Knock, knock, knock, "Penny."

Knock, knock, knock, "Penny."

Knock, knock, knock, "Penny."

Penny smiled at the door and answered it, knowing exactly who was waiting there. She was faintly surprised that her neighbor, Sheldon Cooper, was knocking at 11am on a work day.

As Penny pulled her door open, her smile fell off her face. Sheldon stood in the doorway, the picture of a troubled man. His hair stuck up in all directions, his clothes were sleep-rumpled, his usually sparkling blue eyes were dull and almost grey.

"Sheldon! What's wrong, sweetie?" Penny said, hearing the concern in her own voice. She stood aside and ushered him inside.

Sheldon sat on her couch, looking at his hands blankly.

"Amy and I have ceased our relationship," Sheldon said quietly, still not looking up at his friend. "More precisely, Amy has ceased our relationship."

"Oh, Sheldon, I'm so sorry. What happened?"

Sheldon took a deep breath and finally forced himself to look up at Penny. "She told me that she needed things I couldn't give her. She told me she had been in receipt of offers from other suitors and had to think about her future. She made several well reasoned arguments..."

Penny's chest tightened with sadness for the man in front of her. He struggled to comprehend complex emotions at the best of times. She hadn't quite realized the depth of his feelings for Amy but looking at how troubled he was it was completely obvious that he had something deep running for her. Sheldon had pushed himself so far out of his comfort zone that perhaps it should have been obvious.

"How are you feeling?" Penny asked. She wasn't quite sure what he would say to that, but she wanted to know what emotions clouded his usually bright blue eyes.

Sheldon's head quirked to the side in surprise. He clearly hadn't anticipated the question.

"I find myself feeling," he paused, looking for the words, "an intense sadness, filled with introspection. I have not left my bedroom until this morning, since it happened. I have been pondering the faults within myself that seemingly led to this point."

Penny's heart pounded. "When did it happen, Sheldon?"

"Thursday night," he said with a hint of shame.

"Thursday? Sheldon!" she admonished. "Why didn't you talk to me, sweetie? I'm here for you!"

Sheldon managed a wan smile. "I know, Penny. I just wanted to gain some perspective. I wanted to understand everything that had occurred before I articulated further. I was also aware that you were working on Friday, Saturday and yesterday. Selfishly, I wanted to wait until I could spend the day with you."

Penny blinked, taking in what he had just said.

"What would you like to do today, sweetie?" She was curious, she had to admit. "Talking? Drinking? Forgetting about it?"

"There was something that I wanted to discuss with you during our time today," Sheldon told her slowly, a little of the sparkle coming back into his eyes. "However, if you would like to wash and dress, I will prepare coffee and lunch at my apartment for a 12noon start. We can start there and possibly go out later if we so desire."

"Okay, Sheldon," Penny said, nodding and rising from her place on her couch.

Sheldon rose and Penny grabbed him, giving him the quickest hug that she could. He didn't complain and gave her a small smile before he left.

Penny didn't move for a moment. She felt a little hurt that Amy hadn't told her about Sheldon. Knowing Leonard was away, Sheldon would be alone and Penny would have wanted a heads up. Not to mention that she had expected to be called in for a girls' night.

She stormed into her bedroom and grabbed her phone from its charger on her nightstand. She dialed Amy's number and waited for the answer.

"Hello?" a deep, manly, heavily accented voice answered.

"Hi, is Amy there?" Penny asked weakly, surprise flooring her.

"No, she's in the shower," he responded, sounding a little sleepy. "May I ask who's calling?"

"It's her friend, Penny," Penny answered, almost on autopilot. A heavy brick of dread settled itself deep in her stomach. "Who are you?" She hoped that her tone was as light and easy as she had tried to force it to be.

"This is her fiancee, Manish," he replied. "Have we met?"

Penny sat, her heart pounding. "I don't think so. How long have you guys been together?" Her voice didn't sound like it belonged to her. Thankfully, it belonged to a casual friend who was cheery and breezy.

"Three months last Thursday. I decided that I wanted to propose when we woke up together Thursday morning."

Penny could barely hear herself over her heart pounding. She managed to exchange light pleasantries on auto-pilot with the man, getting him off the phone quickly. She stared at the phone in her hands, looking at it accusingly.

She rushed to the shower, wanting to get dressed quickly and give herself time to work out exactly what and how she would tell Sheldon. She rushed through her bathroom routine and got out and dressed in record time. She was toweling her hair when she decided that she would try to call Leonard.

As he was away for work, Penny tried to leave him alone as much as possible. She wasn't the clingy type and relied on him calling her when he got the time and had the internet connection. However, today was an emergency.

Penny switched on her laptop and left it booting up while she roughly blow dried her hair. She saw that she was a big fluff ball in the mirror and tried in vain to smooth it down a little. She knew Sheldon wouldn't care and would still go out in public with her, so she abandoned it and returned to her laptop.

Opening Skype, she dialed Leonard. She was looking forward to seeing him as she realized that she hadn't spoken to him in a little over a week.

"Penny, hi," Leonard said, a strange look on his face. Penny thought it looked a little bit like panic.

"Hey Leonard, I'm sorry to disturb you while you're working but I need to talk to you."

"You got my email then? I wasn't expecting you to be up much before noon, but I thought you would probably call."

"What email?" Penny asked, feeling angry and confused.

"Oh..." Leonard looked awkward.

Penny opened her email and, sure enough, there was one waiting from Leonard. It had been sent in the early hours of that morning. She opened it and read it quickly. Her face dropped.

"A dear John email, Leonard? Are you seriously doing this?"