Chapter 57: An Issue of Trust

The best marriages are built on love, patience, and trust, as Sheldon and Niki are soon to learn.

It was late March and Niki Cooper sat tensely at her dining room table, staring intently at her computer screen with a deeply furrowed brow. To herself, she muttered, "Damn! This would happen now! Life, this time you really threw a massive monkey wrench into the works."

From the other side of the dining room wall, a concerned voice called out, "Is something wrong with either you or the baby?"

Niki addressed the man in the living room in a soft, calm voice, eager to calm his fears and concerns, "No, Sheldon. The baby and I are just fine. But I wish I could say the same about my computer."

At her words, Sheldon planted a kiss on his daughter's head, put her on the floor along with a colorful picture book, and hurried to the dining room. "What seems to be the problem, Niki?"

"I'm not really sure. I think I picked up a virus somewhere, but I'm not sure how that happened. I have loads of virus protection programs running on this thing."

He stood behind her and looked at the nonresponsive laptop with no small amount of interes, "Have you visited any suspicious sights?"

"Oh sure, Cooper. I just downloaded some porn this morning. Get real! This is my work computer. I only use this laptop for research and for prepping for the video conferences I'll be having with the class at Stanford. I don't know what's wrong with the darn thing."

"Well, could you kindly tell me what it's doing? Perhaps I can help."

Niki let out an exasperated sigh and explained, "It boots up just fine, but I can't get on the internet at all. I also can't run Skype or any of my video conferencing programs. I'm just stuck looking at my home screen."

Sheldon leaned even closer and reached out towards the machine, "Do you mind if I take a look at it?"

Niki got up from her seat, leaving it vacant for her husband, "Not at all, but hurry. I have to send some documents to the Stanford science department in forty-five minutes."

Sheldon fiddled with the laptop for a few minutes while Niki played with Lori in the living room. In about ten minutes, he stuck his head around the corner and motioned for her to join him in the dining room.

"Did you find what's wrong with it?" Niki asked eagerly.

Her husband shook his head sadly, "Unfortunately, no. There seems to be some sort of problem with a part of the hardware. My best guess is that it could either be your wifi card or your internal modem that's malfunctioning."

"Can you find out and fix it in forty-five minutes?"

Sheldon let out a condescending breath, rolled his eyes and replied testily, "No, Niki. That would be a bit of a stretch. I could look at it tonight, uninstall all your programs, find what is not working, fix it, reinstall all your programs, and have it running by tomorrow morning sometime…maybe."

Niki threw him a worried look, "Would I lose all of my research and lecture notes?"

Sheldon answered her without looking up from the laptop screen, "Where have you saved them?" Just on your hard drive? Then there's a good chance you might."

"No. I've also put everything on the cloud."

"You're good then. You should be up and running by tomorrow afternoon at the latest."

Niki's face filled with relief and she asked her husband, "Great. Hey, can I borrow your laptop to send Stanford my lecture outline and notes? I promised I would get them to the science department for review in less than an hour.""

Sheldon's answer was immediate and terse, "No."

Niki eyes narrowed dangerously as she spat out, "Whaddaya mean, 'no'?"

"I mean no. Niki, it's a simple word. It means I answered your question negatively. No."

Niki's eyes now turned molten as she responded in a voice dripping with acid, "Would you care to explain why?"

"I lend my laptop to no one."

His wife now spoke in very clipped words, "I'm not no one. I'm your wife."

Sheldon used his 'talking to a child voice' that she hated as he replied, "I understand that. I haven't forgotten. Do you think I've suddenly gone daft? I know full well who you are."

"Then why can't I borrow your laptop?"

His voice now sounded agitated as he answered her, "For the simple reason that I don't trust anyone but myself with it. That's why."

Niki's mouth fell open and she stared at Sheldon unbelievingly, "I'm your wife, you trust me to carry and raise our children, but you don't trust me with your laptop."

Sheldon now sounded completely annoyed, "Don't play silly semantics games with me, Niki. I trust you completely. But not with my computer."

With that, Niki stormed out of the dining room hurriedly, grabbed her purse and headed for the front door of their home, stopping just long enough to place a kiss on Lori's cheek and say, "Mommy will be home in a couple of hours. I trust you and Daddy will be fine while I'm gone."

As Sheldon came racing out of the dining room and Lori waved a happy bye-bye, Niki ran out of the house, slamming the door behind her. She raced down the walkway that led from the Cooper home, past the pool and cabana, and up to the Hofstadter residence. Niki stopped dead in her tracks when she saw that the house was dark. 'Where are they?' she wondered to herself. 'Where could Penny and Leonard be tonight? They didn't say that they had any major plans.'

Then it hit her. It was Wednesday night and Wednesday, for as long as she'd known the Hofstadters and Sheldon, was Halo night. Of course! Tonight, all their male friends were at the Comic Book Store instead of Raj's house. That is where the guys had moved their Halo game while Raj was gone. Somewhere in the back of her mind loomed the question of why Sheldon was not with his friends, but her anger at him was not allowing that thought to reach its full fruition. Instead, Niki tried to figure out where Penny could be, and then realized her bestie was most likely at Howard and Bernadette's house, where the two women would be having a girl's night while Howard was out playing Halo.

