fic: losing balance (1/2)
Title: Losing Balance (1/2)
Word Count: 2227
Rating: Hmm.... I'd say a rather heavy PG-13... maybe PG-15
Disclaimer: I own nowt.
Summary: To summarise this fic, I present to you a quote from an interview with Bill Prady at Comic-Con last week: "First of all, what the heck is Sheldon's deal? [...] He seems to have given up on human contact. I keep saying maybe every seven years like the Vulcans. Maybe he's subject to Pon Farr." Everyone got the plot now? Excellent.
A/N - I was going to wait until I'd finished the entire thing and post it as one (I hope) glorious whole, but I'm weak. Sooo... the oneshot now has two parts, and don't worry the second part is already started and will be up soon! I'm not going to keep you waiting like I do with every single other thing I've ever written.
Promise!
I hope you like this anyway - I've tried to make it semi-believable; I hope it works.
Losing Balance Part One
Penny was a little surprised to see Leonard’s name flashing at her when she picked up her cell phone. Since their break-up he’d avoided calling her, and vice versa - things were okay between them, but still a little bit awkward.
Taking a breath to steel herself, Penny answered the phone. “Hey Leonard.”
“Hi Penny. Um. How are you?”
“I’m good… I’ve been pretty busy at work. How’s Seattle?”
“It’s great, thanks. Listen, have you seen Sheldon lately?”
Penny frowned. “I bumped into him last night when I was on my way to work,” she said.
“Last night? Was he okay?”
“Well, yeah he- oh, wait, no it wasn’t last night, it was the night before. Why?”
“It’s just I haven’t been able to get hold of him since yesterday morning - he’s not picking up his cell or the apartment phone, and he hasn’t been on Facebook or even Twitter…”
Penny’s eyes widened in surprise. “Seriously?” She said. She could understand now why Leonard was calling - Sheldon always answered his phone and never lost an opportunity to Tweet about something…
“He seemed okay when I saw him… are you sure he‘s not doing something in a lab?” She asked Leonard;
Leonard hesitated for a moment, and when he spoke again sounded really worried for the first time. “I called Raj and Howard and they said he hasn’t been into work - they just figured he was working from home…”
That did it - Sheldon would never miss work unless he was sick, and Penny knew from experience that if he was sick, he wouldn’t be staying quiet about it. She jumped up off the couch and hurried to the door, thanking her stars that the one suggestion of Sheldon’s she’d actually taken up was a bowl for keys. “Right, I’m gonna go check on him.”
Leonard sounded slightly relieved. “Thanks, that’s what I was going to ask you to do,” he said. “It’s just not like him to be out of touch like this.”
Penny found the boys’ spare key with no trouble. “Okay, I’m going over to yours right now,” she said. “I’ll call you or text you, okay?”
“Okay, thanks Penny.”
“Bye.”
Penny shoved her phone into her pocket and hurried out into and across the hall. Praying to god that Sheldon really was just feeling ill and nothing worse had happened, Penny pounded on his apartment door.
“Sheldon! It’s Penny - are you in there?”
She stopped pounding and waited, her ear up to the door, but there was nothing to be heard from inside the apartment. Her anxiety increasing, Penny put the key in the door and unlocked it.
The living room was deserted, but there was a dirty cereal bowl and glass on the kitchen counter, the sight of which made Penny worry even more. All the lights were off, and the only light came from the moonlight that filtered in through the windows. “Sheldon?” She called out, walking towards the hallway.
Finally, thankfully, she heard some movement. There was the sound of a door opening, and then Sheldon’s voice called out to her. Relief flooded through her.
“Penny, what are you doing in my apartment?”
Penny frowned a little… his words were definitely normal for him, but he sounded different; sort of strained, and a little breathless. He must be ill.
“Sheldon sweetie are you okay?” She called out to him, walking down the hall now.
“I’m fine; go home.”
