"Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them."

-Albert Einstein

"Mommy?"

Sheldon watched as his mother approached him and sat down next to his spot. "Why didn't you tell me about what happened to you? I was worried sick on that plane on my way here after one of your friends called."

He had to explain to her his situation, including his memory loss, and how he was recovering. As Sheldon talked to his mother, who flew all the way from Galveston, Sheldon suspected it was Leonard who had informed her about his condition. Back at the hospital, he wondered why none of his family came or contacted him. He thought he wasn't close with any of his relatives or he was the only one remaining in the Cooper family. It wasn't until two days ago when the memory of Sheldon being hospitalized due to a bad case of the flu a few years back came to him.

His mother and sister had scheduled a flight to California on December 2006. Though he was scrupulous about his hygiene, he managed to catch the flu from either one of them. When his temperature skyrocketed and he needed to be admitted into a hospital, Sheldon insisted that he stayed at home and wait for imminent death rather that sleep in an infirmary. He even tried to deceive them by placing his thermometer inside the freezer, and ultimately failed.

The hospital wasn't the worst part. Sheldon's family practically smothered him. His mother would often pray out loud in the middle of the room as he tried to sleep. His sister constantly touched the food on his plate as she assisted with feeding him, and as a result, he dropped a couple of pounds during his five-day stay.

After their visit, he ordered Leonard and the others to never contact his family when he falls ill, not wanting the constant attention from them. Sheldon insisted his family so many times that he was old enough to take care of himself, but believed that he wasn't capable of doing so. He threatened his friends with banishment from the apartment for a week if they did call them.

Now here he was with his mother, who was deeply upset about how she was never informed about what had happened to her son. "I've always told you to be careful out here, Shelly. California is full of muggers and rapists, and I mentioned that to you before you decided to pack up and move on out of Texas."

"Mother, I am aware about the dangers in the cities. It happened late at night and I was alone. I can assure you that I will not be doing that again." Sheldon said, placing his hands on his lap as his mother eyed him intensely.

"You are avoiding the question here, Shelly. Why did no one tell me? I had to hear it from that roommate of yours."

So, it was Leonard, Sheldon thought. "I'm sorry, mom. Things happened and I did not have the time to call you."

His mother's voice softened. "What things?"

Sheldon looked around the room in search of Leonard, and Mary knew what he was doing. "It's okay, son. He went out for a bit and he'll be home in an hour or so."

He sighed. "I was recently told about the treacherous acts that Leonard, Howard, and Rajesh committed since I met them."

"Oh, Shelly. I know some of the things they did. You ran home to Texas after they tampered with your experiment. It was an hour's worth of praying to God and for you, a good talking from Meemaw to convince you to go back to California."

"Yeah. But they did more things."

Mary knew that the bullies were never going to stop coming after him, and was disappointed to know that the biggest bullies of them all were the ones he trusted. She put a hand behind Sheldon's back and patted it gently. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Sheldon shook his head. "It's too much."

"Sweetheart, your Meemaw shares some of the things you write to her. She mostly tells me about how upset you are because some of the things they did to you. At first, I wanted to come here and set them straight. We Coopers don't mess around with chumps like them. Then I realized, you are a grown man. For Pete's sake, you're turning 34 soon! My baby's growing older by the second. Anyways, I thought you can handle it on your own. Why you let them stick around and act the same way bothers me as much as it bothers you."

His mother cupped his face and moved it to meet his eyes, which were watery and tears were about to fall. "Sheldon, it always upset me when you came home crying because of the neighbor kids. When you left home to go to Germany to be a visiting professor, I thought that it would end from there. But it didn't. When you told me about your friends here, it was like you were finally happy with people being in your life. Then you write the crap they do to you, and it was déjà vu. In life, Shelly, we meet people who don't seem to be who they actually are. Some people think that the truth can be hidden with a little cover-up and decoration. But as time goes by, what is true is revealed, and what is fake fades away." Mary ended with a soothing tone.

Sheldon gave her a slight nod, brushing the tears away. "I don't want to feel betrayed again."

"Then don't." Mary simply said before giving her son a smile. "Why don't you fix yourself up and I'll cook you a late dinner."

"Spaghetti with little pieces of hot dog cut up in it?" Sheldon asked with an innocent face, making Mary remember the tender moments of a younger Sheldon.

"Of course. I know how to make my baby feel better again."

Penny stumbled into her apartment, kicking her shoes off her feet and headed to the bathroom.

She stripped off her clothes and prepared herself a nice hot bath. Overall, the day had been perfect. Her first day of filming was a success and she wished for Monday to come sooner. The perfect end to the day was spending it with Sheldon.

He was a fun person to be around and she loved hanging out with him. Penny never knew that she would have some similarities with a theoretical physicist. They both enjoyed paint ball and video games. No one else knew this, but Penny was a huge fan of the Harry Potter series. In addition, she was a whovian, much to Sheldon's surprise.

Penny had DVDS of the last several seasons of Dr. Who somewhere in her entertainment center and loves watching an episode or two as she eats her meal. Lately, she hasn't been doing so since Tyler wasn't much of a whovian or a fan of any of her other favorite shows. During his absence, she was able to catch up with the previous season she had missed.

After her bath, Penny dried herself off with a towel and then changed into a tank top and shorts. It was nine o'clock and she wanted to run over her lines for the next day of taping. An hour later, Penny slept soundly in bed, dreaming of an extravagant life as a famous celebrity being invited to parties and winning awards.

