Amy couldn't believe that in a few short weeks she would be presenting her thesis to the board. Then it would all be over. All her years of school were coming to a close. It felt bittersweet. She had been in school so long and it was finally ending, with her getting her doctorate.
At college she did not have many friends, but she didn't long for them . At Harvard everyone was tied up in their studies. They weren't socializing with her out of malice. Everyone was just to wrapped up in themselves to care about much else. That suited her just fine. Although, if she was being completely honest with herself she was a little disappointed that she was nearing the end of her college career and she had done none of the normal college stuff. She was twenty-two and she still had never been kissed.
Amy belonged to a study group that met every Thursday. While she couldn't call them her friends, as they never talked of anything outside of school, it felt nice to at least have peers to be social with.
Amy is on her way to the study group. When someone bumps into her hard enough to make her drop her bag and books."Hey!" she says defensively as the boy who bumped into her stops and looks at her confused.
"Yes?" he asks, his face impassive.
"You, just bumped into me." she informs him and a look of concern crosses his features.
"I did? I'm sorry, my mind was elsewhere." he says and he crouches down and picks up one of her scattered books and hands it to her. Amy gathers her bag as she takes it from him. Their hands brush slightly, making a wave of heat flood her body. Shocked by her odd reaction Amy quickly looks up. Noting that the boy who bumped into her is quite handsome. He is tall, with broad shoulders, his eyes are large in his thin pale face. Color floods her cheeks as his blue eyes assess her curiously.
"It's fine, it happens to me, too." she says softly, standing up again and hugging her bag to her chest. Amy smiles shyly and nervously tucks her hair behind her ear. He gathers the few scattered papers at their feet. When he rises to hand her said papers, her breath is taken away by a beautiful lopsided smile. But it's gone so quickly she wonders if she had imagined it.
"If you're alright, then I'll be going now." he says. She just nods and he turns and walks away. Amy watches him leave and sighs. That was the most romantic thing that happened to her a. A mysterious beautiful stranger knocking her books to the ground. It was the closet she had ever come to holding a boy's hand. Now she could see what all the hoopla was about.
Amy tries unsuccessfully to to wipe the encounter form her thoughts. As she joins her study group. It's hard to focus thinking about the boys sapphire eyes. It's also hard to concentrate because two of the group's members are loudly complaining about their professor. It is a regular occurrence at the group with Amanda and Jen. They are both taking a physics class and the professor has a bad reputation amongst the students.
"Dr. Cooper is the worst!" Amanda complains as she taps her pencil on her notebook.
"You complain about him every Thursday. What does he do that is so bad?" Amy asks, a little sick of their constant belly aching. School was almost over and she thought that they should be used to their professor by now.
"For starters he is the same age as us only, he has a B.S., M.S., M.A. a Ph.D. and a Sc.D. Which he reminds us of every class! That and how much better he is than us." Jen tells her while rolling her eyes.
"He wants a 5000 word essay on quantum loop gravity ready by next week." she whines, Amy doesn't understand the problem.
"So, just write it." Amy tells her and she rolls her eyes at her.
"5000 words in five days?" Jen asks annoyed.
"So tell him you think it's unfair." Amy shrugs.
"I did. I told him that it was impossible! And you know what he said?" Jen says.
"What?" Amy sighs.
"Nothing's impossible only guy is a crackpot! I honestly don't know why they let him teach." Jen says in exasperation.
" How can he be a professor at only… what? Twenty-two?" Amy asks confused. She thought she was advanced by being almost done with her doctorate at only twenty-two.
"He was a child prodigy, Got his doctorate at only sixteen. This is his first year teaching and he just isn't cut out for it." Amanda sighs. "Let's talk about anything else. Just thinking about Dr. Cooper makes my head hurt."
Amy doesn't think that Professor sounds that bad at all. She finds herself siding with him while her friends complain about him. Intrigued by what her friends had said about him she decides to find out more on her own.
When she gets back to her dorm she logs onto the university server. She looks up Dr. Cooper hoping to see a picture of him. Much to her disappointment she discovers the university has yet to upload a picture. It does give a detailed bio of him and she finds herself fascinated. The pages have links to some of the papers he has written and she finds herself engrossed in his work. The man is brilliant, that's for sure, and insightful, and even a few of his footnotes are quite funny.
