"Gran Mag…"
Summary: Utterly for fun…Sheldon is in deep, deep trouble…From certain povs…When Amy's older sister blows…Into town…For Halloween and their engagement party…
Helps if you look up the wondrous Charlotte Gainsbourg…And one of the better pics of the equally wondrous Maggie Hamilton…
Disclaimer: BBT is all Chuck's…
Part XXVII…
Refusing Stuart's kind offer of support…Though agreeing that he would remain as close as possible to monitor the situation, I proceeded to bear the lioness in her den of iniquity…
Meanwhile, in the corridor outside Raj and Howard's room…Swordplay had been joined for the fair hand of the fair Bernadette…Raj still taking it as a bit of pre-party fun…Howard, whose fury with having witnessed the concluding end of Raj's and Bernadette's more or less and equally more or less accidental coupling having overcome his determined efforts to dismiss what he'd seen…And having just had a rather rough time with my own nemesis and rather able torturer Charlotte Magdalena Fowler, my beloved Amy's sister…Being in deadly earnest…
Bernadette nervously aware something was seriously wrong, even beyond her guilty awareness that Howard had in fact witnessed her matrimonial stumble despite his efforts to ignore it. Raj's parents on laptop teleconference likewise perturbed…
"Nice…"Raj, barely dodging a sword's swipe… "Careful, there, Antonio Zorro, you nearly…Whoa, dude…?" he fell back as Howard made determined thrust.
"My costume, my wife…What else are you planning to take from me, you son of a…Pardon me…" Howard smiled at the laptop image. "Just getting in the spirit…"
"Howard?" Bernadette, anxiously…
"Lets see if we have a little more room further down. So we can do this right…" he urged Raj who backed away down the corridor. But looked nervously at his parents' anxious faces on screen…
"Howard, wait…" Bernadette called.
"Just want to get in the character, one mo, Bernie… Why don't you check on Halley?" he waved her off, glaring at Raj. Closing…
"You think I don't know, you bastard?" he hissed. "You son of a bitch…"
Oh, crap…Raj stared.
"Lets finish our little playlet. Just a little further…" Howard, shoving sword…Raj backing away…
"Fellas, wait!" Bernadette, pleading.
"What's going on? You, there…What is her name?" Dr. Koothrappali, to his wife…
"Some Catholic saint's name, like cousin Sanjay's wife…Bernadette? Bernadette!" Mrs. Koothrappali called. "Take us with you?! Boys, you're playing too rough! Come back here! Rajesh, Howard!"
"I knew this would happen if he went to America…" she sighed.
"What are you talking about, woman? How could you know he'd get into a rough bit of playfighting with swords in California? There was more chance of that in New Delhi…" Dr. Koothrappali, frowning. "Rajesh! Howard! Come back here!"
"Taxbreak…" Mrs. Koothrappali, shaking head. "This is why our children are such a disaster…They feel no love at home!"
"Uh…Please…Prya is gay, Rajesh is…Whatever he is…" Dr. Koothrappali sighed. "But careerwise, they're doing ok."
"Careerwise?!"
"Oh, please…" frown. "As if you married me for my good looks…"
"I dragged you through medical school…I begged my father for the money! As if I could've imagined you'd ever amount to anything as a businessman and physician…"
"Wait…" stare. "You begged your father…? He gave it to me as an investment."
"Oh, yes…" sneering look. "Like my father would just trust in your success without his little girl whimpering and pleading…Oh, give him a chance, Papa. I know he'll make good."
"You never told me that…Whimpering?"
"Like on my knees…" glare.
….
And back at her room with Amy…Penny, rather pleased at Leonard's insistence on tending to her, had sobered a bit on learning from Amy in confidence that I had ventured forth to do battle. Or at least, acquire needed intel…
On sending Leonard to fetch aspirin for a likely if not yet active headache, the ladies discussed the situation. Amy, despite her confidence in me, desperately anxious…Charlotte having defeated many a bold and daring male and mate…Even French ones…And that's no easy task given French sophistication… "They have clubs there where couples have sex in public and get rated, did you know that, Penny?" Amy nervously noted. "And Charlotte has destroyed the most insouciant of couples…"
"Actually, yeah…I was a fan of that Star Trek actress. She and her husband parted ways when he wanted to go to one of them…" Penny nodded.
"Ah, yes…One of Charlotte's victims…" Amy nodded.
"What?"
"Who do you think took the husband to the club in the first place?" hard stare. "She enjoyed telling me about that one. 'I nailed Seven of Nine's husband' were her words, I believe. Mine being, at the time 'Seven of who's what?'. Ruined his US political career as well…"
"Good grief…Amy, are you sure we should let Sheldon face her?"
