Good morning.

I have been getting a lot (like 3 or more a day) of PMs on my Penny/Sheldon shipper style…specifically that Sheldon is a self-absorbed, narcissistic, selfish, arrogant, and unfeeling prick who's only on the show to provide a comedic focal point for the other characters to react to, a foil, nothing more. 'Your characters are so OOC you should go to the fiction site and change the names'.

It kind of hurts, y'know? I guess I don't have a very good understanding of the whole Lenny/Penny & Shamy dynamic except that it makes my skin crawl because I see Leonard as using Penny to increase his self-worth and his image in the eyes of his peers and others. (Looky what I got in my bed and on my arm!) He always finds another girl quickly after a breakup whereas Penny seems to retreat and lick her wounds.

Amy normally never appears in my fics. I don't like her character nor the way she plays to Sheldon's weaknesses in her own sociopathic way.

I shall complete my versions of TBBT and hope others don't succumb to the BS criticisms of the Leopens. People like the Shenny dynamic as it's such a relief from the WWW (Whining White Worm aka Leonard) and the PAHP (Pudgy Air Head Penny) on the series.

I'll be quiet now and crawl back under my rock and consider retirement as have so many others in this genre.

Ranting Reparata

Chapter 20

Bomber shut down the radios about 11pm. They'd been unable to contact anyone else and hadn't reconnected with the air base.

Despite working hard and taking virtually no breaks, they weren't ready to leave the following day nor the day after. Just moving the sensitive radio equipment to the bus and finding a safe place to set it back up took hours. The days had been filled with tasks to prepare them for departure.

Sheldon had dumped the waste tanks in the bus and flushed the system out and had topped off the propane from the massive tank that supplied the resort and the bus was all prepped and ready for the next, and perhaps last, leg of their journey.

Penny drove the fuel truck with Sheldon riding shotgun. After a heated 'discussion', she'd finally given in and let him out of the bus. No one had objected when Bomber had suggested that the fuel truck lead the way.

"It's got weight distribution, knobby tires and ground clearance going for it. If it 'cuts trail' for the bus, we can avoid any problems with getting stuck. We can use it to tow the bus through any really deep snow with the cables."

They made all of 94 miles the first day. They would not be driving at night. Deep drifts and a few traffic snarls had slowed them down. Penny had lost her bearings more than once when the terrain flattened out after they drove out of the high desert region. There were no visible cues to what was roadway and what wasn't except for the occasional snow covered car on the roadside or in the traffic lane.

Leslie and Bomber checked out the rest stop and gave the all clear to pull the bus up. There were only a few cars and only one tractor-trailer rig in the parking area. They'd check them out more thoroughly in the morning.

Sheldon launched the antenna and black balloons into the gray sky. It was only 5:30 but it was already too dark to safely drive on the interstate so they fired up the radios and Winkle cooked spaghetti (sorry, Sheldon, no hot dogs left) and they sat around listening to Bomber send out his contact request on Guard (between bites).

They'd contacted a Royal Canadian Navy destroyer off the North American coast. The Choker had hit the crew hard and they were barely able to keep things functioning. They were heading for Seattle.

A ham radio operator in Grayling, Michigan who was a dairy farmer said he and his family wouldn't mind the company. Sheldon made a note of his location.

A woman on the east coast responded. She claimed that aliens had landed in South Carolina and were collecting people for experimentation. It was hard not to laugh but they all agreed she'd suffered an emotional trauma and that her story was pure hokum. At least Sheldon thought so. Penny just shivered and sat closer to him.

Leslie went out and wound down the balloons using a gizmo Bomber made and stuffed them into the trailer to be used the next night. It was cold and she thought she smelled snow in the air but wasn't sure and hoped like hell she was wrong. Snow would slow them down even more and she was as anxious as Penny was to get to Offut Air Force base and then on to Omaha and Penny's parents' farm. She wanted to find insulin for her boyfriend along the way.

"Baby, we don't have to stay with my folks, y'know? Maybe heading farther north is the right thing to do. I don't think Leslie cares as long as she can find insulin for Bomber."

Sheldon just nodded his head and kissed her deeply, initiating a make out session that led to a laughter-filled round of coitus. Penny was ticklish and Sheldon's fingertips plundered her 'weak spots'.

