Thank you all who have read and reviewed and/or have this favorited. I'm glad you all seem to enjoy this little tale I've started. Below you'll find chapter two, and we skip right over the last two months of Leonard being at sea.

Sadly, I still don't own anything related to TBBT. I make no money with this, either.

"Welcome home, honey," Penny said, panting heavily, looking at him as Leonard nodded his thanks and used his asthma inhaler. She smiled at him. "Did you miss me?"

He nodded. "Oh, yeah." He looked at her with a smirk. "Looks like you missed me just as much, though."

"Oh, I most certainly did. Two months is a long time." Way too long, Penny felt. But at least it hadn't been four months, like it would've been if the expedition hadn't taken a week off in London, halfway through.

"You made me so happy when you came to London," Leonard said, as if he had read her mind. "But it was so hard letting you go again."

Penny nodded and rubbed his arm. "Wasn't any easier on me, Leonard. But I knew you had to stay and complete your jobs."

"Intellectually, I knew. I just didn't feel like it. It actually took me a few days to get back into the experiments." He shook his head. "Poor Sam. She had to do most of the work, those first few days back on the ship."

Penny smiled. "Yeah, Sam mock complained to me about it. Said she wouldn't have asked me to come over if she'd known I'd steal her lab partner's brains."

Leonard laughed. "I guess you kinda did. But I apologized to her, once I got back into the work. She said not to worry, that she understood. I took the brunt of the workload for the next couple of days, to even things out."

Penny nodded. "Yeah, she told me during our Skype conversation, when you were still working. I know I said it before, but I really like her. She's so funny and nice."

"Yeah, she's a sweetheart. When we said our goodbyes, we promised to stay in touch, and I made her promise to come visit us here in Pasadena." He grabbed his glasses and looked at Penny's alarm clock. "I probably should go say 'hi' to Sheldon, before he gets worried."

Penny took his glasses and put them back on the night stand. "Nope, Sheldon knows you're staying with me tonight. I'm not yet done saying 'welcome home' to you."

Leonard entered the apartment he shared with Sheldon. "Hey."

Sheldon looked up from his laptop. "Oh, hello Leonard. Welcome back. I've been informed your expedition to locate the equivalence of the Unruh radiation was, surprisingly, given the fact I was not involved at any point, a success."

Leonard counted to ten in his head, before replying. "It's good to see you, too, Sheldon."

Sheldon just waved his hand dismissively. "That goes without saying, Leonard."

Again, Leonard counted to ten. "Alright, I'll go put my stuff in my room."

At this, Sheldon turned toward him fully. "Now, hold on. As stated in our roommate agreement, the agreement will become void if either party is not occupying the apartment for a period of three months or longer. Do you know how long you've been away, Leonard?"

"Four months," Leonard said, preparing himself to be subjected to another roommate test and subsequent agreement.

"Precisely. Four months, which is longer than the three month period stated in the roommate agreement. As of one month ago, you and I are no longer roommates. Furthermore, as I was unsure if you would ever return to the apartment, and I had no intention to live here all by myself, I have taken it upon myself to find a new roommate."

"You're kidding me?!"

"Leonard, if I were making a joke, and when do I ever joke about the roommate agreement?"

"Every single time you bring it up," Leonard mumbled.

"As I was saying, if I were making a joke, you would've heard me utter my catchphrase. Have you heard me utter my catchphrase, Leonard?"

"Come on, Sheldon! You knew I'd be gone for four months and then come back!"

Sheldon shook his head. "No, Leonard, I did not know. If you intended to stay away longer than three months and return at a later date, you should have filled in and signed the appropriate form. I had no other choice but to assume you had terminated the roommate agreement. I've already found a new roommate and boxed up your belongings."

"Wait, you actually have found a new roommate?!" Leonard turned around when he heard the apartment door open.

"Oh, hello Leonard. Welcome back."

"Hi, Amy. Did you know Sheldon kicked me out and found a new roommate?"

Amy frowned at Sheldon. "Sheldon, you told me Leonard had voluntarily decided to terminate the roommate agreement you had with him."

Sheldon nodded. "He did. He never filled in or signed the extended absence form. The roommate agreement became void after three months of him being absent."

"Sheldon! Leonard is your best friend. This is not appropriate behavior!"

Leonard was rubbing his forehead and turned around when the door opened once again.

