A/N I'm back ! That you all so much for continuing to follow! I have been working on my first original work of erotic fiction. If you are interested you can find me on my personal website .

I realize there are long breaks between updates, but I am going to finish what I started. I have a particular ending in mind, so I look forward to getting there together - hopefully in the next few months.

That being said – I am taking some liberties with the story from here. I haven't seen Young Sheldon and I stopped watching the series.

So there will be lots of OOC from here onward. I hope you still enjoy the story.

As usual, I don't own the things, so don't sue me!

Bernadette was sitting in her pajamas ready to settle in for the night. The news was on and Howard was already snoring open mouthed on the couch next to her. She smiled to herself thinking about waking him when a pounding on the door made them both start.

"What the fr–!" Howard exclaimed jumping to his feet in a panic. "Bernie, go to the bedroom and grab the heavy flashlight."

He moved towards the door, moving to the closet where they stored their emergency baseball bat. The bat was comically big for her small husband, and she doubted he would be much help, but she appreciated him trying.

Bernadette was about to point this out when Amy's voice came through the door, muffled but clear. "I know about Sheldon and Penny!"

Both Howard and Bernadette looked at each other worried.

"Uh, you know, on second thought, you better get this." Howard said already pushing past Bernadette to get to the bedroom.

"You weasel, I'll get you for this." She whispered harshly at his retreating back.

Resigned she went to open the door. On the other side stood Amy, eyes red rimmed.

"Did you know?" she demanded.

Bernadette sighed. "Yea, I knew."

Amy moved past the shorter woman into the apartment. "So, she told you, but she couldn't be bothered to tell me? And you didn't think I'd want to know?"

"Amy -"

"And I assume Howard knows too? Who else? Raj? Leonard?!"

"Well…not Leonard." Bernadette said.

"Oh great, so I'm not the absolute last to know." There were bitter notes in her voice.

Bernadette sighed and closed the door. "Sit down. I'll make cookies."

Amy sat at the kitchen table while Bernadette pulled out a batch of frozen cookie dough. She pre-heated the oven and then sat down.

"I know you probably don't wanna hear this right now, but I've been there before."

"Well, then I hope you know some type of protocol to follow, preferably one that involves copious amounts of wine."

"Nope, that's the one thing I do know. Wine, booze, they don't help. The only thing that ever helps is distractions and time. There's no magic formula."

"The wine always seemed to help Penny." The name sounded harsh.

Bernadette hesitated. Unlike herself and Penny, Amy had never been through this before. Should she tread carefully, or rip off the band-aid? Before she could decide, Amy went on.

"I thought this was my idea. I ended things with Sheldon. I didn't plan on exploding like this. It just happened. In theory, the prospect of being with someone else should be enough distraction. Shouldn't it?" Amy was talking fast now, emotion in her voice. "I can't understand what these emotions are indicating. I should be focused on this new wave of emotions, but I can't help thinking of what could have been."

"Well, he was your first boyfriend. You'll always feel that way."

"It also feels like Penny is going to just going to get bored with him the way she did with Leonard."

Yep, the band aid might need to come off.

"Well, I know you probably don't want to think about this, but I don't think she will."

Amy met Bernadette's gaze.

"I don't think she will either... and it makes me feel worse."

If Penny had ever envisioned a flight with Sheldon would be easy, all those thoughts were dashed by midmorning. They had taken a very expensive taxi ride as Sheldon had vetoed her plans of an UBER or SuperShuttle. During the ride she was treated with the usual dose of his personal lecture on safety protocols, a 20-minute history on aircraft technology with a lot of physics she tried but failed miserably to understand, and a review of why train travel was superior. He finally finished the ride by confessing that plane travel was still statistically safer than driving a car, but that the statistical methods to calculate this were "mediocre at best". By the time she had checked in their luggage during all this she was eyeing the airport Starbucks wondering if she should splurge or just settle for the free stuff on the plane.

"We're in boarding class A, not that it matters because our seats are assigned, but I would rather board immediately than wait in the lobby."

"Huh?" Groggy from the long morning, she had to process what he said. "Assigned?"

Penny had only ever taken low end airlines, a sardine can, but always the cheapest flights around. They still had airplane snacks, so she was happy.

"Yes." He gave her a confused look to mirror her own. "We're in first class."

"Really?" Penny was suddenly excited. "You didn't have to go through the trouble for such a short flight. Isn't it expensive?" Her words were half-hearted as she now felt a little giddy for the first-class treatment.

Sheldon breathed through his nose in a half laugh. "If I'm going to spend money on a ticket, I'd rather spend it well. Besides. Your ticket was free. I used my airline miles."

