Chapter three
'I could get so used to this, Penny sat on her sun-lounger, taking in the view from their hotel-room balcony. She turned to look back into the dark interior of the room.
"Sheldon, your breakfast is getting cold"
"Cold? cold? What in the Lord's name have you ordered? Furthermore, in what universe are you qualified to order my breakfast?
Sheldon looked down at the table; there, next to a newly washed bowl, sat a small unopened box of high-fibre cereal as well as an unopened carton of 2% milk.
"I took the liberty of ordering 'high-fibre' as I know you had a stressful day yesterday" Penny smiled at the look of bewilderment on his face.
"Thank you Penny. This is very thoughtful"
Penny waited for the remark, that almost always followed a Sheldon compliment, but none came.
She watched as he ate. If high-fibre were the cure for stress, she thought a lot of the hotel staff were in need of it. No one had been safe from Typhoon Sheldon as he swept in last night. He had been quiet on the plane, the valid threat of being black listed by the airline may have had something to do with it. Sadly, the hotel had no such leverage over him, so it was left to a poor night receptionist, who made the fatal error of greeting him as 'Mr Cooper', to feel the full weight of Sheldon's wrath.
It always amazed Penny –his ability to turn a perfectly normal person into a whimpering nervous wreck.
As Sheldon strode off to the lifts closely followed by the porter, she had wondered how Leonard and Raj were fairing.
Leonard and Raj- had been unable to get rooms in the same hotel as their friends. Sheldon and Penny's hotel was 5 star which was reflected in the cost of a room. Leonard had also jokingly said to Raj, "We have the best of both worlds, we get to spend time with them, but we can leave."
Raj laughed, "Maybe Penny will appreciate the 'alone time' with Sheldon?"
As Penny finished her coffee, she turned to Sheldon, "So what do you have planned?"
Sheldon looked at her, then down at his cereal bowl, "I plan to finish breakfast."
Penny sighed. God, he never makes things easy, "So, after breakfast, you have your shower, you get dressed. What then?"
Sheldon smiled, "Oh, we have a detailed itinerary, Penny."
Her mood immediately brightened, "That's great, Sheldon. Can I see it?"
Sheldon stood and walked back into the room. Taking a sheet of paper from his bag, he returned to where Penny was sitting and handed it to her.
Penny shook her head. "Sheldon, you laminated our itinerary?"
Sheldon just stood, with a content smile on his face.
Penny read though the itinerary before placing it on the table. "No way Sheldon! You don't have us doing anything together. In fact, the only time you leave the hotel is to go to the airport."
"But Penny, I have given you ample latitude to; I believe the saying is, 'do your own thing'. I'm sure Leonard and Raj will prove sufficient company. You have so much in common."
"Look Sheldon we came on this holiday together."
"Penny, it was simply a free holiday, but thank you, I'm sure you meant well."
"Sheldon, you are getting dressed," Penny pointed a finger at him, "and we're going…" Penny stopped mid-sentence, she looked up at Sheldon. "What do you mean; I have so much in common with Leonard and Raj?"
"I think you know what I mean, Penny." Sheldon turned and stared out at the ocean.
Without turning, to look at her, his voice so matter of fact "You've had coitus with the two men you asked on holiday."
Penny's heart almost broke; she felt like screaming at him, that he was wrong, but strangely he was right, she had been the one pushing for their friends to join them.
Penny took a deep breath.
"Look, Sheldon. First, I don't know what happened with Raj. We were drunk. I'm sorry but it happens. As for Leonard you have to know that's been over a long time. He has Priya now."
Sheldon turned and walked back into the room; stopping to look over his shoulder, he made as if to speak, but changed his mind and walked to the bathroom.
Penny heard the water running; he was in the shower. She waited for him to finish, standing just beyond the bathroom door so as to block his path. She was determined to clear this up. He came out of the bathroom dressed only in a towel; his robe lay over on the bed.