"What the hell is goin' on," Penny asked, clearly annoyed at all the commotion so early in the morning.

"Sheldon pulled a... he pulled a Sheldon and kicked me out of the apartment!"

Sheldon stood up and folded his arms in front of his chest. "Now hold on a minute. You all seem to imply that I am in the wrong here, but I assure you I'm not. The roommate agreement is very clear on the terms. Since you have signed it, Leonard, you agreed to adhere to all of the terms therein. You never handed in the proper form to indicate your intention to not use the apartment for a period longer than three months, thus terminating the roommate agreement."

Amy walked closer to Sheldon. "Sheldon, what about your friendship with Leonard?"

Sheldon shrugged. "Just because the roommate agreement is longer in effect, does not imply a change in our friendship status. Only the living arrangements are affected."

Leonard looked straight at him. "And what do you expect me to do now?"

Sheldon shrugged and sat back down. "Not my problem," he said and turned back to his laptop, effectively shutting them all out.

Leonard was ready to pounce the guy, but Penny grabbed his arm. "It's alright, Leonard. You can stay with me."

Leonard looked at her in surprise. "Really?"

Penny smiled. "Yeah. I think you'll find it's a big improvement. There's no roommate agreement to sign, or any of the other weird things."

"Just to be clear, you were talking temporary, right?"

Penny closed her apartment door behind her and smiled, before stepping forward to kiss him. "Not unless you want it to be temporary."

Leonard looked surprised. "You're asking me to move in?"

Penny nodded and smiled again. "Yes, I am. I was actually going to suggest it soon, but now that you have no place to stay, I figured why not ask you now?"

"Wow," Leonard replied. "You sure you're not just saying this because Sheldon kicked me out? I don't want you to feel pressured into..."

Penny kissed him lovingly on the lips. "Leonard, honey, I love you. These past four months have really opened my eyes. I want to spend as much time being with you as I possibly can. Trust me, I want you, no, I need you to move in with me. Please tell me you want this too, that you agree."

He had a huge smile on his face. "I definitely agree." He hugged her and kissed her, and then started to laugh. "I guess being kicked out by Sheldon is the best thing to have happened to me."

Penny raised an eyebrow. "Really? Better than me saying good morning earlier?"

Leonard's eyes glazed over and he had a goofy grin on his face. "Well, that was really, really good. But Sheldon's recent action allows me to be with you every single day. I never expected to say this, but Sheldon's idiosyncrasies, in this particular situation, trumps having sex with you."

"Hmm, I'm beginning to think I didn't do a good enough job this morning." Penny reached behind him and locked her apartment door. "I'll have to do better this time," she whispered in his ear, before dragging him to her bedroom.

"Hi, Raj," Bernadette greeted the person on the other side of their apartment door. "Howie's not back yet, but he'll be here soon. Come on in."

"Thanks, Bernadette."

Bernadette led him to the living room and pointed at the couch. "Have a seat. Do you want something to drink?"

"No thanks. I was at the coffee house before and drank some Chai tea, so I'm good." He sat down. "So, I hear you guys are closing escrow on the condo soon."

Bernadette nodded and went to kitchen. "Yeah, tomorrow in fact. We're really excited about it." She poured herself a glass of orange juice and took it back to the living room. "The condo was just recently renovated, so we could move right in if we wanted. But we're not in a rush, so we're just gonna make an inspection round once it's ours, before deciding what we'd like to change, if anything."

"Oh, I could go with you, and maybe make some suggestions on furniture placement and such." He must have noticed the fear and doubt on her features, for he quickly amended, "Or not. I just like doing things like that."

"I'm sorry Raj, I know you do. It's just, I want this to be all Howie and my place. You understand, don't you?"

Raj nodded. "Of course. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. So, did you hear the stunt Sheldon pulled?"

Bernadette shook her head. "No, why? What did he do now?"

"Who did what," Howard asked as he entered the apartment. "Hey, Raj," he greeted his best friend and then went over to give Bernadette a hug and a kiss.

"Sheldon pulled a stunt. Apparently the roommate agreement terminated because Leonard was away longer than three months."

"You're kidding," Howard responded. "That's absurd, even for Sheldon. So, Leonard has to reapply to become his roommate?"

