Sheldon was almost five when the world changed forever. Not just his world, but the world as a whole.
"Dear lord…" Mary Cooper said, horrified at the information being shown in the news.
Sheldon sat on his Pop-pop's lap, they were on the old recliner chair that his Pop-pop loved and didn't allow anyone else to use, well, almost no else could use it. Sheldon was allowed to sit in his Pop-pop's spot.
"Pop-pop, what does that mean?" Sheldon asked innocently while pointing at the TV.
His Pop-pop didn't reply, busy staring at the breaking news on TV. 'Fairy tales are real!' The banner proudly stated.
And the world changed.
While in similar but wholly different worlds this announcement led to wars, bloodshed and genocide, in this particular world cooler heads prevailed and a previously hidden world now could walk freely under the sun.
Except for the vampires of course.
Sheldon Cooper grew up in this world and surprisingly his life did not change much, he was still forced to go to church by his mother, his Pop-pop still set him on the road of science, his Meemaw still ran an illegal casino, George Jr still met Mandy and had Ceecee, Sheldon still visited Germany and eventually ended up at Caltech.
Life continued to move on in the same way it had for many different versions of Sheldon across the multiverse.
With one exception. Lamia, Vampires, Werewolves, Dullahans, Goblins, Succubus, Oneiros, Somnia, Kappa, Kitsune, Banshees, Centaurs, Unicorns and more joined the everyday world.
Prejudice still existed of course, but as the two worlds got closer and adapted to each other, it became clear that coexistence was possible.
Centaurs thrived as cattle ranchers, others found success in the newly founded racing circles. Vampires became the workforce of the dark, police officers, hospital workers, bakers and any work and profession needed to keep a city running 24/7. Goblins and Orcs were happy to join existing construction companies and eventually create their own. Elves preferred to remain hidden for the most part and only a couple of them made their way into the world of man as poets, writers, painters, etc.
Of course, this was an overgeneralization as Goblin Death Metal became a popular genre of music and Yolmar the Orc was a popular newscaster loved for his smooth voice and passionate delivery.
Other fairy-folk were able to find their own way in the human world. Like the Oneiros and the Somnia, whose expertise with dreams and nightmares were able to offer those previously haunted by their own dreams a way to find peace during sleep.
And it's in one of these families that Penny was born.
In other worlds she's the child of corn farmers, but in this one she's the child of dream farmers. She grew up in a world in the first steps on integration and as such was able to make friends with both humans and fairy-folk, too young to notice the prejudice and hate, she was able to have a relatively normal childhood in Nebraska.
Penny didn't just want her fairy abilities to define her, just because she descended from Somnus didn't mean she had to spend her whole life in Nebraska as a dream farmer.
Like many versions of her across the multiverse, Penny decided to run away to California in order to chase her own dream of becoming an actress.
And it's in this new and weird world that Sheldon and Penny will meet once again as countless other versions have in the past and will do so again in the future.
"New neighbor?"
"Evidently."
And the wheel turns once more.
Penny brushed her hair and tried to keep the apprehension at bay.
She had left Kurt in a hurry and hadn't been able to take everything with her. Her TV and her warding array were the most important things on that list.
The TV she could do without, but the warding array was a must. As much as she tried to step away from her dream abilities, the reality of it was that they came naturally to her, it was like breathing, something she did simply by existing.
And now here she was, in a new building with people surrounding her from all sides. She knew that the moment she closed her eyes in bed it would be the moment that all of the dreams around her would materialize like bonfires in the dark.
Her new neighbors seemed like nice people…but she knew better. Dreams always brought their innermost desires to the front and she was forced to experience them just by existing in the same building.
She stopped brushing her hair and looked at the bottle of vodka sitting on her coffee table. It could help…
But no, she had just broken up with Kurt and alcohol was a bad idea in her current state.
Sighing, she put her brush away and went to bed, better to get it out of the way. Pulling the covers back she stopped and went to make sure her door was properly locked and deadbolted. She knew how easy dreamwalking became sleepwalking and wanted to avoid wandering the building in only her cami and sleeping shorts.
