The whole premise of TBBT is what happened to Sheldon, Leonard and their nerdy friends when Penny moved in across the hall. What if Penny didn't move in? Everything belongs to Lorre, Prady and friends.

Sheldon is at Caltech for a seminar

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Four days after his 2 minute blind date with Dr. Fowler, Sheldon made one of his relatively infrequent visits to Caltech. A Harvard theoretical physicist was coming to give a seminar, Sheldon had been following her work in the literature so he wanted to hear what she had to say for herself.

Before the seminar Sheldon decided to have lunch in the Caltech canteen. However, due to some decorating work there were not as many tables in the dining area as usual. It was very crowded, finally he saw a table in the corner with a free seat.

"Excuse me, is this seat taken?"

"No, you can take the seat away with you."

"There is nowhere else to sit, may I join you."

"Be my guest."

"I thought it was you Dr. Fowler. I am Dr. Cooper, from the coffee shop last Saturday."

"Oh yes, sorry for the short blind date but I am off the hook with my mother for another year."

"I have recently tried a computer dating site for in an attempt to get more friends in my life."

"I take it is not going well."

"If it had been going well I wouldn't have needed to try another blind date. There are some very strange ladies with doctorates out there."

"Define strange Dr. Cooper. The sort of person who gets a doctor of philosophy degree is not your average person."

"Touché Dr. Fowler. I have been trying this for the last six Saturdays. Our two minute date was by no means the worst."

"Really, I find that hard to believe."

"Well you showed up for a start, that already puts you ahead of some of the ladies I have tried to date in recent weeks."

"Well good for me."

"I understand that you are a neurobiologist, what are you researching."

"I study the effects of addiction on monkey brains. I hope to extend my studies to humans in the near future."

"Fascinating, I study string theory to understand how the universe works."

"That sounds cute."

"Cute?"

"All very interesting no doubt but I do the real fundamental science. Without that big brain of yours Dr. Cooper you wouldn't be able to do anything with the universe."

"Touché again Dr. Fowler. This is fascinating, when I talk Physics I am always the smartest person in the room. I am not so sure if I can say that about this conversation, it is good to be taken out of my comfort zone occasionally."

"Glad that I could help to bring your ego down to earth."

"This is fun! I have a suggestion for you Dr. Fowler. There is going to be a public lecture at Caltech on Friday night by Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson. I like to attend these so-called popular science lectures to try and keep the speaker on their toes by asking really hard science questions. Would you like to attend this lecture with me, possibly meet up for some food or drink beforehand?..."