Sometimes we can choose the paths we follow. Sometimes our choices are made for us. And sometimes we have no choice at all.
-Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 4: Season of Mists
xTBBTx
Mary Cooper decided that Sheldon would have his funeral in California and a memorial in Galveston where his ashes would be laid to rest. Her first inclination was to get him as far away from the heathen State as possible but thought better of it as his friends were all here. Aside of his family there was no one in Galveston. No friends. No colleagues. Besides, if she was already going to be in trouble with her son for having a funeral service she could at the very least accommodate the locale.
It was twenty five minutes after ten when Penny and Leonard arrived at the funeral home. As the funeral assistant took their coats the waitress looked around at the dark paneled walls and red carpeting. The whole place had a solemn quality to it that made the experience all too surreal, as if the hallway led to an otherworldly place. Perhaps it did.
The couple noted the various objects hanging on the walls as they walked the corridor. Sheldon was resting in the larger room since the funeral would be held in there.
"Ready?" Leonard asked softly. In response she squeezed his hand and together they entered the room. Rows of chairs were before them and at the front was Amy, Mary and the rest of Sheldon's family. They were invited to the funeral home a half-hour before the general public so they could have time alone with Sheldon.
Sheldon.
Penny's eyes registered the coffin at the end of the room but turned away before they could focus on what was inside. Who was inside.
"Leonard," Mary said warmly. "Penny. Please don't be shy." They approached Mrs. Cooper, who took both of their hands. "Thank you for comin'." She turned to her daughter. "Yuh, of course, know Missy."
"Hello again," the tall brunette said with a bit of a smile. She stood beside a man Penny instantly recognized as Sheldon's brother. He was stalkier and about two inches shorter but as he approached his mother Penny could see he had blue eyes like Sheldon although not as vibrant.
"George, this is Leonard, Shelly's roommate, an' Penny, their neighbor," Mary said.
"So ah finally get tuh meet the man brave enough tuh live with muh brother," George said with a grin as he shook the physicist's hand. He turned to Penny and nodded. "Ma'am."
"He was a handful but I didn't mind," replied Leonard.
Mary stood aside. "Best we let them go pay their respects. There'll be plenty of time for chattin' later."
Penny grasped Leonard's hand and slowly they made their way to the coffin. She took in every aspect of the wooden box: from the grain of the wood to the white color of the satin inside. And its length. Suck it up, Penelope. Her eyes lowered to Sheldon's still form. He wore the black suit she helped him pick out to accept his award. His hands rested one atop the other and Penny marveled that even they were coated in makeup. Sheldon would have a fit.
But it was his face, his light pallor masked by a colored base to hide the bruising, that broke her heart. It wasn't the obvious distortion to his features caused by the accident but rather his lips which were positioned in a little smile that held not a drop of condescension or awkwardness. They were comfortably at peace, allowing Penny to take in their delicacy.
"They did a good job," Leonard said softly. Penny nodded before reaching out and touching Sheldon's hand. It felt nothing like it did at the hospital. It was empty.
She gave the coffin a series of three knocks only Leonard and she could hear.
"Sheldon," she whispered lovingly.
Knock Knock Knock "Sheldon."
Knock Knock Knock "Sheldon."
Her breath hitched and Leonard squeezed her hand. She turned to see him, his eyes red as he stared at his friend.
"I'm going to miss you," he whispered sadly.
Now it was Penny's turn to provide strength with a hand squeeze even as tears streaked down her face. After a moment more the couple stepped softly to the side, taking in the various flower arrangements. To distract herself she read the place cards from Mary and family, Raj, Bernadette and Howard, George Jr. and family, Amy, the Caltech physics department and Leonard and hers. There was a simple arrangement of baby's breath and dainty little blue flowers tucked in the corner at the foot of the coffin. Penny let out a soft 'oh' as she read the card pinned to the foil:
I love you, Moonpie. Meemaw
"Meemaw," she said. "He loved his Meemaw."
"I know," Leonard replied and gently led Penny away as out of the corner of his eye he spotted Howard, Bernadette and Raj arrive.
"Come on, bestie," Amy said with a little smile. "Let's go get you cleaned up." Both women held hands and were off to the washroom.
