Story : Penny drags Sheldon onto a ship for a possible acting gig trouble ensue and for once not just because of Sheldon.
This will be a multi-chapter story. Also, despite having watched all of BBT I may have errors, please inform if you find any.
Not Beta'd all mistakes are my own.
I was extremely happy when I woke up to find my email a buzz with all the review and story subs you all gave me. Summer = crazy sleeping hours but, hopefully if I can get a little more done it'll be updated each day around 4 am EST.
I felt like Sheldon might of been a little OC but, I think under these circumstances he would evolve in order to preserve himself.
In response to Riotstarter's review I might make it M we'll just have to see.
Comments, Questions, Concerns? Send me a message.
Disclaimer: Much to my dismay I do not own Big Bang Theory or any of the characters.
Sheldon was the first to wake. He noticed that it wasn't a dream; he was stuck on a boat with Penny. That wasn't even the worst part, Sheldon had just slept in his grimy clothes in a disease and germ ridden boat. This made him outwardly shudder; it also placed a grimace on his face. Sheldon made his way out of the hold, on the way out he glanced over at Penny. She was still asleep, her dress had wrinkles in it, her hair was all messy, and her make up now formed streaks on her face. He had the rights to tell her 'I told you so'.
The life boat was almost the size of small sailboat; Sheldon surmised the reason for such its large size was for bigger sized ships such as cruise liners. The director's ship was far from a cruise liner but the man did have money to throw at things. It had two main areas the top side and bottom side. It appeared to be in working order, no signs of rust. However, despite its sailboat appearance it lacked a sail. Making any sort of maneuvering quite difficult.
The sun was just breaking over the horizon painting it with oranges and reds. They were still drifting in the Pacific Ocean. Penny awoke to some pacing on the top deck and jumbled words drifted into the hull. The pacing down in the hull sounded like soldiers marching, the thudding of their feet. Penny ran a hand through her hair it felt gross, she assumed that her makeup was a mess, she looked down her dress was pretty much ruined. All thanks to Sheldon but, she was still alive. She kicked off her shoes there was no point in making her feet hurt and ascended to the deck.
Above she found Sheldon in a form of hysteria, he was muttering and pacing almost like he was when he was trying to achieve a break through. He didn't even notice Penny until her crashed into her. Penny fell backwards but caught herself. Sheldon was not so lucky and landed with a loud thud. Sheldon's gaze turned and met Penny's. Sheldon stood back up carefully, he appeared to have injured knee. That brief sign of pain made him actually look human.
"I believe I am entitled to the right to say I told you so! Now because of your 'audition' we are stuck in the Pacific Ocean! Do you have any idea as to how that affects me? I can't do ground breaking research in the ocean. I can't test any of my theories. I can't even take a shower, or play Halo. My comic book collection isn't here. Not to mention this boat is completely unsanitary" Sheldon was really worked up; he was brooding the whole time Penny was asleep.
"Sheldon relax, we couldn't have drifted that far and we'll be rescued by the marines or whoever does the rescuing." Penny's assurance did nothing to stop Sheldon's wrath. Sheldon soon squashed that assurance of rescue by the marines.
"I highly doubt there will be any rescuing I did the math. We've drifted nearly 100 miles because of the current. A hundred miles, can you even count that high? And while I'm sure the Coast Guard, which by the way is the one who would search for us. Hence coast in the name. They will be rescuing the people who are near the ship first." Sheldon took a breath, at this time Penny sat down on one of the benches and continued to be berated "Was there even a roster? Do they even know we're missing? Even if the Coast Guard is intelligent enough to come up with an algorithm to track the possible current trajectory, we could have changed course by that time due to all the inner connecting currents." Sheldon's Texas twang was in full force "By the time that happens we'll be dead."
Sheldon's blood was still boiling. His anger and prognoses of their situation had stunned Penny into silence. She was on the verge of tears, she opened her mouth a few times but nothing every surfaced. She had no witty retort or anyway to refute his theory, Sheldon was the genius and he was right.
"Sorry." She whispered, Sheldon's Vulcan hearing picked up the apology. Her voice was full of despair and it had lost all traces of her personality. In Sheldon's mind he heard his mother; she was telling him that he deserved that poor girl an apology. Sheldon argued that it was entirely her fault and he had no reason to apologize. Sheldon's 'mother' replied with a simple stern Shelly. Sheldon sighed.
"That was unprovoked, I apologize. I should not blame you for our current predicament." Sheldon gave one of his once in a blue moon apologies; Penny was still stuck on the 100 miles. How could a single current underneath the water no less, take you 100 miles in less than six or seven hours. By the time she had focus from her inner thoughts to outer happenings Sheldon was back to pacing but his muttering had ceased. Penny had a dire need for a question to be answered.
"Why?"
"Because of your audition isn't that the obvious conclusion. If we had not gone to this audition to fulfill your fantasy of being an actor none of this would have occurred." Sheldon replied, his voice appeared calm however inside his head he was running multiple scenarios, all of which ended in his death.
"That's not what I was referring to, I meant why as to the ship sinking."
Sheldon sat down across from Penny; he was worn out from his pacing.
"One of the actresses that went in before you didn't take very well to the insults the director gave her. In order to exact her revenge she went up to the command room and start messing with the instruments and managed to affect them enough to sink the ship." Penny sat there facing Sheldon, his eyes swirled with fear, and he looked down "Once again another example of faulty equipment and not enough supervision."
"So we're really lost?" Sheldon simply nodded in reply.
