Chapter 34: Keeping Mum

The context of Leonard's text message is not entirely thrilling news for Niki. Why? Read on.

Sheldon crossed the dining room and headed down the hall towards the women's restroom. He paused outside the door, uncertain of the proper etiquette required in such a situation. He decided to stand like a sentinel outside and wait for his wife to emerge. His came to attention when he heard retching sounds coming from behind the restroom door. He began to panic, wondering if his wife had been hiding an illness from him. Good Lord!, he thought, We were just intimate last night and my tongue was exploring the insides of her mouth, among other places!

When the door opened and Niki entered the hallway, Sheldon wasted no time in bombarding her with questions. "Are you ill? How long have you been this way? And can you please explain why you didn't inform me of this before we engaged in multiple rounds of coitus?"

His wife was taken aback and answered him tartly, "You can relax, Sheldon. I do not have a bug. Therefore, you will not catch anything. This is not a stomach virus, so slow your roll."

The tall physicist was completely baffled and inquired with a strong sense of caring, "Well, if you are not ill, what is causing your stomach distress? I could hear you vomiting profusely from out here."

Niki attempted to pass by him and head back to their table, "I ate some bad sushi on the plane. I'll be fine in a couple of days at the most."

Sheldon quickly maneuvered himself in front of her, blocking her progress, and continued his questioning, "But isn't food poisoning continuous? You seem to be fine now."

Niki stopped and let out a sigh as she explained her situation, "Sheldon, since shortly before we landed, I've had varying degrees of nausea. It never completely goes away."

Her husband wily countered that statement with, "You seemed fine during our lovemaking last night."

Niki disarmed him with a coy grin and replied, "Have you ever considered the fact that you are the Harry Potter of sex? Your magic touch made me forget all about it."

This time it was Sheldon who sighed and he surrendered his argument with the following caveat, "All right. I'll let it go for now, but if you're not showing signs of improvement by tomorrow, I'm calling in a doctor."

Niki nodded and decided to agree with him for the moment, "Fine. Let's go back to the others and hear what Leonard has to say."

Sheldon looked directly into his wife's eyes and stated, "You seem to know already. Does it concern the Sakurai Prize?"

She attempted to walk around him, failed, and conceded the point, "Indirectly. But it also includes me, which I'm not exactly thrilled about."

Sheldon grinned at her, knowing his wife could never resist his dimples, and teased, "I see you're not going to explain to me just what that message said."

Niki gave him a knowing smirk, resisting the dimples he had employed, and responded to his teasing with, "Well, since it mostly concerns you and Leonard, I think he should be the one to tell you."

"Very well." He linked his arm through hers and steered her back towards the dining room, "Let's get back to our group so I can find out. I do hope they haven't taken the award away from us."

His wife threw her head back and laughed out loud, "Fat chance of that! You won the Nobel Prize, remember? Nope, you guys are still the winners of the Sakurai. Now, let's get back to our family and friends before they think I died or something."

When they reached the table, everyone looked at Niki with concern. Penny was the first to speak, "Nik, are you sure you're alright? This is like the second day in a row you've lost your lunch or dinner."

The lady in question gave her friend a feeble grin, sat down in her seat at the table, picked up her water glass, and replied, "Relax, everyone. I'm just having a bout of food poisoning from something I ate on the plane. Nothing to worry about, honest."

Sheldon retrieved his seat, also, gave his wife another look of concern, and announced, "I'm just letting everyone know if this keeps up I'm calling a doctor for her. You really don't look well, Niki. You're pale and it looks as if you've lost weight." He quickly added, "Not that you needed to."

Niki waved them both off and attempted to change the subject, "Look, you guys, let's forget about my stomach for a bit, okay? I think you should all hear about that text of Leonard's. It's actually more important than the condition of my stomach."

At his wife's pronouncement, Sheldon's attention turned completely to his friend and the mysterious text message he had received, "I'd almost forgot about that. Yes, Leonard. What did that text say?"

"Okay everyone, it went like this. The three of us; you, me, and Niki, have been invited to go on another lecture tour. Sheldon, according to the text, you and Niki will talk about the work you've been doing since your gravity nullification discovery and buddy, you and I will talk about our superfluid paper."

The lanky physicist's face lit up like a Roman Candle, "That's wonderful! Leonard, where will we be going?"

The shorter man took a quick sip of his coffee and went on to explain, "Actually, we will be holding lectures on college campuses and in halls in some of the major cities in the United States and Canada. And get this, people will be coming to us to hear us talk! We won't have to do as much traveling in each city as you guys did with Raj."

Niki looked worried and looked straight at Leonard as she asked him, "That sounds like an improvement over the last time. But how many cities and in what time frame?"

