Summary:

An awkward first date and a glimpse at Leonard.

Penny applied some light makeup to her face, nothing fancy, just something to highlight her eyes. She had asked Sheldon to keep the fact that they were going on a date a secret from the rest of the group. She loved them but she didn't need the extra pressure that their attention would bring her. Of course, she had to explain all of this to Sheldon because otherwise he would not get the reasoning.

They were already practicing this whole communication thing. Yay.

For his part, Sheldon admitted that he wasn't sure what to do on a date. His research had shown him that first dates were for people to get to know each other but they were way past that.

Which, fair. He had a point. He wasn't familiar with the 'drink until your brain tells you it's a good idea' method and she didn't want this to just be a hook up…not that it would ever be, not with him. She applied some perfume as well.

She honestly didn't know where this would take them, because she was pretty sure that Sheldon didn't do casual and despite her colorful dating history she was actually searching for love. Crazy to think that she might actually find it with tall and crazy, but that was getting ahead of herself.

For now they needed to get through a first date without killing each other, the rest could wait. She checked the reflection on the mirror and smiled at how cute she looked. She was wearing a cute pair of jeans and an orange flowy blouse, she looked really damn good and hoped Sheldon would appreciate it.

It didn't matter that their first date would be dinner in their apartment. She was going to take this seriously.

"Get ready, Moonpie." She told no one before leaving her room.

Leaving her room she didn't have to look hard to find her date. Sheldon stood on the patio and he was looking at her canvas, no, he was admiring it. He had made it no secret that he loved her Sheldor paintings. She smiled at seeing his intense look, he looked at her paintings in the same way he looked at his whiteboards and while it made her smile, now there also was an added feeling of nervousness? Not exactly, it was like butterflies in-No. Not going there.

"Hey Moonpie, ready for our date?" She tried to say cheekily but it came out more shaky than she'd like.

"Penny." Sheldon nodded at her, took another look at her and she could almost see him trying to remember something, he frowned a little before his face cleared and he happily told her. "You look aesthetically pleasing tonight."

Penny wanted to laugh but she was afraid it would make it awkward so she settled for a simple "Thank you."

Immediately all conversation died and they just stared at one another, but while Sheldon looked perfectly happy to stare back at her, she was getting antsy. Shuffling on her feet she looked away and then at her wristwatch, cleared her throat and having nothing better to say she opted for asking when dinner would get there.

"I ordered twenty eight minutes ago, if previous occasions work as basis for-"

"How much longer?"

"Ten to fifteen minutes before our doorbell rings."

"Okay, nice…" She trailed off and looked at the floor. This was not working.

Letting out a breath she decided to do things her way. "Okay Sheldon, come here." She led him to his spot and pointed with a head movement that he should sit. He looked at her unsure but eventually sat.

She stood in front of him and grabbed his face between her hands. No flinching. Good.

"Moonpie, you were right, dates are for people to get to know each other. We already know one another, and we're learning more about each other just because we're friends. But dates are also learning about compatibility." She almost brought up Leonard's example of the alive and dead cat but she stopped herself. Bringing up Leonard felt wrong.

"I see. I assume that you will test this compatibility before our dinner arrives?" Sheldon said calmly and he looked unbothered by the fact that his face was in her hands. His eyes moved across her face and she wondered if he was analyzing her face for any imperfections.

"Yes. Have you ever kissed anyone?" She didn't want to scare him away.

"No. Paige kissed me once but it was a 'chaste' kiss." He looked ridiculous doing air quotes with his fingers. "After that I wasn't interested."

"Until me." Her tone might have been more petulant than she liked.

"Until you." He agreed. No face twitching so he was being truthful.

"Okay…just…try to do what I do, breathe through your nose and…I know you're all about repressing impulses and whatnot but while we're kissing, try to listen to your body. You can touch me, it's more than okay."

Sheldon's eyes widened and for the first time since she had taken a hold of his face, he looked panicked. Not giving him a chance to chicken out, she pressed her lips against his and moved her hands to the back of his head. The position was awkward, she was sort of leaning down and he was leaning up and their necks would certainly not appreciate it but it was just a test kiss, a way to see if there was a spark.

