A/N still owned by Lorre and Brady

Ignoring the knock, Penny and Leonard continued to kiss, but the knocking grew more persistent, until Penny finally cursed, released Leonard, and yanked the door open. Seeing Howard and Raj, she confronted them with an edge in her voice, "What do you two want?"

Instinctively taking a step backward, Howard said, "Is Leonard here?"

Resignedly, Leonard came to the door, "What is it Howard?"

"Sheldon has run away."

"What makes you think that?"

"He isn't at work and didn't answer us knocking on the door of the apartment. And he sent me a message saying he ran away."

While Leonard was wondering how to answer that, his phone rang. Looking at the caller name, he saw Mary Cooper. Dreading what he was about to hear and tempted to ignore the call, he sighed and answered the phone.

After hearing from Mrs. Cooper what he had expected, and agreeing that it was probably at least partially his fault, he assured her he would take care of it.

When he hung up, he looked at Penny thinking he really didn't want to go to Texas. Going back into the room with her and shutting the door, they kissed again.

Leonard looked at her sadly, "I have to go."

"Are you sure? I know now he is way overacting. He'll be all right."

"No, I did withhold the truth from him and we treated him pretty badly when we broke the news to him. I do owe him an explanation."

"Maybe I should go with you and knock some sense into him."

"As much as I would like to see that, I don't think we should do it in front of his mother."

Sadly, "I guess you're right, you need to go."

After kissing her again, he said, "Maybe Howard and Raj could go."

Smiling, she said, "Don't worry, it's going to happen, I'll be here when you get back."

"Maybe I could go tomorrow."

Smiling again, "Get out of here, take care of that Whackadoodle and come back to me."

Kissing her once more, he sadly exited and joined up with Howard and Raj.

They were able to get on a flight later that day. While the others slept, Leonard sat awake, alternating between thinking of Penny and trying to decide what to say to Sheldon. Finally, deciding he would have to see where Sheldon was at before he could try to determine what to say, he fell asleep thinking of Penny.

They didn't get into Texas until about midnight. They stayed in the Airport and rented a car early in the morning and headed for Mrs. Cooper's house. Leonard was torn between wanting to get it over with and not wanting to face Sheldon. At least some comedy relief was provided by Howard who bought a ridiculous cowboy hat and ended up looking like a character from 'Toy Story'.

Knocking on the door, they were admitted by Mary. As they entered, Sheldon came from a back room and upon seeing them, asked, "What are YOU doing here?

Leonard answered, "We've come to apologize and bring you home."

"I don't want your apology and I have decided to stay here where I have not been betrayed."

Leonard resignedly moved forward and looking into Sheldon's eyes, said, "Sheldon, you and I need to talk."

Sheldon seemed to struggle with himself for a moment, but then turned to his mother. "Mother, Leonard and I will be in my room."

Mary said, "That's fine, Shelly. Don't worry, I'll entertain these two."

The last words Sheldon and Leonard heard as they entered his room and closed the door were, "And take off that silly hat!"

As they entered the room and Sheldon shut the door behind them, Leonard looked around. The room must have been changed to a guest room because it had pictures on the wall that Sheldon would never be part of. But it did have his touch, it was immaculate and the bed made with military precision.

Sheldon walked away from him and looked out a window. As Leonard stood there, wondering how to start, Sheldon turned and asked, "When did you first know that it was the electric can opener?"

"When we had the second series of hits. I was looking at the data and realized both hits had come after we used the opener. But I didn't want to believe it and hoped it was a coincidence, so I decided I needed to do a controlled test. I ran the opener one more time three days later and recorded the times."

Looking back at Leonard, Sheldon asked quietly, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Looking down, Leonard said, "I planned to, Sheldon, I was going to do it the next day. I want you to know Sheldon, I was sick when I figured it out, everyone was so excited, I just hated what I had to do. I told Howard and Raj the night before I was going to tell you. I am so sorry Sheldon, I let them talk me out of it. I'd like to think I put it off at least partly because I thought it would be easier on you if I waited until we were home. I never dreamt you would send out that email, but I wasn't lying when I said that really isn't a big deal."

For the next few minutes, nothing was said as Sheldon continued to look out the window. Just when Leonard felt he needed to say something, Sheldon spoke again, "Didn't you tell me it was because I was so bad you wanted to kill me?"

Leonard, "Sheldon, believe me, it had nothing to do with that. That stuff about the killing occurred way back when we were at our lowest point, when we had been working ten hours a day, changing out sensors. It was just a way we let out our frustrations to each other one night. It had as much to do with our personal demons as anything to do with you. Raj was hating to go outside and Howard was homesick. I'm sorry we threw that out at you."

"Then why did you say it?"

"I can't be sure about Howard and Raj, although they did say it had something to do with some obnoxious, condescending remark you made. I did it because I was angry you interrupted literally the happiest moment of my life when I found out that Penny had romantic feelings for me. You have to know how important that was to me, you of all people know how I feel about Penny. But, it was a cruel thing to do and you didn't deserve it."

"Leonard, literally?

"Yes, Sheldon, literally."

Sheldon then looked back out the window. Without turning around, he started speaking so quietly that Leonard had to strain to hear him. "I really believed this was it, that this is what I had been waiting for my entire life. It never occurred to me that I would fail. To my shame, I let my emotions overcome my scientific integrity." Turning back toward Leonard, he continued, "I should have known there was something wrong with those readings, but I had to believe they were true. I knew my theory was right so they had to be real."

Sheldon continued, "I think now I can look over the data and even though I know the hits are false, make an objective decision as to whether I can tell the difference."

Leaving the window and moving closer to Leonard, "I think I understand why you did what you did and I am sorry I shut you out. I hope I didn't mess up your chances with Penny by telling her you cost me the Nobel Prize. I just wanted it so badly."

Leonard, smiling, "I understand. It's okay, Penny and I are good."

As Sheldon headed toward the door, Leonard asked him. "How about us, Sheldon, are we good?"

Sheldon smiled at him, "Of course we're good, Leonard, we're best buddies!"

Smiling and shaking his head, Leonard followed him out the door.

A/N As always, thank you so much for your input. I really do appreciate it.

Just a short epilogue to go.