Amy just can't reconcile the monster professor her friends had described. With the man behind these papers. Neither Amanda or Jen had a real passion for physics. They had only taken the course to round out their resumes. Amy thought that was where the discord was. It was clear from the papers she read. That Dr. Cooper was passionate about his work. That he probably was able to sense the lack of enthusiasm in his class and feed off it. Amy thinks that if she wasn't so close to her graduation date that she might have tried to squeeze in one of his classes. Just to meet the man behind the legend.
If it's possible to fall in love with someone you've never met, Amy thought that she might be falling in love. With both the wunderkind professor and the boy who had nearly knocked her down. Infatuated with the words of Dr. Cooper and the handsome form of her mysterious stranger.
Over the next few days Amy started seeing her mysterious stranger all around campus. He was easy to spot as his height made him stand above the other students. She would like to think it was because he was following her, only he never noticed her. He was oblivious to the world around him. Usually his nose was stuck in a book. If he wasn't reading he was rushing somewhere head straight forward never looking around. One time she had seen him strolling dreamily as if in a trance, talking to himself. Then he stopped picked up a frisbee someone was throwing around. Exclaimed something about atoms and walked away with the person's frisbee.
He was peculiar for sure, but it only made him more interesting to Amy. She wanted to know everything about him. The only things she could deduce from observation was that his major was in the sciences. That he had a class in the science center at 9:30 and at 3:30 because she had seen him there at those times nearly every day. It had crossed her mind to follow him at a distance to see where he went. Only that was crossing the line from admirer to stalker.
It was her first encounter with an unrequited love. She knew she was being ridiculous. Mooning over some guy who had only handed her a book. He probably didn't even remember the encounter, that was ingrained in her brain. Over the next couple of weeks she can't stop herself from imagining the relationship that could be. He would be the ideal boyfriend. Kind, caring, smart as a whip and able to challenge her intellectually. He would take an interest in her day. Calling her every night just to hear her voice. He would take her on dates to the museum, to the bookstore, to the movies. They would drink tea and talk for hours. Amy was starting to believe that the real man would pale in comparison to the version of him she had dreamed up.
Feeling lonely on Saturday night she decides to take herself on a date to the bookstore. There was one she liked to visit that was walking distance from campus. Inside the store there was also a small cafe. An evening sipping tea engrossed in the pages of a new book might be just what doctor ordered to nurse her ailing heart.
When she gets to the bookstore she stands outside for a moment. Admiring the way the stores yellow lights glow in the twilight air. It's chilly out and she can't wait to be in the stores cozy fold. Gazing into the stores window she notices someone standing at one of the shelves with his back to her. The unmistakable back of her mysterious stranger. After following at his back for so long. She would know the shape of his shoulders and the slope of his neck anywhere. Part of her wants to turn on her heel and run away. The other part knows that this might be her only chance to speak with him again.
"Come on Amy, be brave." she begs herself as she wills her body to move towards the door. Once she is in the door it almost feels like her body is moving on it's own volition. Drawn to him, like a moth to a flame. He is standing in front of the philosophy section holding a book.
"Gottfried Leibniz.. Transcendental Law of Homogeneity. You must be a fan of philosophy and mathematics." Amy says behind him making him jump.
"You're aware of Gottfried Leibniz?" he says skeptically raising an eyebrow.
"Of course, he refined the use of infinitesimal calculus. However, he's not my favorite philosopher." she shrugs.
"Let me guess? That would be Simone de Beauvoir?" he says turning his full attention to her.
"I'm insulted that just because I'm a woman you assume that." Amy says folding her arms over her chest and tilting her head up to look at him.
"Now you've piqued my curiosity, may I have a second guess?" he asks seriously.
"Of course." she smirks.
"I'm changing my answer to Nietzsche." he says confidently. "There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness." he quotes.
"Again, I am slightly insulted. While I do love Nietzsche , it appears you assume I only have knowledge gleamed from a high school philosophy course." Amy tells him and he smiles at her. That coupled with his quote, make her heart race and her knees weak.
"Then do tell, who is your favorite philosopher?" he asks her.
"Francis Bacon." she fires back.
"Ah, so you're a scientist." he states rubbing his chin.
"A neuroscientist to be exact." Amy tells him proudly. "May I hazard a guess at your favorite philosopher?" Amy asks and he looks amused.
"As, I hold a doctorate in philosophy. I doubt you would be able to guess. However I would love to see you try." he challenges and Amy suddenly feels very nervous. He looks so young how does he already hold a doctorate in philosophy?
"I'm going to deduce that it is Immanuel Kant." Amy says remembering how he mentioned it in one of his papers footnotes. He looks at her shocked.
