A/N: This is kind of a joining chapter. Enjoy!
Chapter Eleven: Ink
"I should like to take the next two weeks off work. I am getting married."
Doctor Gabelhauser almost chokes on his coffee.
"You're doing what, Doctor Cooper?"
"I'm going home to Texas to get married."
Gabelhauser regards the tall, skinny man in front of him. Cooper is a brilliant scientist, however much he hates to admit it. If he weren't, he would have fired him a long time ago. Actually, if he recalled correctly, he did once.
"I'm happy to let you have time off, Doctor Cooper, but I must be honest, I never thought of you as the type to get married."
"Neither did I," Cooper shrugs, "but I am." And then he breaks out into a smile, and Gabelhauser feels as though he is seeing the man for the first time. "I should be back on the twenty-seventh," Cooper adds, before retreating from the room. Gabelhauser sits back in his chair, thinking. Cooper? No, it's impossible. He's probably just using the marriage thing as an excuse to get off work for some reason. Even if it is, Gabelhauser doesn't care. He's more than happy to be rid of him for a few weeks.
XXX
"Hey guys, how was work?" Olive asks as Leonard and Sheldon come in the door. Penny has gone to pick up the Thai food already, since between them they have everyone's standard order memorised.
"Oh, it was excellent," Shelly says excitedly, putting his messenger bag down on his desk chair, "I think I'm nearing a breakthrough."
"That's great honey," Olive hugs him, "now come on,we're leaving for Texas tomorrow and we still have to pack."
"Maybe you do," Sheldon huffs.
"You do, too, Leonard." Olive reminds her other roommate as she drags Shelly into their bedroom. Sheldon picks up his laptop from where he's left it on the bed and turns it on.
"What are you doing?" Olive raises one eyebrow. "We're supposed to be packing."
"I am," Sheldon says simply, as he waits for his laptop to power up. Olive shakes her head and opens the wardrobe. She begins to throw clothes into her old suitcase. Jeans, t-shirts, shorts, day dresses, short evening dresses, skirts, cardigans, one of Shelly's old shirts that she likes to sleep in. Across the room, Sheldon is tapping away at his keyboard.
"Alright, its summer so it'll be fairly warm in Texas…then our honeymoon is in Barcelona, so warm again…duration two weeks…" Sheldon is more talking to himself than Olive. He finishes typing in the information. "There, now my computer has assembled a packing list for me." Shelly smiles, proud of himself. Olive laughs, kisses her genius boy. Like Penny says, he is a complete whackadoodle. And she loves all of him, even the weirdness, the neurotic behaviours, and the nerd-ness.
Her mama always used to say, you should never love someone in spite of something. You should love them because of it. Olive never understood that until she met Shelly.
XXX
"Leonard, are you ready to go?" Penny bounds up to her boyfriend's bedroom door and knocks impatiently.
"Almost," Leonard calls back, stuffing the last pair of socks into his suitcase. He drags the heavy bag out into the corridor with some difficulty, and then feels his face redden when Penny lifts it along with hers as if it weighs no more than a feather. She looks cute in a pair of denim shorts and a floral t-shirt under a striped cardigan that she borrowed from Olive. Her blonde hair is tied up in a ponytail underneath her baseball cap.
"C'mon, the guys and Olive are waiting downstairs." Penny leads the way out of the apartment. Leonard picks up his messenger bag from the kitchen counter and remembers to grab his keys on the way out of the door before following Penny down the stairs. The group have decided to drive to Texas. Instead of taking two cars, Howard has volunteered to drive alone on his scooter. Mary and Lucille have already gone ahead by train. Sheldon and Howard are discussing how they are going to get five suitcases into the decidedly small trunk of Olive's mini (it's not like Howard can take his suitcase on his Vespa). Penny solves the problem by shoving and kicking at all of the suitcases until they fit, although Sheldon protests because Olive will be unable to see out of the rear windscreen. Eventually, after some coaxing, some cajoling, and some outright threats, they get him into the car.
"Well, I'll see you there," Howard says, clambering onto his scooter. Sheldon gets into the passenger seat as Olive slides in behind the wheel. Raj, Penny, and Leonard cram themselves into the back seat, which has very little room as it is.
"So, Olive, are you excited?" Penny asks as Olive eases the car out of the space and onto the road.
"Yeah, I am," Olive says sincerely, "I can't wait to be married to my Shellybear. Did you get the dress, by the way?"
"Yeah, I picked it up yesterday."
"And the fit was OK?" Olive gnaws on her lip nervously. Since Mary and Lucille went ahead two days ago to prepare the venue and such, Olive has been a bit of a wreck. She understands where Shelly got his organisational skills now. The two women have been angels – she never would have been able to cope with planning a wedding on her own, even with Shelly by her side.
"It was perfect," Penny says, trying to make her tone reassuring.
"Ok, good." She takes a deep breath.
"What day is the ceremony, anyway?" Raj asks. He's still getting used to this being-able-to-talk-in-front-of-women thing, so he's still fairly quiet around them
"Two days after we arrive," Sheldon supplies, "in the church where Meemaw got married." He feels her hand curl around his, and smiles subconsciously.
XXX
Mary has found places for everyone to sleep. Her extended family has been arriving day and night, and it's been a challenge. She sent her profusely annoying aunt Myrtle and her cousins, Lilly and Joanne, to a nearby bed and breakfast, but she's made an effort for everyone else. She's given up her bedroom to Penny and Leonard, and Olive will obviously be staying in Sheldon's room. She's rooming Howard, Rajesh, her father and her nephew Logan in Jonny's bedroom, and a lot of her female relatives in Missy's. She's commandeered cots and mattresses and fold-out couches from all her friends and neighbours. Her second cousin Mark and his girlfriend have pitched a tent in the back yard, but everyone's here and there's a jovial atmosphere about the place.
In Shelly's bedroom, Olive is finding and laying out the clothes she's going to need for the next few days. Her wedding dress, concealed inside a clothes protector bag, is hanging on the wardrobe handle.
Sheldon watches her from his place perched on the armchair in the corner. As she reaches into the suitcase, the hem of her t-shirt lifts slightly above her hip and he catches sight of a flash of red and black on her skin before it falls back. Since they've established that it's alright for him to touch her, he stands up and eases the t-shirt up slightly. Before she can move, it's too late. He's seen it.
On the small of her back, in indelible ink, is a small red heart outlined in black. In the centre of the heart, written in flowing black script, is one word. Sheldon.
"You got a tattoo of my name."
"I wanted to surprise you," Olive chews her lip, "do you like it?"
Sheldon has never understood why anyone would want to scar their bodies for life with tattoos. What if one was to change one's mind? But…this. This is quite different. This is something that will remind him, every time he looks at her, that someone understands him. That someone loves him. He sweeps her into an unexpected kiss, and then Mary calls everyone to dinner.