The Jerusalem Duality

"Here's the problem with teleportation," Sheldon began as he sat down, ready to begin eating lunch with Leonard and Claire in the university cafeteria. Ever since Claire had gotten a position there as the newest English Professor, she had made a point of eating lunch with the boys, usually sitting at the end of the table so as not to disrupt the balance or force one of the other boys to sit somewhere else.

Really, it had been a coin toss, a literal coin toss.

Sheldon had insisted, the first time she joined them for lunch, that she sit next to him, because that was HER spot, he proclaimed. And she supposed it sort of was, she did tend to end up on the armrest of the couch in Sheldon's apartment, not quite on his spot, but not on the couch in an actual spot either. She liked the armrest. She might be a taller woman, but Sheldon was still a very tall man and she liked the little added height the armrest gave her over him. Over time it had just grown to be where she sat as Sheldon, no matter where he was, always tended to pick a spot on a chair or couch or armchair with an armrest by it, so it just fit that that would be where she sat, the armrest next to Sheldon. It saved her the process of having to find somewhere to sit, which was an enormous relief. She could go from a chair to the floor to a table to the back of a couch to standing or pacing if she couldn't pick where to sit. And it was always so hard! It was a little easier when there were more people around and less spots to pick from but when she had open choice it just got to be too much. What if she picked the wrong place? What if that place belonged to someone else already? What if it was right under the lights and she ended up squinting at everyone? What if she wanted to talk to someone and they were on the other side of the area?

It was just too much...so she let Sheldon pick a spot and then would just sit on whatever armrest was nearest, problem solved.

That didn't really help though in the cafeteria where there were no armrests.

Sheldon had tried to get her to sit beside him, but then it left the other three men displaced and, really, when it came down to it, she might be Sheldon's oldest friend, but THIS was the routine and pattern he had with his new friends and SHE was the displacement here. She didn't want to throw anyone else off so she'd compromised with him, she would sit next to him, but on the end of the table. He hadn't liked that but had agreed to the coin toss after she'd mentioned that he would be asking the others to give up THEIR spots just for her when he knew how he felt about his own spot. She'd won the toss and now the boys got their spots and she still got hers too.

Leonard sighed, not sure where this topic had come from but going with it as he didn't have anything else that was interesting to talk about at the moment, "Lay it on me."

"Assuming the device could be invented," Sheldon began, "Which would identify the quantum state of matter of an individual in one location, and transmit that pattern to a distant location for reassembly..."

"Then it means you're not actually transporting someone but shredding them apart in one place to recreate them in another," Claire finished.

Leonard blinked at that and looked at Claire, surprised she'd been able to guess Sheldon's point.

Claire just patted his arm, "You don't spend as much time around Shelly as I have and not pick up a few things about how he thinks. I think you probably could have gotten that from his use of the word 'reassembly.'"

"Personally, I would never use a transporter," Sheldon continued, "Because the original Sheldon would have to be disintegrated in order to create a new Sheldon."

"Would the new Sheldon be, in any way, an improvement on the old Sheldon?" Leonard asked.

"No, he would be exactly the same."

"That is a problem."

"So, you see it too."

"Oh Shelly," Claire laughed, seeing that Sheldon had completely missed the point of Leonard's remark.

"Dr. Hofstadter, Dr. Cooper, Dr. Benson," an older man approached them, the head of the University, with a young Asian boy beside him.

"Dr. Gablehauser," they greeted.

"Ladies and gen..."

"Lady," Claire corrected quickly, pointing to herself and gesturing at the table, "One lady present. Singular."

"I'd like you to meet Dennis Kim," Gablehauser ignored her, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder, "Dennis is a highly sought after Doctoral candidate and we're hoping to have him do his graduate work here."

"Graduate work, very impressive," Leonard complimented, eyeing the boy who appeared to be very young, barely a teenager if he had to guess.

"And he's only 15 years old!" Gablehauser added, patting Dennis on the shoulder.

"Not bad," Sheldon remarked, though he sat a little straighter, a pompous air coming to his next words, "I myself started graduate school at 14."

"Well, I lost a year while my family was tunneling out of North Korea," Dennis shrugged, causing Sheldon's smirk to fall at the implication that Dennis would have begun school much earlier, at 14 as well, had he been out of his country at the time.

"Advantage Kim," Leonard said under his breath.