Penny loved her glittering hair, a proud statement that she was a child of Somnus, but it and her pupiless green eyes had also attracted the wrong type of attention more than once.
Stopping once more before getting into bed, she returned and put a chair against the door. Better to be safe.
Finally feeling safe enough, she went to bed, made herself comfy and closed her eyes. Like an explosion, stars were birthed right behind her eyelids and her dream-form took shape, suddenly she was aware of both the Penny sleeping and the Penny standing among the countless stars.
Penny looked around at the stars that shone against the darkness. Each one a dream calling to her.
Almost against her will, her dream self started walking towards the closest stars. One was a regular dream and the other was a star so bright that it hurt to watch directly.
A brush of her fingers and the regular dream revealed itself to her and almost immediately she closed it again. Her hand shook against the dream and she struggled to control herself.
This was Leonard's dream, and he was dreaming about her.
It made her sick, it brought back memories of learning to control her dream abilities, of how boys saw her only as an object.
She wanted to rip out Leonard's dream open and turn it into a nightmare but she managed to stop herself. She was the one peeking into dreams, as sick as it made her feel, she's the one that shouldn't be looking at this.
Still, Penny made a note to get back her warding array ASAP.
With a steadying breath she let go of Leonard's dream and moved towards the supernova that could only be Sheldon's.
She knew it was impossible but she could swear that it was radiating heat. Her hand went up to peek and it's only for a moment but there's warmth against her hand.
Sheldon is dreaming of winning the Nobel Prize.
Everything shines with a golden light, confidence or arrogance, she can't tell. But what she can tell is that this is a good dream to bunker in.
The dream welcomes her in easily and eagerly.
Penny walks as Sheldon dreams, she doesn't want to peek in too much, she just makes sure to chase away the shadows he can't see. Penny makes sure that this dream stays on course and that the darkness of nightmares doesn't corrupt it.
It takes her but a moment, however she doesn't want to leave. There's comfort here, so she sits just outside of Sheldon's consciousness and listens to him giving an acceptance speech.
Before she knows it, her flesh and blood body is waking up.
She feels a strange sadness leaving Sheldon's dream. She thanks him in her head and moves to leave the dream that became her refuge for the night.
Penny kisses her fingers and presses them against the wall of the dream. A small gesture of good luck that her mother taught her.
Penny wakes up and stretches. She feels fully rested, nothing like spending the night in a beautiful dream to recharge her batteries.
Now it was time for coffee.
Sheldon woke up at his usual time feeling more rested than usual.
Even more strange, he could recall his dream perfectly. But none of the usual doubt crept in, no questions of whether he was good enough or not. Just a wonderful dream of him winning the Nobel Prize.
He had heard rumors that living close to a Somnia would make your sleep better, he had dismissed these rumors as hogwash but perhaps he needed to reevaluate his stance.
For some silly reason Penny had allowed Sheldon and Leonard to try and recover her stuff back from Kurt.
It didn't go well.
But at least it gave her the motivation to finally get off her ass and go herself, she threatened Kurt and he begged for another chance but she refused time and time again. The half-Orc never used force which is what she had been afraid of, those last 6 months of the relationship had been rough.
She even managed to get back the pants that the boys lost on their first visit.
Penny was able to set up the TV easily but the warding array took most of the afternoon and night and it still wasn't ready by midnight. She had an early shift and couldn't fiddle around for much longer trying to cover every square inch of her new home.
Once again she made sure to lock the door, bolt it and set a chair in front of it.
Sleep always came easy to her, she just had to close her eyes and an entire universe of bright dreams unfolded in front of her.
This time she moved a little more confidently towards the two bright bonfires.
Leonard's dream was what she expected after the day's events. The dream version of him was tall, muscular and knew how to fight. Dream Leonard beat up Kurt and swooned Dream-Penny off her feet. Chuckling she closed the dream again and turned to the supernova that was Sheldon's dream.
Would he dream of something similar?
Her hand is warm for an instant as she opens a window into Sheldon's dream and…it's not what she expected.
In the dream, Sheldon was a boy and was being tormented by 3 other boys, older than him. Sheldon was taller than his tormentors but he didn't respond to the jeers or the shoves. He just kept walking along a creek and to what Penny hoped was safety.