"But you hardly ever fly …"

"No, but my mother refuses to take a train when she visits so I fly her out."

Wondering at this, Penny realized she never really had much insight into Sheldon's relationship with his family. It was like she would be meeting them for the first time all over again because of all that had changed. This replaced the giddiness in her with anxiety as she heard their boarding information being called.

Once on the plane her enthusiasm returned, and she ignored the panic. The seats were organized in pairs and had plenty of space. Penny reached up to put away her carry-on when a petite brunette walked up and stopped her with a gentle hand.

"Oh, miss, let me," she said taking Penny's considerably packed and heavy bag as though it were a throw pillow.

Sheldon handed over his own messenger bag and guided Penny to her seat with a hand on her lower back. The gesture sent a small thrill through her body.

Penny took her seat and looked over to him heat rising to her cheeks. Last night had been one for the books and she was still reeling. For the thousandth time, she wondered what had come over him.

Sheldon met her gaze as well. He read her features and after a beat she knew he followed her train of thought as a smirk started at the corner of his lips.

Penny looked out the window at the people working outside the plane suppressing a grin.

This was turning out to be fun, maybe she had nothing to worry about after all.

As other passengers finished boarding it was finally time to take off. Penny hated this part. Clutching her hand rest, she looked out the window. Watching the strip fall away was exciting, but many what ifs ran through her mind. She was surprised when a gentle hand took hers and held it tightly.

"I hate take off too," Sheldon said his eyes conveying much the same.

Penny squeezed his hand back. "I forget to be afraid once I see the view from the air."

"It is rather amazing, isn't it," Sheldon agreed, but his thumb ran over her knuckles making her wonder if he was talking about the view at all. He looked like he was hyper focused on the skin of her hand.

"I hope you don't mind that I took the liberty of ordering us a king bed at the hotel," Sheldon said, leaning close to her in his seat. Hearing Sheldon speak so openly sent another thrill through her. She felt as though she were buzzing.

"Not at all…"

She leaned closer as well when a voice made them both bounce apart.

"Can I start your order so it can be ready when we reach altitude? Breakfast or mimosas perhaps?" The stewardess asked nonchalantly.

"I'll have a bran muffin and an orange juice, Penny?"

She turned to see the stewardess and Sheldon waiting expectantly. "Oh, uhm …" she pulled the small pamphlet with the menu out of the pouch behind the seat in front of her. She had to lean forward slightly because of the amount of leg room. After glancing at it making a split-second decision to get a bagel and a vanilla latte instead of the mimosa.

The stewardess went off to continue preparations and Penny turned back to Sheldon.

She buckled in and turned to Sheldon, "I was almost a stewardess y'know."

"Flight attendant is the preferred term I think," he corrected.

She leveled a glare in his direction, and he rewarded her by looking chastised for once. Did she really have that kind of power over him now? She continued on, "I thought it would be fun. I wanted to see the world. Then I realized I'd probably only see the inside of airports and airline hotels."

"At some point I wanted to be a physician but dealing with people is exhausting. Especially with so many who do not take their health seriously."

"Yea, I couldn't see you being patient with your patients." She scrunched her nose imagining it.

"To be fair, I couldn't see you practicing patience with your patients either. ...although, you do have a good bedside manner."

"Was that an innuendo?" She asked, amused by the idea.

"It wasn't, but I guess it could be taken as such."

"Well, I never thought I'd see the day," she teased bemused.

"I think it's fair to say at this point we have embarked on a series of events that altered our paths in a great deal of ways. I very well could be a physician any day now. Lord knows I have more math under my belt than the average MD."

"At this rate, maybe I could be a doctor too."

Sheldon cocked his head, "You know. It is entirely a possibility. Have you ever considered the medical field?"

Penny let out a bark of a laugh.

Sheldon didn't blink.

Her laugh faltered, "What? You're not serious, are you?"

"All alternate theory possibilities aside, I think the medical field is one that has a wide range -"

"Sheldon, you're kidding right? All of these other fields I mentioned don't add up to doctor."

"Maybe not at this point in your life, but maybe you have some transferrable units that can be moved over. Have you taken any STEM courses?"

The flight attended arrived at that moment to hand them their meals and drinks, giving Penny the chance to gape at Sheldon. He seemed to have stopped joking, but she couldn't help but search for signs he was teasing her.

"STEM? I've taken communication and some theater..."

"Any math?"

Memory of her barely passing algebra score came to mind. "Some," she replied sipping her coffee hoping it would wake her up enough to comprehend what was happening.