"I thought maybe you boys could show Dennis around," Gablehauser continued, "Let him see why we're the best physics research facility in the country."

Claire rolled her eyes at that, but she understood why he was asking the boys to do it, clearly Dennis and his research were of the more scientific variety as opposed to the written word.

"I already know you're not," Dennis cut in, sounding bored, "You don't have an open science grid computer or a free electron laser and the string theory research being done here is nothing but a dead end."

Claire winced at that, knowing exactly which of the two men with her would take that remark as a personal slight...

"Excuse me," Sheldon scoffed, offended, "That is my research, and it is by no means a dead end."

"Well, obviously you don't see it yet, but trust me, you will."

"Dennis," Gablehauser looked at him, almost stern, "We discussed this, we're in the process of updating our equipment, and we welcome your input on our research goals, and we've agreed to look the other way if you want to use up to 20% of the grant money you attract to smuggle your grandfather out of Pyongyang," he turned to Sheldon and Leonard, "We want him here boys, make it happen!" he pointed at them.

"Yes sir," Leonard nodded as the man walked off, leaving Dennis with them.

"You can count on us, we're on it," Sheldon added, waiting till the man left through the cafeteria's double doors before hissing at Dennis, "What the hell do you mean 'dead end?'"

Dennis rolled his eyes, "I mean, the whole landscape of false vacuums in string theory could be as large as ten to the five-hundredth power. In addition…"

"Oh look Dennis," Claire cut in, seeing how Sheldon was getting more worked up, standing to move to the boy's side, turning him to face one of the vending machines off to the side, "Chocolate milk! Why don't you go get some, on me," she handed him a dollar.

The boy shrugged but walked off to get some.

"I sense a disturbance in the Force," Sheldon frowned, watching Dennis putting the dollar into the machine to get his milk.

"A bad feeling I have about this, mhmmm," Leonard smirked, mimicking Yoda almost to a T.

"Are your spidy sensing tingly Shelly?" Claire laughed, joining in a little.

Lord knew Sheldon was one of her best friends and a brilliant man...but she was also very aware that he was arrogant as anything. And while he did have a right to be proud of his intelligence, he really did, sometimes he took it way too far, into condescension and even to a superiority complex she was trying to tamper down. He could do with a little stiff competition, and from a boy that was just as brilliant as he had been as a child...it could be a good thing.

"Yes, as a matter of fact they are," Sheldon nodded.

~8~

"So, Dennis, how long have you been in America?" Leonard asked as the three of them led Dennis down a hall, giving him a tour as Gablehauser had requested.

"A year and a half," he answered.

"No kidding. You speak English really well."

"So do you."

"Except that you do tend to end your sentences with prepositions most of the time," Claire cut in, Dennis smiling at that.

"What are you talking about?" Leonard frowned.

"That," both she and Dennis remarked.

Claire laughed, "It's alright Leonard, just cos I teach English doesn't mean I use it properly all the time either. Just because you understand something, or know something a little bit better than others, don't mean you've gotta shove it in their faces every single time," she smiled, turning to her side where Sheldon was unlocking a door, "Right Shelly?"

"What?" Sheldon looked back at them, not having heard her remarks.

Leonard had to laugh at that, Sheldon was...pretty much exactly what Claire had been trying to say, someone that knew 'more' about something than others yet constantly pushed it in their faces. How on earth the two of them ended up being friends was completely beyond him.

"Nothing," Claire shook her head, amused.

"Right, well, this is my office," Sheldon muttered, not quite opening the door but standing there with it cracked just a bit.

"Is this part of the tour?" Dennis asked.

"Nope. Goodbye."

"Shelly," Claire cut in, crossing her arms and giving him 'the look' his mother always gave him as he tried to sneak into the office, "Don't be rude."

He sighed, "Oh, alright," he opened the door, showing them his office, a rather basic space, "This is my desk, these are my books, this is my door," Sheldon pointed out, missing the whiteboard that was set up just beside his desk, "Please close it behind you. Goodbye."

"Looks like you're doing work in quantum loop corrections," Dennis commented, spotting the equations written on the whiteboard.

"Keen observation," Sheldon agreed, "Goodbye," he gestured at the door.

"You see where you went wrong, don't you?"

Sheldon's lips pursed at that, "Claire?"

