Summary:

A surprise visit.

Penny kept a secret from Sheldon. And it was that she didn't always love the routines.

Sure, at first she hated them, HATED them until she got sucked in and going out dancing on Wednesdays became Pizza night instead, club Saturday became Laundry night and she always took the Tuesday night shift because that was the day her boys went to have dinner.

And now they had even more routines, Anything-can-happen-Thursday became DnD night, Fridays became date night and sex became a random thing in that schedule because she refused to schedule it like Sheldon wanted.

The man was crazy but she kinda loved him for it.

One of the new routines that she did love tho, was that on Saturdays mornings Sheldon let go of his cereal and Dr Who at 6 in the fucking morning to instead stay in bed with her until 8…which meant she actually had to wake up early but with her filming schedule being as crazy as it was, she would rather wake up early and spend time with Sheldon than not.

In fact, this Saturday morning she was feeling super happy and relaxed because after a week not being able to see her boyfriend that often thanks to having to film sketches, variety videos, try-not-to-laugh and more she was a little pent up…more than a little. But last night she had been tired and as soon as she crossed the door she had basically passed out.

So this morning she woke up with an itch, an itch that Sheldon was more than happy to scratch for her. Twice actually.

So while she might not love the routines all of the time, this morning she enjoyed the Saturday routine to the fullest, laying on her side as she drew figures on Sheldon's moving chest. The only sound was their breathing and the world outside. She had never told this to anyone but she loved the sound of the city from their apartment, there was something so soothing about the distant cars and the movement and sounds of people going about their lives. It felt like she should be missing the farm but the reality was that she didn't, not for a moment.

The road that took her to this point was weird and long but looking around her life, she was really happy to be here.

"I love you." The words left her mouth before her brain could fully process them and for a single moment she was filled with fear and anxiety. She had said those words to him before, but this time there was nothing to hide behind, no fight, no other situation to think about. Just those words, and she feared that she would regret them.

But the regret never came.

She had said those words before, to her mom, to her dad, to her sister, to her brother…to Kurt.

He had been the last boyfriend she had told him that and not regret it immediately. Of course, he was also the reason she had such a hard time trusting men in the first place and she should probably appreciate the irony or something, but thinking about Kurt still left a bitter taste in her mouth. So much time wasted.

With Leonard she had never felt that way and she felt like an ass because Leonard said it so often and constantly and each time he looked at her with so much hope and expectation that she dreaded hearing him say it. She would grit her teeth and smile back hoping that he would let it go.

He never did.

So she had tried saying it back once, only to be immediately filled with regret, her body had felt cold and she got goosebumps all over. She couldn't force herself to lie or pretend, not about this.

But here, on this bed, right now, the only thing she felt was peace. No rush of adrenaline trying to get her to run, or trying to find ways to skirt around the subject, no joke to play off her words.

She smiled and kissed a spot right under his nipple. "Love you Honey." The second time she said it with full confidence.

Sheldon had his eyes closed but she saw him smile. "Naturally. I'm lovable."

Penny giggled and she was about to make a joke but Sheldon kept going.

"I love you as well Penny."

A rush of emotions filled her and she had to press her face to his body to stop the tears. She wanted to laugh and to cry in happiness.

Sheldon couldn't lie to save his life.

He loved her.

"Penny, you're squeezing me." He whined.

She laughed. Wackadoodle.

Mary sucked on her teeth. She had just spent the last ten minutes knocking on her boy's door and no one was answering. She was trying not to get upset but something was afoot here, she knew her boy and he was supposed to be sitting in his spot, eating cereal and watching TV.

Giving up, she turned to the door across the hall. She hated bothering other people but she had helped the little blonde thing once with the whole prank war thing so she guessed this was a fair ask.

She knocked once and was surprised by the door opening almost right away. A small Asian girl stood there, looking confused. "Yes?"

"Oh sorry, is Penny awake?" Mary gave the girl a smile while inside she was already praying for Penny, it seemed the girl was now sleeping around with girls as well.

"Who?"

Oh no.

You wanted a kickass muffin or brownie? Penny was your girl. You wanted not-burnt scrambled eggs? Penny was most definitely NOT your girl. Which also made her question why Sheldon liked her spaghetti so much but that was a whole other thing.

