Summary:

Course correction...for some.

"I believe we need to break up."

"Oh…" Penny couldn't say anything else because this was not at all what she expected. There hadn't been any signs, heck, this morning Sheldon was almost late because their goodbye kiss turned into a makeout session. Tears sprang to her eyes immediately and her throat closed up.

It didn't make sense.

Wait. It didn't make sense, that wasn't a very Sheldon thing to do. Choking up, she managed to get out. "Why?"

Sheldon shuffled on his feet but he explained it fully. He had just obtained a grant for an expedition to the Arctic. Three months as a minimum and six months the longest. She would be laughing if she wasn't so angry.

"That's it?" She tried and failed to keep her voice down. "That's it?! That's the reason you're breaking up with me?!"

"You once mentioned that long distance relationships were doomed to fail." Sheldon's voice was subdued and if she wasn't so angry, she'd feel bad.

"Okay 'Genius', answer these questions then. Are you planning to never return from the Arctic?"

"As I said a moment…" She narrowed her eyes and tapped her foot. "Yes, I plan to return." He said after noticing her look.

Penny nodded. "Okay good, nice. Are you planning to move out?" She knew she was making her 'Are you a dumbass?' face which was the same face her mom used whenever her dad messed up.

"No."

"Are you interested in starting a relationship with someone else?"

"No."

"Then why would you break up with me?!" She threw her arms up in exasperation.

"I thought that due to your feelings regarding long distance relationships this would make the most sense…Penny, your eye is twitching." Sheldon looked concerned as he took a step towards her but she raised her hand and with the other covered her eye.

"And once you came back from your expedition?" She was trying to stay calm but with each answer Sheldon gave her she just got more and more upset.

"If by the time I came back you were not involved in a romantic relationship, then I would ask you out again." He said it so calmly and confidently that for a moment she just stared at him, hands on her hips. She wasn't even sure what face she was making at that moment, but Sheldon actually took a step back. "I feel like I might have said something I shouldn't have."

"You think?" Her voice was calm and she could see him gulp when he heard her tone. "I'm going to go on a little drive, maybe eat a burrito or two. And when I'm back you better have the damn best apology of your life." Not waiting to hear his response she grabbed her keys and still in her pajamas she left the apartment.

Brian thought his kids were a handful, but now as he tried to massage the massive headache away he had to correct himself. He liked Sheldon, but the man still had a lot to learn about relationships.

"No no, I heard you the first time. I'm just trying to figure out the logic behind it all because this doesn't make any damn sense to me." He sighed in exasperation and kept rubbing his forehead.

"Penny implied something similar." Sheldon's voice came clear through the phone. "I am admittedly outside of my area of expertise so I deemed it necessary to contact you."

"You did the right thing. I just wished you had talked to me first."

"...duly noted."

"Well, this one is not going to be easy. Give me five minutes and I'll drive over to your place. Do you know how to cook?"

"Yes, my Meemaw taught me."

"Okay good. Be right there."

Penny sat on the hood of her car and watched the cars drive below. When she had first moved to Pasadena she had searched for great lookout points but most required some sort of hiking to reach them. No, she wanted the ones from the movies, where you could drive up to them and just watch the city below.

The Arroyo lookout point might not look like much to most, but to her it was her magical place, this is where she came to celebrate getting her first audition, where she came to cry after a fight with Kurt and where she spent the night before moving to Los Robles.

Her new apartment was even closer now, just a five minute drive away.

Penny sighed before taking another bite of her beans and cheese burrito. She wanted to stay mad at Sheldon but the anger cooled off knowing that this was his first relationship. He didn't have the experience on how to navigate his own feelings and he had a tendency to put his foot in his mouth, genius or not.

It didn't make it hurt any less though.

For one horrible moment she thought he really was about to tell her he had fallen in love with someone else, and it made her insides freeze. She was halfway in love with the Wackadoodle if she was being honest with herself. She wouldn't be able to survive if he cheated on her.

She was still expecting him to apologize.

Of all the stupid ideas he could have, breaking up with her because he thought she would hate a long distance relationship…oh.

Penny groaned, she couldn't be mad now. She finally got his stupid and twisted logic, he thought this is what she wanted and he wanted to make her happy. For a damn genius he circled back to stupid way too often.

This wasn't fair. She wanted to stay mad for a bit longer.

Well, she still had a burrito left and the sunset from here was always magnificent, so she would enjoy the sunset, finish her burrito and then go home. They were going to talk about this whether he wanted to or not.

"Now, using the tongs make sure all the spaghetti is covered in the oil and chili flakes." Sheldon followed Brian's instructions. "Yeah, like that, we're going to make sure the spaghetti is well covered before we add our tomato sauce."

According to Brian, Sheldon's apology needed to include a home cooked meal.

"Okay, so ladle four servings of the sauce and we're going to let it reduce and char a little." Brian instructed and Sheldon did as he was told. This recipe would now live permanently in his brain. "Excellent, now while we wait. Why did you think this was the correct approach?"

