This new kind of kissing became a part of their routine. Sheldon, much to his chagrin, found himself not only accepting it but looking forward to it. The very thought of Penny was enough to make his heart race and his palms sweat. It was far too easy to become distracted from from his physics calculations by the memory of the warm vanilla scent of her skin or the throaty murmurs of pleasure she made when he kissed her. She occupied his thoughts so often when they were apart that he feared he was becoming obsessed with her. Homo novus was a thing of the past, but he was uncertain how to move forward.

By now, he was almost glad Leonard had moved in with Priya - another sentiment he never would've imagined he could express. But it meant that his best friend wasn't a witness to this transformation. The teasing from the guys was bad enough; he couldn't imagine what they would say if they knew how eagerly he awaited Penny's arrival every evening, or how lonely it seemed when she was working. They were aware of how his schedule had changed. Any night when she was working, they were welcome to come over. New comic book night was the only exception. Leonard was kind enough to pick him up on Wednesdays, although if Penny was home, Sheldon insisted she come with them. She had balked the first time he asked, sure it would make things awkward with the three of them together. But then she saw Raj and Howard found their own way there, and of course, she knew Stuart too. Generally, she would go sit at one of the gaming tables in the back. He had seen Stuart showing her a collected volume of Wonder Woman once, and she was nodding and flipping through the pages. Sheldon promptly bought her the book. Now he had a new goal on Wednesday nights: to find comics series featuring strong female characters that might pique her interest. He knew it couldn't be easy for her to date someone as non-conventional as he was, so he was eager to encourage any common interests.

"So it's been more than a month for you guys, right?" Leonard asked him one day at lunch.

Sheldon thought about it for a moment. It had been thirty-seven days (and approximately nineteen hours) since he and Penny had agreed to give their marriage a chance and call it dating. They had actually been married for almost six months. In either case, it made sense to merely affirm what Leonard had said.

"Yes, more than a month," he replied. It was an irritatingly vague answer, but Leonard took no notice.

"So how are things going between the two of you?" he pressed. With anyone else, he would have been jealous of whoever was dating his ex, but he was so confused by the idea of Penny and Sheldon dating that he could only regard the situation with a tolerant bemusement.

Sheldon bit back a sigh as he laid down his fork. His friends showed a lively, ongoing curiosity about his relationship with Penny. "It's going well," he said. "I'm writing an app that she can use to organize her shoes."

"In what universe does that mean it's going well?" Raj snickered.

This time, Sheldon didn't hold back the sigh of exasperation. "It means that when it's her turn to pick the activity and she drags me out shoe shopping, I have something to do. Furthermore, we have conversations about what type of shoes are appropriate for which occasion." He shrugged. "I couldn't care less about the shoes, of course, but it gives her an opportunity to share what she finds important. Her knowledge is quite extensive. I could easily see her appearing on one of those cable news programs which focus on celebrities and fashion."

Leonard was staring at him. "Huh," was all he said, thoughtfully, while Howard and Raj looked bewildered.

"What?" Sheldon asked, lifting one eyebrow inquiringly.

"It's just that you took something that I thought would drive you crazy and made it work," he answered. "The only reason I ever agreed to go shopping with her was to get… uh, never mind," he finished as he and Howard exchanged glances.

Sheldon frowned but ignored whatever Leonard had been about to say as irrelevant. He was well aware of the nature of most of Leonard and Penny's interactions while they had been dating. It was one of the reasons he had insisted their relationship was doomed to failure, and he had no intention of repeating those mistakes.

"But what's in it for you? You can't find writing an app about shoes any kind of intellectual challenge," Howard said.

"Playing Halo with the three of you isn't any sort of challenge either, and yet I continue to do so on a weekly basis," Sheldon answered.

"Hey!" Leonard protested weakly.

Sheldon ignored him. "I never claimed to enjoy shoe shopping, but Penny does, and…" He paused, wondering how much he ought to say. "A relationship can't survive unless both parties are equally satisfied."

"And are you… satisfied?" Howard asked, wiggling his eyebrows in a way that Sheldon had come to understand meant he was making some crude sexual reference.

"Not yet."

Raj and Howard immediately started chortling like a pair of idiots, while Leonard tilted his head and squinted at him.

"Not until she agrees to be my wife," Sheldon elaborated. Immediately, the laughter died, and there was a stunned silence at the table. All three of his friends were staring at him with mingled expressions of shock and horror. A muscle under his eye twitched. Perhaps he had revealed too much, but he was tired of them treating him as an object of ridicule. Although none of them knew it, Penny already had married him. He just needed to convince her to stay that way.

"You're going to propose?" Leonard asked in a high, thin voice.

