Whatever it is, she's working hard.

After a few hours, Matt realized it was starting to get dark outside. He put down his controller and went to check on his wife.

Penny was sitting in the corner of the garage with her hands around her knees and her head down. Matt did a double-take, thinking she was crying. He put a hand on her shoulder. "Babe, you ok?"

She looked up at him and smiled blearily. "Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know, you look, uh..." Matt trailed off. How did she look? She was sweaty and pallid, and he noticed a tremor in her hands. "You look bad."

Penny laughed weakly. "Yeah, I think I might have overdone it a little. But what do you think? How does it look?"

Matt was unconcerned with the project. He was worried about her. "Seriously, what's going on with you?"

Penny sighed. "Ok, so you know how you need a lot of willpower to push yourself to the limit? Turns out I don't. If I felt like walking until my legs gave out, I could do it with no more difficulty than strolling across the room. Of course, I still know my body and still feel it all - I can tell when I'm exhausted or dehydrated or sick. It just feels good!"

Matt grimaced. "So you just worked yourself to exhaustion? Babe, that's not safe!"

"I know," she admitted. "But I wanted to finish it for you. I figured I could probably squeeze in another 30 minutes of work without doing any real damage to myself. It was mostly decorative too, just sanding and painting. When I was done, though, I was really shaky and lightheaded so I wanted to take a little time to rest my body. That's what I was doing when you walked in."

"So do you need some water or something?" Matt asked. Penny just laughed.

"Nah, I can get my own water. I'm better now," she said as she slowly rose. "I just, uh, need to ohhh..."

Her eyes rolled back in her head as she sagged against him. He quickly caught her and held her aloft. She was murmuring softly, not fully conscious. He dragged her into the living room and laid her on the couch. When he returned with a glass of ice water, she was sitting up and swaying.

"What happened?" she asked woozily. "Did I faint?"

He nodded and handed her the water. She drank the whole glass in one gulp and let out a satisfied belch. "Wow, yeah, I'm really dizzy. I, uh, should probably get some protein or something. Maybe you can provide a little..."

She reached clumsily for his zipper, her hand shaky wildly. He slapped it away. "No! No sex until you're better. Babe, you can't push yourself like this. It's not good for you. Let me go see what I can find."

She sagged back against the couch and he went to the kitchen. He returned with a handful of granola bars, a banana, and a fresh glass of water. "Here, eat this. Do you have a headache?"

"Yeah," she said. "Pounding. This would have been miserable before, but now it just feels..."

"Good?" Matt ventured.

"Yeah. Real good. But you're right, I should rest." Having said this, she devoured the banana in a few bites and washed it down with half the glass of water. "Phew, that feels better. I just think I'll take a little nap..."

She leaned back and stretched out across the couch. Before Matt had left the room she was snoring.