The Red Matter Paradigm By Joslyn DJ


Soundtrack: "Community Medley" Ludwig Goransson - "Eyes" Peter Bjorn and John


Chapter 2

The Introduction of Foreign Elements

·

Tick, Tock, Tick...

Sienna waited patiently on the couch at Penny's, phone in her hand. The blond had come up with a clever plot of taking Dr. Cooper out to lunch so Sienna could get all moved in and settled before they got back, then the girls could have a nice meet-and-greet with him and oh look, she was already settled! No going back now…

She had found it quite humorous that Penny went to such lengths to help her friend 'adjust' to a transition in his apartment. Leonard had told her crazy stories over the past few years, but her cousin did tend to exaggerate when it came to his story-tellings… So it was hard for her to accept that it was possible that he hand't exaggerated at all about his roommate.

Either way, she was just waiting on a text from Penny to let her know they had left the building, and within a few minutes the message came. Sienna grabbed her luggage and rolled it across the hall, stepping into the apartment.

"Wow, it's nice…" She murmured, setting the luggage down by the door, closing it behind her as she looked around. Very neat and organized, and surprisingly well-furnished. The green lights over the kitchen counter were interesting…

· ¤ ·

Penny sighed, dragging a reluctant Sheldon to the Cheesecake factory. "Come on, Sheldon! Can't I just take you to lunch with me without getting grilled?" She asked, blowing her blond bangs out of her face with an annoyed huff.

"In those pants?" Sheldon asked in a high, tense tone. She never went out to lunch in sweat pants. "Penny, you never go out in your sweat pants!" He reiterated his thoughts aloud, "Sweat pants mean it's your day off. Sweat pants mean leftovers and ice cream. Sweat pants-"

"OK I get it!" The waitress threw up her hands in frustration. "I get it, Sheldon! I'm not supposed to be wearing sweat pants!"

He blinked at her, sighing and crossing his arms. "No, actually, you don't get it Penny. The error isn't you wearing the sweat pants, it's the location surrounding them." He gestured to the restaurant, earning an eye roll from the girl.

"Just try to be pleasant for 30 minutes so we can eat and get back, ok?" She gave him a look that expressed she meant business, and thankfully the physicist backed down. He may not be well equipped to handle social interactions fluently or understand emotions, but he knew a 'back down or else' look from the Nebraskan when he saw one.

She smiled sweetly at him. "There, better already!" She said before opening the door, Sheldon holding it open to let her through and followed her in.

· ¤ ·

Fresh bedding, dresser filled with her things, and the small desk covered with her electronics, papers and folders, Sienna was comfortable and all settled in her cousin's room. Deciding to explore a bit, she exited the room and checked out the bathroom, her bag of toiletries with her. She blinked at the tape on the floor in mild bewilderment, before looking around, finding a good place to set down her toiletries bag near the sink.

She went out of the hall and into the kitchen, opening cupboards to get acquainted with what belonged where, smiling at the labels. 'Leonard was right about that one…' She thought, plainly amused by the organization. It was over the top, and she loved it. Just because she was an artist, didn't mean she din't have some OCD-like quirks of her own. She was willing to admit it… Label-makers make her happy.

Nodding in approval, she went over to the couch and plopped down in the middle. She usually ended up there due to being the most petite out of whatever group she was socializing with, and knowing that her cousin-who was considered rather short-was much shorter than Sheldon, she was sure this was going to be her spot.

Glancing around the room, she swung her legs slightly in a bored manner, looking back down the hall. Curiosity was tugging at her. 'They say you can tell a lot about a person by their room…' She mused, tilting her head in thought. One peak should't hurt…

· ¤ ·

"Penny," Sheldon began in a slightly alarmed tone, "we need to leave right now."

"What? Why?" She stared at him in confusion, halfway through her delicious burger. "I've got a refill coming!" She went on in a slightly whining tone.

"I understand your basic need for hydration in order to survive," He said in a near-sigh, head tilting slightly as he set his hands down beside his plate, continuing "but to quote a favorite work of mine by Stan Lee, 'my spidey-senses are tingling', and we need to get back to the apartment now."

A pause fell over the table, the girl staring at him with a dull 'you gotta' be kidding me' gaze, but she saw the boyish worry in his eyes, the tense jaw of an uncomfortable, quirky adult that seemed out of place in his own body… She sighed. Yeah, there wasn't going to be any talking him out of this one. 'Dang he's good…' She thought, setting down the burger and asking her coworker who brought her drink, to get them a couple of containers and a to-go cup.

Sheldon gave a youthful, small smile. He quickly but neatly put away his leftovers in the container, flinching at how Penny threw her burger into her container and dumped the fries on top of it. He contemplated commenting on it, but not today. There were more important things at stake!