"Neeeeerd!" The voice of one of the bullies was crisp and clear in its cruelty as he shoved Sheldon with enough force to make him drop to his knees.
Penny stepped into the dream without a second thought. She looked around for shadows and darkness but found none and she frowned in confusion.
Sheldon stood up and kept walking, ignoring his tormentors, but this only seemed to make the boys angrier.
Penny wanted to intervene, to do something but somehow, this wasn't a nightmare. She frowned at the dream itself, just like last night, Sheldon's dream was vast and detailed but…perhaps a little too detailed. She kneeled down and touched the blades of grass at her feet, it felt real.
Sheldon's gasp forced her to stop inspecting the grass, by the time she has looked up, Sheldon has ended up in the creek somehow. He's in no physical danger, it's shallow enough that he's sitting with his knees poking out of the muddy water but Sheldon looks heartbroken.
Cruel and childish laughter filled the dream, and it made Penny want to kick Sheldon's bullies.
"There they are, go Georgie!" A girl's voice interrupts the laughter.
An older boy is sprinting towards the laughing trio who notice and start running away. The older boy passes by Sheldon but doesn't spare him a glance as he chases after the boys. The girl, who looks to be around the same age as Sheldon runs to his side and does her best to pull him out of the water.
"Shelly! Why the hell won't you fight back?!" Pure annoyance in her voice but Penny can hear the concern as well.
Sheldon turns a lost look on her and Penny wants to cry.
"Missy. Mother has always told me to not hit people that are smaller than me." No emotion in his voice.
The girl, Missy, lets out a breath and she opens and closes her mouth without any words coming out. After a moment with pure venom she spits out. "Mom doesn't know shit!"
Sheldon's eyes widen before he looks around, as if his mother would suddenly materialize out of thin air. "Missy!" He hissed in consternation.
"Whatever, let's go home." Missy starts walking and doesn't look back to see if Sheldon is following her.
Sheldon looks back at where the bullies ran, as if looking for something. But after a long moment he starts following Missy.
Penny stays put and waits for the shift, waits for the dream to change to the new location. But it doesn't. Confused, she starts following Sheldon, keeping an eye out for any signs of a nightmare.
It never comes.
She walks behind Sheldon and with each step a feeling of dread starts growing inside her. She didn't want to accept that this wasn't a nightmare, because…
That would mean it was a memory.
Holy crap on a cracker.
Life continues to move forward. Soon Penny learns why Sheldon's dream was so detailed. His eidetic memory is both a blessing and a curse.
No wonder his dreams are so vast and detailed.
Penny finishes setting up her array and soon life in Los Robles echoes the multiverse. Prank wars, Halo night, Laundry night and Penny learning about Sheldon being called Moonpie.
Once every two months or so, Penny liked visiting Sheldon's dreams.
It was nice to be able to walk in such detailed dreams. She could now easily say that Sheldon was a Dreamer. No matter what his friends thought, Sheldon Cooper dreamed big.
That's why Penny was confused one night when she couldn't find Sheldon's dream. She was so confused that she forced herself awake, sat up in bed and frowned at her wall. Grabbing the spare key to 4A and making her way in, she almost shrieked as a tall pale figure loomed in the middle of the room but it took her brain a moment to recognize it as Sheldon.
"Hey Sheldon, everything okay?" He was expressionlessly staring at a whiteboard and did not react to her question. "Honey?"
Finally he reacted, taking a deep breath as if he had just come out from diving the deep end of the pool.
"Oh, Penny. Wait…Penny?" Sheldon looked around at the darkened room and then back at her. "What time is it? What are you doing here?"
"Oh, you know, emergency milk run. Having trouble sleeping so I thought some warm milk would help." She lied.
Sheldon frowned at her and then at himself, he was still wearing his regular clothes and no pajamas.
"I will overlook this infraction if you also prepare me a glass of warm milk, I fear that my schedule has been affected beyond any repair."
Penny nodded at him and Sheldon moved to his room where she suspected he would change into his sleeping clothes. In the meantime she went to the cupboard where she knew his little pan exclusively for milk was so she could prepare 2 glasses of warm milk.
