A/N: A Double Feature! A little longer than I'd like but couldn't break the flow.

To allay those fears you seem to be stoking. Two chapters means TWO reviews...lol

Enjoy.

Chapter 6

It had to be a rumor. It just had to be. It couldn't have been going on all this time and none of them, not even Leonard his best friend, had heard a rustle in the grape vine but now…

"Dude, what are you doing? I've just heard a rumor that you and Leslie Winkle have entered into the 'friends with benefits' zone. Winkle? Sheldon, I do believe this is some kind of psychological backlash to losing Penny."

"Rajesh Koothrappali, how astute of you to notice," Sheldon replied dryly, shooting daggers at his Indian friend. He was finally mastering the subtle art of the sarcastic. Facial expressions still left him perplexed at the most inconvenient times.

Sheldon ignored Raj for the next few minutes and then corrected a sign on his equation. The white boards in his office were filled with new equations based on his new viewpoint on String Theory. He realized that the whole 'monopole is the key' issue that he'd concentrated on was not intrinsically linked with his new view and he was making amazing progress.

"No, damn it, that's still not right." He reached over and changed one of the minimum limits and things seemed to blur for a second but then his 'vision' cleared.

"YES!" He capped his marker and set it on the chalk rail of the white board and then sat down behind his desk, gesturing for Raj to take a seat.

"I am simply establishing a series of non-relationship relationships that satisfy my base carnal desires. I have learned from my previous mistake. This way, by remaining totally without emotional attachment, I shall avoid having my heart torn from my chest and fed to the Harpies of Hollywood!"

His voice rose, as did he, until he was almost shouting. Realizing what he'd admitted, he sat back down in his chair, the elation of having proven another component of String Theory gone, replaced by the empty feeling he got when he stopped to think about Penny.

Ah! The truth comes out. He's punishing Penny for leaving him broken hearted but since she is in the Big Apple, he's toying with surrogates. I would weep for him but I've suppressed my Indian tendencies toward tears when dealing with the emotional betrayal of others.'

"So this thing with Winkle is actually 'friends with benefits', nothing more?"

"Yes. No. We'll never be friends. I have no intention of it being more than the occasional 'I'm bored with masturbating, let's call Sheldon' guy. You may insert any name you wish for Winkle and myself. It's an elegant solution really. A necessary release of pent up sexual tension and energy into a vessel that requires the same release. Both sides of the equation are in balance."

"Sheldon, loving someone is not an equation. It's emotional attachment, a completing of the soul, a – "

"Raj, Raj, Raj. You really must quit watching those movies on Lifetime. That's make-believe peddled to the gullible masses in exchange for advertising revenues."

Raj hated it when Sheldon adopted that paternalistic and superior tone and look. His television watching habits were not why he was here. Besides, he liked the movies on Lifetime. The romances were guides to others on how to work within the framework of a relationship and make it stronger.

Sheldon stared at his white board again, his mind on something other than physics.

"Raj, have you seen Dr. Franconi's new associate?" He wanted to test the validity of his supposition and the redheaded harridan offered the perfect opportunity. He needed intelligence before wasting a moment of his time.

"Yes, it is, indeed, Ramona Nowitzki, my friend. She has changed somewhat. I think you made quite an impression on her. She asked about you and whether or not you were still with – um – she asked about you."

"And?" Sometimes patience was a true virtue. If he waited long enough, Raj would spill the beans. He just stared at him.

"What?! She asked and I responded via notepad. She didn't seem at all put off by your change in relationship status."

Sheldon ran into Bernadette in the parking lot. She'd been admiring his car and he impulsively asked her if she'd like to take a drive some afternoon?

They'd dated every so often and Sheldon felt very comfortable around Bernie, perhaps because she'd been their friend or maybe just because she was sweet and had no personal agenda.

He cooked her dinner occasionally and she returned the favor. They were comfortable together and things never moved past the occasional make-out session on her couch. He was learning social cues and he could tell she wanted things to move forward.

He asked her to go on a tour of some vineyards and she agreed and was pleasantly surprised when he shyly explained that it was an overnight trip.

"Oh, wonderful. I'll make the reservations. We'll only need one room, honey."

London, UK
Three months later

"What do you mean, the show's closing? We had great reviews and – "

"The backers have filed for bankruptcy and the courts have frozen their assets. We won't even be paid for our last week of performances. I suggest, Miss Drummond, that you book passage back to the States before the hotel decides to bill you instead of our backers."

Her British agent had been blunt and to the point. She was out of a job and under the terms and conditions of her visa, she had 10 days to leave the country.

'And go where?' Penny thought bitterly. She was too proud and vain to scurry home to her folks for a while until something else turned up. Besides, it would be very difficult setting up auditions in New York from Omaha.

