Chapter 1

Barry Kripke was sitting, hunched over his computer. It was late and there were millions of things that Kripke would've prefer to do than work, and half of them didn't involve women so they were doable. However, Kripke had just discovered something and he now had a very important task at hand… making sure he wasn't going batcrap crazy.

Just a little while earlier, Kripke was checking for black hole anomalies, finding one that was emitting some sort of weird radiation, when his laptop started fritzing on and off for a few seconds. It stayed on and nothing seemed wrong when he checked it over. However, when Kripke went back to his simulation program, it only showed an image of Kripke working on his computer.

"Damn it Cooper." Kripke muttered, so sure it was a prank put on him played by his associate, rival, pain in his ass Sheldon Cooper. Kripke waited for the zinger, angrily tapping his fingers. That was when he noticed that he wasn't tapping his fingers in the video. What more, the Kripke on the screen got up to walk about, something the real Kripke wasn't doing.

"Probably wecowded it befowe." Kripke (the one watching) said as he shook his head and got up to see if perhaps there was a camera in his office. There was none, especially in the spot it would've had to be to show the angle on the screen. Kripke sat back down, still waiting for the punchline to an increasingly unfunny joke, as his onscreen counterpart sat back down to open a comic book, the latest Batman. The Kripke watching tried to remember when he last read a comic in his office and squinted at his screen to see what issue it was. This is where we entered the story, as Kripke realized it's the new issue of Batman… the issue he wasn't able to pick up yet. He looked around his desk to see if someone put it there and he picked it up without remembering, but he knew he would've remembered reading a comic today. Kripke looked at his onscreen counterpart, seemingly unaware he was being watched. The watching Kripke sat back in his chair, trying to make sense of all this. Finally, he remembered a quote from Sherlock Holmes:

"If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

The truth frightened and excited Kripke.

"I discovewed a pawallel univewse." Kripke whispered in shock.

Kripke ran out of his office to see if anyone was here. No one but the night shift janitor.

I have to tell someone who wouldn't think I was writing the next Star Wars Kripke thought as he looked around. He had to tell someone who would understand what he was talking about. Kripke also realized that person had to be someone who wouldn't try to screw him over and claim the discovery as their own. Kripke realized there were four people he could tell and trust… Leonard, Raj, Howard, and… Kripke grumbled, but he knew it to be true… Sheldon. He grabbed his laptop and power cord and left his office. He noted the screen was showing his new surroundings as he moved, although different enough to show a camera wasn't following him.

"Nobel Peace Pwize, here I come." Kripke said as he ran to his car.

It was dinner time at apartment 3A, or as Leonard liked to call it 'Casa de Hofsteader y Cooper'… which got eye rolls from Penny and Howard, mocking snickers from Raj, confusion from Amy as to why Leonard and Sheldon were going Mexican in their lives, which got Sheldon in a tizzy about Leonard signing the Roommate Agreement, which specifically forbids from siding with any nation or party except for cases of alien or dolphin invasions, which made Bernadette, who thought the Casa bit was cute, repeatedly bump her head on her fist while saying "ow", which confused Amy even more because… let's just say the key word here was "liked", as in the past tense, and continue with our story.

Leonard, Howard, Raj, Penny, Bernadette, and Amy were making themselves comfortable for dinner, passing to each other the Indian cuisine they each ordered… and Raj his McDonald's burger, nuggets, and fries because, apparently, not every Indian likes Indian food. Raj was putting the nuggets in his burger, making his famous "Cow and Chicken Love Scene" sandwich, as Leonard called out to Sheldon.

"Sheldon, dinner." Leonard said. He turned to sit and saw a horrific sight: Penny was sitting in Sheldon's spot. The others quickly took notice. "Oh, Penny, no." Leonard pleaded.

"Don't even go there." Penny said, planting herself firmly in the seat. "I want to aggravate Sheldon after last night." The event she was referring to, at the Cheesecake Factory where Penny worked… well, it involved crying, the manager yelling at everyone, and Sheldon in a headlock. Let's just end the questions there.

"You realize, you aggravate Sheldon now, he aggravates us for the rest of the night, and he aggravates me until lunch tomorrow, so don't." Leonard said, in escalating pleading/upset tones. Upon hearing this, Penny thought that this probably wasn't the best thing to do. However, before she could decide whether to move it was too late.

Sheldon came into the living room and looked straight at Penny. He kept looking at her as he grabbed a drink from the fridge, as he grabbed his meal, and as he stood right in front of her, looking down. Penny stayed, enjoying the look of pure hatred that peeked-a-boo in little ways out of Sheldon's usually Vulcan face. Leonard was silently asking to crash at someone's house, gaining help from Raj in return for the "dinner and a show".

