Fugitive

Disclaimer: I do not own The Big Bang Theory, just stirrin' up the pot a bit.

*OK i know i already posted this but FF was acting funny yesterday and didnt save the edits i made so here we go again, most of them are from sheldon's POV

Sorry such a late update, had a little thing called a tornado to hide from here in Northeast Texas, nothing like a swirling deadly vortex of rain hail and debris to wake you up from a boring day at work. We know the drill so no worries; hiding in a bathtub with three dogs is what we do every spring. Arlington and Forney got the worst of it, send your prayers or good energy towards them some of them had to evacuate there destroyed homes and stay at shelters if they had no where else to go, here in Greenville we lucked out and it jumped us, so beside a few uprooted trees and a bit of flooding we are safe and sound.

In this chapter, we get to see what the guys think is goin' on and how Sheldon is dealing with all this it may get a little emotional, but what else could I do. I hope you guys like it, it's only the Wednesday after the dinner at the Cheesecake Factory so bear with me, I may take a few chapters before I even get through the week, but all in good time.

Enjoy and as always reviews make my muse happy, and she is a glutton for happiness.

"Do you think he's sick?" Leonard looks over at the other two, wondering what is up with his roommate, he didn't come to work today, and he never misses work if he could help it. The puzzled look on his face leaves his face so squinted he almost trips over the first step of the stairs.

"Mentally perhaps," Howard, ever the optimistic, shrugs his shoulders. There is always a problem with Sheldon, though this is the first lunch in a long time were he didn't have to hear about the history of the napkin or about his train of thought and where it goes.

Raj shaking his head at Howard, "He's not crazy, his mother had him tested," duh, how many times does Sheldon have to say it. He trails behind the other two, when Sheldon is not around he ends up in the back, there is something to be said about even numbers.

Walking onto the second floor landing, "Yeah when he was five," Howard looks at Leonard, "don't you think it's time for another test?" Slightly sarcastic but with some genuine concern seeping in, his voice goes down an octave, "Leonard I think it is time to make the call."

"What? No," he looks off, just slightly considering Howard's words, Sheldon has been acting funny since the other night, "…no, He's probably just stuck or something."

"Yeah on the crazy train," Howard whispers back at Raj.

Raj can't help giggling, "That's ok Sheldon likes trains."

"Was he even working on anything this morning when you left for work?"

"No he was actually on the Disney Channel website, searching boy-bands." Leonard just shakes his head, after all these years he thought he had Sheldon all figured out, now he's not sure what is going on. Getting to the third landing Howard stops and pulls his arm.

"I once heard of a professor who lost his mind and got real quiet and stopped talking to the people around him," he raises is eye brows pointedly at both Leonard and Raj, "and began dressing in drag and then one day…" he claps his hands together and jumps in the air, "BAM! He blew up his lab."

Raj looks visibly shaken from Howard theatrics before he starts walking up the steps this time in front, "did uh, Sheldon say anything last night?"

"No," Leonard looks at Howard like he just killed his puppy, "he was silent the whole way home then he ran straight to his room, he only spoke to Penny,…but that doesn't mean he's gone all 'Norman Bates' on us." He starts walking behind Raj with Howard by his side.

"I guess," looking up at Raj, Howard tries to hide his little smirk, "so uhh, Raj you ok with dating Sheldon's ex?"

"Well now not so much," he was kind of excited to get to go out with a girl, any girl, but does he want to risk Sheldon blowing up their office if he goes on the first date he's had in months? Yeah, I suppose he is.

"Don't listen to him, Sheldon will be fine with you dating Amy, don't worry, he said himself they were just friends."

"You guys don't think that the breaking up with Amy has anything to do with his current weirdness do you?" Raj looks behind, hoping to get his two friends to reassure him that he won't be blown up while going to work.

"What, noooooo Raj," Leonard unconvincingly smiles at his clueless friend. While Howard nods.

Stepping into the apartment, Leonard notices all the lights are off, which is weird considering Sheldon's aversion to not being able to see marauders as they come at you.

"Hello?…Sheldon?" he flips the switch and sees Sheldon sit up on the couch like a shot.