Instead of continuing on to the Hofstadter's, Niki raced for her car and quickly headed down the driveway and to the other side of Altadena, where Bernie and Howard lived. I need to talk to someone or I'm going to burst. Usually Penny is just that person, but when I feel like slapping my husband across the face, Bernie is my go-to friend.

As she pulled in to the driveway of the Wollowitz home, Niki parked her car and took a deep breath. She most certainly did not want to barge inside Bernie and Howard's house looking like a crazed woman, though that was close to how she felt. After taking several deep breaths to calm herself and fixing her hair, Niki exited her car and approached the front door of the house.

Inside, Penny and Bernie were seated on the couch in the living room, looking and laughing at some old photos they had found in a box in one of the closets.

Penny pointed to one of the pictures and began to laugh hysterically, "Oh my God! Look at this picture taken at your wedding! The look on your face here is priceless!"

"Yeah, that's when Sheldon began his speech in Klingon. I was so mad at him! He promised me NO KLINGON!"

The two women's conversation was interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell.

Penny looked towards the front door, "I wonder who that is?"

Bernie took a look at the surveillance screen up on the wall, which showed their front porch, "It looks like it's Niki. What's she doing here?"

Penny found it hard to keep a straight face as she answered, "She has the same look on her face that you did in that picture. Looks like the Wackadoodle has struck again!"

Bernie turned to Penny and snapped, "How do you know it's Sheldon she's angry at?"

"Well, for one, she's been home with Sheldon and Lori all evening. Now, that girl is patience personified with her kid, so who does that leave?"

On cue, as Bernie opened the door, Niki burst in crying, "I'll kill the son-of-a-bitch! I swear I will!"

Penny looked at her friend's still-disheveled hair and fiery eyes and asked her, "You would be talking about your better half, I take it?"

"Better half my ass! Do you know what that man said to me?"

Penny couldn't hide the grin that began to spread across her face, "Let's see…something inappropriate and rage inducing?"

At that, Bernie commented acidly, "Didn't have to try too hard for that one, did ya?"

Penny made a motion with her hand, "Bernie, stop. Nik's really upset."

Niki turned to her friends and began her rant, "You bet your butt I am! My laptop broke down and I asked to borrow Sheldon's to send my lecture notes to Stanford. Do you know what he told me?

Both women chimed in at the same time, "Sure. He said no."

Niki immediately looked deflated, "You knew what he said?"

"Of course. Sheldon has never allowed anyone to use his laptop. Ever. Especially since that time someone wiped out all his saved documents while using it."

Penny tried to mount a feeble defense, "Hey, it wasn't intentional. How was I to know what would happen when I hit the wrong key?"

Niki stared at her bestie, "Wait, you lost all of his data?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

Bernie explained further, "And it was just before he was going to make an important presentation at a physics convention in Las Vegas."

Niki looked from one of the women to the other and then took a calculated guess at the rest of the story, "Let me see if I can reconstruct this scenario. Sheldon's up for a big award, he's competing against other top scientists in the field. Just before he leaves his hotel room, Penny asks if she can use his laptop for 'just a second'."

Bernie nodded, "So far, so good."

"And, let's see…Penny was more than a little bit tipsy."

"Bingo!" Bernie crowed.

Penny attempted to defend herself with a weak, "Hey, I wasn't that drunk."

Niki rolled her eyes and replied, "You obliterated all the man's documents."

The pretty blonde dropped all pretense at innocence and confessed, "Okay, so maybe I was…a little."

"Okay, and I'm willing to bet my honeybunch didn't win that award."

Bernie seemed to take great enjoyment at Penny's discomfort, so she added, "No. But that's not all."

"Oh, I can see it now… Sheldon was nervous, took a couple of stiff drinks to give himself some courage, and he ended up in the same state as Penny, only in front of a group of esteemed colleagues."

"Bingo again!" By this time, Bernie was laughing so hard she fell on to the couch.

Niki's eyes went wide, "Oh geeze! Now I see why he doesn't let anyone touch the damn thing. It's not that he doesn't trust me with his things, he just has a very bad association with lending his laptop to anyone."

Penny nodded sadly as she replied, "That about sums it up, yeah."

"Okay. I know what I need to do now."

Bernie looked up at her excitedly, "Go home and kill him?"

Niki smiled and shook her head, "No, Bernie. I'm going to go home and make peace with the man. I really didn't give him a chance to explain his reasons to me. I'm still upset, but I think Sheldon and I can work this out. Oh, Bernie, can I use your laptop for a couple of minutes first? I need to send some important documents to Stanford. Oh, and I'm stone cold sober, too."

Penny's voice held both shame and hurt and she responded to her friend's words, "Rub it in, Nik. Rub it in."

Ten minutes later, Niki left the Wollowitz residence and headed home. Not ten seconds after she had closed the front door behind her, Blake Hofstadter came toddling out of one of the bedrooms, his blankie in hand, and asked his mother, "Mommy? What's a sumbich?"

