So sorry for the delay, new job, new schedule, new exhaustion… I've been barely able to stop running from one place to another in my new job, which by the way I'm enjoying a lot, and that has probably made my energies to writing a little low, not my imagination because I figure out the whole chapter in a short time, but having a moment to sit down and don't feel sleepy is difficult.

Anyway, I might be late, but I'm not stopping. I went to see 'Home' the other day, and I loved it (it was in Spanish so it lacked Jim's greatness, but kids in this country don't speak English so I can let it go for now), I know my stories are not wonders but the people and things that inspire me are. So, feeling inspired and hoping that you like this new chapter, I leave you to it, enjoy it.

6.- Crack!

It was like a buzzing.

A million bees buzzing around her, the feeling of annoyance, shame, disgust and disappointment had been surrounding her all morning. Penny didn't want to feel guilty about that, but of course she was the one sharing a mind with Mr. Homo Novus. She should have expected it, really.

She hadn't even seen him today! He was supposed to be at work or something… (Hadn't he been granted some vacation days?), but he wasn't or she shouldn't be able to feel his annoyance at something she… ok, maybe it hadn't been a great idea, but what was she supposed to do? It wasn't her fault that they were connected that way! She wasn't at all happy either with following his schedule, she wanted to sleep longer, go to the bathroom when she needed to, and many other things and not being stuck doing things that she never imagined him doing (really, morning 'vocal test'?).

All in all, it was clear that this was going to be a very difficult day. Fortunately, she had the evening shift that day and that meant that their chances of seeing each other that day were very little… If only things were that simple.

She managed to ignore the sensation for a good while, the different things and all the people she had to deal with were an amazing help, but the buzzing continued, making her feel confused a few times and giving her a little headache that grew with the hours of the day, in which some other things started to happen, like at some point when she could have swore that someone was singing a number's song, how weird.

It had been useful when she needed to mention numbers; she had even enjoyed singing with it when she was driving. A little later some other data started to appear in her mind and then she understood Sheldon's tactic. He was trying to drive her mad with maths… Well, it wasn't going to work, she had had years of dealing with him, her experience had taught her that she could manage a long conversation about sciency stuff without problem, this wasn't different.

Only, it really was different, during the weird days when Leonard, Raj, Howard, and Sheldon bored her with a completely nonsensical and long conversation about science or something else, she had survived distracting herself in her own mind, thinking about something else, daydreaming about handsome actors, wondering what shoes she should buy with her next pay, even trying to guess the latest combination of the WiFi password of their apartment…

But now she couldn't do that, numbers, images, graphics, calculations and many different things that she had never heard of before were appearing one by one explained in full detail in her mind, it was giving her a headache.

She regretted the moment when a difficult word passed through her thoughts and made her mentally exclaim 'what?', because that had led to the very definition of the word, from the root etymologies of it, to the right pronunciation and then to it's common use… This was going to drive her crazy!

Annoyed, and about to go all junior rodeo on the very first person that dared walk in front of her, she stomped upstairs to her apartment, stopping in the little space that separated her from her neighbors breathing heavily. She looked once to her door, and then to theirs, trying to decide if she should try to calm down before talking with Sheldon or if she should murder him and find a way to made it look like an accident before Leonard could notice…

"I have the police department on speed dial; you wouldn't be able to escape…"

That was it! He was so going to die!

"Allow me to remind you Penny, that I had to suffer your whole…'episode' last night, and though it really was obnoxious it never occurred to me that the right solution was killing you."

Penny looked at the door with her eyes wide open, feeling offended and angry, she dropped her bag to the floor and faced the door, if somebody were to walk past her right this moment it would be weird to see her in that state…

"You're kidding! You were trying to kill me out of boredom and a damn headache! What you did was upsetting, offending and wrong…"

"That's exactly the way I felt. You can say we're even now Penny… just don't do it again. Please!"

She kept glaring with hatred at the door, she could sense his presence on the other side, but right now she wasn't in the mood to face him… hell, she wasn't even in the mood to think through what she wanted to say, everything in her head right now was anger.

"Well I'm sorry Sheldon, but what I did was because I'm a human being with needs, natural… instinctual needs, I enjoy my nature, unlike you. You can pretend all you want, but if you were a normal person you wouldn't have to struggle to keep yourself in control or have to lie to all of us when you experience it. I know you would love to be an emotionless robot to avoid all this stuff, but I'm really sorry, like it or not you're like everyone else. You're just angry because it made you react; stop acting like a child you could've talked to me instead of sending to my mind all that… information."