He looked back down at his phone and informed her, "Two cities a month for six months. Which cities we will go to is yet to be decided. It says the tour is being penciled in to start in early June. Don't worry, Niki. This won't be a ten day on, one week off, affair like last time."

Sheldon's wife looked down at her hands as she answered him, "Okay, but I'll be…"

Penny pounced on her friend's words and challenged her, "You'll be what? C'mon Nik, we need to know."

Niki smiled at Penny and winked, hoping to distract her, "Never mind. It's not important right now. What is important is…do you guys want to do it?"

Leonard was the first to speak up, "I've never had a chance to lecture to these kind of crowds, I want to do it. Sheldon?"

His research partner tried, and failed, to hide his excitement as he responded to his friend's query with, "Why not? It's extra money and, Niki, it doesn't sound like it will be anywhere near as grueling as the last tour we went on with Raj."

Niki peered at her husband over the top of her water glass and reminded him, "But Sheldon, I'm doing that six-week astrophysics seminar at Stanford this summer. Have you forgotten about that?" She caught site of his exasperated expression and added a sincere, "Excuse me, of course you haven't. So, how will we work that?"

Sheldon made a steeple with his hands and tried to reassure his wife, "I'm sure they can schedule the summer dates in cities close to Palo Alto, like San Francisco." He then turned to Leonard and asked, "Is this offer from Binary?"

His friend was quick to reply, "Well, they have had a hand in it, but the main offer came from the The American Physical Society. You know, the group that awards the Sakurai Prize."

Niki looked around the table at everyone seated there, knowing full well their decision would directly impact their families as well, "What do you think, you guys? Should we do it?"

Sheldon reminded her, "The money will be good, Niki. And our little facility does run on money."

Penny looked at the three physicists and added, "It's only for a couple days a month. That's completely doable from both ends, you guys and the families."

Leonard finished his coffee in a single gulp and added, "I say we give this offer serious consideration. If we can all fit it into our schedules, why not?"

Niki's eyes had a far-away look in them as she replied in a small voice that was almost a whisper, "Yeah, why not?"

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Forty-five minutes later, Sheldon and Niki walked into the university apartment after leaving Lori with Mary, Penny, and Leonard. After putting her purse down on the coffee table, Niki turned to Sheldon and shared something with him that had been troubling her, "I still don't know why we couldn't have taken Lori with us. With Leonard and Penny staying at the hotel, we have an extra room here for her."

Sheldon took his wife in his arms, kissed the top of her head, and then mildly scolded her, "Stop. Niki, you know everyone is concerned about your health. No matter how much you deny it, you don't seem well at all. Penny and Leonard took Lori because they want you to rest tonight. We have that banquet tomorrow night and it won't be the same if you are not in attendance. Plus, you girls have plans for tomorrow and Penny and Annelise just want to make sure you will be well enough to go."

Niki planted a kiss on her husband's cheek and explained her feelings to him, "I'm very touched by all of that, but I want us to have time together as a family. I know you missed Lori, too."

Sheldon's arms drew her in closer and replied, "And the both of us will pick her up and take her for breakfast before you get together with the ladies. After breakfast, Lori and I are going to have some father/daughter time tomorrow while you girls are out researching the whereabouts of your aunt. By the time Mary picks her up in the afternoon before my lecture, I will have spent quite a bit of quality time with my daughter. As far as family time? We have the rest of our lives for that, don't we Freckles?"

At the sound of Sheldon's rare use of the affectionate nickname he had given her, Niki melted further into his arms and sighed happily. "Yes, Schatze, we have the rest of our lives to be a family together. I do hope that stupid tour doesn't interrupt too much of that."

"We will both make sure that it doesn't. Perhaps we can bring one of our mothers along with us sometimes to help with childcare. That way, Lori can come with us on some of the dates."

Niki grinned up at her husband wickedly, "Or not. We will only be gone overnight twice every month. We could use those days for a little marital bonding, if you know what I mean."

Sheldon's lips headed straight for his wife's neck as he responded to her suggestion, "Marital bonding? Oh, you mean like this?"

Niki gave a soft moan, "I mean exactly like that."

"Would you care to continue the bonding in the bedroom?"

Niki's fingers began to trace hearts on Sheldon's chest, "Ah, two great minds that think alike. A girl could get to like you, Cooper."

His lips went back to her neck and he whispered softly into her ear, "I thought she already did."

Niki had been considering having a serious talk with Sheldon about her health, but his lips on her neck made her decide to put that off for a bit, "Hmmm…let me show you just how much she does."

Desire overtook them both as Sheldon took Niki's hand and led her down the hall, "Onward to the bedroom! We have some important marital bonding to do."

What's up with Niki? And will she ever tell Sheldon what it is?