She closed her eyes and focused on the sensations. His lips were impossibly soft, for some reason she had imagined that he would have rough lips, but of course this was Sheldon Cooper so he probably had a whole routine to take care of them.

She felt one of his hands sprawl on her back and it sent a small shiver through her. She had a thing about big hands. Sheldon tried to lean back into the couch but she followed him. Still kissing, she let out a small breath as her chest collided with his. Sheldon had been awkward at first, but either it was true that he learnt fast or she was getting too into it.

With her eyes closed she could smell the barest hint of the dry eraser markers he always used. When she had first started hanging out with the guys, the smell had been unpleasant but she bore with it. And now it gave her a pang of homesickness.

Sheldon's other hand found a home on her hip, not quite touching her ass but his fingers were almost there. She moaned into the kiss and it must have activated something in his brain because he was suddenly pulling her tighter against him until she was almost lying atop of him, one of her hands went to grab the back of the couch and was now supporting her weight awkwardly but Penny didn't care.

She was straddling one of his legs, she was extra conscious of the movement of the knee between his legs, she didn't want to turn this into a bad memory for him.

Her tongue made an appearance and maybe in shock, maybe in curiosity, his mouth opened. Slowly, tentatively, his own tongue made a shy appearance but for her it was a victory. The kiss deepened and she unconsciously grinded her crotch against his leg. His hand finally moved to her ass.

And then the doorbell rang.

Penny was the first to pull away and she was breathing hard. Holy crap…okay, there was a spark. She looked down at Sheldon, they had slowly moved and he was now lying on the couch awkwardly, he looked dazed but okay. She had never seen him like this.

The doorbell rang again.

Penny very purposefully gave him another quick kiss and moved away, she fixed her clothes a little, grabbed his wallet and went to get the food.

Holy crap on a cracker.

Sheldon stared at the ceiling, trying to process the emotions, sensations and urges that kissing Penny had brought out of him.

He couldn't think straight.

He blinked and frowned, it wasn't a negative emotion nor an unwelcome feeling, just new. Her scent of vanilla still lingered on him and for some strange reason it was affecting his arousal. Curious.

After a long moment he finally sat up and looked around, Penny was nowhere to be seen. He needed to see her. Now that he was more aware of his surroundings he realized that he could make out her voice, he moved towards it.

Penny was speaking with a teenager and in one of her hands she was holding a bag. He blinked, the takeout, how could he have forgotten? Penny said something to the teenager and turned to close the door behind her but stopped when she saw him. The door to their new apartment opened outwards, she had her back to the door but he was too close to her. He needed to take a step back for her to be able to close the door.

Her face was flushed, her lips looked swollen and there was a light sheen of sweat on her forehead which made some of her hair stick in odd patterns.

"Um Sheldon, you're a little too close, I know you're hungry but-Urgh" Sheldon extended his arm and pulled the door closed, which pushed Penny until she was pressed against him again, one of his arms on the side of her head and the other on the door handle, before it moved to her waist. Her free hand went to his chest where it bunched his shirt, but he didn't care.

"Honey?" Penny swallowed and he couldn't stop watching her. Leaning down he kissed her the way she had taught him moments ago.

His world was immediately filled with her vanilla scent and the feeling of her soft lips.

This needed further experimentation.

If she was honest with herself, Penny was swooning. She had just picked up the food, turned around and found Sheldon standing right behind her. She had tried to close the door, expecting him to move back so they could have dinner but no.

Sheldon stood closely to her, moved his arm and closed the door. Pushing her against him, she was basically trapped between the door and him but she certainly didn't feel trapped. No, she felt excited because this was a whole new side of Sheldon she hadn't expected.

And then he kissed her.

It was still a little awkward, it took him a moment to find the right angle but she adjusted quickly and the hand on his chest soon moved to the back of his head. His hair was soft, she had seen the bottle of 'No more tears' shampoo in his bathroom and it made her smile into the kiss.

She would have happily kept kissing Sheldon but the arm holding the takeout bag was starting to hurt, reluctantly she moved her hand back to his chest and pushed him lightly, but it was all she needed. Sheldon stopped and finally took a step back. His face didn't look as dazed as before but the flush of his face was somehow even stronger.

