A/N: I'm just going to put this here mostly to get it out of the way and because I promised my sister I would :/ I mentioned this on my tumblr that I've made a page on a website called ko-fi. It's a quaint little site where fans or supporters of a person to show their support by 'buying a cup of coffee' for a person if they want to. It's not really an actual cup of coffee (which is nice since I'm a tea-girl lol ;)), but a small contribution that's about the price of a cup of coffee, or 3 dollars. It feels a lot like a 'let's talk about your work over a coffee' to me, which is something I'm always saying I'd do if I met a reader in real life, want to buy them a cup of tea and talk (after I've returned from turning into a koala and clinging to them in a bear hug lol). My sister was getting on my case about how I 'write all these stories for nothing' and would not let it go even after I explained that I don't write for profit, but for fun and because I love it, I love the characters, and I love my readers. But to get her to lay off, I looked into a few sites and promised to make one and let people know about it. This one seemed very simple and nice, there's no obligation or commitment or requirement at all. I'm not about to withhold updating or hold a story hostage, I love writing and all of you too much. It's completely up to the supporter if they feel they might want to contribute one 'cup of coffee' or ten in one go or one when a new story comes out or anything or nothing at all. But even my mom was encouraging me to actually make the page since it seemed like a nice, small way to show love (though I think it's more her focusing on my leaving my job lol), but still, doesn't hurt to try. The link is on my tumblr's 'Links' page and also the URL is on my FF profile if anyone is interested. If anything comes of it, at least it got my sister off my case lol ;) Now onto the story! :D
~8~
The Cooper-Nowitzki Theorem
"Hey, y'all!" Claire chirped as she joined Sheldon and the others for lunch in the university cafeteria, "How was the presentation, Shelly?"
It was clear, just from how Leonard groaned and Sheldon rolled his eyes that it hadn't gone well. It had been given during one of the later classes just last night, a sort of introduction to the physics program. The university had asked a few of the researchers and more prominent individuals to speak with the new graduate students to help them decide what branch of work and research they might want to get into later in their academic careers. She'd had a night class to teach during the same time and hadn't gotten back till late, after Sheldon had already gone to bed, and she had an early morning lecture to follow that morning so she couldn't ask them how it had gone till now.
She hoped it had gone alright at least. She knew Sheldon on his own could be…well, a disaster without someone there to censor him and keep him on track. Lord knew she had ample experience with that. There had been, very early in their schooling, a time where they had been in the same classes before Sheldon's genius had been discovered. They'd partnered up and given presentations and…it was an eye opener. She'd always made sure, after that, that Sheldon would handle all the research and she'd handle all the presenting, that way they were still both participating and doing their fair share. Some might argue that Sheldon did most of the work while she just had to repeat it to the class…but they clearly didn't understand just how detailed Sheldon could be and the words he used in his research.
She'd had to save up her money from raking leaves off of people's yards to afford to buy a little dictionary so she could understand what Sheldon said sometimes. She still had that dictionary, all well worn and literally falling apart, in her room. She still had to look up some words every so often, but it had been helpful as a child. She would use it to essentially translate what Sheldon was documenting in order to explain it to the class in a way all of them could understand.
As far as she knew, Leonard had been with Sheldon last night so it shouldn't have been THAT bad…but their reactions were making her nervous.
"Well, I blew up a helium neon laser with peach Snapple and Sheldon basically told them they would never accomplish anything or succeed in theoretical physics unless it was in teaching kids how to make baking soda volcanos."
"Excuse me," Sheldon huffed, "I did not say they would never accomplish anything in theoretical physics. I said they'd never accomplish as much as me."
Claire winced at that phrasing, "That's not really better, Shelly."
"Well, it's true."
"Believe me, I tried that," Leonard remarked.
"Yes, Leonard spent a dreadfully long car ride going on and on about what condescension is."
Claire merely leaned forward from where she was sitting across from Sheldon, linking her fingers together as she rested her elbows on the table, "Shelly, do you remember…"
"Of course I remember, I remember everything."
"Humor me," Claire continued, "Do you remember when we were really little and in school together and all those times that the teachers thought you weren't paying attention because you didn't talk in class?"
Leonard and Howard, who were sitting there already, looked completely thrown by the fact that there was a time where Sheldon didn't talk.
"Yes, and?"