Soon Sheldon returned and she found out that the reason for his lack of sleep was because Sheldon was stuck, for lack of a better word. One of his formula thingies didn't make sense to him and he was trying to figure it out.
Penny sat on her spot on the couch as Sheldon monologued and lectured her on physics.
Spending the night with Sheldon like this while not in her plans, certainly wasn't unwelcome. In this apartment it felt like the entire world consisted only of them.
Penny laid down her head on his spot and Sheldon narrowed his eyes at her but didn't ask her to move which made her smile.
This is why she loved Sheldon.
As the realization comes, her eyes widen.
'Motherfuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu…'
Penny sat next to Sheldon as they glued rhinestones into the petals of Penny's new hobby/side job. Penny Blossoms.
She hadn't expected Sheldon to help her fulfill the order she got from a boutique. Out of all the guys he had been the least likely to stay and help, but lo and behold, here he was. The rest had flaked and left.
"Penny?"
"Yeah?"
"May I ask a question related to your Somnia heritage?"
Penny smiled in confusion. "Suuuuure?"
"I have been researching this but the information available online was conflicting and dare I say, misleading. So I believe the only way to get a straight answer is asking you directly."
Penny raised her eyebrows and wondered what he had to ask for him to look so serious. "Go ahead Honey."
"Are Somnia and Oneiros different types of Fairy-folk?" His face was earnest.
"Oh wow. I wasn't expecting that. Hmmmmm, I would say yes…but not because we're different in terms of dream abilities or even appearance. Somnia believe that we're children of Somnus and to be exact we have different…forefathers? Ancestors? Depending on that we also have cultural differences between the Somnia. My family claims that we're descendants of Morpheus but growing up I had a neighbor that claimed her family descended from Phantasos." Penny shrugged.
"She could still do the same things that I could so I don't think there's an actual difference. " Sheldon was listening intently and Penny had to smile. Not a lot of people were actually interested in learning about her history and people.
"As for the Oneiros, they believe that they are children of Nyx. We have the same abilities and even use the same warding arrays but culturally we're distinct from one another. We celebrate different Holidays, use different symbols for our families, our names are also different so overall I would say we're different people.
"I see." Sheldon nodded and Penny smiled at him knowing he would never forget this talk. Literally. "Penny."
"Yeah?"
"No, I mean…You said different names. But Penny is not a Roman or Latin name. In fact, it's Greek, as it comes from Penelope."
Penny narrowed her eyes at Sheldon. She might have feelings for the tall Wackadoodle but she wasn't sure if she wanted to share this with him yet.
"It's not diminutive of Penelope…" Penny sighed in defeat. "My birth name is Plotina." She closed her eyes and waited for mockery or laughter.
"Oh! Okay. Thank you Penny, that was very informative." Sheldon went back to making Penny Blossoms.
Penny's eyebrows tried to escape her face. Sheldon was the first person to not make fun of her because of her name.
It felt nice.
She was glad that Sheldon was busy making more Penny Blossoms because she was smiling like a fool and couldn't stop.
"Penny. One more question if you don't mind." This time he didn't look up from his work.
"Sure, shoot."
"How does your warding array work? Without dreams do you…well, do you sleep?"
"Oh…huh…I guess it can be a bit hard to wrap your head around it but, within the warding array I don't manifest my dream abilities. It's not like a void, I just sleep and then wake up."
"Do you have your own dreams?"
"I want to be an actress." She said cheekily.
"Har, har. I meant that-"
"I know, I know. In short, yes, but I can't walk in my own dreams and I'lll never remember them."
"Fascinating."
Penny trudged up the stairs, a soggy mess.
"No rain at all!" She said mockingly trying to imitate the weatherman from channel 4.
Her night out with her friends had been canceled unexpectedly by the sudden and heavy rain. Quick goodbyes and the group had dispersed after only visiting one club, Penny had wanted to dance and maybe find a warm body to spend the night with. She was frustrated to hell and back.
Penny had been trying to flirt with Sheldon but either the man was oblivious or he wasn't interested…and she was too much of a coward to ask him outright.
