Hello to all you out there in fanfiction land. I have finally drank the kool-aid.

This is my first story so please be gentle. Lol, jk.

You can go as hard as you'd like, go full anal thrasher hard, if you want to. Just mind your manners! n

This story was inspired by the incredibly lovely Risknight, more specifically chapter 12 of A Whole Lot of Woo. It's taken me a while to put this together out of sheer nerves but I hope she likes—and all of you, too, of course. If you do not know who Risknight is and/or have not read A While Lot of Woo, leave. You are not welcomed here.

No, but seriously. You should check her out she's amazing. I'm not sure on the length but it will be multi-chaptered.

XTBBTX

Sheldon was sure the universe was trying to spite him this very moment, how else would you explain him reminiscing about his old friends to them sitting at his dining room table. The tension was so thick he felt the need to undo the first two buttons on his shirt just so he could receive sufficient air to his lunges. The only sound in the room was the scraping of forks, which was short-lived by Leslie Winkle opening her hideous mouth.

"It seems dumbass is not so adverse to female attraction after all." She said while eyeing to two blondes who sat on either side of him.

"Would you mind turning the attitude down a notch?" Bernadette's squeaky voice picked up from Sheldon's left. "We opened up our home to you. The proper thing to do is be respectful. If you can't do that then I suggest you find someone else to take you in." She stabbed a hot dog violently with a fork before pointed it in Winkle's direction. "I heard the men talking about a bear being on the loose. I'd choose wisely. "

Leslie looked down at her food and said nothing. That was perhaps the first time Sheldon had ever seen her look embarrassed.

Penny set up straighter in her chair knowing that a pissed of Bernadette was not a good thing. "After dinner I'll show you guys to your room. The bedrooms have two sets of bunk beds in each. We sometimes house other people if the shelters are full. Sheldon put them together so—"

Amy quickly rose up, her chair scraping and falling back onto the floor. "Are we just going to ignore the elephant in the room? Sheldon, you're supposed to be with me and Penny is supposed to be with Leonard." She turned to Bernadette and pointed accusingly in her direction. "I don't know why you're here. How can you be in a relationship with both of them? You kissed them. I couldn't even get you to hold my hand without you looking at it like a parasitic infection. And, Penny, how could you? I thought you were my best friend. Did you lie in wait for my departure so you could stick your perfectly manicured claws in my man? I thought you cared about me."

Penny took a deep breath, not wanting to argue but she wouldn't apologize or make excuses to appease her. She was sorry that she was hurting but should not apologize for falling in love with Sheldon or Bernadette. "Look, Amy, I know you're upset but we aren't going to gain anything by arguing. We should all just eat. Traveling is not the best right now so I'm sure you guys are tired and want to—"

"So what," Leonard started, "are we just suppose to pretend like none of this is happening? I love you Penny."

That's the second time she's been interrupted today and her patience was running thin.

"Will you both just shut the fuck up?" For a brief moment of panic Penny thought she had said her thoughts aloud only to realize that it was Raj. The first time her shy, adorable friend was able to talk in the presence of women and it wasn't on good terms.

"Leonard, if you loved Penny you would have asked her to come with her when you went to New Jersey. You just packed your bags and left. Amy if you care about Sheldon the way you say you do you would have broken things off with your Saudi Arabian fiancé instead of keeping up that farce of a relationship. When the world started to crumble, you ran to him and his money. Hell, we all left. So who are any of us to say anything about the way they are living. They're alive and they look happy. As their friends, shouldn't that be all we care about?"

The silence was unbearable as everyone continued to eat. While no one voiced any more opinions, the anger and tension in the room was unmistakable with Leonard never taking his angry glare off of Sheldon and Amy pointedly looking at Bernadette and Penny. For the most part Leslie and Howard said nothing, not even one joke and Penny was glad for it. After dinner Penny showed them to their rooms, the girls taking one and the guys to other. The house didn't have central air but the high powered fans did well to cool the rooms off in the summer heat.

She made her way back to the kitchen to find Bernadette muttering, elbows deep in suds.

"Hey you," she called while slinking up behind her and wrapping her arms around her middle. Bernadette sighed before melting against her.

"Am I a horrible person because I wish they weren't here? I'm glad that nothing happened to them but I wish they hadn't come here. "

"I don't think so. It's been just the three of us for a long time now."

"I hope Leslie gets eaten by a bear."

Penny laughed while peppering kisses down her neck.

"You're not usually so violent."

They both turned to find Sheldon leaned casually against the fridge, a small smile on his face.