"I really, REALLY, enjoy this Honey, but my arm is hurting and I'm starving." Sheldon blinked at her, frowned, looked down at the bag she was holding, as if he was noticing it for the first time. Wordlessly he took the bag from her, he kept frowning, suddenly his face cleared.

"Dinner. We ordered dinner." Sheldon said and moved towards the couch, he kept glancing at her. She smiled at him which only made him glance at her more often. Penny followed after him and sat in her spot, rummaging through the bag she quickly took out the containers and set them in front of them. Sheldon turned on the TV and set some show to play but she wasn't really interested in it.

They ate in comfortable silence and like teenagers they kept stealing glances at each other, smiling into their containers.

Sheldon tried to not smile but he found it extremely difficult. Kissing Penny was…exhilarating, the closest he could define it was the feeling as when he won the Stevenson Award. Yet, not quite.

Winning an award felt satisfying, but it also brought the realization of the next achievement. It was a never ending ladder, Stevenson Award, Abraham Pais Award, Lilienfield, Irving Langmuir and while Sheldon appreciated the recognition and to a certain level, the money. The reality was that not five minutes after winning an award or a prize, he would end up asking himself 'What's next?' because as prestigious as all of those awards and medals were, they were not his end goal.

The Nobel Prize was the goal. His life achievement, barring an end of the world event, it would be the highest honor he could receive.

But kissing Penny had left him feeling bereft. No, to be precise, stopping had left him feeling bereft. Kissing her had felt right, he hadn't been able to think about anything else but the softness of her lips, the scent of her hair, the feeling of her tongue, how his fingers had pressed against her skin, seemingly on their own.

He risked a glance at the subject of his thoughts, Penny was looking into her container and smiling at nothing. Had she felt the same? Were these feelings universally shared?

If yes, he could understand now why people looked for this feeling so desperately. Why Wolowitz and Leonard bent themselves over backwards just for a taste. Yet, at the same time…he doubted it. He didn't want to become someone else just to be with Penny, he didn't think she would like him to be someone else.

This led him to voice a question about a subject he truly didn't understand. "Penny? Why do people cheat?"

Seeing the smile slowly disappear from her face, he suspected that he had made a mistake.

"Penny? Why do people cheat?" And just like that her good mood was gone. She tried to not to, but still a tired sigh managed to escape her lips.

"Why do you want to know Honey?" Sheldon didn't ask random questions, something was brewing in that head of his.

Her disappointment slowly melted away at his explanation. He had really enjoyed kissing, but he sort of implied that he had enjoyed it because it was her and only her. Which was romantic on its own but still, the mood was shot.

"Well…there's not one answer I think. When Kurt cheated on me he claimed that it was because I was working too much and not paying enough attention to him, but that was a lie. And later I found out that he had cheated pretty much from the start. I don't know why he thought telling me 'It was only physical, I didn't love any of them' was a good idea." She shrugged and smiled sadly.

"I see. Do you think having a relationship contract in place would have prevented him from cheating?" He asked her seriously and she had to laugh a little to herself.

"You know Sheldon, I don't think it would have. Some people just lack that self-restraint. Like I said, there's not one true answer for this. Some people do it for the thrill, others because of their own insecurities, others do it because they can and nothing else. Kurt was like this, he did it because he could."

Sheldon nodded and returned to his food. She did the same and finished her noodles and dumplings. The night had started so nice, took a strange and exciting turn and now it would end on a…thoughtful note. She didn't care about Kurt anymore, but it was still a sore spot for her, four years of her life wasted just like that.

Just as she was about to start cleaning up, Sheldon spoke up. "Penny. I find myself strangely distraught at the idea of you being romantically affectionate, physically or emotionally, with anyone else. Curious. What is the correct procedure in these situations?" His face was serious.

Putting her container on the table, she grabbed Sheldon's hand and ran her thumb over his knuckles, for all the talk he did about being an evolved existence, he was very human. "We trust each other. I'm going to trust that you won't be looking for anyone else to be in a relationship with and you're going to trust me with the same thing."