Sheldon and Penny descend back into the hold once the sun had fully risen. Sheldon had mentioned that they would want to avoid the sun, due to sunburn and loss of fluids. They sat down across from one another the whole day, not a word was heard from either. The rushing of the waves was constant and despite being known for soothing effects it was a reminder of where they were. Sheldon finally spoke.
"I believe it's a logical conclusion that there will be no rescue any time soon. We should take inventory of the supplies, in hope to extend our 'stay'." Penny just sat there. Sheldon sighed inwardly. "Penny did you.." Sheldon began only to be interrupted by Penny.
"Yes I heard you. How can you so easily be numb to the fact of what has happened. We're Lost At Sea."
"Technically it's an Ocean specifically -"
"Enough Sheldon!" screamed Penny, her hair was a mess along with her makeup, she looked like a witch. Sheldon was momentarily taken back, he never liked fighting. To many memories of his parents fighting.
"Pacific Ocean" he murmured. Penny let out a grunt and put her hands to her face, her elbows rested on her knees. She ran a hand through her hair before muttering.
"It's a good idea Sheldon, let's go check to see what we have."
"Of course it's a good idea." Not matter where they were some things would never change. The hold was fairly spacious a few metal shelves were bolted to the right side wall, on the left side wall was a small cabinet. They made list of what they had:
150 ml bottles of water
120 sealed packages of food
15 journals
10 flares
7 blankets
5 packages of disinfectant wipes
5 oars
3 buckets
3 sets for fishing
3 rain water collectors
3 bottles of alcohol
2 huntsman knives
2 first aid kits
2 empty bottles
2 knives
2 cans of Coca-Cola
1 package of cigarettes
1 wallet filled with a handful of bills and a few credit cards
1 purse filled with various contents such has paper clips, pens, a set of keys etc.
1 package of 24 ball point pins
1 package of 24 pencils
1 survival guide
That's all they had. Sheldon did some math and determined they had enough food if extremely rationed 35 days max but, the water would run out first, Sheldon estimated in 22.2 days.
"There is no way we would be out here longer than 22 days right?" questioned Penny. Sheldon wasn't paying attention for he was currently using the disinfectant wipes on everything. Sheldon had already managed to go through two of the packages. "Sheldon we might need those, once they're gone we can't go get more."
"Well you can't expect me to be in a germ ridden environment. I have already been here for a night and I've probably contracted numerous contagions." Sheldon shook his head, really what was Penny thinking. Penny had been leafing through the survival guide; one of suggestions was to use disinfectant to clean wounds.
"What if one of us gets injured we would have nothing?" Sheldon tossed a side wards glance to Penny.
"Do you expect us to be here for that long? Plus, what would we be doing here to cause us injury?"
"That's what I just asked you Sheldon, you're the one talking about Coast Guard not finding us. I want to maximize my chance to live. I'd rather be safe than sorry." Penny had enough and grabbed the disinfectant wipes.
"We will die from bacteria before that will matter." Sheldon attempted to take back the wipes but, Penny had licked all of the disinfectant containers, effectively blocking him from touching the wipes. He backed off and sat down in the area he had disinfected. He watched her with his beautifully colored eyes and adapted an atmosphere about him similar to a cat licking his wounds.
For the next couple of days they set into a routine, it consisted of:
Wake up
Use one of the buckets (Penny had spent nearly two days convincing Sheldon that he would first die of Bowel Obstruction first, and that would be extremely messy.)
Distribution of food and water according to Sheldon's calculations
Sit around (This mostly consisted for Sheldon as he would not leave the area he had disinfected. Penny during this time busied herself with random things anywhere from reading the survival guide which was quite thick, to drawing/ writing in one of the journals, or going up to the deck and watching the ocean hoping for any sign of rescue.)
Lunch (Which was part of the dinner rations)
More sitting around
Dinner
Sitting around
Sleeping (They both didn't sleep well due to the rocking of the boat)
Then the pattern repeated again and again for a week. The 8th day started out with the same routine, the ration for breakfast had already been doled out. Sheldon had still refused to come out of his disinfected area. Sheldon was starting to grow a beard. Penny was in a little less of disarray, it had rained one of the previous days and she had taken a 'shower'. Her hair was pulled back using a rubber band she had found in her purse. She made her way up to the deck and watched as the sun breached the horizon. Penny began to lose hope that they would be rescued and at the end of the 22.2 days they would die.
Sheldon still hadn't spoken to her partly because he blamed and the other was that he was out of his element. Penny continued to admire the ocean and how the sun reflected off the ocean creating an array of colors. The sound of foot steps behind her ripped her from her reverie, Penny turned around.
"After much thought I believe that are options have become limited and in order to prolong my survival. I will have to deal with variables that I can no longer control such as the cleanliness of the boat." Penny chuckled a little bit.
"Really? That doesn't agree with your personality."
"No however, Spock had to adapt to his surrounding and I believe I could ascertain the same attitude. Also, I have a notion that we will be stuck longer than 22.2 days on this vessel and thus should prepare for that." Sheldon had become completely distant; his voice was dilute of emotion he sounded exactly like a robot or Mr. Spock. This was his way of rationalizing it all; he would become Spock in an attempt to cope. Penny firmly believed she had broken him. Sheldon even looked broke, the suit was torn and tattered, days ago he had taken off his jacket, and his hair had a ruffled look to it. His growth on his face made him look older and more rugged. His eyes were still just as piercing though it made Penny's spine tingle; Penny wasn't comfortable under his scrutinizing stare.
Penny nodded, Sheldon sat down they had come to an agreement and for once it wasn't on paper.
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