Chapter 20

Thanks again to ShAmy4evr for Beta reading this chapter, not once or twice but three times! A lot of edits go into this story, and frankly it would never be as good if she didn't edit for me. Thanks so much, friend!

Now who can resist a panic-stricken Sheldon? Not I!

As soon as Gablehauser had left the office, Sheldon ran down the hall like a jack rabbit to get to his new friend. Leonard would know what to do, Sheldon thought. In all those stories that the other Sheldons had exchanged about Leonard, he was always there for them. He helped them with their experiments, tried to save their jobs, even fought for him. Sheldon needed him more than ever, or his perfect life would be gone in a flash.

He knocked on Leonard's lab door, and pushing it open, entered before Leonard could invite him in.

"LEONARD! I NEED YOU!"

"Oh now, Sheldon… I don't think I like Star Wars NEARLY as much as Amy!" Leonard gave Sheldon a wink then turned back to his cup of noodles experiment. He had almost perfected the setting.

"NO Leonard, it's not about Star Wars. I'm too smart, Leonard! They will send me away! Just when everything was coming together like the others! I was finally like the other Sheldons! Now I will be alone! Leonard it's all going to go away because I'm too smart! Like Scary smart… Korean Horror film smart!" Sheldon's voice was at least an octave higher than normal. His frantic pacing up and down the length of Leonard's lab was upsetting enough, but the constant hand wringing and lip chewing was a clear sign that something was terribly wrong. Leonard stopped the teasing and tried to calm his flustered friend.

"Sheldon, what are you talking about? Calm down. Come here and tell me. Come on, buddy." Leonard pulled out a chair for Sheldon but he was too distraught to sit and just kept pacing up and down as he started to tell Leonard about the forced collaboration with Kripke, how he had already done his part, but that Gablehauser had now agreed that he could submit his proposal without Kripke, but that could mean that he would be sent away.

"Well, Kripke could get the grant instead, Sheldon. I mean if he has a good idea!"

Sheldon shook his head and gave Leonard a deadpan stare, "Barry Kripke? Please be serious… there is not a Universe where that man could beat ANY of my ideas. Kripke's dumb enough for Twins, and I should know!" Sheldon continued to pace around the lab, "Whadd'm I gonna do? I don't want to go to Geneva! Not like this! Not without Amy or you with me!"

Leonard was at a loss. Though he did not know how to fix it, he was pleased that Sheldon had said that he would have liked him to go with him to Geneva. Unfortunately, Sheldon was right, by all accounts, if he didn't work with Kripke, Sheldon would get the grant. "Sheldon, why don't you just work with Kripke on your work?"

"Because it's my work!"

"You worked with me?" Leonard was still amazed that Sheldon had helped him so much on his theory. He now had grant money pouring in thanks to their idea. In fact, as soon as the Helium arrived, they would be able to prove it. Leonard hoped that Sheldon had realized that if their theory was proved, it would mean they would probably have to travel to promote their paper, but baby steps, he thought. "Working with me wasn't that bad!"

"Yeah, but you're Leonard. My friend. Of course I helped you! Besides, you can't help it you can't do geodesic slicing equations in your head!"

Leonard blew out an exhaustive sigh, "No one can Sheldon!"

"Exactly! I'm the only one, and I'm doomed!" Sheldon finally fell into Leonard's chair and held his face in his hands.

Now, if he didn't work with Kripke, he'd get the grant and have to go to Geneva. If he did work with him, he would be giving him his good ideas. Sheldon was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"I will always be the black sheep. Amy will move on from me, and find some other tall guy and have Star Wars weekends… go to the zoo… go out for Italian dinners… talk about math..." Sheldon was nearly crying at this point.

"SHELDON, there is not a universe that Amy would be with another tall math guy at an Italian Restaurant! You know that! She is crazy over you. A few months absence won't do you guys any harm!"

"You're right, Leonard, she has me now, and we are meant to be. But I was just beginning to put up with you guys. Now I will be alone in my château in the Alps surrounded by snow bunnies sipping on hot chocolate in June! JUNE of all months!"