It wasn't even midnight and here she was returning home.
Quickly making her way into her apartment, Penny removed her mess of a dress and dropped it in the hamper with a heavy thump. Running a warm bath took no time and soon enough she no longer felt grimy and gross. In fact the warm water was relaxing her into sleep, she really shouldn't, but just for a moment Penny closed her eyes and stars bloomed behind her eyes.
Almost immediately her real body made a huge splash as she jumped out of the bath. She was glad she had deactivated the array.
Sheldon's usually golden bright dream was now a dim sickly yellow and black, like a cracked old bulb ready to give out.
Drying herself off as best as she could and still with wet hair, Penny changed into sleeping shorts and a ratty old tee she had stolen from her brother. Finally, after what felt like an eternity she laid down on the bed and closed her eyes.
Usually, Penny loved seeing all the dreams explode into makeshift constellations, but this time as soon as her dream self came into being she ran towards the very familiar dream. She ignored Leonard's as she ran towards her friend.
Sheldon's dream looked even worse up close.
All of her early frustrations now forgotten, Penny simply wanted to help Sheldon get out of this nightmare. She had seen dreams in this state before and it only meant that the dreamer was definitely not having a good time.
Pressing her hand against the dream, she noticed that the usual warmth was missing. A window formed and all she could see was rain. Black, cold and infinite it fell mercilessly against a small concrete building where a window shook and rattled with every thunder strike. A lone flickering light barely illuminated the interior and Penny knew that the small shivering figure was Sheldon.
This time the dream fought her as she made her way inside.
Freezing cold rain pelted her as she finally made her way inside, the rain roared and it even muffled the sound of thunder, it was as if a thousand people were screaming in agony.
Penny tried to chase the shadows away but it was useless, as soon as she got rid of it, the rain brought more shadow to replace what had been sheared off.
No. She couldn't do anything here. Gazing at the lonely building she began to walk, small golden footprints marked where she walked, but even those were soon swallowed by the hungry, dark rain.
Time in dreams was always wonky, Penny could have sworn that she walked for hours before finally reaching the building, she expected the door to be locked but to her surprise it gave in easily and she was able to make her way inside.
Unlike the real world, the water clinging to her body quickly evaporated, almost as if it was trying to escape her presence.
The rain in this room was muffled, the roaring was distant but not any less intimidating. The room was simple, a bed sat against the wall and a desk served as a makeshift night stand. Sheldon stood by the window and in his hands was a flickering lamp, it wasn't connected to anything but it still worked. Barely.
"You shouldn't be here." Sheldon's hollow and haunted voice startled her. All previous times she had visited his dreams, she had stayed in the background, never interacting with him directly.
"The rain was scary." She said.
Sheldon finally turned to look at her. In the dream he must have been around fifteen, he still had that baby fat that made him look younger. Sheldon blinked at her and nodded. "Storms are scary."
Slowly, with short and careful steps she approached him. "Would you mind if I share your light?"
"Does it make it less scary for you?" His voice still sounded hollow and far away.
Penny nodded at him. "Yep."
"I suppose that the gentlemanly thing to do is to share the light." Sheldon extended the hand holding the lamp at her.
Penny reached him and covered his hand with hers. Immediately the lamp shone brighter, the light changed from muted yellow to bright golden, shadows backed away from Sheldon's feet and the window didn't rattle and shake as much.
But Sheldon didn't notice any of this, he had turned to look out the window again.
Penny stood there with him for a long time, not saying anything. She, unbeknownst to him, was clearing the room from any lingering shadows.
Sheldon yawned and rubbed at his eyes. "I'm tired."
"Do you want to lie on the bed?"
"I…" Sheldon stopped and looked at her closely. "Could you stay with me?" He finally said.
"Of course Honey. I'll watch over you."
The bed was a single but Sheldon made room for her and she sat next to his pillow, against the headboard. The lamp still in her hand and resting on her lap.
Sheldon closed his eyes and tried to sleep but she knew he was awake, he still flinched with every thunder strike.
Penny adjusted herself to be more comfortable but Sheldon must have misinterpreted her movement as her trying to leave because his hand shot up to grab her arm firmly and in a shaky voice he begged. "Please don't leave me!"