"God, I'm a wreck," Penny said as she looked in the mirror and dabbed her eyes with a tissue.
"Never mind. None of us are at our peak," Amy said evenly.
Penny regarded her friend. "How are you holding up?"
"As can be expected." A tight smile crossed Amy's face. "I was a basket case last night." She shook her head. "You'd think being a neurobiologist would make me tougher stuff. After all I dissect brains for a living." Suddenly Amy looked incredibly sad. "What's doubly tragic about this is that Sheldon wanted his brain given to science. Unfortunately, given the extent of the injury, it was not to be." Her eyes caught her bestie's in the mirror. "I feel like I've let him down," she said, tears flowing from her eyes.
"Oh, Ames," Penny cooed softly and held her friend. "You didn't let anyone down, least of all Sheldon."
"He was ready," the neurobiologist said as she stood back and grabbed a tissue from the box. Penny looked at her questioningly. "The night before the accident we kissed."
"Oh wow," the waitress said.
"He later emailed me, saying he wanted to meet up the next day. Sadly it wasn't meant to be." Amy blew her nose. "So much for my four year plan to matrimony."
"Shit happens," sighed Penny.
"Your language isn't Sheldon-approved," countered Amy.
"Like I said before: his ken can kiss my Barbie."
The two women chuckled.
XxX
"You know this is improbable," Sheldon said to the Man as they walked.
"And yet here we are," the Man chuckled.
"Yes, well, I said improbable not impossible as obviously it isn't since we're here," sniffed the physicist. Out of the nothingness ahead of him he spotted something. "What's that?"
"Where we're going."
Sheldon was surprised as they came up to a whiteboard complete with a dry erase marker and eraser.
"This is the font of all knowledge?" he scoffed.
"You never know unless you try," the Man shrugged. "You spent a lot of time using boards haven't you?"
"Yes, and I wasn't planning on spending my afterlife using them, either." Sheldon cocked his head. "Of course I wasn't expecting there to be an afterlife so I suppose even one spent at a whiteboard is more than I could hope for." He picked up a marker and drew two triangular brackets that pointed into the center and attached them with a wavy line which he labeled with a 'y'. "From the Feynman Diagrams," he said simply. "The electron and positron annihilate." He pointed to the wavy line. "Thus producing a photon." He paused and a little smile came to his face. "This was the first bit of physics I demonstrated to Pop-Pop on my crayola writing pad. He was so impressed I tore off the sheet and gave it to him."
"How old were you?"
"Four."
"Impressive."
"It was only a reproduction," shrugged Sheldon. "A trained monkey could do the same."
"It's still brilliant."
"No, Feynman's idea was brilliant." Sheldon erased the board and wrote out a particularly complex series of equations. "This is the path integral formulation. It defines the probability amplitude to go from one field configuration to another." He stood back and regarded the board. "Magnificent, isn't it?"
"Yes it is," said the Man as he looked beyond the whiteboard. Sheldon followed his eyes and gawked at the sight of two balls floating in the air with three pulsing lines attached between them: one curved like an arc of a circle, one wavy and one a scribbley mess.
"Oh my," the physicist breathed and walked past the whiteboard to the objects ahead. "These are three of the paths that contribute to the quantum amplitude for a particle moving from point A"—he indicated the ball to the left—"at some time to point B"—he pointed to the other ball—"at some other time." He regarded the Man. "How did this get here?"
"You formulated it."
"Yes, on the board not here. I didn't create this."
"Are you sure?" the Man smiled as Sheldon returned and erased the board. Immediately the balls disappeared.
"Remarkable. With this I can finally see moving particles the way they were meant to be seen." Here he smirked as he picked up the marker. "Who needs to see the Large Hadron Collider? I can make my own Higgs boson."
The air beyond came to life as two balls collided and decayed immediately into four visible lines of hadrons and electrons.
Sheldon laughed aloud. "I stand corrected. This is remarkable." He called out to the air: "Show me a graviton." The model before him changed and the physicist was beside himself with laughter. "I knew it! I knew you existed! Show me how you work." He felt a tug in his fingers and then the marker shot out to the board and began to write out a formula. As it wrote the model kept up, demonstrating each step in the equation.