Leonard shook his head and attempted to sympathize with is distraught friend, "Sounds.. terrible. You got to do something! JUST WORK WITH KRIPKE! Put his name first!"

Sheldon looked disgusted, "I would rather watch the Green Lantern Movie with commentary than put my name anywhere near that man's. I mean, if he had ONE brilliant idea, it would surprise me. But the only person smarter than me is curled up with his wife talkin' about how Gore won the 2000 election. He is unavailable…."

"Who in the hell… What? Gore lost!" Leonard was as confused as ever, but by now he was starting to get used to Sheldon not making sense.

Sheldon shook off his recollection of number Five and seemed to shrink further into Leonard's chair, "Never mind… Anyway… I could never work with Kripke or give him my ideas… It would be a cold day in hell..." Sheldon suddenly stopped ranting, and after a few moments added to himself.

"Cold day… I mean… If I knew it would fail, of course.. I … would…." Sheldon's face changed in an instant, his mouth curled up a sinister grin that made Leonard shiver as Sheldon rubbed his hands together and gave Leonard a look that made him worry for humanity. "Leonard… I have an idea. What do you know about slow moving monopoles?"

"Um… they are particles… possibly with an isolated magnet or only one magnetic pole. Why?"

Sheldon stood up and slapped Leonard on the back, "Leonard, my friend. How would like to go to the North Pole!? Hypothetically, of course…"

"Um…hypothetically… still sounds cold. Whatcha thinking?" Leonard frowned as Sheldon's eerie grin seemed to split his face.

"I got an idea… but…just so you know…We might need some intensive acting lessons from Penny."

Leonard returned Sheldon's grin, "I'm in!"

Kripke was in a panic and still smarting from Sunday's defeat, he blamed the one person on campus that could make him sputter with anger: Sheldon Cooper. Though Gablehauser had had little faith in Kripke's abilities, he had told him about his agreement with Sheldon to submit individual proposals. Initially Kripke had been pleased with the change as he had felt he had been forced to work with Sheldon as punishment for his numerous HR violations, also he knew that Sheldon would steal all the credit on any joint work

However his submission for the MacArthur proposal was now due in three days and he was no closer to formulating any paradigm shifting ideas, and at this point, Kripke thought, he would take any ideas, paradigm shifting or not. He had to show up Cooper, and Barry needed some way to get the upper hand on him. Cooper's proposal locked in his desk seemed to be his best bet. If he could just get glance at it, not to steal, just to see what idea Sheldon had come up with and just maybe he could expand on it. After all, Cooper had only just begun to postulate on the many worlds theory of the universe. How much could a blow hard like Cooper really come up with in two weeks?

Kripke had overheard Hofstadter tell Koothrappali that Sheldon was leaving early to go dinner with his new girlfriend. For years, Kripke had tried every trick in the book to woo Amy Farrah Fowler, but she had never shown any interest. In fact during all the years that she had worked at Cal Tech he had never seen Amy show romantic attention toward any man. He had wondered if perhaps she was a lesbian until he had overheard her scolding Wolowitz for some reason, something about his cousin David and setting her up on a date. However he remembered her stating that she had a yearly obligation to go on one date, but that she didn't believe in wasting one's time with romance.

Nothing got Kripke's motor running like a challenge and a thirty year old, obviously inexperienced woman, was just too good to pass up, plus she had the best quality Barry sought in women: no real comparisons to other men. Barry could be a complete useless cad, and she wouldn't be any the wiser. However now it seemed that Sheldon Cooper had beaten him to the punch, not only to win the MacArthur grant, but also the Fair Fowler.

Kripke crept through the halls of Caltech like a snake, watching for any sign of Cooper, but the coast seemed clear. He had thought he had seen one of Sheldon's little gang scurrying around, but he was really only keeping an eye out for Cooper. Then just as he was passing Leonard's lab, he heard the familiar southern drawl he hated so much.