Raj shook his head. "No, Sheldon already has a new roommate. He told Amy he was getting a new roommate, and that Leonard had voluntarily given up the apartment. I suppose in Sheldon's warped logic he was telling the truth."

"Oh no, poor Leonard,"Bernadette said. "What's he going to do now?"

Raj shrugged. "I don't know. He'll be staying with Penny for a while, but I suppose he'll have to find another place to live."

Bernadette looked at Howard. "Maybe he could take over the lease when we move out? I think he could afford this place."

"I think that's a wonderful idea, Bernie." He kissed her. "Okay, I'm gonna take a quick shower. I'll be ready in ten minutes, and then we can go to the restaurant."

Leonard certainly enjoyed Penny's naked body pressed tightly against him, but he knew they didn't have much time to enjoy this any longer. "Penny," he said in between kisses, "we are the guests of honor, I don't think it's a good idea to arrive last."

Penny sighed, but stopped her kisses and took half a step back, clearly unwilling to break contact completely just yet. "I suppose you're right. And for the record, you are the guest of honor. I'm just your date."

"You're definitely not just my date. You're my totally hot girlfriend who asked me to move in with her." He accepted the towel Penny handed him and began drying himself off. "Do you want us to keep that under wraps for now?"

Penny paused briefly, apparently weighing the pros and cons, before shaking her head. "I don't see why. They're bound to find out anyway. Besides, I'm happy to be living with you now."

"God, you're awesome," Leonard said as he grabbed her around the waist and kissed her passionately once more.

"I thought you said it wasn't a good idea to arrive last?"

Leonard shrugged. "I have a hot girlfriend I haven't seen in two months, they'll understand. I don't care what Sheldon thinks."

Her hand caressed his face. "Honey, let it go. You're living with me now, not with Wackadoodle."

He smiled and they continued to get ready, occasionally pausing for kissing and cuddling.

They arrived at the restaurant only five minutes late, their friends already seated at a large table.

"Leonard," Amy began as the two of them sat down. "Again I'd like to apologize for Sheldon's behavior and your subsequent homelessness status."

Leonard interrupted her. "It's alright, Amy. First of all, I'm not exactly homeless, and second, it's not your fault." He glanced at Penny, before adding. "Besides, I'm moving in with Penny, so it turns out it's all great."

"Howie and I have talked about this," Bernadette started, but stopped abruptly. "Did you say you guys are moving in together?"

Penny was all smiles. "Yep, I asked him this morning. I was planning on asking him soon anyway, but Wackadoodle here moved up the timetable a bit."

"Oh my god, that's great you guys," Bernadette said. "I was going to suggest Leonard takes over the lease of our apartment, when we move into our condo."

Leonard looked at Penny. "Maybe I should still do that? Your apartment isn't very big, so it would give us more room. It's up to you."

Penny shrugged. "Might be a good idea. We'll talk about it later, alright honey?"

Leonard nodded. "Sure, no problem."

The next week had been hectic. Stephen Hawking had released a statement, in which he explained the expedition's results brought them a big step closer to unravel the mysteries of the universe, explicitly naming Leonard and Sam as the experimental physicists that came up with a very promising test protocol, that would only need more time to refine, to potentially provide the answers they'd been looking for.

This had resulted in several interviews in both national and international news outlets, and a huge ceremony at the university in honor of his achievement. Leonard was becoming a famous person, and Penny couldn't have been more proud of him. However, she could tell Leonard was getting sick of all the attention, and just wanted to go back to his lab and do his job.

Luckily, the attention was waning, so soon he'd be able to live his life the way he preferred it. Today, Leonard was signing the lease on Bernadette's and Howard's old apartment, and Penny was already busy packing up boxes with her clothing. Most of Leonard's belongings were still packed in boxes, so they'd mostly had to take care of her stuff.

Howard and Bernadette had been very generous and told them they could keep any furniture already in the apartment. That was actually a bit of relief to Penny, who definitely didn't look forward to moving her furniture down the stairs and halfway across town.

"Hi, Sam," Penny greeted the experimental physicists as she neared the computer Leonard was using, stepping into the camera's field of view. "How are you?"

"Good, darling. Very good, actually. How are you guys doing?"

"Well, we just moved to this apartment, so we've been busy with unpacking and stuff." Penny hugged Leonard and kissed him on the cheek. "I guess you guys need to talk shop, so I'll leave you to it. I only wanted to say 'hi'."