"Danger Danger!" Sheldon looks around and brings his hands up to his face to rub his eyes, letting the sheet fall to his waist.

"Just us Sheldon." Leonard says before he lets his voice die down. Struck a little dumb by his half naked best friend, but like in a totally heterosexual envy sort of way.

"Dude! Is that a tattoo?" Sheldon looks up at Raj and reaches for his Star Wars sheets and raps it around his exposed head and shoulders quickly escaping to his room. Darn Penny and her magic hands, she left him in a state of complete bliss leading him to sleep his whole afternoon and pre-vening away.

"Hey where are you going?" Sheldon just ignores Leonard's insistent questions, he has already wasted so much time, he has a lot to do.

"I guess we're going to the comic book store without him?" Howard looks at both his friends who are all looking after Sheldon's Star Wars cape disappear around the corner of the hall.

Leonard decides to go see what is up with his roommate. He never misses comic book night. Standing in front of the door Leonard knocks, "Sheldon? Aren't you going with us to the comic book store?"

"Leonard, I am busy," talking through the door is not something that Sheldon enjoys doing but he refuses to open it to see the always puzzled look on his friends face. Even if he will never admit it, it does pain him not to tell Leonard about his troubles, but he knows that he will give very little useful advice to his current troubles, but he knows that at least he will listen, but Penny is currently filling that spot.

"Ok, we'll be back later then." Leonard turns around and starts heading to the living room where the other two are waiting.

Standing in front of the comic book bins Howard is quickly flipping through looking for the newest Spiderman, "Got it,(flip) got it, (flip) got it, (flip) got it, (flip) got it, awww perfect, Dr. Who issue #10 Body Snatched." He lifts it out handing it to Leonard, who's standing next to him, "a little omen about our local mad scientist don't cha think?"

Looking at the cover of the comic "What? That's ridiculous, Sheldon's body hasn't been snatched by aliens," he hands the comic back to Howard, who he clearly thinks is starting to find the most obscure things to compare Sheldon too.

"Oh really, when was the last time he willingly broke his schedule without an advanced notice, e-mail, or letter?"

"Well…" he really couldn't remember the last time Sheldon just shut off like this before. "He's not doing anything too crazy, I haven't seen him go through his white boards or break out the loom or try to relocate The Holy Lands and he was just sleeping on the couch when we saw him, nothing crazy about that."

"Yeah those tattoos didn't look strange," Raj interjects while looking at the newest Batman, "or the fact he wasn't wearing a shirt, when have you ever seen him without a shirt, even that night the heat went out in the arctic he still had that thermal on."

"Raj," Howard looks at him pointedly, "we talked about this, that night never happened."

He just looks back at him shaking his head, "get over yourself dude, if I wanted I could get someone way better than you."

"Anyway," he turns his whole body toward Leonard's, "that's how we know he's been taken over, and he's acting completely different." He points out and starts talking with his hands "When Sheldon Cooper gets upset he clings to his routines, and goes through all these crazy tangents and we end up with awesome cookie and baked-good experiments. This body snatcher has him skipping work, sleeping on the couch and has left marks on his body, probably to identify him when the mother ship comes." He counts all his major points on his small hands trying to make his case.

"What? No, he's-he's just uh I don't know, working through a difficulty by reverting to his inner psyche and becoming introverted." After all the years in therapy you would think that he'd be better at analyzing his friend.

"Call it whatever you want, but that is not Sheldon Cooper in that apartment and I believe Penny is behind it," he nods his head, he knows he just made a crucial point, "oh yeah, all the weird sneaking around and everything, they've been spending a lot of time together, don't you think and she didn't answer your questions this morning did she?"

"I'm starting to believe that you're the one that is crazy, not Sheldon." Leonard looks back at the bin. He knows it's all ridiculous but even he knows that Penny is in on it all, even if he doesn't want to believe it.

"I'm just saying."

Meanwhile…

SPOV

"Hello, I…" I can't stand talking on the phone while I am still feeling drained, and this incompetent executive assistant just cut me off and put me on hold.

