Hello new fandom! This is my first ever Big Bang Theory story (but not my first fanfic ever) and I hope you all enjoy it. Last week's episode when Sheldon commented on multiple universes, I wanted to explore all the different possibilities and how Sheldon and Penny fit into each one. Yes, I included the candy clown universe.
Disclaimer: I don't own Big Bang Theory, promise.
SHELDON: Penny, while I subscribe to the many worlds theory which posits the existence of an infinite number of Sheldons in an infinite number of universes, I assure you that in none of them am I dancing. (The Gothowitz Deviation)
Park!Verse
Sheldon Cooper had been circling around the park for nearly twenty minutes now with a broken leash stuffed in his plaid pants' pocket. Mentally, he was insulting his roommate for making him take care of his dog while Leonard was away for the weekend.
"It'll just be for two days. All you have to do is walk him in the park and feed him. No big deal," Leonard promised as he zipped up his suitcase.
"No big deal? Oh, Leonard, Leonard, Leonard," he scoffed under his breath as he rounded another corner. He glanced around the park and saw children playing, old women feeding pigeons, couples sitting on benches, but no dogs.
With a long suffering sigh, he continued walking down the pebbled path until he finally saw Jack the Terrier laying on the grass while a hunched over figure scratched his belly.
"Excuse me," Sheldon called out to the figure. The person turned around and he saw that it was a young woman roughly his age. He felt his stomach flop uncomfortably when he saw how pretty she was.
"Oh, hello!" she greeted with a wave. "Is this your dog?" She looked back at Jack and continued to rub his belly.
"No. It's my roommate's." Sheldon answered with a hint of disdain. He glared at the dog who continued to lie on the ground with his tongue lolling out foolishly. Not for the first time, Sheldon wondered why anyone in their right mind would get a dog.
"Oh," the girl answered. She finally stood up from where she was sitting and extended a hand. "I'm Penny."
Sheldon stared at her outstretched hand until she finally faltered and let it fall back to her side.
"I'm sorry, but you were just scratching the dog's underside with that hand," he explained, folding his own hands neatly behind his back.
"Right," she answered with a strange look on her face. Penny flipped her blonde braid over her shoulder before speaking again. "Is his leash broken?"
Sheldon stared at her shining hair before finally glancing down at the leash hanging from his pocket.
"Yes. I must confess that I do not know how I will get him back to our apartment," Sheldon answered with a puzzled expression. Was it too late to condition the dog into following his every command? Even as an idea began to form in his mind, he dismissed it. He had been trying for the past two years to control that mutt to no avail. It would never work in a mere few minutes at the park. Oh, how he hated lesser-evolved beings.
"Here," Penny offered. She sat back down on the grass and untied the satiny blue ribbon tied around the waist of her floral-patterned dress. She tied one end to Jack's leash and then held out the other end for Sheldon to take hold of.
"Inventive," Sheldon remarked as he carefully took the ribbon from her grasp.
"Thank you," she smiled.
"It was a statement, not a compliment," he told her flatly, causing the smile to fall from her face. He felt a faint twinge of guilt for saying it and for causing her smile to fade, but quickly suppressed it.
"You know, I don't know if I'm amused or insulted right now," she commented with a wary expression. Her nose scrunched up in a way that would have been adorable to anyone other than Sheldon.
Sheldon pursed his lips, but did not say anything. Leonard was certainly going to get a penalty when he returned from his trip home. This was certainly not how Sheldon had wanted to spend his time. There was too much work to be done.
"Yes, well, thank you for your help then. I'm sure my roommate will appreciate it," he finally responded.
Penny waved it off and gave Jack a final pat on the head.
"Well, I suppose it was nice to meet you, whoever you are," Penny said with a grin.
"You suppose?" Sheldon raised an eyebrow.
"I decided to be amused instead of insulted," she shrugged. Then with a wave of her slim hand, she walked down the path.
For some reason, Sheldon watched her until she rounded the corner and disappeared from his line of vision entirely. Then, he felt a tug on the ribbon in his hand and looked down as though surprised to see Jack standing there.
With a glare to the dog that went completely ignored by the furry mongrel, they made their way back to the apartment. Sheldon tossed his keys into the bowl beside the door and flicked on the lights. He knelt down to untie the silly ribbon from Jack's collar and then allowed the dog to run off to his water dish.
In the sitting area, he heard a beep indicating that there was a new message on the answering machine. Still holding the ribbon, he walked over and pressed the play button.