No. She needed to be back where the action was and that was in the Big Apple.

Disregarding the time, she scanned down the listing of contacts and called her old boyfriend in New York, Barney.

"'lo? Do you know what time it is?" She had awakened him and she knew he wasn't pleasant without his sleep.

"Hey, baby, the show's closing and I'm coming back – "

"Barney, who the hell calls at 4:30 in the morning? Is it an emergency? I'll make coffee…no kiss – morning breath…" Penny heard a girl's voice in the background.

"Barney, are you seeing someone? You knew I was coming back – "

"That's Claudia. You remember her, don't you? Tall brunette, blue eyes, played 'Tori' in – "

"I don't care what she did. What's she doing in our bed?" Her voice was cold and demanding.

"We're living together. You told me to move on because your star was rising and mine was just sitting around on its ass, remember? Well, I did and I doing an off-Broadway and the money and reviews are good. What do you want?"

"You – you prick! Never mind. I don't need a damned thing from you."

She ended the call and threw herself on her bed. Hot tears burned her cheeks like the bridges she'd burned along the way to stardom…all but one.

Cooper Residence

Pasadena, California
1:35am

"The woman still has no concept of time." Ramona was in the shower and he was in bed making notes on a paper they were presenting together in Vancouver in a week. It offered insights into a stunning new approach to dark matter and its possible creation.

"I asked you not to call again, Penny. Obviously you have no memory of that conversation nor have you gained an appreciation for differing time zones in the interim."

"Sheldon, I'm coming home." There, she said it. Home. To him.

"Home as in the United States? Home as in New York or Omaha? This isn't your home any longer, Penny, it's mine."

"No, no, Sheldon Cooper…it's ours. You made me sign the lease as co-lessee, remember? Su casa es mi casa, Moon Pie. And I'm coming home to Pasadena. I'll see you in a couple of days. Aren't you excited?"

There was a pause that grew uncomfortably long.

"Sheldon, are you still there, baby?"

"I'm waiting and praying to hear 'Bazinga, Sheldon!'"

"Nope, no Bazinga. I'll see ya soon, Moon Pie."

"Who in the world is calling at this hour, Dr. Cooper?"

Ramona was the occasional overnight 'guest' and she and Sheldon had established a 'not really friends with benefits' arrangement just as he had with Winkle but she was trying her damnedest to grow it into something more permanent. She always called him 'Dr. Cooper' except in moments of intimacy when she called him everything but 'doctor'.

"Sheldon, is there someone there with you?" 'Oh, God, it's like Barney all over again!'

"Yes. I have a guest and you're intruding on our limited time together so if there's nothing else…"

"Shel, baby, please tell me that it's Missy?"

"It's Missy, satisfied? Now, we're about to curl up and cuddle in the post-coital afterglow so if there's nothing else…" There was impatience in his voice and something else.

"MISSY? Sheldon Cooper, have you lost your mind?!"

"Bazinga!" He closed out the call and snapped his cell phone shut, pulling the covers aside and patting the area beside him.

"You'll catch cold, Ramona, and I would feel uncomfortable being intimate with one infected with rhinovirus. Be a lamb and slip in here. I have a few questions to go over with you regarding our paper."

He made a mental note to remind Bernie to bring a few changes of clothes over the next time she spent the night. It was ridiculous for her to have to run home to shower and change whenever she decided 'to sleepover' on a work night. It was always her decision. He never pressed her for anything more than her presence. He liked her.

She and Ramona were the only women who ever 'slept over'. Winkle had been told in his characteristically blunt manner that her services were no longer needed or wanted. After presenting the Vancouver paper, he would be through with Ramona, too. He found himself developing an emotional response to her in non-sexual situations and he wanted to nip any such feelings in the bud.

Penny's mind was still reeling from the thought of Sheldon and his sister doing – ewwwwww – when a stray thought popped into her mind. She was pacing back and forth in her hotel room, something she had picked up from Sheldon. He was right. It did 'aid in cogitation-related activities'.

'Okay, so it wasn't Missy…then who the hell is bumping tummies with my ex?'

She stopped dead in her tracks. Her ex. She'd never, in all the time since she'd left, referred to Sheldon as her 'ex' anything. She sat down on her bed and felt the pressure behind her eyes begin to build, heralding the tears that were soon to follow.

She was the ex-girlfriend now.

He'd gotten on with his life just as she had. She wasn't the jealous type and she realized that considering the circumstances she had no right to expect anything other than the thinly-veiled hostility in his voice.

But…

Deep down inside she was hurt that he wasn't pining away for her and jumping at the chance to be with her again even if it was only for a little while. She needed to get back to New York but there were interim opportunities in Los Angeles for an experienced stage actress with international credentials.