"I'll leave you to it," the Man said with a chuckle as he stepped away.
For the second time in his life Sheldon was truly happy.
XxX
Sheldon's family and Amy came out from behind the curtain that partitioned the coffin from the rest of the room. The neurobiologist came and sat next to her bestie and dabbed her eyes with a Kleenex. Penny rubbed her friend's shoulder. A few minutes later the curtain was pulled back to reveal Sheldon's closed coffin. The Pastor came to the podium.
"Friends," he said. "We've come to mark the end and new beginning for our brother, Sheldon Cooper."
Doctor Sheldon Cooper, thought Penny.
"For centuries people have taken comfort from the Holy Scripture and in particular the Twenty-third Psalm. It is among the most familiar, so much so that even people who are not religious or very knowledgeable about Scripture recognize these words." Here the Pastor gazed at the crowd Mary had warned would be full of scientists. "There are many images in this Psalm which hold particular meaning such as the verse: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. The Bible does not say, 'God will keep you from danger,' but rather it describes that there will come times, and they come for all of us, when we feel like we are walking through a dark, dangerous valley - a 'valley of the shadow of death.'"
As the Pastor talked Penny felt more annoyed than comforted. This was Sheldon's funeral and yet there was no mention of science. Sheldon was all about the science. This service might make Mrs. Cooper feel better but it all but erased Sheldon's beliefs. A scowl came to her face when the Pastor referred again to Sheldon by name. He doesn't even call him 'Doctor'. He wasn't Sheldon's buddy. He never knew him. The waitress looked around her. People she'd never seen before today—Leonard had introduced them as Sheldon's colleagues at work—were there. Hell even Kripke and Leslie Winkle were there. Did any of them really know Sheldon? She thought of her friend with his poop journals that read like science books and yet laughed and screamed as they roared through Space Mountain before he got sick on her shoe. A little smile came to her face. Sheldon really was bigger than life. No wonder he was such an egotistical pain in the ass. He was right: he was homo novus.
"I'd like to now invite Leonard Hofstadter to say a few words," said the Pastor. The curly haired man got up and came to the podium. He cleared his throat as he pulled out some cue cards from his pocket.
"Mrs. Cooper," he began. "Missy, George, Amy, friends and esteemed colleagues. It is with great sadness that I stand in front of you today to celebrate the life of my friend—my best friend—Dr. Sheldon Cooper. His life was taken away from us too soon and it is hard to understand why tragic things like this happen. Statistically speaking there is an eight thousand to one chance of being struck by a motor vehicle—I imagine even less given that Sheldon was standing on the sidewalk at the time." Pause. "Although it dawns on me that this entire point is irrelevant." Leonard nervously looked over his cards and flipped a couple to the back of the pile. "Instead, let's celebrate Sheldon's life and remember all of the remarkable things he accomplished and how extraordinary his life was…."
xTBBTx
"Lord, ah swear Shelly has more toys now than he did when he was a child," Mary Cooper said with a smile as she packed the documents Leonard had prepared for her in her suitcase. After her children went back to Texas Mary had stayed in Sheldon's room and went through legal paperwork with Leonard.
"He sure loved his super heroes," agreed Penny with a little smile. If it wasn't for Mary's presence in the room the waitress didn't know if she'd have the guts to enter on her own.
"Remind Leonard that he's tuh provide some mementoes tuh Raj and the little Jewish fella." Here Mary smiled. "Yuh pick somethin' too." She closed her suitcase and set it on the floor. "Ah already told him tuh put some things aside for Shelly's nephews. Except for his personal effects, which ah want returned, sell the rest and whatever don't get sold gets donated to the Salvation Army."
"Will do," Penny said. She hesitated a moment before closing the bedroom door. Mary cocked an eyebrow but said nothing.
"Sheldon gave me some money for school," Penny began as she dug out a cheque from the pocket of her jean shorts. "This isn't all of it. I'll send the rest when I've got it. Sheldon never put a timeline on when I could pay him back since he knew it'd take me a while and—"
"Penny, we ain't starvin'. That deal yuh have's 'tween yuh and Shelly. Yuh can square up with him the next time yuh see him." Penny made to protest but Mary wouldn't have any of it. "Shelly and his friends were a sorry bunch 'fore they met yuh. Ah knew the moment he called 'n' asked me whether ah liked chocolate before, during or throughout my menses that somethin' dramatic happened in his life."