A wave of deep offense flooded her, anger and to her surprise embarrassment, she could almost tell that he was also standing on the other side of the door, probably in the same defensive position that she had that very moment.

"I… let me tell you something, Penny. I've never been treated like everybody else in my entire life, I've had to learn and get used to everything all by myself. Let me remind you that I was already in college when I reached puberty, it wasn't easy then, and it isn't easy now. So forgive me if I didn't talk to you about it, I surely don't remember you coming and telling me something to prepare myself for the sudden flash of images and emotions that came from your mind last night, and for the record what I showed you was completely safe and valuable information, not just a fantasy created to fulfill your need to procreate! So don't tell me I'm being childish when clearly you're reaction is more child-like than mine."

Penny growled out loud with anger, stomping a foot on the floor, before turning around, kicking her bag towards her door before entering and closing it behind her, without even paying attention to Amy and Leonard that had been just a few steps down on the stairs looking confused at her.

"What was that?" asked Amy worried, Penny's behavior moments ago was making her wonder what had made the blonde so angry.

"I don't know. But I have never seen her acting like that… though it could be Sheldon's fault, she was glaring quite menacingly at the door" Leonard considered that a good moment to climb up the few steps going to his apartment, pulling his keys out of his pocket and opening the door.

Amy seemed to consider going to Penny's apartment, Leonard and her had coincided downstairs, and the brunette's plan was originally to visit her 'besty' but right now it didn't seem to be the best idea, so, with a last glance at Penny's door she moved and entered behind Leonard.

Just by entering she knew something was wrong. Sheldon was sulking in his spot, that wasn't such a strange behavior considering that the man tended to get in a mood every time something happened differently than what he had planned, but this was different, he seemed tense, his arms crossed over his chest, his hands closed into tight fists and his eyes closed. It was so weird to see him like that.

"Sheldon, are you alright?" asked Leonard as soon as he left his bag over his chair.

"I'm fine. I'm just trying not to think…" Leonard raised his eyebrows, a skeptic smile appearing on his face.

"I suppose that's quite hard to achieve… especially with a brain like yours"

"You don't know the half of it…" said Sheldon relaxing a bit and running his hands over his head instead, leaving some of his hair out of place, something that gave him a funny look.

"And can we know what kind of spectacular discovery has you in distress right now?" asked Leonard sitting down on his chair and looking at his roommate.

Sheldon glared at Leonard, and for some reason that made Amy smile a little, he was such an amazing character.

"Is not a huge discovery… more like a battle of wills against your beloved neighbor…" after saying that Sheldon made a face as if in pain, but he controlled himself quickly. "Excuse me…" he said standing up and walking towards his bedroom with his fists hanging at his sides.

"Seems like they're at it again…" sighed Leonard.

"What do you mean?" asked Amy approaching the couch this time and sitting down.

"You know 'The epic battles of Sheldon and Penny'. Is something like a tradition, every certain amount of time (a month or two) they find something in which Penny has an opinion completely opposite to Sheldon's and neither of them back out, they fight over it for weeks. Sometimes it's just words and insults, but there had been prank wars that had affected us too."

"And you're not worried?" asked Amy, wondering why she hadn't yet witnessed one of those.

"Of course not," said Leonard waving a hand in dismissal "they fight, but at some point something happens and prove them both either right or wrong and they end up being closer than before. Is something just between them, their relationship has always made them compete, but they've never stopped being friends"

Amy considered what Leonard had just said, she had been spending a lot of time trying to recreate the accident in her lab without much success. Well, she had actually managed to recreate it, but the results were very little, maybe because monkeys weren't really good at staying calm after being lightly shocked with electricity. There was something though that had called her attention, and it was certain neurological waves that tended to appear in the scanner that seemed identical from one subject to another, it was really hard to tell if they were, because it happened just in weird moments.

However, if Sheldon and Penny had somehow gained a deeper connection with the years, maybe she should try with a 'couple' of monkeys, probably one kept together for a few years, that could simulate a more accurate scenario allowing her to get different results. Yeah, that was a good idea.

