Penny is fifteen when her father remarries, Mary Cooper is lovely, but she comes with human baggage, and it sort of goes downhill from there.

Cloudbusting

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bite chunks out of me

you're a shark and i'm swimming

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..

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"Is this the part where we scratch the chains of our handcuffs on the bars and start singing jail house rock?" Sheldon's eyes narrow. There's no actual handcuffs, no, that was earlier.

Apparently, breaking into a government military base to try and steal yellow cake uranium will lend you in a cell – Penny's an optimist by nature, at least there's men in uniforms everywhere and that's never a waste in her book –

"Don't." That's what Sheldon offers as a policeman comes by their holding cell with a clipboard.

"Sheldon Cooper?" He yells. It's a slow day, morning, and Penny and Sheldon are basically they only ones here. "Penny Harmon?" Geez, no need to scream. She bops her head, offers a smile to the officer, one that is meant to be innocent. The man is middle-aged and stern, but she can see his lips twitching. "Your mother's here."

Step-mother, Penny immediately corrects, but doesn't bother to voice it out loud. It's been almost two years since her father remarried and four since her mother packed up her bags and took her brother far away from here to 'change his bad ways and give him a better chance at rehabilitation'.

"For what it's worth…" Penny hopes Sheldon can feel the thunder in her eyes. She snorts as he massages his wrists, even if the dreaded handcuffs have been off for more than three hours.

"You're just mad we got caught." She says matter-of-factly. He acquiesces, not even pretending otherwise, like he hasn't convinced her to break into a military base on Thanksgiving Day and push past barb wired fences – there's a hole in her jeans, but at least this isn't her favourite pair –

"Oh, my babies in jail." Mary Cooper, with her southern accent, pulls Penny close to her and studies her face, probably to make sure the damage isn't permanent – Penny has scars, but only mental ones, the kind that come with having to share a house with Sheldon Cooper – and finally brushes a hand over her head, smoothing out blond hair. "Are you okay, sweetie?"

"Yep, Mary. I even managed to make sure this doesn't go on our permanent records." Because Penny is only seventeen and Sheldon's already pretty famous in their county. So, she offers smiles to men in uniforms and apologizes profusely and with Sheldon being Sheldon, they buy it.

"Oh, that's wonderful sweetie. Now, why don't you go wait in the car while me and Shelly have a little talk." Sheldon can't meet his mother's eyes and Mary's smile twitches, her eyes entirely focused on her son. Penny almost feels bad for him – almost (this is not how she expected to spend Thanksgiving, you know, pass the yams and look, you're in jail).

Mary Cooper's voice carries through the county jailhouse even as Penny slides into her step-mother's black pickup truck outside and she smirks, hopes it doesn't take too long (because she's in desperate need of a shower and there's the cranberry sauce that still needs to be done and she promised George Jr. that she'd play football with him).

.

..

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She finds Sheldon on the roof (there's her father who's sprawled on the couch, with Mary's head on his shoulder and George who teases Missy about how much of a girly girl she is. Penny's full of turkey and sweet potato yams with extra marshmallows on top and she think she'll have to hit the gym tomorrow if she doesn't want to gain five pounds).

But Sheldon's always on the roof. It's his place, it's their place. Penny can't count how many late nights she's spent on the roof of her house, nestled with hot cacao and a blanket, just listening to Sheldon point out every star in the universe as if he's visited each one himself (it's poetic, almost, Penny thinks and a little sad).

She hands him a plate of pumpkin pie with a plastic fork and he accepts it with little enthusiasm as she sits down next to him, sharing the blanket she brought outside to warm him up.

"I think I should apologize, for, you know…" Penny waves a hand dismissively and smiles.

"What's a family holiday without a mug shot? Not a very fun one…" She trails off. Sheldon lets out a breathy laugh, his blue eyes shining in the moonlight. "So, how's Cali? Is it warm and sunny and fun? Did you go to the beach?" She already knows that's a no. "Did you meet any famous people? Do you have the same hairdresser as Angelina Jolie? Gosh, I just loved her in that new movie…" Another chuckle, but this time it's honest.

Penny smiles and cuddles a bit closer, enjoying the warmth between them. Like she said, it's sort of their thing. Penny's fifteen when her father remarries. Mary Cooper looks lovely in her satin white dress and Penny is chosen as a bridesmaid. It's a simple June wedding and Penny hasn't seen her father this happy since she's won Junior Rodeo when she was twelve.

Mary also comes with three new additions. Penny doesn't mind sharing a room, but she doesn't really have to. Missy's already twenty and she already has an apartment and George Jr. takes her brother's old room, when he's actually home, and he puts up posters of football teams and grungy rock bands.

Sheldon, she meets a tad later and she's already been warned about her new quirky brother. But he isn't at all what she expects and, while he calls her stupid a few times and tells her she's annoying, she takes to him like white on rice, bothers him to help her with her math homework, makes him explain slowly his work so she can understand, follows him around with questions about all the places he's been too – there's Germany and Switzerland and LA and Canada and Penny has only ever known Nebraska, so it's nice, it's so nice.

"California is warm, I like warm." Penny nods her head, completely enraptured. "And Caltech is a very prestigious post-grad university and no, I don't go to the beach or share a hairdresser with a celebrity." She giggles and he rolls his eyes.

