A/N: Aww, you guys! Thanks so much for your feedback/favorites/follows! I'm truly overwhelmed and had no idea people would hop on the dark Sheldon train so willingly. And trust me - I am just foaming at the mouth for the day that George Cooper Jr. makes an appearance on the show. Until then…I guess I'll just have to make do with this one. ;) Keep the feedback coming, please! And more importantly, enjoy!
P.S. Is it bad that I'm totally writing this at work while I'm on the clock? :|
"Sheldon Lee. That's no way to greet your big brother, especially one that's gone out of his way to come visit you in sunny California."
It had been 2,755 days since he had last heard George Jr.'s voice. That very night that he last saw him, Sheldon told him that he swore on everything holy and not that if Junior ever came near him again, he would cause him bodily harm. Even at the time, Sheldon knew he would be bested in a physical altercation with anyone, namely his prize-fighting older brother, but the vehemence of this vow had caused Junior to flinch before nodding an agreement.
So now why, nearly 8 years later, had Junior decided to override his one demand? Sheldon assumed that perhaps he needed some money and then quickly dismissed it. Junior had 'won' enough cash over the years to last him for quite some time. Before any other possibilities could run through his head, Junior spoke again. "You there? 'Lo?"
"Junior, what do you want? Why have you blatantly disregarded our previous agreement where I specifically asked you to never come near me again?"
"Fuck's sake, Sheldon, that was almost ten years ago! I was sure you'd gotten over it by now. Or is that freaky, photo-picture memory of yours holding you hostage again?"
"I have no time to sit here and correct your syntax, but I believe the term you're grasping for is eidetic memory, and-"
"Sheldon, if you don't shut your trap and let me speak…"
"You aren't saying anything that I want to hear!" Sheldon snapped in a hoarse voice. He pushed his back off of the closed door and crossed the bedroom to the furthest corner, hoping the acoustics wouldn't allow Penny to hear him had she half the mind to come eavesdrop on his phone call and he knew that she did. "You have less than 30 seconds to explain yourself."
"I'm in Pasadena. I understand that you've got yourself a nice little apartment with an open bedroom for the summer."
Sheldon cursed his mother's incessant need to talk about his life to anyone who would listen. "Twenty seconds."
"I'm here on business. Business that you might be interested in." Junior's voice was raspy as he drew in a sharp breath and coughed pathetically, reeling in saliva and spitting it out loud enough for Sheldon to hear.
"Fourteen seconds."
"Hell, I figured that'd be all the explanation you need. Why haven't you invited me to come visit with you yet?"
"Perhaps you don't remember my request. I don't want anything to do with you." Before Sheldon could continue his lashing out, Junior cut him off with a deep, menacing promise.
"I've got your address anyway. Don't make me stop by uninvited."
Sheldon's initial steely voice bled freely into pleading. "Junior, I really don't have the time to accommodate you…"
"Mom says you never take any kind of vacation anyhow. She figured it'd be a lovely time for me to come visit my little brother. So start putting in for time off so we can spend some time together. I've never been to California before."
"I won't help you any more, Junior," Sheldon promised, already feeling his resolve weaken. Alone in his room with the light off and only the bright sun peeking through his heavy drapes to illuminate the small space, he felt like a caged animal. Though Penny was down the hall and probably the physically toughest person he knew on a personal level, not even she could shield him from what was inevitably crashing down on his head. He had a fleeting thought to call out to her for help. Pack her up and get the hell out of Dodge together, tell his friends he was leaving and write to Leonard to tell him never to return to 2311 Los Robles. But no matter how far he ran, he'd never get away from George Jr. "I can't do this."
"Sure you can, Shelly. You're the smartest genius I know. I'll be there tomorrow night."
As the line clicked off and his cell phone went silent, Sheldon exhaled a deep breath, then for the first time in his life wished he wasn't the genius that Junior needed.
