The Chance Encounter Reoccurrences
Sheldon keeps encountering a woman he knew briefly in his past. He just can't remember from where at first. But once he does remember who she is, will his past come back to destroy his renewed relationship with her? AU, (Sheldon, Amy) (Leonard, Penny)
Chapter 1
Sheldon subscribes to the many worlds theory which posits the existence of an infinite number of Sheldon's in an infinite number of universes. This is just one of them…
Universe #4,583,668 – October 2009
Penny was in a good mood for being up so early in the morning. Maybe it was the great sex she had just had the night before that put her in this mood. 'Yeah,' she smiled to herself, 'that was definitely it.' She inhaled the aroma of her boyfriend from his dress shirt she was wearing that he had worn just hours earlier on their date. She loved the smell of his cologne, aftershave and him all mixed into one intoxicating scent.
She whisked the egg mixture in the bowl, flipping on the radio and her smile grew when she heard Shania Twain singing. She unconsciously began to dance and sing as she started the first batch of French toast.
"I'm goin' out tonight. I'm feelin' alright. Gonna let it all hang out."
She turns and places the two pieces of bread in the skillet and turns back to the egg mixture, continuing to dance and sing. She turns and sees her boyfriend's roommate, Dr. Wackadoodle.
She smiles and greets him.
"Morning Sheldon. Come dance with me." She says, biting her bottom lip flirtatiously and swinging her hips to the music.
"No." He states quietly.
"Why not?" Penny asks.
"Penny" Sheldon begins as he turns the radio off. "While I subscribe to the many worlds theory which posits the existence of an infinite number of Sheldon's in an infinite number of universes, I assure you that in none of them am I dancing."
Universe #7,839,374 – August 2013
Penny inhales the faint aroma of her husband's cologne and aftershave on his dress shirt she's wearing over one of her tank tops. She smiles as she remembers the incredible sex… "No…" she shakes her head a little. She can't get distracted. "There's too much to do today." She reminds herself.
Penny pours the oatmeal in the pot of boiling water and begins to stir as she swings her hips to the music coming from the radio. She begins to sing with the artist coming from the speakers.
"I'm goin' out tonight. I'm feelin' alright. Gonna let it all hang out."
She sees Sheldon coming around the corner from the bathroom, dressed in a pair of green and blue plaid pajama bottoms and a white t-shirt. She smiles at him.
"Morning Sheldon. Come dance with me." She says, biting her bottom lip flirtatiously and swinging her hips to the music.
Sheldon sighs, rolling his eyes.
"Yeah! Dance with Mommy!" The two boys chime in unison from the kitchen island.
Sheldon smiles at the nearly 4-year old twin boys and reaches out to tousle the dark hair of the twin sitting closer to the refrigerator, looking so much like his father but with his mother's green eyes.
He reaches for the blond woman, pulling her into his arms and starts to dance with her in the kitchen while the two boys cheer. The couple smile as the two boys continue to cheer them on while they dance. The timer on the oven goes off less than a minute later and they separate. Penny takes the pot of oatmeal off the stove as Sheldon goes to sit at the kitchen island across from the twin who is the male version of his mother with blond hair and green eyes.
Penny places two bowls of oatmeal in front of her sons, smiling at each one.
"There you go guys. Plain just the way you like it."
Sheldon wrinkles his nose and looks at the oatmeal in disgust. Where the hell was his French toast? "I thought you were going to make French toast." He asks her confused.
Penny looks at him with annoyance. "It's oatmeal day."
Sheldon sighs, grabbing a spoon and digging into the oatmeal Penny had just placed in front of him. She goes to sit next to him at the kitchen island, digging into her own oatmeal.
"Hey guys, guess what?" Sheldon smiled at the boys. "I got an email from your dad last night and he's…. Ouch!"
He turns to look angrily at Penny and sees she's glaring at him. She was so damn moody sometimes. One minute, dancing and singing and the next looking pissed off and kicking him in the leg.
Instantly the boys start to cheer excitedly. "Yah! Daddy's coming home! Daddy's coming home!"
"No, Daddy's not coming home yet. Uncle Sheldon was about to say that Daddy's doing really exciting work for Mr. Hawkins and…"
"Hawking." Sheldon corrected her. Why couldn't she get anything right?
Penny stops and slightly glares at him.
"Whatever. Daddy's been having fun on this project and he's doing really good and might get some extra gifts to bring home in a couple months." Penny said smiling sweetly to her boys and giving Sheldon a stern look.
"Yah!" They both cheered excitedly.
"Now hurry up and finish your oatmeal and go get dressed. We have a busy day today." Penny said, taking another bite of her own oatmeal.
