Chapter Thirteen

Later in the day, when everybody had dispersed and the apartment was quiet, Sheldon sat in peace. The calming background sounds of Empire Strikes Back with producer commentary filled the room; the radiator was on, keeping the room at precisely 21 degrees celsius, and the chairs from Penny's apartment had been returned to their rightful place. Life was good.

His mother had gone shopping with Penny, and Leonard was with them- an effort to get closer to coitus, no doubt, and Leonard's mother was at the second in a series of neuroscience lectures. Sheldon had spent the morning working on his death ray, having taken out his old soldering iron from the box marked childhood memories. He remembered clearly (as he always did) how the components fit together and what to do, but that didn't mean that his muscles remembered.

Sheldon carefully nursed his burned hand, from where he had accidentally touched the melted metal. It would not do to let Howard see that, and gloat over his superior ability to use a soldering iron. And if he did see that and did gloat.. Well, Sheldon had a death ray now. And even Howard was intelligent enough not to try to annoy the person with a sonic death ray and the mindset to use it. Even Penny was intelligent enough.

Not that he would use it overtly on Howard. After all, close as he had been to being removed from the friendship group, Howard was technically counted as a friend. And friends did not use death rays on their friends overtly as it would ruin the friendship. Perhaps planting it in his apartment so that Sheldon would not need to hear the noise himself. Noise-cancelling headphones, whilst useful, were not comfortable to wear long-term.

The peace of the room and the mental musings over the use of the death ray were cut short by the door opening. He looked up in surprise, not sure who to expect. Leonard and Penny had implied that their shopping trip was to take a few hours, considering the excitement of his mother to be shopping in such a big city. And he had never known Penny to have such a short shopping trip.

It was Beverly Hofstadter. Well that was a welcome surprise, or as welcome as a surprise could be. He had not wanted to see anybody, but if he had to, Beverly was a better choice than Leonard, Penny or his mother. And especially a better choice than George and Missy.

"What are you doing at my apartment, Beverly?" Sheldon asked. "I would have thought that he neuroscience lectures would have gone on for longer."

"They finish early on Boxing Day," Beverly said. "Ridiculous really, finishing early because the earth is in the same position relative to the sun as on the day after the assumed date of the birth of Jesus Christ."

"I completely agree. But why do you come here instead of to your hotel room?"

"I needed to talk with you alone. It's about Leonard. I need your help."

"I would be happy to help you," Sheldon said. A slight omission of truth only, he didn't really want to be helping her now, but it would build the relationship, something which he did want to do, for Beverly Hofstadter was one of the few people on a similar intellectual level to him.

"You cannot tell Leonard what we've talked about."

"Oh. I can't lie to him, not very well at least. He'll know. He can always tell when I'm lying."

"I don't need you to lie, just not to mention it. Can you do that?" Beverly asked.

Sheldon frowned. He wasn't good at keeping secrets, one of the few things that he wasn't good at. He had the urge to reveal the truth, and especially if it was to someone close enough to know his mannerisms as well as Leonard would. But, he reminded himself, he had been working on his social faces recently, which had given him a slightly better control of his expressions. He almost had the coy smile down.

And then there was to consider what Beverly would think of him if he refused. And besides, even if he couldn't keep the secret, surely it couldn't be anything too terrible? Beverly had made up with Leonard, in an emotional letter which seemed very unlike her. But he had already entered an agreement, knowing that she had a secret from Leonard concerning him. He would do this. He could, he was a genius, he could keep a secret.

"Yes," he decided. "I might have trouble, but I think I can."

Beverly considered for a moment. Sheldon looked troubled by this, and he didn't seem like the type of person who would find lying easy. But it wasn't lying, and he should be able to keep quiet about it. Sheldon was a clear introvert and enjoyed his alone time and not talking, if Sheldon wanted to get away from Leonard perhaps it would not be overly strange. But could she risk throwing the experiment and what remained of her relationship with her son?

This would help the experiment a lot though, and would build her trust with Sheldon. She wondered what his opinion of her would be. He wasn't particularly emotional, but he did clearly care for Leonard. The question was whether he cared for science and her more than he cared for emotion and Leonard. It was a risk she was willing to take, she decided.

"You were surprised at my card and gift to Leonard this year, weren't you?"

"Well, yes. I thought you above the strong emotions of common folk."

Beverly smiled at that. Sheldon always knew just the right thing to say to make her trust him. "Yes, I had hoped so. What happened with Leonard was an experiment. Your mother insisted that Leonard would be happier should I show more external signs of love towards him, so I agreed to conduct a study."

"So the emotions in that letter were false."

"Of course. He is my son, and proximity has dictated that I like him better than most people, but I'm not desperate to pursue an emotional relationship. Honestly, I'm surprised that he even believed it. But my son Leonard has always had a blind spot when it comes to emotions."

Sheldon considered that for a moment. He knew that it was unlike Beverly and the motivation made sense, but wouldn't this be, in a sense, betraying Leonard? Part of the roommate agreement stated that roommates must tell each other any important news. Could this count as important news to Leonard? Maybe, but he couldn't find that out without asking Leonard, which would reveal the secret and break his agreement with Beverly. He should honour the definite agreement with Beverly over the possibilities of the roommate agreement, he decided.

"Yes, he does. So what is it that you need my help with. I'm not the best faker of emotions, as you probably have noticed. I can tell you things that Leonard likes, is that it?"

"No. I need to be able to monitor Leonard. Most of his time is spent in this apartment. I'd like your permission and help to hide some cameras. I have them with me at the moment."