"Yeah?" she looked at him from where she was sorting through a few books in her messenger bag that she'd placed on one of his chairs, trying to get her next lesson set up now that she'd lost the half hour she was going to use prepping to join the boys.

"Get him out."

"Get him out what?"

"Get him out please."

She rolled her eyes, but turned, slinging the messenger bag over her shoulder, putting a hand on Dennis's shoulder to turn him back, "Come on, Dennis, I'll show you the rec center."

"They've got nautilus equipment," Leonard added, moving to go with them, a little surprised that Sheldon had said please but if he wanted the boy out of his office, he didn't put it past Sheldon to actually be polite...as polite as he could be...to Claire so she'd do it.

"Do I look like I lift weights?" Dennis deadpanned.

"Not...heavy ones."

Dennis just turned back to Sheldon's board, "It's startling to me you haven't considered a Lorentz Invariant Field Theory approach."

Claire winced at that, getting the feeling Dennis was more trying to bait and goad and taunt Sheldon now.

"You think I haven't considered it?" Sheldon's eyes narrowed at the boy, moving to stand in front of his equations to block his sight of it, "You really think I haven't considered it?"

"Have you considered it?"

Sheldon was silent before turning to Claire, "Get him out, Claire. Please."

Claire nodded, seeing that Sheldon really was getting upset now. He hadn't even needed her to nudge him to say please, which meant something, "Come on, Dennis, how about Leonard shows you the radiation lab?" she offered.

Dennis shrugged and moved to follow them out, only to see a certificate on Sheldon's wall just beside the door frame, "Wow, you won the Stephenson award."

"Yes," Sheldon smirked, feeling smug again, "In fact I am the youngest person ever to win it."

"Really, how old?" Dennis glanced back at him.

"14 and a half."

Dennis nearly snorted, "You were the youngest person ever to win it," before he walked out.

Claire patted Sheldon on the shoulder, moving to follow the boy as Leonard laughed at Sheldon's put out expression, "It's like looking into an obnoxious little mirror, isn't it?"

~8~

"Mmm," Penny chewed her takeout as she and Claire hung out with the guys that night, her in the middle of the couch, Raj to her right, Sheldon on her left, Howard on the floor, and Leonard in the armchair. Claire had taken her customary spot on the armrest beside Sheldon, "This is really delicious, isn't it?" she looked at Raj who uncomfortably nodded, "Still can't talk to me unless you're drunk, huh?" he shook his head and she hugged him with one arm, "Oh, sweetie, you are so damaged."

"Hey, I'm damaged too," Howard called, perking up the second Penny had moved to initiate contact with Raj, "How about a hug for Howie?"

"Sure," Penny smirked, "Raj, hug Howard."

The two men glanced at each other, Raj shrugging, all for it, though Howard shook his head and went back to eating, making Claire laugh under her breath at that, reaching out to high-five Penny behind Sheldon's back as the blonde grinned victoriously.

Sheldon, however, was not about to take part in the teasing or ease of the night as he sighed dramatically, which just made Leonard smirk instead, "Something you'd like to share?" Leonard baited, "A tale of woe perhaps?"

"Oh leave him alone, Leonard," Claire hit him lightly on the arm with the back of her hand, "You don't like it when Shelly puts down your intelligence or accomplishments, do you?"

"No," Leonard muttered, looking down, feeling like he was being scolded by his father.

"Then don't do it to..."

"15 years old," Sheldon lamented, cutting into Claire's minor scolding, "Dennis Kim is 15 years old, and he's already correcting my work. Today I went from being Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to…you know, that other guy."

"Antonio Salieri," Claire answered, taking a bite of her food.

"Oh, God, now even you're smarter than me!" he cried, his eyes wide as he looked at Claire.

But, where others might be offended by his words, take them to mean that he thought she was naturally dumber than he was on a good day, she just laughed and patted his head in a teasing way, "I've always been smarter than you Shelly, because I'm a woman. And women are, genetically, smarter than men."

"Are not!"

"Oh Shelly, you do not want to get into a battle of the sexes debate with me over intelligence," Claire just pat his head once more.

"Yeah," Howard, of all people, actually agreed with her, "You should be careful Sheldon. You don't have so many friends that you can afford to start insulting the first one you ever had."

"I'm not insulting her," Sheldon defended, "We're debating."

"No, you're pouting and calling it a debate," Claire remarked, taking another bite of her food.

