So here it is, the chapter you've all been waiting for...

Leonard straightened his tie as he walked down the corridor towards President Seibert's office. He was perspiring heavily, something that a few paper towels in the men's room had been unable to ameliorate. There were a limited number of reasons that the president of the university would want to meet with him, and most of the scenarios that he ran through his head were pretty grim. Still, he did his best to hold his head high and project an aura of self-assurance, although privately, he felt he was failing miserably.

Siebert's secretary, a capable-looking woman in her forties, immediately ushered him into the president's office when he arrived. As Leonard entered the room, he saw that Dr. Gablehauser was there as well. His heart sank, but he tried to keep a confident grin on his face as he held out his hand to Seibert. The administrator did not reach out to take Leonard's hand.

"Have a seat, Dr. Hofstadter," he ordered.

The color drained from the physicist's face as he did as he was ordered.

"Hofstadter, I have received some very serious allegations concerning your professional integrity," Seibert began. He pushed several pages across the desk toward Leonard, who grew hot and then cold as he looked at the documents. There were copies of the emails that he and Howard had exchanged discussing how to falsify Sheldon's data. He saw the emails that he had written to the small appliance manufacturers, inquiring about a piece of equipment that operated on a specific frequency. Things were looking pretty bad for Leonard, but he had been working for Caltech for over ten years. Maybe he could bluster through this with just a slap on the wrist.

"President Seibert, you don't understand. This was just a practical joke that got a little out of hand. You know how intolerable Dr. Cooper is. We just wanted to knock him down a few pegs, that's all. Besides, it was a matter of survival."

Seibert had steepled his hands, listening impassively as Leonard spoke. At those last words, he raised an eyebrow and asked, "Survival?"

"Yeah, I mean, Shel-Dr. Cooper has a reputation all over campus for being an arrogant, nitpicking, crazy bastard. You've met him. Honestly, could you stand being cooped up in a tent with him for four months? I couldn't pass up the opportunity his research presented, but I needed a contingency plan in case he didn't get the results he wanted. Believe it or not, when you see him at the departmental social functions, he's trying to put his best foot forward. You have no idea how unbearable he is when he's in a bad mood."

The president exchanged a glance with Gablehauser. "So you must have thought his research was promising, if you were willing to put up being trapped in an enclosed space with Cooper for months."

"Well, there's no question that he's brilliant, but he's also insufferable."

Seibert nodded, and Leonard felt a wave of relief. If the president sympathized with him, then chances were he would get off with just a reprimand, or maybe an official sanction, which would have very little effect on his job except to delay his getting tenure. He could live with that. After all, he was moving up in the world. Hadn't Stephen Hawking, the greatest physicist alive today, hand-picked him to go on his latest research expedition? Surely, that would outweigh a childish prank that had occurred a few years ago.

"Isn't it true, Dr. Hofstadter, that you and Dr. Cooper are roommates?"

Leonard was broken out of his self-congratulatory reverie. "Oh, um, yeah, that's right."

"In fact, I believe that you and Dr. Cooper have lived under the same roof for almost ten years," Gablehauser contributed.

"Well, yeah, but-"

"So if you truly find living with Dr. Cooper so intolerable, especially in confined spaces, then how can you explain the fact that you seem to have done just that for many years?"

Leonard stammered incoherently.

"I am also aware that you, Dr. Cooper, Dr. Koothrapali, and Mr. Wolowitz eat lunch together in the cafeteria every day, and several of your colleagues attest to the fact that the four of you spend a lot of time together outside of work. When Cooper chose his research team, he chose the men he thought were his friends, instead of qualified researchers doing work in the field of monopoles. It seems to me that you were happy to ride Dr. Cooper's coattails if he was successful, but you had no qualms about stabbing him in the back when it was clear there was nothing for you to gain. Does that about sum it up, Hofstadter?"

"It... it was just a joke," Leonard protested feebly.

Seibert stood, shaking his head. "Dr. Hofstadter, Caltech is one of the premier research facilities in the nation. There are any number of physicists who would be happy to fill your position. And thanks to your unprofessional and unethical behavior, a more deserving candidate will get that opportunity. You're fired. Clear out your office; I want you gone by the end of the day."

Gablehauser stood and grasped him by the elbow. "Let's go," he ordered in a tone that brooked no interference and escorted a disbelieving Leonard out of the president's office for the last time.

Leonard left the campus and drove home in a daze. When he arrived at his apartment, he set a box of books and mementos down on the coffee table. Looking around, he saw reminders of Sheldon everywhere-his desk, his collectibles, his Batman cookie jar. Suddenly, all of his frustration welled up within him. With a cry of rage, Leonard swept Sheldon's desk clean with a sweep of his arm. The desktop computer landed with a satisfying crash. Panting, Leonard turned his attention to Sheldon's beloved action figures, throwing them to the ground and trampling on them. He yanked armfuls of books off the bookshelf and shattered the DNA model. Finally, he pulled out every single one of Sheldon's whiteboards and stomped on them until they snapped in half. He was so consumed by his destructive rampage that he didn't hear the front door open softly and then close again.

Penny waited across the hall, leaning with her ear against the door. Under any other circumstances, she would have gone over and yelled at Leonard, but she had never seen him this way. She hardly recognized him, his face had been so transformed with rage. So instead, she waited until she heard Leonard storming down the stairs. Then, she tiptoed over the apartment 4A and opened the door. She gasped at the level of destruction. As she stepped into the living room, she felt a sharp pain along the arch of her bare foot. Looking down, she saw that she had stepped on a curved shard of glass from one of the bell jars Sheldon used to protect his more valuable collectibles. Grimacing, she pulled the jagged piece of glass out of her foot. She stared at the bloody fragment in her hand for a moment, then tossed it contemptuously on the floor. She limped back to her apartment, leaving trail of dark red blood spots, as she went to make some phone calls.