Meanwhile, Penny waited for him in the living room. When Sheldon hadn't emerged from his room after Raj and Howard arrived with the pizza, she began to worry. It had been quite some time since she had seen the brilliant, albeit slightly loony, physicist so worked up and angry, and it added to the mystery that all it took for him to bristle was a phone call. Even more surprising, she could've sworn he had said his elusive older brother's name. As the newly chatty Raj droned on about how red wines were better with pizza but terrible for his diet and Howard texted his wife, Penny's thoughts were glued to Sheldon's absence. She opened her mouth to speak, purposely interrupting Raj. "Hey, you guys ever met Sheldon's brother? George Jr.?"
Raj shrugged and shook his head, while Howard's round eyes looked upward, as if trying to remember. "No," he finally said, opening the pizza box. "Sheldon rarely even talks about him."
"Where is Sheldon, anyhow?" Raj asked as he walked to the kitchen to look for a corkscrew for his wine.
"He took a phone call in his room," Penny answered. "I think the one who called him was his brother."
"Is everything alright?" Raj inquired as he worked on the cork.
"I…don't know." Penny bit her lower lip as she served herself a slice of pizza, slumping down onto the couch. She couldn't get Sheldon's snappy tone out of her head as he demanded to know what his brother wanted. Well? Spit it out!
"Bernie's on her way," Howard changed the subject. "She had to work late, so save her a slice. Will you go get Sheldon?" He looked at Penny expectantly. "I don't want to get lectured for 10 minutes about how we spoiled his dinner by letting his pizza get cold."
Penny nodded and rose slowly from her sitting position before pausing, then taking another step towards the hallway and stopped again. For a reason she couldn't readily explain, she felt like she didn't want to bother Sheldon right now.
"What's with the buffering?" Howard quipped, staring peculiarly at Penny.
Without answering him, Penny finally put one foot in front of the other and walked down the hall, making a right and slamming into a lean body and furious stare. "Sheldon!" she squeaked as she backed into the wall and placed a hand on her chest. "You scared the shit out of me!"
Sheldon's eyes searched her for a moment, his mouth slightly twisted at her crude metaphor. "What are you doing, Penny?"
"I was coming to get you." She swallowed hard, keeping herself from adding, and wondering what is wrong with you. "The pizza is here."
"I know. I can hear all of you clucking about it." He tapped the side of his head, indicating his almost inhuman hearing had not failed him yet. Then he stepped around Penny and headed to the living room. She stood still for a moment before following him, wringing her hands together in deep thought.
Sixteen years earlier.
Sheldon walked back into the kitchen and stared at his brother.
"Everyone always says I'm like our old man," he scoffed. "Just 'cause I have his name and I took a liking to illegal substances just like he did. But you're more like George Cooper than I could ever be. You're cold as ice."
It was quiet for a long time before Junior broke the silence and said, "One of my buddies told me there's a science to throwing these fights. It's all mathematical…" Sheldon scoffed loudly, but he was still listening, so Junior continued. "You study the fighters, you look at their records and then you can stage fights."
"It's gambling, a dishonorable past time. You've traded your addiction to drugs for an addiction to winning illegally."
"Shelly, it's really not that serious," Junior scolded, attempting to brush off Sheldon's disapproving stare. "It's fun!"
"It's fun getting pummeled with fists until someone collapses? You know that the small perichondrial hematoma you've acquired in your right ear, commonly known as cauliflower ear, no doubt resulting from your bouts of sparring, is permanent?" Sheldon pointed a bony finger at his brother's head, watching as Junior unconsciously pressed his fingers to the growing bump of skin on his ear.
"I'm not asking you to actually get in on a fight, Sheldon," Junior chuckled when Sheldon's eyes went wide in disbelief. "Don't have a cow. But aren't you even a little interested in making some money? That fancy education you're getting can't be cheap." He was met with a derisive glare that would he would learn was to become Sheldon's trademark facial expression in the coming years.