"Lucky guess." he murmurs.
"I don't believe in luck." Amy says not wanting to admit she was sort of stalking him and he looks impressed.
"May I buy you a beverage?" he asks still a bit awestruck.
"That depends." Amy says coyly proud of her new found flirting ability.
"Depends on what?" he asks looking slightly wounded.
"I'm not in the habit of letting strangers buy me drinks and I don't even know your name." she says smiling brightly. His surprised look making her suppress a laugh.
"How rude of me, of course. I am Dr. Sheldon Cooper. Professor of physics at Harvard." he says extending his hand which Amy takes and shakes. The same warm tingle spreading through her body as their skin touches. Amy is momentarily dumbfounded. Discovering that the two men she had been harboring a secret torch for were, in fact. one in the same. The mysterious stranger was the same man as the enigmatic professor.
"Amy Farrah Fowler." she says feeling suddenly shy around him. "You look awfully young to be a professor."
"I am, but I got my first doctorate at the age of sixteen. So I am ahead of the game. Now that we are no longer strangers may I buy you that beverage?" he asks with a look so hopeful she knows there's no denying him.
"Certainly." Amy says following him to the counter of the cafe.
"Two hot chocolates please." he tells the barista then he looks stricken and turns to Amy. "I hope you don't mind? I love a hot chocolate."
"I don't mind." Amy assures him as they take their drinks and find an empty table.
"You look familiar, have we met before?" he asks her and she decides to fess up.
"Very briefly. You nearly knocked me to the ground outside the Cabot Science library." Amy reminds him and he nods his head.
"Ah, I remember now. It was October 10th at six o'clock, I was on my way to the Birkhoff and wasn't paying attention to my surroundings. I knocked a copy of In search of Lost Time by Proust out of your hands." he says blowing on his drink. Amy finds herself distracted by the shape of his lips and has to quickly tear her eyes away.
"That's amazing! How did you remember all that?" she asks wondering if maybe she had effected him the same way he had her.
"I have an eidetic memory. I remember everything." he tells her sounding cocky. "I remember being impressed by your interest in Proust."
"Part of my thesis is based in Proust and his work." Amy says smiling proudly and slowly taking a sip of her hot chocolate.
"Fascinating, I would love to read it sometime." Sheldon says softly.
"I would love for you to read it." Amy says eagerly. "I must admit I've read some of your work by chance. I was very impressed with it. Even though I'm not that interested in theoretical physics."
"You came across my work by chance?" he asks with a raised brow.
"Alright, I'll admit it. Your reputation proceeds itself and a few of the members of my study group were talking about their physics professor and I got curious. I had no idea that Dr. Cooper was you." Amy admits, spilling the beans.
"I'm afraid you must have heard some rather poor things about me. As it seems I am not a very popular teacher." Sheldon sighs. "It's one of the few vocations I don't have a high aptitude in. To be honest, I just don't have any passion for the education of inferior minds." he confesses. It's an arrogant statement that's for sure. If anyone else had spoken them she might have even been turned off by it. Somehow coming out of his mouth it sounded right.
"What would you prefer to be doing?" she asks curious.
"Research, my services would be better employed pondering the mysteries of the universe. Not fruitlessly trying to educate grad students. I've applied to several colleges and I'm hopeful I'll have a new position next year. I'm only contracted with Harvard this one year." he says tiredly.
"I won't be at Harvard next year either." Amy tells him.
"Have you accepted a new position yet?" he asks curiously and she looks at him confused.
"I have to get my doctorate first. Once I get that I'm applying to a few schools back home. I'm hopeful that UCLA or Caltech could use me." she says.
"You're still a student? I thought you were still a professor like myself." he asks truly shocked by this revelation.
"We can't all be child prodigies. Some of us have to settle on being a run of the mill genius." Amy tells him and he smiles at her shyly.
"I doubt anything about you could be described as run of the mill." he says, his voice dropping deeper sounding very flirtatious. Amy blushes and takes a sip of her drink to hide her grin.
"Twenty-two is still a commendable age to be getting a doctorate." Amy tells him and he nods in agreement.
"To say I was fast tracked is putting it lightly." he replies then checks his watch. "I'm sorry to say this Miss. Fowler, but I really must be on my way. Would you mind exchanging contact information with me? I am still very interested in reading your thesis." he tells her taking out a business card from his wallet and writing something on the back. "This is all my information. I have included my direct phone number and my personal email. I might not see it if you send anything to the university's email. It will get lost with all the students."