…this is ridiculous, I've been on hold for far too long, I knows from the website that they are about to leave for the night, so that gives me very little time to get his information. There will definitely be a letter sent to their PR department.

(mwa mwa)

"Yes I would like the contact information for Robert Hurley please,"

(mwa mwa mwaa)

"May I have his personal number?"

(mwa mwa mwa, mwaaaa mwaaa)

"I see, what about his home address?"

This is increasingly frustrating; this woman can give me little to no information, claiming that she has specific orders not to give out his personal information.

"Listen closely; I understand that you only do the bare minimum of the job that you're compensated for, which evidently is beyond your talents, but I need the number to his home here in Pasadena right away, so I suggest that you find a way to use all of the hour training you suffered and underwent for the this job to…he- hello?"

SHE just hung up on me; oh there will definitely be more than one letter to address this Jessica.

Making my way into the living room I sit at my computer to find out as much as I can about Robert Hurley. Entering his name into the search engine I find the same websites that only refer to his professional career, as I did earlier. Not one line about where he resides or how someone may contact him besides his work number.

I go to the next page, then the next, and I can feel the blood drain from my body, that familiar awful pain strikes me right in the chest. I know that its not a heart attack, or pulmonary embolism, though I would gladly welcome those options rather than what I am currently experiencing: pressure, rapid short breaths, goosebumps, and that familiar lump catching me in the throat, because I have felt it before. I click the page and there she is.

The article wasn't very informative; it was the pictures that stopped me. Angela's face was there, I hold no delusions that she was perfect, but she was beautiful. Red hair the color of the sun when it sets over the horizon, though she grew her bangs out and has it in layers instead of the straight geometric cut she had when we were together. She still has the soft pale skin with the few freckles dusted across her nose, i recal finding Cassiopeiae while we were studying one day, she wouldn't allow me to trace them out for her but she would let me follow the dots with my little finger. And those eyes, i thought it highly improbable that i would find another person with those eyes, then I see Lee Ann and now I find myself longing to see those eyes everyday.

Next to her was a picture of the wretched car. The left side was concave to the rest of it. The door was ripped open where it was evident that the rescue crew had to pry it open to get her out. I know the statistics, 44,757 people die a year, that's 1 in every 84 people will perish in a car accident, those numbers give very little solace, was it inevitable, or was it a random occurence of events, that left my daughter alone. My daughter, same red hair, same eyes. I wasnt there to see her grow, help mold her mind or bring her into this universe.

The longer I looked the more my overwhelming sadness transformed into white hot anger. I can't look away, it is my fault, she needed me and I wasn't there to rescue her, I was suppose to be her hero, and I failed. I can feel those hot tears betray me and break through my careful exterior. I grip the mouse to keep my hands from shaking, and fist my other on my knee.

I don't realize how long I am sitting there until I can hear Leonard's keys in the door. Damn these cursed feelings.

Leonard walks in and sees Sheldon sitting at his computer, still as a statue. He doesn't know how to approach him, Sheldon doesn't even turn his head to look at his friends as they walk in with their comic bags in hand. "Hey buddy, got you the new Flash." Sheldon continues to look at the screen, he moves ever so slightly to minimize the page he's on.

"Okay, I'll just put it right here on your desk ok, buddy?" Leonard puts the comic on the edge of the computer desk, so as not to disturb his friend, who obviously is trying to ignore him. Sheldon stands to go to his room, refusing to let Leonard see his face, as he knows that the tears are evident. He quietly grabs the comic, and walks to his room; perhaps the adventures of the Flash will distract him momentarily.

As Leonard looks to the hall, he hears Howard's "Told you." Turning towards the short little man, he just shrugs his shoulders. Maybe the comic will cheer him up.

Knock, knock, knock, "hey Sheldon its 8:03 are you going to come and play Halo?" Standing outside Sheldon's room Leonard knows that he wouldn't miss two things on his schedule if he could help it.

"Leonard I am busy," Sheldon tells him quietly through the door. Leonard can't understand what it is he is hearing in his best friend's voice, it's not exhaustion, or indifference, is it sadness? He knows that he has to bring out the big guns now.

