The laboratories in Harbour hospital are state of the art. Long well lit rooms with clean white benches filled with racks of glassware and instruments.

A tall gangly man with pale skin and short dark hair sits at a microscope, watching intently as he squeezes a few drops of a clear solution onto a dark red liquid in a Petri disk. He nods to himself at what he sees under the scope. Incongruously for the sterile white surroundings instead of a lab coat he's wearing dark slacks and a bright green t-shirt with a white logo on the chest, a circle with a horizontal bar top and bottom, symbol of the Green Lantern corps.

Mike knocks on the door then opens it and ushers Penny in. She looks around, obviously impressed.

"Wow, very different from my day"

Mike smiles, pleased she's impressed. "Oh, you have no idea. I'll show you the new spectrometer next"

The man in the green shirt glances across at them briefly before looking at his work again. Still looking through the microscope he asks "Mike, could I borrow your phone? No signal on mine"

Mike looks puzzled "What's wrong with the land line?"

"I prefer to text."

Mike makes a show of checking his pockets. "Sorry, it's in my coat".

Penny smiles, knowing Mike probably did that deliberately so he wasn't disturbed at lunch. She fishes in the back pocket of her jeans and takes out her phone "You can use mine"

He blinks at her, as if he only just noticed her "Oh, thank you"

Mike introduces them with a dramatic wave of his arm "Penny, this is Sheldon. Sheldon, this is an old friend of mine, Penny Watson"

Penny gives him a cheery "Hi" and hands him her phone. A moment later she realises something and goes to take it back to unlock it but Sheldon unlocks it with a sweep of his thumb. She's taken aback "how did you?"

"shouldn't really use your initial as your screen lock"

"Oh"

He scrolls around, finds text and turns away as he starts to type. Over his shoulder he asks " Afghanistan or Iraq?"

Penny frowns and glares at Mike who just shrugs and smiles knowingly. "I'm sorry?" she says, face serious.

"Your arm, Which was it – Afghanistan or Iraq?"

"Afghanistan. Sorry, how did you know ...?"

he glances up from the phone " and what is the sixth noble gas?"
Penny stares at him open mouthed. "What are you on about? Noble gas? erm.. Radon?"

"Are you asking me? or telling me?"

she glances at the periodic table on the wall "Radon. The sixth is Radon."
"Very good. So, How do you feel about video games?
"I'm sorry, what?
He hits send and puts her phone down while typing on a keyboard. "I play video games when I'm thinking or bored, which is a lot. Sometimes I don't talk for days on end. I also have a large collection of science fiction and comics memorabilia." He looks round " Would that bother you? Potential roommates should know the worst about each other. "

He hands her back her phone and she looks blankly at him then looks at Mike "You told him about me?"

Mike shakes his head " Not a word"

Penny turns back to Sheldon "Then who said anything about roommates?"

Sheldon picks up his jacket and puts it on " Obviously, I did. I came over this morning to use the laboratory and mentioned that my current roommate was moving out. I told Mike that I would be a difficult man to find a new roommate for and now here he is just after lunch with a smug grin and an old friend, clearly just out of hospital after returning from military service in Afghanistan." He shrugs " Wasn't that difficult a leap."

"But How did you know about Afghanistan?"

Sheldon ignores the question, picks up his mobile and checks it.

"More importantly, which do you prefer, Kirk or Picard?"

"What's that got to do with this?" Penny sighs then ponders that one "Oh, well, that's tricky. I'd have to say Picard over Kirk, but Original Series over Next Generation,

Sheldon nods approvingly "Correct. Congratulations, You've passed the barriers to roommate-hood. I've a place in Pasadena, We'll meet there tomorrow evening; seven o'clock."

Penny frowns " Is that it?"
" Is that what?"
" We've only just met and we're going to go and look at your apartment?"
"Why, Is that a problem?"

Penny just looks at him in disbelief. "We don't know a thing about each other; I don't know where we're meeting; I don't even know your full name."
Sheldon turns and fixes her with his full attention, which is suddenly worryingly intense "I know Mike knows and trusts you enough to introduce us as prospective roommates, and he's a good judge of character. I know you're an Army doctor and you've been invalided home from Afghanistan. I know you've got a family who's worried about you but you won't go to them for help and a brother who's a drug addict who recently was sent to jail."

Penny stares at him open mouthed.

he smiles smugly "That's enough to be going on with, don't you think?"

He walks to the door then stops, turns and says "The name's Sheldon Holmes and the address is 221B North Los panadero Avenue, Apartment 4A"

He winks at Penny, grins at Mike and gives him a thumbs up then heads off.
Penny turns and looks at Mike in disbelief. Mike smiles and nods to her "Yeah. He's always like that."

Back in her Motel room, Penny checks the messages on her phone. The last message sent reads:

Blood not human.

If brother has dog,

arrest brother.
SH

Puzzled, she looks at the message for a long moment, then looks across to the table where her pink laptop is set up. She brings up Google and types "Sheldon Holmes" into the search box...