The Clover Effect Chapter 4, a big bang theory fanfic

First off, I would like to thank ontheledge for giving such wonderful reviews! They make me so happy and motivate me to write more, so thank you oh so much for those! I'm not sure when I will post Chapter 5 since this week I will be incredibly busy. Other than that, enjoy Chapter 4. Also, as usual if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask.

I own nothing except the OC character. Thank You.

It had been a couple days since Maria had discovered Sheldon thought her to be beautiful. She tried making advances towards him, occasionally brushing against him and trying to be flirtatious, but he appeared oblivious. Either that or he was ignoring her. It was clear to the rest of the group that there was some sort of attraction between the two; it was just a very awkward attraction. Neither of them knew what to do with each other.

It was after dinner one night, when Maria had left to begin her laundry, that Penny confronted Sheldon.

"There is clearly something going on between the two of you. I'll call it chemistry to please the physicist in you, but you need to do something."

"Why me?" he asked, clearly taken aback.

"She doesn't know what to do with you! If she makes the wrong move, her chances with you may be ruined. We all know how you are. If you want to advance your relationship with her, it has to be initiated by you."

Sheldon sighed heavily. He did like Maria, and he did find her attractive. She appreciated his work and he enjoyed being with her as well. It did seem that the most logical step would be to ask her on an outing. "Alright, I will ask her out somewhere. What does she like?"

"Why don't you ask her? It will be your conversation starter!" Penny encouraged him. Sheldon thought about it for a minute, nodding his head and raising his eyebrows as he had a mental conversation with himself. Then he stood up and simply walked out the door. Penny turned to Leonard, "That was actually easier than I thought it would be."

Knock, knock, knock, "Maria."

Maria opened up the door, "That's an interesting knocking pattern. Do you do that all the time?"

"Yes," he stated. "Now, I'm sure you are wondering why I am here. What are your interests?"

"Oh, well…" she thought for a moment, taken slightly aback by his straightforwardness. "Why don't you come sit down and we can discuss it. It's a bit awkward for a doorway conversation."

Sheldon saw the entirety of her apartment for the first time. There was a white couch in the middle of the room, facing the television. She had a small, circular dining table and a well sized kitchen. There was also a desk in the back of the room, with numerous photo albums strewn across it. There was also a hallway that led to her bedroom, or so he assumed.

"What do you think?" she asked, gesturing to her decorating. "It's not full of superheroes but its sufficient right?"

"It's very clean," Sheldon appreciated this greatly. "I also quite like the pictures."

"That's all from work," she said. There were pictures from China, Egypt, France, Italy, Greece, and more. It was breathtaking. "I also have a camera just for friends and family. I keep them in my photo albums," she pointed at the desk. Sheldon walked over to it and saw pictures of people he didn't know, but in a few of them some of the people resembled Maria, so he assumed they were family.

"They look nice," he said.

"My mother was a ballerina, and my father was an architect. They both died a while ago, natural causes."

"I'm sorry." He really was. It made him sad. Maria looked up into his eyes, he had a caring look in his eyes, something she hasn't seen before.

"As I recall, you came here to ask about my interests, yes?" She brought him back to his original intentions.

"Oh, yes. What are your interests? Tell me about yourself."

She invited him to sit with her on the couch. He placed himself on the middle seat, adjusted a bit, and then listened.

"Well, I guess we could start at the beginning. I was born on July 20th in New York. My mother is Ukrainian and French while my father is pure Russian. I am an only child. I have a cat, who is probably sleeping at the moment. She is a Norwegian cat, and I named her Daisy, simply because she just looks like a Daisy to me."

"How can a cat look like a name?" Sheldon became condescending.

"Excuse me; are you here to listen or to correct me?"

"You're right… I apologize. Continue."

"Thank you. I have a Master's Degree in Photography, which you already know. I am currently 25 years old, and I came to Los Angeles because I was tired of living in exotic places like Egypt and China, so I decided to take a bit of a break. I love drinking diet coke, I like skating, ice skating to be exact; oh and I am a vegetarian." She smiled when she finished. Sheldon made a mental note that she liked skating.

