Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Roommate-Relationship Sexual Clause
Author's Note: Sorry I didn't update the last two days; been a nutty weekend. So, here ya go :D Hope this makes up for my shortcomings of late ;) Rated M, just in case, and hope my lovelies will have a good time.
Before the Relationship Agreement was drawn up, the news had spread throughout the group that Sheldon and Kate had gotten together as a couple, rather than the roommates they'd started out to be. It was Kate's interesting attitude the next morning that had made the group become suspicious. The clue that gave it away was when the whole team of nerds (and Penny) sat on the couch (but not in Sheldon's spot), arm chair, the two stools and the desk chair (which was where Kate sat), was when Sheldon strolled down the hall and handed Kate a rather thick stack of papers.
Howard and Raj glanced at the documents with surprise and indifference. Did Kate deserve the punishment of signing unlimited amounts of papers for a breach in the contract thus been signed by the two roommates was the original thought.
"I had to revise the Relationship Agreement," Sheldon said smoothly, handing Kate a pen, which he clicked and the ball point extracted. "Considering we're roommates, I had to devise a Roommate-Relationship Agreement, combining but not deducing the rights and amendments of the original Roommate Agreement. It's rather technical."
Kate looked at him, taking the pen from his hand. Their fingers touched ever so lightly and she felt a sudden bolt of electricity pin point to her mid-section but she didn't react so violently as her stomach and loins did.
However, Penny stood up quickly.
"You two are together!" Penny exclaimed.
The others hadn't responded so dramatically but their facial expressions were mixtures of gaped mouths, wide eyes, raised eyebrows, and in Amy's case, a little curious. Kate glanced past Sheldon to note their faces of surprise.
"Wh-When did that happen? How—?" Penny was flabbergasted, expelling questions from her mouth as though she was a bullet-shooting weapon held by a trigger-happy anarchist.
"I don't know why you are incoherent, Bestie," said Amy, who sat beside Penny on the couch; she sat in the middle cushion. Her face looked a little jealous—it had taken her a little over two years to get there with Sheldon, and Kate had gotten Sheldon's semi-heart in less than a year. It was a contriving jealousy that drove Amy to at first speak to Penny in envious irritation. When Penny glanced her way with the curiosity of being taken aback, Amy cleared her throat, also receiving the same looks from Leonard, Stuart, and Sheldon, who sat in his spot beside Amy.
The neurobiologist cleared her throat, becoming less embarrassed as she told the group in a fact-based tone, "The evidence proved clear that Sheldon and Kate were alike in ways and manners that the two would eventually form a set agreement on terms based between roommates and a relationship. Although,"—she looked at Sheldon boldly—"I'm a bit shocked that you've acquired her as your girlfriend after only knowing her for half a year before naming her so, whereas it took us two years of knowing each other before the Titanic hit the iceberg and we were able to date."
Sheldon gave her an ironic stare.
"Amy, Kate and I have conversed for exactly a year, one month, two days, and five hours; we've lived together as roommates for six months." Sheldon replied reasonably.
"Still," Amy muttered. She looked at him plainly. "It'd have been just as appealing if we had done the same thing—still," she smiled at Kate politely, "Kudos for you, Kate."
"Thank you?" Kate remarked, unsure as to how to respond. She turned in the rolling chair and looked through the paper work.
"If you have any questions pertaining to the document," Sheldon said from his spot as he sat back in the cushion, "please, don't hesitate to ask. Everything must be clarified before one signs a document; a signature is the most binding of words."
"I know what a signature represents, Sheldon," Kate responded gently.
Sheldon made a small smile and the group looked at them.
"So," said Penny, grinning widely at Sheldon and Kate, "are you Keldon or Shate?"
"Beg pardon?" said Kate, turning around.
Amy then pointed out that it was similar as to what Penny had done while she and Sheldon had gone out, explaining that it was a combined word to symbolize the ship of the two, the letters of their names combined to represent the relationship. Kate looked at Penny, unaffected by it.
Howard looked at Sheldon from the ground.
"So, Sheldon, what kind of grounds is your relationship? Any sex?"