It was a bleak time in his early childhood. He had been so advanced and so far beyond the level of his classmates, and even the teacher, that he spent most of his time in class reading higher level books and doing mathematics for fun. He hadn't seen the point in paying attention to a class where he already knew everything. So he'd focused on his own work. It wasn't till the teachers began to pick on him for 'not paying attention' that he let the full force of his genius at them.
"You were so much smarter than anyone else there," Claire began, earning a wide smile from Sheldon, "But no one knew until you talked, right?"
"I suppose," he offered, starting to feel a little like he didn't know where she was going with this.
"Did you give any of the students last night a chance to talk?"
"No, but…"
"Then how would you know if they weren't just as smart as you?"
"But they were…they were…" Sheldon actually struggled to answer that, searching for some sort of reason to defend how he'd acted. He was starting to realize now what her point was, if he didn't let them talk, how would he have known if any of them were on his level, or at least close, and perhaps another mind that would help further the field of theoretical physics? Sometimes he hated how Claire thought of these things, "They were older than I was!"
Claire gave him a gentle smile, "You weren't gonna advance, remember? When they offered to let you take high school classes, college classes…"
"I didn't want to leave you," he stated, sounding as though he were reminding her and also admitting to why he'd been hesitant to continue with his schooling. She'd been his best friend, his only friend, and he'd been…a little scared to go anywhere without her.
"So what if there was someone in that room who was…almost as smart as you," Claire amended, knowing that if she said 'just as smart as' he'd go off on a tangent about how unlikely that was, "And he had a best friend that he didn't want to leave and stayed with them? That student would be the normal age for college then, right?"
Sheldon was silent for a long while, his lips pursing and his jaw twitching as he tried to find some way to counter that.
"Right?" Claire leaned forward a little more, the smile growing on her face.
Sheldon huffed, "Right."
Claire sat back in the chair once more, "So next time…"
Sheldon sighed, "Next time I'll let them talk."
"And..."
"And ask questions."
"I'm very proud of you, Shelly," Claire opened up a pudding cup to start eating, "I know it's not something you like to discuss."
Sheldon gave her a small smile at that as well, wiggling just a little in his seat to hear she was proud of him, and began to dig into his own food.
Leonard leaned over, having been sitting next to Claire, "Seriously, you need to teach me how you do that."
Claire snorted a bit and shook her head, digging into her pudding. It was a lifetime of being around Sheldon and observing how he reacted to not only the things people said to him but HOW they said it to him, how they phrased it. It was also quite a few elective classes in psychology throughout her schooling too. And it always differed based on how strongly Sheldon felt about something, what mood he was in at the moment, and, more than likely, about if he had some sort of memory or experience in his past that could be playing a role in how he reacted. It would be hard to teach all of that to someone any time soon.
"I love this time of the y…ear!"
Claire looked up as the end of 'year' went very squeaky, to see Raj had joined them, though clammed up as soon as he realized she was sitting at the table, "Oh sugar," Claire sighed, shaking her head as Raj took a seat right at the end of the table.
"I do, too," Howard spoke, sounding almost as though he were just trying to make Raj feel better…until he kept going, "Plus there's a whole new crop of female grad students about to put on just enough winter weight to make them needy and vulnerable. That's right, honey, have another calzone, Daddy can wait."
Claire rolled her eyes and turned to the side, pulling a book from the pack that she'd slung on the back of her chair, and stood, reaching across the table diagonally from where she was sitting, to smack Howard's shoulder.
"Ow," he muttered, rubbing his arm.
"No," Leonard spoke, having moved to read a piece of paper Raj had jotted something down on, "There's no policy against dating graduate students. If you can talk to them, you can ask them out."
Raj gave Leonard a dirty look for his remark.
"Hey, guys," Leslie Winkle called as she moved over to their table.
"Hey, Leslie," Leonard greeted.
"So, dumbass," Leslie turned to Sheldon, "I heard you made a grad student throw up last night."
"Shelly!" Claire gave him a look for that, Leonard hadn't said anything about making a student actually throw up!
"The truth can indeed be a finger down the throat of those unprepared to hear it. I was under the impression that I shouldn't have to cater to second-rate minds…"
Claire shook her head as his words, hearing something of an apology in his tone. He likely had actually thought, at the time, that the minds in the room were second rate, but now, after she put some of it in perspective, he was reconsidering how he'd spoken to them.