Sheldon stared down at her, "Please remove yourself, Penny I wish to get dressed."
"Sheldon, I'm only going to say this once, what happened before is past and gone. I'm on holiday with you. Leonard and Raj are here solely due to the fact that they're friends, nothing more." Penny walked up to Sheldon, placing her hand on his chest.
She expected him to freak out as she touched him, but he simply looked down at her small hand in the centre of his chest, and smiled.
She was not sure how long they stood like this, but it was Sheldon broke the spell,
"Penny, your hand is getting sweaty."
"Ok, Sheldon get dressed. We're going out, no, ifs, ands, or buts."
They meet up with, Leonard and Raj a short time later, Penny waved at they're friends who were sitting outside a small coffee shop.
As they sat down, Penny asked "I thought we were meeting in the hotel lobby?"
Leonard looked at Raj and smiled, "We were on our way, when we found a tourist information office. We kind of lost track of time, but we've found the coolest place."
Sheldon slowly turned his head taking in the surrounding buildings, "What could possibly improve on this?"
Penny tried not to laugh, "Sarcasm Sheldon?"
He looked at her, eyebrows slightly raised, "Hardly Penny, I'm sitting in an open air coffee house, being bombard by UV radiation, not to mention, possibly every type of pathogen known to men. I think the chances of us all being dead by morning are fairly high."
Leonard shook his head, "Let me rephrase, that. Sheldon, we've found somewhere to go and you're going to love it."
"Unlikely but continue"
Sheldon with great reluctance picked up a leaflet from the table, "Good Lord, Leonard! It's a wildlife park. You're not serious?"
Penny's squeal could be heard back at the hotel; she was looking through a leaflet, "But, everything is so adorable."
Sheldon took the leaflet out of her hand, "Penny, this adorable Puma would happily eat you." Raj leaned over to whisper in Leonard's ear. Leonard shook his head.
"Not nice, Raj" he looked over at Penny, "Don't ask." Leonard started reading the leaflet again, "Sheldon, they have 'monkeys; everyone loves monkeys right?"
The three friends, all with broad smiles on their faces, looked at Sheldon.
"It's true, I do like monkeys, but I'm not sure it would be enough for me to venture out to such a place." He was looking straight at Penny as he spoke.
She seemed to understand what he was asking, "Sheldon, if you come with us." Penny took a deep breath, "We'll stay at the hotel for the rest of the holiday, how about it?"
Sheldon looked from Penny, over to Leonard who was shaking his head, looking back at her. He smiled "Yes, I believe we have an agreement."
When the tour bus slowly pulled up outside the biosphere, the friends had their first view of the impressive structure. As they all piled out of the bus, the meet and greet party came up to the bus, "Welcome my friends to the Sian Ka'an Biosphere and wildlife reserve, if you would kindly follow us, we'll start your tour.
Penny walked to the mean entrance; she looked to see where Sheldon was. She called out to her friends, "Hi guys where's Sheldon? He did come with us?"
Raj whispered in Leonard's ear, "Raj, cut that out! You're getting as bad as Howard."
Penny gave Raj a withering look, "We're going to have words soon bucko, now look for Sheldon."
It turned out, Sheldon was not hard to find. He had never left the bus, and was engaged in a heated argument with the driver. Penny put a hand on Leonard's arm as he went up to the bus, "Let me handle it Leonard."
Walking to the bus she passed the bus driver, who was mumbling, away to himself. Penny only caught the words "crazy" and "bastard" it was clear he was unhappy.
Penny sat in the seat next to Sheldon, thinking she would push her luck; she placed a hand on his arm, "Sheldon, what's the problem? We're all waiting."
"I'm sorry Penny. I'm not sure I can do this." She'd never seen him like this.
Penny moved a little closer to him, "Sheldon, we'll go in together, look" Penny pulled a packet of cleaning wipes from her bag, "I'll be by your side, the whole time. If you still don't like it, we'll leave. What do you say? Plus you never know Leonard may get eaten."