"Hi! My name is Penny and I'm in Hyde Park right now. I think I found your dog. His collar says his name is Jack and there was this number on it. Anyway, my number is 609-555-5483. So whenever you get this message, give me a ring so I can return cute little Jack. Okay, bye!"
Sheldon looked down at the ribbon twisted around his fingers. He knew he should call her, thank her, apologize for his behavior. And she would want her ribbon back.
Instead, he sighed and deleted the message. He tossed the ribbon into the trash without a second glance. He had too much work to do.
Hospital!verse
"Excuse me, but visiting hours are almost over," the pretty blonde nurse said as she poked her head into the small hospital room.
Mrs. Cooper nodded to the nurse and then looked back at her small son lying half-asleep on the bed. His eyelids were nearly closed, but he kept his grip tight around her hand.
"Please don't go," he slurred through his sleepiness and medication.
"Oh, Shelly, don't worry. I'll be back first thing tomorrow," she promised, giving his hand a squeeze. "These doctors are going to take real good care of you and I'll pray for you all night so the grace of God keeps you safe."
Sheldon blinked from his bed, but was too tired to argue that God wouldn't be able to help him and that it was a myth as silly as Santa Claus. Still, he didn't want his mother to leave him. He didn't trust the doctors.
"My throat hurts," he mumbled, hoping to distract his mother from leaving him.
"Well, you just had your tonsils taken out. It's probably going to hurt for a little while longer," she sympathized. She smoothed back his hair and smiled softly. "How about I sing Soft Kitty one more time?"
Sheldon nodded sleepily and ended up falling asleep before his mother even finished the song.
Soft kitty, warm kitty
Little ball of fur
Lazy kitty, pretty kitty
Purr, purr, purr
When he woke up a few hours later, he was too groggy to remember where he was and for a moment, he felt seized with terror. It was dark, it didn't look familiar, and everything smelled funny. Tears poured down his face as he made little whimpering sounds, his eyes darting around the room for something familiar.
Someone must have heard him crying because the door opened and flooded the room with light. The nurse from earlier flicked the light switch and looked over to Sheldon with a warm smile.
"Hi, sweetie," she waved to him as she walked closer. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," he replied, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.
"It doesn't look like nothing to me." She gave him another smile and handed him a tissue from her pocket before glancing at the clip board at the end of his bed.
"Your name is Sheldon?"
He nodded slowly, still sniffling a little.
"I'm Nurse Penny," she told him. "What are you here for?"
Sheldon couldn't understand why she didn't just look at his medical chart. It said it all right there, but she had a nice voice and pretty green eyes, so he found himself answering her.
"They took my tonsils out," he rasped. His lower lip gave other quiver, but she handed him other tissue to blow his nose.
"That's never fun. I remember when I had my tonsils taken out," she commiserated. "But the really great part is that you get to eat as much ice cream as you want!"
"But Thursday night is ice cream night. I can't have it other nights. It's Saturday. I can't have ice cream on Saturday."
Nurse Penny stared at him, her smile faltering a little. But then she blinked and her dazzling smile returned.
"Well, if you don't want ice cream, what can I do to make you feel better?" she asked as she walked over to the IV machine he was hooked up to.
"I just want my mom," he whispered, hating how childish he felt.
She nodded wisely and sat down in the chair his mother had occupied when she had visited earlier. "I know, sweetie, but she'll be here tomorrow to take you home. We just wanted you to stay overnight so that we could keep an eye on you."
"I know that," he answered, scowling a little and crossing his arms.
Nurse Penny smiled at him, undisturbed by his rude response. She reached out a hand to stroke his hair gently. "Well, is there anything else I can do to make you feel better?" she asked again.
He looked up at her shyly, uncrossing his arms. He blinked his big blue eyes twice and she waited patiently for his answer.
"Can you sing Soft Kitty to me?"
"If you teach it to me, then sure," she answered happily.
Five minutes later, Sheldon lay on the bed with his eyes shutting involuntarily as Nurse Penny sang and stroked his hair as gently as his mother had.
Guitar!verse
The bar lights were dimmed low and the Wednesday night crowd was smaller than he had expected. But, as far as Sheldon was concerned, any audience was a good audience and there was some charm to performing for a small group of people.
He sat alone at a table with nothing but his guitar next to him and waited for his turn to go up on the stage and perform. After a few weeks of hounding the bar owner, Sheldon finally managed to score a timeslot to perform on Music Night Wednesday. With still half an hour before it was his turn, he sat at the table, drumming his fingers nervously as he listened to the small jazz band currently on the stage.
