THE SUM OF THE POSSIBILITIES
Chapter 1
It's a possibility ... it is a possibility, Sheldon thought while he was lying on his bed. He was not wearing his usual Thursday's pajamas, but his purple shirt and khaki trousers that he used to wear at the university.
Staring at the ceiling, Sheldon remembered the conversation he had with Leonard and Penny, a few hours ago, to be exact two hours with 16 minutes, and not that he was keeping score.
Penny asked him if his relationship with Amy could reach a physical level. "It's a possibility," that´s what he said. But, why did he say that? At that moment, he didn´t realize the imprudence he committed.
"Cooper, you have an IQ of 187!. It´s outrageous, the way you go and reveal your best kept secret to… Penny. She probably told Amy, already". Sheldon recriminated himself for being so indiscreet.
"Oh God, Amy shouldn´t know this, it would give her ideas", Sheldon blushed and bit his lower lip at the mental image of the "ideas" that his indiscreet confession would give Amy. ─ "Vixen!"
Sheldon ran out of the room as if he was being chased, and crossed the living room of his apartment in order to get to the door of his neighbor Penny.
─ Knock, knock, knock, Leonard and Penny. Knock, knock, knock, Leonard and Penny. Knock, knock, knock Leonard and Penny.
"Sheldon, What´s wrong?", asked Leonard angrily, as he opened the door.
"I need to talk to you for a couple of minutes", Sheldon said as he caught his breath after his impetuous rush.
"You… wanna talk? Come in Moon Pie!", asked his blonde friend with surprise when she noticed a shadow of vulnerability in Sheldon´s face. Something was wrong.
"Only my Meemaw calls me Moon Pie and there´s something wrong, indeed". Sheldon replied condescendingly.
"By the way, nobody sat on your spot or touched your food", Leonard replied sarcastically.
"That´s not what I want to discuss with you. I want to talk about Amy, well … not about her per se, I want to talk about what I´ve just told you earlier today".
Sheldon's face was blushing as he tried to make the words that swirled in his head; come out of his mouth. He had a lump in his throat and he couldn´t determine whether this feeling was fear or nausea.
"Did you guys turn up the air conditioner? I´ve informed you thusly that at this time of the year is recommended to keep the temperature of the room at 22 º C, to save energy and to avoid uncomfortable sweat problems", refuted Sheldon trying to cool himself down by pulling his shirt up, just a little bit.
"The air conditioner is perfectly fine. Let´s get down to the point, Sheldon"; Leonard said with a grimace of exasperation.
"All right!", Sheldon raised his hands in the air, admitting defeat and feeling cornered by the inquisitive eyes of his friends. He started saying:
"In the context of the discussion we had earlier, particularly when Penny asked me if I would ever consider taking my relationship with Amy Farrah Fowler to a physical level..."
"You answered Yes!. End of story", Penny said with a big smile of satisfaction, seeing that his friend, the emotionless robot, just admitted his interest on her bestie Amy.
"I said it was a possibility, I didn´t say that's going to happen tomorrow or in a year. Maybe it will never happen. I'm not a hippie. My relationship with Amy is a relationship of the mind, and at least for the moment, I wish it to remain as it is, therefore I ask you to refrain from informing her about the content of our last discussion. I would not want to raise false hopes", Sheldon concluded with a barely audible sigh.
Penny and Leonard look at each other without saying a word. The experimental physicist finally intervened: " Don´t worry Sheldon, we won´t tell Amy#.
"What about Howard, Raj or Bernadette?", asked Sheldon with his innocent look.
"We won´t tell them either", said Penny.
"Okay, I'm glad we came to an agreement"; Sheldon stood up. He said goodbye to his friends and went back home.
"Aww, our little Shelly is growing up!" Penny exclaimed with a smile, and giving Leonard a tender kiss.
"Yes, I think we need to have a talk about the birds and the bees with him", said Leonard smiling while hugging Penny.
Sheldon was unable to sleep that night, thinking about the previous day's events: his conversation with Leonard and Penny, that comforting hug Amy Farrah Fowler gave him, when he was feeling defeated by the superiority of Kripke's work. It was too much for him to handle.
He remembered the sensation of having Amy's arms around him, "like being strangled by a boa constrictor." He had lied.
Actually Amy's embrace was warm and sincere, like his mother´s or his Meemaw´s but with some new quality, a tingling, an electric shock, almost indefinable. He had wanted to hug her back, to hold Amy against his chest; perhaps, to cry on her shoulder, but he eventually settled for reaching Amy´s hand, timidly. Dr. Sheldon Cooper wouldn´t show those basic human emotions.
Why was he changing so much?. And it seems, he was learning to lie, even Kripke believed him when he admitted that the reason for the inferiority of his work was that his girlfriend kept him busy "in an amorous way".
"The lack of REM sleep will cause a severe damage to my work, which is already mediocre", Sheldon thought, looking at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, paying special attention to the dark circles under his eyes.
The tall and pale physicist headed to the kitchen, poured a bowl of cereal with high fiber content and started to eat his breakfast, quietly; lost in the reflection of his face in the chromed surface of the toaster.
"Hi Sheldon! Are you having cereal for breakfast?", asked Leonard as he entered the room.
"Leonard, Leonard, Leonard, as usual, pointing out the obvious!", Sheldon replied angrily.
"I just want to point out that today's Friday, and on Fridays, you have oatmeal for breakfast. Is there something wrong?"
"I'm fine, thanks for asking, though I must say that apparently my soundproof headphones are defective and Penny is getting increasingly noisy", Sheldon said.
Leonard blushed at his friend's comment, he poured himself a cup of coffee and said, "Get ready or we'll be late for work."
On the way to Caltech Sheldon remained very quiet. Leonard started a game of questions and answers, just to cheer Sheldon up. Sheldon refused to play, telling Leonard that he had a headache.
─ I need to do something to make him feel better or Sheldon is going to end up living with 25 cats, again, thought Leonard.
As usual, Amy was working on her studies on the neurologic basis of addiction. She had a job she loved, a new and exciting social life, and above all things she had Sheldon in her life, the best thing that had happened to her. Ever!
When no one was looking, when she was lonely or simply missed him, she used to look at the pictures she had in her cell phone. She particularly liked one of them. In this picture, from one of their visits to the zoo, Sheldon looked very handsome in his Green Lantern t-shirt, nearby the koala habitat.
"Of course he looks very cute, he always does!. And I love his koala face, Hooo!", Amy thought aloud.
The ringtone of her cell phone made Amy wake up from her daydream.
She looked at the screen of her phone. It was Leonard calling.
"Hi Amy, I'm Leonard. How are you?"
WHi Leonard, I'm fine. What a surprise!. Did something happen to Sheldon?", Amy replied uneasily.
"Sheldon is… fine, but it's precisely about him, I want to talk to you. Amy, Sheldon's being a little sad and discouraged by having to work with Kripke, you know they've never got along. Besides, Sheldon's feeling insecure about the quality of his work. Would you like to come to Caltech and have lunch with him at noon? I think it would be a nice surprise for him."
"I'll be there at 12 pm sharp. Thanks Leonard."
Amy asked permission to leave the laboratory for a few hours. She put on some make-up, like Penny taught her. The light pink strawberry lip gloss looked wonderful on her. She combed her long silky hair and then… she was ready to go and see him.
Author´s note: Hi, this is my first fanfic. Well, originally it´s a translation of "La suma de las posibilidades" wich I wrote in Spanish. I rewrote it in English because I´ve noticed some readers use google translator to understand it, and I must say it loses something. So here it is.
English is not my mother language, so please forgive some mistakes. Don´t forget read and review!