But back on topic, her lack of skill when it came to cooking breakfast was why for breakfast she was cooking…nothing, instead she had ordered two breakfast quesadillas and one breakfast burrito from a place a couple of blocks away, the owner already knew her Saturday order by heart and Penny was just waiting for the delivery kid while Sheldon took his shower. It was still way too early for her liking but it was a small price to spend a quiet morning before she had to go back into the Smosh studio for another afternoon of filming.

The doorbell ringing brought a smile to her face. It looked like it was going to be a great day, usually they took like 40 minutes to get her food ready and she had called like only 15 minutes ago.

Skipping happily, she went to open the door. "Wow, you guys are faaaaast today!"

"Penny?" The familiar voice brought her to a stop.

"Mrs Cooper?" Penny stood there like an idiot as she stared at the tall Texan woman.

Mary stared at Penny and was taken aback by her appearance. A shirt that was too big on her with one of those silly superheroes that Shelly liked so much on the front and nothing else, leaving her tanned legs fully uncovered.

Mary ignored the stray thought about how she once had legs like those.

"Hey darling, is Sheldon living here?" Mary couldn't blame Penny for having that dumbfounded look on her face. The poor thing wasn't expecting her boyfriend's roommate's mother to show up.

Penny opened and closed her mouth a couple of times before an uncomfortable smile made its way onto her face. "Yeah! He does!" Penny's voice was extremely high and panicky.

Interesting.

Penny wordlessly invited her in and even carried her bag in. Such a nice girl, what a shame she decided to cavort with those evil showbiz people.

"Let me just-you know." Penny laughed nervously and pointed towards some place before darting away quickly.

Mary took her time looking around the place. She was surprised her boy had moved at all, he had seemed rooted to Los Robles and she had half expected him to die there.

She stopped walking around as she got to the open balcony door. An easel with a canvas sat innocently there, a small but very cute bench completed the picture. Mary took a step outside and she wasn't fully surprised by the rather girly decorations littering the place.

Stepping back inside she looked closer at the apartment and noticed the womanly touches all around. The throw-pillows on the cute little couch, the stack of Cosmo magazines on the table, walking back to the entrance she counted eight pairs of women's shoes in the small shelf-closet thing by the door.

Clicking her tongue she walked into the kitchen and up to the fridge and sighed in annoyance and resignation at seeing the Hello Kitty magnets, post-it notes with reminders in writing that was most definitely Penny's. There was also a wooden cup sitting prettily on top of the microwave and she would bet a pretty dime that it was Penny's.

She knew that people in this godless state did things differently but to the point of living together, unmarried and with a third person. Shameless. Her poor Shellybean was probably traumatized by having to share a space with a couple.

She would need to have a talk with Penny and Leonard to make sure they were not engaging in sin where her son could see it.

Penny ran away from Mrs Cooper and directly into their bathroom. She found Sheldon carefully plucking at his eyebrows.

"Penny. We've had this conversation before and I must insist, watching each other urinate will not bring us closer, no matter what that dreadful magazine of yours claims. If you must go, please-" Sheldon didn't even turn to look at her.

"Shutupshutupshutupshutp. Your mom is here!" Penny ignored him, but she made a mental note to bring up the subject of peeing in front of each other in the future.

"Oh. Well, that's unexpected." Sheldon said as if his mother visiting was a normal thing.

"Sheldon! What about us? Isn't she going to freak out?" She said this in a harsh whisper as if Mrs Cooper could hear her from behind two closed doors. After all, Sheldon had to inherit that freaky hearing from someone.

"Why would she do that?" He sounded truly baffled.

"You're kidding right? Hello? Us, we? How about the fact that we're dating?" She kept gesturing between her and Sheldon despite the fact that he was still looking at himself in the mirror.

"But I informed her of the change in our relationship dynamic."

"Oh. You did?" Well, now she felt dumb.

"I did. Every first day of the month I send my mother a detailed email informing her of any big changes occurring in my life. It's how she obtained this address." Sheldon told her as he carefully cleaned his tweezers before putting them in their little case.

Penny nodded to herself slowly before smiling hesitantly. "Okay. Okay. Okay. Good, good."

The doorbell rang and let her know that this time her breakfast and lunch were here. She gave Sheldon a quick kiss and moved to go pick up her food.

On her way to the door she shot a quick "Sheldon will be here in a sec." to Mrs Cooper.

"You forgot your pants dear." Mrs Cooper called out after her.