"I am funding my education with multiple scholarships and grants awarded to me for my hard work and contributions to the field of science, Junior. Money obtained by gambling doesn't interest me." Still, Sheldon lingered, messing with the fringe of the table cloth as he found himself sitting down across from his brother again. He wasn't sure how he could explain it except maybe he was still asleep and that this entire conversation was a dream. But Sheldon found himself wondering just how easy it would be to scientifically solve the outcome of a brawl, given that the mongrels honor a point system for blows like traditional professional boxing. He was interrupted by the feel of Junior's stare on him.
"You're right, Shelly," he said, scratching his beard as he regarded his younger brother. "You really are a genius. And I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little green about it. You got all the brains, after all. All Missy got was brown eyes and I got a hard head." He leaned back with a smirk, causing his chair to groan under his muscle and weight. Sheldon fought the urge to make the snide remark that George was a lot more cunning than he led everyone else to believe. "Sheldon, I'd also be lying if I said I wasn't real proud of you."
Sheldon could not compute. As much trouble as he had deciphering sarcasm and witless humor in others, he had fared worse in understanding how to take a genuine compliment. If anyone else had told young Dr. Sheldon Cooper that he was a genius, he would've agreed whole-heartedly and allowed them to bask in his glory. When Junior admitted to at least sort of comprehending Sheldon's intellectual triumphs, it warmed him to an uncomfortable degree. Then again, this was George Cooper, Jr; the man was very skilled in deceitfulness. But Sheldon's will was in the middle of crumbling as he struggled to remember the reasons why his brother made him feel distrustful of his very presence when Junior continued.
"I wish I had been around more when you came home to visit," he lamented. "I've wasted a lot of time being baked out of my mind, Shelly. Now that I'm clean and really passionate about something in my life, you know…fighting…I want you to be part of it. Whaddya say?"
You don't have to say a thing, Reasonable Sheldon said firmly inside his head. Just stand up and walk out of the room, scream for Mother if you have to. Just get away from this man, this shell of the brother you used to have. He's just trying to butter you up to do his bidding, Cooper, and you know it.
Instead, Actual Sheldon opened his mouth and said, "I'll get my jacket."
Junior's face beamed long after Sheldon had left the kitchen.
Present day.
Sheldon acted normal, well normal in the way that is normal for Sheldon, throughout dinner. Maybe a little testy, but it wasn't anything unusual. Still, as Howard and Raj continued typical conversation, occasionally peppered by Sheldon's interjections, Penny couldn't shake the feeling that something was up with her neighbor. So she went for broke.
"Sheldon," she began, stacking the empty paper plates on top of the pizza box and took it to the kitchen to tidy up while the three men watched television.
"Hmm?" He didn't glance up, seemingly engrossed by the program. His elbow was propped on the arm rest of the couch, his upturned palm lazily holding his chin as he leaned into it.
"Who was that on the phone?"
Anyone watching close enough like Penny was would have caught it. She felt a shudder dip into her body when Sheldon's eyes locked onto hers, his sudden baleful expression dropping the temperature in the room by a few degrees. At the same moment, he visibly stiffened. But as quickly as it came, it passed. He waited to answer until Howard made it known that he was now paying attention. Taking a split second to compose himself, Sheldon removed his chin from his hand and placed both of his palms in his lap. "Why, Penny. That was official Caltech business. Which reminds me, I'm going to be taking a leave of absence from the university for one week starting tomorrow. During the next 7 days, I will be extremely busy and hardly ever here at the apartment, therefore I suggest that you all make the necessary preparations to have the allotted video game nights as well as dinner somewhere else."
"But…" Howard said, sneaking a glance at Penny. "She said you were on the phone with your brother." He then looked at Raj who sat still in the arm chair closest to the hall, quietly holding his wine glass by the stem.
"Did she?" Sheldon asked with an amused, almost condescending smile on his face. "She must have misheard."
Raj finally spoke up. "What are you doing that you can't be at work for a week?"
"Why, aren't you all just a ragtag trio of sleuths." Sheldon's gaze finally rested on Penny again and she squirmed, leaning against the table across the room. "That's not really anyone's concern. I would thank you all to respect that. And now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do." He jumped up from his spot and walked over to his desk, collapsing in his chair. His long, nimble fingers tapped the mouse pad beneath the keyboard while he waited for the laptop to boot up. Sheldon was still in the same room as his friends, but it was clearly a dismissal. They didn't have to leave, but he was as good as gone, in his own world now and none the wiser to their presence.