"Because first-rate minds call you 'dumbass?'" Leslie remarked.
"I would have thought 'first rate minds' could come up with something better than 'dumbass?'" Claire cut in, seeing Sheldon getting upset at how Leslie was calling him names. That was something Sheldon really did have to work on. He hated when people were mean to him, but genuinely didn't seem to realize when he was mean to others.
"Touche," Leslie gave her a respectful nod.
"Excuse me, Dr. Cooper?" a young woman squeaked up as she tentatively approached the table, dressed very casually, but with her light red hair in pigtails, "I'm Ramona Nowitzki, I was at your talk last night. I think you're just brilliant."
Sheldon smirked, "That is the prevailing opinion."
"Oh, now I'm gonna throw up," Leslie muttered.
Claire shook her head and turned to Ramona, "Have a seat," she gestured to the seat at the end of the table by her and Sheldon. Sheldon WAS a brilliant man, and, from what she'd seen of how other people tended to react around him…it would be nice for him to talk to someone who seemed excited to speak about his work and not dreading the fact that he'd opened his mouth.
"Howard Wolowitz," Howard stood, reaching out a hand to her in greeting, "Department of engineering, co-designer of the International Space Station's Liquid Waste Disposal System."
The girl just grimaced at that, "Ew," and ignored his hand in favor of turning to Sheldon, "Dr. Cooper, I've read everything you've published. I especially liked your paper on grand unification using string-network condensates and was wondering how you determined that three-dimensional string-nets provided a unified picture of fermions and gauge bosons?"
Sheldon blinked at her, "Amazing, an intelligent labradoodle."
"Et hem," Claire coughed with a playful smirk on her face.
Sheldon rolled his eyes, "Yes, yes, point proven," he sighed, but was smiling at Claire even as he began to speak to Ramona, "The fact is I'm quite close to a breakthrough in showing how neutrinos emerge from a string-net condensate."
"Oh my god," Ramona gaped, "That would change the way we view the entire physical universe!"
Sheldon shrugged, "It's what I do."
"You know, the Pishkin-Wolowitz Liquid Waste Disposal System is turning a few heads as well," Howard tried to get her attention.
Claire could empathize with Ramona's even more pronounced grimace, "Again, ew," the girl even shivered a little in disgust, plastering on a smile for Sheldon soon after, "You know, I'd love to hear more about how you intend to add neutrinos. Could we get a cup of coffee sometime?"
Claire nearly choked on the water she'd taken a sip of, coughing it out and managing to tell Ramona, "Shelly doesn't drink coffee," at the same time, waving off Sheldon's concerned look as she got her breathing back under control, not having expected THAT from Ramona.
"I do!" Howard jumped in, "I love me a cup of joe."
"Never gonna happen, Howie," Claire cut in, it was almost a little sad how Howard was trying to pick up Ramona in front of them when she was so clearly not interested.
"It doesn't have to be coffee," Ramona kept on, "How about dinner?"
Sheldon considered that, "I do eat dinner."
"Great!" Ramona stood, "I know a terrific little Italian place."
"I never eat in strange restaurants. One runs the risk of non-standard cutlery."
"Excuse me?"
"Sheldon lives in fear of the three-tined fork," Leonard explained.
"Three tines is not a fork!" Sheldon huffed, "Three tines is a trident. Forks are for eating, tridents are for ruling the seven seas."
"What if I brought food to your place?" Ramona tried once more.
Sheldon nodded, "That would be acceptable. On Mondays, I eat Thai food. Mee krob and chicken sate with extra peanut sauce from Siam Palace."
"You got it. I already have your address!"
Claire frowned at that as the girl hurriedly dashed away. Usually the professors and researchers, their addresses were not readily available even to students and she knew Sheldon was too paranoid about potential break ins to ever just give his address if he didn't need to…so she was starting to feel a bit worried about Ramona now. Not so much Sheldon because...
"What a nice girl," Sheldon remarked as he began to eat once more, oblivious as ever.
"Sheldon, do you have any idea what just happened?" Howard asked him.
"Yes. Apparently I'm getting a free dinner."
Claire had to smile at that and shake her head, no matter what Ramona might have in mind with Sheldon, knowing how he could be…it was not going to go the way she thought.
~8~
Claire glanced up from where she was sitting at the couch of hers and Penny's apartment, staring down at two accordion folders placed on the coffee table, one red and one blue, to see Penny step in and brace herself with her back against the door.