"My theory is that, these slow-moving magnetic monopoles can't be accessed in the Antarctic, which is why the proposal has to be for the North Pole."

"Sheldon! If you could detect these monopoles. The Nobel would be yours for sure! You'd confirm String theory!"

"I know! I am sure we can detect them Leonard! We just need access to the Earth's magnetic field, and it would be stronger there. Now, I just need to write it up. Kripke doesn't know that I don't have a thing in that file in my drawer. All my equations are on my white board behind my perfectly drawn train picture."

"You mean the red and blue one with the…"Barry couldn't hear Leonard whisper, "What the hell is that, I can't read that…."

"Alco FA-4 diesel locomotive….NEVER MIND! He will never find them. As soon as I have time, I will finish up the proposal."

"You got dinner with Amy tonight and you promised ol' Bert to take him to that Rock show tomorrow... You won't be in your office now till Wednesday!" Leonard spoke a little louder.

"I gotta get it done, Leonard. Who knows what Kripke came up with? It worries me that he might just have a good idea, but I doubt it."

"He so brilliant, Sheldon. I would be worried..."

Sheldon voice seemed lower, "Well… maybe a threat to be sure, there is no way Kripke..."

Leonard interrupted him, "I mean, his ideas are leaps and bounds over yours, Sheldon…"

"Yes… Leonard I get it."

"How can you compete with a mind like that? Gablehauser asking you to collaborate must have been a sympathy gift… I mean…"

Sheldon voice raised, "I GET IT LEONARD!" Barry thought he heard Leonard snicker, but he couldn't be sure. "Anyway, as long as Kripke doesn't have an idea as brilliant as that, I should be fine."

Kripke clasped his hands together and rushed down the hall with evil glee. Sheldon poked his head out of the lab in time to see Kripke disappear around corner. He shot off a quick text to Rajesh thanking him for being such a good look out. At least one of his friends knew how to take instructions.

Sheldon turned toward Leonard and said with narrowed eyes, "Remind me to talk to the future Mrs Hofstadter about your over-acting! You almost lost it! Did you go to the Shatner school of Drama or what?"

Leonard shrugged, "Hey… Penny said to pronounce my words and you said we had to have details!"

"YES! BELIEVABLE ONES! Barry will never dream he could beat me in science. Remember, I said details should add some verisimilitude to our ruse!" Sheldon knew he shouldn't have gotten amateurs for his trick on Kripke.

"You got a 'tude', aright. Chill. It worked!"

"You spent too long on Skype with Penny! You even sound like her!" Sheldon could have strangled Leonard, but he had helped him with the ruse, along with Penny whose mid-afternoon Skype acting class seemed to have fallen short on Leonard. Still, Leonard had been pleased to see her and also happy to help Sheldon. Sheldon had to admit, it had worked regardless of the poor job done by the Thespian Leonard Hofstadter.

"Well. The trap is set. I bet Kripke is right now looking at my white board and my proposal." Sheldon grabbed his messenger bag and headed toward the door, but Leonard stopped him.

Leonard cleared this throat, "Before we leave, there are two things that do not add up. One: What are you going to submit to Gablehauser?"

"Ah… that is the next part of my plan… I will submit what I have been working on for the last two weeks, but I will leave out the part about the experiment and the use of the Large Hadron collider. I can submit that later, when a trip to Geneva is not the prize. Anyway, it's too early for any experiments yet. Also I think that the experiment will involve some cold fusion work, so that will take years…. No trips to cold countries for me… For a while anyway." Sheldon let out a long sigh thinking of his Nobel Prize speech and smiled with relief.

Leonard's snort of derision broke Sheldon out of his day dream, "Cold Fusion? In what universe would that work?"

"I got a sneakin' suspicion that in one universe, it does. Anyway, what is the second problem?"

"This monopole idea is brilliant Sheldon. Why are you just giving to Kripke?"

Sheldon shrugged his shoulder and said with a nonchalant grin, "Cause I know it doesn't work."

"How can you possibly know that if you didn't do the experiment?" Leonard was flabbergasted at this statement as he knew Sheldon well enough by now to know that he wasn't one to make blind claims without proof.

