A/N Sorry for the little wait, but here's a slightly longer chapter for you! I wrote half of this in a hurry so I'm sorry if thee is any grammar errors. I tried to catch all I could.

Alright. Enjoy!

Chapter Three

The smell of coffee and bacon woke her up the next morning. God, she hadn't had bacon since...well since she almost burned her kitchen down three weeks ago. Sitting up in the couch, with her blanket now balled at her feet, she stretched and shuffled her way to the kitchen. Sheldon had his back to her, still in his pajamas (the green and black plaid ones) while he cooked at the stove.

He turned to look at her just as she sat in one of the stools. His face was neutral. "Good morning, Penny."

She wondered if he was mad at her for last night. "Good morning, Sheldon." She tried to sound cheery, but it was just too early for her.

"It is surprising to see you up before eleven a.m." He gave her a small smile over his shoulder and quickly turned back to his task.

Her heart began to beat a little faster when she saw his smile. It had been awhile since she had seen one from him and she quite liked the fact that she was the recipient of one now.

"I took the liberty of starting the coffee machine for you. I had no idea when you would awaken so I figured I should have it ready for you."

Did he just say the magic word coffee? He did. She just wanted to wrap her arms around him but she knew she would probably freak out. It was also too early for one of those too.

"Oh my God, Sheldon, thank you." Thank you." She practically ran to the counter to grab a mug and pour her some of the heavenly black liquid. He was such a freakin' lifesaver!

She inhaled the sweet aroma and turned around so her back was leaning against the counter top. She was only a few feet from Sheldon now. Taking a tentative sip and she looked over at her neighbor. "So how did you sleep, sweetie?"

"Even though I did not achieve my full eight hours of sleep, the fault being my own." He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "But I'm surprised to find myself feeling fully recharged this morning."

"That's great, honey." She smiled at him. "Now maybe you should start going to bed at a decent hour from now on."

"I will consider it, if I do not have any work that I have to attend to."

"Sheldon." She was ready for an argument.

"Penny," he interrupted her and offered her a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon. "Would you like some breakfast?"

Damn him for using food as a way to distract her, but she didn't know when was the last time she actually had a good breakfast. So, not one for passing up from free food, especially if Sheldon was giving it to her without one of his infamous lectures, she gladly took the plate from him and sat down.

"Thank you, sweetie." She grabbed a fork and dug in.

"You are welcome, Penny." He made himself a plate and sat down in the other stool, which was next to her.

They were so close his arm brushed against hers, yet he didn't move. She found this odd Sheldon-like behavior but she found his presence comforting.

"I originally was making breakfast for Leonard and I but, seeing as he isn't up yet I figured you would better utilize the leftovers."

She made sure she had no food in her mouth when she spoke. "Well, it's his lost because this is delicious." She gently nudged him. "Who knew you could cook, Moonpie."

He glared at her. "Penny, don't call me, Moonpie. Only MeeMaw can call me Moonpie."

She had heard that same speech probably a hundred times; she chose to ignore it and still called him Moonpie whenever she felt like it.

Finishing the last of her breakfast, she placed the plate and now empty mug in the sink, knowing that even if she did wash them Sheldon would just rewash them anyway.

"Well, I have to get going. I have an early shift to get ready for." She placed a gently hand in his arm, heart beating fast again when he didn't shrug it off. "Thank you for the breakfast, Sheldon."

He turned and looked at her. "You are welcome, Penny."

At that moment, Leonard shuffled into the kitchen, tying his robe around his waist. "Something smells good."

"Yeah, Sheldon made breakfast."

He then noticed Penny. "Oh, hey Penny." He smiled. "How did you sleep?"

"I slept fine." Remembering the conversation, they had last night she was still somewhat mad at him. "Oh, and sorry I kind of ate your breakfast. It was delicious!" She retreated to the door and gave one last smile, this one aimed more at Sheldon than Leonard. "See you guys later!" And she closed the door behind her.

~S-P~

Whoever thought it would be a good idea to have a breakfast shift at the Cheesecake Factory, especially on weekends, should jump off a cliff! It was only a short shift, fours or so, but there were so few customers. Most of them had been old retired people and since it was just only breakfast the tips she received were very small.

Seriously, there was no point in a breakfast shift. At all.

Before she grabbed her stuff to leave she stopped in the kitchen and asked the cook, a man named Mike, to make her a Barbeque Bacon Cheeseburger with everything on the side.

Shaking his head, he smiled at her request. "Damn, Penny, you're starting to sound like that crazy guy that comes here every Tuesday."

She wanted to call back. "He's not crazy his mother had him tested." Knowing that would be exactly what Sheldon would have said if he was there. But instead, she just laughed along with him and thanked him when he handed her the Styrofoam take-out container.