"He didn't!" Penny was crimson.
"Don't worry, ah set him straight on askin'. Ah did a few inquiries of muh own and found out that yuh'd moved in across the hall." She took Penny's hands. "Keep the money. Yuh took care of muh boy an' ah think it's fittin' that his gift to yuh is an education since schoolin's been what he was about his whole life." Penny's eyes watered.
"I didn't take care of him. He asked me to take him to the store and I said no and then he got hit by the car," she sniffled. "He waited until eleven o'clock and I should have been awake but I was still pissed from the night before and—" She stopped and the tears flowed. "I'm so sorry, Mrs. Cooper." The two women hugged and Penny couldn't help but sob into the older woman's shoulder.
"Yuh have nothin' to feel sorry about," Mary said softly as she stroked Penny's hair. "It wasn't yuhr fault or Shelly's fault or that poor driver who had the heart attack. Sometimes the Lord weaves a weird one and yuh just have to go with it."
Mary stepped back and wiped the tears from Penny's cheeks. "Now ah want yuh to seize the day, yuh hear? Take this money, work yuhr tail off at school and show the world what a fighter yuh are." The Nebraskan nodded as Mary took the cheque from her hand and tore it in two. "The only thing ah'm expectin' is an update on how yuh're doin'. And ah don't mean yearly," she chided lightly.
"Yes Ma'am," Penny said with a sniffle and smile.
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Leonard had set up a series of boxes in Sheldon's room in order to sort out his roommate's effects. Since Penny couldn't alter her shifts at the restaurant until the following week she still had Monday free so she spent the afternoon in 4A. Quickly she realized that she couldn't separate Sheldon's toys from Leonard's in the living room so she decided to work on Sheldon's clothes.
She tied a knot to close the garbage bag and placed it next to the other two. The Sally Ann was going to have a surprise with some of this stuff although she wasn't sure what would be more eyebrow raising: the Star Trek uniform or the purple plaid suit. Penny pulled another bag from the package and fluffed it out as she approached his dresser. She smiled as she opened a drawer to see an assortment of striped, polka-dotted and colored socks stacked into precise piles.
"Monday," she said as she picked up a pile and deposited it in the bag. "Tuesday, Wednesday, Thurs—" Underneath the socks was a magazine. "Well, well, well." She turned over the magazine to see what got Sheldon's mojo going. Was it bikini babes? Muscle chicks?
On the cover was a picture of an extremely toned green skinned and haired woman wearing a purple bikini and shades. Penny grinned as she flipped through the magazine and saw a variety of aliens and super heroines in various swimwear. She didn't know what was weirder: seeing a silver-haired woman with four arms wearing a thong bikini or having the magazine itself as concrete proof that Sheldon Cooper did in fact have a 'deal' even if it was a little odd.
"Un-boleevable." She tossed it in the designated garbage box before clearing out the rest of the drawers. Hopefully the Sally Ann wouldn't wonder why donated underwear and suits of pajamas had days of the week stitched into their lining.
Penny's heart stopped when she opened the last drawer and saw the bold yellow lightning bolt on Sheldon's Flash shirt. She set it on top of the dresser and put a couple of shirts in the garbage bag. Her hand paused on the Robot Evolution t-shirt. It, too, was set aside. By the time she finished she had a nice stack of t-shirts for herself. The clothes were supposed to go to charity so it's not like Penny was stealing per se.
"I'll top up the kettle next Christmas," she vowed as she picked up the shirts. Penny's eyes drifted to the garbage box. The magazine was the only piece of refuse so it stood out like a sore thumb. She crossed over and grabbed it, vowing to dispose of the magazine on her own. The last thing she wanted was for the guys to get a chuckle over Sheldon's choice of pornography.
She crossed to her apartment and deposited the clothing on her bed and stuffed the magazine in her recycling bucket. Leonard wouldn't be home for another hour so it would give Penny enough time to finish what she could with Sheldon's room and then prepare for dinner. It was Thai night, after all.