"Wearing shorts!" She called back.

Penny felt ten times better. If Sheldon had already told his mom about them dating then she probably already freaked out and had made peace with the reality that her really smart son was dating a wannabe actress. Or maybe she was flying too close to the sun.

But if Mrs Cooper had an issue with her then she was playing it close to the chest and Penny was kinda grateful for it. She had only talked to the woman a couple of times and while she was nice on all of those times, Penny could also detect that Mrs Cooper didn't exactly approve of her.

Or maybe she was overthinking it.

She let go of those thoughts and instead focused on picking up the bag with food and tipping the kid that delivered it.

On the way to the kitchen she offered one of the quesadillas to Mrs Cooper but she declined it.

"I ate something before coming here. Did you know that a lady sells tamales out of her trunk a block from here?"

Penny smiled as she unpacked. "Yeah! That's Mrs Gonzales, they're so good."

"They are! You know, in our church there's this lady that makes a pretty good tamale and-" Mrs Cooper started telling her about her prayer group and her life back in Texas and Penny did her best to nod and hum in agreement when needed while eating her quesadilla. She didn't even have to pretend to be interested, maybe it was the fact that she was dating Sheldon now, but she wanted to know more about the Cooper family and what their lives were like.

They continued chatting until Sheldon finally made his appearance. He was wearing a Batman shirt and khakis instead of his pajamas. No pajamas after 9 am or else the world might explode.

"Mother." Sheldon greeted his mom with a nod but Mrs Cooper wasn't bothered, she stood up and gave her son a tight hug. He returned the hug stiffly and she wanted to laugh at his annoyed face.

She took his quesadilla off the container and plated it for him. Sheldon hated sweaty quesadillas. He nodded in thanks as she handed it to him.

"Penny, you asked me to remind you about having to stop by Monica's place first before you go to the studio. You wanted her to review that new script you wrote." Sheldon said before taking a bite of his food.

"Oh crap! Thank you Honey." She ran to their bedroom to grab her backpack and then back into the kitchen. "Sorry Mrs Cooper, I have to run. But I'll be back by eight or nine tonight. Sheldon and I will take you to dinner."

"Penny-" Sheldon started but she was having none of it.

"Shush. And also, prepare the spare bedroom for her." She shot him a look and he mock-glared at her before sighing and nodding.

"Very well, If I must."

"Thank you Hon." She moved to plant a quick kiss on his lips. Hey, she already knew so what was the harm? Sheldon returned the kiss and she smiled into it before jumping back.

"Have a safe trip Penny." Sheldon said before returning to his breakfast.

"I will, thank you." She turned to Mrs Cooper who looked frozen in place. "I'm sorry to have to leave like this, but it's for work. You know how it is."

Mrs Cooper nodded silently and Penny smiled at her before bolting out the front door.

Mary watched the easy interaction between Penny and her son. She was about to comment on it when her world was shaken.

Penny kissed Sheldon.

Not only that, he allowed it. Not only that, he returned the kiss. Not only that, he didn't stand up and immediately went to wash his mouth.

This was new. Not necessarily good. Not necessarily bad. This was…interesting.

She waited until Penny left to see how her son reacted but he was as cool as a cucumber, he didn't even seem bothered by the fact that his own mother was sitting there as he kissed a girl.

Mary pursed her lips in thought as she decided how to act. On the one hand, her son having a girlfriend was cause for celebration. On the other, that girl probably had more mileage than her papa's old Studebaker.

"Penny is a nice girl huh." She decided to be subtle about it.

"She has her moments." Sheldon said after cleaning his mouth, and she wanted to shake the darn boy.

Mary sucked in a breath and clicked her tongue. "Boy, I will-" She stopped herself and shook her head. "Cut the baloney. When did you start dating the girl?"

Sheldon did a double take at her before frowning in confusion. "But I thought you had read my email?" He sounded offended.

"Honey, those emails are as long as the old testament." She wouldn't even pretend to be sorry.

"Mother! I carefully plan and craft each email to keep you updated on the ongoing events of my life and may I remind you that the emails were your idea as you wanted to know if I was doing well." Her son was flustered and she knew that if she didn't put a stop to it right now then she wouldn't know the truth about her son dating Penny.

"Sheldon Lee Cooper. Stop with the sass and tell me." Her voice was hard and she even used his full name so he could tell how serious she was.