Sheldon seemed to get his own burst of energy. "Let's look up your transcripts."

He was standing up in a moment and digging for his laptop in his laptop bag. Penny was trying to cool her latte so she could chug it.

Leonard was severely jet lagged. He had taken a red eye to save money and was wishing now he had spent the extra money instead.

He walked the familiar pathway to his office at Cal Tech hoping it had not been reassigned yet. He had a meeting at noon to present his benchmark report and wanted a place to set up his laptop. There was always the break room, but he was a little nostalgic and wanted to visit people. Well, at least some people. Knowing there was a good chance he'd run into Sheldon was enough to make him a little annoyed, but distance had made him a little fonder of his old roommate. His new roommate was a considerable improvement, seeing as how it was his new girlfriend, Alex.

Arriving at the door where the conference was being held, he was surprised to see that several people were already inside including Kripke and Raj. He made his way over to join them, opting to delay his office visit. Raj stood to give him a one-armed hug and welcome him back.

"How was the flight?" Raj asked.

"I slept some, but I'm definitely feeling the time difference," as if to emphasize the point a yawn escaped him as he set his bag down and pulled out his laptop.

"Jet lag is the worst, anytime I visit my family it takes me a week to recover," Raj sympathized.

Gablehouser entered the room with the A/V people and began setting up the projector and a laptop.

"Oh good, we're all here, we can start now and end early," he said enthusiastically. "I'm sure the rest of you have holiday plans you would like to get to as well."

"We're missing Dr. Cooper," Leonard pointed out.

"No, Doctor Cooper took time off."

Leonard scoffed, then saw no one else was laughing. "What? Sheldon took vacation time? But Comic Con isn't until the end of the month."

"He's taking his new girlfwend to see his family in Texas," Kripke told him conspiratorially. Then he gave a loud "ow!" and grabbed for his shin.

Raj must have kicked him under the desk. "He's going to the big Fourth of July party his mom throws."

"He's been dating Amy for months – and he hates that party. He avoids it like a literal plague."

Raj wouldn't meet his eye and Leonard grew suspicious.

"I don't know what the big deal is," Kripke looked affronted at Raj. "I thought everyone knew he was dating that Woxanne girl."

Leonard squinted confused, "Roxanne? You mean Penny?"

"Let's start the meeting, right?" Raj said loudly, but the A/V guys were still setting up.

"Penny isn't Sheldon's girlfriend, they're just friends. Although it does makes sense that if anyone was going to get him to go to that party it would be her. His mom always had a soft spot for Penny. And she's always been able to get him to..."

The machinations began in his head and wouldn't stop. Suddenly several things just fell into place. Every time Sheldon was sick. Anytime a boundary was adjusted. His overall comfort with Penny. The way he sought her out willingly whenever he had a dilemma.

"But... Sheldon is with Amy," he reaffirmed, looking at Raj.

"No, dude," Raj finally met his gaze, and the apology was written all over his face. "Amy broke up with him. She submitted the notarized paperwork and everything."

Leonard felt a rock fall from his chest into his stomach. "No, there is no way. No way. That Penny would -"

"Like a tall texan man with dreamy blue eyes?" Raj made the it sound like it was an obvious choice.

"But he's Sheldon and Penny has … needs. The things he wouldn't even do with Amy! Plus he has all those rules and contracts."

"Yea, but, let's be honest, if anyone was going to break those rules, it would be Penny."

The last piece fell into place with a thud, he thought he might be sick. Raj was right. If anyone could get Sheldon to do that. It would be Penny.

Sheldon navigated through the crowded arrivals gate, reading the directory signs as he went. When they almost got bumped apart Penny reached for his hand and he didn't pull away. Instead, he held her hand in his, anchoring her to his side. He told himself it was perfectly normal, but the fact he had to repeat it like a mantra inside his head was telling him otherwise.

Being back home always made him anxious. In California, he didn't have classmates or family friends to bump into, but once they were closer to home that would change. The Fourth of July block party was an annual event and that meant lots of people. He'd avoided it for years, but his mother had finally found a way around his normal defenses against this sort of thing.

"Uhm, Sheldon, that sign has your name on it." Penny said pointing towards the airport exit where families were waiting.

He finally spotted a sign with his last name on it, followed by an array of his titles. He knew that penmanship.

Across the crowd the man was turning his head back and forth slightly, his eyes were impossible to see behind dark frames, but he was unmistakably looking for them. Sheldon nearly let go of Penny's hand instinctively.