"He has to do this…He'll do it. I believe in him. Though he has seventeen minutes, no more…" she eyed the clock on their dresser.
"I'm going with you…Bestie. If it comes to a showdown…"
"Thanks, bestie…" grin. Then hard look… "But it will come to a showdown…Even if Sheldon gets dirt on my sister, she won't back off."
"All this to hurt you? Amy, why does she hate you so…?"
"She feels I betrayed her by not helping her get home. I wanted to, I tried to. But I was only eleven. I couldn't get away…And then Gran Mag said Charlotte was doing well in France and when Mother finally did send me, to get me away from the house for her Christmas parties, Charlotte seemed content. And looked so well…Improved… It wasn't till years later that I realized how bitter she was. But that's not the only reason she wants Sheldon, I know. She wants him for herself, Penny…Because he chose me, for myself, without any of the advantages she's gained, surface-wise…Which are, you must agree, some pretty good advantages."
"Gotta concede that…" Penny sighed.
"Sheldon is what she's sought all her life. As I have. A man who loves one of us for herself. For what's inside…As well as my smolderingly hot self, of course."
"'Course…" Penny, rolling eyes… "He's a good man and she wants him. I do get it, Amy…"
"And there is more…" Amy paused… "Penny, I didn't run into Sheldon just by the chance of internet dating. Though I rejoice in it being the key that opened the door into his life for me. And bless Howard and Rajesh eternally for being my good angels in the matter…"
"Huh?"
"I've loved Sheldon for years, Penny…And so has Charlotte. We've followed his career, I went to CalTech with the hope of one day meeting him."
"Amy? You? You…Were stalking Sheldon? All the time before…?"
"No…I never dared approach him…Until that glorious night when his profile online matched…" giggle… "Mine."
"I'm flub…Flab…"
"Flabbergasted…"
"Yeah…But you followed his career? Why? Were you girls, like 'physics groupies'? As in, should I look for Leonard's picture in your stuff too?"
"No…Strictly Cooperites…Penny, we met Sheldon, years ago. He doesn't remember and I never brought it up. But we met him and his Meemaw, the year he started college at eleven. She took him on a train trip north to Maine. The same train, from New York on, that we took to Gran Mag's place that year…"
"Amy…"
"And there he was, with his Meemaw. She knew how scared he was to be leaving home and going off to meet new people, all alone…And how much he loved trains. So she was giving him a treat. Oh, he was the most beautiful thing we'd ever seen, Penny. That face…" sigh…Goes to dresser…
Pulling open drawer…Taking out purse…
"Here…" she hands Penny an old photo…
Cut to Charlotte in her room…Staring at an old polaroid shot of young Sheldon…With Meemaw…On train…
Back to Amy, striding room in costume as Penny in Blue Fairy costume watches from bed…
"The urge to merge can rob of us of our senses…The need to breed can make a man a drone…"
Charlotte eyeing Sheldon's photo…
"We must be on alert with our defenses…For every skirt can test…Testosterone…"
Amy…Echoed by Charlotte in her room…
"So knowing this we'd abandoned all pretenses. And made no use of satin, silk, and lace. We were firmly headed in the right direction…When suddenly we happened on that face."
Oh…
"That face…That face…That wonderful face…It must not be denied. Those lips, that nose, those eyes… Help lead to our sibling demise." each girl kissing their respective photo…
"That face…That face…That fabulous face… We tried not to be unwise. But it was certain that we'd fall in love…Lost without a trace…The moment we saw that face."
"My God…" Penny, staring. As Amy eyed her…
And damn it, she sings nearly as well as Charlotte…
"We found out who he was, everything we could about him. We knew just from eavesdropping that he was a genius. And, still being friends then, pledged we'd share everything about him. Poor Charlotte even…" Pause…
"She didn't think even Sheldon could ever love her as she was then, or if he could, she wouldn't be a burden to him, so she'd intended to give him up to me. Not that either of us ever really thought…" Amy paused… "We knew what the world was like and how little chance for happiness…" tearing.
"And then, when she was sent off to France that year…My father hoping she'd die there and relieve him of the trouble and expense and embarrassment of providing care for the Elephant Girl…"
"Oh, God…" Penny sighed. "And…She thought…Thinks you…"
"Only later…When I didn't come or help her get away like we planned. But it wasn't true…I wouldn't have abandoned her, even for love of Sheldon."
Knock…
"Aspirin." Leonard's voice…
