Once again, Barry Kripke was being forced to work with the egotistical Sheldon Cooper on a combined paper for the university and once again, Sheldon wasn't keeping his end of the bargain. Kripke looked at his watch again and sighed, it was now nearly forty five minutes after Sheldon was supposed to have met him in the lab and Kripke decided it was time to track the weasel down.
He met up with Cooper's young assistant Alex who was standing outside of Sheldon's office door looking extremely puzzled.
"Good afternoon, Alex. Fancy meeting you here." Kripke turned on the charm and Alex looked over in surprise.
"Doctor Kripke, I thought that you and Doctor Cooper were working in the lab this afternoon?"
"I thought so too, but it appears we are both wrong." Kripke tried turning the knob on the door only to find it locked. "You have a key for his office don't you?" He asked Alex and she shook her head.
"No, only Doctor Cooper has a key to his office, he's very private about his research and doesn't like it left unlocked unless he is inside. I thought I heard voices as I was walking past but thought it was strange as I knew he'd already booked this afternoon out with you. I was about to knock on the door when you arrived." Alex looked over at Kripke who puffed out his chest a little in a display of manliness.
"Hey, Cooper! You in there or what?" Kripke pounded on the door and the both listened for any sounds of activity. There were distinct murmurs coming from inside and the rustling of papers being shoved together.
"Hey guys, what's up?" Leonard, Howard and Raj appeared along the corridor and noticed Kripke and Alex standing outside of Sheldon's office. "Did any of you see what happened to Sheldon at lunchtime? We were expecting him in the cafeteria but he never showed up…that was more than two hours ago and we were getting a little worried."
"He's not answering his phone or checking his e-mails." Raj interjected after checking his blackberry again for any response to the last five messages sent. Kripke and Alex exchanged worried looks; they both knew how important this paper was to the scientific community and how anal Sheldon was about maintaining his strict schedule. That fact that he'd not only missed out on lime jello in the cafeteria, but not responded to any text or e-mails or kept his pre-booked time on the super computer with Kripke made them all feel slightly uneasy.
"What should we do, bust it down?" Leonard asked around, only for Howard to snort in amusement.
"You couldn't even bust your way out of a paper bag without getting an asthma attack. Let me go back to the lab and pick up my tools. Sheldon's lock has a magnetic override in cases of emergency; I think this qualifies, don't you?" Howard was about to head off down the corridor, when the unmistakable sound of the lock snicking open from the inside had them all holding their breath as the door slowly opened to reveal…Amy stepping out with a picnic basket over her arm.
"Ooh, a little afternoon delight with the girlfriend…" Kripke snapped sarcastically as he stepped forward to brush past Amy to storm into Sheldon's office. "You can't fool me that easily again, Cooper! You tried to fob me off with that excuse last time, but that won't work anymore now that I know that you've never even seen your girlfriend without her clothes on…heck, you'd probably run a mile in the other direction!"
"Watch it, Kripke! That's my boyfriend you're talking about here!" Amy stepped back into the office and the blaze of battle lit behind her emerald eyes. "I'll have you know that beneath that seemingly positronic exterior beats a fully functioning man…" Amy's eyes drifted over Sheldon's crotch before lazily travelling up to meet his gaze. "Catch you later, commander."
"Lieutenant." Sheldon inclined his head and watched as Amy sashayed her way out of the office and waved goodbye to Leonard, Howard and Raj who were standing gobsmacked in the hallway.
"Dude! She totally TNG'd on you!" Raj exclaimed, holding his fist out toward Sheldon, and even more surprised when Sheldon tapped him lightly in return.
"I know." Sheldon nodded solemnly, quoting Han Solo from his favourite Star Wars movie. He then cracked a beaming smile at his friends. "Ain't she great?" He turned around to scoop some papers into a folder and shoved them into Kripke's arms. "Here's the stuff, I would have brought them over earlier but Amy surprised me with a picnic and time just slipped away from me."
"Excuse me? I don't understand – 'positronic brain' and 'TNG'? Is this kind of nerdy Star Wars secret language thing?" Kripke clutched the folder to his chest and shook his head, not understanding a word of what had just been said.