"Not in my bedroom," Sheldon said immediately. "Leonard doesn't go there anyway. And not in the bathroom either. Mother always told me that one's body is a private temple."

"But here and in the kitchen? I won't infringe on Leonard's privacy by putting cameras in his bedroom."

"That's alright, I suppose," Sheldon conceded. "Will I have to do anything?"

"You'll need to plug them into a computer and place the files into a Dropbox connected with my own," Beverly said. "Once every day." She pulled out a small bag filled with pens. "They should blend into the environment. When pulled out, the bottom has a USB. It contains a camera and microphone, enough for ten hours low-quality film. They are actual pens as well."

"I can do that. I have a spare laptop in my bedroom. Leonard doesn't go there, so he won't find out that way."

"Excellent. So where would you place cameras to get the best footage possible?" Beverly asked.

Ah. Sheldon knew this one. He'd thought about it after reading the Hunger Games and trying to figure out, if his apartment was the arena, where the cameras would be placed to be invisible and capture the whole place. Leonard had told him that it was pointless when he had brought it up in conversation, but there seemed to be more practical application of this than Leonard talking about asking Penny out. Unfortunately, telling this to Leonard would defeat the purpose of the cameras.

He showed Beverly the places- one on his desk, one on their bookshelf, and one next to the fruit-bowl. Three cameras and the entire apartment covered, very good. Beverly seemed pleased by this. She showed him how to open the pen-cameras and put back the USBs so they looked the same.

"Thank you, Sheldon, this will be very useful for the investigation. If you have trouble about telling Leonard, remember that lying requires intelligence and higher brain function, which you clearly have both of. Leonard cannot know, for the sake of science."

"Of course," Sheldon replied, testing the coy smile again. Judging by the look on Beverly's face, it still needed a little tweaking. Perhaps he could practice on Leonard later. Perhaps he would have to.

Beverly looked back at the smiling Sheldon and wondered again whether it was a good idea to trust him. She had hoped that the appeal to his intellectual vanity would help, but looking at his attempt to smile- a simple social manoeuvre that she had learned quite early on, though rarely practiced unless necessary, she had to wonder whether he would accidentally let something slip. But the cameras were of vital importance, so she would have to allow that risk.

As she left the room, she pulled out her phone to send a text to Mrs Cooper: Cameras placed in subject's apartment, Sheldon knows about investigation and has agreed to keep it secret.

She would prefer to have called, but Leonard and Mary Cooper were in the same place, so it would be difficult for her to reply without tipping Leonard off. She would need to settle a time-scale of the experiment with Mary as well. Six months, perhaps would be enough, but depending on the strains of the relationship, she supposed she could continue indefinitely if required.

Back at her hotel room, she began to write up the experiment so far. She disliked writing things up; the enjoyment was in designing and conducting and experiment, not in writing what one already knew for the benefit of others. Still, it was a vital part of research that it should further the knowledge of mankind, not just oneself. Unfortunately, it being necessary did not make it any more enjoyable.

Within half an hour, by which time she had typed up the card and photo album visible reaction and their conversation in the morning, which she noted was more open than usual, but also slightly tentative- that was to be expected, her cellphone began to ring. She glanced at the number to determine if it was worth answering. Mary Cooper. Definitely worth answering.

"How dare you get my son involved in this?" the raised voice came over the phone. "Shelly can't keep a secret, if you've forced him to betray his friendship with Leonard because you can't even love your son without it being an experiment.."

"-Sheldon agreed to keep the secret. I asked him before I told him," Beverly cut the woman off. "Whilst he did comment that he might find it difficult, he agreed that he would be able to. And why are you so angry about your son's involvement when my son plays a much more critical role in this investigation?"

"Because I want Leonard to experience having a mother who loves him and to prove to you that it is better that way. Surely you love your son enough to want him to be happy?"

"I want everybody to be happy," Beverly said casually. "I gain no pleasure from the pain of others."

"As do I," she heard Mary say through gritted teeth. "But the happiness that a mother wants for her son is different. Stronger. If you find that he is happier with you as a caring part of his life, will you continue doing it?"

"Yes, I suppose I would," Beverly said. "The purpose of research is so that it can be applied. There would be little point in studying Leonard's reactions, and then not choosing the optimum."

"Then that is why I am content to let Leonard be experimented on. To make him happy and part of a loving family. But Sheldon is already part of a loving family. You are not experimenting on him and there was no reason to put him through such difficulty. I trust my Shelly to make his own choices now, he's a grown man, but he's curious. Once you told him there was a secret, he had to know it. He's like a child that way."

"Interesting." That could be added to her notes on Sheldon, which would later be compiled into a book if she found enough and interesting information. She had already found quite a lot of that though, so she was almost sure that it would one day become a book. "What's done is done. I cannot turn back time, and I don't regret what I did. It was essential to gaining a better understanding of what makes Leonard happy."

That should avert Mary's rage at her. She seemed to care about Leonard's happiness in a much more personal way than Beverly did. And sure enough, the slight pandering to Mary's emotions, rather than saying that it was for the experiment, paid off.

"I understand why you did that. I wish you didn't though, because Sheldon's my son. I'm protective of him. I suppose I'll leave you to what you were doing then. Tell me of any changes in Leonard's happiness. Goodbye."

Beverly said goodbye and pressed the end call button. She much preferred to work with other scientists, they never seemed to get emotionally invested in each other and the test subjects.

xXx-X-xXx

Late chapter, but I hope you enjoyed it. The pen-cameras are actually real, but they can only store two hours of film. What do you think of Beverly's prodding and manipulation? Anyway, thanks for the reviews, follows and favourites!

-MoonOfPluto