The Cooper Hofstadter Dynamic
"Seeing the blue whales?" Penny took the stairs of their shared apartment block two at a time, having to work hard to keep with the rhythmic march of Sheldon.
"Nope"
"Bungee Jumping from the Golden Gate?
He didn't even justify her latest suggestion with an answer, settling instead for a don't be so absurd glare. This caused Penny to pause, face scrunched in thought. Slowly the somewhat pained expression transformed into a subtle but triumphant smirk. She took the next four steps at an even faster pace, catching up to Sheldon on the penultimate landing to their own.
"I've got it Sheldon!" she announced with aplomb, beaming from ear to ear.
"Really Penny, must you insist on this silly guessing game when we are mere moments from the apartment." He was clearly trying his best to be stern because she had done nothing but make silly suggestions since they had left the restaurant, he could not however completely suppress the playful note in his voice.
"Fine" Penny continued to smirk.
"Good". Sheldon agreed, reaching for the doorknob of 4A and crossing the threshold. It wasn't late, but he was still surprised to see Leonard sat in his usual armchair without so much as the T.V. switched on. For a moment he was greeted by the feeling he used to get when his mother caught him trying to sneak the microwave in order to try and build a x-ray machine.
"Good evening Leonard" He greeted his roommate, whose eyes immediately flicked to focus on the new arrival.
"Hey Sheldon…" he seemed tired. "…can we talk?"
At this point Penny bundled into the room behind the tall Texan, her usual bundle of energy and optimism crashing head on with Leonard's quite apparent currently dejected mood.
"Hey Leonard!" Penny's voice pitched with excitement. 'Guess what."
Leonard stood up from his chair, quick to hide the look of pained annoyance, which flashed across his face, replacing it with his usual lopsided grin and ringing his hands.
"What?" he feigned interest, sure it would just be another tale about one of the Cheesecake factories.
"Sheldon wrote a bucket List" the blonde produced the piece of paper from her pocket with a flourish. It was folded neatly, no perfectly in half, all the edges lined up.
Typical Sheldon.
Penny flicked the paper open and quickly skim read the list.
Have a proper Date with Amy.
Penny could already feel herself welling up and that was only the first line.
Visit the Cern Super Collider.
This one made perfect sense, even to a relative science illiterate, that place was some sort of Mecca for physicists.
Get Vince Young's Autograph.
This one caused Penny to raise an eyebrow, as a football fan she knew all about VY, what she couldn't fathom was what it meant to Sheldon, given this particular Lone Star son's lack of interest in football.
Make it to Howard and Bernadette's wedding.
This time Penny could not stop tears leaking, rolling down her cheeks, she swiftly drug a sleeve over her face. Once she could see through her bleary eyes again, she was met with the expectant stare of Dr. Hofstadter.
She tried to put what she had just read into words, but found herself unable to, chocking at the mere thought. Instead she simply folded the paper over once more before handing it over to her ex boyfriend, and stopping only to hug the author, leaving 4A, assumedly for 4B.
Leonard watched her leave silently before turning his attention to the note she had just handed to him. Sheldon meanwhile made his way over to his spot, almost staggering before flopping into the brown leather centerpiece of 4A. He had not meant for his list to shock her, but he felt the least helpful course of action was to chase after her trying to justify it.
His dear friend and roommate meanwhile had just finished scanning the list for a second time. In all honestly it wasn't what he expected the so called great mind of Dr. Sheldon Lee Cooper to come up with. If anything, the goals before him were well, pretty ordinary. Ordinary stuff an extraordinary man had never had a chance to do. He opened his mouth, as if to speak, before thinking better of it, instead, he went back to his seat. They sat there in silence for several long moments. Sheldon vacantly staring somewhere into the distance. In truth he was thinking about how he could approach Penny Tomorrow. Leonard meanwhile was propping his head on is elbow, searching for the right place to start this conversation.
"So, the super collider, you still caught up on that?"
Eyes narrowed, Sheldon took a moment to decide how to approach the question as Leonard's tone was edging on accusatory.
"In so much as I still wish to visit the tremendous monument to human scientific endeavor, yes I am, how you say hung up on it."
Leonard raised a bushy eyebrow, peering over his glasses.
"And you've asked Penny because I couldn't take you?" there was no possibility about it now, he was clearly annoyed, though, he thought justifiably for once, the reason was completely lost on Sheldon.
"On the contrary, it was Penny who asked me to write the list, it is far from certain with her commitments that she will be involved in all activities." Sheldon had rose from his seat as the volume of his voice had also risen. "…And the fact that something you deprived me of appears on there is mere coincidence."
Leonard watched helplessly as his longtime friend continued. "You truly believe I have time for grudges Leonard?" his voice softened now, almost a whisper.
"I'm sorry Sheldon, Its just while you were out, I was thinking." Leonard looked up at the taller man, almost pleading. "You know what's….happening its kinda opened my eyes.
Slowly Sheldon lowered himself back in his seat, continent for now, just to listen, while for his part Leonard was quite happy to talk. And talk he did. About how Sheldon's illness made him feel, how he worried what he'd do once he was alone in the apartment. How he was disappointed that he wasn't the first one to pick up on Sheldon's illness. How he would do whatever he could to make sure he was able to help over the next few months, with the list and otherwise.
As Sheldon continued to listen and occasionally offer an obligatory nod of agreement he couldn't help but notice an over-arcing theme. Penny. He sighed, knowing exactly where this conversation was leading.
"And its because of all this, I think I should try and make another go of things with Penny…" he finally finished, his eyes searching for some semblance of agreement or approval from his present company.
"While I thank you for your apology, and I understand your apprehension, I am hardly the person to come too for relationship advice." He rose from his seat, ready to head for the comfort of his bed, but paused as he saw leonards smiling face falter.
"What I will say is that situations like this, which shorten your time, against your strongest instinct, they shouldn't make you rush, quite the opposite…You should slow down and savor the time you have." Feeling that was suitably philosophical, he was gone.
That night, Sheldon found acceptable REM sleep impossible to achieve. His conversation with Leonard bringing about a million questions to which he had no answers. He didn't know how long he had left, he didn't know how well the group would operate without him. He certainly didn't know if Penny still harbored feelings for Leonard, or whether them being together was the best outcome for all parties involved.
What he did know is that he had one more item to add to his little list.
Make sure Leonard and Penny are Happy.
A/N I had a little more time than I thought, so managed to get this chapter done. Everyone is dealing with the news a different way. Sheldon with quiet acceptance, Penny with anger and then a strange optimism, Raj with denial. Now Leonard, let me start by saying I'm not a big Leonard fan, I think he's underhand, selfish and takes things for granted, but there is someone decent in there when he's not busy looking out for number one. I tried to reflect that opinion here.
Maybe you agree maybe you don't, either way I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