She climbed in the car, grumbled at her 'Check Engine' light, and rubbed the dashboard as if it was a dog. "Don't worry I'll get you checked out one of these days." Then finally, Sheldon would be off her back.

The drive to the university wasn't a long one and she had spent of the time jamming out to the catchy pop tunes on the radio.

Driving into the parking lot by the science building, she found, to her irritation, there was no open parking space. But then something caught her eye in the employee parking lot. Smiling to herself, she found that it was Sheldon's spot.

Hey, he wasn't going to be using it anytime soon.

She parked in his spot and walked into the building. She was surprised to see no one walking around. Glancing at her phone, she saw that it was probably lunchtime and everyone was probably in the cafeteria.

She had only been here once before and she sure as hell didn't remember where Sheldon's office was. She knew where the cafeteria was and she supposed she could go in there and see if Leonard knew where his office was. But she knew he would probably ask too many questions and tell her not to worry about Sheldon.

And the less she saw of Howard the better.

"Woxanne?"

She stopped in her tracks. She remembered the voice and the annoying man attached to it.

"Penny, actually." Turning to face him, she bared her teeth in a smile. "Could you show me where Sheldon's office is?"

"Coopew? Youw hewe for Coopew?" Kripke shook his head in disbelief. "Nevew thought I'd see the day."

"Hey, kind of in a hurry here!"

She actually wasn't, but Sheldon's food was cooling by the second and she didn't want to hear him complain if his food wasn't up to the right temperature.

"Fowwow me."

He led her down some corridors and found that if she had looked harder she would have found it in no time.

"Thank you." She said to Barry as a way of dismissing him.

He walked away, in shock, still not believing that 'Coopew' had a hot blonde visiting him at work. What was the world coming to?

Penny looked up at his door and read the inscription that was there, Dr. Sheldon Cooper. PhD. Deciding she would be funny and tease him a little but she started to knock.

*Knock knock knock*

"Sheldon!"

*Knock knock knock*

"Sheldon!"

He opened at the second round of knocks. He looked slightly irritated, but she saw a flash of amusement in his eyes.

"Penny, what-"

She held up a finger to stop him. "I haven't finished knocking, Sheldon."

He rolled his eyes and waited for her to finish.

*Knock knock knock*

"Sheldon!"

She gave him a smug look. "Now, I'm done." And she waltzed past him and entered his office without an invitation.

"Penny, what are you doing here?" He was still standing at the open door, unsure if he should shut it or just leave it open. "If you're looking for Leonard's office it's-"

"I don't want to go to Leonard's office." In fact, I don't really want to see his face at the moment.

Deciding that she was probably going to remain in his office, he shut the door. If he was being truthful with himself he found that he actually didn't mind that she had interrupted him at work. Now if it had been Leonard, or worse, Howard…

"I brought you lunch." She happily held up a bag with the Cheesecake Factory's logo on it.

"I'm not hungry." He said stoically.

Brushing past her, he reached for his marker and went back to work on his whiteboard. It didn't last long. His vision was soon full of blonde hair and angry, green eyes.

"Sit!"

This demand said with an aggressive point at his desk chair.

"Penny," his tone was an irritating one. "I am fully aware of the fact that you are a female- a very bossy one- you are not my mother, who is equally bossy; therefore I do not have to listen to you."

He tried to peer around her to get a better look at his whiteboard.

"Could you please move? I would very much like to get back to my work."

She didn't move. Of course, she didn't. If anything, she set her feet down more firmly in front of him.

"Nope." She said, popping the 'p'.

He glared at her and she just glared right back.

"Leonard told me you haven't eaten with the guys in awhile." She pinched his side. He yelped. "You can't afford to skip meals, Moonpie."

"Don't call me Moonpie, only Meemaw can call me that."

"Oh, yeah? Well, how would your Meemaw feel if she found out her little nummy nummy wasn't eating right?"

He narrowed his eyes. "You wouldn't."

Taking out her phone, she waved it in front of him. "I would." She smirked. "I have your mom's number on speed dial. I'm sure she wouldn't mind giving me Meemaw's number."

He continued to glare at her.

She made a show of hitting a button and holding the phone to her ear.

"It's ringing!"

It really wasn't. She just wanted to scare him and by the looks of it, it was working. With a defeated sigh, he sat down in his chair.

He didn't like being bested.

Once again, the smug look was back on her face. She slipped her phone back in her purse and slid the bag towards him.

He eyed it suspiciously.

"I didn't know if you had a routine thing for lunch so I brought you something I knew you liked."