"Just eat Sheldon, you'll feel better," Leonard encouraged, really NOT wanting an argument about the battle of the sexes to get out right now, he didn't think Penny would appreciate it and well...he'd worked hard to not let Sheldon insult her so much that she wanted nothing to do with them. Hearing Sheldon's opinions about which sex is the better one would probably have Penny storming back to her apartment and never speaking to any of them again.

"Why waste food," Sheldon sighed, setting down his meal, "In Texas when a cow goes dry they don't keep feeding it, they just take her out and shoot her between the eyes."

"I'm confused, did Sheldon stop giving milk?" Penny asked Claire.

"No, there's a physics prodigy that's been one-upping him all day," Claire explained.

"You can't let this kid get to you," Leonard added, "You always knew that, someday, someone would come along who was younger and smarter."

"Yes, but I assumed I would have been dead hundreds of years, and that there would be an asterisk by his name because he would be a cyborg," Sheldon countered.

"So, you've got a bit of competition, I really don't see what the big deal is," Penny shrugged.

"Well of course you don't, you've never excelled at anything."

"Shelly," Claire gave him the look.

"I don't understand, exactly how did he get any friends in the first place?" Penny asked them all, "How the hell did YOU end up being his friend?" she looked at Claire for that one, really Sheldon was so...infuriating and insulting at times, how was it possible that anyone put up with him this long?

"We liked Leonard," Howard shrugged.

"I was his sister's friend first," Claire explained, "Shelly only ever let me over the house because he thought I was smart enough. Though, he DID try to stop Missy hanging out with me at one point..."

"That's because I wasn't going to let a kindred intellect fall into the ditch the rest of my family lives in," Sheldon argued.

"Well, what are you going to do, Sheldon, give up?" Leonard asked him.

"Yes," he nodded, resolute, "That's what a rational person does when his entire life's work is invalidated by a post-pubescent, Asian wunderkind. He ceases his fruitless efforts, he donates his body to scientific research, and he waits to die!"

And with that, he got up and headed for his room.

"You know, I'm confused again, is he waiting or do we get to shoot him between the eyes?" Penny asked.

"I give it till morning before he's done waiting and deciding to put his intelligence to another field," Claire remarked, knowing Sheldon was just being dramatic. He'd be a bit huffy for a few more hours and then he'd pick himself back up and want to one-up Dennis instead, excel in another field to show the kid up.

~8~

The boys, minus Sheldon, were gathered in the apartment, trying to find a non-lethal way of removing Dennis before Sheldon drove them all insane. Claire had been right, almost to the exact hour that Sheldon started to try and find a new occupation and 'put his intelligence to another field' by seeing what their jobs were like for potential new pursuits...and only ended up insulting them and, even at times, showing he was better than them at fields he didn't even specialize in!

Dennis had to go.

The only way, short of reporting him to Korea or killing him, was...a girl, they had decided, distract him with a girl and he would be useless.

But just as they began to plot how they would even be able to find a girl interested enough in him or one that he'd be able to talk to, the door to the apartment opened and Sheldon walked in, Claire behind, "Please Shelly!" she sounded like she was begging as Sheldon walked quickly away from her, "You didn't even sit through half the class!"

"Because it was tedious!" he argued, "And my intellect needs stimulation…"

"But Shelly," she mock-whined, the boys able to see an almost-smirk on her face, as though she'd done something on purpose and was reaping the rewards, "You can't just walk away! YOU were the one who wanted to see what my English classes were like…"

The boys stared.

"And it was a mistake," Sheldon agreed, moving to his laptop to try and google what he should do with his life.

She sighed lightly, crossing her arms, "Fine, see if I let you in my class when we start on Tolkien."

Sheldon straightened at that, turning in his seat to frown at her, "Now that's just not fair."

"Serves you right," she countered, turning to walk out, giving the three speechless boys a wink as she passed them.

The three boys turned to stare at Sheldon, realizing what had happened. Apparently, while they had all but told him to go away, literally throwing Sheldon out of their labs with yelling after he had irritated them to the point of no return...Claire hadn't. Claire had taken him in and gone about her business...and Sheldon had left HER job.

