew he liked those colors the best. For Howard, she'd included buildings, engineering equations (which had been a pain to find, and then cut out and sew), and pictures of planets with little space shuttle things around them. She'd made his blanket black and red to match his room. For Leonard, she'd put cellos, equations, and lasers on a light blue and red blanket.

For Sheldon, none of that seemed to be enough for her. So she'd called his mother and told Mary her Christmas plan. Mary thought it was a sweet thought, and told her that Sheldon loved physics and loved superheroes. Penny ran with that.

She'd put several Batman symbols and Superman symbols on the patches before hunting up some string theory equations and physics equations. She'd gotten a headache, but she'd also managed to embroider them on the other patches. Just for good measure, she sewed his full title in the center in her best cursive script. It read in her loopy, far too girly handwriting "Dr. Sheldon Lee Cooper, PhD" and she kept smiling when she looked at it. His blanket was white with multi-colored patches spiraling out from the center like a galaxy.

She'd splurged on boxes, wrapping paper, and ribbon. She was nervous, and hoped the guys liked their presents. She glanced at the clock. Sheldon had said they were meeting at noon on Christmas Day to exchange gifts.

Penny had stayed up all night in order to finish Sheldon's blanket. She hadn't slept in over 24 hours and was almost positive that she wouldn't get to sleep very much this afternoon. It didn't help that she had to be up early in order to be to the Cheesecake Factory tomorrow. She was working extra over the holidays in order to get through another round of tuition.

Penny stood, stretched out her sore muscles, popped a few joints and went to take a hot shower. She dressed for the occasion and tried to hide the dark circles as best she could. When she could do no more, she sighed. At least it looked like she was just tired, rather than in a severe state of sleep deprivation.

She had trouble carrying all of the boxes, but managed to knock on the door of 4B with her foot. Sheldon grabbed all of the boxes and sat them down. He took one look at Penny and frowned at her. She looked sleep deprived.

"What?"

"How much have slept lately?"

Penny sighed. Damn. "I had to finish something last night."

"After we continue with the inane exchange of lagniappes, you should find time for a circadian cycle."

"Are you saying I should take a nap?"

"Yes."

"I will Moonpie, but not until we open gifts."

He nodded and went back to rearranging the presents in order of size. Raj and Howard had brought theirs over the day before.

"Sheldon?"

"Yes, Penny?"

"Lagniappe is when you something is given without the expectation of a return. We are expecting a return."

Sheldon's head popped up and he stared at her for a minute. She cursed for that minute. It had been a damn Vocabulary Building class that she'd taken back in January for four weeks. She wasn't supposed to say anything. Damn the sleep deprivation.

"Very good Penny!"

"Thank you."

Sheldon went back to rearranging, while Penny sighed, her head dropping back against the couch. He waited on her to fall asleep, but she didn't. She seemed determined to stay awake.

Noon ticked slowly closer, and Howard and Raj arrived. Leonard had gone to pick them up thanks to Howard's scooter and Raj's car being in the shop due to an experiment gone so very wrong.

"Alright, are we ready?" Howard asked, clearly wanting to dive into the presents. He may be Jewish, but he loved getting presents—Christian holiday or not.

"Since you seem so eager, you may pass out the gifts," Sheldon instructed.

Howard sighed, and began dolling out boxes according to the name tags.

Penny smiled. The boys had gotten each other technical gadgets. They seemed to be saving the biggest boxes (hers) for last. She decided to be different and started with the biggest first. It was from Raj, who had gotten her a new DVD player (hers had gone out back at Thanksgiving, and she'd yet to replace it).

"Thank you Raj!" she said, smiling brightly.

He cleared his throat and whispered "You're welcome."

Everyone stopped opening presents. Her eyes popped out of her head. "Raj, you spoke to me!"

He just nodded, unable to do it again.

She leaded over Howard and kissed Raj's cheek gently. "That was a lovely present too."

He smiled and she leaned back. Howard's nose went with her, sniffing deeply with his eyes closed.

"No, no. Thank you Penny," Howard murmured to her.

She scooted closer to Sheldon, who glared at Howard.

