Title: The Hot Mad Scientist of CalTech
Author: smolder
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Angel the Series belongs to Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt. Big Bang Theory belongs to Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady. MIB belongs to Lowell Cunningham.

Chapter 2: The Hot Mad Scientist of CalTech

"But what does she do?"

"I heard she was a physicist."

"What discipline?"

"I don't know. She is hot though."

"She tasered you Howard, she's crazy. Although, I suppose she's more crazy for the writing on walls thing, it's not the first time a girl has tasered Howard."

"She's still hot. "

"Are you sure she's a physicist? I thought she was an engineer."

"Why?"

"I saw her working on something, looked like a catapult weapon of some kind."

"Or maybe it makes toast."

"And what's up with the guys in suits always hanging around? Do you think she's a government spy and the whole crazy hot scientist thing is just a cover? Like Sydney Bristow?"

Sheldon stood up abruptly from the lunch table. "I'm leaving. I am finding your incessant prattle more grating than usual. Besides, Sydney Bristow's cover wasn't as a scientist it was as an office assistant at a corporate bank."

With that he carefully disposed of the trash left over from his meal and quickly but thoroughly disinfected his hands afterwards. Then he walked down the hall to his office.

And past it.

Just as he had done for the past twenty two workdays after lunch.

Sheldon hated reviews. He understood the point of them - to weed out the subpar from the workforce. But for a person of his level of intelligence to have to sit in a chair with a poor cushion and defend his work ethic, himself, and his science to someone like Gablehauser. It was beyond galling.

But he completed the task and even managed not to blatantly insult the glorified high school teacher because he knew his mother would be very very angry with him if she had to come back here and help him get his job back.

Again.

As he angrily stalked back to his office, 14 minutes already gone from his schedule he turned a corner and found a woman writing on the walls of the hallway of the campus with a sharpie.

Already angry, he started to storm up to her a rant about graffiti already on his lips when exactly what was on the wall caught his eye.

He paused and looked it all over, the hastily written treatise and notes, the equations. She was mapping out a form of chaos theory as applied to molecular vibrations. He watched, oddly fascinated, as she drew the elliptical intersecting diagram that often caused the theory to be nicknamed by those of lesser intelligence the butterfly effect. These were almost always plotted on the computer, too many variables to accurately draw out by hand; but her hand was steady even if her eyes were dazed.

He knew who she was now, Dr. Winifred Burkle. Before her arrival there had been an extremely uninformative e-mail sent out causing pointless speculation throughout the college. Once she arrived, the gossip exploded even more to a point that annoyed Sheldon and, he felt, negatively affected the other's efficiency at work.

The e-mail had simply stated that CalTech was lucky to get a mind of her caliber and that everyone was to make her feel welcome by leaving her alone to get settled in.

That in itself was odd, but even more so was the fact that there was no indication as to what her schooling or prior experience was, or what she was to be doing at the college. When he and others inquired further they were firmly turned away by superiors. Those who dug more were turned away by men in black suits.

Gossip and firsthand accounts, despite their inherent inaccuracy, were the only information he had to go on this woman. He had heard from many people about her habit of writing on walls which lead many to call her crazy. Sheldon had thought this rather unfair at the time since he knew that when caught up on an important idea sometimes you can't be bothered by something as trivial as running out of space on your whiteboard. He could easily see how this could be taken further to simply putting science above wherever you might be, since if you lost the idea the world might be at a loss.

Was that really not worth a new coat of paint?

It was all about priorities and science, in his mind, should always be on top.

The talk that often went back to her appearance, was always disregarded by him as unimportant and baffling. Besides, when Hofstadter attempted to flirt with her, interrupting her work in the process, she had tasered him. A swift brutal response to which Penny had heartily approved when she had heard.

Many had also said that she was brilliant, giving her the nickname "Hot Mad Scientist", attempting to be witty he supposed by playing off both definitions of mad. But he had disregarded the claim since some people thought that Kripke was brilliant.

Now as he followed the ovals she made in red with his eyes he realized he might need to revise his initial assessment.

Her hand slowed and stopped before lowering to her side. She stared straight ahead and then started shaking her breath coming hard.

Sheldon simply stared for a moment; he didn't know what to do. He couldn't just leave her, she could be having a seizure or a panic attack and it went against his upbringing to ignore a damsel in distress. But at least the last time this had happened, when Penny had been hurt, he had already known her and had at least some knowledge as to what her reactions to certain situations might be. As much as you could with someone as unfathomable as Penny, knowing her she probably had yet to purchase any whimsical ducks.

But with Dr. Burkle he was at more of a loss than he usually was in social situations.

"Do you require medical assistance?" he asked.

She jumped as if just realizing he was there. He jumped back as well, he did not see a weapon on her but her quite remembered what she had done to Howard.

She stared at him with wide eyes for a moment, and he was about to repeat himself when she smiled at him widely and said in a bright excited tone, "I don't know you."

Sheldon blinked, he did not believe this was the normal protocol when making introductions.

But she continued, "No really, you're not familiar to me at all. You don't remind me of anyone."

