What I did was unforgivable. I let you all wait a very long time, especially when the show is going off the air soon. But I promise I have a good excuse: In December, my physicist boyfriend of 3 years asked me to marry him! In real life! We had our wedding on Pi Day and it was a beautiful small ceremony. We had it in the rose garden at our university and did a chemical reaction unity ceremony. It was beautiful, and I'm really happy. I hope you'll forgive my lapse in update.

Thanks to all the followers of this story. I get notifications in my inbox and it really makes my day. I'm glad you're all enjoying the story.

I do not own anything that I do not own. ;-)

It was smooth sailing at the university for Sheldon that day. Even his first lecture had been particularly active, the students seeming more awake than usual. He completed his lesson early and was able to take a few minutes typing in his office. When noon rolled around he had a quick lunch and began composing an abstract. Everything was going so well he might even consider re-addressing his field proposal. He was certain he could compose a better argument now that his mind was so clear. After my next lecture, he told himself.

Despite his lapse in sleep he felt energized and as he walked to the lecture hall he noticed many people seemed to eye him differently. He paid it no mind and entered the classroom. The students all sat silently and had notebooks and pens ready to take notes. Each sat identically looking bored and strained at the same time. Curious, he never noticed before. No matter. He went on with his lecture his mind on the new proposal he would write.

He got through the lecture quicker than usual and began discussing his experiences

"Well, I suggest you do your own research on the projects available overseas as it really is an irreplaceable experience. Oh, and let me know if you need any letters of recommendation, I assume you're all talented as it takes tenacity to make to midterms in one of my courses."

A silence slowly fell over the room. Sheldon looked up to see all the students had ceased packing to stare at him.

He looked behind him at the board and then the doorway. "What?"

The students all looked at each other before one female student in the front spoke up.

"Sorry, Doctor Cooper, but you're acting very strange. Did you … just compliment us?"

A girl next to her added, "And you said at the beginning of the quarter if we ever asked for a letter of recommendation we should be prepared for a quote 'letter of brutal evaluation'. . . "

Sheldon thought for a moment and a slow panic began to creep in, he had said that. He remembered saying it before every quarter. His phone buzzed. He usually kept it in his office, but he felt it better to bring it with him. A text from Penny lit up his screen.

Lunch in your office? It read.

"Sorry students, but I have to run. We'll continue this discussion on Monday," he said picking up his bag and leaving the room. He was glad to be away from the inquisition from the students, but a new source of concern was waiting in his office.

Anxiousness filled his chest as he made his way to his office. What on earth was he supposed to say to a woman he had fornicated with? The happy haze he'd been in was being replaced by alarm. He opened the door to the room to find it was empty, but his chair was out of place, facing away from him.

"Penny?"

The chair spun around to reveal not a petite blonde, but a petite Wolowitz.

"Afraid not, Romeo."

Sheldon closed the door with a snap concerned as his stomach sank. The look on the man's face was one of barely contained amusement. That was never a good thing.

"Where's Penny?"

"Probably at home. That text was sent by me. Cell phone spoofing isn't that difficult."

Sheldon swallowed hard. "You're in my desk chair. No one can be in my desk chair."

"Interesting," Howard stood up and rounded the desk leaning against the front of it. "If I had been Penny would you have minded?"

Sheldon realized that somewhere between the lecture hall and his office his good day had vanished. Regret for not creating a confidentiality agreement for Penny was surfacing to replace the joy.

"What did she tell you?"

"Nothing. I'm only here because Bernadette told me she found Penny in your apartment wearing nothing but your shirt and my sanity requires me to confirm that she is mistaken."

Sheldon swallowed hard again. If he kept calm he could salvage this. He could come up with a believable ruse.

Instead he remained silent, rushed to his chair and sat down roughly, pulling open his desk. "I think I'll head home, I'm feeling a bit under the weather."

"What the frack?! How?!" Howard was leaning over Sheldon his hands splayed on the desk surface.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Sheldon felt his eye twitch to betray him. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a bus to catch."

"Oh no, you're not getting off that easily, excuse my phrasing. I'll take you home and you can fill me in on exactly how you found this wormhole into an impossible universe."

For reasons beyond what Sheldon's logic could piece together, the part of Howard's sentence that rang through his mind was the word impossible. Sheldon had heard that word used many times in the past and it irked him.

"Impossible?"

"Yea, you have clearly stumbled onto the exact circumstances for which 'getting lucky' has been invented. You got Penny because she was in a vulnerable position and looking for a rebound. In my bachelor days I would scope relationship forums for these exact situations and then make my move. Usually my move only involved a webcam though…"

Sheldon stood to his full height. "Wolowitz, I can assure you that if I had indeed endeavored to pursue Penny, not only would I have succeeded, but I would have achieved coitus with my own merits. Luck, or whatever lewd exploitation you have just described would have nothing to do with it."

Howard smirked, then moved to pick up his discarded bag from the floor as Sheldon stared at him in anger.

"Well," he told Sheldon. "You can tell me exactly how you did that while I drive you home because I had a bet going with Bernie and you've just confirmed that I lost."

He moved to leave and Sheldon packed a file from his desk into his bag hurriedly and followed, completely perplexed.

"What was the wager?" Sheldon asked.

"The wager was that Penny stumbled into your apartment drunk and angry that Leonard has moved onto your former assistant and you – being a true Texan gentleman, let her sleep it off in your room. The other, more improbable bet, was that the two of you, both in rebound status, stumbled into each other naked repeatedly throughout the night. My money was on you, being the stoic robot you are, letting a drunk Penny take your bed for the night. So now that I've lost, you have to at least tell me how it happened."

They arrived outside the building and made their way to the parking lot.

"I will do no such thing. I will neither confirm nor deny the accuracy of anything you just said."

"Oh, in that case, you can remain silent while I do you a favor and give you a lift home."

After escaping Howard's car at the apartment Sheldon was thoroughly drained. It was nearly 7 pm, the sun had gone down and his schedule was obliterated beyond recognition. The ramifications of his and Penny's rendezvous had never occurred to him. He was convinced he needed to talk to her immediately and chalk everything up to a one time lapse in judgment. There was no way that he could deal with this type of interference on a long term basis.

As he climbed the stairs and thought of what to say images of her surfaced in his mind. It had been happening all day. He unlocked the door lost in the thoughts and images of Penny beneath him. As though summoned there Penny stood in the center of the living room, though she was wearing her own clothes this time. She paused, a stack of Sheldon's magazines in her hands.

He looked around. The entire living room seemed to have returned to his specifications.

"Have you been cleaning?"

Working on the next bit. Please read and review :D