"Thank you. Here. Let me write down mine." Amy says, rummaging through her bag and finding a scrap of paper and a pen. Carefully she writes everything down and hands it to him.
"You're handwriting is impeccable." he compliments and Amy has to hide another grin, but unfortunately there's no hiding her blush.
"I've had a lot of practice." Amy tells him thinking of all the lonely nights spent perfecting her penmanship.
"It shows." he says before extending his hand one last time. "Goodnight, Amy Farrah Fowler." he says shaking her hand for an extended time. Both reluctant to say goodbye and both sensing an electricity in the air.
"Goodnight, Dr. Cooper." she tells him shaking his hand and slowly letting go. He walks towards the door, but looks over his shoulder one last time. Sheldon smiles shyly at being caught looking, then he is gone. Leaving her beaming and shaking at the cafe table. She pinches herself to make sure she was not dreaming. The responding pink mark on her arm assures her that this is in fact real life.
Once she has herself together she gathers her things and makes her way to her small studio apartment. Thankful she doesn't have a roommate to ask her a ton of questions. Like how her normally solemn face is fixed in a brilliant smile. All she wants to do is contact him immediately. Then part of her brain stops her. Telling her that he was just being nice to her. That a man like Dr. Cooper has better things to do than read her thesis. Then the other part of her brain told her that Dr. Cooper did not seem like the kind of man who did anything just to be nice.
Turning on her computer she goes to her email. With the intention of emailing Dr. Cooper a copy of her work. Then she sees that she has a new email from Dr. Cooper already. Her heart thumping wildly she opens it up.
Amy,
I enjoyed meeting with you today. I find myself wishing you were one of my students. Then maybe I would have someone in my classes with a spark of intelligence. I also find myself disappointed that you are a student instead of a colleague. Then I would have a co-worker to converse with. I would say that you are beyond your years. Only you're only a year younger than myself. I look forward to speaking with you further.
Regards,
Dr. Sheldon Cooper
Amy reads it again several times. Wishing that it was an old fashioned letter. So she could press it to her breast and sleep with it under her pillow. Like the heroine would in one of her historical romance novels. Instead she starts a letter in reply. Writing it out and deleting it several times before she is happy with the result.
Dr. Cooper,
I enjoyed meeting with you today as well. It is rare that I get to converse with anyone as engaging as yourself. I too find myself wishing you were in my classes. Or I was in yours. You have a unique ability to make all manner of subjects interesting.
Best regards,
(soon to be Dr.) Amy Farrah Fowler
P.s. That is not the first time I have been accused of being beyond my years. It is however the first time the claim has been made by someone my own age.
P.p.s. I have attached a copy of my thesis for your perusal.
Amy hits send and feels like her heart falls to her stomach. Imaging all the ways this could go wrong. He is a professor and she is just his student. Only he's not her professor and their is no rule against speaking with the are just striking up a communication based on mutual admiration. There was nothing romantic about their communication so far.
What if something romantic developed? What happened then? The outcomes as infinite as the many-worlds outcomes theory. All she knows for sure is that this flirtation with the mysterious Dr. Cooper, is the best thing that has happened to her the entire time she's been at college. That whatever happens next, she is just glad that something is finally happening.
Sheldon's side
Two months into his stint at Harvard and Sheldon knows he has made a terrible mistake. His mother had convinced him to take the position. Excited to be able to brag to her friends that her son would be a Professor at Harvard. A school that everyone had heard of and knew how exclusive it was. One of his aunts had thought Caltech was a technical college. That he was trying to get into refrigerator repair. She had made the case that he would be happier staying on the east coast. That at Harvard he would be around people of his peer group. Maybe be even be able to make a few friends.
So far she had been wrong on all accounts. He was not happier on the east coast, especially not in Cambridge. He hated the cold. It was April and it was still chilly at night. As much as he hated the sweaty sticky heat of Texas summers. He was convinced he would hate the freezing snowy winters here even more.
Sheldon also found that he was as peerless at Harvard as he had been everywhere else. His students didn't respect him, thinking it was unfair they were being taught by someone their own age. In their minds a physics professor should be an elderly gentleman. Wearing a tweed jacket with leather patches. Not a twenty-three year old man wearing a blazer over his superman t-shirt. He could tell they snickered at him behind his back. His colleagues were just as bad. They resented having him come in and fill a position they had been working their entire lives for. They didn't like him and they didn't respect him.