Sheldon scuffed his feet and looked away, "Um... a friend of mine did it… He said it was a bust, unless you count the interference caused by a toaster…"

Leonard wouldn't let it go, "I have never heard of a polar expedition that explored that theory. Where did you hear about that?"

Sheldon took off his shoulder bag and gave Leonard a stare that stopped him in his tracks. Sheldon let out a sigh and said softly, "Leonard… what if I could prove that multiple universes do exist?"

"Well, besides swimming in Grant money and Nobel prizes, you'd never have to buy your own drink at any bar near a college with a strong science program."

"I don't drink, but I think I can do it. I know it's possible and just knowing something is possible, makes it easier. Possible is half way to provable."

"How Sheldon… How do you know?"

Sheldon closed the door to the lab, "I know it, because… I've been shown the proof. I'm gonna tell you a story, and I hope you can keep up with the math."

"Okay Sheldon… Dazzle me…" Leonard sat back and crossed his arms waiting to hear the tale. Over two hours later, Leonard's arms were uncrossed and his hair was wild from having run his hands through it. Sheldon Cooper had just told him about alternate dimensions and his meeting with the congress of Sheldons. The entire story seemed fanciful, almost like a dream. Then Leonard thought back to all the strange things Sheldon had said, knowledge about things that he just shouldn't have and suddenly it all made sense. Leonard needed little convincing after Sheldon showed him his formulas and his idea on how to reproduce it.

Leonard finally realized something, "Wait.. Hold up… Is this why you know Penny and I are meant for each other? Those other Leonard's were with her, and why you keep saying that you and Amy are meant to be?"

Sheldon had only told Leonard about his meeting with the Sheldons, and the math behind his proposal, he had left out the personal details, but now he knew he had to admit it, "Yes. How can five other dimensions be wrong, Leonard?"

Leonard shook his head, "But how can you know that in this reality, this Penny. Or this Amy for that matter would feel the same?"

"Because if five other copies of myself, who are as self-absorbed, dismissive and completely clueless as they are, can get Amy Farrah Fowler to fall in love with them, I was a shoe in. I just have to make sure I do not repeat their mistakes. Neither should you, Leonard. Most of the advice I've given ya was wrought from the mistakes of your alternate selves."

Leonard ran his hands over his head yet again, "It's like the Star Trek TNG Episode, Parallels, where Worf goes through the time-space fissure and finds himself shifting between realities. Wow… what a mind job. HEY! I'm like Data in the episode! You told me about the jump between alternate realities, so I'm Data!" Leonard smiled, but it was not returned by Sheldon.

"I'm Data! I want to be Data!" Sheldon demanded, and Leonard had to roll his eyes.

"Fine, Sheldon you're Data."

"Good… But still, I'm Worf too. I don't know who you are, but yes, I can be with Deanna Troi since I see…"

"Wait, I thought you were Data? He's not with Troi, Worf is.. Then Riker later… Wait, am I Riker? I can be Riker…" Leonard was becoming confused, again.

Sheldon waved him off, "Forget it… I am meant to be with Amy."

Leonard lowered his tone and looked at Sheldon over his glasses, "You gotta tell her Sheldon."

"No! She'll think I'm crazy… I can't! She'll leave me!" Sheldon's voice shook in this throat, and he wrapped his arms around his chest.

"Sheldon! She needs to know!"

"I can't Leonard. I can't lose her. It would crush me." Sheldon bent his head down and braced himself against Leonard's lab table. He closed his eyes and imagined his worst fear, really, his only fear: Amy walking out his door for the last time. He had put so much hope in their new relationship that he hadn't even fully processed how any change in it would affect him. Before he had met Amy and the guys, he not really been fully aware of the depth of his loneliness, but now he knew what losing her would do to him. No wonder Sheldon Four was a hollow shell of a man. Sheldon looked down and could see the outline of the evaporation off his hands on the cold metal table. Like wisps in the wind he would fade away without her. Just the thought of it made his body shrink with dread. He stood up quickly, and wiped his hand off on his pants.