"Dude; Star Trek: The Next Generation, look up the episode 'The Naked Now'. If you can't figure it out from that, then you have no place in science at all." Raj shook his head sadly at the thought of a renowned physicist not even getting a simple Star Trek reference. The guys watched as Sheldon continued to pack his messenger bag as if he were preparing to leave for the day; looking at their watches they saw it was only three in the afternoon – it was unprecedented for Sheldon to leave the office before five o'clock at the earliest and that was because that was the time that Leonard usually left and he needed a ride home.
"Sheldon, are you okay?" Leonard asked quietly as Sheldon packed his laptop away and Sheldon looked up in surprise.
"Of course, Leonard. Why do you ask?"
"It's only three o'clock and you always stay until five; you missed lime jello at lunch and you completely missed out on your session on the super computer…Sheldon, I was worried about you."
"Oh, you little nervous Nellie. No need to worry about missing lime jello, Amy gave me a wonderful dessert with her picnic." Sheldon smiled up at Leonard which made him feel awkward and uncomfortable at seeing Sheldon's koala face used in reference to his girlfriend. "Alex, there's no need for you to hang around any longer today; in fact why don't you take tomorrow off as well. I'm not going to be in the office, so there really isn't any requirement for your presence."
"Oh, did I miss something in your diary? I wasn't aware that you had anything booked for this afternoon or tomorrow." Alex twisted her fingers nervously, hoping that she hadn't overlooked something important.
"It's May the fourth tomorrow, Alex. I never work on May the fourth." Sheldon looked up in amazement at his assistant, before shaking his head slightly. "Oh, I forgot you weren't working here last year. Myself, Dr. Hoftstedter, Dr. Koothrappali and Mr. Wolowitz have a long standing tradition that we all get together to celebrate Star Wars day."
"You whack jobs really sit around your apartment watching all six of those dumb movies all day?" Kripke sighed as he went to leave the office. "You people really don't know how to have a good time."
"'Naked Now', Barry. Don't forget to check it out." Howard called down the corridor as Kripke took Sheldon's work back to his lab to compare against his own findings. Leonard was still looking at Sheldon pack the last of his things into his messenger bag and placing the strap carefully across his body.
"You really leaving early today, Sheldon? You know I can't leave early tonight, and you don't even have your bus pants with you."
"It's quite all right, Leonard. Amy is leaving early this afternoon as well and has very kindly offered to drive me back to the apartment. I believe we shall also be calling into the supermarket to collect the necessary snack selections for tomorrow, so if anyone has any special requirements please text me within the next hour and I will add it to the list. I assume everyone will be joining us for dinner this evening as per our usual arrangements?" Sheldon looked around and everyone nodded. "Very well, if you excuse me I wouldn't want to keep Amy waiting for too long." Sheldon urged everyone out of the door and he carefully locked it behind him; ignoring Howard and Raj's sniggers of laughter behind his back.
"Yeah, I mean he's only kept her waiting for three years already; what's another ten minutes gonna hurt?" Raj giggled at Howard's not so subtle reference to the length of time that Sheldon and Amy had been dating for without seeing a single kiss being exchanged between the couple. Leonard was facing in the opposite direction and just happened to catch the brief smirk that flittered across Sheldon's face before his lanky room-mate disappeared down the corridor and out into the parking lot.
"Um guys…you may want to re-visit that TNG episode yourself as a little memory refresher. In case you didn't hear, Amy called Sheldon 'Commander' just as she left and I distinctly heard him whisper 'Lieutenant' back to her."
"Leonard, you mean you really think that we interrupted a little 'afternoon delight' for real? I thought Kripke was just messing with us, especially after that stunt Sheldon pulled with him last time." Howard looked at Raj who looked at Leonard with the same expression of shock at the thought of the Shamy finally getting some action.
"I suggest we watch them closely at dinner tonight, I can always tell when Sheldon's been 'thinking improper thoughts' as his Mother would say. He gets that little twitch near his eye and his ears get a little red." Leonard suggested and the three men wandered back to their own offices, each thinking how weird it sounded; Sheldon and Amy actually interacting of a physical level...
AN: I wasn't sure whether to leave this as just a one shot or not... drop me a review and let me know whether you'd like to see it develop any further