"I'm sure Leonard and I can wait a little longer. Besides, the first part actually concerns you."

Penny raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yes, Stephen Hawking wants to discuss Leonard and my test model in person."

"Oh no. How long will Leonard be gone?"

"No, I'm sorry, love, I didn't mean to scare you. The discussions will be held at CalTech. You will not have to miss Leonard for any extended period of time. Though I can not guarantee he will not have to work long days."

Penny released a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. "Oh thank God. Wait, that means you'll be coming here?"

Sam smiled and nodded. "Yes, I will. I'd be staying for at least two months, and this is where it concerns you, Penny. I've never been particularly fond of staying in hotels for extended periods of time, and two months is really long. So, I was hoping you could find me a place to stay, that isn't too expensive. I figured you'd be better at finding a 'girl' apartment than Leonard would."

"I think I have the perfect place. As far as we know, my old apartment is still for rent." She glanced at the clock. "They're closed now, but I'll call them first thing in the morning."

"That would be wonderful! If you can manage that, just send me the financial information and I'll confer with Stephen Hawking's people. Thank you, darling."

"Hey, no problem, Sam. I'll let the two of you talk shop, now." She kissed Leonard again. "I'll be in bed waiting for you," she said in a half whisper.

"I promise I won't keep him up too long," Sam said, with a wink at Penny.

"And where is that new roommate you've found," Amy asked. She'd been at Sheldon's apartment several times, for an extended period of time, but still hadn't seen the elusive newcomer to their group.

"He's probably at work. He has highly irregular working hours."

Amy knew Sheldon couldn't be lying, otherwise his nervous twitch would've been apparent. But the fact she still hadn't seen the new roommate was odd, to say the least. So, Sheldon wasn't lying, but he wasn't exactly being very forthcoming with information. Something was going on, and Amy planned on figuring out just exactly what it was. "I still think you were being unfair to Leonard. He's..."

"I wasn't unfair. The roommate agreement clearly stipulates the conditions that would lead to termination. Leonard..."

"Is your best friend," Amy interjected. "And probably not even aware of that rule, especially given the emotional state he was in with leaving his girlfriend behind for four months."

"One should never let oneself be ruled by emotions. Emotions have no bearing on a contract."

Amy just shook her head, effectively giving up. She knew it would be nearly impossibly to make him see things differently. "Tell me about your new roommate."

"Oh, he's a delight to have as a roommate. Generally he's here when I'm not, which reduces situations of possible conflict. When we do happen to be in the apartment together, he's usually quiet and stays to himself. It's a much welcomed improvement over living with Leonard."

"Excuse me, I'm looking for the astrophysics department."

Rajesh turned around when he heard the question. "I'm on my way there now. Just follow me."

The pretty woman smiled. "Okay. I'm Melissa."

"Nice to meet you, Melissa. I'm Rajesh, but almost everybody calls me Raj. So, what brings you to the astrophysics department?"

"My best friend is a grad student and working on her dissertation."

Rajesh nodded. "So you're the friend Linda keeps talking about."

Melissa smiled. "Knowing her, I have no doubt about that. So, you met Linda?"

"Yes, I'm her dissertation adviser. If I remember correctly, the two of you have been friends since you were, what? Five?"

Melissa nodded. "Yeah, we took an instant liking to each other, even though she was already super smart and I wasn't. I mean, I'm not dumb, just average."

"I'm sure you're not dumb, and there's nothing wrong with being average, whatever that is. There've been many times I wished I was average, fit in with other kids my age."

Melissa sighed. "Yeah, I know Linda struggled with that, too. The not fitting in, being picked on, bullied. I hated seeing her go through that."

Raj looked at Melissa again. She looked a bit like Penny, he thought, both in appearance, as well as compassion. The only difference seemed to be that Melissa had befriended a nerd from a very young age, whereas Penny had grown into that. "I think you've helped her a lot, just by being her best friend."

"Mel? What are you doing here?"

Melissa hugged her friend. "Visiting you."

Raj let the two friends talk, and walked into his office.

Linda grinned at Melissa, who didn't seem to notice in the least. For the past twenty minutes Melissa hadn't stopped talking about Dr. Koothrappali, and how nice he was.

"Oh, stop grinning at me," Melissa said.