He had already taken out the Styrofoam container to reveal his cheeseburger with everything on the side. Just as he liked it.

"Penny, I'm afraid that it is not up to a suitable temperature; therefore I cannot eat it."

"Oh no. Don't even start, mister." She laid her hands flat on his desk and leaned into his personal space. He leaned away, eyes wide.

"It would have been perfect temperature if we hadn't had that little tète a tète earlier." She walked over to the only other chair in his office. "It also didn't help when Kripke just stood there and stared at me when I asked where your office was-"

"Excuse me?" He interrupted her. "Did you say Kripke?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I did, Mr. Vulcan-hearing."

He groaned and almost dropped the burger he had reluctantly taken a bite out of.

"What's wrong, Sheldon?" She was kind of worried now. Did the cheeseburger get him sick? Code Milky Green?

Before he could answer, someone knocked on his door.

Dear Lord, was he going to get anything done today?

Sighing he rose up from his seat and answered the door. He opened it just enough so only his lanky body could fit.

"Hey, buddy." The voice was unmistakably Leonard's. "We, uh, we missed you at lunch today."

"Leonard," he said in his straightforward way. "I have not eaten lunch in the cafeteria for the past ten days and this is the first time you have decided to 'check up' on me."

"We didn't want to bother you. You've been working a lot lately, and-"

"So, where is she?" This was Howard. "Come on, Kripke said you had a total babe visit you in your office."

So that was why they were all here. They had caught word of a woman who was visiting Sheldon, just as they had with Missy. They hadn't really cared about Sheldon's absence; they were most likely enjoying it.

A year ago, she would have never thought Leonard was this way. If there were a woman involved, especially a hot one, he would always pick her over his best friend. She used to think he was too nice to do that, but she had seen it first hand more than once.

Poor Sheldon. These were the only people he had found a kinship with and they had not once looked in on him or offered him their company. Well, he had her.

She continued listening to the conversation at the door.

"I do not know what you are talking about, Wolowitz. Now, if you would excuse me I would like to get back to my work." He moved to shut the door, but Howard stopped him.

He surprising had some strength in those scrawny arms.

"Come on, we know you're lying. Just let me see her, we can share if you want.' He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Having enough Penny stood up, rolled her eyes and pushed Sheldon over so she could stand in the doorway, too.

"P-Penny." Leonard's jaw dropped. "What are you doing here? Did Sheldon call you to bring him something?"

"No." She was irritated. It was true Sheldon did ask a lot of things from her, but there was more to their friendship. It made her mad when Leonard always assumed the worst from his roommate.

"I just brought him some lunch, since apparently he hasn't been eating any for awhile. You all should now that, right? Since you are his friends and everything."

She glared at each of them and was satisfied to see that they all looked ashamed. Well, everyone, except Howard. He seemed unfazed by her glare; his eyes hadn't left her.

Instead, he sidled up to her and gave her one of his creepy grins.

"How about you let Sheldon eat his lunch and I'll show you around the University." Once again, his eyebrows waggled.

"That sounds like a great idea, Howard!" She said brightly.

He looked hopeful. "Really?"

"Howard," said Sheldon. "Even though you only have a Masters degree your inferior mind show know that was sarcasm." He looked at penny for confirmation. 'Right, Penny?"

She smiled. "Very good, sweetie."

"I'm three for thirteen this month."

"Hmm, I think we should get back to work." Leonard spoke up when the silence began to get awkward. "See you guys later."

They all retreated down the hallway.

Penny smirked at their retreating backs and stepped back into the office so Sheldon could finally shut the door.

With a heavy sigh, he sat back down in his chair. "Sometimes I wish they could act like they can control their libidos." He looked forlornly at his cheeseburger. "Now because of their pointless visit I can no longer enjoy my Barbeque Bacon Cheeseburger."

"Honey, I'm sure it's fine.' She took her own seat and resisted the urge to put her tired feet on his desk.

It had been a long morning and she didn't want to hear Sheldon lecture about how many germs there were on a human foot.

"Penny, it's cool to the touch!" He whined.

She wanted him to eat, but was definitely not willing to back to her job to get him another cheeseburger.

"Does the cafeteria have a microwave? I could go and warm it up for you."

"Yes, it does, but the germs and other bacteria that must be growing in it." He shuddered at the thought.

With a tired sigh, she held out her hand. "Give me some paper towels and disinfectant. I'll clean it out before I put your food in."

He instantly brightened and started looking through his drawers.

Sometimes it was hard being friends with a Whackadoodle.

A/N I know it's kind of slow going right now, but the next chapter should speed things along a little bit. And while you are waiting for the next update you should check out my other stories. ;)