Broken Sheldon

Something momentum has happened whilst Penny has been away; Dr. Sheldon Cooper has changed his whole routine by leaving with out a word back to Texas. Can she fix it or has Sheldon finally been broken beyond repair.

Chapter one

Homecoming……

Despite her years living there, Penny still had to pinch herself hard when her home came into view. Seven years in 4B hadn't been what she had planned on when she hopped on the bus and ventured out on her own but unlike the starry eyed girl who left the safety of her hometown she didn't mind so much anymore.

Yes she was still a waitress at the Cheesecake Factory.

Yes she was still fighting her way to be an actress.

Yes Penny Blossoms had yet to boom.

But she had four of the most sweetest best friends a girl could ask for, well two if you discounted Howard's creepy attempts to flirt with her and Sheldon's usual cold and calculating manners, and she loved them all dearly.

In fact she had missed them during her three week vacation and though she did enjoy herself finally relaxing she wouldn't stop her self from thinking about her guys.

Wondering if Leonard had finally over come his shyness and asked the new sales girl at the comic book shop out.

Wondering if Howard had been slapped, arrested or received another restraining order (despite his claims that it was a misunderstanding).

Wondering if Raj had gotten over his weird inability to speak to her beyond a squeak or drinking copious amount of alcohol.

But what brought a smile to her face was wondering what Sheldon had done after she left him with a list of everything he had to do while she was away.

It made her giggle even then thinking of it.

1. Don't enter 4B unless there is a fire.

2. Get laid.

3. Don't research 'get laid'

4. Be nice once a day and twice on Sunday.

Punishment: sing soft kitty and repress any twitches at the name 'Moonpie'.

By the time the cab stopped, was paid for and unloaded Penny had to force herself to stop from bounding up the stairs and crashing back into her boys lives.

Sunday afternoon would be a safe bet to have them all there as it had become one of Penny's rules that they all met up on Sunday to just hang out.

It took a year for Sheldon to stop twitching over the new routine.

By the time she dragged the bag up the stairs and was torn between 4A and 4B she knew it was a lost battle to think of waiting to see them and so abandoning her bags by the door she fished out her key and strolled in to the guys apartment with a smile that was beaming bright enough to light up the moon in her mind.

Raj sat with his mouth open ready to reply to something Howard had said but his eyes spotted her and she laughed at the squeak emitted.

Howard and Leonard both swivelled to see what had made their usually vocal friend squeak and both beamed just as brightly as Penny upon spotting her.

"Your home early" Leonard declared with a shocked tone while Raj snapped his mouth shut and faintly blushed while Howard was torn between now being shocked, happy and creepy.

Penny just hoped she could stop feeling so happy to see him to put him in his place before creepy set in.

"Well don't I get a hug" Penny demanded folding her arms inwards and propping her hands on her hips before the boys glanced at each other and scrambled to their feet. Penny smirked as Leonard and Howard struggled to get to her first so she by passed them and strode towards Raj and hugged him tightly gaining another squeak.

Pulling back she couldn't help but ruffle his hair then spun round to be engulfed by Leonard who had won the battle. Squeezing him back just as hard Penny finally felt at home.

With these men children she had found something she only thought she could have from being a famous actress and having several good looking men in her life.

With a sigh she felt contented, so much so she didn't push Howard hard when he tried to lower his hand during their hug.

"Where's Sheldon" Penny questioned noticing the feeling of being home had dimmed a little with the absent of the tallest member of the group.

The biggest man child of the group Penny had developed a soft spot for him that none of the others could ever hold.

When most would glare at him for his honest remarks Penny just accepted it, translated and responded in a way Sheldon could understand.

When most would just leave him to his Sheldon's way Penny would pull him up on it and force him to cut the crap out.

It wasn't perfect but it was the best way they worked and she wouldn't change it for anything.

It wasn't until the silence became tangible that Penny understood that no one had answered her question and were all looking… sheepish. Guilty. Ashamed.

She couldn't tell because they all ducked their heads and found something about their feet more interesting.

"Oh he isn't sulking in his room again. What happened now and who got banished" Penny questioned half hearted with a roll of her eyes.

She was still working on getting Sheldon to forget his three strikes rule. Feeling slightly uneasy about the still thickening silence she ignored the boys obvious avoidance and skipped to Sheldon's room.

She was secretly hoping that Sheldon would have missed her enough to for go any notion of lecturing her on going into his room.

"Sheldon" Penny called in a sing song voice as she skipped to stop in front of Sheldon's door and without even bothering to knock she skipped straight in and was hit by a wall of thin air.

It took her several seconds to understand what she was seeing or more like what she wasn't seeing.

The bed she had woken Sheldon up in on several occasions laid bare.

Washing his sheets

……

it's not Saturday and Saturday was laundry day.

Penny blinked again and the image of what she expected to see was replaced by what was actually in front of her.

His closet was empty expect for a few clothes hangers. His desk was completely devoid of notes and his laptop. His glowing fish was gone.

His posters and his mint condition action figures were gone.

Everything that had ever been linked to Sheldon Cooper PhD was gone.

And this bare room held testimony to that.

"He's gone" Leonard's voice trembled behind her but Penny barely registered it.

Sheldon's just…. She couldn't finish that because everything she knew about Sheldon didn't help her make sense of this.

"Penny" Leonard dared to touch her arm but it felt like he had slapped her because Penny jerked away and spun to glare accusingly at the three men crowded in the door way.

"What kind of joke is this? Did you have an argument? Did he move out? Is he at my place" Penny knew she was hysterical but she reasoned that after living opposite Sheldon and Leonard for seven years something had to rub off on her.

Sheldon's terror of change was it.

"Penny" Leonard attempted to say something but when Penny jerked away from his hand he ducked back into himself and she found her glare thrown to Howard and Raj who both avoided her gaze.

"Tell me you guys are joking! If Sheldon pulled you in to help with one of his pranks I'll hurt you all" Penny wouldn't but the threat made some sense in all this.

Sheldon would spring out of somewhere and declare he was still smarter then her.

She would glare at him refuse to speak to him for three days and then he would apologise and she would have her Sheldon back again.

The tears in her eyes as the three men before her looked away told her that there was a rather low chance of that happening.

"He's gone… Sheldon left five days after you went on holiday" Howard offered refusing to look at Penny who now felt the tears sliding down her cheeks but refused to acknowledge them.

"Where" Penny demanded causing each man to jump and contiune to look anywhere she wasn't.

"We… we…" Leonard stuttered before swallowing hard and if Penny wasn't melting down with information overload she would have been proud when he met her eyes firmly and forced himself to be a man.

"We just don't know; he just left when we were at work" Leonard admitted before Penny finally acknowledged her tears and gave a sob.