Christmas 2013

Penny could get used to this.

Heaps of mashed potatoes with homemade gravy, tender ham, yams, buttery asparagus, warm rolls straight from the oven...Sheldon's family celebrated Christmas in style. Back home in Nebraska, they were ordering pizza or eating a freshly murdered turkey or something. Penny was happy right where she was.

"You better get some extra potatoes, girl. You're looking tiny." Missy told Penny as she stuffed her face. Penny was sitting next to Missy, who was not looking tiny at all, being eight months pregnant. Missy had gotten married a year before and wanted to start popping out babies as soon as possible.

"I'm not that tiny," Penny said. "Plus, the camera adds ten pounds, remember. And at least I'm not as chubby as you right now."

Missy giggled. Penny was glad she and Missy were close enough that she could make those kinds of stupid jokes. Missy was just happy Sheldon found himself a girl who loved him as much as he needed and deserved. His whole family was.

"Now, Penny, when are we going to get you in a similar state? We want lots of little grandbabies running around the house." Meemaw asked, trying to look innocent. Penny laughed.

"One step at a time there, Mrs. Cooper. We're not even engaged yet." About that. Penny was patient. She knew Sheldon liked to take things slow. However, there was obviously a part of her that wondered if it would ever happen. Maybe they'd be like Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins. No, wait, they broke up. Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn. That would be okay with her. Probably. Maybe.

Sheldon cleared his throat. "Meemaw, please don't harass Penny about her womb availability at the dinner table. Or any other time. We'll get there when we get there."

"Now you hush, Moonpie. This is a conversation between us girls."

"Yes, Meemaw," Sheldon said, looking properly rebuffed. Penny giggled and nudged him.

She was sitting in between Missy and Sheldon, who kept trading insults back and forth like she wasn't even there. It reminded her of back home a little, but she and her brother were a lot more brutal. Penny's brother's favorite trick was to pour Dr. Pepper on her head. You'd think she would be able to anticipate it by now, but he still caught her by surprise every time.

Penny had taken Sheldon to Nebraska for Thanksgiving. She was terrified as to how he'd get along with her family...she was about as intellectual as it got among her parents and siblings. Imagine her surprise when she woke up one morning to find Sheldon and her father taking turns shooting at targets with a shotgun together.

"I'm from Texas, we're assigned a gun in utero," Sheldon told her father. Penny's father laughed and laughed and Sheldon was accepted into the family just like that. It was almost too easy.

"Penny, Shelly told us about a new TV show you're working on. That's exciting! What can you tell us about it?" Mary asked in her Texas accent that Penny was learning to adore. Nebraskans just didn't have a fun accent like that. When Sheldon got really angry or confused or tired, his accent came out of hibernation and Penny loved it.

"Oh, well, it's actually a pilot I wrote myself. I'm not sure if it'll get picked up but I've gotten a lot of buzz about it recently. It would be great if it happened."

"Well, we'll certainly be praying for you, dear. Won't we, Shelly?"

"Mother..."

Mary winked at Penny and they both chuckled. It was just so much fun to mess with Sheldon.

"If anyone cares, I got my Nobel Prize application in the mail last week," Sheldon said proudly. "I'm on a very short list of candidates."

"We know, Moonpie, you've told us about ten times already. You know how proud we are of you, baby. You'll get that prize. Nobody deserves it more than you do." Meemaw looked at her grandson adoringly.

Sheldon beamed. Penny kissed him on the cheek, pride deep in her bones.

Things had been going well for the two of them lately. Sheldon wasn't exactly a shoo-in for the Nobel Prize and his experiment wasn't producing the groundbreaking results he originally anticipated. But he was still making huge strides in the field of Physics. Physicists around the world were fascinated by what he was doing; he was basically a rock star in his field these days. When he and Penny were at a movie theater a few weeks ago, someone actually asked for Sheldon's autograph. And then an hour later, someone else asked for Penny's autograph. It was a good day.

Game of Thrones had been a huge stepping stone for Penny's career and she even had her own IMDB page now, but she wasn't making Julia Roberts-type of movies yet. So Penny, with Sheldon's enthusiastic encouragement, decided to take the bull by the horns and write her own TV show. It was loosely based on her screenplay about a girl from Nebraska who moves to California. But funnier.

So they weren't famous millionaires yet but they were getting there. As far as their relationship...they were taking that slow, too. They were both so busy that when they did actually get to see each other, it was like a breath of fresh air. Maybe a long time ago, Penny wouldn't have been okay with that. But she always remembered what Raj told her. That they should both try to succeed as much as possible in their careers and be there for each other when they could be, and then when things settled down, they would still be there. And that was okay with her, at least for now. As long as she was working as an actress and making money and keeping up with her writing and still managed to see Sheldon as much as they could make it happen, Penny was satisfied with her life. Fulfilled. Happy.

