Disclaimer: I do not own the Big Bang Theory, or any of the characters, except Olive.
A/N: Yes. Last chapter. XXX will signify a break this chapter, as I have a feeling there will be a few of them.
Chapter nine: Until We Meet Again
It takes a great effort for Sheldon to fall asleep that night. He just has...a feeling that something was wrong. He is a believer in logic, in facts, and he does not trust feelings; so why is he so tense and nervous?
There is a thunderstorm that night too.
XXX
When Olive gets home, her mother is sitting at the kitchen table, waiting for her.
"Mom, is everything ok?" She asks, worried.
"We're getting out," Alice says seriously, "tonight. Pack a bag. Take only what you can carry. And please, Olive, be quick."
She knows she can't protest. It's not fair to her mother, to trap her in this hell. She moves swiftly to a room and retrieves her high school backpack from the bottom of her wardrobe. She surveys her possessions. How does she pack her whole life into this one bag?
Outside, the thunder rumbles menacingly.
She sits down at her desk, opens her log, and starts to write.
XXX
Sheldon tosses and turns. He's having a nightmare in which he is sitting alone on a wide beach. It is too hot, but the ocean is lapping at his toes and keeping him cool. It goes out, it comes in, it goes out, it comes in, it goes out. And this time it stays out. It keeps receding, until it is so far away that he cannot see it.
Now the sun gets hotter, and he has nothing to cool him down.
XXX
Olive has tears in her eyes as she sticks down the last piece of tape and scribbles Sheldon's name onto the brown parcel paper. Fingers the "emerald" necklace at her throat.
She starts shoving clothes into the bag, anything that comes to hand. She doesn't bother to fold. She doesn't care what she's putting in. She slips in a few of her more valuable comic books. Socks. Underwear. A spare pair of converse. Her makeup bag with her toothbrush and some toothpaste. Finally, she carefully places the photo booth picture of herself and her Shellybear.
She sits on her bed and cries.
XXX
Sheldon awakens, bathed in sweat, to the squealing of a car engine, racing into the night.
With an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach, he drifts back into uneasy sleep.
XXX
When morning dawns, and Sheldon wakes up, Missy is sitting at the foot of his bed with a steaming mug of tea. There is a huge, hastily wrapped package at her feet.
"I brought you tea, Shelly."
"You have never brought me tea in bed before Missy. I suspect this is a preface for some kind of important discussion."
Her eyes fill with...is it pity? Sheldon isn't sure.
"This was at the front door, Shelly." She picks up the package and, standing up, sets it down. "And...mom heard from some neighbours that Olive and her mother left late last night. With a lot of their stuff. And they haven't come back. I'll leave you alone to open that."
She glances once more at the package on her brother's bed, and retreats from the room. She shuts herself up in her own bedroom, where she bursts into tears for him. That girl made him happy. Would that ever happen for him again?
Cold fear has seized Sheldon's heart. He sets down the scalding tea, rips into the package.
Inside is a selection of items that, to anyone else, would just look like a random assortment of objects with no connection to one another. But Sheldon isn't anyone else.
His fingers slide across the fluffy head of Shellybear, the shiny cover of a Blur LP called Leisure, ticket stubs from the zoo and the fairground, Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham...and a fat, battered notebook with "Olive's Log" written on the cover in purple glitter marker. He flicks through the pages, dazed, looking for some explanation. On the second to last page the words "dear Sheldon" jump out at him.
Dear Sheldon,
I have to leave. I have no choice, and I need to explain.
My dad hits my mom. He has done for a long time. He used to hit me, but then they started noticing at school and he stopped. But now my mom wants to run, and she won't leave me behind. So I have to go with her. Because she's my mom.
I don't know where we're going. I want to visit you, but I know mom won't let me anywhere near this place. Not while he's still here. But I will come back and find you, Shellybear. Someday.
I won't ever forget you. I may be selfish, but I don't want you to forget me either. That's why I gave you this stuff – partly because I couldn't take it with me, and partly because I didn't want it forgotten, and, most importantly, because I want you to remember me.
"Day of the Triffids" is the book I was reading when we first met, the blur record has "There's No Other Way" on it – that will always be our song. So get a record player and play it, and try not to be too sad.
I love you. You have made me so happy – happier than I have been in a long time. You are the only one I will ever love, and, until we meet again Shellybear, I'm going to miss you more than you can imagine.
Love, forever,
Olive. XX
Sheldon's hands were shaking as he turns to the next page. There, he finds a list.
Nine Things Olive Morrison Never Told Sheldon Cooper, And Should Have
Sheldon is the only boy Olive has ever loved.
Sheldon is the only boy Olive will ever love.
Sheldon is the only boy Olive has ever kissed.
Olive listened to "There's No Other Way" at least once a day every day after they danced at the fairground.
After she saw Sheldon's room, Olive tidied hers so that it would be more like his.
Olive hugged Shellybear the teddy bear at least once a day every day after the real Shellybear won him for her.
Olive wore the necklace Sheldon got her every day, and she will continue to wear it every day until they meet again.
Olive will never stop fighting to be with Sheldon, will never stop searching for him.
Sheldon's breath catches and he feels tears prick the back of his eyes. He is shaking all over.
Olive is gone.
He allows himself to cry for five minutes. Then he tidies himself, eats breakfast with his family in silence, and returns to his bedroom, where he applies himself fully to his work.
XXX
In the following months, Sheldon concentrates all his efforts on his work. Missy watches and is heartbroken for him.
He is scared of bears, yet that giant teddy has now taken up permanent residence in his bedroom. He doesn't like music, but he bought a small record player, although Missy has never heard him play a single song. Sometimes, when Missy goes into his bedroom, she finds him staring at a dog-eared notebook with "Olive's Log" written on the front in glitter marker.
Now he has banned her from entering his room.
Missy can only watch, and hope that maybe, someday, things will work out for him.
I am colon opening bracket now, but I am comforted by the fact that Sheldon and Olive will be reunited in the sequel, which I am just about to start work on. Anyway, I just wanted to say a great big thank you to everyone who reviewed – without you I might have given up chapters ago.