Sheldon hesitated, and the muscle in his cheek tightened again. It was becoming more and more difficult to navigate through this web of deception. "I've given it extensive consideration," he prevaricated. "It makes a great deal of logical sense. Penny is my closest female friend, as well as the only woman I intend to date."

Raj shook his head. "What about her? Why on earth would she ever agree to marry you?"

"I'm by far the most intelligent person she knows," he replied. "I'm fiscally stable, responsible, punctual, and I have excellent hand-eye coordination."

Howard snorted derisively. "Do you really think she cares about any of those things? Do you think she's going to want to marry you because you're punctual?"

Sheldon stared at him as his mind worked furiously. Shockingly, Howard made a good point. "I have absolutely no idea," he murmured. After that, he got up, cutting his lunch hour short. He had never considered what Penny might find attractive in a potential mate. When he got back to his desk, he opened up his laptop, pulled up an incognito browser page, and typed in "what makes people fall in love". Then he began reading.

Penny was watching reruns of The Bachelor that afternoon when her phone chimed. She picked it up and saw she had a text from Sheldon: I've been thinking about you. Your hair is an aesthetically pleasing, polychromatic melange of shades of gold. She read it through slowly and had to look up the words "polychromatic" and "melange". Then she sat back and stared in complete confusion at the words on the screen.

"If I didn't know better, I'd think he was drunk," she muttered to herself. She also considered the possibility that someone had stolen his phone and sent her that text as a prank, but who else would use words like that? Finally, she replied: Thx I think?

A few minutes later, the response came back: You're welcome. Nothing more. After several minutes of staring at her phone, she turned back to her program with a frustrated sigh. She couldn't concentrate on her show when she had the weirdest feeling that Sheldon was trying to flirt with her.

All the rest of the afternoon, she kept wondering about the text. She'd worked herself up into a state of nervous confusion by the time their usual dinner hour arrived, and she was unusually indecisive about what she should wear. Finally, she crossed the hall and let herself into Sheldon's apartment, making sure not to be late. As the door swung open, she halted, gazing around the room in surprise. The lights were dimmed, and there were two white taper candles set up on the coffee table, which was covered with a dark tablecloth. She took all this in as Sheldon rose to greet her. In a few long strides, he reached her side. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her close. Penny gave a little squeak as his mouth descended on hers with a hungry intensity. She molded her body against his.

"I was going to ask what's gotten into you, but I'm not sure I care anymore," she said dreamily. "Can we do that again?" She almost laughed as he paused to give her question serious consideration before kissing her once more.

Over dinner, he asked her if she'd had any auditions lately, and then told her he thought she'd make a good anchor on one of those celebrity news shows. Not like those roles were ever open casting, but she appreciated his encouragement. It was weird, though, having Sheldon compliment her and act supportive of her career. She felt like she had lost her footing, and as she glanced over at him, she imagined him as her anchor, someone she could hold onto. Her face burned as she looked down at her food. A moment later, she found that he was watching her intently. He asked her a question, something about if she could have any superpower, what would it be and why? As she talked, he kept his eyes fixed on her face, making Penny feel flustered once again.

"You're acting really strange," she finally commented. "I mean, the candlelight, the complements, that kiss… Don't get me wrong, it was incredible, but why are you doing this?"

He frowned thoughtfully. "I need to ascertain your answer to another question first. Why do you think you agreed to marry me in Las Vegas?"

Penny choked a little on her food. "What? You know I was drunk. We both were."

He shook his head. "If alcohol lowers inhibitions, that means that you must have had some reason, even if you wouldn't have otherwise acted on it. Besides, you're sober now, and we're still together."

"Yeah, and I'm starting to regret both of those things," she quipped.

He flinched. "Is that really how you feel?"

She looked up and caught the flash of pain in his eyes. "No, babe. I'm sorry. I'm not used to... this." She waved a hand, indicating the two of them.

"I realized today that I have little chance of convincing you to remain married to me if I don't know why you said yes in the first place. Inebriation is not a sufficient explanation."

She looked away. "I don't remember."

"If you did, do you think it would help you make an informed decision about the future of our relationship?"

"That's what this is about, isn't it?" she asked, sitting up straighter as the realization hit her. "You've been trying to convince me that this - a marriage between us - could work."

"Are you convinced?"

She sighed and shook her head. "It's not that simple."

"I understand that certain types of therapies utilizing hypnosis can help a person retrieve latent memories and process them. Would you consider that an option?"

Penny opened her mouth, about to say no. Then she stopped. "What's going on? You don't believe psychology is a real science, so hypnotherapy has got to be even further down the list."

"True, but you place great store in such things. You wouldn't be convinced by empirical data, but perhaps your own memories can clarify your dilemma."

She gave him another baffled glance. "I don't know. I... I'll think about it."