That night however when Sheldon opened his eyes to find himself in the living room of his mind he couldn't help but frown at the window that had appeared on the wall, allowing him to see a part of Penny's house from there.

He cursed the fact that he had nothing he could use to cover it - at least he hadn't thought of something yet. But his curiosity made him walk towards it and take a look at the other side. Penny had been putting things in order, as far as he could see; there was now a TV in there and more furniture.

He was looking at the things that still covered the floor when Penny's face appeared in front of him making an awful gesture, it made him jump, his heart now beating fast because of the surprise.

Penny laughed on the other side of the window, he could see her – with the appropriate frown on his face – but he couldn't hear her. Suddenly the TV behind him turned itself on, startling him again, but this time he could hear Penny's voice.

"... ah, that was so funny… even in dreams he has the funniest reactions… ah, god, too bad nobody else can see it" the blonde wiped tears from her eyes, a wide smirk on her face when she turned to see him.

Sheldon crossed his arms in front of him, his expression still serious. Penny made some more funny faces and some weird noises, the scientist only shook his head in exasperation.

"And yet… your point was that I was acting like a child. Seems like I'm not the only one with funny expressions…" he said amused when Penny jumped this time when the TV turned on behind her.

"Ok, maybe I was being childish, but you still had no right to invade my thoughts," she said putting her hands on her hips.

"I could say the same to you, but apparently it's me who has to ask for permission first" he said moving his head and raising an eyebrow in the same way he did whenever she said something wrong.

"Oh, get over it! It wasn't that bad, you're just exaggerating!"

"Exaggerating?! … Penny" he said shaking his head "we've known each other for many years and I know you're a promiscuous woman that's been driven her whole life by her baser urges. However, you also know that I have never been comfortable in situations such as the one we…"

"Shut up Sheldon!" said Penny hitting the glass that separated them with her fist. "It's not my fault that our minds are connected like this, if, as you say, you've known about my 'promiscuity' for many years then you should have known it was going to happen eventually…"

"Oh, I knew it was going to happen, I just thought that since you are my friend you would be respectful at least during the first week of this…" he gestured at his surroundings, not knowing how to qualify it.

"So, all of this is about respect! Let me tell you something Sheldon Cooper, you are everything but respectful, you tend to say hurtful things all the time, insulting my intelligence and dismissing the things I do whenever you can – and not only with me – and I let it go, I say nothing because you just don't seem to understand that it's wrong… So don't tell me that I insulted you with a single erotic fantasy because that doesn't even cover all the times you have insulted me!"

They glared at each other for a moment, before Sheldon finally found his voice again and stepped closer to the window in front of them.

"If things… if things were the other way round you wouldn't forgive me, Penny!"

"Oh, really?" she asked placing both hands on her hips with an incredulous look on her face. She took a deep breath and changed her expression to an angry one "Well imagine that you were connected with Amy's mind instead of mine, I'm sure that by now her mind would have already taken over yours and you will be doing all sorts of things with her right now"

"You shall not speak about Amy like that!" he said feeling anger bubbling inside him at the mention of his girlfriend.

"Sheldon you know as well as I do that my mind is safer than Amy's…"

"At least Amy and I share more things in common, I'm sure she would be respectful enough of my mind and wishes, she had been for a long time…"

"And how much longer do you think she's going to stand it? You're a lousy boyfriend, selfish and close-minded!"

"Close minded!?"

"Yes, you try to deny it all you want, but you're worst a religious fanatic than your mother…"

"Don't bring my mother into this!"

"But you are! Poor Sheldon Untouchable Cooper, I don't know how you cope knowing that you're stuck being human for the rest of your life…"

"Silence!"

"Are you afraid of getting addicted to the pleasures of the flesh? Or maybe you fear that you will lose your focus on science once you start with it?"

"Shut up!"

Just then a cracking noise was heard outside, Sheldon and Penny looked at each other before quickly walking outside.

"This can't be happening!" said Sheldon looking up at the bubble like wall that divided their minds, where a crack could be seen at the very top, a thin and single white line…

"That can't be good," said Penny on the other side. She then looked down at him and frowned "… and it's all your fault!"

Now, wish me luck, I have to endure another week of working hard (cinema...'avengers' premiere ahead) and find time to write as well, I'm starting to think that the girl in HR hates me… with such horrible schedules! The good news is that I'll be able to buy a new computer soon, so that's my motive. Until next chapter!