He stood with an air of determination that earned an 'oh brother' from the girl, before leading the way out of the restaurant after they had paid.

· ¤ ·

Sienna's icy gaze scanned the room. Left to right, top to bottom. She smirked as she remembered the lectures in college on how the human mind psychologically takes in imagery. 'They fixed your brain when you were young…' She smirked and chuckled lightly at the song-reference that came to mind, before stepping in.

She looked at the figurines and comics, mixed in with wordy books and folders holding records of experimentations and formulas that had been translated from his white-boards to file.

His room was incredibly neat and orderly, the bed fixed in a way that made it look like she was in a room at the Marriott. 'What's with all the plaid?' She thought, noticing the robe hanging on the back of his door. She glanced around-as if anyone was watching?-and cracked the closet open, eyebrows raising in surprise. "Dear God…" She exclaimed, eyes burning at the sight.

"This guy is supposed to be a genius? Talk about lack of color-coordination! What an uninspired person…" She grumbled, closing the closet quickly. She wasn't sure she could stomach anymore of that…

Suddenly, the muffled sound of distant voices reached her ears, and she quickly darted out of the room-closing the door behind her-and ran over to the couch, plopping down on the middle cushion. They were back sooner than expected, but she had had plenty of time to get settled and acquainted with the apartment; mission success!

· ¤ ·

"Well, I have a surprise for you…" Penny began, stepping up the last couple steps of the stairs to the apartment, Sheldon looking impatient and mildly exasperated. "Really, Penny? Do we have to go over this again?" He sighed, having already explained to her his desire to not be bound by gift-giving traditions anymore than had already been done with the Christmas gift. 'I still feel like that wasn't enough…' He reflected on the memory, before shaking it from his mind. He was grateful, but not St. Nicholas of the 4th floor.

"Don't worry, it's not that kind of surprise!" She said, patting his shoulder as they walked up to his door, the scientist pulling out his key. "Well what other kind of surprise is there?" He unlocked the door and walked in, barely taking two steps before halting and staring blankly at the girl sitting on the couch. His couch. In his apartment…

"Hello! My name is-"

"Get out." He interrupted, taking a step to the side and turning slightly so he was leaving plenty of room for her to show herself to the door. "Sheldon!" Penny exclaimed, lightly smacking his shoulder. The physicist had a mild spasm, looking at her with a hissing gasp. "Don't do that!" He complained, before looking back to the female and crossing his arms, the girl looking at him in annoyance.

Yup. Leonard definitely hadn't exaggerated about this one. It only took her a second of eyeing him up and down to take in his outfit, running a mental checklist in her mind, and let me tell you, his IQ couldn't save his score on this test.

"How did you get in here?" He questioned in a slightly annoyed tone, Sienna standing with a sigh and smoothing out her collared shirt-and-vest top, walking over and standing in front of him, crossing her arms and striking an oddly similar pose. "Penny showed me in, roomie." She smiled coyly at him, Sheldon opening his mouth to continue, before stopping and looking at Penny with a stunned expression. "Excuse me?" He exclaimed, looking back to Sienna.

"You're not excused…" The girl sighed, tapping her lip with a 'hmm' before pointing at him. "That layering of shirts you got going on needs definite attention. While I'm not opposed to the concept, it does make you look rather immature and naive. Combined with those bland, khaki slacks and those shoes, quite frankly, you're a code blue." She gave him a slightly devilish grin.

Penny gaped at her. 'Oh my God, I love this girl!' She thought, laughing as Sheldon stepped back slightly, obviously offended. "Well! Not only did you just take it upon yourself to enter my apartment, and refer to me as your 'roomie'," here he made quotation marks in the air with his long fingers, "but now you're criticizing my intelligence based on my wardrobe? And you find this amusing, Penny?" He looked at her, obviously frustrated.

Sure, he was impressed by the intelligent form of her sentences, but her words were insulting him! Obviously proving she was incompetent, despite her attempt at an intellectual use of the English language…

"Sweetie, sit down for a moment ok?" Penny said, speaking to him as if she were talking to a child, patting his shoulder as she walked over to sit in the arm chair adjacent to 'his spot'. He grumbled, glaring at Sienna as he walked around her and over to his place on the couch, sitting down and continuing to stare down the girl.

He was shocked and appalled when she sat down next to him on the middle of the couch, confused as to why she looked just as determined as him to occupy that spot of the couch behind her smiling eyes and mischievous grin.

·

This female was confusing, and he didn't like it.


[A/N]

Thanks so much for the reviews! All your encouragement is so helpful, your excitement for more makes me just as excited to write more! :) Keep 'em coming!

[edit] Sorry to have to use a track from another show, it was the only song I had that fitted the feel of the first half of the chapter to me (Sienna settling in and Penny taking Sheldon to lunch).