"You alright, Pen?" she asked.
Penny just stared at her a moment, "You ARE aware that Sheldon Cooper is having a DATE with someone right now, right?"
The second she said it she immediately winced, regretting it. She knew Claire liked Sheldon, the girl was slowly but surely working her way towards finally and fully embracing the fact that she like liked Sheldon Cooper…so to just blurt out that he was on a date with someone else probably wasn't the best thing to do. But holy hell, SHELDON was on a DATE!
"You mean the dinner Ramona brought him?"
"You know who she is?!" Penny quickly scrambled to the couch, "Spill."
Claire laughed which made Penny frown, the girl was taking the object of her affections being on a date with another woman remarkably well.
"She's a grad student who was interested in Shelly's work," Claire shrugged, turning back to her folders, her face scrunching, "Which would be better for organizing my English Basic Skills class and which for my Medieval lecture?"
"Claire, sweetie, the folders are the least of my concern right now," Penny reached out to physically turn Claire's attention back to herself, "Sheldon is having dinner with a girl."
She said it so slowly, as though she were trying to spell it out to Claire, that it made the redhead laugh, "No, Sheldon is eating a dinner that Ramona brought him."
"Which is a date."
"Is it though?" Claire gave her an amused look.
"Not following. Is this one of your smart people code things?"
Claire laughed again, "No, nothing like that, sugar. I just mean that IF it is a date, Shelly has absolutely no idea it is."
Penny gave her a look, "You can't go on a date and not know it's a date."
"I'm pretty sure Leonard tried that with you a few times and at least one worked."
Penny frowned, "Ok, whether it did or not, this is not about me, this is about you. How are you doing?"
"Penny, I'm fine," Claire insisted, patting her arm, "Trust me on this, Shelly wouldn't know if something was a date if it dressed up like Batman and punched him in the face. And if Shelly doesn't think it's a date, it's never gonna be a date."
"She thinks he's cute though."
"So?" Claire shrugged, "He is."
Penny almost grimaced at that, "Whatever," she shook her head, not able to see it AT ALL but hey, who was she to tell someone what they found attractive or not? She reached out to take Claire's hand, "I'm pretty sure she got off on reading Sheldon's draft about some scientific mumbo jumbo. Said it was 'physically exhilarating.'"
"All Shelly will hear is that she was excited to read it."
Penny eyed her a moment, "You're actually serious about this. Sheldon really has NO idea that that Ramona girl is trying to date him?"
"Not a clue."
"But…they're having dinner and she likes him and she's practically hanging on his every word no matter how boring it is."
"Pen," Claire squeezed her hand, trying to find a way to explain it to her, explain why all this was more amusing to her than worrying, "If Shelly isn't the one asking someone ON a date, his mind won't make any connections that it's supposed to be a date. She would have to literally say it to his face, probably a few times, for him to even realize. And even then, he'd probably just end up going on a tangent about the history of the fruit instead."
Penny was silent, "You sound like this has happened before."
Claire shrugged once more, "It may have once or twice. Girls in school wanting Shelly to do their homework for them and all. That's just how his mind works, Pen, unless HE is consciously making the decision to date, it'll go right over his head."
"Huh," Penny mumbled, "Never thought Sheldon 'I'm a genius' Cooper would be THAT oblivious."
"You don't know the half of it," Claire joked a bit.
"HAS he ever gone on a date before?" Penny had to ask, "Like a real date? One HE knows is a date?"
"Not that I know of."
"So what's his deal?" Penny continued, sounding completely flabbergasted with the being that was Sheldon Cooper, "Like…is it girls? Guys?"
She honestly wasn't sure why she was asking. Maybe it was a little to do with Claire's own interest in Sheldon. If there was concrete evidence that he swung more for the other team, it would be better to realize it now than to have Claire keep feeling that affection. Just watching him around Claire she would have guessed he was into girls, he always seemed to pay more attention to Claire, but…if another girl was literally throwing herself at him and he didn't know it…
Penny sat up a bit straighter in her seat, trying to play off her little epiphany as just repositioning herself on the couch. Maybe Sheldon wasn't into any of them. Maybe it was just Claire. He always acted different around Claire too, let little things slip out, maybe he wasn't interested or noticing other women because his heart had already been taken by Claire?
