"Penny is that you?" Sheldon called from the bedroom.
"Yes honey it's me" She replied, putting her keys in the bowl and dropping her handbag at the side of the sofa.
"Go anywhere interesting?" He asked, walking over to give her a kiss on the cheek. It was becoming a habit for him to always give her a kiss on the cheek every time she came home.
"I went to see Leonard again" She announced.
"How is he? I hope he's recovering" Sheldon said genuinely. Sheldon still hadn't got the chance to visit Leonard and was rather annoyed, he wanted to see him and straighten things out.
"He's much better sweetie"
"Glad to hear it" Mary said from the kitchen "That poor boy, I've been prayin' for him" She said, stirring the soup in the pot.
"Your prayers must be working Mrs Cooper" Penny chirped, wrapping her arms around Sheldon.
"Penny darlin' how many times must I say this, it's mom"
"Sorry mom" Penny said smiling at the woman.
"Much better, now Shelly George is comin' over for dinner and he's been warned to be on his best behaviour and now I'm warnin you, none of your fighting"
"But what if he starts it?" Sheldon asked, his inner child coming out.
"I don't care who starts it I'll finish it now help your momma over here"
Sheldon smiled down at Penny and reluctantly let her go and began pouring the soup into the four bowls, making sure each bowl had exactly the same amount.
George didn't even bother to knock instead he just waltzed in, gave his mother a quick kiss on the cheek and gave Penny a bear hug.
"George I must ask you to not man handle Penny" Sheldon said, getting out the spoons.
"It ain't man handlin' Shelly it's called showin your future sister in law some brotherly love now keep your underware on" He laughed, releasing Penny. Sheldon glared at him but saw Penny laughing and his face softened as he watched her chat away with George.
"So Penny was telling me you guys are gettin' married down in Texas" Mary said to Sheldon.
"Yes we are, we had two meetings with a wedding planner and talked about the contents of her box but Penny decided she wanted to have it in Texas with family, she wanted something more simple than a big city wedding"
"So that box isn't what she wants anymore?"
"Apparently not but as long as she's happy I'm happy"
"Oh Shelly I can't wait, it better be a church weddin' though"
"You'll have to ask Penny about that" Sheldon said quickly, avoiding the conversation.
"Penny darlin', you havin' a church weddin'?"
"Sure are, my dad wouldn't have it any other way" Penny said, taking her cardigan off.
"I'll talk to my priest back home when I go back"
"Sounds great" Penny said, going back over to Sheldon to coil her arms around his slender waist.
"You alright with that sweetie?" She asked, looking up into his baby blues.
"If that is what you want then yes" He said softly, placing a kiss on the tip of her nose.
"Never thought I'd see the day Shelly would be gettin married never mind agreeing to a church wedding" George stated, baffled.
"You be quiet now George and get your soup"
"Yes momma" George mumbled, picking up his bowl.
"So darlin' got your dress picked out yet?" Mary asked, sitting down in the arm chair.
"I'm going dress shopping with all the girls tomorrow and I'd love you to come with us" Penny said, sitting down beside Sheldon in her spot.
"Be my pleasure darlin'" Mary beamed.
"I look forward to seeing your choice of dress when you return" Sheldon smiled.
"Shelly you know you're not allowed see the dress before the weddin' right?" George said, lifting the spoon to his mouth.
"Why not?" Sheldon replied, completely baffled as to why he can't see it.
"Bad luck sweet pea" Mary explained.
"Hokum, complete hokum, I don't see how my seeing her wedding dress before the wedding day is bad luck"
"It just is sweetie and I'm not taking any chances" Penny chirped, giving him a light kiss on the cheek. Sheldon let out a sigh and decided it wouldn't be best to continue this argument.
"Sheldon have you picked your groomsmen yet?" George asked.
"I have, I will have three in total, Rajesh, Howard and you" Sheldon stated.
"And your best man is?" George hinted.
"George my best man is you, now stop hinting and eat your soup"
"And have you picked your bridesmaids?" Mary asked Penny.
"Mmmhmmm, Missy of course, Bernadette and my friend Vivian"
"So what's this friend Vivian like?" George asked curiously.
"Well Missy's arriving tomorrow so we're all going out for lunch so you might see Viv, I think you'll like her" Penny added with a wink.
Vivian had elbow length, wavy, maroon hair with deep brown eyes,a golden tan and was around Penny's height. Penny and Vivian met at an acting class and hit it off immediately and met up regularly for coffee and shopping trips.
"Hey Shelly, you mind if I stay here for the rest of our visit?" George asked.
"What happened to staying with that friend of yours?" Sheldon asked skeptically.
"We had a little disagreement and she don't want me stayin round there no more"
"She?" Mary shrieked.
"You may stay here but the only place available is the couch" Sheldon replied.
"Thanks Shelly"
"George you and me have some talkin to do later"
"Yes momma" George mumbled.
"Mom, you ready?" Penny called from the kitchen. She didn't mind calling Mary mom, after all she was like a mother to the whole group, taking them all under her wing.