Why should you? A voice inside asked sternly. He could not tell if it was his, Penny's, or some other tone, but he agreed it made sense.

Instead, his grip tightened on Penny's, and he strode across the crowd as the man's gaze finally fell on them.

"Hello, George," Sheldon said coming up to stand eye to eye with his brother. "I'd ask what you're doing here, but I know mom probably sent you."

"You never were one to miss a beat… or a social cue," George said removing his glasses. "Aren't you gonna introduce me to your girlfriend?"

Blue eyes nearly identical to Sheldon's fell on Penny. These though, held much more mischief and had the laugh lines to tell they were older. He was as tall as Sheldon but stockier and his hands rougher.

She took this all in silently because her brain had stopped functioning as one word echoed around in it.

Girlfriend.

There were so many implications in the word, yet this man – Sheldon's brother she assumed – had just blurted it out innocently. She couldn't help but look over to Sheldon and watch for the reaction.

"George, this is Penny. Penny, George."

The moment had climbed and fell so quickly it was a blur. She didn't know what she had expected. She took George's outstretched hand and shook it hoping the blush she felt on her cheeks went unnoticed.

"So why are you here?" Sheldon continued. "I told mom there was a hotel shuttle that would take us into town. Unless … She cancelled – !

"She cancelled the hotel." George finished the sentence nodding. "You know how she is during this thing. Anyway, I'll give you a lift to the house. She's got me on quite a few errands today."

He grabbed Sheldon's rolling luggage and Sheldon took hers, leaving Penny to follow along with just her carry on and a confused look on her face.

"So then where are we staying? I had booked accommodations for us anticipating the house to be full for the party. She kept insisting we would stay at the house, but there is hardly enough room for Penny and me in the guest house."

"Oh, yea, guest house is full up," George drawled leading the way to a large black flatbed parked in the small premium parking lot. He placed both suitcases in the bed and secured them with a thin yellow rope while Sheldon pulled open the backdoor.

Penny climbed inside to find a pretty, petite woman with short cropped black hair in the driver's seat.

"Hi there, I'm Christie, a pleasure to meet you!" She held out her hand to Penny who maneuvered to shake the woman's hand in the cramped space. She had a friendly, open face and sweet brown eyes.

"Hi, I'm Penny. Thanks for the lift." She took her seat behind the woman as Sheldon came in behind her.

"No problem, George said Sheldon had girl with him and I had to see it for myself. I must say, you aren't at all what I expected."

"Well, I left my Star Trek uniform at the cleaners, so…" Penny said with a shrug.

"Haha! And with a sense of humor! George, I think Sheldon finally found out how to hack the human brain! We better call NASA!"

"I've done work for NASA, I could give you their number," Sheldon replied buckling his seat belt. "Although, they'd hardly be interested in anything neurological."

"Hello to you too, Shelley." The woman said turning around again her smile a little tighter.

"Hello, Christie." Sheldon buckled in then turned back to his brother. "Where is mom having us stay if we're not getting a hotel?"

"I don't know, and I know better than to ask when she has a sharp knife in her hand. She's been cooking and cleaning all morning. You're better off just asking – or being told rather – when you get there."

Penny was getting a bit too familiar with the stress she was feeling. Being in the back of a truck with Sheldon's family members was sinking in. The word girlfriend bounced around again.

Their conversation on the plane resurfaced and she remembered him looking over her transcripts. Penny had expected judgment and harsh words, but he saw nothing but potential. She was overwhelmed by his optimism. Her thoughts turned cloudy as she thought about that scenario.

Sheldon couldn't imagine failure because he was unfamiliar with it. He was a genius. A prodigy. He succeeded in all avenues of his life and had no idea what it was like for Penny. She struggled in classes that he dismissed as a breeze. Could she really pursue any of those majors he had mentioned?

The sunny drive suddenly seemed daunting. This trip had seemed like such a simple thing at first. Now it felt like a test.

Sheldon hadn't missed a beat when it was said. Maybe she shouldn't either, but it held a lot of connotations that she hadn't considered completely when they were just … Whatever it was they were doing. Playing it back she tried to imagine what she would say to the people she was about to meet. What if they asked what she did for a living? Or where she went to school? What if they thought she was a brainiac like him?

Or like Amy.

The guilt and emotions all came flooding back. She wished she had a mimosa instead of the latte now. . .

The truck hit a pothole and they all bounced in their seats. An arm reached out pushing her back down into her seat. She looked up at Sheldon and he gave her a half smile. The smile made her relax and she smiled to herself too.

A warm thought pushed down the self-doubt she was feeling.

He never smiled like that for Amy.