Sheldon found himself feeling more lonesome here than anywhere he had been before. So he did his best to distract and amuse himself. He gave out assignments that were impossible to finish. He made out quizzes that no one could pass. Hoping that one of his students would impress him. So far no one had. So far everyone he had meet while he was here had been a disappointment.
All his students did was complain that he was unfair. Some had even flat out refused to finish their assignments, claiming they were impossible tasks. Then when he said nothing was impossible just improbable and if they put their minds to it they could solve it he was met with glares.
Tonight he is on his way to the Birkhoff Library where he liked to spend his Thursday nights. It was better than sitting in his bleak quarters alone. The school provided him with housing, that was a little better than a dorm room. He had a small kitchen, a postage stamp-sized sitting area with a desk, and sleeping quarters. He hadn't taken much with him in his move from Texas, uncertain how long he intended to stay at Harvard. It was the right move as he did not see himself staying here beyond the year. However it made his place a boring place to be. So he spent as much time as he could out, only returning for sleep. The Birkhoff was his favorite of the libraries on campus. It housed all the mathematical tomes. He always seemed to find something new to interest him there.
Sheldon is lost in his thoughts. Thinking about the 5000 word essay he assigned his students today. He had hoped that it would spur his students to challenge themselves. Instead it seemed to have sparked a mini revolt. He is thinking about how he can win back his students when he hears someone yell out.
"Hey!" angrily at him confused when he sees a girl struggling with papers and books scattered all around her.
"Yes?" he asks wearily, thinking that she might be one of his students tracking him down on his off time to complain about his coursework.
"You just bumped into me." she tells him gesturing to the scattered papers at her feet. He had bumped into a woman hard enough to scatter her possessions and he hadn't even noticed. She looks unharmed. That was good.
"I did? I'm sorry. My mind was elsewhere." he says.
Then he crouches down and picks up one of her scattered books and hands it to her. Proust, he notes, impressed by her selection. Their hands brush as she reaches out and takes it from him. Unwanted physical contact always sends him into a tailspin. He never touches anyone if he can avoid it, for fear of germs. This touch sends him into a different kind of tailspin, he had never experienced before. He feels like he has been shocked with a jolt of electricity and his pulse starts to race. Confused by his odd reaction at a momentary touch, he look looks down at the girl, who at the same time looks up at him.
Sheldon is immediately enchanted. The girl has large green eyes framed by even larger glasses. Her brown hair cascades over her shoulders framing her lovely face. A twinge of pink colors her pale cheeks and she looks away breaking the spell.
"It's fine, it happens to me, too." she says softly, standing up again clutching her bag to her chest. The girl smiles a sweet shy smile that tugs at something deep inside of him. She nervously tucks her hair behind her ear. Not ready to leave her yet, he gathers the few scattered papers at their feet.
"It doesn't happen to me." he thinks as he hands her the papers. He doesn't lose track of his surroundings. He doesn't dillydally so he can converse with strange girls. He most certainly doesn't ever find himself wanting to be closer to anyone, ever. Unnerved by his odd reaction to this girl he has the sudden urge to flee. "If you're alright, then I'll be going now." he says and she nods. He turns around and walks as fast away from her as possible.
"Whatever that was it must never happen again." he thinks as he walks briskly the cold wind whipping at his cheeks. He has walked almost a quarter mile when he realizes he has walked in the opposite direction of the Birkhoff. In fact he is almost to his living quarters by the time he notices. "Drat." he sighs giving up and heading home.
All night he thinks about the girl from his encounter. Was she a student or fellow professor? Sheldon had never been good at guessing ages or reading facial expressions. In his classroom he liked to pretend that all his students had one face. It was easier for him not to feel overwhelmed that way. He logs onto the university server and tries to find a match for her face amongst the professors in the colleges employ without luck. Finally he decides that he is being ridiculous. What would he do once he found the girl again? What was it that he wanted from her? These were questions that he didn't have answers for so he decides to put her out of his mind.
Over the next few weeks he gets so engrossed in his work that the girl is pushed from his thoughts. He is on the cusp of a great discovery and he can feel it. It consumes everything he does. His teaching taking a backseat to his research. He assigns his students small tasks and shows slides. So that he can spend his time more wisely.
Walking through the quad one day he sees two people tossing a frisbee back and forth. It reminds him of the movement of atoms. Fascinated he stops and watches them for a bit. When the frisbee goes of course and hits his feet he picks it up. "The atoms move in a fluid motion!" he exclaims. Taking the frisbee with him to examine in his classroom. He spends the entire class making the frisbee sail around the room and taking notes. The students are whispering that he is losing his mind but he doesn't care. He is on the cusp of a great discovery.