Penny actually stopped in surprise at his words - go home? Was this really Sheldon Cooper she was talking to? Sheldon Cooper was the biggest baby in the world when he was sick, and hated being alone. There’s no way he would deny he was ill and tell her to leave if he was ill. Maybe he was okay...
But no. He didn’t sound okay - he really didn’t. And this was just… odd. Something was definitely wrong.
Penny shook her head and turned the corner. Sheldon’s door was open a little, but the room beyond it was dark like the hallway, so she couldn’t see into it, and could just make out a sliver of Sheldon’s silhouette watching her.
She stopped and gave him a worried look. “Leonard sent me to check on you - he says you haven’t been answering your phone,” she told him gently.
“I’ll text him,” said Sheldon shortly. “Leave.”
Penny raised an eyebrow and folded her arms. “Not until you tell me what’s wrong with you,” she said.
She distinctly heard Sheldon take a deep breath before he replied. “There’s nothing -”
“Yeah right,” Penny interrupted, “you’re not answering your phone, you haven’t been on-line; there’re dirty dishes in the kitchen… you haven’t been to work -” She took a step towards him and the door closed a little bit more. She narrowed her eyes. “Tell me what’s wrong Sheldon.”
“You need to leave -”
“Tell me what’s wrong and I will.”
Sheldon made an odd noise - if Penny didn’t know any better she would have called it a growl - and then his door opened properly.
“I’m in the throes of an hormonal imbalance,” Sheldon said, speaking a lot more quickly than usual. “It’s a condition I have that manifests every seven years or so; it last for a few days and then it’s over. I’ve survived it twice, I’ll be fine this time too - thank you for your concern, now leave.”
Penny blinked a few times, staring at Sheldon’s silhouette, trying to make sense of what he’d just told her. An hormonal imbalance? What the hell did he mean by that?
She shook her head and flipped the light switch on the wall next to her. “I don’t understand what - oh!”
The light swept over Sheldon and though he lifted up both hands to cover his eyes it wasn’t quick enough for Penny not to take in the sight of his face - his cheeks were flushed, his eyes were bright, and there was a sheen of sweat on every single inch of the skin she could see. He was wearing pyjamas, but only the bottoms and a white t-shirt - the jacket had been discarded somewhere. His hair was completely dishevelled and his feet were bare.
After a couple of moments Sheldon lowered his hands to his side - Penny noticed that they were shaking - and then looked at her. Penny’s eyes widened at the intensity of his gaze - maybe it was the light but his eyes seemed darker than usual, and there were bags under them suggesting he hadn’t been sleeping. But it was the way he was looking at her that made her breath catch in her throat - it was a look she was pretty familiar with, but one she’d never got from Sheldon.
She knew he was ill but she was only human; and that look sent a jolt of electricity right down her spine. Penny’s toes curled in her sandals and she had to glance away to try and regain her equilibrium. When she looked back she saw that Sheldon had also looked away, and was now staring at the floor. His hands were gripping either side of his doorframe and he was breathing heavily.
Penny walked towards him. “Sheldon I think you need a doctor -“
“NO!” Sheldon yelled so loudly that Penny actually jumped. He looked back at her with his dark eyes, and then swallowed, still breathing heavily. “No, I don’t need a doctor,” he said, his voice ragged but at a normal volume. He took a slow, measured step backwards into his room, re-establishing the distance between the two of them. “There’s nothing a doctor can do because the imbalance fluctuates too wildly to medicate. Believe me, all I can do is wait it out. I’ve done it before. You have to leave now.”
Penny had never felt so helpless. “Sheldon I don’t understand -”
Sheldon took a sudden step towards her, but stopped just as quickly and braced his hands against his doorframe again. She was a lot closer to him now and so he towered over her, his eyes fierce and burning into hers. “You don’t have to understand,” Sheldon said. “You just have to leave.”
