Secrets and Bionics

I do hope that everyone enjoyed the first chapter, and that you enjoy this one just as much. Once again a bit thank you to piperup1030 for letting me write this story!

And as always, Please. Read Review and Enjoy!

Chapter 2: Visit from a friend

The next day Sheldon found himself looking for Rowen, and marveling at how difficult it seemed to be to find a six foot five girl in a crowded hallway. It had been luck only that he managed to find her before the bell rang for class. "Hey Rowen."

Said girl pulled her head away from her locker, book in hand, and smiled. ""Hey Shell, what's up?" she asked.

Sheldon blushed a bit at having those sharp eyes focused on him. "I just wanted to say thanks again for what you did last night. Things would've gone a lot worse if you didn't show up."

"Aw no problem," she said with a smirk as she ruffled his hair again, "It was the least I could do." Rowen held back a bit of surprise when Sheldon seemed to pause for a moment, obviously debating something in his own mind.

The whole night Sheldon had been telling himself nto to do anything with this, even going so far as to make a comprihensive list of all the things wrong with asking out a girl that he just met, unfortunately for him he was a romantic at heart. Inspite of everything he knew that could go wrong, and calling himself every synonim for idiot he could think of while doing it, Sheldon managed to get it out. "Um..." Sheldon gulped, "are you doing anything tonight?"

"No," she said simply.

"Um..." Sheldon tugged at his collar, "Would you wanna go to the park with me after school?" Try as he might Sheldon couldn't will the blood from rushing to his cheeks.

"Sure," she said with a smile, "Yeah that would be fun. I'd love to." With that she gently pat Sheldon's cheek as she walked off to class. Sheldon was frozen in his spot.

'She said yes?' he tought to himself as he turned to watch her walk off, 'She said YES!' A smile found it's way to his face and stayed there the rest of the school day. Unknown to him a pair of eyes had been watching him.

The last clas of the day came thankfully with out much fuss, a bit of bullying and a pop quiz that made everyone but him groan but nothing to out of the ordinary. Sheldon hadn't told his friends about his run-in with the thugs and Rowen last night or of his plans for after school, he really didn't want to deal with the teasing he would get from brad about being saved and by the girl that had caught his eye the day before.

Sheldon sighed in boredom as he waited for Language arts class to start. He really didn't have anything against the class he just never could get into it, his mind more focused and science and tech. Surprisingly instead of the usual half awake Mr. Stuart a woman walked in. "Hello class," she said, "I'm Mrs. Heathers and I have been asked to talk to you about your futures. Please tell me, do any of you have an idea of what you would like to be when you're older?"

A few people raised their hands, most with somewhat of generic answers. A cheif, a doctor and psychiatrist, a marine biologist, and even a pro soccer player. Mrs. Heathers was quick to call on anyone who raised their hands until only two were left.

"An inventor," Rowen said with pride as she was called on, "or somebody who works with vehicles, espeshally hogs or cars. So like a mechanic or a technician." The class was silent for a moment, everyone taken back by the fact that the quiet, admitidly amazonian esque girl in class had an interest in such things.

"A... a hog?" Mrs. Heathers asked in a greatly confused tone.

A small sigh escaped Rowen's lips, obviously she had had to deal with a conversation like this many times in the past. "It's a term for a big motorcycle, like the kind that the street bikers use. Another name is 'Harley'."

'Never took her for a gear head,' Sheldon thought to himself with a smile. That smile turned into a frown as he heard the whispers and laughs in the background. 'Right, like Andy's gonna be a doctor, not like he doesn't faint at the sight of blood.'

Lost in his thoughts Sheldon almost didn't hear his name being called. "Oh uh... I want to work with robotics," he started to say, no real shocker there, "and prostetics." Now that was a surprise.

Rowen stared wide eyed at the boy she had help the day before, 'Prostetics?' she thought.

"OH my, now that is interesting," Mrs. Heathers said with a slight hand clap. The sound of the bell ringing drew her attention. "That's the bell. Okay everyone, tomorrow we will be talking about how to go about following our dreams so tonight I want you to write a list of colleges that could help you."

Sheldon guathered his backpack and his supplies and was quick to leave, never noticing that Brad and Jenny were giving him odd looks. "Where's he going so quickly?" Jenny asked.

"I don't know. Hot date?" Brad asked, the two looked at one another for a moment before bursting into laughter. The idea alone was enough to bust a gut.

"Rowen hey!" Sheldon said as he left the school, he was a bit surprised to see her waiting for him right out the door.

Rowen smirked, "Sup Shelly." Sheldon rolled his eyes as she started to laugh.

As the two began down the sidewalk Sheldon couldn't help but ask, "So, you like technology?"

"Yeah, I like working on cars and stuff," Rowen said with a soft smile, "I also make a lot of things out of spare parts. It's more of a hobby but I'm good at it."

"Really? Me too!" Sheldon exclamed in excitment before blushing a bit and scratching the back of his head, "Well not the car thing, but I like to build things. You should see my garage turned workshop." After a bit of a laugh he said, "Would you want to come over instead? It would be fun to show somebody the things I do."

"Sure, I'd love to see your work," Rowen laughed as she wroapped her arm around his shoulder. The two walked off without ever seeing the stunned looks on Brad and Jenny's faces nor that of the crust cousins.

"The nerd and the thug, who wold have thought?" Tiff said with her usual sarcastism, though with an underline air of respect.

"I don't see the appeal myself," Britt said in her posh tone, "The thug I can admit would be attractive if she put any effort into it but that nerd has nothing that's attractive."

Sheldon and Rowen made it to his house quickly, the combination of excitement and short distance making the trip far quicker. Popping the door open Sheldon waved his hands "Ta-daaa OH CRAP!" Running over to the middle of the room he quickly pulled a sheet over and tried to cover the robotic suit.

