"Move in with me."
Before Penny could answer, a phone rings. She silently says a little prayer as thanks for the distraction. She honest-to-God had no idea how to react. Sheldon took out his phone, stood, and walked away from the table to answer his phone.
"Oh no..." Penny muttered. Bernadette kicked her from under the table. "What's wrong, Penny?"
Penny's eyes widened. "Did Sheldon just ask me to move in with him?"
"Looks like it," Howard replied. "Sheldon's turning into a real boy..."
Bernadette glared at her husband. "Are you gonna say yes?" She asked Penny.
"I don't know!" Penny replied. "I never expected this to happen."
Raj looked at her sympathetically. "Look. I love him, but I'm scared." Penny continued.
"What are you scared of?" Raj asked. "You love him, he loves you..."
Penny sighed. "I'm afraid that one day everything's going to change and he's gonna freak out and run."
Sheldon returned to the table with a somber expression. "It's Meemaw," he muttered.
Penny immediately sensed that something was wrong, but she kept her silence and waited for him to continue. "She's in the hospital."
Sheldon and Penny arrived in apartment 4A. After apologizing to Bernadette, Raj and Howard, she and Sheldon raced home. "Jesus, Sheldon, calm down!"
Sheldon turned to face her. "You just don't get it, Penny. You don't get how important Meemaw is to me."
Penny bit her lip. She took out a bottle of water from the fridge. How did this night go from magical to screwed up?
"I need to go Texas." Sheldon announced, looking at her.
Penny nodded. "Yeah." She sat on the couch with her water, ignoring Sheldon's piercing stare.
"Aren't you coming with me?" Sheldon asked, annoyed.
She looked at the bottle in her hand and thought for a moment about chucking it at him. "I can't, sweetie."
"Why not?" Sheldon asked stubbornly. "Aren't girlfriends supposed to be supporting their boyfriends in these types of situations?"
"I have work," Penny replied. "I can't just not go to work, Sheldon."
Sheldon crossed his arms. "So you would rather stay for your work than go with me?"
Penny sighed and angrily stood to face him. "Look, Sheldon. I've wanted to be an actress since I was a kid, and now that I am an actress, I will do anything to keep my job. And if that means not going with you to visit a person I barely know, then so be it." As soon as she finished, she regretted even speaking. She rubbed her temples and sat back on the couch.
"It's just work, Penny!" He replied. "Work is just there. Meemaws don't last forever. Why are you so stubborn?"
Because I'm terrified? Because I don't want to do something that will cause me pain in the long run? "I'm not going, and that's final. I can't break a contract for a boyfriend."
"Contract," Sheldon replied. "Very well."
Penny covered her face with her hands. "Sheldon, I love you, but the world doesn't revolve around you, sweetie." She sniffed. "I have a contract that tells me I can't leave work without a personal reason. You and your Meemaw are not personal reasons."
Sheldon nodded meekly. "Six more months and the contract ends. When it does, I'd go with you to the ends of the earth if you want. But right now, you're just going to have to go to Meemaw alone."
"I was hoping to introduce you to Meemaw before she passes..." Sheldon replied, and Penny immediately wished she could just tear up the damned contract. But then she's going to get in trouble with her manager and agent, who will stop at nothing to make her life hell.
"She's not gonna die, alright?" She rose and wrapped her arms around him. "Six months, and I'll be unemployed again," she chuckled. "Can you wait for me, Sheldon?"
Sheldon nodded. "I'm going to miss you." Penny lifted her head and let him kiss her on the lips. "I'm going to miss you too." She rested her head on his chest for a moment. "Go book a flight so you could be with Meemaw."
Penny woke up the next day, and remembered that Sheldon left for Texas just a few hours before. She frowned at the clock, because she was late for a shooting. She frowned because she had no time for caffeine, and felt sorry for whoever had to deal with her. Namely: her manager for stopping her from rushing to Texas right now to comfort her boyfriend.
"I should be in Texas right now, you know? My boyfriend's grandmother's in the hospital, and I bitched at him because I can't go." She complained to her assistant.
Her assistant smiled sadly. "We can't have everything we want, Penny. But think of it as a relationship test: if he could wait for you, then you know that he loves you more than life itself."
AN: Hey! Yup, this chapter's not a happy one. But, like what was said earlier, this separation's kind of like a test for Penny and Sheldon's relationship. Long distance relationships are hard, so the question is: are they going to survive?
Sorry for the looooong hiatus! God, I am busy. Updates are highly appreciated: positive and otherwise :)
TBBT's not mine!