Then just as quickly the idea is gone. There is an error in his calculations that he can't reconcile. The weeks of research have been for nothing. He always feels odd after a spell like that. It's almost like he goes into a trance. Long stretches of time are lost to him while his mind ponders a problem. It's like his body gets put on autopilot. While his brain works on more important matters.
His students seem to like him better after being treated to several weeks of little to no course work. However Sheldon feels hollow, bored and drained. After the week he has had he decides to get out a little on Saturday. Normally he just reserves Saturdays for his laundry night. The campus laundry room is blissfully empty on weekends nights. He has some time before it clears out so he takes a walk to the bookstore. There is a quote by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz "He who hasn't tasted bitter things hasn't earned sweet things." in his Discourse on Metaphysics and Other Essays that he wants to look at. It seems to fit how he is feeling right now. It feels like lately he has only tatsted the bitter lately, Of course he remembers it but there is something about looking at it in a book that is strangely satisfying. He could go to one of the libraries on campus to search for it. Going to the bookstore seemed like more of an adventure.
The book store is quiet on a Saturday night. He heads over to the philosophy section and looks at the titles. He picks up the book he is looking for and thumbs to the exact page he needs. He reads the quote and closes the book. The words on page don't have the comforting effect he was searching for and he sighs as he shuts it. Then he hears a voice behind him. A low soothing voice he swears he has heard before.
"Gottfried Leibniz.. Transcendental Law of Homogeneity. You must be a fan of philosophy and mathematics." she says and he turns around. It's the girl from weeks earlier. The one he had knocked to the ground.
"You're aware of Gottfried Leibniz?" he asks impressed with her already. He wonders if she remembers him. Not everyone had a memory like his and their interaction had been so brief.
"Of course, he refined the use of infinitesimal calculus. However, he's not my favorite philosopher." she shrugs. Intrigued by her he wants to find out more.
"Let me guess? That would be Simone de Beauvoir?" he guesses Simone is a favorite amongst most young educated women.
"I'm insulted that just because I'm a woman you assume that." The girl says folding her arms over her chest and lifting her head up to look at him. Every word out of the girls mouth only intrigues him more. She is not your typical female and he likes it. She is also the first person he has ever found himself wanting to know more about.
"Now you've piqued my curiosity, may I have a second guess?" he asks her seriously. Racking his brain trying to think what sort of school of thought she belonged to. He decides to take the easy route guessing the favorite of many graduate students.
"Of course." she smirks.
"I'm changing my answer to Nietzsche." he says confidently. "There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness." he quotes. It's a favorite line amongst females. He's never really cared about the great philosophers thoughts on love. A subject that has never been interesting to him. Until now as he faces off with this small and feisty powerhouse of a woman.
"Again, I am slightly insulted. While I do love Nietzsche , it appears you assume I only have knowledge gleamed from a high school philosophy course." she tells him and he can't help the smile that spreads over his face. This woman is beguiling him.
"Then do tell, who is your favorite philosopher?" he asks her.
"Francis Bacon." she fires back. Sheldon is impressed by her choice.
"Ah, so you're a scientist." he states rubbing his chin. Trying to figure her out. She must be one of the school's professors. It makes him wish he had attended one of the faculty mixers they held.
"A neuroscientist to be exact. May I hazard a guess at your favorite philosopher?" she asks innocently. Amused, he decides to let her try.
"I'm going to deduce that it is Immanuel Kant." she says smiling. A mysterious quirk of a smile that rivals the Mona Lisa's. How could she possibly have known that, it's unnerving.
"Lucky guess." he murmurs, trying not to smile.
"I don't believe in luck." she tells him, sealing his fate. There was no way he was going to let her walk away from him. Talking with her feels like speaking with an old friend. Like they have known each other forever.
"May I buy you a beverage?" he asks. He has ever asked a woman to share a drink with him before. He wants to let her know that this is not a common occurrence, but he doesn't know how.
"That depends." she says and he is taken aback. He hadn't thought he would be rejected. The thought of her possible rejection sends an odd chill through him.
"Depends on what?" he asks feeling wounded.
"I'm not in the habit of letting strangers buy me drinks and I don't even know your name." she says giving him a coquettish grin. Of course, he thinks relieved. As much as it feels like he has known her a long time. They have only just met, and haven't even been formally introduced.