XxX
"Leonard, you'll have to give me Mrs. Cooper's address so I can properly thank her for the gift," said Raj as he tossed his food container in the garbage.
"You could always just call her," replied Howard. The astrophysicist rolled his eyes.
"Oh yes, getting drunk in order to talk to a Christian fundamentalist about my 'Third World demons' won't make the conversation awkward enough without thanking her for giving me her dead son's Vulcan lute." Howard was thoughtful.
"Put a word in for me in the letter," he said at last.
"Write your own note and I'll stick it in."
"Done."
"After we've finished going over the collectables we should get a start into the comics since it'll take a while," said Leonard as he tidied the containers on the table.
"Surely Sheldon had a list of his comic books. He had a list for everything," Howard snorted.
"It's probably in his computer," agreed Leonard. "I've tried but I can't get into it."
"I can always give it a go," offered the engineer. The physicist shook his head.
"It gives me something to do at night." He looked across at his girlfriend. "You want the last dumpling?"
"I thought I had the last..." She stared at the lone dumpling in the container. Of course there would be one left. "It's tradition, I guess," she said with a little smile. Taking her chop sticks she gripped the slippery little morsel and popped it in her mouth. The room was silent as she chewed.
"Next Generation's on," sputtered Leonard as he checked his watch.
"It's over in a half hour," Howard reminded him.
"It'll give us time to digest." Raj glanced at Howard and Penny sitting on the couch and rested his eyes on Sheldon's spot before wheeling over the lanky man's computer chair and taking a seat.
XxX
"So how'd it go?" asked Penny as she snuggled into her pillow. After spending the day at apartment 4A she really looked forward to a night in her own bed after a refreshing shower.
"Sheldon has a lot of comics we want so we're going to make a collective offer to Mrs. Cooper for the lot, excluding the ones in the safety deposit box. We want a few from there but the rest should be sold since I doubt Mrs. Cooper will see them as the investment they truly are," replied Leonard as he stared at the ceiling. He cleared his throat to calm himself. "So anyways, I was doing some thinking."
"This can't be good," chuckled his girlfriend.
"Since Sheldon's…gone…and, uh, it's a two bedroom apartment and"—Penny's stomach dropped—"you need to save money for school I was wondering if maybe you'd like to—"
"I can't," she blurted. "It's too weird right now."
"Weird as in us moving in together weird or weird as in—"
"I don't know how comfortable I'll be living in his room."
"We could always make that the spare room and my room can be 'our' room," the physicist said hopefully.
Penny mulled it over. "I think I'd like to keep things as they are. I have to get used to the new normal before I make another change." Leonard nodded.
"Okay. I'll ask Raj."
Penny felt a kiss on her shoulder as Leonard curled against her. If he'd noticed the tension in her body he never mentioned it.
xTBBTx
As Penny turned the corner on the stairs she saw a strange man leaving 4A carrying Sheldon's DNA model.
"You're sure you don't need help getting it to the car?" she heard Raj ask.
"I'm good. Thanks again," he said.
Penny got to the landing and smiled politely, waiting until he had passed before entering the apartment. Raj waved his fingers before closing the door.
"I see you finally sold it," she said as way of conversation.
"Yup," replied Leonard distractedly as he clicked away at Sheldon's computer. Just over a month had gone by since the physicist passed away and still Leonard was unable to gain access to the laptop. If he didn't crack it soon he really would have to hit up Howard for help.
Penny waited but her boyfriend didn't say anything more—he never said much when he was working on Sheldon's computer—so she flumped on the couch. Raj poured her a glass of wine.
"So how was school?" the astrophysicist inquired after he'd taken a sip of his own.
"A-1. I covered all of this office stuff in the first two weeks with Sheldon." Here she smiled. "Actually, I was told I'm much more efficient than I have to be." Raj chuckled.
"Sheldon would disagree. There's no such thing as being 'too efficient'."
"Too anal retentive, maybe." Penny took a sip of wine. "Maybe it's a good thing, though. I think I'm the only one in the class who isn't working as an assistant." Thanks to Sheldon's loan-turned-gift she'd been able to drop to part-time at the restaurant although she did insist on working the Tuesday evening shift.