Howard muttered something along the lines of whacko while Raj took another sip of his wine. Penny crossed her arms and watched the screen over Sheldon's shoulder as he pulled up windows of more physics-y stuff she didn't understand. She watched for a beat longer before stalking over to the couch and sat down next to Howard. They gave each other a look and he offered her a shrug, silently insisting she not press the issue, or maybe he was resigning to the fact that he really didn't care what was going on with Sheldon.
But Penny refused to let it go. She could have gotten over Sheldon's cold, calculating stare after she called him out, and she could have gotten over how quickly he ignored his friends' request for the truth. But what she couldn't swallow was his face when he flat out lied to her. Sheldon wasn't a liar, not a good one, at least. He was a twitcher. His eyes would water and tic and his mouth would spasm to the side in an almost comical way whenever he tried to supply his circle of friends with some made-up story; it was his most annoying but dependable habit.
Sheldon didn't twitch when he lied a minute ago. It irked her.
Turning her neck to watch Sheldon's back as he furiously typed and scratched notes on a legal pad, she waited him out. They'd be alone soon enough.
"Knock, knock!" Bernadette's high, sweet voice rang out as she entered the uncomfortable silence with a cheery grin and closed the apartment door behind her. She took in the atmosphere and her eyes landed on Penny. "Um, what's up, guys?" Before anyone could answer her, Amy's designated ring on Skype sounded from Sheldon's laptop, and to everyone's shock, he ignored it without hesitation, and kept typing away.
Sixteen years earlier.
An hour later, the Cooper boys drove slowly onto uneven ground covered by tall grass, their mother's old, brown station wagon chugging along. The shocks were being given a workout until they finally came to rest outside of a large barn surrounded by other parked cars. They both climbed out of the car and shut their doors, their breath visible in the cold air. Sheldon's slim frame gave a slight roll, shuddering in the sudden icy temperature. Only during a Texas winter would it be completely acceptable to wear shorts and flip flops at noon, then switch to earmuffs and coats by nightfall. He glanced over at his older brother and studied him while he wasn't looking. He was a tall man, towering over most people he met, just like George Cooper, and just like Sheldon would someday. The younger boy knew that he far surpassed Junior in everything that counted; emotional maturity and academic knowledge for sure, but he couldn't help but feel a slight edge of envy knowing that Junior had really lived. And hard. Not that Sheldon would ever even consider touching drugs that weren't prescribed for his sinus infections, or taste alcohol for pleasure. But Junior had a reputation for 'loving the ladies', as it were.
Sheldon wasn't as oblivious as he came off sometimes; he hated that he was so freaked out by casual physical contact and the looks he earned from total strangers for his outlandish behavior bordering on compulsive when someone offered their hand to shake. What he wouldn't give for one day, no, one hour, of normalcy. To touch a woman, perhaps. He was wholly and fully dedicated to physics, but not even he could deny the fact he was only seventeen. How badly now more than ever he wished to realize his lifelong dream of building a time machine so that he could fast forward through what hippie-dippie psychologists referred to as 'adolescence'.
Junior wrecked Sheldon's ridiculous train of thoughts by clapping an open palm on the roof of the station wagon. "Ready?" He motioned with his neck towards the barn and Sheldon stiffly followed. He hunched his shoulders forward, his North Face fleece jacket doing little to block out the fierce winds that bent the tall grass they treaded through. The looming barn had once been painted completely red, but as they got closer, Sheldon could see that the chipped paint had caused the old oak clapboards to look rather like they were originally gray and stained with blood.
