Hey guys! Sorry for the delay, I hit a little bit of a block. I really wanted to do this idea justice, so it took a little longer. Unbeta'd, so no surprises there. I tried to write in character, I did my best. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own The Big Bang Theory, just the iPad I wrote it on. Oh wait, I don't own that either.

"So. Penny."

Beverly Hofstadter finally looked up from the paperwork she had been shuffling, flattening her hands out on her desk.

"Hello again Beverly." Penny said, flashing Leonard's mother an overly exaggerated smile.

She didn't return the grin, her face remaining impassive.

"What can I help you with?"

Penny shrugged.

"Sheldon informs me that you've been showing characteristics commonly associated with the eating disorder bulimia."

"Really? I never noticed. I guess that's why I'm here then, Mrs. Hofstadter!" Penny exclaimed, plastering another sarcastic smirk on her face.

Beverly snorted.

"Hrmh. Interesting."

"What." Penny snapped.

Beverly ignored Penny, picking up a pencil and scribbling down something. She narrated her notes under her breath however.

'Uses -sarcasm as -defence -mechanism' she muttered.

She looked up.

"Why are you here, Penelope?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe the 'self induced' barfing might be a hint!"

Beverly didn't comment on Penny's tone of voice, rather, she examined Penny over the golden rims of her glasses. Penny squirmed, feeling like she was being surveyed under a microscope.

"How long have you been binging and purging?"

"I don't know why you people say purging. For Gawd's sake, just say barfing, or vomiting."

'Patient maintains a childish attitude towards the terminology utilised to describe her bulimia. Possible resulting from childhood ending too quickly.'

A silence settled.

"Ten months." Penny admitted in a small voice.

"How often do the cycles occur?"

Penny recrossed her legs and folded her arms, clutching each forearm until her knuckles whitened.

"Um, two or three times?"

"Every..?"

"Day?"

"Are you asking me or telling me?" Beverly mused.

Penny scowled.

"Why do you binge and purge, Penelope?"

"Why do you keep calling me Penelope? You never call me Penelope. It's Penny!"

'Patient evades uncomfortable questions, another possible defence mechanism.'

"Fine! I don't know why I do it! Isn't that what you get paid to figure out?"

Beverly smiled coldly, her eyes remaining dark.

'Patient is rude and unco-operative. Possible result from getting hurt too often when she is nice; rudeness to other people=people not being able to get close enough to hurt.'

"Are you muttering under your breath just to piss me off?" Penny scowled.

"Do you have a problem with that, Penny?"

Penny opened her mouth, and then shut it, eyeing Beverly suspiciously.

"If I say anything you'll just use it and spout off some random crap about how my dad didn't love me enough so I have a problem with authority figures!"

"And do you have a problem with authority figures?"

"No!" Penny yelled. "Oh my god, you're doing it right now!"

"Penelope. Calm down. I doubt your issues with authority figures coincide with your eating disorder."

"I don't have a problem with-"

"Re-gardless of your denial, I must ask you to focus. What do you feel when you think about food?"

Penny took a deep breath, cocking her head thoughtfully.

"I don't know. I guess I should see it at good, because food is life and all that crap. But.. It's fattening, it's so full of fat. And fat tastes good. I just want to.. Cram the food into my mouth. Even when I'm not hungry. And then I have to vomit it back up, because otherwise I'd get fat."

"And has anyone suspected you may have had an eating disorder?"

"Well, um, no. I remember when my boyfriend Mike wrote all this private crap on his blog, and Leonard came round to my apartment while I was eating ice cream and squirty cream, you know, the one which is in a can? And he stayed there for so long and he asked me out, and I was so distracted because I felt so fat and I just wanted him to leave so that I could go..get rid of it.. So I agreed to go on a date with him."

Her face crumpled, guilt washing through her eyes.

"And I felt so horrible." She sobbed. "Because then he got so excited and he told all the guys and I think Sheldon suspected..."

Beverly held up her hand.

They sat in silence for a few minutes while Beverly's eyes bore into Penny.

"What?" She sniffed, scrubbing her eyes with her sleeve.

"What did Sheldon suspect?"

"That I didn't really want to go out with Leonard, and then he would have looked at me with those big beautiful blue eyes and they'd be so disappointed in me.."

"So the source of your guilt lay with Sheldon's opinion of you lowering?"

Penny frowned.

"Well no.. I mean.. Leonard..and..I didn't..um.."

Beverly waited patiently, studying the array of emotions flashing across Penny's face.

"Yeah.." She finally whispered.

'Patient possibly in love with Dr. Sheldon Cooper.'

I don't really know much about psychology so I just had win write what made sense to me. Sorry if its not correct. Italics are Beverly's notes!