"You got the hots for my dissertation adviser," Linda said, leaving the grin in place. "You're falling for a science dude!"

Melissa looked at her sternly, before smiling again. "I guess I am. Well, at least I'm attracted to him, not sure about falling for him. You don't mind do you? I mean, it won't get you in trouble if he and I hook up?"

Linda shook her head. "I won't get in trouble, and neither would he."

"Good. So, are you sure he's single? How could he be single?"

Linda chuckled. "Yes he's still single. Most of his life he apparently couldn't talk to women at all. Later he found he could when he consumed alcohol and just a few months back he could finally talk to women without getting drunk."

"Really? That's kinda weird."

Linda shrugged. "Not really. Selective mutism is usually paired with social anxiety. A two thousand and two study estimated that about point seventy one percent suffers from this disorder, though mostly at a young age. Various treatments have been devised in order to reduce the anxiety and allowing the subject to speak again. It's best to start treatment at a young age, as older subjects would be used to their selective mutism and are therefore more difficult to treat."

Melissa grinned and patted her friends arm. "Lin, you're doing it again. You lost me after the social anxiety."

Linda laughed, but knew Melissa had most likely heard every word, but just wasn't that interested. "You're really moving into an apartment in Pasadena," she changed the subject.

Melissa nodded. "Yep. I got a job at the Cheesecake Factory so I can pay my bills and stuff."

Linda frowned. Melissa wasn't the type to settle for just a waitress job. "And then what?"

Melissa shrugged. "And then I'm probably gonna enroll into a college."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I can't keep waiting for that rich man to cater to my every wish. You know how well it went with the last three."

Linda did know and laid her hand on top of her friends. "Maybe you should just find a guy that makes you happy. Like Dr. Koothrappali."

Melissa smiled. "We'll see."

Penny grabbed her phone and checked the time. "Leonard, honey, we need to go!" She grabbed Leonard's car keys from the coffee table.

"Coming! The plane is nearly half an hour late, so we don't have to rush too much."

Penny turned to look at Leonard as he came out of the bedroom, his tablet in his hands, and she had to smile. Of course he'd used his tablet, even though he hadn't been in the bedroom for more than five minutes, just to change. "Well, even so, at this time of day traffic isn't exactly light. We might actually need the extra half an hour."

Leonard just kissed her. "Will you just relax? Even if we'd be a few minutes late she'd wait for us without getting worried." He turned around and grabbed the apartment keys from the bowl near the door. "Did you get the keys for your old place?"

Penny patted her pocket. "Got them right here."

They left the apartment and made their way to the airport in Leonard's car. It was fairly busy, but not as bad as Penny had feared. She glanced at the arrivals monitor and quickly spotted the flight the British experimental physicist would be on. "Another fifteen minutes have been added," Penny observed. "That's another forty minutes before she lands."

They walked toward the arrivals area at a leisurely pace, seeing they had plenty of time. "So, I've been thinking. Sam's probably gonna be dead-tired, and she doesn't really know the way yet."

Leonard nodded. "Yeah. Not to mention the traffic back into town is really going to be brutal."

Penny nodded. "Exactly. So, I thought, she might appreciate getting a ride. You could take her in her rental, or maybe I take her in your car and you drive the rental."

"Sounds like a great idea. Actually, I think she might prefer a ride with you. Chances are, if she'd get a ride with me, we'd be talking shop, and I doubt she'd like that."

Penny smiled. "Well, she is kinda like the female version of you, so maybe she would prefer a ride with you."

Leonard kissed her. "If I'd be in her shoes, I'd prefer spending the drive with you, instead of another science nerd."

Penny stepped closer to him. "Hmm, good answer. I knew you were smart." She kissed him soundly on the lips and then wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder, content to just stand there and be close to him.

His arms had wrapped themselves around her waist and they stood like that for perhaps ten minutes, before Penny spoke up again. "Did you ever find out who Sheldon's new roommate is?"

Leonard shook his head, "no, but he's told us he's the ideal roommate. Apparently, most of the time Sheldon is actually alone in the apartment, because that new guy is at work during those hours. I just don't get it, though. He said he didn't want to live alone in the apartment, so he looked for a replacement for me, but he barely sees the guy."

"I think it's just because you didn't adhere to his weird rules. You know what Sheldon's like. Everything has to be structured or he'll freak out. Maybe that's why he chose a roommate who's rarely in the apartment when he is."