Sheldon did not know if he had just been insulted. Often his limited grasp of sarcasm caused him to miss some of the things his friends attempted to be humorous about. However, Dr. Burkle's eyes were wide and she looked genuinely happy about the fact that she didn't know him.

Again, he was unsure as to how to proceed.

"I'm Dr. Sheldon Cooper," he finally said.

"Winifred Burkle. Everyone calls me Fred. Or they used to anyway. Everyone here calls me 'Mad Science Lady' or something. Makes me think of 'Crazy Cat Lady'." She continued smiling at him.

It didn't surprise him that she was aware of the nickname, even if she had gotten it incorrect. People seemed to think sometimes that since you didn't respond that you were deaf.

"Actually, all the gossiping plebeians who allow inconsequential speculation to interfere with their work call you the "Hot Mad Scientist," he corrected her.

She giggled. "Huh. That's a change, Cordy was always the really attractive one. Queen C. But I suppose she's been gone for a while." The smile slipped form her face with a sigh and she turned to her work, inspecting it as if seeing it for the first time. Then she murmured quietly, "I don't think she's even here, although it is a possibility…"

He glanced back over at the wall as well, he was acutely aware that he was now even more behind schedule for today but he was still strangely hesitant to leave this conversation. Everyone had been abuzz about this woman and although he was above such things, he could now admit a certain curiosity. Especially since she seemed to be welcoming towards him where from what he had heard all other attempts at contact had been met with blank stares, being blatantly ignored, or outright violence.

"You can't possibly believe your model drawn by hand without any tools is plotted with any sort of real accuracy," he said as an attempt at conversation.

She simply smiled at his critical remark. "Naw, all this was just relieving the pressure."

He stared at her blankly, "Please, clarify your statement. I've heard the phrase 'relieving the pressure' in reference to both urination and sexual intercourse, neither of which apply in this situation. "

She laughed loudly and it slowly petered into giggles "No, no, none of that lately. At least not the sex part."

"It's like this," she began seriously, once she pulled herself together, "I've got all these memories in my head and sometimes things trigger them to come to the forefront and try to overwhelm me. The only way I can stay afloat is by grabbing on to something comfortable that I know. For me that's science."

Sheldon flitted through many things rapidly in his brain. Escapism was not a foreign concept to him after all since it was something he had used his entire life, especially his childhood, using science fiction and comic books. It did make him wonder about what she was escaping from and how the men in black suits fit in. But for one of the very few times in his life Sheldon didn't push.

"Would you like to see what I'm building?" she asked almost shyly.

"I'm running behind schedule," he said automatically.

"Oh," she bit her lip, "right, of course all this science to do here. Busy, busy." She smiled tightly at him and he realized that she wanted to spend time with him. A person that he found intriguing, seemed to have an aversion to most other people, and was possibly not of a sub-par intelligence level not just tolerated but wanted to spend time with him. It was a startling notion.

He quickly consulted his schedule for today mentally. "I could come by for a totality of 13 minutes after lunch," he offered.

This time her smile was bright and genuine as well as a bit wider than considered normal.

He didn't tell his friends because he knew they would have all sorts of brainless and inconsequential questions, many of which probably having to do with her physical appearance, that he didn't feel like being bothered with answering. And since no one had asked him to keep it a secret and he wasn't lying, there was no problem with facial tics.

As he saw it, as long as they never asked him directly if he knew Fred, as she preferred to be called, his acquaintance (he wasn't sure if it classified as friendship yet, since he had never given her a questionnaire or made her follow the rules the others did) with her fell under the category of things his friends didn't know about him. There was plenty under that category.

He walked through the door into her office, this time she was writing on a whiteboard and he knew she was not actively participating in escapism since she looked up as soon as he came in.

Smiling, she said, "Hiya, Sheldon."

"I believe you should be informed it is now being speculated that you are a government spy, simply undercover as a scientist," he said in lieu of a normal greeting.

"Really now," she flopped down in her chair with a giggle. "I suppose that's better than the malfunctioning cyborg idea last week."

He paused, unsure. Their conversations were abnormally comfortable, seeing as to how they interacted with everybody else and the relatively short time they had known one another. But he was about to bring up something that could prove awkward if everything he had observed from Leonard proved true.

"I received an inter-office e-mail today, informing me of worthless upcoming social event. That is mandatory," he started. She was simply staring at him now. "It seemed to imply the preference for a "plus one"." He made air quotes with his fingers.

She was still staring, "Penny will most likely accompany Leonard. Or the whole group since they are no longer in a relationship, but for show Leonard in particular. But as my only other female" he paused since it had not already been previously verified "friend, I would appreciate your accompaniment."

She was still staring, eyes wide and slightly panicked.

"Fred?" he asked.

"I, um." She swallowed hard and then smiled slightly shakily. "Of course I'll go with you Sheldon. Is it a fancy thing?"

He was surprised by the relief he felt at her acquiesce. "Yes, it is a black tie event. Which means if my current unintentional pattern holds I will somehow end the night drunk and with no pants."

She let out a surprised laugh, her nervousness forgotten. "Wha-what?"

With an aggrieved sigh, Sheldon went over to her laptop and brought up YouTube.