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Ten minutes after she had left the Wollowitz house, Niki pulled into the long driveway of her home and followed it until its end. There, she left the car and stared at her own home, perplexed. First, her mother's car was sitting next to hers, which Niki found odd. She didn't remember either her or Sheldon inviting her mother over to their house. Second, her house was completely dark, which was unusual as it was only nine p.m. and they usually stayed up until at least eleven. Still Niki continued to cautiously make her way to her front door. As she walked, the idea came to her in a flash, 'Oh, I know what's going on! Sheldon went to join the guys at the Comic Book Store and he called my mother to watch Lori. That makes complete sense. I was upset and went to talk to my friends. Sheldon has the same right to go seek out his friends. He even gets to play Halo with them instead of looking at some old photographs from a wedding I never attended. Lucky guy!'

Suddenly, the floodlights surrounding the pool came alive and enveloped the area in a soft, yellow glow. Out of the shadows, Sheldon Cooper emerged, dressed in the blue suit he knew was Niki's favorite. Niki noticed a form emerging from the darkness and gave a loud gasp. Then she saw it was only her husband, wearing his sexy blue suit and a warm smile. She greeted him with, "Sheldon! You scared me."

Sheldon's smile disappeared as he replied, "I'm so sorry, Freckles. I merely wanted to surprise you. I guess I got it wrong once more."

At that, Niki headed toward her husband and wrapped her arms around his neck, "No, Schatze. I got it wrong. I never gave you the chance to explain why you were so opposed to sharing your laptop. I apologize."

A small grin appeared on his face as he asked her, "Did Penny tell you the story?"

"No. It was Bernie."

"Ahh. Yes. She would love sharing a story about people when they were not at their best."

Niki giggled, "It's part of her charm. Anyway, I'm so sorry I ran out on you. I was wrong."

Sheldon kissed the top of her head, "No, I was the one in the wrong. You are my wife. You have never let me down or disappointed me. I should have made an exception for someone who has been so good to me."

"That works both ways, my dear. I should have known you had a good reason for acting as you did. I failed to trust you and your reasoning."

Sheldon murmured into his wife's hair, a faraway look in his eyes, "You know, Niki. I was so sad and lonely when I met you. I thought I'd never love anyone again after Amy died. She was truly my soul mate. And then I found you. Oh, I fought my feelings for a long time after I met you, but then I realized something very profound."

Niki snuggled closer against his chest and made the observation, "That a person can have more than one soul mate in a lifetime?"

Sheldon's face brightened, "That's it! You understand the feelings I had at that time."

"Of course I do! My feelings were very close to the same ones you were having. I never thought I would love someone again as much as I loved Paul. Guess what? I was wrong."

Sheldon loosened his hold on his wife, drew her face close to his, and kissed her quickly. He then hugged her tightly and added, "It seems we both were wrong. I have met two remarkable women in my life and I have loved them both as much as I possibly could. I do love you, Niki. And our daughter. And our coming child. I am a man who has been richly blessed."

Niki's words were both soft and heartfelt in her reply, "Oh, Cooper. I'm the one who's been blessed. I have a most amazing husband, a great life and professional career, and almost two wonderful children. A woman can ask for no more than that."

A mischievous grin crossed Sheldon's face as her told her, "Yes she can."

Niki looked up at him, confused, "Wait…what more could I ask for?"

"A little romance. No, a great deal of romance. Women need that. No, I stand corrected…we all need that from time to time. So…."

Niki drew back from his embrace and asked, "Okay, Sheldon. What's up?"

He merely beckoned to her and said, "Follow me."

"Why does it seem I'm always taking your hand while your leading me somewhere?"

Sheldon's face grew tender at the remembrance of a very special day, "Ah yes, shades of the Magic Kingdom!"

Niki was pleased that he had remembered their first time at Disneyland, "Our first night together."

"But far from the last. Please, take my hand." And with that, Sheldon unlocked the gate of the fence that surrounded the pool and led Niki towards the cabana.

"Sheldon, what's up?" Niki asked in a confused voice.

"You'll soon see, in more ways than one." With that, Sheldon opened the cabana door and closed it behind them. He then took her in his arms once more and kissed her in a way that left little doubt as to his intentions.

"Oh, now I see what's up! Niki joked and then, as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she spied something on the low table in the middle of the room. Hey, what's that? Sheldon, it's a new laptop!"

Sheldon sat his wife down on the bed and explained to her between kisses, "I was going to give that to you on your birthday, which is in a few days if I'm not mistaken. But it seemed to me that the events of this evening called for you to receive it tonight."

Niki melted back in to her husband's arms as she cooed, "Oh, Cooper! I love you so much!"

He asked her wickedly, "Are you willing to show me?"

"Lock the door behind us and you'll see."

With that, Sheldon locked the cabana door and all sorts of wonderful, loving things began to happen between the two of them.

Penny Hofstadter, having gotten home in time to take in most of the Cooper tableau, looked on from the window of her kitchen, smiled, then exclaimed to no one but herself, "Score another one for the Wackadoodle!"

Life is about learning, isn't it? Sometimes we learn things from books and lectures, and sometimes we learn through our experiences. As long as we keep our eyes, ears, and hearts open, there is no limit to what we can learn.