Penny wanted to cry, instead she simply lied next to him and put her head right next to his on the pillow.
"I'm not going anywhere Sweetie." She reassured him.
Sheldon woke up, stiff and anxious but not as much as he expected.
Storms always made him have horrible nightmares. He had expected that having Penny nearby would mean he wouldn't experience a nightmare but alas, it was not to be.
At least he didn't feel on the verge of a panic attack even if he did feel pressure on his chest.
Sheldon carefully removed the covers and froze.
Penny snored peacefully on his chest.
This was unexpected.
But not unwelcome.
Time in dreams was always wonky.
One moment Penny was watching the dream version of Sheldon sleep as the rain pounded against the building and the next the bed was empty.
Penny frowned in confusion before the dream broke apart and she was suddenly lying on the black void surrounded by fewer dreams than when she first went to bed. Leonard's dream was still there as well as the ones for the downstairs neighbors so it meant that Sheldon had woken up way too damn early.
But after a nightmare like the one he had perhaps waking up early was the wisest choice. But not for her, she wanted to stay in bed for as long as possible but maybe she would wake up to fix her array.
"Penny." Sheldon's voice suddenly broke through and Penny groaned, of course he would go see her just as she was trying to sleep in. She waited for his triple knock but it never came.
"Penny." Sheldon's voice was strangely soft, like he didn't want to speak too loudly. She considered not waking up but he just had a pretty terrible night so she'd be nice to him.
"Penny." The transition from dream to the waking world was always seamless and she immediately snuggled closer to the warmth of her lumpy bed.
Sheldon could wait a minute.
"Penny. I need to prepare for work. You may stay in my bed but I do need to get up." Sheldon's voice was crystal clear now and more importantly, coming from right above her head.
Hot and cold rush and she could feel herself start sweating like she just did 40 minutes of cardio. She refused to open her eyes but did stop hugging Sheldon so he could get up.
Carefully and slowly, Sheldon moved and tried his best to not touch her too much, after a moment only Penny remained in the bed and she dared a peek. Sheldon was trying to smooth out his pajamas and Penny had to close her eyes again at seeing the drool spot on Sheldon's shirt from where her head had been resting.
'Goddamn sleepwalking habit.' All Somnia struggled with sleepwalking in one way or another but Penny was particularly bad about it.
"As you know, I usually have a 'No people in my room' policy." Sheldon sounded calm and composed. "However, I remember you, you were in my dream last night…Thank you."
"Sheldon, I…" She struggled to find the right words for the situation. "I'm just glad you're okay now." She said lamely.
Sheldon gave her that same smile he gave her on the day they met. "While I appreciate the gesture and help. Please don't make this a habit." He moved to leave his room.
Penny face planted on the bed and laughed, because of course, he was still Sheldon.
"Got it. Don't worry Moonpie." Her voice was muffled.
Sheldon didn't reply and Penny listened as Sheldon prepared for his shower, she didn't go back to sleep, she simply enjoyed the warmth from the bed until the boys left for work.
She was feeling super happy and in the mood for waffles…maybe Sheldon had a waffle maker somewhere in the cupboards.
Sheldon tried to control the smile that wanted to burst out of him but even Leonard noticed it and made a comment about it.
"I don't know what you're talking about Leonard. Now, please keep your eyes on the road."
"Penny?"
"Yeah?"
"You seem to have woken up on my bed yet again."
"Yep, it sure looks that way."
"In the last month since that first occurrence, on average, you have spent the night on my bed four nights a week."
"Yep."
"I do believe that I had requested this to not become a habit."
"Call it payback for changing your Big Boy Burger night for Cheesecake Factory Burger night."
"...I suppose that despite what I had previously believed about sharing a bed with someone, the actual experience with you has resulted in much better quality sleep as well as no nightmares even during storms…"
"You're welcome by the way." Penny said teasingly.
"Perhaps it can be a new routine…" He mused.
Notes:
Yeah, I really liked this Universe but the well ran dry so I rather this live on its own fic as it was recently pointed out to me that the drabble fic can be a challenge to get into.