Ch9

One month. Just one month, and everything had changed. She was getting better tips at work, because she smiled more. She was sleeping better, drinking less, and going for daily jogs around the university campus because it was there, and her agent said she was glowing. Sheldon had snorted at that, but commented that her cheeks had more colour to them, a remark that was repeated by a casting agent at one of her auditions. She'd gotten the part, a walk on role on a popular tv series, and managed to turn it into a repeating character. Sheldon had hugged her, (or rather not frozen completly when she launched herself at him) when she had told him the good news, and gone over the contract himself to ensure she was being paid correctly.

It didn't pay much of course, certainly not enough to quit the restaurant, but every little bit helped. They now had super high speed internet for instance.

Penny grinned, staring down at the laptop which Sheldon had given her ages ago. Super fast internet. Excellent for winning bids on ebay. Even better for watching behind the scenes footage of her favourite actors shooting a skinny dipping scene.

"Are you watching naked men again, Penny?"

Eyes wide, she turned the laptop so he couldn't see the screen. "It's not a porno, it's behind the scenes footage!"

"What's the difference?" He asked, sitting down beside her and opening his own laptop.

"Well, they aren't having sex for one thing, and their bits are covered." She protested. "Besides, it's only a thirty second long clip."

"Hmm." He mused. "So if I were to take footage of you in the shower and post it on the internet, that would be ok?"

She gave him the death glare.

"Bzinga." He breathe-laughed for a moment.

Smacking him on the shoulder she went back to you tube. "It's not like I'm watching a sex tape Sheldon." She reiterated. "Which I KNOW you've seen at least one, so don't forget that."

"I never forget anything. It was the worst Leia costume I've ever seen." He muttered, tapping away at his keyboard.

Penny shuddered. She never watched sex tapes anymore, not even celeb ones, not since the one that she and Kurt had made had somehow been uploaded on the internet. "I made one once." She confessed suddenly. "When I was living with Kurt. I thought it was forever you know, and it was his birthday... After we split he posted it online, but I made him take it down as soon as I found out."

Sheldon raised an eyebrow at her, then looked resolutely back at his screen. "He didn't take it down."

She froze, turning huge eyes to him. "WHAT?"

He continued typing. "He didn't take it down, it was TAKEN down, by the government, and the tape confiscated and I was informed, destroyed."

"You were informed?" Penny couldn't believe it. Sheldon had seen her sex tape? The government took it down? What on earth was going on? That had been years ago!

Sheldon coughed slightly, she noticed his ears going a bit red and his face assuming the impassive mask that always emerged when he was distancing himself from a touchy conversation. "Yes."

Putting her laptop down on the coffee table, she turned to him with her arms crossed across her chest and a junior rodeo showdown look on her face. "Explain."

He glanced at her and sighed, his shoulders drooping slightly. He knew that look. He put his own laptop down on the table so it wouldn't get wrecked should he have to block any throat punches, and noted that Penny was probably the only person in the world who could look ferocious sitting on a couch where her feet didn't even touch the floor. He remembered briefly his sister at the age of four in a similar position, and amended the previous thought to solely Pasadena, and over the age of six.

Penny sucked on her teeth.

He cleared his throat. "When Missy was in high-school," he began.

"What does this have to do with Missy?"

"Do you want to hear the explanation or not?"

"Fine. Continue."

"When Missy was in high-school, (and I was in Germany working on my second doctorate), one of her boy friends managed to take a picture of her topless and post it online. It was swiftly taken down sue to her being under-aged and the local internet usage being thoroughly monitored since I tried to buy radioactive materials, years earlier."

"And?" Penny motioned with her hand.. "Where do I come in?"

Sheldon looked surprised. "When you moved into the Apartment Building of course. I had to google you to make sure you weren't a foreign spy."

"And the tape popped up?"

"Yes. It took only seconds for me to see what it was, and since I was working on a little side project for the government I informed the agent I was working with that you appeared to be underage. He was also so good as to retrieve my pants."

"I wasn't underage." Penny frowned. "You only watched a few seconds?"

"The time stamp put you at just before your eighteenth birthday." Sheldon said casually.

"What time stamp?"

"The one I digitally added to the opening frame." Sheldon smirked.

Penny started laughing. "You had only just met me Sheldon."

He tilted his head, and turned his gaze towards the window. "You were nice to us, not embarrassed to be seen eating with us, which was amazing as Wolowitz insisted on singing throughout the first meal out. Also you were impressed by my work which showed intelligence on your part." He paused. "I had also promised my sister that I would remain vigilant against online ex-boyfriend wrath. She did not specify it was only her boyfriends."

Penny nodded, and grinned. "Well, thank you. You're like my own super hero now. That tape could have really wrecked my career."

He inclined his head. "May I get back to work now?"

"Sure." Penny jumped up. "I'll go make popcorn."

Sheldon picked up his laptop and resumed working.

Super Hero. Next to Beautiful Mind, it was the second nicest thing anyone had ever said about him. Except perhaps for Evil Genius...