Her body writhed beneath his and soon laughter gave way to sighs and gasps and moans. In the afterglow of lovemaking, they talked about possible futures and slipped into sleep wrapped up in each other.

It began snowing shortly after midnight, big flakes that drifted down from a darkening sky and soon covered the landscape with several inches of new snow by daybreak.

Leslie made coffee and took Bomber in a cup and fought against the temptation to crawl back into the warmth and nap but duty called loudly.

Sheldon poured a cup of fresh coffee and wondered how long it would be before coffee became a valuable commodity instead of a morning habit.

He walked out and up the slight slope and sat at the cement picnic bench and looked out over the landscape and considered how difficult the driving would be in this weather. Leslie slid in beside him, grateful that he'd covered the bench with a plastic tarp so they wouldn't get their butts wet from sitting in the snow.

"I think we should hang around this place until the snow stops. We had trouble staying on the road yesterday. Today will be worse. We could take our time going through the vehicles and it wouldn't hurt to just delay en route, will it? Omaha will still be there even if we're a day or two later than planned."

"If Penny's parents are still alive, will you and Bomber stay at the farm." He made no mention of his intentions and Leslie noted a note of wistfulness in his tone. It would be another change, another goodbye, probably a permanent one. Sheldon hated change and life had just tossed quite a few at him.

"I don't know, Shel. There are just too many unknowns in this equation to solve for 'x', y'know what I mean?"

He did. What if Penny's parents (assuming they survived) objected to his presence in her life? After all, her father was a vocal advocate for the relationship between Penny and Leonard and he surely knew all about the 'whacko' roommate from stories told around the dinner table by Leonard and Penny.

"How about you, Sheldon? Are you planning on staying with Penny or moving north?"

"I'll worry about my destination after she's safely at hers. I don't know, Leslie. Like you so astutely observed, there are too many variables in this equation to solve for 'x'." He paused for a moment, temporarily unable to think of a single reason not to stay with Penny but he knew her, certainly better than Leonard ever did, and he knew how susceptible she was to family pressures. He would burn that bridge when he came to it.

"Coffee will soon be a valuable commodity. I wonder if anyone will reopen trade routes between the northern and southern continents or whether we'll simply adjust to its absence. There will be many things no longer available."

They spent the next few minutes listing things that they'd miss. Bananas, certain fruits and vegetables were all imported and couldn't be grown north of the borders with Central and South America.

"Pineapples. I'll miss pineapples the most, Sheldon," said Winkle. Their coffee grew cold as each of them lost themselves in their thoughts.

A quick search of the cars and the semi yielded nothing except fuel the drained from the dual tanks of the large Mack truck. The group spent the day talking, dozing, plotting and planning. It was too windy to launch the balloon antenna so after a late meal, the two couples retired for the evening.

Penny had cramps and had been uncomfortable all day. Sheldon figured as much since wasn't her usual perky self.

"Penny, come sit between my legs and lean back against me – " He patted the bed and leaned back against the headboard.

"Sweetie, I'm not in the mood for – "

"You have cramps. I was just suggesting that I rub your abdomen for you and help alleviate your distress. Also, I have a surprise for you." He reached into the nightstand drawer and pulled out a bag of Hershey's Kisses and handed them to her.

"I remember how during your cycle you craved chocolate."

Penny soon fell asleep and Sheldon moved her around until they could both lie down and he quickly fell asleep.

The next morning brought almost a foot of new snow. Travel would be impossible but they could at least spend time seeking new radio contacts.

To conserve propane, they ran the bus' diesel engine for an hour out of every four and kept the bus warm and used the electricity generated by the bus to keep the refrigerator and lights working.

Winkle had figured that they'd have roughly 650 gallons of diesel to make the trip to Omaha but driving at slower speeds due to the snow and poor visibility and running the engine put a dent in their supply. She reworked Sheldon's figures. They would be forced to stop and check each and every truck for diesel.

It continued to snow throughout the night and there was another 8 – 10 inches of new snow when they woke up. The winds had picked up during the night and there were drifts of 3 and 4 feet in places.

They weren't going anywhere any time soon.