The two boys ate hurriedly, one drinking out of his bowl causing his mother to frown at him.
"Elliot." She said sternly.
"All done!" The dark-haired boy exclaimed excitedly, ignoring his mothers stern use of his name and ran off to his room, his blond twin following close behind.
"Wait for me Elliot!" The blond twin cried excitedly, chasing after his brother.
Sheldon dropped his spoon next to his bowl, turned to Penny and glared at her.
"Would you like to explain yourself before I kick you back or should I just kick you back now?"
Penny sighed heavily and slid off her stool and away from Sheldon before he started kicking her. Grabbing her bowl and the two her sons had left empty on the kitchen island, she started moving to the sink to clean up the breakfast dishes.
"Leonard and I want to surprise the boys for their birthday in a couple of weeks. We want them to still think he's not going to make it back in time for their party. He's going to get a room at a hotel when he gets back so we can have some alone time for a couple of days before the boys' party that Saturday. Which is why you need to stay here with them during that time."
"Oh, I see." Sheldon said as he got up from the stool and handed his bowl to Penny to wash. "And what excuse are you going to give them for why you're going to be away from home for those few days?" He asked.
Penny placed the bowl in the drain and looked at him with a grin. "A commercial shoot out of town. I do it all the time. Just this time it's not true. But it's for their benefit so it's what I call a good lie." She grins up at him.
He looks down at her with a blank expression on his face and kicks her back. "Now we're even."
He turns to head towards the front door to go across the hall to his own apartment and stops in the middle of the room. He turns to look at Penny with a confused look on his face. "Why aren't you leaving them with Mrs. Gunderson? She usually watches them when you and Leonard are out of town at the same time."
Penny stood by the kitchen island, her hand on the table holding her weight while the other was rubbing the leg that had just been kicked. "Do you ever listen to me when I talk to you about the latest gossip?"
"No. It's mostly boring chit chat so why bother?" He asked crossing his arms and staring at her blankly.
Penny rolled her eyes, walking into the living room and started picking up the scattered toys. "Mrs. Gunderson moved to Oregon a few months ago to take care of her daughter. Remember, the one that had the stroke?"
"Ahhh…yes now I remember." Sheldon said not noticing the blond had moved closer to him. "But again, chit chat and gossip about things I care nothing about."
"Well…you might be interested in who has moved into Mrs. Gunderson's old apartment. She's pretty cute, brown hair, green eyes, a Brainiac like you and your fellow nerds." She teased, grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Her name is Amy and she's…"
Sheldon sighed heavily, interrupting her. "Penny, I don't want to be set up with one of your friends again and…OUCH!" He yelled the last word painfully and started rubbing his leg that had just been kicked. While still bending over he raised his head and glared back up at Penny.
Penny was about to jump out of his reach but she wasn't fast enough. Sheldon had reached out and grabbed her arm tightly and began kicking at her legs. She squealed painfully in response, grabbed his arm and began kicking at his legs in return.
"Here we go." Elliot said as he plopped down on the cream-colored chair to wait for his mother and their neighbor to stop kicking each other.
"Can we call Uncle Randall or Aunt Missy." The blond boy asked.
"Yeah, I'm with Christian. I say we call Aunt Missy." Elliot replied. He turned to look at his twin. "She sends us better gifts. Uncle Randall just sends us plastic farm animals and those stopped being fun last year."
Christian nodded his head in agreement.
"Missy isn't your Aunt." Their mother gritted out in pain, plopping down on the brown leather sofa and began to rub her legs. The adults had let go of each other's arms when they realized the boys had walked back in the room.
The boys looked confused.
"But Uncle Sheldon's not really our uncle and you and daddy always refer to him as Uncle Sheldon." Elliot stated. Christian stood by the chair his brother sat in, staring at their mother with the same expression as his twin. "Why do we have to call daddy's friends 'Uncle' but not their siblings?" Elliot asked.
"I'm sure Priya would love to be addressed in the same manner as my sister. Don't you agree Penny?" Sheldon asked her with a Cheshire grin on his face that matched the one she had earlier.
Penny turned and glared at Sheldon again. Priya, Raj's sister, was a sore topic of discussion for her. Raj's sister had succeeded in coming between her and Leonard a couple of times before Penny had gotten pregnant with the boys.
"You guys want to tell Uncle Sheldon about our new neighbor, Miss Amy?" Penny asked with a grin directed towards Sheldon, deciding to change the subject. Priya was the last thing she wanted to discuss. Especially with her children around.
Sheldon rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Miss Amy has a Paddington Bear just like mine." Christian quietly said with excitement. He was grinning from ear to ear.