"You goin' on tonight?"
Sheldon turned around to see a young waitress smiling at him and pointing to his guitar. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a sloppy bun with fallen strands framing her face.
Blinking a few times, he finally managed to answer that he would be going on after the jazz band.
"What sorts of songs to play?" she asked with interest.
"I have a few original songs and sometimes I do covers of other songs," he told her as he smoothed down the front of his button down shirt self-consciously.
She nodded with another smile and then pulled a notebook from the pocket of her yellow dress uniform. "Can I get you anything?"
"Oh, nothing for me, please," he declined. "Studies show that many germs and bacteria exist in the glasses at bars and restaurants due to being used by many people over the course of even just a few weeks."
Slightly stunned, the waitress cocked her head a little to the side, her hair brushing against her shoulder as she did so.
"Well," she shrugged as an amused smile crossed her pretty face, "if you say so." She started to walk away before she turned around again to face him once more.
"Good luck up there. Or, break a leg. Whichever," she said with a chuckle.
"Thank you," he trailed off, looking at her questioningly.
"Penny," she informed him brightly, pointing to the name tag on her uniform.
"Well, thank you, Penny," he finished with a small smile of his own.
"You better play something interesting," she flirted lightly as she walked away. "I like to be entertained." Penny winked at him over her shoulder before addressing the guests a few tables over.
Sheldon wasn't quite sure if his heart was racing due to her wink or due to his nervousness, but the next half hour flew by until he was finally sitting on the stage with his guitar in his hand.
"Hello, I'm Sheldon Cooper," he spoke in the microphone, careful not to let his voice shake at all. "I hope you enjoy my music."
There was a smattering of polite applause and he could make out Penny the waitress standing by the bar, watching him. Sheldon sat down on the stool provided for him and kept his eyes on her. He had planned on starting his set list with an original song, but something about the way she was looking at him changed his mind.
At the last second, his fingers finally strummed along the guitar strings and he began to sing his cover of Penny Lane.
Penny Lane is my ears and in my eyes.
There beneath the blue suburban skies.
I sit and meanwhile back
Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes.
There beneath the blue suburban skies…
Penny Lane…
Even in the dim lights, he saw how her face lit up with a beautiful smile.
University!verse
She always sat in the back row. She talked to her friends and even painted her nails during lectures. She rarely took notes. She never studied and only just managed to scrape by in her classes. She was there on a cheerleading scholarship, pursuing a career in theatre. She cared little for other classes.
But his class was different.
And for what reason? None that she could truly explain. It was just something about his class. No, it was something about him in general. She had never met someone so intense about science, of all things.. Or someone who knew so many facts about the strangest topics in the world. He was fascinating in his own way, a puzzle no one could figure out. He was handsome, intriguing, and entirely disconnected from everything and everyone.
And he was her motivation.
She always sat in the back row, but she sat a little straighter, a little quieter. Her notes were detailed, her test scores were high. She had never been a slow learner, just unmotivated.
The class was too crowded for him to ever even look her way. She doubted he even really knew her name. He had always made it quite clear that he was only teaching the class because the university required it of him. Given the option, he would rather devote his time to theories, studies, papers, and all the other scientific notions she knew so little about.
The midterm was impressive. She enlisted a tutor's help, knew the material inside and out. Her calculator rested on her desk, the buttons worn by her fingertips. When the midterm finally arrived, she was prepared.
Pencil flew over the paper, fingers danced on the calculator. Numbers, figures, words, facts. Everything that she had always despised, she now wrote with careful precision.
Others stood up around her, turning in their tests. She could hear their grumbles and hateful mutters as soon as they exited the doors. She could hear them curse the subject and the teacher.
She only grinned to herself, tucking her blonde hair confidently behind her ear. Once upon a time, she would have been one of them. Not anymore.
With fifteen minutes still left in class, she finally placed down her pencil, satisfied with her work. Walking down the long aisle of the lecture hall, she swung her hips with a swagger one could only describe as prideful.
He looked up only when she arrived at his desk, her test outstretched before him. He glanced at the paper and then up at her face. She had never realized just how blue his eyes were. With a single nod, he took the paper from her hands, his fingers gently brushing hers.
Still confident, she spun on her heel and began to head for the exit.
"Have a nice weekend, Penny."
She whipped around, eyes wide, unsure if she had heard correctly. He still looked at his papers, avoiding her glance. But there was a curve to his lips that she saw immediately.
One eyebrow cocked and a smug smile back in place, she realized she hadn't been as invisible as she had thought.