"Ah," Sheldon smiled, seeing he had their attention now, "Look, amidst my slowly losing my mind in the middle of Claire's lecture about the proper use of pronouns, I've decided that if the three of you drop whatever it is you're working on and join me, we could lick cold fusion in less than a decade, 12 years tops," their stares turned into something else, something familiar, something he had seen them direct at him all day just before they kicked him out of their labs, irritation, "Go away?" they nodded, "Hmm. Could it be me?" he wondered, getting up to leave, before shaking his head, "No, Claire didn't have that reaction," he shrugged and headed to his room.

It had to be the others then, Claire only got annoyed when something was REALLY irritating her, and that hadn't been him, so it had to be them.

~8~

"Hi guys!" Claire smiled as she opened the door to hers and Penny's apartment, hearing a knock on the door, a normal knock, to see Howard, Leonard, and Raj standing there.

"Is Penny here?" Leonard asked.

"Sure thing, Pen!" she called as Penny walked over.

"Oh, hey guys, what's up?" she greeted.

"We need a hot, 15 year-old, Asian girl with a thing for smart guys," Howard cut right to it.

"What?" Penny asked, before looking at Claire.

"I have...no idea," she shook her head, holding her hands up.

"Howard, that's racist," Leonard scolded, before turning to Penny, "Any 15 year-old girl will do the trick."

Penny just slammed the door in their faces.

"It's possible she may have misunderstood us..." they heard Raj remark through the wood.

"What was THAT about?" Penny looked at Claire as they got back to the couch and their 'Sex in the City' marathon, picking up the ice cream they had been eating before they'd been interrupted.

"That Dennis Kim boy," Claire shrugged, "I'm guessing they're hoping a girl will distract him? Maybe? I really don't know."

"Yeah," Penny scoffed, "Like that'll work."

"I don't know, it just might," Claire glanced at her, "You manage to distract Leonard..."

Penny started coughing and choking on her ice cream at that, "Like I what?"

Claire just patted her on the back, "Oh sugar, you can't tell me you DON'T see how Leonard would follow you around like a puppy if you let him."

"...really?" Penny asked, actually a little surprised and...and maybe a bit touched by that.

"Oh yeah," she nudged her.

"Huh…" Penny murmured, thinking on that with a small smile.

Claire had to hide her grin behind the next scoop of ice cream she took, seeing Penny's gaze turn a bit distracted, knowing she wasn't watching the show any longer but more thinking about what she'd just said about Leonard. That boy was so sweet on her but...she got the feeling Penny hadn't really SEEN it till now...well, now she did.

She left if for now, not entirely sure if she should get that involved in Penny's life or love life, they'd been roommates such a short time and she didn't want to do anything to upset Penny. She'd just have to...wait, just a little, till Penny brought it up to her and then she was not going to hold anything back about her thoughts on them, on...Lenny?

No...Pennard?

Hmm...she'd have to think of a good name for them soon.

~8~

"I really don't understand your objections, Professor Goldfarb," Sheldon sighed as he spoke with one of the Jewish Professors while they stood off to the side of the welcome party being hosted for Dennis, "Why wouldn't the Sonoran Desert make a perfectly good promised land?"

"Go away," Goldfarb stated.

"We could call it Nuevo Jerusalem."

"Please go away."

"Said Pharaoh to Moses," Sheldon muttered as he walked towards the buffet table.

"Hey guys!" Claire called as she walked over to Howard, Leonard, and Raj, having just gotten there and spotted Gablehauser leaving them, "How are things going?"

She'd gotten Leonard to tell her what their plan was exactly, given that he had asked her to attend the welcoming in case the plan didn't work and Sheldon became more depressed when Dennis was officially welcomed as a graduate student there.

"We now have a socially awkward genius in a room full of attractive, age-appropriate women," Leonard told her, gesturing around at all the young, teenage girls walking about, "Bring your daughter to work day is a go."

"All he has to do now is hook up with one of them," Howard looked around, only to see Dennis picking his ear and not seeming interested in the girls at all.

Claire laughed, "Are any of you seeing the flaw in this plan?" she nodded at Dennis, "Socially awkward? How's he supposed to even start talking to ONE girl let alone a room full of them?"

Raj turned and whispered in Howard's ear, "He's right, we need a social catalyst."

"Like what?" Leonard asked.

"No," Claire shook her head as Raj moved to speak, "If you're about to say get them drunk, like you, no. You can't."

"Or can we?" Howard actually contemplated it.

"No."

"I don't think you mean we can't. I think you mean we shouldn't."

"No!" she reached out and smacked his arm.

"Ow!" Howard pouted.