Her next present was from Leonard. He'd gotten her the complete set of Star Wars. She smiled.

"Thank you Leonard! Now I won't have to borrow yours so much."

"You won't have to borrow ours at all," Sheldon said, confused.

"I know Moonpie, but I like to mess with you. It irritates you when I borrow it."

Sheldon's mouth tightened but said nothing.

She didn't kiss Leonard's cheek, but she did smile at him and wink.

Next was her present from Howard. It was a pink digital camera. "Oh wow, Howard! Thank you so much."

"I was thinking we could use it sometime…maybe later perhaps," he said with his eyebrows wiggling.

"No."

"Worth a shot."

Last was her present from Sheldon, in a card. The card was a typical Christmas one, with the Grinch on the front. The note inside mentioned making his heart grow three sizes. She'd nearly cried at that. But also inside was a certificate. A year's membership to a ballet studio. Not lessons, but she could go when she wished and dance. She did cry at that.

Penny flung her arms around Sheldon and whispered "Thank you" several times. She kissed his cheek and backed off of him.

"You dance ballet?" Leonard asked.

"Since I was three. I haven't been able to practice or perform since I moved here."

"I'm glad you like it," Sheldon said, clearly uncomfortable with the affection.

Uncomfortable in a way he hoped no one picked up on.

Finally, the boys opened their presents from her.

"You got us blankets…thanks Penny," Howard said, studying the design with a little confusion.

"It's a quilt," she corrected, quietly. Feeling small and wretched. They'd gotten her great gifts, and she'd brought them quilts, like children.

"You made me a quilt," Sheldon whispered, his Texas drawl coming out. "No one's made me a quilt since I had the chicken pox when I was six."

Penny smiled. Sheldon appreciated it, and that's what counted. "I thought you might like it."

"It's perfect," he said, gently touching the embroidered formula between a bat signal and the Superman emblem. He hugged her to his side and smiled his sweet boyish smiled.

"I'm glad," she said, starting to cry again.

"These are wonderful Penny. You must have spent a lot of time on them," Leonard said, half glaring at Howard, half looking at her kindly.

"I wanted to do something a little more special this year."

Raj smiled at her. He'd kicked Howard behind her back, though she was pretending she hadn't noticed. "Thank you, Penny. I like it very much."

She smiled at Raj. "I'm glad, Raj."

Howard smiled and said, "I've never had anyone make me a quilt. I'll be sure to cherish this forever." He winked and sniffed the fabric, smelling her on it.

"Howard, remind me to check your hormone levels," Sheldon said, shaking his head.

Penny was laughing, glad that they were at least trying to like them for her.

Penny began picking up trash, trying to keep busy. Though she wasn't as engrossed or as deaf that she didn't hear their whispers.

"How did you know it was handmade?" Howard asked.

"I know a handmade quilt when I see one Howard. Besides, it's not like you can just go out and buy quilts so personalized. Judging by the size and detail put into these, I'd say she's been working on them since at least October."

Of course Sheldon would know how long she'd been working on them.

"I feel awful. All we did was buy her things. She put so much effort into our gifts."

"It's not about the effort, Raj. It's about the thought. You each bought me something I would have never bought for myself, and in doing so, you've given me wonderful gifts. I love each one," Penny said quietly from the kitchen, where she was getting lunch ready to serve.

Raj jumped, but smiled at her.

"It's just, we're not any good at crafts. Not like this, anyway," Howard said, lamely.

"That's alright Howard. I'm not any good at science. That's what makes us unique," she said, smiling.

Sheldon smiled at her, and walked her over to the couch. "You promised you'd take a nap."

"If you want me to go…" she said, not quite understanding.

Sheldon sat her next to him, and pulled her against his side. Her breath hitched, but when he covered her and himself with his new quilt, she breathed deeply. "You haven't slept well in the last few weeks and now I know why. Leonard can take care of lunch. You take care of you."

Penny shivered and snuggled closer to his warmth. She smiled, and quickly drifted off to sleep, watching Sheldon trace the formulae on the patches.

Howard, Raj, and Leonard all sat agape at their friend's change. But then, it was a wonderful thing to get such a unique and perfect gift.

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