"Just a second darlin' just need to look for my purse"
"We'll be back in a few hours honey, Vivian's probably gonna come back with us to meet George" Penny said, giving him a chaste kiss on the lips but it ended up getting a little heated until Penny reluctantly pulled away.
"Sweetie your mom is in the next room" She whispered, catching her breath.
"Much to my disappointment right now, I assure you"
"I know, I know but c'mon can't be sinning while your mom is here" Penny winked.
"We ready to go?" Mary said, closing the bedroom door behind her.
"Mmmhmmm, see you later honey" Penny gave him a light kiss on the cheek and he wrapped his arms around her, giving her a gentle squeeze before letting go.
"Have fun" Sheldon said, giving his mother a kiss on the cheek and seeing them to the door.
"Excited about August?" Mary asked as they walked down the stairs.
"Yup only two months to go but we're heading down to Texas two weeks before the wedding and then my dad's coming down a week before"
"None of the rest of your folks coming down?" Mary asked, confused.
"No just dad" Penny said quietly.
"And why is that?"
"I don't talk to the rest of my family" Penny muttered.
"We can talk about this another time sugar" Mary said, realising it was a touchy subject.
"Thanks mom" Penny replied, softly smiling at the woman beside her.
"So any ideas of the kind of dress you want?"
"Not a clue" She laughed.
The five women were like giddy schoolgirls when they arrived at the dress shop. It was a quaint little corner shop but had a very good reputation. The inside was dusky pink and cream with various pictures of models in gowns adorning the walls and a stern looking woman sitting behind a counter.
"Hello ladies, which one of you is Penny?" The woman behind the counter asked.
"That would be me" Penny chirped.
"Ah yes, we spoke on the phone, Caroline, your eleven o'clock appointment is here" She called into the back room.
"Send them in" Replied a soft voice.
"Go on in" The woman said, gesturing towards the archway. The women shuffled along into the back room which had rails and rails of beautiful dresses, they had bridesmaids dresses, wedding dresses and suits.
"So shall we get started?" Caroline asked. She was a petite brunette with hazel eyes and had one of the kindest smiles.
"Yes we shall!" Vivian giggled.
"Right, now did you have any idea of what you might like?"
"No, I'm open to ideas"
"Good, we have a very good variety of dresses so I think you'll find what you're looking for, the rest of you can take a seat" She said, gesturing toward the large sofa in the middle of the room.
"Now you go on in there and I'll get some gowns and we can get a rough idea of what you might like"
The first dress was a ballerina length gown with ruffles and a large bow at the back.
"I feel like Little-Bo-Peep" Penny exclaimed as she stepped out of the dressing room.
"Uhm I don't think that's the one" Missy said, shaking her head.
"Next one then" Caroline laughed.
The second dress had a large Cinderella style skirt and organza sleeves with diamontes scattered along the skirt.
"It weighs a tonne" Penny chuckled as she waddled out of the changing room.
"You seem to look quite lost in all that skirt" Caroline said, ushering her back into the changing room. The girls were all sitting down and Missy and Viv were getting along like a house on fire. The lady at the front desk had served them all some champagne.
The next dress was a grecian style dress with loose elbow length sleeves, no one seemed to quite like this one so they moved onto the fourth one. It was one of those strapless mermaid style dresses with an embellished bodice and Penny had to walk like a penguin when she was wearing it so it was an immediate no.
"So any idea on roughly what you might want?" The woman asked as she unzipped the dress.
"I like strapless but I want something light and flowy, easy to walk around in, you know?"
"I'll see what I can do" With that the woman flew across the room and grabbed various dresses off one of the rails.
Penny peaked out the curtain as the woman held up the dresses for her approval and then she saw the one.
"That's it!" Penny squealed.
"Ah yes this one is..." She looked at the tag and continued"Style 6750 by Mori Lee"
"Oh darlin' that one is beautiful" Mary approved.
"It's gorgeous Pen" Viv agreed, smiling up at her friend.
"Well try it on!" Missy shrieked with excitement.
Penny stepped out of the dressing room with one of the biggest smiles and twirled around giggling.
"This is definitely the one" Penny announced, looking down at her chest, she was quite happy at how it looked, not too slutty but not too innocent either, just perfect for her wedding.
"Shelly's gonna love it" Mary smiled, looking up at the beaming blonde.
"You think?" Penny asked nervously.
"Think? Sweetheart I know" Missy reassured.
"It really is a wonderful dress Penny" Bernadette approved.
"So is this the one?" The woman asked with bright eyes.
"Definitely!" Penny shrieked.
"There's a veil to go with it but it's not necessary"
"I don't think I'll get a veil"
"Right then, lets get you out of that and I'll go get the bag for it"
Penny emerged from the dressing room, dress bag in hand and a big cheesy grin spread across her face.
"You guys head on out, I'm just gonna pay for this and we can go for coffee"
A/N: You guys can search the dress online, that's the actual name of it, really hope you guys like it! Just a reminder to certain people too, this is fanfiction, fiction being the key word in that sentence. Really hope you're all enjoying the story so far and thank you to all my faithful readers!