The next day of class, she sat in the front row. Dead center. She smiled innocently when he glanced at her, but the glint in her eyes hinted otherwise. One long leg crossed casually over the other as she pressed her hand to the notebook and let his words flow onto her paper.
Oh, he was going to remember her all right.
Superhero!verse
He had been here before. Soon, the sirens would sound and the lights would grow bright as the television crew arrived on the scene. Reporters would try to interview him, but he would step in the shadows and avoid them. Newscasters would admire him and police officers would arrest the perpetrators.
It should have been like clockwork.
But this time was different. The sirens would still sound and the lights would still grow bright. Reports would still try to talk to him and he would still disappear. But there would be no admiration. This time, the criminal had managed to escape.
Instead, ambulances would be called in and the newscasters would report a tragedy. Medics would declare dead on arrival and at the funeral, he would be blamed.
The night was still dark, the moon hidden behind clouds. For every inch of his skin that was covered in dark blue, her skin was exposed. Under the faint starlight, her still form appeared pale and silvery. Shining hair spread fanned over the ground as she lay in an unnatural position. He continued to stare over her broken body, wondering what he had done wrong.
"Sheldon?"
The man whipped around, clutching at the mask over his face, fearful for his identity. His widened eyes took in the sight of his friend.
"Leonard, don't address me as such in public," he hissed into the night. "Paradox. Only Paradox."
Leonard shook his head before noticing the woman before him. His mouth opened in disbelief as he turned to the superhero.
"I couldn't save her," Paradox whispered in numb horror. "The Monster found out who I was. He found out what she meant to me."
The men stared at the lifeless body, her green eyes opened and unseeing.
"I never should have gotten close to her. It's my fault," he said, his voice cracking with guilt and sorrow. "I couldn't save her."
Paradox repeated over and over, stumbling over the words as he leaned down before her body. Green glass stared at him as though to say "You should have saved me. I counted on you." With a shaking hand, his gloved fingertips shut her eyes forever.
Leonard placed a heavy hand on his shoulder that Paradox could barely feel through the haze. The silence was soon broken by the inevitable sirens far off in the distance.
"It's not your fault. You did what you could," Leonard soothed, his own voice thick with unshed tears.
Paradox heard nothing, only saw the awkward angles of her limbs, the jagged gash with blood still seeping out.
"Everyone will be here soon," Leonard continued when Paradox didn't answer.
"You're the reporter. Tell them whatever you need to tell them," Paradox finally commented. Then turning away as though her image had burned him, he ran into the shadows, hiding himself from the rest of the world.
I couldn't save you. I couldn't save you. I couldn't save you. I loved you. I love you. I'm sorry, Penny.
Victorian!verse
Wherever she ventured, the whispers followed. Judgments were made and her reputation proceeded her. Men lusted, women envied.
She was the talk of the ball, but only in the secret corners of hushed conversations. Not a single person missed her presence and she held herself like a goddess, undaunted by their stares.
Though it was custom for women to wear their hair up, she let her blonde ringlets fall down her back as a symbol of her pride. The lacy neckline of her emerald dress plunged further than any other woman's and the gloves upon her hands were unbuttoned, exposing her wrists.
Her smile was enticing, her eyes inviting. She danced with any man, laughing too loudly whenever she felt amused. Men twirled her around, eyeing her with appreciation and she seemed to flourish under the attention.
He had been dragged to the ball by his mother who insisted he begin thinking of marriage and families. The bachelor life was cavalier, unrespectable. Obligingly, he arrived in his best tails and a bored expression on his face.
Despite his mother's protests, he adamantly refused to dance with any of the women or to even so much as acknowledge them. Several family friends had arrived and he fulfilled his social obligations by exchanging simple pleasantries, but otherwise he kept to himself.
Eventually, everyone walked away, leaving him alone at the table with his thoughts. He gazed through his glass, still full of the brandy. Candlelight behind him filtered through the liquid, casting amber light to dance upon the linen tablecloth. In his mind, he calculated the strength of the flames and the refraction of amber light.
Gone from the world, he did not notice when she sat at his table. Finally feeling her gaze on him, he looked up to see flushed cheeks and bright eyes.
"It makes such a beautiful light," she stated boldly, indicating the amber cast on the floor.
"I fail to see the purpose of your presence here at my table," he responded without acknowledging her comment.
Beyond her golden hair, he saw his mother standing with her socialite friends. Even from a distance, he could tell she blanched when she noticed her son's company. With a curious glance, he noticed that several pairs of eyes were trained on their interactions.