Sheldon cleared his throat and continued, "One of them guys I told you about, number Four, he lost his Amy cause he was clueless idiot. Afterwards, you should have seen him, Leonard. I didn't recognize myself. Skinny, sure, but more than that… He was bitter and mean. Just mean… He was a shell of Sheldon Cooper. Number One, he only had a hint of losing her, and he was crazy eyed." Sheldon squared his jaw in defiance, "I need her, Leonard. I can't go to Geneva, or do anything wrong. I can't tell her I was part of a congress of alternate versions of myself. She'll stab me with a brain monkey needle, and run so fast into the arms of some other guy. Like Stuart! Or worse! No way. Nope. Can't tell her." Sheldon looked down at his phone which was buzzing in his pocket, "Oh shoot! It's after six! I missed dinner with Amy!"

Sheldon had already texted Amy, telling her about Gablehauser's visit after lunch, and that he would be delayed at work. However as he did not want to miss seeing her, he had told her that he would get Leonard to drop him home and had asked her to meet him at Los Robles at 6pm.

Leonard shook his head, "Not screw up huh? No man can achieve that, not even the brilliant Sheldon Cooper. Listen buddy, you can't keep this secret forever and when it comes out, and it will, you need to be one to tell her. If you aren't… I don't think you'll be able to keep her. Isn't it better that she thinks you're crazy than a liar."

Sheldon sucked in his bottom lip and looked away from hard truth. Amy hated lying. But was he really lying? Wasn't it was just an omission, nothing more. "I can't Leonard and don't you either. Not till I got this proven. Then I will tell her, Leonard… I promise. She'll believe me when have the math. I just need the right equation."

Leonard knew he wouldn't win the fight today. He waited for Sheldon to text Amy his apologies, blaming his delay on complications involving Kripke and the grant proposal, which was true. He just left out the part about the ruse he had planned for Kripke and his confessions to Leonard which had actually caused his tardiness. Leonard and Sheldon then went to Thai the Knot to pick up dinner, and met Amy at Los Robles.

When they arrived, Amy was sitting on the floor waiting for the guys with her back against the door. Sheldon rushed to help her stand up, "Oh I am sorry Amy. Look I got an extra order of chicken Satay to make up for my egregious tardiness." He heaved her off the floor with such force that she landed in his arms as she had the first time she met him and it took Leonard clearing his throat to interrupt their loving gazes and remind them they were not alone.

Amy stepped back from Sheldon and brushed back her hair smiling with embarrassment, "Oh Sheldon, no problem. Don't make a fuss. Now, about that dinner?" Amy said as she followed Sheldon into the apartment and busied herself with getting the cutlery from the cupboard and drinks from the fridge to hide her blushes. Over dinner Leonard confirmed that he had signed the lease for the apartment upstairs and was now just waiting to make arrangements for the move. Sheldon also told Amy, that thanks to his budding friendship with Bert, he would not be seeing her the next day.

"I have been reliably informed" he stated glaring at Leonard, who just grinned and continued to eat. "That it is a non-optional social convention that friends do favors for each other. So I will be spending time with Bert now instead of you."

Then turning to Amy, "Um… that is unless you think I should cancel?" He added quickly with a few rapid blinks of his eyes, hoping that Amy would give him an out.

However this time that tactic did not work on Amy. "No Sheldon, I think that it is great, you are widening your circle of friends, and I think it would be good for Bert, too. You know to have someone as intelligent and knowledgeable as you to interact with." Amy managed to remain serious, though Leonard seemed to have a hard time swallowing his water.

However, Sheldon just nodded sagely and agreed with Amy. ""Not AS intelligent, but I get your point. You are right, it would be unfair to deprive Bert of my stunning conversation and sparkling company, though you know I would much rather be with you."

"I know Sheldon, and what you are doing is a nice thing." Amy smiled at Sheldon, and again their silent gazing was interrupted by Leonard's cough.