Sheldon kept his eyes on the pan, making sure to not miss when the next ladling was needed. "I thought it would release her from a burden."

"A burden?" Sheldon didn't need to look at Brian to know he was frowning.

"Penny had made it very clear that long distance relationships became a burden on the participants and that she wasn't interested in them." His voice was calm and analytical, revealing none of the distress that had led him to try and break up with Penny.

"I see. And why instead of discussing this with Penny, you decided to make the decision for her?" There was something in Brian's tone of voice that made Sheldon think the other man was waiting for him to 'get' something.

"With the evidence presented at the time, this would be the ideal solution." He thought it was rather obvious.

"Turn the spaghetti and ladle two or three servings of the sauce and let it reduce again. No, Sheldon, it wasn't the ideal solution, but now what I want to know is why did you take her choice away? If Penny decided to break up with you because of it then fine, that would be her choice. But you didn't let her make that decision. You removed her choice and autonomy from the situation."

Sheldon said nothing, pretending to focus on the task of ladling more sauce onto the pan as he mulled over the question.

"Relationships are between two people…well, not always, but I don't want to over complicate things. So, relationships are between two people. They both get a saying about what's going on in the relationship. If you wanted to break up with Penny because you don't love her or because your life goals differ too much then yes, that's perfectly understandable. But don't assume things about your partner. Treat them with respect and let them make their own choices."

"I thought that I was doing the right thing." Sheldon finally said as he turned the spaghetti once more.

"And you're not alone. We all make that mistake at some point. But this is where that whole communication thing that we discussed comes into play. Talk to her, show her that you're listening and treat her in the same way you'd like to be treated."

"Understood." It was rather vexing that he failed to understand this until this very moment. While not the exact same situation, he did the same thing to Penny than his mother had done to him throughout his childhood. He took her choice away.

"Now, you don't need to add cheese, this pasta is savory enough, but if I know Penny then I know she can't get enough cheese so take the cheese and put it on the table and she can add some if she wants."

Sheldon nodded. He would not add cheese to his pasta but Penny might, so he would make sure there was cheese in case she wished to add it.

Penny looked at her apartment door and took a deep breath, trying to settle her nerves. Sheldon wasn't off the hook yet but her anger had cooled off significantly. After a couple of false starts she finally opened the door and called out. "I'm home." Only for her nose to start itching, the air in the apartment was spicy. Had Sheldon cooked something?

"Oh Penny, please wash your hands. Dinner is served." Sheldon was acting like his usual self which was weird considering the fact he had been all torn up about breaking it off with her right before she left to cool off.

"Okay…" She decided to play along, because she wanted to see where he was going with this and also because whatever he had cooked, it smelled amazing.

It took her only a moment to go and wash her hands but before going to have dinner she decided to at least change out of her pajamas and into jeans and a Radiohead shirt. Not the fanciest outfit but it would have to do.

Dinner looked amazing if she was being honest, the spaghetti smelled amazing and the scent only made her hungrier. Just as she was about to ask, she saw Sheldon bring out a plate with a chunk of cheese and a grater, setting it right next to her plate. She didn't want to but the smile broke through before she could stop it.

"I know that you like cheese. This pasta doesn't need it but you have the option to add it." Sheldon told her before he pulled her chair out for her.

Penny raised her eyebrows in surprise. She wanted nothing more than to sit down and start devouring the pasta but she needed to clarify this whole thing with Sheldon before that.

"Honey, I haven't heard any apologies yet." She tried to joke but ended up cringing a little, it sounded a little too much like her mother.

"Ah, yes. Well. This homemade dinner is part of my apology. New information and insight has been brought to my attention that shows my previous actions robbed you of any autonomy or choice in the matter and instead I was being selfish." He did look ashamed, his hands were behind his back but he fidgeted in place and struggled to make eye contact with her.

Penny hummed in thought. "So I'm guessing you no longer want to break up with me then?"

"For full disclosure, I never wanted to do it. I believed that I was doing the right thing. If you don't mind, we can discuss what this opportunity means for me over dinner." Sheldon gestured with his arm towards the table.

But she wasn't letting him off the hook so easily. "Still haven't heard that apology."

"...I'm sorry. I will remember this and in the future bring all issues to the front so we can discuss them together."

She narrowed her eyes at him and didn't answer for a long moment before smiling and going up to him to hug him tightly.

"I'm going to hold you to that and if you break my heart again I'll kick your ass." She mumbled against his chest.

"Don't you mean you'll go 'Junior Rodeo on my ass'?" He returned the hug.

"Nope. Fully kicking your ass."

"Understood."

She pulled him down for a quick kiss. "I would kiss you more but the pasta smells amazing."

"Shall we?" He stepped back slightly and once again gestured to the table, a small smile on his face.

"We shall." She smiled and took her seat.