"How appropriate," he mumbled softly to himself, following his brother closely. While Sheldon made no effort to dress for any other occasion than to stay warm (finding a black pair of sweats and a white thermal T-shirt beneath another long-sleeved shirt with a logo of Ash from Pokémon on the front to be more than appropriate), Junior had decided to dress in a loose-fitting pair of dark denim jeans, a plain black t-shirt and a thin leather jacket. His feet were pinched into what Sheldon figured were very uncomfortable, but very expensive looking, narrow leather boots. Much to Sheldon's dismay, his brother looked like a greaser from the 1950's. They reached the front of the barn, the entrance slightly ajar as the racket of hip-hop music and smell of marijuana floated companionably into the night air. Sheldon dug his heels into the dirt, causing his brother to look back at him with thinning patience and a questioning stare. "Junior, they're doing drugs in there." He backed up slowly, recognizing the smell that got a pair of students who lived in his dorm while he attended undergraduate school expelled and ultimately arrested.
"Yeah?" Junior asked. "So?" They were both quiet as a deep, nasally voice on the speakers inside sang 'I love it when you call me big poppa'.
Sheldon's face twisted with displeasure. "Isn't it the antithesis state of affairs for a recovering addict like you to waltz into what I can only imagine is a drug-fueled orgy?"
"Huh?"
Sheldon sighed loudly. "I've changed my mind. Please take me home, Junior."
"Like hell," Junior grunted, wrapping his fingers around one of Sheldon's slender arms and poised himself to yank when he saw his little brother recoil and cry out in alarm. "Shelly, what the hell? You're crouching like I'm fixing to beat you." He quickly let him go and gave the young boy a wide girth while Sheldon smoothed his jacket down, composing himself. A flicker of realization ignited in Junior's eyes. "Sheldon, is someone touching you when they shouldn't be?"
"Don't be absurd!" Sheldon yelped. He mentally stuffed down all the sudden, vivid memories of being bullied and beat up by neighborhood kids during his childhood, the childhood that Junior was mostly absent for. "No one is allowed to touch me."
"Goddamn right," Junior said fiercely, taking Sheldon by surprise. "I don't care if you live in Germany or Timbuktu-if anyone ever lays a fucking finger on you to do you harm, you give me a call and I'll be there to set them straight." The two brothers eyed each other evenly in silence before a shrill pair of female giggles interrupted them. They both turned to see two scantily clad women stumble from the entrance of the barn, the music blaring louder behind them before they closed the wide door and walked unsteadily off into the distance. It was obvious by their looks as well as the whiff Sheldon got when they walked by that they were under an influence of fruity smelling alcohol. When they were out of sight, Sheldon turned back to his brother, the intense moment of protectiveness now gone. He cleared his throat while Junior waited.
"Roid rage is an epidemic, you know," he retorted, netting a chuckle from his brother. He grimaced as Junior playfully rubbed his hand through Sheldon's hair before drawing his arm back to his body.
"Just showing you some love, little brother. Now come on, let's get in the barn. It's warmer inside." He reached around to open the barn door, and extended his arm to allow Sheldon to enter first. Taking a deep breath, Sheldon willed his legs to quit trembling as he stepped inside.
Present day.
He wished Penny would just go away. Everyone else got the hint, for Pete's sake. Only a few minutes after he excused himself to do some work, then ignored his scheduled Skype call with Amy Farrah Fowler, his companions made their lame excuses and were out the door very quickly thereafter. But Penny hung around. He watched her out of the corner of his eye while she washed his dishes, then pranced down the hall to use his bathroom, then come back into the living room and flop on his couch (not my spot, Penny). He needed his space, a few moments of quiet to gather some perspective and map out a game plan. He also needed to make a very angry phone call to Texas before it got any later; when he considered the time difference, Sheldon knew his mother would be going to bed any minute and what he had to say to her simply could not wait until morning.