"How rude of me, of course. I am Dr. Sheldon Cooper. Professor of physics at Harvard." he says extending his hand politely. Shaking hands normally bothers him. When she takes his hand he feels none of his normal revulsion.
"Amy Farrah Fowler." she says letting his hand go. Then she looks up at him shyly. "You look awfully young to be a professor."
"I am, but I got my first doctorate at the age of sixteen. So I am ahead of the game. Now that we are no longer strangers may I buy you that beverage?" he again hopeful she won't refuse him again.
"Certainly." Amy says following him to the counter of the cafe.
"Two hot chocolates please." he says ordering for the both of them. Then he looks at her worried. He had no idea what social protocol dictated. Should he have let her order for herself? "I hope you don't mind? I love a hot chocolate . I only order them in months with a R in them."
"I don't mind." Amy assures him as they take their drinks and find an empty table.
"You look familiar, have we met before?" he asks her, knowing why she is familiar but curious if she remembers the encounter.
"Very briefly. You nearly knocked me to the ground outside the Cabot Science library." Amy reminds him and he nods his head, glad that she remembers him. He recounts the day they met for her and he can tell she is impressed. He tells her how impressed he was by her interest in Proust and she tells him about her thesis. He wants to read it badly, even though biology was not normally an interest of his. Reading someone's work tells you a lot about them. Right now he wants to know everything he can about the woman in front of him. She told him that she was a neuroscientist, he wonders if she teaches it or is one of the universities researchers.
"Fascinating, I would love to read it sometime." Sheldon tells her truthfully. Becoming momentarily fascinated by her lips tentatively sipping her drink. He shakes himself out of his stupor just before she looks back up.
"I would love for you to read it." Amy says eagerly. "I must admit I've read some of your work by chance. I was very impressed with it. Even though I'm not that interested in theoretical physics." she says looking down at her hands. He is not the best at reading expressions but he would take this one for embarrassment though he doesn't know why. He is a prominent scientist and his works are available to read. Though he is a tad surprised she acted like she didn't know him yet had read his work.
"You came across my work by chance?" he asks with a raised brow. She admits that she had heard about him from his reputation on campus. Before knowing who he was. It bothers him that she must have heard bad things about him. He knew that he was not popular amongst his students. He hoped the hearsay of a few students would not color her opinion about him.
"I'm afraid you must have heard some rather poor things about me. As it seems I am not a very popular teacher." Sheldon sighs. "It's one of the few vocations in which I don't have a high aptitude. To be honest, I just don't have any passion for the education of inferior minds."
"What would you prefer to be doing?" she asks. It is a question he had been pondering a lot himself lately. What he was doing now is what he thought he was preparing himself to do. Now that he was actually doing it, he was finding out he had no passion for it and it's been disheartening. However he had heard of a few research position that would be better suited to him. He was better off making his own discoveries than teaching about other people's discoveries. He tells her about the universities he is applying to. She tells him that she is leaving Harvard too. When he asks more about it she reveals that she is still just a student.
"You're still a student? I thought you were a professor like myself." he asks truly shocked by this revelation. There was something about her that seemed much older than him. Then he reminds himself that he is very young to be in his position and she could still very well be much older than him.
"We can't all be child prodigies. Some of us have to settle on being a run of the mill genius." Amy tells him and he smiles at her. There was nothing run of the mill about her and he tells her so. "Twenty-two is still a commendable age to be getting a doctorate." Amy adds on looking almost embarrassed and he nods in agreement. She was very young to be as far as she was. Not everyone had the start that he did that allowed him to be where he was. Sometimes, when he's feeling lonely, he wonders if it might have been better to go along at the pace of his peers. Then he comes to his senses.
"To say I was fast tracked is putting it lightly." he replies then checks his watch. They've been talking so long that it's well into his laundry time. If he leaves now he will just finish before dinner and bedtime. He feels a pang at having to leave her. Something he's never experienced before. There is still so much he wants to know about her. He knows he isn't strictly supposed to fraternize with the students at the school. In fact it had been one of the reservations they had discussed with him upon his hire. He had assured the Dean that he had no desire to mingle with the student body and he would be strictly professional. However, Miss. Fowler was not one of his students and he was sure it wasn't against the rules to advise other grads. So he decides to give her his business card. There was no harm in doing that. After he hands it to her he worries that if she does choose to email him, It might get lost in the shuffle all his students. So he makes the even riskier decision to give out his personal information. Then deal with any repercussions later.