"You're doing fine, Penny," soothed Raj. He looked to Leonard and frowned as the shorter man was oblivious to the conversation.
"Thanks Raj," she said happily.
Raj went to the kitchen. "Dinner? It's only chicken and fettuccine since I started late but you're welcome to some." The Nebraskan thought about the tuna and pasta she was going to mix together for herself.
"In like Flynn," she said. "I'll partner up with you for Halo in exchange." She eyed her boyfriend. "Especially since Leonard's in his own little world." She winked at Raj. "I think I'm going to give Raj head after dinner, okay Leonard?" Silence. "Leonard?"
"Sounds good," he said distractedly. "We'll celebrate later." Raj rolled his eyes.
"And they say romance is dead. Penny, be a dear and set the table. The napkins and candles are in the drawer."
"Just let me go freshen up and I'll be back," she said as she popped off the couch and took up her school bag. "I've got a cheesecake that needs finishing. I'll bring it over."
"Sounds good. I can work it off at pilates," Raj said while braising the chicken.
After dumping her stuff and collecting the cake she returned to the apartment. As she stepped in she was struck by how things had changed: the furniture was the same but Raj's Asiatic accents around the room, not to mention the smell of sandalwood incense, added a more sophisticated air. Leonard rather liked the new ambience and agreed to keep his Star Trek and superhero paraphernalia in his room.
By the window were boxes of Sheldon's models and action figures that Leonard had advertised on Craig's List. This was the last hurrah of the East Texan's belongings in the apartment.
Once dinner was ready the trio sat around the coffee table.
"Can you pass the pepper?" asked Raj. Penny went to oblige but stopped.
"This is ridiculous," she said and moved onto Sheldon's spot.
The room was silent until Raj slid over to Penny's old seat.
"Thanks," he said quietly and grabbed the pepper.
One last push and it'd be as if Sheldon never existed.
xTBBTx
Penny had just finished her coffee and was in the process of rinsing the mug when the phone rang. Since Leonard was in the shower and Raj had taken an early yoga class she crossed the living room and picked up the phone.
"Hello?" she said cheerily.
"Um, hey, Penny?"
"Oh, hi Stuart. What's up?"
"Oh, not much. I was just going to let Leonard know that I still have Sheldon's stuff here."
"Oh."
"I can put the comics back but the statue's already paid for so it should be turned over to the estate."
"I'll pick it up this morning."
"It doesn't have to be a rush. I—"
"It's no biggie. I'm on my way to grab some bagels anyways so it'll be a quick stop."
"Okay. … It's always great to see you."
"Great to see you, too, Stuart. Bye."
She hung up the phone and went to the washroom.
"Leonard," she called out. "I've got things to do this morning."
"Okay," he said from the shower.
Penny retreated to her apartment, showered and dressed quickly and with purse and car keys in hand departed to the comic book store. Her heart rate was elevated as she drove. This statue was the reason why Sheldon wanted to go to the store. The reason why he wanted me to go to the store.
She parked in front of a meter and walked the few storefronts to the entrance. When she opened the door she immediately felt a sense of comfort as she was stepping into a plethora of superheroes and comic books.
"Hey, Penny," Stuart said with a shy though amiable smile. "It's been a while."
"Yeah, been busy with work and school. Besides, comic books aren't really my thing."
"It's not for everyone, no. If it was I'd own my own house instead of renting a creepy bachelor." Again he smiled before grabbing a box and putting it on the counter. "Here you go."
"Thanks, Stuart." Penny took the box.
"I didn't check the contents so bring it back if it's damaged." He paused and looked a little sad. "I never knew if Sheldon was going to keep his things sealed or not."
"Yeah," the waitress replied as she remembered the debate over Leonard and him opening their Star Trek transporters she'd given them as gifts. "Anyhoo, I've gotta run. Thanks."
"No problem," Stuart said with a little wave. "Come back anytime, y'know, when you've got time. If you've got…."
"I'll come out sometime with Leonard." Penny smiled warmly and left for her car.