"Based on this information, I now need to ask, would you like to go on an outing with me?"

"An outing? As in a 'date'?"

"I guess so. I didn't want to appear too forward if I called it a date."

"I would love to."

Sheldon suddenly felt tightness in his chest. She agreed, now what? "Alright. I will come pick you up tomorrow at promptly 6 o'clock. Dress comfortably, bring a warm jacket, and don't eat."

"I will see you at 6 tomorrow then. Goodnight Sheldon," she opened the door for him.

"Goodnight Maria," he smiled and waved.

Exactly as the clock changed from 5:59 to 6:00, Maria heard the chorus of knocks at her door. She waited for him to finish and let him inside.

"6 on the dot, you are good with time," she complimented.

"Actually I stood outside the door for 15 minutes waiting."

"Oh, Sheldon, you could have let me know, we could have left early."

"But I said I was picking you up at 6, I couldn't have picked you up at 5:45 if I said 6. I stand by my word."

"I see. What are our plans? You told me not to eat, remember."

"Yes, I have an eidetic memory. I am taking you to a vegetarian restaurant."

"Really? How sweet, but you didn't have to go through all that to find one. I'm sure I could find something at any other restaurant you like."

"Yes, but tonight is for you." Maria blushed.

Their dinner was quite lovely, and Maria found the food to be very well prepared, as did Sheldon, though he does prefer some sort of meat in his food. After they finished, Sheldon asked her to park a block from their destination. He then asked her to close her eyes as he led her around. They walked for a couple minutes and Maria could just make out the sound of skates along ice. She smiled but kept her eyes closed.

"Open your eyes." Before her was a public ice skating rink that was dimly lit from the string of lights wrapped around the surrounding trees. It was actually quite a romantic setting. Sheldon handed her a pair of skates. She slid across the ice, remembering how she loved the sound of it scraping against the blades. Then she realized Sheldon was not with her. He stood outside the rink. Maria slid over to him.

"Why aren't you skating?"

"I don't know how."

"I'll help you. Get in here, this is a date remember? You can't let your date skate by herself."

"Oh dear, you are right. Okay, give me a minute." He returned a couple minutes later and slowly made his way onto the rink, clinging to the metal bar around the rink.

"It's not as scary as you think," Maria said. "Watch," she then proceeded to glide across the ice, occasionally making shapes in the ice, making gestures with her hands, and once or twice, spinning in the air. Sheldon found her incredibly graceful and enjoyed watching her. She seemed so at peace with everything, and had a large smile on her face. "See?" she asked when she returned.

"I can't do that," he shook his head.

"Well, no. But, we can just skate in circles together. I'll hold onto you." She pried his fingers off of the cold metal bar and he quickly wrapped his arms around her. "Just do what I do," she instructed him. He mimicked her feet and eventually they were moving together around the rink, he still held her as tightly as possible. The amount of people on the rink slowly decreased until it was only Sheldon and Maria, still circling around the rink. Maria would have liked to stay there forever, but eventually the rink had to be closed and they were forced to leave.

"That was wonderful!" Maria exclaimed when they returned to her apartment.

"I am glad you liked it." The two simply stood outside her door in silence for a few moments. Sheldon spoke up, "Being as this was a date, social protocol dictates that I send you off with a 'goodnight kiss.' How would you like to proceed?"

"Oh," again his straightforwardness took her back for a moment. "Sheldon, you don't have to kiss me if it makes you uncomfortable."

"I appreciate that, but I have to follow through with the social protocol. It is required." The silence returned but it was now very awkward. Sheldon waited another moment, and then leaned towards her. Maria stood as still as possible, waiting for him to initiate the kiss he was so insistent on giving her. The only sound was that of their breathing, and then Sheldon lightly pecked her on the corner of her mouth. He then nodded, turned, and walked up the stairs.

Was that even a kiss? Maria wondered. With a twinge of disappointment in her, she unlocked the door to her apartment.