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Gravity	By : FemmeBono Category: 1 through F > The Big Bang Theory Views: 9703 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Big Bang Theory, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Gravity
- 2-Cht 2
- 3-Cht 3
- 4-Cht 4
- 5-Cht 5
- 6-Cht 6
- 7-Cht 7
- 8-Cht 8
- 9-Cht 9
- 8
- 9
A/N: Thanks for pointing out the disorder of the story. Apparently I didn't update here EVERY time I did on ff.net soo...things got screwy. I have since gone in and deleted/re-added the chapters in the correct order so there are no gaps. Hopefully it's a lot more coherent. And to think, I only wrote a chapter or two drunk--uploading them I was perfectly sober. *shrug*
Cht 9

So Sheldon drove to Celestino, a strange silence enveloping the car as Penny had been utterly shocked speechless. She could not put into words the maelstrom of thoughts swirling through her head. He handled the car well, as though he had been doing it for years, yet she knew he could only have been at it for months. He was cautious almost to the point of driving like her grandmother, obeying all the traffic laws, earning a couple of honks for his troubles. And when he finally pulled into the parking lot near the restaurant, he smoothly swung out of the car and was at her door before it even registered with her. He took her hand and kept it folded in his, tucking it into his elbow as they crossed the street to the entrance. He met the maître d’ at the stand as they entered and gave his name.
Penny glanced around at the bar and dining room, the deep wood grain and rosy tinted walls with the soft lighting made it perfectly romantic. “Sheldon, this is gorgeous!” she breathed as she followed he and the waiter outside to the patio. Sheldon broke contact long enough to pull her chair out, remembering his brother’s words from years ago, as they had been emblazoned on his brain, “pull out all the stops, brother man, and the ladies would be putty in your hands too.” So surely enough, for the woman he wanted, he would do so and do it to the fullest, as he did with everything.
He seated himself and looked at Penny, who was unabashedly staring at him as though he were a perfect stranger. He smiled, his genuine I Love Trains smile, so unlike the Kill Batman version, that Penny’s quiet disbelief gave way to pleasure and she smiled back. “This is amazing, sweetie, but um… how did you already have reservations?”
“I came on the last Anything Can Happen Thursday, and liked it so much that I made it my new Thursday place since Giacomo’s went out of business. I find their steaks are infinitely better than pizza, but I’ve also made Sunday nights pizza night from Fast Eddie’s, which is infinitely better than Giacomo’s anyway. There’s a much more satisfying sauce to cheese ratio, which Giacomo’s was sadly lacking, and is likely why they went out of business in the first place.“
“I see. So what’s good here?”
“Oh the Bistecca alla Fiorentina, without doubt. I also recommend the chocolate gelato. It beats the metaphorical pants off regular chocolate ice cream.”
Penny could not stop the laugh that bubbled up. The place was so elegant, but the discussion was so Sheldon it was unreal. Here they were, sitting in an open-air patio lined with string lights and decadent scents wafting through the air. Yet there was Sheldon, rattling on about his whacky scheduling. The evening progressed this way, with Penny feeling every minute as though she was in a dream world. The steak was buttery and tender, the ambiance to die for, and the company...well, the company was what made it all surreal.
Penny thought back to the last time she and Sheldon had gone on any kind of outing together. They had gone to Disneyland and he had thrown up on her shoes after riding Space Mountain. This was so vastly different, she mused, as he chattered on about the episodes of Battlestar Galactica he was going to watch when they got back. She found herself oddly flattered that Sheldon was trying, it appeared, for her. He had jealously ruined her date with another man, shown an obvious and frankly intriguing attraction to her, and had turned it all around and brought her on what was turning out to be a really fabulous date. She almost sighed.
"So," he said, winding down, "what about you Penny?"
"What about me what?" she asked, jarred back from her musings.
"How are your classes?"
"Oh! They're fine. They're just...fine." Was he really asking her about things that interested her? "We're going to a buyer's market next week--all of my merchandising class--and this week we sat in on a design meeting at one of the top firms in the area. It was amazing to see what all goes into fashion from a business standpoint. I had no idea."
"And how's work?" he said as the waiter rolled the dessert cart their way and a bus boy discreetly cleared their plates away.
"Work's good," Penny smiled. "I'm learning loads there too. I've started chatting up the designers when they come into the lab to work, trying to find out who some of their influences are and what design houses they want to work for. It's great networking, because if any of them get picked up, I'll have connections for when I start buying."
Sheldon could not care less what she was doing. He had no interest in buyer's markets or design houses, but what he did notice was how alight Penny was when she talked of her classes and work. She had cut back to part time at the Cheesecake Factory--still working Tuesdays--but the majority of her time outside of class was now spent working the design lab at the Fashion Institute. Their new routine was for him to meet her at the lab at the end of the day, walking to the parking garage together before making their way home after stopping at whatever eatery Sheldon's immaculate schedule called for on that particular day.
As it was, Penny could easily entertain the idea of Celestino's as their regular Thursday place, but only if they ate in rather than ordering take-out.
With the meal done, Penny waited patiently while Sheldon covered the check and joined her at the door. He again placed her hand in his elbow and ushered her back across the street to the car, helping her into her seat before rounding the car and easing out of the lot. Time to throw a few more chips into the ante, Sheldon reasoned, and turned the car in the opposite direction of the apartment.
"Sheldon," Penny said slowly, "you know home's the other way right?" She thought surely he was turned around since he was unaccustomed to driving in the city.
Rather, he usually launched into lecture mode in the car or tried to play one of his boring sciency games instead of paying attention to the routes they were taking--unless God forbid they took Euclid Avenue.
"Yes, Penny, I do."
"So ah, where we goin, sweetie?" she smiled worriedly as he hit 110 and started crusing west.
"Santa Monica."
Penny could not help it. Her jaw dropped and she was rendered momentarily speechless. "But your shows..."
"Will wait." True to his word, within half an hour they were on Pacific Coast Highway, looking for parking. Once again, he took her hand and walked her right down to the beach. The lights from the pier gave them a clear view of where they were going, shimmering across the water and lighting up the beach for as far as they could see. The screams of people from the rides faded into the sounds of the surf crashing up onto the shoreline. Penny slid off her heels and walked barefoot in the sand, waving off Sheldon's protestations that there could be any amount of bacteria lurking there. Penny told Sheldon he would be better off watching out for crabs scurrying around waiting to pinch feet. This earned a yelp from Sheldon as he hurriedly looked around.
Penny threw her head back and laughed, then turned and took both Sheldon's hands and pulled him along. "Sheldon, sweetie," she laughed. "You've got to loosen up."
And then, not thinking or even questioning why, she kissed him.
- 8
- 9
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