A hugely OOC piece that wouldn't fade away from my mind. It's been sitting in a folder for months now, growling and grumbling at me whenever I was near. It begged me to post it so it could see the light of day. The more I went over it, the more I liked it, so even though I don't exactly love it, I do like it, and hopefully, one or two others will, also.

He had been up there earlier and left his composition notebook. When it began to rain he had hurried up the stairs to retrieve it. She was standing in the middle of the roof, swaying back and forth. He could see the ear-buds in her ears. He wondered what she was listening to. She twirled, dipped, and spun to the beat. The rain was soft and warm, and she was quickly soaked through, yet she danced on. He was mesmerized by her movements. She looked like a water sprite in a book of fairies Missy had once had. She glided across the roof effortlessly. Sheldon stepped back into the shadows and watched her. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever witnessed. When Penny finally stopped, it was dark out. Too dark for her to see him where he stood. Sheldon turned and rushed back down the stairs, the notebook forgotten.

He stood in his room later, looking up at the moon. He was in the midst of a unique dilemma. He wanted something he had never wanted before. Closeness. Intimacy. The desire to kiss her rain drenched lips had shocked him. Not because he didn't like the feeling, but because of the amount of willpower it took to withstand the urge. Sheldon grimaced at the moon through the window. He had a better chance of holding that celestial orb in his hands that he did Penny.

He couldn't stop. He honestly tried at first, but he just couldn't stop. He stalked her. He told the guys he was taking up jogging. Several evenings a week, he left the apartment with a jogging suit over his normal clothes. As soon as he was away from the apartment, he would strip it off, and store it in a locker at the bus station nearby. Then he would watch her.

She always went to the same club to dance, and he would sit in the corner of the room, hidden by the shadows. She was a goddess on the floor. Her body flowed like water. Graceful, fluid, sensuous. On nights she worked he sat in the coffee shop across the street. She always went out into the alley when on break. She would put in her ear-buds and sway to the beat. When her last break was over, he would head home.

He discovered that when Penny had trouble sleeping, she would head up to the roof. He installed a motion sensor on the access door. It would flash a small light near his bed when the door opened. Then he would sneak up and watch her. Most often she would dance around the roof, completely oblivious to her surroundings. On rare occasions she would simple sit on one of the building's air vents and look up at the stars. Always she listened to her ipod, though, which meant he was able to avoid startling her if he inadvertently made a noise.

He knew he should be ashamed of his actions. He knew he should stop. But he couldn't. She was an obsession. He could no more stay away from Penny than he could cease his own breathing. He was becoming addicted to her, and he liked that feeling. He liked it very much.

He planned carefully in the early morning hours. It wouldn't do for Leonard to discover what he was up to. It wouldn't do for anyone to discover what he was up to. Secretly, slowly, he began gathering what he would need. He told his friends he was visiting his girl-slash-friend Amy during his lunches. They would never check.

Instead, he took a bus to the post office, mailing several packages to Meemaw. One or two packages he could have explained away, but not 27. He told Meemaw they were science experiments, not entirely untrue, and asked her to store them in a storage unit he had rented on Wharf Road.

Next he arranged some time off from the university. He told Seibert he was desperately in need of some vacation time. President Seibert was happy to give it to him. He was granted a 90 day sabbatical. Surely that was more than enough time for what he had planned.