Chapter 24

"Come on Sheldon! We have to get going if we want to see most of the park!" Penny pulled on the dumbstruck Sheldon's hand, tugging him closer to the front gates. Sheldon regained his wits before they made it to the front. He stopped and pulled his hand out of Penny's, making Penny stop to look at him.

"Penny, I do not believe that this is practical use of my time. I should be back at home, trying to unravel the mysteries of the universe."

Penny smiled sadly at his poorly veiled attempt of saving face. Putting her hands on either side of his face, she forced him to look her directly in the eyes. His blue eyes were shining with despair, longing, and little bit of hope.

"Sheldon. This is exactly where you need to be." Putting her hand back in his, Penny smiled brightly and continued the trek up to the ticket booth.

After everyone had paid and made their way into the park, Penny got everyone together for a quick meeting.

"Now, I know that a couple of you are skeptical about this" she looked towards both Sheldon and Howard when she said this. "However, this isn't about us being too old for Disneyland. It is about how old do we want to act. On that note, I suggest we let our inner child out and go crazy in Disneyland!" Everyone cheered at this. "Besides, we don't have parents here to tell us not to do anything."

Everyone visibly relaxed after Penny's speech, but it was Leonard who got everyone moving with a shouted "First person to find Mickey Mouse doesn't have to buy lunch!" and then they were off.

After searching the park for about an hour, it was Sheldon who eventually found Mickey Mouse. The wide smile on his face was worth the dashing about like insane people. They ending up in Fantasyland, right next to the spinning teacups, and immediately got in line. Sheldon and Penny shared a cup, Leonard and Raj shared another, while Howard and Bernadette shared.

"Penny, I'm not sure if I am dexterous enough to spin this cup."

"Sheldon, don't worry. You pull on your side, I'll pull on mine, and we will spin. Remember," She leaned in and beckoned Sheldon closer so she could stage whisper to him "We're in Disneyland. Everything here is magical."

Sheldon frowned at her admission but before he could go off on the subject, the teacups started to move. With a delighted squeal, Penny started to pull the circle to make the teacup spin. Once Sheldon got the hang of the hand-over-hand motion that was needed to move the cup, a bright smile lit up his face. Penny's breath was momentarily snatched from her when she saw the uninhibited joy in his eyes coupled with the wide smile.

The teacups had everyone wobbling over to Tomorrowland, so the boys could laugh at the poorly done science. There was no laughing to be done on the Buzz Lightyear ride. Everyone was too busy trying to shoot their lasers at targets. Oddly enough, Bernadette had the highest score. It wasn't until they saw the photo taken during the ride why she had won. Everyone had a big laugh over the picture of Bernadette almost out of the cart, trying to shoot the obstacles real close. "No one said I couldn't" was her defense.

They were walking out of Tomorrowland when, out of nowhere, Sheldon yelled "Ears!" Everyone jumped at his sudden admission and looked at him puzzled. "We all need to get Mickey Mouse ears. When one is in Disneyland, it is proper tradition to purchase and wear a set of plastic mouse ears." He looked so earnest that they all made a beeline for the nearest store.

After much deliberation, the men purchased Mickey Mouse ears in red, while Penny and Bernadette got theirs' in pink. They all got their screen names for Age of Conan put on them. The woman doing the monogramming looked at them like they were crazy with names like "Sheldor", "Queen Penelope", and "Wolowizard."

Once the hats were purchased and put on top of their heads, Penny steered them all towards Adventureland. She knew the boys were going to a showing of "Indiana Jones" soon and thought they should go on the ride to get in the mood. She expected to be with Sheldon on the ride. What she didn't expect was how tightly Sheldon gripped her hand during the ride. His excuse was 'fear of shoddy craftsmanship' but could see that Sheldon was nervous about the rollercoaster.

"Penny" Sheldon got her attention while they were waiting for the rest of the group after the ride. They had to be put on different rides and Sheldon had pulled Penny up to be first with him.

"Yeah, Sheldon?" Penny looked up at Sheldon and immediately pulled out her camera. Putting up a finger for him to pause, Penny clicked the picture. Sheldon with lopsided Mickey Mouse ears was too cute to pass up. "Ok. What's up?"

"How did you know?" he murmured, almost too low for her to hear.

"Know what, sweetie?"

"That I always wanted to go to Disneyland. I never had time as a child to go but always dreamed that my mother would whisk me and my siblings away on an impromptu adventure here. So, how did you know?"

Penny scrambled for an answer but was saved with the arrival of everyone else. Flashing him a smile and shrug, she grabbed his hand again and the group was off.

The group spent the rest of the day riding rides, searching for characters, taking copious amounts of pictures, and acting like large children. Even Howard was not his usual creepy self, probably due to Bernadette being there. Raj was asked to apply for a job as Aladdin. Everyone was laughing so hard because he couldn't decide if he was flattered or insulted by the offer.

It was a very tired group of adults that ambled their way back to the parking lot. Penny was carrying a huge bear that Sheldon won for her ("Bears are terrifying, Penny. You may keep it." Was Sheldon's reasoning) in one hand and was clasping Sheldon's in the other. His delighted expression had not dwindled throughout the entire day. Even with exhaustion etched onto everyone's faces, Sheldon's still possessed a child like quality. 'He's probably going to fall asleep in the car' Penny mused to herself as Sheldon nattered on about something he found intriguing in the park.

Waving goodbye to Howard, Bernadette, and Raj, it was a an exhausted trio that poured themselves into Penny's car to go home. The car was filled with Sheldon's chatter about the day with few remarks from Penny or Leonard. Leonard had fallen asleep in the backseat and Penny's mind was a million miles away. 'Did this help or hinder the Johnny issue? Is Johnny still here? What if I made it worse by taking him here?' were the main thoughts that were racing through her head. Parking in front of the apartment complex, they started to make their way to the door.

"Penny?" Turning around at the sound of Sheldon, Penny noticed something was off about him. His shoulders were not as tight, and he had a goofy smile on his face. "Thank you Penny. Sheldon loved today. It was exactly what he needed."

"Johnny?" Penny tested to see if it was really him.

"Yep! I just wanted to say goodbye before I left. I won't really be gone, like you said, but you won't be seeing me again. I just wanted to thank you and Leonard for caring about me. Not just me as Sheldon but me as me. I hope you fix Sheldon. Michael is going to be really hard. You are going to have to bring up issues that Sheldon" Johnny grasped his head, he jerked his head down gasping in pain. Smiling shakily, he looked back up at Penny with watery eyes. "Apparently Michael doesn't want me to help. Best of luck of Penny" Stepping up, he hugged Penny and Leonard before going back to where Sheldon was originally standing. Waving goodbye one last time, Johnny closed his eyes for the last time.

Sheldon opened his eyes, looked at Penny and Leonard staring at him. "What? Are we going to go up sometime tonight or are we waiting for the sunrise." Snorting at his own joke, Sheldon strode past Penny and Leonard. Shrugging, Leonard followed him upstairs tossing a 'goodnight' over his shoulder. Hoisting her bag further up her shoulder, Penny climbed the stairs up to her apartment. After letting herself in, Penny flopped onto the couch and let out a huge sigh.

"Two down. Four more to go"

***Sorry for the late update, but tennis/school/graduation plans are time consuming. I'm trying to keep this story as fast paced as possible. Please review and let me know your thoughts. The more reviews I get, the more dedicated I am to write faster. Guilt is a powerful motivator oddly enough. As always dear readers, Much love!***