"There will be no under-aged drinking here, do you understand me!" she pointed at the boys, all of them holding up their hands in surrender at how she was nearly shouting at them, or would be, but her whispered hissing was really quite threatening in its own way...which was made all the more so by the fact that she was normally such a nice and bubbly girl, and now she was glaring at them.

Just then Sheldon walked over, looking at a taco in his hand, "Hey, Howard, you're a Jew. Tell me, if there was another wailing wall, exactly like the one in Jerusalem, but closer to taco stands and cheap prescription drugs, would you still be able to wail at it?" he looked up at them, to see Howard giving him a look, that same irritated look as before but stronger, "Ok," he muttered, conceding defeat, "It's definitely me," and then he noticed Claire, "Claire!"

"Hello Shelly Bean," she smiled, Leonard a little befuddled as he slowly lowered his hands at how she'd gone from Mrs. Glarey McGlarinton to Smiles Smileson just at Sheldon's greeting.

"What are you doing here?"

"Leonard invited me," she nodded at the boys.

Sheldon, however, frowned and looked at Leonard, "Why did you invite MY best friend to this?"

Leonard blinked at Sheldon's tone, it sounded like a cross between suspicious, irritated, and almost...jealous. But no, that was impossible, the great Sheldon Cooper hardly ever experienced human emotion like that, it had to be something else then. Maybe that taco he was eating wasn't sitting well with him and he'd just been mid-burp or something, "I thought you'd like her to be here?" he offered.

"Oh," this time Sheldon blinked, and nodded, the small flash of irritation he'd felt at Leonard seemingly trying to take his friend away faded, "Thank you."

"Come on Shelly," Claire turned, "Let's go look at the buffet."

"But I was just there," he held up his taco as proof.

"Well I'M starving and you know how I get when I'm hungry."

"You stuff your face with whatever food's in front of you."

"Exactly," she chuckled, "And you know what that does to me too."

"Makes your tummy hurt."

"So I'm gonna need your help picking the more easily digestible foods now that you've examined them."

"Very well," he nodded, holding out an arm for her to follow him over.

Claire glanced back at them, 'Get on with it!' she mouthed over her shoulder, distracting Sheldon so they could come up with a plan for Dennis.

~8~

"Could I have everyone's attention please," Gablehauser called a short while later as everyone gathered around, "What a wonderful occasion this is. And how fortunate that it should happen to fall on 'take your daughter to work day.' We're here to welcome Mr. Dennis Kim to our little family."

"Welcome Dennis Kim," Sheldon muttered sarcastically.

"Shelly," Claire shook her head and he pouted, but kept quiet.

"Mr. Kim was not only the valedictorian at Stanford University, he is also the youngest recipient of the prestigious Stephenson Award!" Gablehauser continued, making Claire close her eyes at that, he just HAD to go there, didn't he?

"Youngest till the cyborgs rise up!" Sheldon shouted standing from his seat a moment.

"Hush," Claire warned, reaching out to tug him to sit once more.

"And now, without any further ado, let me introduce the man of the hour, Mr. Dennis Kim!" Gablehauser gestured to the side...but Dennis was nowhere to be seen, "Dennis? Dennis!"

"What?" Dennis stepped around a corner.

"Would you like to tell us a little bit about your upcoming research?"

"Um, no thanks," he shrugged, "I'm going to the mall with Emma," he reached back behind the corner and pulled out a blonde girl, drawing her to his side as they walked out, hand in hand.

"Well, uh, well, uh…"

"The kid got a girl!" Leonard mumbled.

"Unbelievable," Raj shook his head.

"Did anyone see how he did it?" Howard asked, looking around for witnesses and then the corners of the ceilings for cameras.

Sheldon smirked and got to up, walking to Gablehauser's side, "Don't worry, I've got this," he told the man before turning to the crowd, "Ladies and Gentlemen, honored daughters. While Mr. Kim, by virtue of his youth and naivety, has fallen prey to the inexplicable need for human contact, let me step in and assure you that my research will go on uninterrupted, and that social relationships will continue to baffle and repulse me. Thank you."

"He's back," Claire said in sing-song as she made her way over to the boys.

"Yeah, mission accomplished," Leonard sighed.

Raj turned and whispered into Howard's ear, "Raj says forget the mission, how did that little yutz get a girl on his own?" he shook his head, before sighing, "I guess times have changed since we were young. Smart is the new sexy."