He looked down at their hands and nodded. He turned his hand and she intertwined their fingers.

"I have no interest in other people." He squeezed her hand. "And I understand that I can be difficult, please be direct with me so I can understand how to properly navigate this relationship."

Her heart swooned again. Just like with everything else in his life, Sheldon was going to face this head on. He would not play games, make passive aggressive comments or even be jealous or possessive, because that's not who he was. He was confident of the person he was and the rest of the world would have to deal with it.

"I can do that." She smiled at him. "Maybe a relationship contract wouldn't be such a bad idea."

"Oh goody!"

Maybe this whole thing would come back to bite her in the ass, but despite their differences, she had a good feeling about this. Of course she regretted thinking that almost right away because the rest of their date night was spent working out a contract that both were happy with. It felt weird to put stuff like 'We'll talk about issues as soon as they come up and work out a solution.' but then again, all her previous relationships had gone to hell. She was ready to give this a try.

Sadly, no more kissing happened that night and Penny went to bed frustrated but overall happy. They had DnD night in a couple of days and she'd try to bring up the subject of her and Sheldon going out naturally.

Leonard slammed the door of his car and sulkily sat on the driver's seat. He and Leslie had been dating since that night he found her by accident, he thought that things were going great and that's why he brought up the idea of him moving in with Leslie. He had still not found a place…okay, if he was being totally honest with himself, he hadn't been looking for one so it wasn't that he hadn't found one. Howard didn't need to know that of course.

But now, he had put himself out there and asked Leslie to move in with her only for her to laugh in his face!

"Leonard, we have a good thing going on. Let's not ruin it." He could still hear her voice.

"But Leslie! I love you, I thought you loved me too!" He begged her, begged!

Leslie let out an annoyed breath, crossed her arms in front of her chest and leveled a look at him. "Look, cut your losses while I still find your whining cute. We have a good thing going, I like this arrangement. This works for me. At one point I might have taken your BS, but then you left me for Malibu Barbie…something for which you haven't apologized for, by the way. So leave it."

And that's why he was here now, sitting in his car instead of in bed with his girlfriend. He slammed his hands on the steering wheel before finally starting the car and driving towards Howard's house.

"Ah fuck it." He muttered and changed directions to one of Howard's favorite bars. Howard liked it because the vibe was classy and there were a lot of older women that for a change hit on him. But Leonard only wanted a drink, just one drink and he'd go home.

Sitting at the bar he ordered a Cuba-libre and pulled out his phone, he was deciding if he should call Leslie or not when the seat next to him was occupied by a gorgeous woman. She put even Penny to shame.

Bronze skin, perfectly silky black hair and a face that belonged in Hollywood. He stole glances at her from time to time as he sipped his drink. Sighing when he reached the bottom of the glass he stood up to pay when his seat neighbor spoke to him in a very sexy accent. "So that's it? You're going to look at me while you have your drink and won't even buy me a drink afterwards?" She tilted her head and the smile she gave him was downright devilish.

Leonard looked down at his phone, he had Leslie's contact open. He put his phone away and sat right back down while motioning to the bartender to get him and the woman a new glass. "Hi, I'm Leonard." He hoped that he managed to sound confident and suave but her giggle was more amused than impressed, but he would take it.

"I'm Priya." She smiled at him and he melted.

The next morning it was his cell phone ringing what woke him up, he clumsily put his glasses on and looked at the display. 'Leslie.'

Trying to do as little noise as possible he moved into the bathroom and picked up the call. Leslie apologized and admitted that she had been too harsh on him, but she felt that moving in together would be too hasty. However, she did invite him to stay the night so she could make it up to him. Something which he wholeheartedly agreed to.

"I'll see you later then. Love you." Leslie could be tender and he was glad he was one of the few persons that knew this side of her.

"I love you too. See you later." Since he was in the bathroom already, he decided to wash his face before going back to the bedroom.

"Don't tell me that was your girlfriend." An unamused voice greeted him. Priya sat in bed and even hungover she looked amazing.

"No, no, no, no. No. Just my mom, I'm meeting her for dinner later today." He laughed nervously. This had been a mistake, but no one had to know. He was a good guy that made a mistake. That's all this was.