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Part Ten: And Then There Was Pie

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Car transmissions sometimes overheat. Usually, it's at the most inopportune times.

Thirty miles outside of Waterloo, Nebraska, three men stood around a steaming vehicle trying to will it to a cooler temperature with the force of their minds. Of course, if the snow wasn't doing much to help, then their brain power was surely being wasted.

"Well, Rajesh the mechanic?" Howard said. "How do we fix this?"

Raj shrugged. "No idea, man. Call a tow truck."

"Ah, but we're so close to Penny's!" cried Leonard, throwing his hands in the air.

At that moment, there was the sound of loud honking and a large eighteen wheeled truck that was headed in the opposite direction pulled over to the side of the road. The driver opened his door and said, "You all right there, boys?"

"Yeah, fine, we're just on our way to Waterloo—"

"Waterloo? I just came from there!" The driver yelled back. "You boys know a Doctor Sheldon Cooper, PhD?"

Howard, Leonard, and Raj shared a glance.

"Depends," cried Howard, "Is it a good thing or a bad thing?"

Greg the truck driver laughed heartily. "Climb on in, boys! I need to give that boy back a little something anyhow!"

As the three scientists moved towards the truck, Howard said, "I hope this isn't his revenge for whatever the hell Sheldon did to him."

"Calm down, Howard," said Leonard. "Maybe Sheldon made a new friend."

All three men didn't last long before they burst into laughter.

"Good one, Leonard," said Raj, wiping tears from his eye.

"Thanks," chuckled Leonard. "Now, let's go."

Sheldon sat in the back of Julie's car as she drove him and Penny back to Waterloo. Tommy had long disappeared, possibly back to the farm. Behind Julie's car was a bus full of a very large extended family that had all stopped at the grocery store to grab ingredients for an impromptu potluck.

Sheldon didn't mind the ride back to Penny's home; he appreciated being able to relax and enjoy the sights of the country road. There was something peaceful about the white landscape rolling by outside the window, dotted only by a few dark shadows of telephone poles. He watched Penny in the front seat, chatting and laughing with her sister, who had the same blonde hair, the same green eyes. But not Penny's smile, or little nose, or way of pushing her hair out of her face. He felt himself grow strangely, thankfully tired, and he actually fell asleep.

The doors opening and closing is what finally woke him when they arrived at the farm. Penny opened his door and rubbed his shoulder and he staggered out into the late afternoon air. The bus passengers flooded out into the front yard, and Penny's parents came outside looking worried. Penny and Julie explained everything quickly and with a laugh, and suddenly, the old farmhouse was full of people laughing, joking and eating pie.

As evening fell, Penny curled up next to Sheldon on the couch.

"I've never seen you so personable," she said softly in his ear.

"I've been exhausted. I've barely said two words all night."

"Exactly." She smiled and kissed him on the cheek.

There was a loud knocking on the door, and Barbara went and opened it. Three shivering, snow-covered men stood there, smiling and stamping their feet.

"Leonard?" Sheldon stood up in surprise. "Howard? Raj? What are you doing here?"

"Hey buddy!" Howard said. "Wow. Now that we're here, I'd have to say, Nebraska's not worth it."

"Just tell me," said Leonard, "You two got back together, right?"

"Yep!" Penny replied cheerfully.

"Then you'll need this." Leonard smiled weakly and tossed a small box in Sheldon's direction. Sheldon reached out for it, but it tumbled over and over in his hands as he tried to awkwardly catch it. Finally, he managed to clasp it to his chest with his forearms, then looked at it in wonder.

"This is—" Sheldon looked up at Leonard. "How did you—?"

"Your friend gave it to us," said Leonard. "Merry Christmas."

Sheldon silently handed the box to Penny. She opened it and let out a squeal. "Awesome! Check it out!"

It seemed to materialize on her ring finger almost instantly as her mother and Julie and several bus passengers crowded around to look at the engagement ring.

"That's it?" asked Julie. "That little thing?"

"I think it's nice," said Barbara.

"It is nice," said Penny in defense.

"I thought you said he was psychic, don't they make a lot of money?" Julie asked.