Penny was still about a foot away from Sheldon, but she could feel the body heat radiating off of him, and her next move was completely instinctual. She lifted her hand to his face and cupped it to his cheek. “Sheldon you’re burni-mph!”
It seemed touching him was entirely the wrong thing to do, because as soon as her hand touched his cheek Sheldon snapped. With another growl - it really was a growl - he grabbed hold of her hip with one hand and the back of her head with the other and yanked her to him, covering her mouth with his own. Her mouth had been open, forming a word, and Sheldon immediately pushed his tongue between her lips, swallowing her sound of surprise and sweeping over her tongue, her teeth, the roof of her mouth. At the same time he stepped out into the hallway and Penny found herself being pushed backwards until she was quite literally slammed into the wall behind her - Sheldon’s hand protected her head but the rest of her body was pushed hard against the cold surface, while Sheldon’s burning hot body pressed into her front.
It was almost like Penny’s mind had gone blank. She knew what was happening, could feel what was happening, but she couldn’t process what was happening. Sheldon was kissing her; no, devouring her. It wasn’t like any kiss she’d ever had before - this was beyond passion. It was primal. She instinctively moved her lips to better accommodate Sheldon’s, but beyond that she didn’t kiss him back - not that she would have been able to do much to match the onslaught of his mouth on hers.
Sheldon’s hand moved from her head to brace himself against the wall, while his other hand slid round her waist and pulled her tighter against him. Penny could feel his erection pressed against her stomach and she couldn’t help but moan - this was obviously some kind of result of Sheldon’s illness, and she was still reeling from the shock of being jumped by Sheldon Cooper, but she couldn’t help it - she’d never felt so wanted, and wanton, in all her life.
Then suddenly, Sheldon pulled away. He pushed away from her, breathing heavily, and Penny slumped against the wall without his weight to hold her up. Her eyes flew open and she saw that Sheldon was already across the hall and in his bedroom. He had his back to her, and the tension in his shoulders was plain to see. His hands were shaking again.
“Go home Penny,” he growled, still not facing her. “For your own sake - get out of here now.”
His door slammed shut and Penny was left alone in the hallway.
Penny’s heart was hammering in her chest, which was heaving as she tried to catch her breath. She slid down the wall and ended up sitting on the floor, all the while staring at Sheldon’s closed door. She couldn’t hear a sound coming from inside the bedroom - the entire apartment was silent… if it wasn’t for the bruised feeling of her lips and the red marks Sheldon’s fingers had left on her hip she might have been able to convince herself that she had imagined what had just happened.
Penny wasn’t sure how long she sat there just staring at the door, but she was brought back to Earth by the feel of her cellphone vibrating in her pocket. She jumped a little and dug it out - it was a text message from Leonard.
--News?--
Penny bit her lip, her thumbs hovering over the keypad of her phone. What should she tell Leonard? Certainly not that Sheldon had just jumped her. Did Leonard know about Sheldon’s… condition, or whatever he had called it?
Deciding that vague was the way to go, Penny keyed in a reply and hit send.
--Ive seen him hes ok jst bit ill wll cll u 2mro w dtls.--
Leonard’s reply came a minute later.
--Just got a text from Sheldon he says he’s ok and not to worry - could you please keep an eye on him?--
--Will do.--
Penny flipped her phone shut and put it back in her pocket with a sigh once her text had been sent. She wasn’t lying about keeping an eye on him - she absolutely intended to do that, she just wasn’t sure how. Sheldon was clearly not in the mood for her company… or was it that he was too in the mood for her company?
“For your own sake, get out of here now.”
A shiver ran down Penny’s spine as she pondered the implications of those words, and as she remembered that bruising, punishing kiss. What would have happened if he hadn’t pulled away? Would she have pushed him away? Had she wanted to?
Penny decided to do what Sheldon told her for once and get out of the apartment. She stumbled to her feet and, with a last look at Sheldon’s closed door she flipped off the hallway light and hurried away.