A/N Thanks to stock2007 for the suggestion and to SpaceAnJL for being an ever-patient sounding board. Thank you both!

Penny woke up to the feel of hands on her wrists. She started kicking and thrashing before she even realized where she was. "Ow, Penny, please stop." Sheldon aggrieved voice cut through the sleepy haze.

She focused her eyes. Sheldon had his large hands wrapped around her wrists. "Sheldon? What's going …," her voice trailed off as she realized exactly what was going on.

"Penny," his voice was small, "did I….?" He broke off, unable to continue. He released her wrists.

"Oh, Honey, you didn't hurt me."

"The evidence of my brutish behavior speaks for itself." He spat, shifting to remove himself from the bed. His self-disgust was obvious.

Penny did the only thing that she could think of. She rolled on top of him, holding him in the bed. "Sweetie, I promise you, it didn't hurt, maybe it was the adrenaline, I don't know. But I didn't even know it happened until yesterday morning, when I saw them." She adjusted her position to cradle his slim form between her thighs.

"These were the bruises that you wanted to cover." He stated, his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides.

She sighed. "Yeah, because I know you'd power-freak. And, honestly, Sheldon, if you'd hurt me, you know …hurt…"she imbued the word with menacing overtones "me, I would NEVER tolerate it. You know me better than that. I'd kick your ass six ways to Sunday."

She felt him relax as the truth of that statement sunk in to his big brain. "I am surprised that it didn't hurt you, but, as you say…adrenaline."

"Yeah." She took a deep breath. Might as well get it over with… "And since we're on this uncomfortable topic…sometimes, once we… er…engage in… sometimes you may leave bruises. They are NOT a sign that you've harmed me. Hell, I may even leave them on you. It happens sometimes when you get caught up in the moment. "

She watched him digest that information. Watching him as closely as she was, she saw the exact second that their relative positions registered. His body tensed, and she felt him trying to draw his hips away from her. He really had no place to go, so he tensed even more. She pulled herself up on her knees, still straddling him, but giving him a little space.

He relaxed slightly once the contact between their bodies was minimized. "Very well, Penny. I do wish that you had told me about them, rather than to attempt to deceive me."

She sighed. "I wish I had, too, Honey. But I wasn't sure you could handle the information. In the future, I promise to give you the benefit of the doubt. Okay?" She asked gently.

"Yes, I believe so. If you will remove yourself, I will begin my ablutions."

She smiled and leaned down to kiss one of the cute freckles on his nose. "Okay, Sweetie." Suiting action to words, she shifted back onto the bed. He got out of the bed and gathered his clothes to change into after his shower.

While he was gone, Penny studied her wrists. What she'd told him was true and thankfully, the truth. It hadn't hurt. They were a little tender to the touch now, but not really painful. She was a little worried about what the guys would say when they saw them, but as far as she was concerned, it was between her and Sheldon.

She lay in bed for a few more minutes, and then stood to stretch. Then she started to gather her things together to pack. Sheldon was already mostly still packed from the day before, so she wanted to as ready as possible when he came back out.

By the time Sheldon returned to the bedroom, Penny had set out her clothes for that day, and packed everything she wouldn't need. She patted his chest as she passed him on her way to the bathroom.

He finished his packing and sat down to wait for Penny. Their segments on the new were being re-run on one of the local channels and he thought that Penny came out rather well on them.

Breakfast was much quieter with just the two of them, especially since the end of Comic*Con meant that the hotel was emptier. Their breakfast conversation was kept to a minimum, as Sheldon disliked "banal chitchat" and Penny was hesitant to broach the topic of how things would be when they got back. While the topic could hardly be called "banal chitchat", it might be a little heavy for a breakfast talk.

It wasn't until the car ride home that Penny raised the subject. She was surprised by Sheldon's response. "Will we not continue as we have been, but with additional interactions; i.e. dates and eventually coitus?" He paused as a thought struck him. "You dislike the word coitus. Is intercourse acceptable?

She tried to resist the urge to gape at him, mostly because he would freak out if she did so while driving. "I … yes, I can live with the word intercourse." She thought about what else he'd said. "You know what? You're right. It doesn't have to be this big thing. We'll just go on like we have been, go out sometimes, just the two of us, " she stressed, "and eventually…yeah. That could work. "

"Excellent, the less disruptive…," he trailed off, aware that Penny would not appreciate being called a disruption. "Our relationship is just going to be fraught with change, isn't it? " He sighed at last.