"Oh… look at the time…I will hem…well I think I best get going." Leonard smiled at the silent couple. Not only was he trying to be a good friend to Sheldon, leaving him with Amy, but he also had an ulterior motive, which he achieved as he met Penny coming home for work, and joined her in 4B for dessert.

As Leonard made his departure, Amy grabbed her purse to leave as well, but Sheldon shut the door, and giving her a longing look stopped her. "Amy, would you stay for a little while longer. There is something I would like to discuss."

"Color me intrigued." Amy took off her purse and resumed her spot on the couch. Sheldon went to his desk and brought two items to her: A bound document and a key on a monkey key chain.

"What's this, Sheldon?"

"Something I should have given you this weekend so you will never have to wait for me on the floor of the hall again. It's our relationship agreement and your house key." Sheldon smiled, and handed her a pen, "You got some parts to fill in, Amy. I'll make tea. This might take a while."

Amy held the key tightly and let out a slow breath as she flipped open the document remembering the last time it had been was discussed.

One evening after Amy had been gushing over the roommate agreement that Sheldon had drafted for Leonard, he had timidly raised the subject of a relationship agreement. What he was suggesting was a document that would outline expectations for their coupling, but more importantly a list of requirements. He loved lists, and what he wanted was a list that would detail what he needed to do to be a good boyfriend. As he had said it would be like finding the Rosetta Stone for women, but he wanted it for the only woman who mattered.

The document that Sheldon had now handed Amy had a section for her own requirements headed: 'Amy's says Sheldon will do the following' with three blank pages left for her to fill.

As Sheldon fixed their teas, Amy tried to think what she could possibly put in the document that he hadn't thought of yet. Seeing that he had asked that May the Fourth be put aside as a special day, she scribbled a few things, but did not use all of the blank pages. What she had added were things such as having family events and holidays together, getting matching couples' costumes and for her most importantly, Valentine's Day.

After she had added her wishes she read the final paragraph to the agreement which stated that she would inform him of any transgression with a 24 hour probationary period before giving him a strike.

Sheldon had said they had to exchange keys in case of a Zombie Apocalypse, but Sheldon wanted her get used to the idea of having the run of the place.

"You really want me to have a key to your apartment? That is a big step, Sheldon. Are you sure?"

Sheldon couldn't read Amy's expression and worried that yet again he may have assumed incorrectly and nervously added, "If zombies come and want to eat our brains, you know the safest will be 4 floors up. Since you are like on floor three, the logical place to hide out would be here. Also…"

However Amy's light touch of her hand on his clenched fist and gentle smile soothed him and he took a deep breath and decided to be more direct, "Also, I like the idea that you have access to my apartment because it shows I want you as part of my life."

Amy licked her lips and then said, in almost a whisper, "Yes… I like that too. I think it shows that we trust one another. I will have my extra key made tomorrow." She picked up her tea and took a sip before she added, "And just to be clear!" There are no such things as zombies Sheldon!"

The next 20 minutes were spent in a heated argument concerning zombies, vampires and werewolves. Amy would only concede that Vampires were not zombies, and that was as far as she would go. However Sheldon had been invigorated by their 'discussion' and despite the fact that she had refuted his balanced arguments, he was overjoyed that she left with a new house key and a signed relationship agreement. Not only would she now be safe on the fourth floor come the Zombie apocalypse, more importantly, it was one step nearer to a more permanent arrangement.

Amy in turn had enjoyed their debate she loved Sheldon's passions about his hobbies despite how fanciful they may be. But even more than that she had loved the detail he had included in the document. She knew that the obvious thought, not to mention the time that had gone into compiling the document showed his commitment to her with every syllable.

If Sheldon had had a chance to compare his Relationship Agreement with the some of the other Sheldon's, he would have seen that a7 page codicil was tame compared to the33 page contract that numbers One, Two and Four had drafted. But for Sheldon in this universe, it was perfection.

A/N: Well... You guys guessed who knew about the congress. Next up, a little sex advice for the new couple. The question is, who is giving the advice? dun dun dun...