"I'm here because I want to prove that the art of conversation hasn't yet died," she explained with wit.
"You may sit here if you like, it is of no consequence to me," he replied in his carefully measured tone.
She smiled at his words before taking the glass from his hands. The liquid swirled around before disappearing into her red-painted mouth.
"I'm Penelope." She tilted her head to the side, her hair catching the candlelight in a way that not even he could ignore.
"Sheldon Cooper." He stared at the woman for a few moments before his curiosity got the best of him. "I do not intend on talking to you. If you seek conversation, I suggest you look for it elsewhere."
"But you need it," she informed him, looking unabashed by his comment and unflinching at his detached tone. "I saw you sitting by yourself and I know you need stimulating conversation."
"I assure you, I do not," Sheldon insisted, his attentions now solely concentrated on the infuriating woman before him.
"Oh, but you must agree, Mr. Cooper. It is so much more entertaining to be entertained."
He had no response and could only look at her with veiled aggravation.
The whispers passed around them and the swell of the violins spread through the room. Dancing couples filled the open space, women's dresses of every color whirling with each spin. But they only looked at each other, caught in web of frustration and amusement.
"You're the only man here who has not asked me to dance," Penelope finally spoke, aimlessly gesturing to the hoards of people who surrounded their small table.
"I never dance," he countered in a clipped, adamant voice.
"That's fine," she conceded. "I'm enjoying this conversation too much to interrupt it with silly footwork."
Candy clown!verse
"Ow!"
"Oh, don't be such a baby."
Sheldon placed a hand on his stinging cheek and glared at his friend. "I'm not a baby," he muttered.
She rolled her eyes and pulled off another piece of fake peppermint candy taped to his face.
"Ow, Penny, ow!" he winced, for the umpteenth time. "I cannot possibly imagine what Leonard was thinking."
"It doesn't really matter what he's thinking," Penny shrugged, tossing the fake candy into a basket by her feet. "He's the ringleader. We have to listen."
Sheldon scowled and allowed Penny to continue taking off the fake candy taped to his skin. A few weeks ago, Leonard the Ringleader of the Cosmos Circus had decreed that there would be some changes to their usual routine.
And by some changes, he meant that Sheldon, his prize clown, would now dress up as a candy clown and greet the children in the lobby. Sheldon went from being in the ring, spraying fellow clowns Howard and Raj (Howazzy and Raj-o, as the audience knew them) in the face with his fake flowers to being the one who put on the candy outfit and made balloon animals for the children. Most of the candy was just decoration, but the lollipops on his outfit were real and could be handed out to the guests.
"Almost done," Penny said, leaning in closer to pull a few off of his forehead.
Sheldon cringed as she pulled out a few of his eyebrow hairs. He was sure his face was red and blotchy, so he brought a hand up to rub the irritated skin. Penny frowned sympathetically and touched a few red spots on his face.
"At least you made the kids happy," she offered half-heartedly. Sheldon gave her a look and she shrugged as if to say "well, I tried."
Most people had left right after the show to go to their trailers or get something to eat, so the two of them were practically alone in the costume tent. Penny still hadn't changed out of her trapeze outfit and Sheldon was trying his hardest not to stare at her exposed legs. Her long, shapely, exposed legs. He was almost grateful for his irritated skin so that she wouldn't see his blush.
"Thank you for helping me, Penny," he said sincerely as her hands finally fell away from his face.
"Not a problem," she answered, plucking a lollipop from his candy-coated shirt and unwrapping it.
"You're not supposed to take the candy," he chided. "It's for the children. If you start eating all the candy, Leonard might think that I'm the one who's eating it and—"
She licked one side of the lollipop to make it sticky and then placed it on his lips so that it stuck there all on its own. He ceased speaking and glared at her once more.
As usual, Penny paid no attention to his stare and instead just laughed gleefully, her blonde hair gleaming.
"Now I know how to make you shut up," she teased. "You need to learn to take a joke. Kids like candy and most of them like clowns. Be happy that you're adored."
The lollipop still firmly attached to his lips kept him from responding vocally. He just continued to stare at her with a single raised eyebrow.
"Why so silent?" she asked with a mock-confused look on her face. She let out another peal of giggles and the glitter on her outfit sparkled under the bright lights in the tent.
Then without any warning or comment, Penny placed her lips against his to claim back her lollipop.
Note: His supername, Paradox, is a tribute to the livejournal community for P/S.
Thank you all for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. I may write more universes and add on to these, depending on how much everyone likes it. I'm open for new universe suggestions!