Sheldon sniffed and cleared his throat. "Well, since you're clearly unwilling to admit your own shortcomings and if you must know, I assumed that you read those emails I spent a significant amount of time writing, and since you found this address, I had also assumed that you had read the email where I informed you of the change in mine and Penny's relationship."

Mary closed her eyes and rubbed at her forehead tiredly.

She loved her son but most days he was all hat and no cattle. "You know I'm not a fan of the technobabble and applications and that nonsense." In fact, the only reason she was able to find this apartment was because the nice Asian girl at Los Robles had helped her login to her email so she could check for the new address. But Mary was focused on the task and she was not going to spend 45 minutes reading an email about her son describing a visit to a comic store.

But maybe she should start reading those darntoothing emails of his.

"Still, you should have called me! This is big news." She was not letting him off the hook just yet.

Her son avoided her eyes. "I might could've get that done." His accent was all Texas and for a moment she saw the little boy that wore a space helmet and hid in the garage when he first learned about germs.

Mary took a deep breath and prayed for guidance. She saw two roads ahead of her.

On one, she could pry and be a nuisance, she could harass and push Penny to try and find her real reasons to date her son. She could become a hawk that watched over her son and have him report every single thing that Penny did so she could find flaws in them. But that would make her the same as Gertrude and if there was one woman that Mary refused to be anything like, it was George's mother. That woman made her life a living he-...she made her life difficult. The woman could start a fight in an empty house. When she passed away shortly after Georgie was born, it was more of a relief for Mary.

She didn't want to be that woman.

So the only road left was to accept Penny. Because yeah, the girl was a mess on wheels from what she knew, but to be fair, everything she knew about Penny she learned from Sheldon. And the man himself had chosen Penny so she couldn't be that bad. And her son did have a certain flair for the dramatic.

Mary nodded to herself. Might as well. Can't dance, never could sing, and it's too wet to plow.

"Shelly, tell me more about Penny." Mary sat back in the chair, ready to listen.

Sheldon actually smiled for a moment before sitting up. "Penny is a Sagittarius and although I have pointed out how zodiac signs are nothing but hogwash she still believes firmly in them, she enjoys painting and has found it to be 'her' activity. An acquaintance offered to help her sell her paintings online but Penny has refused as she doesn't want to monetize her hobby and she isn't struggling with money as before. Penny has successfully-"

Mary listened to her son wax poetic about a girl and couldn't stop the grin making its way onto her face. For all his smarts, for all his education, for all his darn achievements, her son was still a boy in love like the rest.

Penny yawned as she walked up the stairs to her apartment. Today was busy as hell. Six sketches, two variety shows and she had stayed back with the writers to try and come up with a new idea for a show. For some stupid reason the people behind the company were pushing them for more and more content and she was getting tired of it, and it wasn't only her, she could see that some of the other cast members were feeling the same, Joven, Sohinki, Mari and Lasercorn were burning out just like her.

Maybe it was time to move on.

CollegeHumor had some open positions for writers and she was seriously considering just switching to that and also going back to try and audition for shows on TV again.

She'd discuss this with Sheldon to get a better grasp on what she should do. She really wasn't in the mood to go out tonight but Mrs Cooper was here and while she seemed okay with Sheldon dating her, she still wanted to make a good…second?, maybe third impression.

Before opening the door to the apartment she put a smile on her face. "Honey, I'm home!"

"Welcome back Penny." Sheldon poked his head from where he was sitting at his desk. Her smile turned a little more honest at seeing him stand up to greet her.

She was about to say more when the smell of delicious deep fried food got to her. "Aw Hon, you ordered food?" She could just kiss him.

"No. My mother refused your invitation to go out for dinner and instead she wanted to cook for us." Sheldon gave her a quick hug. Not a kiss tho, no kisses until she had brushed her teeth. Sometimes it annoyed her but she knew what she was getting into with her Wackadoodle.

"Aw she didn't have to do that." Penny said as she adjusted her backpack.

"Nonsense dear, look at you, you look dead tired. This is the least I could do." Mrs Cooper stepped out, cleaning her hands on a paper towel. The smile on her face was genuine and it eased the knot of anxiety in her gut. The one she was trying to not acknowledge since this morning.

"I'll go put this away and be right back." She gestured with the shoulder to the backpack she was carrying.

"Wash up darling, you're just in time. Dinner is ready." Mrs Cooper shot her another smile before going back to the kitchen.