"Not psychic, a physicist," replied Penny.

"Well, don't they make any money?"

"That's not important!" shouted Penny. "What's important is that we love each other. Right, sweetie?"

Even as Penny was turning around, she knew Sheldon wouldn't be there to answer. He was engaged in a heavy argument with Howard, Raj, and Leonard, over something that sounded like planks. They were all equally animated, eyes wide, hand gestures illustrating their points. A teenaged girl started to get into it, pointing at her iPhone, causing Sheldon to make an exasperated expression.

Penny sighed, but then smiled.

"Yep," she said. "Things are definitely back to normal."

Her mother rubbed her shoulder softly and her sister patted her arm.

"Only now I'm getting married! Suck it sis!" Penny stuck out her tongue and waved the ring in Julie's face.

This started another argument between the girls their mother tried desperately to settle.

The house was full of shouts, laughter, and conversation. Outside, the noises grew dimmer, and the snow fell a little heavier.

And somewhere out there, a truck driver named Greg added one Doctor Sheldon Cooper, PhD, as his friend on Facebook.

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The End

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AUTHOR'S NOTES: Short version: There will be yet another sequel! It will be called "A Shot in the Dark."

Long Version: The original inspiration for this was just an image that popped into my head of Sheldon proposing to Penny in the snow. Unfortunately, they live in Pasadena, where it very rarely, if ever, snows. So! Creative solution: Have them go to Nebraska! Of course!

I also wanted Penny to be the one to propose, and these two ideas conflicted horribly. I always wanted to write a girl being the one to do the asking, but I'm such a traditionalist that it just never happens in what I write. But Penny seemed to be perfect for it! Unfortunately, to get them to Nebraska to fill my earlier head vision I had to have Sheldon reject her, which turned out to just be a wacky misunderstanding! (You should really be reading these notes in a silly voice to get the full effect.)

Then the road trip idea set in. Sheldon needed to end up hitchhiking, but his other options had to be closed to him first. The real reason why Sheldon is on the no-fly list will actually be revealed in the next fic, believe it or not. I did moderate research on the route, nothing too involved. Waterloo's a real place, and a real suburb of Omaha. It is one thousand, five hundred thirty-two miles from their canonical address of 2311 North Los Robles Avenue in Pasadena to Waterloo. Nowhere specific in Waterloo, just the town itself.

I have no idea if bears are native to southern Utah, which is why I had Raj question it.

This is the first time I tried to work in a subplot, hope I handled it well. The original idea was to have the boys actually be kidnapped by a lady burglar, but I thought it would be funnier if they just talked about it.

The truck driver character could have went a lot of ways – creepy, redneck, creepy redneck, wise old sage who gives him life advice, but the idea of armchair physicist seemed like a new one. Also, the driver is named Greg after my grandfather who is a truck driver in real life and spends his time on the road listening to audiobooks. He's not really into science, though. And I supposedly inherited my sense of humor from him, so take that as you will.

The physics Sheldon and Greg discuss are real concepts, and Penrose and Witten are real people. However, I BS'ed it a LOT. I tried to keep it relatively simple, but whether or not the Planck scale is a subject of debate is purely speculative. As far as I can tell, it is a universally accepted measure of quantum gravity.

I don't have an iPhone, or a Droid. I don't have a mobile phone at all, actually. The only reason I had Sheldon say what he did about the iPhone is that in canon he does despise technology that is user friendly.

As for the next fic, "A Shot in the Dark," well . . . well. It won't be terribly shippy. It is actually going to be different enough from the other fics in this series that you could skip over it, but it is part of this series for real. I guess. What I'm trying to say is it will be an actiony adventure type fic. Penny and Sheldon will be the main characters, though, and the will be engaged, but there will be a lot more focus on adventure than their relationship, although their relationship will be a key factor. So basically . . . read it if you want. But you were going to do that anyway . . . well, I don't know what I'm trying to say. You get the idea, right?

Okay. Thank you for reading. You are all amazing. I can't express my gratitude enough that people actually like this. Awesome. Just awesome.