8

Outside the Physics Lab at CalTech, a shining blue convertible Volkswagen parked in the visitors spot under the big oak trees and quieted down. The twenty horsepower engine drew quiet as its mistress pulled her keys from the ignition and unclicked the seat belt from around her waist. Two blue azure eyes looked into the rear view mirror and gazed out over the campus as two legs wrapped in a violet plaid skirt swung out and came in contact with the curb outside of her car. Nervously biting her lip, Sarah Troy rose to her feet, smoothed out her white blouse over her modest bust and swung her door closed behind her.

It was fairly obvious girls of her particular looks were not common on the campus. Dean Siebert looked up at her and then again, starting to wonder how he could hide the beauty from his wife. Howard and the guys in the engineering lab crowded into their window and watched her for as long as they could before they lost sight of her. Bert stopped pounding the snack machine when she went past him and Barry Kripke skidded to a stop to meet her.

"Baywy Kwipke, it's an honnah to meet you." He spoke with a weird inflection passed on to his family by one of relatives. "May I help escawt you to your destination?"

"I'm okay." Sarah started past him.

"It would be my honnah to help you."

"Are you sure?" Sarah lightly mused as Kripke felt a sudden brewing from somewhere within his body. It felt as if his stomach was turning over and churning.

"Ugh…" He reacted uncomfortable. "I shouldn't have gawt that sushi from the gas station." He turned around and bolted for the nearest men's room. Striding forward in her expensive Italian shoes, Sarah walked past Sheldon deeply involved in the equations in his office and turned the corner toward the lab. All along the way, other student physicists noticed her and leaned their heads to watch her go by them. Even Leslie Winkle passed her, stopped and looked back with an eye roll. Tossing her long blonde hair back, Sarah gasped lightly as she turned to look into the lab. Leonard was running the laser spectrometer with his goggles on over his glasses obstructing his face, but when the device stopped, he checked the reading from the meter and started to reset his calibrations for another test. To do so required him removing his glasses, and when he lifted them off, he heard the knocking at his door.

"Leonard?" Sarah tried to restrain herself and tried to focus on her years of play-acting. "Hi, I'm Sarah Troy. " She stepped forward pretending to be a stranger. "I'm a friend of Lisa's." She extended her hand to meet his.

"Oh, yeah… Hi…" Leonard shook her dainty hand. "Good to meet you. Is she with you? We're supposed to be having lunch together."

"Yeah, that's just it…" Sarah flashed back on years of her sisters breaking up with one-time boyfriends. "Well, something came up, and she had to head back home. Some kind of family emergency…" Sarah chuckled. "It seems her brother… accidentally wiped out skiing in Colorado."

In Colorado, William was skiing with a beautiful girl named Sabrina Collins he had met skiing near the Overlook Hotel in Sidewinder. As he was plunging down Grady's Pass at full speed, a tree stump popped out of the ground right in front of him and flipped him head over his heels. He barely muttered a brief "What the?" just before the stump flipped him over forward back first into the snow with his skis flying in two different directions.

"That's horrible." Leonard reacted. "Is he going to be all right?"

"They really don't know." Sarah shook her head trying to keep from giggling. "I mean, he could be in traction for months. Anyway, knowing Lisa, I thought I'd take you to lunch instead. Do you like Thai?"

"No, that's okay…" Leonard placed his goggles in their hook so they would be ready for him later. "I can just grab something in the cafeteria." He grinned with a nod not realizing she was hitting on him, but then something hit he heard in her words. "Wait… what did you mean, "Knowing Lisa?"" He just barely caught that innuendo.

"Whoops…" Sarah pretended to be caught in a lie. "Oh, Leonard, I can't lie to you. It wasn't a family emergency. It seems her ex-boyfriend invited her on a trip to Greece with him."

"Her ex-boyfriend?" Leonard reacted hurt. He felt his heart beating louder. "Not an ex-boyfriend…" He mumbled disheartened under breath.

"Yeah, I'm sorry…" Sarah replayed the script she remembered when her sister Jessica broke up with her boyfriend to chase after a new guy. She just hoped Leonard stayed true to it. "She usually doesn't do stuff like this, but she returns a lot to this guy."

That line came from when Sarah was making excuses for her sister Tricia.

"But I'm not really seeing anyone, and I'd just to go to lunch with a nice guy." She continued with a smile and flirted with him. "I'm just so tired of eating alone in restaurants. I would do anything if anyone came with me." She drifted closer to Leonard with her heart pounding faster. She wanted him to take her in his arms and beam his boyish grin to her. Her hand fell on his on the table, but he pulled it away barely noticing it. Her eyes looked up to him wanting to feel him pull her close again.

"I don't think I'm ready for something like that." He broke script. Sarah thought he'd look at her and go off with her. Why wasn't this happening?

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, but thanks anyway."