"It's my mother's chicken-fried steak with green beans and mashed potatoes." Sheldon almost vibrated in place with excitement.

She barked a surprised laugh and shook her head. This was the Sheldon she loved, he was a huge deal in the science world and he got super excited at the idea of a home cooked meal. She imagined this is how he looked when he was six or seven.

Thankfully dinner was nice, Mrs Cooper went out of her way to get to know her and Penny felt accepted, not that Mrs Cooper had ever made her feel not accepted or unwelcome, but now it was as if Mrs Cooper was making an effort to include her.

It was nice.

Mary couldn't sleep. There was something about this place. Not the apartment, but about this whole state that just didn't sit well with her.

The city was too noisy and too bright. Even now past midnight, the city looked, felt and sounded fully awake. The roaring of cars, honks and the distant music made her skin crawl. She didn't know how Penny and Sheldon managed to deal with it. At least at Los Robles the sounds were somewhat muffled thanks to the height of the building.

She could take one of those little magic pills that Dr Roberts gave her, but her flight was early in the morning and those pills always left her feeling groggy the morning after taking them.

Instead she was here on the balcony, watching this degenerate city and smoking a cigarette.

Maybe when Shelly and Penny married, she would be able to convince them to move to Texas? That would be ideal, but she knew it was a fool's dream. Her son and Penny's careers were here.

Penny. Now that was the surprise of the century right there.

She had assumed that these two kids got together out of convenience more than anything, which, yeah, it did smell of that. At least a little. But she was happy to see that girl genuinely care for her boy and the other way around. Imagine her surprise at seeing her son, Sheldon Lee Cooper PhD, her little selfish Snickerdoodle to be fully smitten with a girl.

Oh he pretended alright, but she could tell. The way his eyes followed Penny, how he hung on her every word…Mary shook her head in amazement. That boy had it bad.

The sound of the balcony door made her turn, Penny stood there, only in her sleeping shorts and shirt and Mary swallowed the reprimand on the tip of her tongue. Melissa dressed the same way and it was a hot night.

"Mrs Cooper? Is everything alright?" Penny looked nervous, like a lost girl.

"Just couldn't sleep, dear. You wouldn't have a finger of something to help me close my eyes, would you?" Mary smiled at the girl.

Penny blinked before looking up at the ceiling and gasping before a smile broke on her face. "One sec."

Penny disappeared into the apartment and Mary turned back towards the city. She dreaded thinking about how many poor girls and boys were out there about to screw up their lives.

In the time it took Penny to get back, she was able to offer a prayer to the lost souls roaming this god forsaken city.

"Back." Penny easily carried two tumbler glasses. The clicking of the ice against the glass was loud at this time of night.

"Thank you darling." Mary said as she accepted a glass.

The liquid in the glass was a clear brown and the glass was only filled a third of the way.

"Scotch?" Mary asked, raising the glass to get a closer look at the liquid.

"Nope. This is a drink made of plums, can you believe that? It's super good tho." Penny took a sip of her glass and smiled at her.

Mary sniffed at the glass, it smelled sweet and strong. Like that strawberry whisky from the gas station. She took a small sip and was taken aback by the sweetness and strength of the drink. The cool liquid was refreshing and light.

"This is really good!" Mary wasn't lying. She really enjoyed the drink.

Penny nodded and smiled before sitting down on the bench and looking towards the city. Mary flicked her cigarette off the balcony and went to sit down next to Penny.

They were quiet, the only noise between them was the occasional clicking of the ice cubes against their glasses.

"Um, Mrs Cooper?"

"Yes dear?"

"I really, really, really love your son."

Mary stared at Penny right in the eye and was happy to see that the other girl didn't back down and held her stare unflinchingly.

After a moment, Mary smiled. "I know dear. He loves you too."

Penny nodded. "I know."

"I hope you know that doesn't mean he will be easier to deal with." That was one of her bigger concerns, that whoever fell in love with her son would think he was too much work and would leave him behind.

"I-uh-I'm not exactly a picnic either." Penny looked embarrassed to admit it and Mary couldn't help it. She bursted out laughing.

Mary wiped the tears from her eyes and patted Penny on the knee. "You're a stubborn one as well, aren't ya?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Good. You're gonna have to be to handle that boy."

End Notes:

Of course Mary had to find out.