"Oh no you don't," Rowen said in awe as she pulled the sheet back off, "Wow..." She reached out her leather gloved hand and rested the tips of her five fingers on the Silver Shell's chest. "Look at you... Sheldon, you built this?!"

Rubbing the back of his neck Sheldon said in emberisment, "Well, yeah. It was supposed to be for something else, but I guess that now it's another Termorton town hero."

"Well it's absolutely brilliant, from the construction to just the look of it, let me tell you that." She remarked, not noticing the blush on his face, "And what do you mean 'Something else'?"

"Ah... w-well, um..." Sheldon stuttered as he looked down at the floor and crossed his arms in an awkward position. Rowen looked at him with a curious look in her eyes, "Nobody knows this... but if I tell you, promise you won't tell abybody? It's kinda weird and embarrrassing story." He slightly tilted his head up and saw the warm look in her eyes.

"I don't have anyone to tell dude," Rowen said as she put a hand on his shoulder, "but even if I did I promise I wouldn't tell a soul."

Her phrasing rose questions in Sheldon's mind but now wasn't the time. "Okay," he started, "so do you know Jenny? Jenny Wakemen?" She nodded, "I... had this huge crush on her, some time after meeting her I asked her out. She turned me down and told me that she rather be with someone like her, a robot. So I made this to prove to her that robots boys are jerks. My plan backfired spectacularly and she fell for the Silver Shell, that's the robot's name. So yeah..." Sheldon couldn't even find the confidence to look up at Rowen.

Rowen lifted her hand off his shoulder and turned around to face the exosuit. She could tell that Sheldon was as nervious as he could be. Giving a slight jab to his rib she gave a soft laugh as she said, "You should've made it uglier... and shorter." Sheldon's face when blank for a moment before he started cracking up, Rowen attempted to keep a stright face but failed just as badly as he did.

It took a few minutes for them to stop laughing, mostly because just as they were about to start calming down one would look at the other and somehow make them start up again. "Okay..." she said, finally bringing herself back undercontrol, "So you're an inventor? Whaddya make?"

Bringing her over to his desk Sheldon began to show Rowen everything he had made, his excitment growing almost as fast as her awe. Sheldon had started a longwinded rant about all his tech with Rowen listening to him with wrapted attention, amazed that a single high schooler had made so much.

Making their way back to the Silver Shell Rowen asked if she could help him fix the leg that got busted in it's last mission. Sheldon was quick to except the hand.

"I gotta ask," she said as she worked over the wiring in the leg while he was busy removing the outer armor, "what are you'r plans for this big guy?"

"Not really sure to be honest." Sheldon said as he started working on the circitry, "Part of me wants to just make him an actual robot instead of just an exosuit. Another part wants to upgrade it and keep up the lie a bit longer."

"Why don' you just come out in the open with it?" Rowen asked.

Sheldon sighed as he finished his work, putting the plateing back on. "Do you really think anyone will except me of all people as a super hero?"

"I did," she countered.

"You're diffrent," he said without thinking, "You aren't a sheep, you don't just follow trends and you don't judge people. You don't look and me and only see a geek and nerd." Rowen blushed a bit at what he said, never had anyone said anything so nice to her before. Sheldon blushed just as hard when his mind cought up with his thoughts.

Calming himself down and desparate to change the subject he said, "Moving on... So, what do you like to build? Or invent I should say."

Rowen laughed a bit, glad that he had changed the subject. "Okay I'm gonna sound really freaky here but I like to make guns and weapons and stuff," she said, "Not like the ray guns we have today, but like pistols and hand guns and crossbows. I bet that sounds so strange."

Looking up with a raised eyebrow Sheldon motioned to the wall of collapsable weaponry. "Right," she said with a sweatdrop, "Forgot who was I was talking to for a moment. Anyway, I also like to build and upgrade vehilcles."

Sheldon and Rowen worked threw the day, working on Shell and various other bit and pieces all around the workshop. Eventually he invited her inside and the two found themselves hanging around the living room, eating apples.

Raising an eyebrow Sheldon asked, "Why huh... why are you eating it from the bottom up?"

"So I can eat the core," she said as she took another bite, "That whole, 'you can't eat the core and seeds' thing is a myth."

"You're weird."

She laughed lightly, "Welcome to the party, a bit late."

The converstation for the rest of the day was random and t best, all topics were raised but never deweled on for too long. At least until Sheldon had to ask, "So what does your house look like?"

Rowen paused a bit , somewhat lost in thought as she took the last bite out of her apple. "Hmm," she said finally, "Old, run down, dark, broken. It's big too, two floors and a basement, plus it's wide. Basically it's one of those halloween haunted houses without the fake bodies and blood. It's empty too. Really empty."

Getting up with a strech Rowen said, "I should probably be getting home."

"You're not going to call your parents to come and pick you up?" Sheldon asked, still somewhat off put by the empty house thing.

"Not... not really." Rowen said with a weak smile.

Sheldon stared at her a bit before reaching over and grabbing her hand, "It's late, and there are way too many thugs out to walk home in the dark. My house is empty too so I got a spare room."

Hessitant as she was Rowen couldn't help the laugh that escaped her, "I'm a big girl Shelldon, I can handle myself just fine."

"I know," Sheldon said with a slight smirk, "I'm trying to save those poor defencless thugs." Another laugh escaped her as he lead her to a spacely furnished but comfy room. "I'll see you in the morning. Good night."

As the door closed Rowen gave a soft, "Night," before she smiled and crawled into bed. Sheldon was a strange guy, but she felt a warmth from his that she hadn't in such a long time. 'It's probably a bad idea to be getting this close to him... but it's nice.'