Sarah's heart was pounding harder but out of lovelorn fear. Why was he making this so difficult? Why wasn't this working? Why was it she had the attention of every guy and some of the girls here but not his? Was it because he really only wanted Penny? If that was the case, what about that girl Priya he was supposed to be within a few weeks? She looked even less like Penny than she did! If he could date her seriously, why not her? She had only one other thing she could try, but she didn't dare do it. Yet, she had to try it.

"Leonard, I'm really Li-" She started to confess but suddenly lost her voice. She reached to her throat and tried to say the words, but they wouldn't come out. Her mother had to have known she'd try to tell the truth. Why else couldn't she say it?!

"Are you okay?" Leonard turned back around from grabbing his jacket to walk to the cafeteria. He had no idea how he was going to explain to Sheldon how he lost Lisa.

"I'm fine." Sarah could speak again. She looked up to him as he excused himself and took his broken heart with him to pine by himself over the nonexistent character. With images of Lisa in his head, Leonard passed William Troy in the hallway wearing blue jeans and a sweater without seeing him. When Sarah turned around to chase after Leonard, brother and sister glared at each other.

"Tree stump?"

Sarah just ignored him while shaking her head and remained determined to get Leonard to like her as herself. When she passed through the swinging door after him, her brother glanced over to Leslie Winkle at the soda machine.

"Hi, William Troy…" He introduced himself shined toward her. "Do you like Thai food?"

Watching Leonard heading toward the cafeteria on campus, Sarah started after him then stopped and flashed back on when Alicia stalked a guy. That incident had not ended the way she had wanted either. She realized she was trying to rush him into a relationship, and the last thing she wanted to do was act like a stalker. Somehow, she had to start this from the beginning, but even turning back time was not within the retinue of feats she could accomplish. How had this started? Leonard had asked Howard to set up the blind date on his conditions, and she had to find a way to replicate those conditions. It was not going to happen by turning up immediately in the campus cafeteria to antagonize him so she pulled herself back for the moment with several scenarios and ideas going through her mind. She had to give him time to compose his thoughts and try again. In the meantime, Sheldon learned of the break-up and responded with his own condescension. Grieving and depressed, Leonard ended up dreaming of Lisa that night, and woke up the next morning even more depressed and dejected. Penny had rejected him, Stephanie had rejected him and now Lisa had rejected him. The furthest girl from his thoughts was Sarah Troy.

"I really liked that." Sarah was at the Cheesecake Factory the following day and getting served on by Bernadette in her night job. "I usually don't like tuna salad, but that was really nice."

"I'm glad you liked it." Bernadette collected her dishes from the table. "Would you like some dessert?"

"Oh no, I'm full…" Sarah paused from her dinner and stared at Bernadette intensely. "But you know… you look familiar... Bernadette…" She looked at her nametag. "You couldn't possibly be the same Bernadette who phoned me a few days ago in Seattle, are you?"

"Oh, my God!" Bernadette realized the weird coincidence. "You're Sarah Troy, the horse lady. I knew you looked familiar."

Of course, she looked familiar. Sarah had been bombarding her dreams with her name and face since last night.

"Your friend dumped my friend last night." Bernadette announced.

"She did?" Sarah pretended to be shocked. "Oh, my God, the poor guy! I never knew she'd do something like that."

She didn't. Her mother had forced her into it.

"Well, she did…"

"Well, I'll tell you what." Sarah reached into her soul. "If I was ever able to find a decent guy, I would never give him up. I'd stay with him for my entire life. Heck, I'd probably marry him!"

That was a no-so-subtle hint for Bernadette to fix her up with Leonard.

"Well, I am through with match-making." Bernadette confessed.

"What?" Sarah wasn't expecting her to say that.

"No more match-making. Ever…" Bernadette wiped down the table in the booth. "I'll just get your check." She turned away and headed to the kitchen as Penny came out of the kitchen and checked on her customers. The guy with his daughters wanted more coke, the two sisters wanted more bread, the big guy in the plaid shirt was waiting for his dessert and as she turned around, she noticed Sarah staring at her annoyingly. Not sure what her problem was, Penny looked at her confused and continued serving her customers. She wouldn't know Lisa in her real identity.

"No more match making, huh…" Sarah mumbled under her breath. "Oh, Bernadette, you have no idea…." Her eyes looked up to Howard entering the Cheesecake Factory ahead of Raj and Leonard. Sheldon was somewhere in the back. The restaurant was among their regular dining routine. Sarah knew that. That's why her plan involved her being here just ahead of them.

"….And that's how Frankfurters got their name." Sheldon was following Leonard, Howard and Raj to their usual table in the dining area. Somehow, Penny always had it ready for them when they arrived for lunch. "Does anyone know why hot dogs are called hot dogs? It's a very interesting story."

"I really, really doubt that." Leonard took his seat across from him.

"Sheldon," Howard grabbed his fork like a weapon. "If you go into one more stupid boring story, I swear I'll use this fork to perform open heart surgery on you."