Mary Cooper was well aware that her oldest boy was no angel, but she didn't know the truth about him or about Sheldon or about why his visits home became more frequent after that December weekend 16 years ago and that they had nothing to do with 'missing his Mama' as she put it. Rather that it was because he had become drawn into a world that Junior created for them, and as spitting mad as Junior could make him, Sheldon found himself needing and craving that fellowship that his brother provided him, a male to look up to when none had previously been there before. At such a young age, Sheldon couldn't have prepared for the way Junior had gotten so wrapped up in the world of his own making, and almost took Sheldon down with him…
"Let's talk, Sheldon." Startled from his thoughts, Sheldon frowned, crossed his arms over his chest, and spun in his chair to face a very stern looking Penny. She was still sitting on the couch but the TV had been turned off and she was leaning back with her own arms crossed, a perfect imitation of him.
"Yes, Penny, let's." Sheldon rose from his seat and clamped his hands behind him at the base of his spine. He felt her eyes on him as he paced. "I will not need your driving services this upcoming week."
"No, Sheldon, we're going to talk about what the hell happened earlier. Your brother called you, he clearly upset you, and not ten minutes later you came out here, lied to your friends, then basically kicked us out of your life for a week!" Her green eyes blazed like tiny pools of emerald.
"I didn't lie," Sheldon muttered, slightly turning his head to face his beloved white board that was still on display in the small space between the kitchen and the living room. "I explained that my affairs are none of your concern." He looked back at her with a bored expression. "And that's the truth." Boy, it was hard speaking to Penny with such disinterest when she was dressed like that. He noted her small pair of shorts and the yellow top from earlier. Not that Sheldon had never noticed Penny's obviously pleasing features before, but tonight they were extremely distracting. So was everything else now that he knew in just 24 hours, Junior was riding into town to screw up his routine, his life. His nerves were tingling with distress. "On that note, it's getting late, so if you would kindly show yourself out..."
"Look, Sheldon," Penny said, uncrossing her arms and scooting up from her slouched position to sit up straight on the couch. "I promised Leonard I would look out for you while he's gone…"
"An unnecessary verbal covenant if I've ever heard one."
"…But you're also my friend," Penny said pointedly after he interrupted her. "I care about you, sweetie. Tell me, what did your brother say that got you so worked up? Is everything okay back home in Texas?"
Her concern both softened his demeanor and equally made him queasy. How could he keep this situation from Penny when she lived right across the hall? She could very well be minding her own business when by some stroke of coincidence, she'd run right into Junior while walking down the stairwell. There would be no hiding that they were related. Though Sheldon had filled out slightly recently due to adding a little more protein to his diet, Junior would always be bulkier than him due to his line of work. But they were of equal height, standing at a lofty 6'2", and their round faces (Sheldon's always baby smooth and hairless while Junior was always sporting at least some scruff) were of similar, boyish physique. And if she got close enough, she would see that he had the identical signature blue eyes that always got the attention of the female species. In short, there would be no hiding from Penny that George Cooper Jr. was coming to town.
So as quickly as he could, Sheldon developed a plan to tell Penny just enough to keep her at bay, but not enough to reel her in. As exhausting as her company could be, Sheldon did care about her well-being. He couldn't allow her to get involved. And what was worse, he couldn't allow Penny to know so much about Sheldon, especially when he had worked so hard for the last decade that he lived in Pasadena to keep his past in the dark, where it belonged. He was scowling when he turned around to face her. "Alright, Penny, if you must know. Yes, my brother is coming to visit me for a few days." He waited for her to brighten up or give him some sort of reaction that would allow him to believe that this answer would be sufficient enough for her to let the whole situation go, but she didn't budge. They waited each other out before he became uncomfortable with the silence. "So there, that's the truth. George Jr. will be here tomorrow."
"Why do I get the feeling that you don't want him here?" The petite blonde re-crossed her arms and lifted herself from the couch. She took a step closer to Sheldon and closed the gap on their distance.
"What are you talking about? He's my brother, of course I want him here." His breathing became shallow as soon as the words left his mouth. His mind was grasping for the walls of his brain, reaching up to the surface for oxygen as he began to sink deeper and deeper until he was flailing. Like a taut rubber band that he had been stretching all night, he snapped.
His eye finally twitched. He watched Penny's full bottom lip stretch into a knowing smirk.
Well. It seems like the community college dropout was a lot more intuitive than he gave her credit for.