"Christian actually talked to her!" Elliot said excitedly with an approving nod.
Sheldon looked at Penny with surprise. Christian was extremely shy and never spoke to strangers. He barely talked to anyone inside their social group that he had known in his short life. So, it was rather shocking to hear that he actually greeted someone that he had never met before.
"Are you bringing anyone to the birthday party?" Penny asked Sheldon, raising her eyebrows questioningly. She had met only a handful of the girls he had gone out with over the years but was never sure if any of them were serious. He never spoke to her about any of the girls he dated. She had run into a couple of them early in the morning as they left his apartment but that was about it.
"Why would I bring someone to their party?" Sheldon asked her, a bit confused. "Christian would practically hide from any stranger he saw, and Elliot would talk to them until it was time to leave." He said exasperated.
Penny grinned again. "Good! Amy will be there. You can meet her then. Unless, I can get you to meet her sooner." She teased, turning away. "I'm going to get a quick shower and get ready guys. We'll leave when I get done." She said turning the TV to one of their shows they had recorded. "See you later Sheldon." She said over her shoulder as she went down the hall.
"Ok…" Sheldon began as he sat on the arm of the couch. "Why does mom think this Miss Amy is a good match for me? What's special about her?"
"She has a Paddington Bear." Christian said with a big smile.
Sheldon smiled back at him. "Yeah, I got that. What else?"
Christian thought a moment. "Her hair looks like the chocolate machine at the buffet place. It's wavy and long like mommy's but it's the same color as chocolate sauce."
"She's got green eyes but not green like mommy's." Elliot added. "They look different. And mommy says she has an Uncle Sheldon approved butt."
Sheldon had to look down quickly and bite his bottom lip to keep from laughing out loud. "I see." He finally said, looking up at the boys. "Anything else about her I should know?"
"Mommy says she's smart like you and daddy." Elliot answered.
"And how does mommy know this?" Sheldon asked.
"Her job is at a place like yours and daddy's but its called a bunch of letters." Elliot stated, starting to pick up his toys from the coffee table and putting them in the toy box behind it.
"UCLA?" Sheldon offered.
"Yeah!" Both boys chimed together.
"Guys! Get your shoes on. We're leaving in 5 minutes." Penny called from the hall.
"Ok guys. I'll see you later." Sheldon said walking to the door. "Have fun picking out your party stuff today."
Sheldon walked back to what used to be Penny's apartment. He opened the door and sat down on the gray love seat where a teal one once sat. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and scrolled through his list of contacts and slowly started looking through them and deleting some he no longer needed.
He couldn't figure out why Penny insisted on setting him up with people she knew. Was she worried he wouldn't find anyone on his own? He was able to find plenty of girls on his own. Granted sometimes he was out with Barry Kripke or Raj when he found them but he always seemed to lose interest in them after a few months.
He wasn't quite sure what the reasons were. Sometimes he did. With Penny's friends, they simply weren't compatible enough intellectually. They would complain to Penny that he was rigid and not into sex. How little they knew. He was definitely into sex. But a woman's intelligence was way more of a turn on to him than her body or her looks. And unfortunately, none of Penny's friends were intelligent enough for him.
Sometimes the girls he did find interesting enough to sleep with were not compatible in other areas. One was all work and no play. As much as he loved science and work, he also liked comic books, movies, TV, hanging out with his friends, or simply sitting at home and reading a good book.
Another girl, a grad student, became way too clingy, jealous and obsessive with him. She didn't like him talking to any other girl, no matter who it was. Not even Penny and Bernadette. Another girl was too rude and condescending. Another was convinced she was smarter than the rest of the world. Another was absolutely boring in the bedroom and would only have sex in the missionary position.
Not that he didn't like that position but he liked variety. And, not that he bragged about it to anyone, but he was rather kinky in the bedroom and liked to dominate. He liked a lot of different things in the bedroom.
He smiled to himself, remembering what Elliot had said about Amy's butt. It got him curious. He wondered just how intelligent she was. Definitely his type if she worked at UCLA. He hated to admit it but he was intrigued. But he also didn't want to be set up by Penny yet again. All of the girls she had set him up with had been a failure. Well, not all of them. But all of them had not ended up being relationship material. And a relationship was what he was now interested in pursuing.
He had long tired of the short-term flings and one-night stands that he found with Kripke and Raj. He was getting older and he was ready to settle down with someone. But that someone had to be compatible enough to keep him interested for the long haul. He wondered if this Amy person that had just moved in downstairs fit the bill. He was willing to meet her but not on Penny's terms. With both of them living in the same building, he'd meet her eventually.