"Okay well if you change your mind we'll be in the living room, okay buddy."

Walking in, he turns one final time towards the hall then back at the other two, "Okay guys I think this is something big, I'll make the call, you know before…BAM!"

After reading the same page of the comic multiple times and not focusing enough to follow the storyline he sets it down. Sheldon's emotions are getting the best of him. He knows that practicing the art of Kolinar will only get him so far, he looks at his watch, 8:30. He can't wait any longer he has to hear Lee Ann's voice, if only to insure her safety. He reaches for his new phone that he picked up this morning and presses in the number of the one he gave her, and brings it to his ear…

"You have reached Dr. Sheldon Cooper please leave a…" he looks down at the phone, perhaps she is unable to speak. He wait's a few more minutes then tries again…

"You have reached Dr. Sheldon Cooper…" he pulls down to look at the screen, he knows that the other phone is still connected he specifically told the clerk to add a line not replace it. He wait's a few more minutes there is clearly a reason why she doesn't answer, but it doesn't help the tightening that is reeking havoc across his chest, or the heavy breathing he can't seem to control. He tries again…

"You have reached…" he sits on the edge of his bed and feels the control slip through his hands like a sieve. He has no way of speaking to her other than that phone.

He stands up and then sits back down, he stands up walking around his room them sits once more; he doesn't know what to do next. He can feel the fear seeping its ways in. How do common humans deal with such things? Emotions can be very illogical, because for some unknown reason all he currently want to do is throw the phone out the window, good thing he's a man of logic.

POV

I spent the whole afternoon window shopping, looking at things that I know I can't afford. And I saw the cutest dresses and shoes in the young girls' departments. All the bright colors were so addicting that I had to look through to see what new styles were in.

I wonder what kind of clothes Lee Ann likes to wear. Last week at the restaurant she was in neon tights with high tops and black shorts, with the cutest rainbow leopard print top. And her arms covered in those jelly crazy bands. But yesterday she wore a trench coat, a fedora and glasses. Who knows, thirteen is the best age, you can practically wear anything and no one can tell you anything.

I'm ready to go upstairs and relax, i've been out since 3, I know its Halo night so the guys are all probably glued to their controls right now, I wonder if Sheldon is playing.

Walking in to the lobby I start heading towards the stairs when I see someone in a pink and black tracksuit, gloves on with her hoodie up, and a large bag hanging on her shoulder, staring at the mail boxes.

"Hi, can I help you?" When she turns around I recognize Lee Ann right away despite that she has all her red hair tucked in her hood.

"Lee Ann is that you, sweetie?" I walk towards her holding out my arms for a hug. She smiles and comes towards me.

"Hi Penny, yeah it's me." Giving me a quick hug she looks up at me and I pull back her hoodie so that I can get a better look at her. Very pretty, now I can see Sheldon in her face, she does have his chin and his eyebrows.

I look around the lobby there is no one else. "What are you doing hear? Oh my God! Are you alone?" This little girl is a fugitive again.

"Well technically I'm not alone..." is she really trying to talk her way out answering me with technicalities.

"Lee Ann." I give her my best 'mom' look, something I didn't even know I had.

"Yeah, I came by myself," she looks down biting her lips. "I came to see da…um."

"Your dad right, yeah he told me about that, uhhh, okay," I close my eyes for a second, Sheldon is going to have a fit, Lee Ann is on the lam again and who knows who might show up to get her. "Alright let's go up stairs, to my apartment and I will go get your dad, ok."

"Why can't we go to his apartment?" She starts to follow me up the stairs.

"Well his friends are over and they don't know about all this yet, and I don't want their heads to implode." God now we have to tell the guys, there is no way they're going to believe this.

"Okaaaaaaay," she scrunches her little eyebrows together, this poor girl is going to have the weirdest night ever. Hhhhhhhaaaaaa, Okay, here we go.

Alright guys let me know how you're feeling about this chapter, what you like what you don't, and let me know how you think the guys will react.

Review review review, thanks everyone for sticking with me.