"Well, maybe Leonard and Raj would like to hear it?"

"No!" Leonard and Raj cried out together. Forced to draw silent, Sheldon rolled his eyes and glanced around the room.

"Fine…" He declared a bit miffed." I won't talk again for the rest of the night." He took his utensils out of his napkin. "Fun fact, did you know…"

Howard grabbed his fork and started climbing over the table as Leonard and Raj held him back. Gradually pushed to his seat, he was forced back and dropped his fork to the table. His nerves were on end, his patience aggravated, he faintly gasped under breath and glared frustratedly at Sheldon. The worst part was Sheldon had no idea just how annoying he really was; yet somehow, he had to be doing it on purpose.

"Hi, guys…" Bernadette appeared before them in her uniform to say hello to them. "Penny should be right with you; she's just ringing up a few customers."

"Bernadette," Sheldon looked up to her. "Would you like to why hot dogs are called hot dogs?"

"No…" She cut him off directly then turned to Leonard with a strange compulsion entering her head. "Leonard, do you see that girl over there?" She pointed over to Sarah sitting alone at the booth on the side of the room. When Leonard looked to her and the guys turned their heads to see her, Sarah lit up and waved to Leonard. She thought he'd be happy to see her, but he just forced a light wave to be friendly to her.

"Yeah, that's Lisa's friend. What about her?" He looked up to Bernadette broken-heartedly.

"Well, I hear she's staying in town for a few days, and she would like a nice guy to show her around town. Maybe you would like to do it." Bernadette said the lines being sent through her, but she wasn't ready for Penny to come up behind her a bit annoyed at her matchmaking.

"What are you doing?" She asked her.

"Setting Leonard up with a nice girl." Bernadette responded unafraid. "Not sure why, but…."

"No, you're not!"

Raj had whispered into Howard's ear.

"Raj says he wouldn't mind being set up with a nice girl." He repeated for him.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Sarah declared out loud and propped up her head on her table.

"I thought you were never doing any matchmaking again?" Penny confronted Bernadette over the guys waiting to order dinner.

"I'm not."

"Then what are you doing."

"Fixing Leonard up with Lisa's friend over there."

Everyone turned or arched their heads to look over to Sarah in the booth. Suddenly realizing she had been noticed, Sarah beamed her smile toward them and daintily waved to them again.

"Why?" Penny wanted to know.

"I don't know!" Bernadette confessed. "It's almost as if my mouth has a brain of its own."

"Whoa, she's hot!" Howard spoke up.

Bernadette casually bounced her serving tray off his head. Wincing, Howard realized what he had done and rubbed his head.

"What's going on here? I don't understand what's going on here." Sheldon spoke up. "Why is no one taking our orders?"

"I'm taking your orders…" Penny rolled her eyes and looked back to Bernadette. "And you, no more matchmaking!"

"Fine…" Bernadette apologized and turned toward Sarah in the far booth with her check. The blonde heiress meanwhile had pulled a ten and a five from her pocket book to cover her lunch and pinned it to the table under her plastic glass of water. Scooting out of her booth, she took a deep breath, walked straight up toward Penny taking Leonard's order, swerved around her toward Leonard looking over the menu and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, closing her lips over the bespectacled physicist's lips as he was deciding between the grilled quarter-pound hamburger and the roasted chicken sandwich. One minute he was asking if there was any cheese on the chicken sandwich and the next minute he felt Sarah's tongue in his mouth and the sweet scent of her French perfume invading his mind. Raj's eyes widened at the same time his jaw dropped, and Howard felt a deep hearty chuckle coming up as this beautiful girl went after Leonard. Sheldon's head looked up and back again trying to understand what was happening.

"What the hell?!" Penny reacted shocked and dropped her pad and pen before Sheldon. In a sudden reflex, she grabbed Sarah by the back of her collar and pulled her off Leonard. Kissing Leonard one minute, Sarah's eyes briefly widened as Penny spun her around and started to strike her across her face. That was when the senses and reflexes of a demigoddess reacted, and Sarah caught Penny's fist before it made its flight. It happened in less than a second, and Penny looked at Sarah's tiny white hand freezing her fist in mid-air. She tried hitting her, but this petite and willowy blonde had a strength behind her that was superhuman.

"Fisticuffs, Penny? Really?"

"What?" Penny had heard that expression before, and her mind told her something she refused to believe. She didn't have a chance to debate it either because Sarah's left hand came out of nowhere, struck her across the chin and spun her around three hundred and sixty degrees. Her brain was unable to take that quick and sudden pirouette, and the struggling actress swayed forward and back briefly and fell to the floor in a large heap.

"We have a winner!" Howard stood and cheered with his arms raised. With Sarah shining over Leonard and much of the restaurant diner watching the event, Sheldon was unsure how to act. He looked to his menu, to Penny lying on the floor then to Sarah and Leonard.

"Great… who's taking my order now?!"