"How long are you going to do this?" Bernadette asked Penny.

"As long as it takes." Penny said, waiting for her moment.

"You know Sheldon, there's a seat right next to me." Amy said. "We could cuddle while we eat."

"You hear that, Penny." Sheldon said softly, without raising his head. "There's a seat right next to Amy, free for the taking. Why don't you scoot your tush over there?"

"Hmm, maybe next time." Penny said as she leaned back. Amy, for her part, would've taken either Penny or Sheldon.

Sheldon stood there for several more minutes, his lip quivering in silent fury. The others, besides Penny, sat in nervous anticipation of the steam about to burst from Sheldon. That burst didn't come all at once. He did promise his mother he would be less confrontational.

"Penny." Sheldon said slowly, evenly. "Would you please move to a new seat?"

"Why, may I ask?" Penny said in mock curiosity.

So much for his promise.

"Because that's my spot. That's My Spot! THAT'S MY SPOT! LEONARD, SHE'S IN MY SPOT! Sheldon shouted, looking to Leonard for support. Thankfully (for everyone else), Penny got up and moved. Sheldon took his spot and shot dirty looks at everyone, daring them to try and take his spot. He was about to launch into a tirade against Penny when this was heard behind the door.

"Please tell me the weason Cooper was scweaming like a gwrl has bweasts."

Despite Sheldon's protests, Leonard opened the door, letting Kripke in.

"What are you doing here, Kripke?" Sheldon asked after Kripke congratulated Penny for her tormenting. "Trying to grasp just a shred of my work so your papers won't be relegated to the same pages as Garfield or Snoopy."

"Actually, Cooper." Kripke said, surprisingly not upset at Sheldon's putdown. "I just wanted to show you wejects something that'll blow youw mind" he said with a flourish as he kneeled in the center and everyone gathered his laptop. On it was everyone sitting around the coffee table, eating their dinner.

"Big whoop, there's a camera in our apartment." Leonard said. He looked at the screen, deduced where the camera should be and looked in that direction while the others, except Bernadette, went back to their seats. "Hey guys, let me know when I'm facing Kripke's camera. I swear Kripke, I don't want you using our apartment as your TV time. I'm gonna take that camera and…"

"Leonard." Bernadette said, confused. "You're not looking at the camera."

"Thank you Bernadette." Leonard said in a sarcastic tone. He changed that tone when Howard shot him a dirty look. "I just need to know when I'm looking at it."

"Leonard, you're not looking." Bernadette said, impatient. "You're still eating. And Kripke's not here."

Leonard looked back at the screen and saw he was indeed eating on Kripke's screen while Kripke himself was absent. Penny also got up to get a better look.

"Okay, he filmed us before." Leonard said.

"Then explain how we're wearing the same clothes and eating the same thing?" Bernadette asked. Leonard was appropriately stumped while Penny was appropriately shocked.

"Guys, that's not us!" Penny said, getting everyone's attention.

"Exactly." Kripke said with pride. "Those awe altewnate univewse vewsions of you."

Everyone snickered at that admittedly, without the prior context, outrageous comment. Everyone except Penny.

"He's right." Penny said.

"Very good, Kripke. You hoodwinked her." Sheldon said. "However, may I suggest that you save yourself the trouble and just show her a blurry picture of someone in a gorilla suit and say you found Bigfoot."

"That's not a funny prank." Raj said, angrily. He would appreciate not going into why he felt so strongly about that. Penny, meanwhile, fought the urge to retort and made one of her very few scientific arguments.

"Sheldon, under which circumstances would you help Kripke play a prank and how far would you go?"

Sheldon could only laugh… or that sound he considers a laugh. "Penny, please. The only circumstances I would help Kripke with… well, anything, would be if purgatory experienced a very sudden drop in temperature that resulted in it being covered by a significant amount of frozen condensation."

It took a few moments for Penny to realize what Sheldon said and to realize he said what she had hoped he'd say.

"Then take another look at the laptop, sweetie."

"Very well." Sheldon said as moved closed to the screen. "I'll look again, just to show you why this alternate universe couldn't possibly…"

Sheldon did not finish that sentence as he took a long hard look at the screen. That rare silence got everyone else's attention and they gathered around the screen, they realized that, even if Kripke was wrong, something was going on. What they saw was the most unbelievable sight they had ever seen. Raj even dropped his Cow and Chicken sandwich, its contents splattered all over the floor because of his reaction to that sight.

On Kripke's laptop was Penny sitting on Sheldon's spot, with Sheldon on the other end, seemingly undisturbed by this.

Nothing could distract those watching from this amazing…

"Raj, clean up that mess." Sheldon said, causing the others to jump in shock.