"Not fraught, Sweetie." She soothed. "You were right… it doesn't have to involve a lot of change. We have a fun relationship as it is. We don't need to lose that." She shot him a teasing glance. "Your schedule won't be too disrupted."

He grinned at her, ignoring the fact that she had taken her eyes from the road for a second.

A little over seven months later, there had been few changes in their relationship. Anything-can-happen Thursday was now every week, which suited everyone. Penny and Sheldon usually had something they'd do, and the others took advantage to do things that they wanted to do.

Yolanda came up every weekend from Arcadia, and they'd all do something on Saturday, and the girls would all go out on Saturday night. Yolanda usually stayed with Penny or Amy (the two had liked each other immediately) and on Sunday the whole gang would go out to breakfast at a Sheldon approved breakfast buffet. And Yolanda happily gave Sheldon several physicals, and was even able to sneak him into the morgue for some tests that they (and sometimes Amy) were interested in.

Penny got the bit part that she read for. The role was small but she loved it. She played an assassin/femme fatale and had a lot of fun with it. Her part had gone from two small scenes and one line to a slightly larger action scene, a smaller scene and a handful of lines. Once the movie came out she had received a few more requests to read for action roles.

The commercials also helped with that. Getting to smash car doors and windows with a baseball bat was a fun way to pay her rent and electric bill. If the commercials kept up, she might be able to buy a new car. She had wisely asked Sheldon and Priya look at her contracts before she signed them. Sheldon helped her figure out exactly what she wanted, and Priya made certain that they were iron-clad. She still had her job at the Cheesecake Factory, because the acting jobs weren't consistent enough for her to live on yet. But Sheldon had had helped her make a budget, and she was able to sock some money away.

Raj and Yolanda started dating, and things seemed to be working out okay for them. He confided to Sheldon that he was dreading introducing his very bossy American girlfriend to his equally bossy Indian Mother. He was certain that it would not end well.

Leonard and Priya seemed to be getting along better, now that Priya accepted that there was no "Penny/Leonard" and Leonard started to include Priya in the stuff they did rather than lie to her about them. She didn't enjoy all of the nerd activities, but she enjoyed more than she had expected to. And now that she was friends with the girls, they could always find something to do if they didn't want to do whatever the guys were doing.

Howard and Bernadette were still engaged, but their wedding day was moving closer. Taking a cue from Penny and Sheldon, Howard sat down to talk with the women in his life. After much negotiation between Howard, Bernadette and Howard's Ma, they had agreed that the three of them could live together. At least for the time being.

Sheldon's fear that being in a relationship with Penny would disrupt his routine and ability to work was both right and wrong. There were plenty of disruptions, but they never interfered with his work. In the beginning, they had laid down some ground rules. In addition to the "normal interaction rules", certain times were set aside for Sheldon to work. Mondays were off-limits, and Penny even got the others to cooperate. On Mondays, they would bring Sheldon his Szechuan chicken and leave him in peace. Tuesday was still Cheesecake Factory day, but the teasing was a lot friendlier than it had been. Sheldon found that his work thrived. As long as he told Penny that he needed to work, she would leave him alone other than making certain that he ate. And when he got stuck, she was more than willing to help him get "un-stuck".

Penny and Sheldon did take things slowly, which Penny found surprisingly easy. And Sheldon had been oh-so-very right about being a fast learner. Once she trained him to recognize non-verbal cues, his skills increased exponentially. It didn't take nearly as long as she'd feared for his innate curiosity to overcome his distaste for all things physical. While Sheldon was very curious indeed, and a super-fast learner, the thing that Penny found the sexiest, the one thing that could make her catch her breath at the most inopportune moments, was an image burned into her brain. The image of Sheldon's large elegant hand gripping her headboard hard enough to make the wood creak. That memory alone could get her fires started almost anytime.

They still fought and pranked each other, she tried to sit in his spot and he knock, knock, knocked on her door wanting rides (although not before 11 a.m.). Sitting on the sofa next to him, Penny wasn't sure where they were heading, but she was enjoying the ride. From his smug little cat-grin, she guessed Sheldon was as well.

End

A/N Thanks to everyone who has been kind enough to review. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have :)