God she hoped so.
Not only did Sheldon seriously need to get laid (her personal theory of what might get Sheldon to chill a little) but Claire deserved to be happy too. And, for whatever reason, Sheldon seemed to be the person who made her happiest.
"The guys weren't sure," Penny continued, clearing her throat, "Leonard thought it was myrosis…"
"Mitosis?"
"Is that the thing where they split in two?"
"Yep."
"Then yes, that. Howard thought he'd just turn into a cocoon and sprout wings."
"While, I'm sure Shelly would love either of those to be a possibility," Claire laughed, "From what I've picked up from him over the years, he seems to be more for ladies than anything. But, Shelly's also never been in a relationship before, or on a date, so I can't really say. Growing up in Texas, and all…"
Penny nodded at that, understanding. She was sure Mrs. Cooper was a wonderful woman who loved her son very much, but she also heard Sheldon talk about how she was a very devout Christian.
Hmm…she would have to do some investigating of her own about this. The Shelly-Bear Experiments, to determine whether Sheldon was interested in Claire.
Look at her sounding all smart!
~8~
"Hey," Leonard greeted Sheldon in the university cafeteria as he and Claire sat down at the table where he was diligently working in a notebook, "Aren't you having breakfast?"
"Yes," he replied.
"Are you experimenting with nutritional suppositories again?"
"Not in these pants."
"How was your discussions with Ramona, Shelly?" Claire asked, digging into her food. Between her and Penny…they'd quickly realized that their cooking skills amounted to some very interesting meals. But at least Penny was trying to teach her how to not burn down the kitchen, it was slow going to figure out food that Penny could actually make herself that was edible. So the meals at the cafeteria were always piled high.
"It was great," Sheldon paused his work to smile at Claire, "She's smart, insightful, and she has a very unique way of, you know, revering me. She reminds me of you, Claire, but without the revering."
"I'm honored," Claire laughed, taking a bite out of her scone.
"Here's your spinach mushroom omelette!" Ramona's voice sounded as she approached the table with a tray of food for Sheldon.
"Thank you. Did anyone touch it?"
"Gloves were worn by everyone involved. I was vigilant."
"Ramona pointed out that I've been wasting 20 minutes a day standing on cafeteria lines."
"Time which would be better spent tackling the great physics problems of our day."
"You don't tackle the big issues, Ramona. You fence with them. En garde," he began to mimic fencing moves, "Riposte!"
"Touché," Leonard muttered.
"Morning!" Leslie called as she too stepped up to their table.
"Ah, hey Leslie," Leonard greeted.
"So, Sheldon, I see you're organizing your papers for the Smithsonian Museum of Dumbassery."
"There won't be any room until they get rid of the permanent Leslie Winkle exhibit," Ramona shot back quickly.
"Oh, good one!" Sheldon grinned.
Leslie just snorted, "I see you got a grad student to fight your battles for you. I'll let you keep your lunch money today."
Ramona huffed, "Ok, Dr. Cooper is on the verge of a breakthrough. If you're going to stay, you'll have to be respectful and quiet."
Leslie immediately left to another table and so Ramona turned a pointed look at Leonard and Claire.
"Wait for me!" Leonard called and hurried after Leslie.
Ramona crossed her arms, giving Claire a harder look.
"I've been his best friend since we were kids, sugar," Claire told her, unaffected by the glare, "If anyone's ever been respectful, proud, and amazed by Shelly, it's me."
Ramona didn't seem pleased with that, she seemed even less pleased by the wide smile that Sheldon grew at Claire's words. So she moved to sit down right next to him, a little closer than he would have liked and began to speak directly and only to him, "Have you worked out the neutrino issue?"
"Well," Sheldon began, wiggling his chair back just a tad, "To paraphrase Mozart, all the subatomic particles are there, I just have to put them in the right order."
"You are so witty!" Ramona laughed loudly.
Claire just shook her head as she observed them, the girl was so flirting with Sheldon and he was truly just oblivious. She almost would have felt bad for the girl, maybe pulled her aside and talked to her about Sheldon's peculiarities, but the girl was not doing herself any favors by treating his best friend like she wasn't even there.
And she knew, given enough time, if she kept up with it, Sheldon would certainly notice THAT, and he'd boot Ramona to the curb faster than the speed of light.