Leonard sighed. "I suppose that is true. At work he still treats me as one of his friends, though I think he's a little jealous of me right now."

Penny chuckled. "Oh, he's jealous alright. He was jealous as hell even before you went, and that didn't change much, especially when he learned of your successes." Suddenly she looked back up at Leonard. "You don't think that's the reason, do you? For kicking you out, I mean?"

Leonard shrugged. "Even if it is, I don't really care. I rather like living with a sane person for a change."

"Sorry, darling. I must have dozed off."

Penny glanced at Sam. "Don't worry, you had a long flight and you're still on UK time. It's the middle of the night for you. In fact, Leonard and I anticipated you'd be tired. That's why we wouldn't let you drive."

"A wise precaution, I can admit now. I had however planned to talk with you, just us girls."

"We'll have some time tomorrow, or the day after. You don't have to work until Monday, right?"

Sam nodded. "Monday afternoon, to be exact. However, I'm thinking of visiting Leonard in his lab sometime Monday morning."

"Leonard and I don't have to work tomorrow or the day after. If you're up to it, we can visit you and maybe show you around. And how to get to the university."

Sam nodded again, and yawned. "Sounds wonderful, love." She yawned again. "As soon as we get to the apartment, I'm going straight to bed." She yawned again. "But I do want to spend some time just with you. We never had the opportunity when you visited Leonard, not that I blame you for having chosen to spend every waking moment with him." Again she yawned.

"We're almost there, Sam. Just a few more minutes. Leonard and I took the liberty of buying some of the necessities, food wise, so you don't have to worry about that when you wake up in the morning."

Sam yawned again. "Thank you, I'll pay you back..."

"Don't you dare turning down Leonard's generosity," Penny interrupted her, with a grin on her face, but quickly sobered. "I'm serious, Sam. You don't have to pay us back. We really didn't buy you that much anyway, just enough for the first day. Plus, tomorrow evening you'll be eating at our place."

"Alright. "Sam looked at the building as Penny parked the car. "This seems like a nice place."

Penny shrugged. "It's not bad, once you get used to the wackadoodle next door."

Sam noticed Penny's feature darken. "Yes, I remember you telling me about Dr. Cooper, and his welcome home surprise for Leonard."

"Yeah, that really was the worst he'd ever done." She locked the car. "But Leonard didn't really mind, especially when I asked him to move in together." She shook her head. "He never saw it coming, but he was so happy."

Sam and Penny waited outside for Leonard to park the rental before entering the building and walk up the stairs.

"Well, here we are," Penny said as she entered the key in the lock.

Before they could step in, the door on the other side of the hall opened, and Sam had to try her hardest not to laugh when her new, and temporary, neighbor, indeed looked like a praying mantis, or C3PO, just like Leonard had described him to her.

"I thought I heard your voice, Penny. I assume you already had enough of living with Leonard and decided to move out?"

Sam again had to try not to laugh when she saw Penny roll her eyes.

"No, Sheldon, I did not move out. And trust me, even if I had, I would not move back so close to you. Sam's the unlucky one to be living across from you."

"Oh, great, another fake blond actress slash waitress, I assume?"

This time Sam did laugh. "Hardly, darling. I'm Dr. Green, and together with Dr. Hofstadter I devised the protocol to prove Stephen Hawking's theory."

"I see. I suppose you were the brains of the outfit?"

Sam looked incredulously at Leonard and Penny, before turning back. "We both were. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've had a long flight and I'm almost falling asleep where I stand. I'm sure we'll be seeing each other at other times. Good night, Dr. Cooper." She walked into the opened apartment, Penny following, while Leonard stayed outside.

"Told you he's a serious wackadoodle," Penny said, in a hushed voice.

Sam, remembering the tales of his incredible hearing, answered in a similar fashion. "I can't believe how lowly he thinks of Leonard's intellect."

"I think it's more jealousy than anything else," Penny said. "Whenever something good happens to Leonard, Sheldon seems to try his best to put him down." She shook her head. "He really isn't a bad person, he's just, you know, bat-crap crazy."

Sam nodded. "Someone needs to put him in his place, some time."