After dinner and dessert, and after the dishes were washed and put away and the Christmas tree lights were turned off and Sheldon hugged all the women in his family and said good night, Penny and Sheldon stayed in the kitchen and finally exchanged their Christmas gifts. For Sheldon, Penny got him a fancy Star Trek watch that cost her the equivalent of about a month's worth of work at the Cheesecake Factory. For Penny, Sheldon got her a GPS for the car (they'd gotten lost on a road trip to San Francisco a few months ago and it caused one of the most dramatic arguments of their entire relationship) and tickets to see Radiohead in Los Angeles in February. She shrieked and hugged him and would have made out with him on the spot if they were anywhere else but his mother's house.

"I have something else for you," Sheldon said, suddenly looking very nervous. "You might not like it. You can take it back if you don't like it."

Penny smiled. This sounded intriguing. "Okay, lay it on me."

Sheldon cleared his throat a few times and then he was on his knees before she could even blink. Penny gasped and put her hands on his shoulders in front of her. From his pocket, he produced a tiny box and they both knew what it contained. Penny literally stopped breathing. Okay, not literally. But almost.

"Sheldon! What did you do?"

"Penny...before I met you, I was perfectly content to be alone. I had science and my routines and my spot and I didn't think I needed anything else. But then you came along and you sang Soft Kitty to me when I was sick and made me spaghetti with cut-up hot dogs and you were always there for me when I needed you and sometimes when I didn't even know I needed you. And while I still find your love for shoes to be rather baffling, and while you sometimes sit in my spot just to annoy me, and while I still don't really 'get' Radiohead...I realized some time ago that I can't see my future without you in it. I want you there beside me when I get the Nobel Prize. And I want to walk down red carpets with you at movie premieres and watch as the paparazzi take a million pictures of you, because you earned it. And I don't know what I did to deserve you, and if I was a praying man like my mother wishes I was, I'd thank God that you love me the way you do. I've experienced things with you that I didn't even know existed. And I never want to stop. So I guess what I'm trying to say is, Queen Penelope, will you marry me?"

He opened the little box and in it was a ring so beautiful and so...her that she almost had to wonder if he took Amy or Leonard with him when he bought it. Sheldon was a lot of things, but adept in the art of jewelry was not one of them. Not that it mattered. She would have loved any damn ring he put on her finger.

"Oh, my god, Sheldon, yes! Of course I'll marry you!" And now she was crying, and he was putting the ring on her finger, and they were kissing, and there was a whole hoard of giggling women behind the door to the kitchen.

"You can come in now," Sheldon said happily.

Meemaw and Mary and Missy came storming into the kitchen and took turns hugging Penny and shrieking with utter delight.

"It's about time someone made an honest man out of him," Mary said, wiping tears from her eyes. "Thank you, Penny. We love you. And Shelly loves you."

"Thank you!" Penny said. She was thankful her mascara was waterproof. "Thank you for creating this guy for me."

"Well, God created him, I just helped," Mary said, pinching Sheldon's cheeks like he was five years old.

"Okay, well, if all the women in this house are done with this ceremony of womanhood, I'd like to go to bed," Sheldon said, sounding annoyed but looking ecstatic. He was happy. Penny was overjoyed that she helped make him that way.

"Please, be my guest. And I suppose since you have that ring on your finger, I will allow the two of you to sleep in the same bed. But God is watching you." Mary smiled, and then took Meemaw and Missy and her huge belly out of the kitchen.

"I can't believe it," Penny said softly.

"I can't either. Are you happy?"

"Very happy, sweetie. I can't wait to start our lives together." He gave her a kiss and they walked hand in hand to the bedroom, where no hanky panky would be taking place because God was watching and Sheldon's mother was listening.

She turned and looked at him for a moment, taking him all in. Wearing his Flash shirt, even to Christmas dinner. His dark hair, his crystal blue eyes, his delicious lips. This was the man Penny loved, and had loved for a long time. Yes, he drove her crazy at first. Yes, she used to just think of him as her boyfriend's crazy roommate. But he somehow forced himself into her heart and she was never the same. Never wanted to be the same. And now they were going to have little genius babies and have Christmas at their house someday and they were going to grow old together and Penny couldn't imagine growing old with anyone else but him. What was once a silly crush that Penny had was now everything she ever wanted. And as they lay back to back (neither of them were sleep cuddlers; that was a no-no from the beginning and something they both actually agreed on thoroughly) and she could feel the weight of him against her, Penny closed her eyes and smiled. This was her life. Her future husband. Her career. Her wants and dreams and desires. Her Sheldon.

The end

A/N - A few things:

A. Thank you for reading and reviewing and favoriting and you're all my heroes and I'm kind of overwhelmed by the whole thing. I'm not some kind of feedback whore (Okay, I am, but aren't we all?), but I would like to ask that if you've been reading along, a review for the end would be lovely and welcome and thank you for being awesome. And even if you hated it, I'd like to hear about that, too.

B. I'm from Texas and have lived here all my life so any reference to accents and such is made with love and affection.

C. I'm going to change my name on here because this name sucks. Look for Lizwontcry in the future, there will definitely be more TBBT fics coming soon.

D. This was my first TBBT fic and I'm sad that it's over but happy that you guys liked it and hope that you found the end to be a good conclusion.

E: In summary: Thank you for reading.