For now, she just continued to eat her breakfast in silence and enjoy the show.
~8~
Poor Sheldon, was the only thing Claire could think as she sat in her apartment with Penny, both of them sipping tea and talking about the latest development with the Nowitzki Nightmare as they'd come to call it. Between things Penny observed and Leonard shared and Claire herself had witnessed, she was completely sure that Sheldon was absolutely miserable.
He'd missed Halo Night when Ramona had used his own words against him to keep him back at the apartment and focusing on his work. Then she'd kept him from paintballing, playing the Nintendo, reading comics, and even scared him so much he tried to sneak out of the apartment to play paintball the next time the guys had gone, but ended up darting back and remaining in his underwear for the rest of the day because he hadn't been able to get into another pair of clothing after hurrying out of his gear.
She could somewhat understand Ramona's logic, the girl probably thought a mind as brilliant as Sheldon's needed to keep focused on the theories and equations he was working on in order to crack it. She probably thought he'd thank her for the effort later. But anyone who knew Sheldon knew that, while physics was his passion, he DID have other interests and things that made him genuinely happy. Watching TV, reading comics, playing games, even hanging around the other guys were all things that made him smile and gave him a reprieve from work when things got stressful or he reached a roadblock. By taking those things away, all she would end up doing was making Sheldon even more stressed and eager to get away to do those things. His concentration would suffer and his happiness would too.
Knock, knock, knock, "Claire and Penny!"
Came a hissing voice calling through the door, like a whispered shout, even the following knocks reflecting a softness.
Knock, knock, knock, "Claire and Penny!" Knock, knock, knock, "Claire and Penny!"
Claire quickly got up and moved to open the door, seeing a near frantic Sheldon standing there, "Shelly what's wrong?"
"I don't have a lot of time," he said quickly, glancing back at his apartment and speaking so quietly she and Penny had to lean in to hear him, "Look, Ramona finally dozed off, and I need you to help me get rid of her."
"Get rid of her how?" Penny frowned.
"I don't know, but apparently I'm in some kind of relationship, and you seem to be an expert at ending them."
"Excuse me?"
"I see man after man leaving this apartment never to return."
"Ok," she cut in, "First of all, it is not man after man..."
"Dr. Cooper?" Ramona's voice called from inside his apartment, clearly having woken up.
"Hide me!" Sheldon turned to Claire, "I'm invoking the Boogie Man clause!"
Claire nodded and stepped aside, quickly letting Sheldon run into the apartment.
"Boogie Man clause?" Penny whispered to her, confused.
"My daddy wasn't always in a great place when he was drinking," Claire told her quickly, "Used to sneak over to Shelly's to hide, didn't want to tell him it was my daddy scaring me so I told him…"
"It was the Boogie Man," Penny finished.
"Means the other one needs to hide really bad."
"Gotcha."
"Dr. Cooper?" Ramona called as she stepped out of the apartment, only to see the two of them standing in the doorway of their apartment. She crossed her arms as she moved to stand before them, "Is Dr. Cooper in there?"
Penny watched as Claire mimicked her stance, blocking the door, "Shelly came to visit me."
"He's supposed to be working."
"He's my best friend," Claire warned her, "And if he wants to come and spend some time with me, he's more than entitled to."
"I don't think you understand how remarkable he is," Ramona countered, which made Penny snort.
"You DID hear the part where she said she's Sheldon's best friend, right?" Penny had to ask, of anyone on the planet that would now how remarkable someone was, it would be their best friend.
"He's a gift to the whole world, and we can't be selfish," Ramona continued.
"Seems to me that you've been the one hogging him lately," Claire countered with a smile that made Penny inwardly grin because it was the smile of someone who knew they were winning, "And I miss my best friend and, sure as punchin, I'm betting he missed me too. Right Shelly?!"
"Right!" Sheldon called from within, which made Penny roll her eyes to know he was eavesdropping.
"So you can either march in there and pull him out," Claire told Ramona, "Or you can let me spend some time with my best friend and maybe, maybe, I won't ask him to invoke the Graveyard Pact."
"What's a Grave…" Ramona began.
"It means with two words, Shelly won't look at you, speak to you, or acknowledge that you're even there."
Ramona glared at her, "You wouldn't…"
"You've kept me from even saying HI to my best friend, try me."
