CH

She snuggled under the comforter and stared up at the shadows the trees outside were casting on the ceiling, a muted display of nature twitching restlessly. Across the hall she could hear Sheldon in his room, changing into his pajamas, putting his comic back alphabetically in order. The guy had a whole house and he still kept his comics in his room. She wondered what he would think of the boxes of Nancy Drew books from her childhood that were under her bed. She'd always meant to get a shelf for them, and put them in order (sequentially) but had never got around to it, and recently had been thinking maybe she was too old for a shelf of Nancy Drew's.

If she has a place like this, she would put up a shelf. She'd put a chair right by it too. Maybe not a bean bag chair like she'd had back in Omaha, probably one of those Queen Anne ones, with a little foot stool. A nice reading lamp would be good too.

A whole bookcase full of books. Even if all she ever did was sit and look at them. Penny smiled, and her eyes closed.

~S~

He had never thought that he would own a house, so he'd accustomed himself to having to deal with the habits of others. Apartments, dorms, they were all the same really. Somewhere along the line he had come to expect it. The change had been alarming. The first night, at three in the morning, as he lay listening to the wind and the ticking of the clock downstairs, he'd almost packed it in and headed back to the apartment. What should have been bliss seeming more like loneliness. He couldn't remember the last time he'd truly been alone in a building that wasn't Caltech.

As he crawled into bed, he heard a slight snore from the spare room. Penny had left the door open. He thought about getting up and going to shut it, or his own, but didn't. It was nice to hear someone else. A niggling thought formed in the back of his mind. Maybe he should get a roommate? The house was paid for, so there was no financial need, however the extra funds could buy some new game equipment... The problem, he knew, was that as it was HIS house, he would not take kindly to others coming and going at all hours of the night. There would be strict rules, and people un-aquantied with him would balk and demand tiresome explanations. He could of course, invite Leonard, but he was rather tired of Leonard and all his girlfriends. Raj would be a wonderful roommate, but he already had an apartment and then his sister would have to stay with them, which would be one more person than was preferred.

A glance at the clock beside his bed told him it was time to stop thinking and start sleeping, so he closed his eyes and drifted off.

~P~

The sound of a pot banging in the kitchen caused her to open her eyes. The room was flooded with sunlight, and there was the smell of breakfast in the air. She could get used to this, she thought, swinging her feet out of the bed and standing up with a stretch.

In the kitchen, she found two plates on the table, and Sheldon at the stove.

"It's almost ready." He said over his shoulder. "It's pancake day."

"Mmm, I love pancakes." Penny smiled, sitting down. "Have been out to that little farm store in east LA? They sell the best syrup."

"It's a pancake store?" He turned around fully, still clad in his pajamas.

"Sort of, they sell cookies and fudge and farm fresh ice cream that sort of thing too."

His head tilted to a forty-five degree angle. "Interesting." He brought over a plate of steaming pancakes and sat down across from her, putting the plate in the middle.

She helped herself to a pancake and grinned. "I'll have to take you one day."

Sheldon ate slowly, carefully cutting up his pancake before spearing a piece and eating it. "Penny, how is your financial situation currently?" He asked suddenly.

"Well, I probably shouldn't have bid on those dresses worn by Cheryl Cole on ebay." Penny made a sour face. "Why?"

He chewed another piece of pancake. "Would you be opposed to being my new roommate?"