Chapter 30

Knock, Knock, Knock "Penny?" Sheldon called out.

Penny jerked awake from her research induced coma. 'Crap. I fell asleep.'

Knock, Knock, Knock. "Penny?" Sheldon's voice inquired a bit louder this time.

'Ugh. Too early.' Penny crawled out of her self-made couch cocoon and shuffled to the door. Putting her hand on the door handle, she waited for….

Knock, Knock, Knock. "Penny?" Sheldon's voice drifted thru her door.

'There it is' she mused to her herself. Opening her door, she flashed Sheldon her biggest 'You better have a good reason for waking me up' fake smile. Sheldon took a step back.

"Yes. What can I do for you Sheldon?"

"Good Morning, Penny. I am here to return your spare key to our apartment. Leonard said that he borrowed it from you yesterday after misplacing his. How he can be so cavalier about the fact that he has lost the key to our home, I will not know. Now I have to change the locks to the apartment in case an intruder decides…" Sheldon kept going but Penny started glazing over with the constant onslaught of ….well, of Sheldon.

'I need coffee to even think of processing his crazy right now.' Penny beckoned Sheldon inside and went to make a pot of coffee while Sheldon continued to prattle on. Penny continued nodding as Sheldon went on his 'history of keys' spiel. The smell of coffee started to wake Penny up as she puttered about her kitchen looking for the tea that she kept for Sheldon whenever he came over.

"And that is why the key was so popular. Now, Penny I was wondering if you would mind doing me a favor?"

Penny was taking a big gulp out of her coffee and nodding to herself at the pure delight of a perfectly brewed cup of coffee.

"Perfect. I am going to need you to drive me to work and on a few errands. I will give you 20 minutes to pull yourself together and we can leave. Thank you, Penny." Sheldon made a swift exit so that Penny didn't have a chance to protest. Starring at the closed door, all Penny could think was 'Frack.'

'How the hell did I get stuck doing this?' Penny bemoaned to herself as she sat at a tiny table in the Pasadena Pottery Barn Kids. Sheldon was debating the merit between the Star Wars and Batman sheet sets to himself. He had already made the sales girl burst into frustrated tears over all the questions he was asking her. Everything from the thread count to which sheet set would protect a person from scary dreams. Penny had given up trying to intervene after the shoe store incident where he snuck into the back to make his selection without having to deal with other customers. 'I look away at some cute boots for just a second and he sneaks away' she mused to herself.

'Ugh. I'm so tired from staying up all night researching Fabio's trigger person. How crazy is it that he is going to be in California next week. Five hours away and on one of the busiest nights of the week for the Cheesecake factory but still in California. What good is going to do for me anyway? It's not like I can stalk him at the conference, with Sheldon in tow, and have an intervention. "Please, sir. Talk to my friend about how you completely scarred him as a child and literally broke his mind into pieces. Thanks" That's just crazy. And not even whackadoodle crazy. Committed to a hospital kind of crazy. Ugh! This is so hard!"

Penny got up from the tiny table to stretch and peruse the kids' toys. 'Maybe I could find something from my nephews' she thought as she pulled out a super soft teddy bear. She was looking at the price of the bear before she realized it.

'Why is it so quiet in here? Where is the muttering of a crazy person?' Penny spun around to find that Sheldon was gone.

"Fuck!" Penny yelled. All the mothers in the stores gave her the dirtiest looks as they covered their children's ears. "Sorry. My bad" Penny yelled over her shoulder as she sprinted out the store.

'Where could he have gone? That whackadoodle can't get home by himself!' Penny kept running through the mall, head whipping back and forth trying to catch a glimpse of Sheldon's lanky form. 'Please don't let an alter be in charge. I'll never be able to find him again if Fabio has his claws in him. Who knows what kind of awful things he could do with Sheldon's ….'

Penny's mental rant ground to a halt as noticed Sheldon walking out of a novelty store. Penny darted over to him and grabbed his arm.

"What the hell, Sheldon? Why did you run off?" Penny snapped at his befuddled face.

"I didn't. I told you that I was going here. You nodded and mumbled something about 'whatever you like best, Moonpie.' I'm sorry that I worried you but I don't understand why you were so frantic. I have my cell phone. You could have just called me." Sheldon looked so adorably confused and aggravatingly condescending at the same time. Penny wanted to hug him and smack him at the same time.

" Why did you even come to this shop? They don't sell nerdy things that you'd even like."

"For this." Sheldon handed Penny the shopping bag she just noticed. "I wanted to get you this as a thank you present. It is the social convention when someone does something nice for you correct?"

Penny opened the bag and pulled out a bear. Not just any bear. The last Care Bear she needed to finish her collection. The Care Bear that had been eluding her for years before she had given up on it. The same bear her grandmother gave her before she died. The same bear that her brother gave to the family dog to tear up.

"How did you know?" Penny felt tears start to well up in her eyes.

"I noticed that you were missing this particular Care Bear. While I find them to be a silly things to collect, I can understand wanting to finish what you started. Finish something thru to the end. Penny. Are you crying?"

The combination of exhaustion and emotion made Penny start to cry. Without asking, she just leaned into Sheldon. Sheldon tensed before slowly putting his arms awkwardly around her shoulders. Patting her on the shoulders, he told her it was going to be ok.

"Yeah. It is" Penny mumbled into his Superman tee.

"Penny, why are you dragging me out at this early hour? I understand that as a friend I am obligated to undertake one adventure a month with you but why a road trip? Why this early?"Sheldon was pulling himself into Penny's car. He looked like a child being forced to get up for school.

"It's an adventure, Sheldon. Besides, you are going to really love where I am going to take you."Penny revved up her engine and her courage. Pulling out of their parking lot and heading towards that highway, Penny starts to smile. "You'll love it. We're going to a science conference."

***Intervention in the next chapter. Yay for Chapter 30! I'm super happy with how this story is ending up. Kind of excited to have the Fabio arc have more of a substantial feel to it. Hopefully you are not bored with my story yet. I'm geared with the entire ending already planned out. I just have to write it out and update. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please let me know what you think! Much Love!***