Unfortunately, her sleep was cut short when a sound coming from outside her bedroom awoken her. She stayed lying on the bed as she watched the light in the living room turn on and the sound of heavy footsteps were heard with each creak of the floorboards. Penny reached down under her bed and was able to get a hand of her aluminum baseball bat.

Walking cautiously to the bedroom door and with the bat ready to swing, Penny took a peek from behind the door. She saw someone rummaging into their refrigerator and gripped the bat tightly when the figure stopped as if he had heard someone.

She released the long breath she was holding when the person moved and Penny recognized who it was inside her apartment.

Penny dropped her bat down on the floor and entered the living room. "Tyler?"

Tyler turned around with a mouthful of food as he placed the sandwich he was eating back on the plate. "Penn. I'm sorry I woke you up."

"Why didn't you call to tell me you're on your way home?" Penny asked.

Tyler sighed, and motioned Penny to sit down on the couch. She nodded and sat in the middle of the couch, with Tyler sitting beside her. "It happened too fast. I was at home helping my niece with her homework when Lisa called me from the hospital."

Her eyes followed Tyler's hands as he reached for hers to hold. "My dad died yesterday."

Penny's heart broke, and was unable to speak.

"You don't have to say anything, but I have to. Penny, you know how much I am committed to my family. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't be the man with you right now. Pops asked me to run the company for him before he passed away. I couldn't say no. Not only was it something I strived for years now, it's also something to make my family proud."

Penny opened her mouth, but was interrupted when Tyler spoke again. "The thing is, I would have to be in Nebraska."

"C-Can't you run the company from one of the offices here?"

He shook his head no. "The office back in Nebraska is like the control tower. I have to be there and not here in order to make it work."

"Wow. I-I," she stammered.

"Which brings me to our next topic. Us."

Penny stood up and crossed her arms. "What do you want to talk about?"

Tyler cleared his throat. "Answer honestly. Do you see us together in the future? Married and have kids of our own?"

This was the talk she had been dreading for. She wasn't sure how he was going to take it. At this point, she was sure that one of them would walk out of the apartment single. Penny's thoughts that she had made about her relationship with Tyler was laid out for her in her head. She could come clean about how she felt, or lie and spend the rest of her life probably unhappy.

"No," Penny whispered, barely audible but he was able to pick it up.

"Why didn't you say things sooner?"

Penny sat back down and held his arm. "Because of all the things you have done. You dropped everything back in Nebraska to move here with me. You bought me a freaking car. There are more things to that, but those two were the biggest ones. I am grateful for what you have done, but I wondered if you are the right one for me. You can buy me all these things but it doesn't change how I really feel." She scanned his face for an expression, but it was blank.

"Tyler, you're a great guy. You make me happy, but recently we drifted apart because of your work. I'm not going to accuse your work but I am going to say it has something to do with it. What we had when we were younger, it's gone. I don't feel it anymore. The sex might be great but it's not the fiery passionate one we used to have years ago."

"I never knew that you would feel this way."

"I'm sorry."

Tyler looked up to her. "But you're right. We had drifted apart. We rarely see each other. Maybe this is our stopping point. We had one hell of a roller coaster ride and now we reached the end to it. Listen, I'm upset that you never told me any of this. I love you, and I know you don't. I'm not mad at that, too. It's good that you told me now instead of having to feel something that isn't really there."

"So this is it, huh?"

"Ten years of laughter, fighting, and memories."

"We're better off as friends."

Tyler nodded. "It's the best idea for the two of us."

"What do I do with the car?"

Tyler smiled. "Keep it."

"The apartment?"

"I'll pay the rent for the rest of the month until you have enough money to pay it for your own or find a cheaper place. If you don't, I'll be okay with paying it for-"

Penny interrupted him. "No. I want to do this by my own."

"You are always an independent woman. Okay, we'll stay in touch, that's the only thing I want. Yes, we are breaking up but I'm not throwing away a friendship with you."

"I was about to say that, too." Penny chuckled and wrapped her arms around Tyler. "I'm going to miss you, though. Pasadena won't be the same. Omaha's getting one of its little cornhuskers back."

Tyler kissed her forehead. "It surely will."

They stayed holding each other for a minute, before proceeding with discussions about Tyler's move. He was planning on only taking his clothes and leaving Penny with all the furniture. His flight out to California was tomorrow morning, and they shared their last night together in bed.

Penny was surprised. There were no tears shed, except for the bittersweet ones that poured out as they said goodbye. She would miss his witty and encouraging self. They had to move on, and this was it. He was following his dreams and she was following hers.

She wondered what if things were different. She imagined what if Tyler's father hadn't gotten sick and died. How would she have confronted Tyler with her feelings?

One more wave goodbye from the car, Penny smiled at the man who made her realize who she really was and taught her things she never knew. Most break ups for Penny were harsh and involved screaming and shouting. This one was mutual and out of respect. They weren't mad at each other, and both were content with it.

Instead of being heartbroken, Penny was uplifted. She's only been in California for two weeks, and more things were bound to happen in the golden state.

And Penny was sure as hell about it.

A/N:

Penny's single. Sheldon's single.

But they both seem to have no romantic interests yet, or do they?

*Mary's quote, Some people think that the truth can be hidden with a little cover-up and decoration. But as time goes by, what is true is revealed, and what is fake fades away, is by Ismail Haniyeh*

I'll most likely update on Saturday :)