Penny laughed softly. "I should introduce you to Leslie Winkle. She used to drive him crazy, because she fixed mistakes he'd made on his whiteboard. She still calls him Dr. Dumbass and things like that. I'm sure she'd be happy to give you some pointers."

"Is Leonard not coming in?"

"Nah, he's probably warning Sheldon not to bother you before tomorrow afternoon. Besides, we'll be leaving anyway, so you can get some sleep. You think you'll be ready for visitors at, say, noon? We could go out to lunch or something."

"Hello, Terra Firma to Dr. Koothrappali." Linda waved her hand in front of his face, a knowing smile on her face.

"Hmm, oh, sorry Linda. My brain got sidetracked."

Yeah, probably with a particular blonde woman, Linda thought. Melissa had stopped by two hours ago, to see if they could have lunch later, and ever since, Dr. Koothrappali had seemed absentminded. "That's alright," she said out loud. "I was just wondering what your thoughts are on the changes I made in my research brief."

He looked at his desk and grabbed the hard copy. "I think it's an interesting twist on the original theory. I did make some notes, but other than that, I think it'd make for a worthy thesis." He handed her the hard copy.

Linda looked over his notes, which were very legible and nodded her head. "Yes, I see what you mean. I'll incorporate the changes and start working on the research on Monday." She glanced at her watch. "Right now, I'm going to have lunch with Mel. If you want, you can join us."

"Oh, no, I wouldn't want to impose."

Linda shrugged as nonchalantly as she could. "I'm sure Mel doesn't mind."

"Well, if you're sure it's alright."

"Sure, no problem. I'll just put this in my drawer and then I'm ready to go."

"Okay!"

Linda walked to the small desk, a smile on her face. She might be able to get these two together, and she was going to try her hardest, too. She opened her drawer and placed the hard copy at the bottom, before closing and locking it. She hid her smile as she turned around and approached her awaiting dissertation adviser. "Okay, I'm ready."

In comfortable silence they walked toward the cafeteria. The first few days, Linda had got lost in the many corridors. She never had had a good sense of direction in large buildings, though she did fine outdoors. But corridors always confused her. She had figured out soon enough that outdoors she used the sun or stars, depending on time of day, to figure out which way she was going, but she had trouble remembering the maze of corridors between the astrophysics department and the cafeteria.

When they arrived at the cafeteria, much quieter this Saturday than on normal weekdays, Linda spotted her friend quickly and walked over to her. "Hey, Mel," she said, hugging her best friend. "I hope you don't mind, but I invited Dr. Koothrappali to join us." She didn't fail to see the warning glance Melissa threw her.

"Of course I don't mind." Melissa smiled pleasantly at him and shook his hand. "Now, I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving."

Linda smiled, but also felt a little worried. Could it be her friend was in so much financial trouble she hadn't eaten any breakfast? Melissa knew that she could always ask her for help, but Linda knew Melissa could be too proud, or maybe even embarrassed. "Yeah, I'm pretty hungry, as well."

As they'd gotten their food, Linda noticed that Melissa had consistently chosen the cheapest things, and not all that much of it. She'd whispered in her ear, "it'll be my treat, just get something you really want and get enough of it." Melissa had looked embarrassed and thankful at the same time and switched her choice.

Linda kept quiet as her adviser and Melissa talked nearly nonstop, careful to hide her smile from both of them. So far, her plan seemed to work. Now she needed to figure out how to get them to go out on an actual date. And get Melissa to accept some money to tide her over.

Melissa really was her best friend, ever since they'd met. She'd been the only girl who wasn't all nerdy, but had chosen to hang out and play with her anyway, and they'd remained close friends ever since. Linda doubted Melissa knew how much she had done for her, and sometimes still did. She remembered how hard it had been, when her peers had bullied her, and it could've only been worse if she hadn't had a friend like Melissa to support her no matter what.

Her thoughts were interrupted with the arrival of Dr. Hofstadter, his girlfriend and another, unknown woman. The latter was introduced as Dr. Samantha Green, the colleague of Dr. Hofstadter while he'd been working on devising experiments for Stephen Hawking's hypothesis.

It was a bit unfortunate, Linda felt, though Dr. Koothrappali still seemed more interested in Melissa. But Linda knew her friend; she'd be worried Dr. Koothrappali would be more compatible to this Dr. Green woman. But Linda was up to the challenge; she was going to get her best friend and her dissertation adviser together.