"I want to move to LA after I graduate. You know, become a movie star and have a place on the Hollywood walk of fame, I have nice hands, they'd look good on a street." Sheldon rolls his eyes.

"What you need is a degree, Penny. I keep telling you that…" It's her time to roll her eyes. "The probably of you making it big is less than 1%. And while I'm sure you'll try, you need something to fall back on if that doesn't work."

"Yeah, yeah." She shrugs her shoulders. "But I'd look good on a silver screen. I want to be Audrey Hepburn, Sheldon and be immortal." He nods his head.

"Science is immortal." Another roll of her eyes. "Penny, you are smart and driven and I know you don't brag about it because you think your friends won't think your 'cool' anymore, but I've seen your chemistry papers and, while they are a few flaws because no one is as smart as me, it works." She bumps her shoulder with his. "It works and you understand the math. I'm not asking you to become a doctor, I'm just asking you to think about this seriously."

"You think I should become a chemist?" He shakes his head.

"I'm asking you to be better than this and I think your father will agree with me." Her father isn't thrilled when she announces that she wants to move to California and try out being an actress. "I'm not saying you shouldn't try being an actress if that's your dream, I'm saying do it with a diploma and prove to everyone out there that you're not just a dumb blonde cliché."

"But I don't want to stay here…" Penny loves her father and their house and their farm. But she wants more. She wants to travel the world and have iced coffees in fancy bistros and she wants a kissing scene with Brad Pitt and she wants the world to gaze up in wonder at her face.

"There are universities in California, you know." Of course, she knows. "If you work hard, there's scholarships and student loans and there's, well, me." She snorts.

"You want me to move in with you? I mean, didn't you say that I had so many shoes they'd probably fill your entire apartment so badly you couldn't move around? And what about my nail polish collection or my makeup and we'd have to share a bathroom and we all know what happens when we share a bathroom, Sheldon. I don't adhere to your schedules and I'd probably go into your room and read your comics and not put them back in the right order and you'd complain all the time because I'd put the butter back on the wrong shelf of the fridge…" He looks horrified.

"That does sound awful." She smiles. "I'm not asking you to move in with me, just in the same state as me. If you don't, my mother would worry and your father would worry and then Missy would always be over and neither of us want that…" She shudders. Missy is lovely, but she's even messier than Penny.

"You really think an university in California would take me?" He snorts.

"Of course, they would, they take anyone in these days." He replies, like it's the stupidest questions she's ever asked him, which is saying something because she asks a lot of stupid questions. "Just focus on your studies for a while instead of trying become the mate of some dumb Neanderthal with more muscles than brain and you'll succeed."

"You mean, instead of being arrested for breaking into governmental facilities and stealing potential harmful, radioactive substances that could make me lose all my hair." He rolls his eyes, but his lips twitch into a half-smile.

"For your information, I needed yellow cake uranium to supply our town with free and clean electricity. Coal is passé, Penny and radiation is a very valuable alternative." She nods, because of course, what did she expect. "It was worth giving it a try, even if our government thinks otherwise."

"I never pegged you for an altruist, Shelly." The nickname is meant as a joke and he scowls at her because she only uses it when she wants to make fun of him. "But that does sound nice, you know, clean energy and all…" She smiles mischievously. "Just, next time, tell me in advance, I'll wear sensible shoes." Because she would do it all again. Truth be told, Sheldon and his weird thought out plans are always fun, even if they lend her in prison.

There's that one time where he ropes her into helping him make their windmill more efficient and she ends up breaking her arm because she falls off the top and, even if she has to take painkillers for a few weeks and shower with plastic wrap and have Sheldon spoon feed her, it's the most fun she's had in years (which she tells him over and over again in her drug induced delusions).

"There won't be a next time. My mother was very vocal about that." Penny is very warm now and content and there's still pumpkin pie in the kitchen and the sound of the TV carries out all the way to them and she hears Missy argue and George Jr. laugh and Mary telling them to shut up and her father asking for another beer.

It's perfect.

"You think I could come spend a few weeks with you? I mean, during summer break…" She adds when he raises an eyebrow. Penny is not the type to admit she misses someone, but with Sheldon out of the house it's too quiet. He considers the request and finally nods.

"Let's make a deal. If you manage a grade average of A-, you can squat in my apartment for the entire summer." She groans. "I'll even take you to Disneyland to see the California Adventure Water Show." She beams at him.

"Really?" He probably nods his head, but Penny doesn't care and wraps her arms around him. He tenses, obviously, because Sheldon's never very good with her blatant displays of emotions and then pats her back after the initial shock wears off.

"I hope you're ready for all the shopping I plan to do." She says, burying her face in his shoulder.

"God Lord, I rescued a nun that one time. Why am I being punished?" Penny just laughs.

a/n: You know, when you just have that idea in your head that won't leave you alone and then you keep dreaming about it and it sort of becomes real, even if you don't want it to because you have plenty of other stories to be writing and you think to yourself that you're horrible, but your fandom is stupidly adorable and keeps you awake at night... Honestly, I don't even watch the show anymore. I just rewatch old episodes from season 1 to 5 and just pretend the rest never happened. So, let me know what you think. I mean, this is obviously Shenny, but a slow Shenny and I'll try my hardest to finish my other stories, but this idea just wouldn't leave me alone... so, did you like it? Do you want more? Let me know! Reviews are, as always, appreciated. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed.