Chapter 2:
Sheldon Cooper had initially thought of sending the time machine back to the date of his birth. It was truly the only day in the history of his life that he didn't remember and it would make for a great news article for when he won a Nobel Prize. Sheldon could picture telling a news reporter of how the hospital room was thick with the aura of his genius. It seemed like a brilliant plan until Sheldon remembered how much he did not care for his sister, Missy's birth. On multiple occasions, he wanted to pass out and the knowledge that he would faint on the floor covered with her amniotic fluid was enough to make him flee to the other room.
Sheldon thought of what Leonard was saying earlier "What about Amy?" Leonard's voice echoed in Sheldon's head. What about her? He could imagine telling her of this and her giving a look of disapproval. Sheldon was never great at reading people's facial expressions, but something felt wrong.
"I'm in the right on this. I always am," Sheldon thought. She had no reason to be upset, so why was Amy's grimaced face all he could picture?
No: this moment was his (and Leonard's, but he didn't want to think about that) and he wanted to prove it to himself—he needed to prove it to himself.
Typing in a date, Sheldon was instantaneously transported to the roof of his apartment building. Sheldon stood in awe as he looked around at what his neighborhood looked like 7 years ago. "Remarkable," Sheldon thought as he made a mental note of his surroundings and the nature of his arrival.
There was no time to dawdle though. Glancing at the time machine, Sheldon walked to the edge of the building and climbed over the fire escape. Panic filled his stomach, but Sheldon pushed through it. He knew the rules of time travel: he couldn't change anything. If he were to do anything, it would taint whatever future he was supposed to have.
"What a bummer too," Sheldon thought. "If I could just go into my apartment and tell past me about this discovery, I would be so much closer to a Nobel Prize already."
Lowering himself down the ladder, Sheldon arrived at his living room. He could see himself eating dinner with Raj, Howard, Leonard, and Penny. Sheldon examined the group, noticing the disgruntled looks upon everyone else's faces, except for the former version of him. He seemed almost giddy, laughing at whatever Howard had just said.
"I don't understand," Sheldon thought. This was the exact moment in which his group had started talking about the possibility of time travel. Why did no one seem happy? Sheldon could understand Penny's boredom, but why were her eyes so murderous? Sheldon watched as he berated Howard and Leonard for thinking that they could somehow solve the mystery of time travel. Everyone in the room looked at him with murderous eyes now.
In a moment though, it was gone. As fast as Sheldon's trip to the past was, the vibe of the room completely changed. His friends were laughing and talking, while Sheldon poked at his food absently. "Surely someone will say something to me," Sheldon thought to no avail. He knew everything that was happening. They were talking about how Raj couldn't talk to women. It was such a drastic change of conversation that at the time, Sheldon had merely disregarded it. Now, Sheldon realized that they had purposely steered the conversation as to block Sheldon out.
"This can't be right," Sheldon thought. He was a delight. Sheldon knew that he was quirky fellow and that the things that he said could often be construed negatively. Yet, looking into this window, he actually felt discomfort at how he caused such a negative reaction from his closest friends. What bothered Sheldon more was looking at the apathetic expression on his former self's face. He didn't seem to care at all that his friends were excluding him, nor at what he had done. All he did was pick at his Chinese food.
Sheldon climbed back up the ladder and into the time machine. This felt wrong. His purpose in coming here was to reaffirm that he was right in making this discovery, in carrying out with the testing of this. Looking into that room though, Sheldon realized that the balance of the group felt strange without Amy. No wonder he had been picking at his food absently, there was no one in that room that he felt was his intellectual equal.
"I need to do something about this," Sheldon whispered aloud. Sheldon took one last look at the sunny sky that overlooked Pasadena before typing in a date and vanishing.