"Hold up." Toni raised a hand to stop her from continuing. "He tried to break up with you because of that? And you didn't break his legs?"

"Honestly, I was this close." Penny put two fingers together until there was no room between them. "But then I remembered that this whole relationship thing is an entirely new thing for him and I was able to calm down."

"And the spaghetti helped, I bet." Erica jumped in. "That's a Brian specialty by the way. He makes that whenever he messes up."

"Huh, well, it was pretty damn good." Penny admitted and Erica looked proud.

"Nonono, wait, rewind a little. Sheldon is leaving for three to six months?" Carly had a modeling gig that weekend so she wasn't drinking anything to avoid bloating, which made her more than a little cranky. "And he wasn't planning on telling us?"

"I am the frontline here, we talked about this and since Brian already knows he'll be able to help him break the news to the guys." Penny pointed at the backyard where the boys were.

"And you're okay with this?" Toni asked her.

Penny let out a breath. "Yes and no. We're still testing this whole relationship thing and long distance will pretty much put this on ice. Sheldon isn't exactly one for phone sex."

"Ohhhhhhhhhh you already went all the way!" Erica squeed and Penny tried to shush her.

"No, no, not that far. Yet. He's still getting comfortable with us touching each other but yeah, I thought we were close to finally going all the way." Penny sprawled on the couch, she knew she was being overly dramatic but damn it, she liked sex. "And on the other hand, I know how important this is to him. He tried to explain it to me in detail but all I know is that this can give him that Nobel he wants so damn bad."

"Holy shit. For real?" Erica asked wide eyed.

"For real, it is THAT big of a deal."

"Damn." Dani finally said, she had just been listening so far. "I hope you can rock his world before he leaves so he wants to return as soon as possible."

"Here, here!" Erica said, raising her glass and sloshing some of her drink on herself as the rest cackled and Penny blushed.

"Do we want to know?" Jonjon's voice made them stop, they hadn't even heard the guys come in.

"So did Sheldon tell you guys?" Penny ignored him.

"About him leaving for an expedition? Yeah. Did you know that Sheldon can hunt?" Jonjon looked excited.

"Yeah, his daddy taught him to shoot." Penny said proudly.

"My Meemaw did as well, she said my father couldn't shoot fish in a barrel to save his life."

Sheldon's trip was scheduled for a couple of weeks later, so that night it didn't really feel real and they were all able to have their regular DnD night.

Questions and plans could wait, Penny thought.

"Did you hear?" Howard asked excitedly as he barged into Raj's office.

"No, what?" Raj kept working on his paper, only glancing briefly at his friend.

"Sheldon got a grant and he's going to the Arctic!" Howard finally blurted out excitedly.

"Wait what? Really? But-No wait, why are you so excited?"

"Are you kidding me? We will finally be able to go have lunch at that new Greek restaurant! Without Sheldon here it means we can skip the cafeteria!"

Raj laughed at his friend's enthusiasm. "We can also go to that new taco truck then."

"My friend, we will eat like kings." Howard threw an arm around Raj.

"We need to go have dinner with him and Penny to congratulate him."

"I know, I know, I know."

Leonard ate his shitty tuna salad sandwich on a bench. He hated tuna salad but the 7/11 had run out of everything else so this would have to do. Someday he would have the courage to go back to the cafeteria and eat his lunch at a corner table. But that day wasn't today.

He never thought that he would get to relive his high school days.

Almost everyone he knew had been at the party and they all saw him get slapped for cheating on Leslie. Now he was politely ignored everywhere he went.

High school had brought jeers and bullying but now it was somehow worse, people pretended that he didn't exist, gave him fake smiles and were overly polite to him. It burned at him.

He was never popular but here at Caltech he had been Sheldon's roommate and that had given him some form of commiseration from others, he had friends, was part of a group. Sure, it wasn't what he had envisioned, he wasn't part of the popular guys but he was the coolest of the group.

Sheldon was Sheldon and he was the crazy one. Raj couldn't even talk to women and when he could was because of alcohol. Howard was even shorter than he was and he physically repelled women.

Leonard had been the normal one.

And now here he was, alone, eating a cold sandwich that he hated and living out of his car.

Living the dream.

To add insult to injury, he had just heard about Sheldon's grant and expedition. For a moment he had considered asking Sheldon to join him but he quickly discarded that idea, he would end up killing the tall man.

Leonard ate the final bite of his sandwich. But there was a silver lining to Sheldon's expedition. Penny would be alone. He was certain that if he was able to talk to her that they could give it another shot. She must be tired of Sheldon anyway and with him in the Arctic it would be impossible for Sheldon to interfere in their relationship again.

The perfect plan.

Of course, that meant he still needed to find Penny. He didn't know where she lived but he did know where he could find her for sure. The Cheesecake Factory.

'Leonard Hofstadter, you're the man.' He thought to himself and immediately felt embarrassed.