Kate felt her stomach turn but didn't dare hope to hear the answer she wanted to hear. Instead, she bore out their tones and paid attention to what she was agreeing to. In the agreement, Kate noticed that Sheldon's clause about hand-holding was for moral support during flu season or when one was under great emotional stress, provided that the reason was valid. There was another clause about cuddling, which was only when she or Sheldon (most likely herself) was, again, in need of emotional support. Kate saw that Sheldon had added a bit about copulation, and this had her stumped.
She didn't even dare bring this up as she couldn't stand the teasing she'd receive from Penny. Was it not punishable enough that when she saw Sheldon concentrating on a math problem or possibly, even, when his eyes were staring intently at the Star Trek movies that she felt she could receive the same gaze? It was an intense one, and Kate wanted that same attention on her. But asking Sheldon for an explanation as to why the agreement featured a sexual content was something one never voiced in front of the group, especially when Howard or Penny were in the room.
Bernadette, who'd remained quiet, sitting beside Howard, looked up at Amy.
"Amy? Are you jealous that Kate and Sheldon are now together?"
Sheldon looked from Bernadette to Amy, as though expecting an instant reply. Amy turned to Bernadette purposely ignoring Sheldon's gaze.
"I do admit that my jealousy extends from the fact that Kate and Sheldon have, so called, 'uped the ante' for their friendship-slash-relationship but otherwise, I'm happy for them." Amy said. She finally met Sheldon's gaze. "Congratulations."
"Thank you, Amy," Sheldon said, grinning. He looked at everyone. "All right, so let's have enough of that now, and watch something more interesting." He turned on the television, which featured Babylon Five. He glared and changed the channel to a Star Trek marathon, to which he responded, "Oh goody!"
Kate glanced his way and at the group, who still seemed affected that they now glanced between Sheldon and his girlfriend…Kate beamed; she was his girlfriend. That made her smile.
When the group disbanded to another region of the world, to Penny's apartment, Kate turned to Sheldon in the rolling chair; she stood with the agreement and sat on the coffee table, opposite of him. Sheldon looked at her with curiosity, as she blocked his viewing of the sci-fi marathon.
"Is something wrong?" Sheldon asked curiously.
Kate knew he would become impatient as he wanted to watch the marathon so she skipped directly to the point: "Why did you include a document about intercourse?"
Sheldon's impatience became slackened and his attention moved to her eyes when the I-word was brought to his ears. He seemed a bit uncomfortable.
"As one fellow intellectual to another, Kate," Sheldon said slowly. "You and I are highly evolved creatures. I included that in the agreement so should it ever arise then there would be no question as to what would happen before, during, or after the coitus."
Kate looked at him curiously. She handed him the document.
"Sheldon, intercourse isn't planned; it just happens."
"Kate, I'm not a hippie, and from what I've understood, neither are you. As superior beings, we are more in control of our baser urges than most, therefore, it doesn't 'just happen'." Sheldon replied. He handed the sheet of paper back to her.
She took it.
Sheldon watched her for a moment and he seemed to register what made her irksome.
"Kate, are you hesitant in signing because you're uncomfortable with the subtext, or are you hesitant in signing because…"
"Sheldon, I know you better, almost more than your own mother," Kate interrupted gently. She sat beside him, almost directly; their knees almost touched…almost. Sheldon looked at her, his face became pink.
"If you were truly under the impression that neither of us would succumb to our baser urges, then you'd not have put a text in there specifying it," Kate pointed out.
Sheldon shifted in his seat, placing his hands on his knees to which he was most comfortable. His shoulders stiffened, his back straightened, and he took the paper from her hands slowly.
"Kate," he said. "I know you to be a very smart woman. If you'd read the paper thoroughly, you'd know that in no way do I state that it will never happen." He seemed, the more, uncomfortable as he fiddled with the sheet in his hands, looking from her. "Never do I state in the document provided in my hands that neither party will deny their shortcomings to the situation, in spite of how dire the situation may be." His voice became awfully quiet, "You misread the text."
He handed her the document, placing his index finger on the text he read aloud: Should either party become unable to restrain/deny/ignore their primitive urges, in order to solve the predicament both parties (inevitably) will face, the actions aforementioned shall be proceed in the utmost discretion.
Kate felt her stomach do an unexpected turn, and she looked up slowly from the text to look at Sheldon. He was giving her one of the intense gazes that he had when he was watching Star Trek; her stomach made another somersault, and her loins began to burn.