Penny was biting her fist to keep from laughing at how angry Ramona looked compared to how smug Claire was as the girl turned and stomped off back to Sheldon's apartment.
"Can you really get Sheldon to ghost someone like that?" Penny asked her quietly.
Claire nodded, "It's a serious request though so we don't ever use it lightly. Mostly it went for the bullies in school. Once either of us invokes the Graveyard Pact, you're dead to us."
"Good to know," Penny murmured as they turned to head into the apartment.
"She's gone?" Sheldon asked, peeking out from behind the door.
"For now," Claire assured him, "Not for good, but I bought you at least an hour or two."
"Thank you!" Sheldon practically pounced on Claire, actually pulling her into a tight hug of gratitude as Penny watched on with a smile.
Maybe her experiment wouldn't take that much.
~8~
Sheldon was grinning widely as he finished writing down one last part of the equation he'd drawn up on a number of white boards in his apartment. The time with Claire had been refreshing and, having just that little bit of time to spend with her, not so focused on his work, it was like a lightbulb had gone off in his head. He'd offered to wash the teacups the two women had been using since he'd interrupted their teatime and there had been a few grounds at the bottom of Claire's cup and one part was almost pitch black, which reminded him of black holes, and he'd ended up running out of the apartment and back to his with a new idea in mind and…
"I've got it!" he cried, beaming at his work, "I finally reconciled the black hole information paradox with my theory of string-network condensates!"
"It's unbelievable!" Ramona gasped from behind him where she'd been eagerly watching, "It's paradigm-altering!"
"And I could not have done it without help," he mused to himself, he should get Claire that new book she'd been eyeing the last time they'd gone to the bookstore…a while ago thanks to Ramona.
And speaking of her, the girl was nearly jumping up and down beside him, "Oh, please, I just offered a little encouragement."
Sheldon frowned and glanced at her, she hadn't exactly been who he was talking about but…he supposed she DID have some small part in this, "You did help me work out the masses of all the fermions, and you pumiced my hammer toe," he could admit, "How can I ever repay you?"
If she wanted a book too, he could kill two birds with one stone.
"Well, would you consider naming it the Cooper-Nowitzki Theorem?"
He blinked, "Who's Nowitzki?"
Had Claire changed her name while he'd been trapped with Ramona? He was 99.9 percent sure that wasn't her middle name.
…she hadn't gotten married while he'd been stuck with Ramona…right?
"I'm Nowitzki," Ramona answered.
"Oh," he nodded, his relief at learning it wasn't something to do with Claire fading quickly as her words and implication registered with him, "You want me to share credit with you?"
"Uh huh," she nodded eagerly in return.
"Get out!" he pointed to the door, a deep frown on his face.
Ramona glared at him and turned, grabbing her purse as she left, not even bothering to shut or slam the door as she left it flying open.
"Oh, hey, hi," Penny greeted, just reaching the fourth floor with Claire as Ramona stepped out of the room.
"Ramona," Claire gave a polite nod.
"Oh, bite me," the girl spat, stomping down the stairs.
Claire frowned and glanced into Sheldon's apartment, "Everything alright Shelly?"
His smile returned tenfold, "I've cracked the black hole information paradox and reconciled it with my theory of string-network condensates!"
"And that's…good?" Penny guessed, completely lost.
"It's amazing!" Claire cheered, rushing in and hugging Sheldon for his work, the man too overjoyed himself to even seem to notice he was being hugged, "Oh, Shelly, I am so proud of you!"
"I couldn't have done it without you, Claire Bear," he told her quietly, though Penny, who was leaning in the doorway, could still hear it.
Oh yes, her experiment would be done in no time., take that science!
~8~
"I still think you should have picked the red folder for your basics class," Sheldon remarked to Claire as they sat in the cafeteria a few days later, the girl sifting through her blue folder and putting papers away, "The chances of English students not failing their first classes is…"
"Shelly," Claire warned, though with a playful note, "Blue for basics, red for the blood that was spilled in combat during the medieval era."
"Couldn't you have done blue for the medieval class since it ended up replacing purple for monarchs in the middle ages?" Leonard suggested.
"Oh don't start!" Claire groaned, "It took me three days of agonizing to pick the folders for those classes!"
The boys at the table just laughed at her indecisiveness.
"Excuse me, Dr. Cooper?" a young girl with red hair stepped up to the table, "I'm Kathy O'Brien. I just finished reading your paper reconciling the black hole information paradox with your theory of string-network condensates, and it just took my breath away."