"Well, why do we go home alone every night?" Leonard looked at him, "We're still smart."

Claire let out a gentle breath at that, knowing that there were other reasons, such as Howard's rather sexist view on women, Raj's inability to even SPEAK to women, and Leonard's...well, she wasn't sure what Leonard's reason was, he was a sweetheart...though it could be that, that he had his little crush on Penny keeping him from really making an effort. They had their reasons, but looking at their faces, and knowing how much it really must bother them that a young boy that was just like them growing up managed to find a girl that liked him and THEY hadn't, even now, she knew it had to hurt.

So she stepped up and put her arms around Leonard and Raj's shoulders, "Oh you guys are just too smart," she squeezed them, "So smart it's off-putting!"

"Really?" the boys looked at her.

"Yeah," she nodded, before walking off, leaving them smiling...even as her own smile faded.

~8~

"What is it?" Sheldon asked as he moved over to Claire when he spotted her by the buffet table again, lingering but not really eating, just picking at her food. He'd noticed she'd gotten quieter than normal as the event wrapped up, had seen her standing around but not really talking to people or going up to introduce herself. She was, what his mother called, a Social Butterfly, she liked getting to know people...but she was just...standing alone, quiet, too quiet, a sign, he knew from Missy pointing it out enough that it finally stuck and made its way into his research about Claire's reactions (because really, was he actually going to believe MISSY was trying to help him with his research? Hardly, but after 114 times of her mentioning it, and observing it himself, he'd come to see it was true), meant she was upset about something.

"It's nothing Shelly," Claire tried to smile at him.

"If I noticed, it must be something," he argued.

She sighed, "'Social relationships will continue to baffle and repulse you?'"

"Yes?" he tilted his head, not sure what was upsetting about that fact he'd stated.

"Shelly, would I still be your best friend without the best friend contract?"

He blinked, almost startled she'd ask, "Of course," he replied, not even hesitating.

"Well then, what we have," she gestured between them, "Our friendship…IS a social relationship."

He slowly nodded, realizing what they had was termed a social relationship...and he'd just said he was repulsed by them. He'd just insulted her. He didn't want that, he never really insulted her, never meant to do it at least. He respected her, she'd earned it after all the years they'd had together, all the things she'd done for him and put up with from him and how she tried, so hard, to understand him.

"There's an exception to every rule," he remarked, looking at her, "YOU are my exception, Claire Bear."

THAT brought a real smile to her face, "Thank you, Shelly Bean."

A/N: Awww :)

Some notes on reviews...

I feel like a lot of Sheldon's tendencies and his near-obsessions tend to come out with certain triggers, now that Claire is there and around him more and he gets to see her every day, he's more aware of how much he missed her and gets to talk much more about her with the others :) But they'll definitely start to pick up on it, very much ;) I'm glad you'd want her for a professor! We'll actually see a moment where she gets to read some reviews that her students leave about her so we'll get to see what they think of her too :)

That's ok if Shamy fans don't wish to read :) I tried to make it clear in the first A/N as a warning because I know some people really love Shamy and don't want anyone else with Sheldon at all and I'd really hate for them to read a story and see the Shamy happen but have it change :( I want people to enjoy the stories and if they prefer Shamy over an OC with him then that's perfectly cool ;) It will still have a Shamy part to it, but will just show a different feel to and end to their relationship than in the show :) I'm glad you're enjoying it so far :)

We might see Claire and Will closer at one point ;) I can't say if they'd be dating-close but after Sheldon resolves his issues with Will she'll be more open to talking to him...which just might make Sheldon find more issues with him lol :)

Oh Penny will definitely talk to Claire about her and Sheldon yup ;) As it turns out...I can say that Sheldon might not be the only oblivious one of the two of them, but Claire catches on MUCH quicker...especially with someone like Penny helping her see things she might have played off ;) Let's just say...we'll learn some of Claire's tells at that point ;)

I hope you enjoyed the end of this chapter too ;) And thank you, I'm really glad that I was able to help you too :') Things seemed to go ok with the interview, I got called in for a second one yesterday and they decided to have me meet with another higher-up for the interview after the first one. I had to wait for 2 hours for them to come in but I hope it means something good that they wanted me to meet them that day :) Awesome! I can't wait to see it, I'm sure it will be beautiful ;)