Bernadette frowned. "That's because I've never heard someone treat you so horribly. They've treat you with so much respect here and it pissed me off to hear her say that in our home. She doesn't have to stay here, by the way, if you don't want her to. Say the word and I'll have her out on her ass in a heartbeat. I'm sure that bear is starving. Poor thing!"

Sheldon rolled his eyes. "I don't think killing her is the answer."

"Not killing her," Penny interjected. "We can't control what the animals do."

Sheldon slinked off the wall before wrapping his long arms around both of them. "Please don't encourage her. We can't murder Leslie."

"Accident," Penny interjected again, her shoulder's shaking with mirth.

"Murder," he challenged.

"Unfortunate mauling?" Bernadette offered.

The three of them dissolved into laughter, trying desperately not to be too loud. They worked as a team to finish up the dishes and tidy up the living room before tiredly going to their room. They had housed people before. As the head physicist for the government division stationed in their community, Sheldon was one of the first to receive a house. He and his girls did a lot for the community and they set them up in a rather large home as close to the base as they could get. There were a number of shelters housing people until houses could be cleared and marked inhabitable and families were moved in. Even after a year there were still over a thousand families in the surrounding communities still in need of a home. When the shelters were full and there were an influx of people, some of the families already in homes would take in others until space was provided. With limited hands, the soldiers worked as fast as they could. They didn't often like their privacy to be invaded but with their bedroom being on the main floor and the bedrooms upstairs on the other end, it offered a little bit of privacy. There was a master bath in their room as well as a large bathroom up stairs and a half bath off the den they used as an office.

When they made it to the room Penny flopped down tiredly on the bed with her eyes closed. A small part of her was feeling like Bernie. She hated that their space was being invaded. Before it was grateful families with nowhere to go but now it was old friends with grudges and anger in their hearts.

"Hey, you okay?" Bernadette asked, concerned.

"I'm fine."

Penny opened her eyes just as she straddled her thighs. Penny raised up and smoothed the frown from her forehead and Sheldon took the opportunity to sit behind her, Penny's back resting against his chest. "You're lying, Penny, you know we can always tell when you do. What's wrong?"

Penny sighed happily. She really didn't know what she'd do without them. She loved them both so much. "It's nothing really. I just wasn't expecting the day to end like this. I wanted us to have a quiet evening alone together. Not," she waved her hand around vacantly in the air, "this. It's going to be a long couple of weeks, isn't it?"

"I think that goes without being said." Sheldon murmured. She could feel his chest rumble against her back and Bernadette's hands were pleasantly rubbing up and down her sides underneath her tank top. The combination was making her body tried and her already muddled mind even cloudier.

"What are we going to do tomorrow?"

"Well, I'll probably have to take Amy with me to the lap. I'll talk to Heisenberg about finding her a job. Amy is a really good neurobiologist. And Sheldon, honey, you should take the others. It's a little unfair, especially if people have been waiting to get placed for a while but the workers do get faster housing placement. Penny, there's some more aid coming in from the Midwest, isn't there? "

"Yeah, they come next week."

"Good, then finding and clearing housing will go much easier and a lot faster with more hands. What do you think Sheldon; how long will they be here."

"Assuming things go as you have determined, I'd say less than two months."

"See, sweetie, that's not so bad. We can handle two months. We've done longer."

"Yeah but that was people who we didn't know who respected our space and privacy, not friends who are going to be all up in our business and are more or less going to be a nightmare to live with."

"Cohabitation with Leonard was always a stressful ordeal."

"We can do this Penny. Besides, we'll be working most of the time and so will they."

"That's if they get the job. Sheldon sweetie do you think you can work your magic and get them hired. I know they'll hire Amy on the spot. More people to examine the alien bodies the better but I'm not so sure about the others."

"It shouldn't pose a problem."

"Then it's settled." Bernadette headed to their master bath to fill the large tub with water. "Let's take a bath and go to bed. It's been a long day and I don't know about you but I'm exhausted."

They all got undressed and headed for the bath, forever thankful that the large size comfortably accommodated them. Soon after bathing and getting dressed they fell into the bed in a heap. Sheldon propped himself up on an elbow to watch his girls for a few moments. He remembered the fear he saw in their eyes as he walked in the door. He knew it was fear of rejection more than anything. But he couldn't leave them, never. They were his life now. He ran his fingers through their hair before drawing them closer and falling into a peaceful sleep.

XTTBTX

Um, yeah, that's that. See you later?