Chapter 15

There was a knock on the door of apartment 4A. Leonard, who had been eating pizza with Penny, got up and answered the door. Pris stood in front of the door with a smile.

"Hi. You're back?" Leonard asked.

"Yeah." She stayed on the other side of the door, even though the door was wide open.

"I saw you on TV." Leonard grinned, so proud of her.

"Oh, really?" she asked, knowing the answer.

"Yeah. You were great. I can't believe you get that nervous." Leonard started wondering why she refused to step into the apartment. "Sheldon's not here. You can come in. Pizza?" he added once he realized she was practically banned from the place.

"No thanks. I have to get to the office. I just came to drop this off." She rummaged in the bag she always carried. She handed him a small wooden king from a carved chess set. "Please give this to Sheldon."

"Why?" He stared at the beautiful piece.

"Its my surrender," Pris smiled. "But don't tell him that. Let him figure it out."

And then she turned and left.

Sheldon arrived home soon after with DVD store rental. He was starting to get a handle on doing several things alone, and going to the new DVD store, was one of them.

"What movie did you get?" Penny asked.

"Gulliver's Travels." Sheldon held the DVD up and grinned. "I had the tiny pimply faced kid pick something out for me. He said it was: Dope."

"You want to watch it with me?"

"We're going out." Leonard stood from the couch.

"Pris brought you something." Leonard said as he and Penny started heading towards the door.

"Wait what?" Sheldon was shocked.

Leonard pointed towards the chess piece on the coffee table. "I think she actually made that by hand. So, if you throw it away I will strangle you."

Sheldon picked up the wooden piece and admired the detailed work. "Why would she give me this?"

"She said…" Leonard had to think for a second. "You have to figure it out. Good night Sheldon."

"It's a surrender." Sheldon stated after staring at the king for a long time.

"Good for you, Sheldon." Leonard turned towards the door and then back to face Sheldon. "Why is she surrendering?"

"Because I am superior to her."

"No, actually, Sheldon, she's the superior one." Leonard stated, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Why do you say that?" Sheldon was genuinely shocked.

"Because, she'd rather have peace than suffer through an ongoing war."

"That makes her weak."

"Oh my god. Good night Sheldon." Leonard turned and left.

After his movie, Sheldon gloated to himself as he put on his Wednesday PJ's and got ready for bed. He stared at the tiny wooden chess piece with a smug smile before turning off his light.

But Sheldon could not sleep soundly. He woke up every few hours thinking that something had moved in his room. He looked up at the chess piece to make sure everything was still okay.

But then something felt strange. He couldn't move. He looked down towards his feet and saw that he had been strapped down. He was roped down by thousands of strings that stuck into his duvet.

Sheldon gasped when all of his figurines stood around him on his bed. Some holding pitchforks, which seemed to be ear buds that had been set on fire, and pointing any weapons on him. Sheldon looked up at the chess piece and saw the tiny king raise his hand in a command and the figurines roared.

Sheldon woke up with a scream…

There was a knock at the door of apartment 4A. Leonard dropped the TV remote and walked to the door.

When he opened the door, Mrs. Mary Cooper stood on the other side holding on to her roller carry bag. She smiled cautiously as she stepped in.

"Leonard." she greeted him with a warm hug.

Penny, who had been working on
her laptop, walked closer to also greet their guest.

"Mary. Mrs. Cooper. Thanks for coming so quickly." Leonard said as Mary hugged Penny.

"Well, you said it was important." Mary scanned the apartment as if she was looking for the sign of trouble.

"Sorry we didn't get you at the airport. We would have picked you up." Penny stated.
"No that's all right sweetheart. I like to preach to the drivers. Saving souls one taxi ride at a time." she seemed very proud of herself. "How's my Shelly?" she asked, still searching the room.

"Its better if I show you. I can't really explain it." Leonard tried to point Mary towards the bedrooms but she stood stiff and stared at him.

"You know, you scare the bejesus out of me every time you say that?" Mary complained.
"I'm sorry. Its just difficult to explain." Leonard scratched his head.

He led the way towards Sheldon's room. And Mary and Penny followed. Mary sighed at the drama and opened Sheldon's door.

Sheldon stood near his wall, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders and wearing what seemed to be an army hat. He was staring at his wall, mumbling inaudibly. Mary looked at what he was staring at and saw several articles, picture and notes. Some pages from Dr. Hofstadter's book were ripped out, highlighted and also stuck to the wall. It looked like a war room. Mary's jaw dropped and she slowly walked backwards out of the room before Sheldon even saw her. She softly closed the door and took a minute to find something to say.

"You said this was about a girl?" she managed. "But not Amy?"

"No. This is another girl." Leonard said.

"And he likes her? Mary asked.

"She's married." Penny threw in.

"No." Leonard frowned at penny, trying to salvage the conversation. "No he doesn't like her. Actually he hates her."

"That looks like a war room. And not the praying kind of war room, but the dangerous kind."

"Yup." Leonard had the same thought the first time he saw it.

"I shoulda gotten that second opinion when I had him tested..." Mary mumbled to herself. "What did this girl do to Shelly?" she eventually asked Leonard.

"Nothing actually. She's just smarter than him." Leonard answered nonchalantly.

"Oh lord, have mercy." Mary uttered. "Really? Smarter than Sheldon? I didn't know it was
possible."

"Neither did he" Leonard stared.

"Alright. Let s talk to Sheldon. See if he'll see reason." Mary rolled up her sleeves and said a quick prayer before opening Sheldon's door and marching in.

"Hello Shelly." Mary said loud enough to shake Sheldon from his trance. He turned and stared at his mother as if he couldn't comprehend her existence. It took him a second to realize that she was standing in his room in front of Leonard and Penny.

"Mom?" Sheldon rubbed his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

Mary walked closer and hugged him close despite his rigid stance.

"You called my mother?" Sheldon asked under his breath.

"We were a little worried about you." Leonard stated, expecting the worst reply.

"Oh you were? That's so sweet. Worrying is what friends do, right? We're friends again, aren't we?"

"Yes Sheldon. "

"Baby. Tell me what you're doing in here?" Mary steered Sheldon to his bed.

"Pris is mean to me." Sheldon whined.

"How is she mean to you, Baby?"

"She sits in my spot!"

"Shelly…" Mary started to lecture but he kept going.

"She beat me at 3D chess. She smells like books and cookies. She's never been bullied because she's pretty. And she knows how to talk to people and make them like her. She's smart. Me kind of smart. And she can speak 4 languages. Earth languages."

"Earth languages?" Penny whispered to Leonard in the hallway.

"Real spoken languages. Chinese, French, Spanish and Russian."

"And English." Penny added.

"Right. That's five." Leonard grinned.

"She's just so perfect!" Sheldon finished his rant and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Baby." Mary took his face in her hands. "Is it possible… And I'm not saying it is, I'm just asking, but is it at all possible that you might really like this young lady? And don't know how to handle it?"

Sheldon frowned and Penny threw her hand over her mouth as she gasped.

"Oh my god." Penny whispered excitedly. "Sheldon's in love with Pris."