When she entered 2311 Los Robles she hoped against hope she wouldn't run into Raj or her boyfriend. For some reason she wanted to see what was inside the box in private. After all, this is what Sheldon got ki— She ever so quietly turned the lock on her door and slipped into her apartment. Carefully she set the box on the table and with her key slit the tape. She reached in and pulled out the statue.
There was a brick wall separating two men as they ran—the one on the left she recognized as the Flash. The other wore a long sleeve shirt with a lightning bolt similar to Sheldon's t-shirt, jeans and a silver helmet with wings. Along the base was a copper plaque with the inscription: The Flash of Two Worlds.
Minutes ticked by as she stared at the statue, admiring the details from eyebrows to dirt on the ground.
"Sheldon would approve."
Suddenly she wondered what would happen to the statue, envisioning it sitting in the pile of Sheldon's belongings to be disposed. At the very least she should give it to Leonard to decide what to do with it. After a moment's thought she got off the couch and went to her shelving unit, clearing the large shelf with one hand before placing the statue squarely in the middle.
Penny stood back and smiled. She hadn't picked out her memento because she wasn't sure what she wanted.
She knew now.
xTBBTx
Sheldon stretched. He'd gone through hundreds of posits and felt like he needed a break. He was stunned to notice as he checked his watch that the face was blank.
"Curious," he said, eyebrow raised.
"What is?"
Sheldon turned to see the Man standing with his hands in his pockets.
"My watch is blank."
"And?"
"How long have I been here?"
"Since you've crossed over," the Man said evenly.
"Which was?" the physicist prompted.
"When you passed." Sheldon rolled his eyes.
"Obviously. I mean at what time: date, hour, second?"
"Those have no meaning here."
"And yet I can create quarks and see photon emissions?" Sheldon said incredulously. His tongue rubbed the side of his cheek. "Time is a function of motion or displacement. That would mean we're in a place of absolute stasis. And yet we're moving. We traveled from my point of origin to here thus falling under the realm of relativity."
"But where did we travel from?" asked the Man with a smile.
"Over there." All Sheldon could see was the whiteness. "Point," he said after a moment. "I'll have to count my footsteps from now on." A thought struck him. "How big is this place?"
"I don't know."
"Why did I think you'd say that?" the lanky man said with a smirk. "This place seems determined to be defined by its indeterminacy." He paused as he thought before jumping in place. "Gravity works so not all phenomena are null and void." Here he gave a gaspy laugh. "Heisenberg would find this amusing." The Man looked at him questioningly. "In quantum mechanics the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle asserts a fundamental limit to the precision with which certain pairs of physical properties of a particle, such as position and momentum, can be known simultaneously. The more precisely the position of a particle is determined, the less precisely its momentum can be known, and vice versa. In this instance I have neither position nor momentum nor any unit of time with which to calculate my bearings. We're truly at the heart of uncertainty."
"And yet here we are," said the Man with a wink.
"Indeed. No time, infinite space. No one else around." Sheldon cocked his head. "Except for you. Why is that? Where is everybody?"
"You'll have to be more specific."
Sheldon crossed his arms. "I'm not the first person to die. Where is everyone else?" His eyes brightened. "Where's Pop-Pop?"
"He's not here."
"How do you know that?" the physicist said with a frown.
The Man spread his arms. "You see anyone around?" Sheldon knew there was nothing to see but he couldn't stop himself from looking.
"So we're the only two here?"
"It depends on what you mean by 'here'."
"So where is Pop-Pop?" Sheldon asked quietly.
"Not here."
"But he's somewhere else."
"He's not here."
"I know that! Just tell me that he's somewhere!"
"I can't help you, Dr. Cooper. All I can say for certain is that he's not here."
Sheldon's shoulders slumped as he turned back to the whiteboard, silently staring at the equation.
"Uncertainty in the many-worlds interpretation follows from each observer within any universe having no knowledge of what goes on in the other universes." He cleared his throat as his eyes hardened. "Show me a tetraquark."
The marker danced across the board.
xTBBTx
A/N: My beta told me to warn you that this is a Shenny, but it takes a while.
Wikipedia: Uncertainty Principle; Many-Worlds Interpretation
Sermon pointers: Sermoncentralcom
Eulogy pointers: Yourtributecom
UK Mirror: Scientists calculate odd ways to die
