A/N: This prelude to the 2 part Climax comes today as the stage sets itself up for the final battle. Enjoy.
11: Flashlight
August 16, 2015 100 Days Gone.
It had been 100 Days. 100 Fateful Days since Sheldon last viewed the love of his life Amy Farrah Fowler. 14 weeks since he witnessed the explosion that took her life. 3 months since he held the ring in his hand. Now as he stared at the spot on the wall where the sword was taken he held one simple thought.
"Why did Leonard go with Oathkeeper."
The insurance policy provided by Stuart allowed for their stolen sword to be replaced. However as Stuart had a budget when it came to the revival of his comic book store the closet thing they could get was a replica of Oathkeeper. The sword of Gwendolyn Christie on the show.
"He had the chance to go with Orcist and it passed him right by."
Now he stared hard at one date he had circled, Tuesday the 18th. The day that Lan said to meet her employer in Palo Alto. While Sheldon stared at the calendar, Leonard and Penny came out of the bedroom.
"Sheldon, you still thinking on going up to Palo?"
"Our sword was stolen and now I have to get it back. May I remind you what happened the last time my stuff got stolen."
"You ran away to Bozeman Montana and promptly got your bags stolen."
"No the other time."
"You fell asleep on the train and got your bags stolen."
"No, if you remember Penny you Roshamboed Todd Zarnecki for swiping Glenn out of my hands."
"Roshamboed?"
"Sheldon finally watched South Park for the first time last week. Now he really doesn't like construction paper."
Sheldon looked hard at the sword on the wall wrapping his brain around recent events. Why did this have to happen now, after things had been going so well with his life. Until something buried long ago decided to rear itself at the least needed time.
"It feels like something is missing here." Penny came up behind him and handed him his standard hot beverage to cheer him up.
"What else can be missing?"
"100 Days ago before Amy died, did you get something from her?"
"Now that you mention it..." Penny ran across the hall slamming the door and within 20 seconds came back doing the 3 knocks.
"Guys…guys…guys!"
She discovered the door was already opened and rushed in slamming down an envelope on the table. The envelope had the word Bestie written in aqua blue ink. Sheldon gagged at the sight of it.
"Penny when did you get this."
"After we got home from the hospital I found this under my door on my carpet. For obvious reasons we kept this away from you. Plus with her being dead we thought this was a moot point anyway."
"Wait if that was for you then…" Leonard rushed for the closet dug for a minute then popped out with a paper stack and one very familiar piece of jewelry. As he set it down next to the envelope Sheldon once again as in shock.
"Amy's Tiara?"
"Yeah, that night your door was left open and we discovered it on your bed on top of your relationship agreement with her."
The relationship agreement he had formed with her back in December of 2011. After converting to digital on all his documents he'd forgotten the paper ones that were still with the original owners. Now Sheldon's face turned into a mixture of confusion betrayal and rage.
"How could you guys do this to me?"
"Sheldon this wasn't a betrayal, believe you me we'd know if we had betrayed you cause you would be rubbing our faces in it. Besides this is a moot point anyway with Amy being gone and your new relationship with Martha."
"Penny, this means that Amy may be alive."
Leonard and Penny stopped dead in their tracks to gag. Meanwhile like Jennifer Lawrence before did Sheldon's face went from sadness and anger to flat out rage. He was now in control of what he wanted to do.
"I'm going to Palo."
"Sheldon act reasonable about this."
"Leonard, I've lost so much this summer. I'm not about to lose something else, not when everything for me was beginning to recover. This is a fight I intend to win."
As Penny and Martha both whimpered at the thought if Sheldon going on a vendetta. Leonard pondered his wording.
"A fight he intends to win?"
5 Hours Later.
While assisting Lan with vacuuming the carpet Eli prepped the remaining guest rooms. Move in day was in a mere 48 hours. After they had gotten Cooper taken care of it would be time to welcome in the newest members of the house. Eli's phone then went off breaking her concentration.
"What the…"
Eli went over while Lan kept her concentration up. With one look at her screen the face on Eli switched to determination.
"Lan once the rooms are complete, seal them off and ready the rear. Our guest is going to be arriving soon."
"At once Ms. Nozomi."
Lan sped along in the room while Eli went to the window and looked at the sunset. It seemed like the pendulum of choice had finally swung back around. Revenge was not on the forefront of her mind, all Eli wanted was for him to endure a fate worse than death.
"Tell me Lee…Do You Bleed?"
August 18, 2015 102 Days Gone.
3:55 P.M. 15 Miles outside of Palo Alto.
"Thank you for driving me up here…"
"Oh no problem, but why me."
"Oh Bernadette its simple…everyone else was busy."
"Are you sure you want to do this, can't you just let the police handle it."
"No, this is something that I have to handle alone."
"Well what do you want me to do?"
"If the worst happens to me grab the rest of the gang, and come back up here in 2 days."
"Ok…"
The drive putting them closer and closer to Stanford set the wheels of an endgame in motion of Sheldon. Win or lose, he was not going to let another failure define him.
A/N: What will happen to Sheldon as he finally comes face to face with Lan? The two part Climax begins with Chapter 12: Cheerleader: Part 1 Blackwater. 3 Chapters to go.