"Thank you. Here. Let me write down mine." she tells him pulling out a scrap of paper and writing down her information.
"You're handwriting is impeccable." the compliment sliding out of his mouth.
"I've had a lot of practice." she answers shyly.
"It shows." he says before extending his hand one last time. "Goodnight, Amy Farrah Fowler." he says shaking her hand for an extended time. Something deep within him unwilling to let go.
"Goodnight, Dr. Cooper." she says softly, as she lets go.
Sheldon walks towards the door, but looks over his shoulder one last time. There was certainly something about her. She catches him looking and he nods at her embarrassed before he opens the door and leaves. The chill in the air is brutal. As he walks back to campus he daydreams about California and mild winters. Amy said she was from California and hoped to go back next year. If they both went, then he would already have a friend there.
Was she his friend? He wondered, she was more of a friend than anyone he had met in a long time. He pulls out the scrap of paper she wrote her information on and enters it into his blackberry. Instead of throwing the paper away he tucks it back in his pocket. He can't stop thinking about her. Reliving the encounter with her over and over again in his head. He decides to fire her off a quick email before heading back out to the laundry room. To let her know how much he enjoyed speaking with her.
Amy emails him back quicker than he expected with a copy of her wishes he had brought along his laptop so he could read her thesis while he finishes his task. It feels like the rest of his laundry takes forever. He rushes through folding it and carried his basket back to his room. Part of him wants to just set the folded laundry on the floor and worry about it later. So he can read Miss Fowler's thesis. The larger part of his brain won't allow such a breach in routine. So he quickly puts everything away and makes himself some dinner. Then sits down at his computer and opens up the document.
The more he reads the more impressed he is with her work. Normally the human sciences don't intrigue him. However her in depth research on memories pulls him in. Before he knows it it is well past his bedtime. He closes his laptop and rubs his eyes. Tomorrow is Sunday and he knows he'll spend the rest of the day finishing her paper.
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Amy doesn't hear from Dr. Cooper on Sunday. She can't stop worrying that he has read her paper and hated it. Amy thinks her thesis is solid. It's not quite finished, she still needs to find a subject to test some of her hypothesis on. Suddenly it hits her that Dr. Cooper would be the perfect subject for her tests.
"Dr. Cooper!" Amy yells flagging him down as he rushes along t another class. He stops and turns around annoyed at first then he smiles when he sees it is her,
"Miss Fowler, what a pleasure. I thought you were another student coming to complain about my assignment." he tells her and she laughs, there would be complaints about Professor Cooper in her study group again.
"No complaints from me. I just wanted to ask you a favor. You can say no if you want to." Amy starts nervously.
"Of course , I can say no, I could also say yes. We won't know the outcome until the question is asked." he says.
"Right, I am about to present my thesis and I was wondering if I could go through a trial run with you? You've presented to the board and I was hoping you could give me some pointers?"
"It do have a lot of first hand knowledge on the subject."
"Exactly, so you'll do it?" she asks hopefully.
"I'm not sure." he says stroking his chin.
"Oh." Amy says disappointed.
"As part of the faculty I'm not sure if I'm allowed to prep students." he muses then he throws his hands up in the air. "What's life without a little fun. I'll do it."
"Great! I'll email you the details as soon as I have them. I'll start after spring break." The break starts tomorrow.
"Are you going away for spring break?" he asks her looking at her with his blues eyes speculative.
"No, I wanted to go back home but with my thesis deadline looming I thought it would be smarter to stay here, I'll be back in california permanently in the summer I can wait. My family was never big on celebrating the holidays anyways. How about you? Are you going anywhere?" she says feeling like she is rambling.
"My family wants me to go home to Texas. I however am choosing to stay put. I've never liked celebrations. No need to waste money flying to be miserable." he says looking down.
"Perhaps we'll run into each other while on break?" Amy asks hopefully.
"Perhaps." he says mysteriously and his watch beeps. " Oh dear! I must be onto class." he exclaims.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to keep you." Amy says embarrassed turning to leave. She is a few paces away when she hears Sheldon shout.
"Miss Fowler?" he asks.
"Yes, Professor Cooper?"
"If you were to run into me. By chance. It might happen while I'm eating dinner. Like on Monday nights because when I have chicken satay at the Dragon Palace on Western ave."
"Noted, Professor Cooper." Amy says turning back around coyly.
"I eat at seven." she hears him call and she raises her hand up to let him know she heard him. If she turns around her face will be split in an embarrassing grin.