Chapter Ten: Time Paradox

All week, Olive has had to put up with an over-excited Mary Cooper talking at her non-stop. Dresses, centre-pieces, venues, ministers, vows, guests, bridesmaids, maid of honour…Shelly has chosen Leonard to be his best man. No surprises there – Leonard is Shelly's best friend. Olive has called up a few of her old friends and asked them to be bridesmaids for her. Now, as she lies stretched out on the couch with her Shellybear watching Doctor Who, is the first time she's just been alone with him for a while.

"There's more work in planning a wedding than I had anticipated," Shelly muses, turning the volume down, "I wish I had a time machine. Then we could just go forward to the actual day of the wedding."

"Time travel is impossible."

Sheldon pauses the tv and stares at her.

"Of course it's possible!"

"Oh yeah?" Olive raises one eyebrow playfully. "And how would you go about building a time machine?"

"Well, if I invented a time machine in the future, I would just come back in time and give it to myself."

"That's a time paradox."

"What?"

"Well, if future you comes back to give present you this time machine, then future you would have no reason to build it. Therefore, the time machine would not exist. And, if it did exist, where did it come from? Did it just materialise?"

Sheldon looks thoughtful for a moment.

"Touché," he says dryly, and then breaks out into a smile. He loves their little debates. Even when he loses.

"Hey, Missy's e-mail said that your mom had some kind of engagement present for us. Do you know what it is?"

Sheldon pauses for a second.

"Actually, I do."

"Well, what is it?"

Sheldon gets up and leaves the room, when he returns he's clutching a small velvet box.

"These have been in my family for many years." He opens the box and shows Olive the diamond wedding ring and plain gold wedding band inside. He hears Olive's sharp intake of breath. "Are you alright?"

"I just…you're too perfect, Shelly. I'm just so happy we're going to be together forever."

He sets the rings down on the table and kisses her. A year ago, he wouldn't have believed this possible. Human relationships? Scary, baffling, confusing. A series of random, disjointed interactions.

But.

He's never been able to forget the summer with Olive. The days at the zoo, the park, the café on the corner, the comic book store. And now, they've already made so many more memories. Meals at the cheesecake factory, at the Chinese, the Thai place. Shopping, the dinner-dance with the university. Maybe he can ride the bus now, now that she's here to hold his hand. When she's there, there's nothing to be afraid of.

"I love you," she whispers.

"I love you, too."

She rests her hand on his chest, and with every beat of his heart she realises the truth of it. He raises his own hand, and they feel each others' heartbeats, and wonder how they could have possibly gotten so lucky.

XXX

Lucille is possibly the sweetest old lady Olive has ever met. It's clear she loves Shelly as much as Olive does. And it's also clear Shelly loves her back. One day, when Olive is out dress shopping with Penny and Mary, Sheldon sits at the kitchen counter and watches his Meemaw cook, just like he used to.

"She's some girl, Shelly," Lucille says as she moves the first tier of the wedding cake from the oven to the counter.

"I love her, Meemaw."

"And that's all that matters."

"What do you think of her?"

"Well I gotta be honest, Shelly, when I first met her it seemed like you two were complete opposites," Lucille starts the complicated and finicky icing process, "I mean, she's impulsive, loud and fun. You're a little more reserved and thoughtful. But then I realised that you need her to drag you out of your shell, and she needs you because, well, just because you're the one she's meant to be with, and she knows it. At the risk of sounding overly sentimental, you two…complete each other."

Sheldon sits in silence, thinking it over. She might be right. He's always thought that the one-person-for-everyone theory was ridiculous, but…

"She understands me."

Lucille stops, rests a hand on her sweet, if a little crazy, grandson's shoulder.

"And that, Shelly, is invaluable."

XXX

That night Sheldon is sitting in bed, reading. Well, more accurately, he is scribbling, making changes to an early draft of his newest paper. Olive stands in the ensuite bathroom with the door open, massaging some kind of cream into her skin. Sheldon starts watching her and finds it hypnotic.

"What are you doing?" He asks, intrigued.

"Its moisturiser, Shelly," Olive laughs. She pads back into the bedroom, releases her hair from its plaits and starts brushing it out slowly.

"What did Leonard say when you asked him to be your best man?" She asks.

"He was either shocked, or nauseated," Sheldon muses. Olive chuckles. Her Shellybear. She just can't wait to marry him…

"Sheldon, can I ask you something?"

"Yes, of course."

"What do you think about having kids?"

Sheldon bites back his usual retort of I think any number of things. You'll have to be more specific. He knows what she means.

"I think I would like that. Not at the moment, but in time."

Olive smiles brightly at him, throws her arms around his neck.

"Yeah. In time."

XXX

Leonard can't get over the thought of Sheldon getting married. It's…such a grown up thing to do. And Sheldon, in so many ways, still seems like a child.

Will he and Penny ever get married? He just doesn't know. He thinks, maybe one day, when they're closer, and ready, then they will. He hopes.

He finishes proof-reading Sheldon's paper and flicks off the light, retreating into sleep.

XXX

Sheldon likes to watch Olive sleep. She's so perfect.

He brushes a piece of hair out of her face, kisses her gently on the forehead in a tender motion. He thinks she would make a good mother. Will he make a good father? He hopes so. He settles down and organizes his thoughts. Right now, he wants three things. He wants to marry Olive. He wants to win a Nobel Prize. He wants to be the father of Olive's children.