"Maybe when I publish it, I'll include an inhaler," Sheldon quipped.
"Would you possibly have any time for me to pick your brain?"
Claire and Leonard shared an amused smile as they watched Sheldon get himself into what would be yet another Ramona situation without realizing it.
"Let's see, today's Thursday. Thursday nights, I eat pizza from Giacomo's. Sausage, mushrooms, light olives."
"Great! I'll bring it to your place. I have the address."
"What a nice girl," Sheldon remarked as he went back to eating his meal.
"Sheldon, do you see what just happened here?" Leonard HAD to ask, knowing how unbearable Sheldon had gotten in his attempts to get away from Ramona.
"Yes, I'm getting a free pizza. I'm on a roll."
Leonard sighed, "Claire, you want to take that one?" because clearly Sheldon was not getting it from HIM.
Claire just looked at Sheldon, "Shelly, when was the last time you got free food?"
"When Ramona brought me the Mee Krob and chicken Sate from Siam Palace."
"Now, replay that first conversation with Ramona in your head."
"Alright," Sheldon mused, considering it.
"Now compare it to what just happened with Kathy."
He pursed his lips…and a moment later his eyes widened, "Oh no."
A/N: For a little while I wasn't sure how to have Claire react to someone like Ramona. Would she get jealous? Would she feel a little threatened? Would she be uncomfortable? But then I realized...she knows how Sheldon is and how he processes things. She would know that, no matter what Ramona thought, Sheldon wouldn't notice a single thing she was doing in any romantic light. And I felt like she'd be much more amused by watching people trying to get his attention and it just going right over his head lol :)
So...if she's not worried when girls take an interest in Sheldon when he's clearly not expressing an interest back...I wonder what that will mean when Amy comes along... }:)
And finally, thank you all so much for your amazing reviews and welcome backs :') I really am so happy to be back and updating again and I'm so happy that it made you all happy as well, I really can't wait to see where Claire goes and I hope you'll all enjoy what's coming ;)
Some notes on reviews...
Oh I fully understand being a scared driver. I was in a car accident when I was 4, broke my nose, had to go to court over the person who hit us, and ever since I've been scared of driving. I'm usually the one in the slow lane, driving the speed limit, tense as anything, constantly looking at my mirrors and anyone passing me up, and that's when I HAVE to take highways. I try to aim for backroads as much as possible :) I've gotten a little better, like I used to try and avoid driving even if I really needed to go somewhere and try to trick my parents or siblings to take me, but I'm able to go on my own now, mostly just to places I'm familiar with going and I panic less going there. Still freak out with new places to drive to though lol :)
The story will be slow burn in the sense that we may not get a physical relationship or verbal confessions of love for a while, but I'm going to be putting in a lot of internal thought and realization, a lot of twists and parallels to a real relationship, and discussions of things as we go. There will also be pretty much everyone else rooting for Shelly-Bear to happen and trying to nudge the two together so pretty much everyone is in it for the long haul and very supportive ;) They'll definitely be together before Amy and Sheldon would break up in the show, but I can say there's a reason Shamy might happen first...which will have a very big thing to do with Claire }:)
I've heard of Young Sheldon :) I watched a few episodes, but I just can't seem to get into it so I may not do a version with Claire in it, but I plan to do more detailed memories in the stories to make up for that :)
Ooh, Dr. Stephanie :) I didn't like how they wrote her off too :/ We'll have to wait and see if she might be paired with Stuart or someone else, but I can say that Claire will have a hand in helping him out in the relationship department ;)
I love Bernadette :) I can say Claire will be acquainted with her before she's introduced in the show, but it'll be more of a behind the scenes thing. Penny is her roommate so I can see her visiting the Cheesecake Factory sometimes without the guys and just hanging out with Penny on her lunch break or something, and I can see her introducing Claire to some of her friends there too ;) As for Ramona, Sheldon definitely turned to Claire for help ;)
Claire will definitely be caught in a pickle during the times Penny and Sheldon feud ;) It'll be hard for her to try and be supportive and understanding of both at the same time without picking a physical side. As for the North Pole, Penny will definitely ask something of Claire about it, but it may be out of Claire's hands to do ;) But I can say she's not happy either that Sheldon will be leaving for three months too ;)
