Author's note: Thank you for the follows and reviews.
Disclaimer: The Big Bang Theory and all characters and creative elements derived from the source material belong exclusively to Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady.
Chapter 3
The Friday morning Pasadena traffic was moving smoothly and on most days that would have meant that Sheldon would be sharing an over abundance of factoids or car games. Yet for the third straight morning he sat quietly staring out the passenger window. Leonard had been enjoying the quiet but decided he would make a last ditch effort to keep his roommate from creating a spectacle at the Science Friday broadcast. "Sheldon. Sheldon are you listening to me? I'm just going to drop you off at the University I really don't think Ira Flatow will like it if you just show up."
"Uh-wha-"
"Sheldon since the other night at the Cheesecake Factory you haven't been yourself. Are you coming down with something or are you going in and out of the zone again?"
"You can't get out of it Leonard, I'm going with you to the radio station. I want to be there when you set the record straight that I allowed you to set straight."
Already regretting breaking the silence Leonard shot back, "You didn't allow anything. It's just science. The proof is in the results, repeated and verified. I thought you didn't want any of the attention and now you're out grabbing as much as you can."
"I don't want the attention. I just want the science community to see that I am not cowering in some corner because of what happened. I need to chalk this up to experience, a tiny footnote in my autobiography."
A contented smile spread across Leonard's face. "Wow Sheldon, I guess that talk from Wil Wheaton really helped you see the big picture. Hey- I thought Amy didn't get along with Wil. It's great to see how she can put her personal feelings aside just to seek him out, knowing he could help you. Where has she been any way?"
"Amy always just understands me better than anyone." He sighed, "We had to send Wil away but his input helped me gain perspective. As for Amy – I don't know – it appears UCLA is pulling her back again until February. That and some sick monkeys have her all twisted up in knots that I can't unravel. She hasn't been to CalTech since Tuesday."
"She was going over to Penny's this morning, maybe you should have just stayed with them to listen to the show."
"If I'm going to apologize to Ira Flatow, I'm going to do it in person."
"That's great Sheldon." Taking a sideways glance he added under his breath, "He's not the only one who is owed an apology."
The words were picked up by Sheldon's Vulcan hearing, "Yes, well I'm still trying to figure out how manage that discussion with Amy tonight."
"I- I - wasn't talking about Amy but you do owe her at least a dozen apologies so plan away. Wait. Is everything alright with you two?"
"Pay attention to the road or you might miss the exit."
-o-
Amy closed the door of Penny's liquor cabinet, "You're out of vodka."
"Damn, that marshmallow flavored one was sooo good."
"It's too early anyway besides he already stopped yodeling."
"Ha! You used to think it was cute."
"I still love his yodeling but that was not the place for it and I feel bad for Leonard. I hope he gets a chance to talk."
Penny's phone buzzed. "Sure I'll take it. I'll be there," she answered then turned, "Ames, sorry I'm going to skip lunch with you. They called me in to take the lunch shift."
"No problem. I need to go pick up my things from Caltech anyway."
1001001
After checking some phone messages Leonard had directed Sheldon towards Amy, when a long sympathetic message from Penny had let him know that their plans for the day had changed.
"Hello Amy."
She looked up from the desk drawer she was cleaning to acknowledge his arrival, "Sheldon."
"Did you listen to the show?"
"Of course I did."
"Can you believe how rude Ira Flatow was? He wouldn't apologize to me and I didn't get a professional science interview – AGAIN."
"I thought you were going to point out how you were going to make corrections to your calculations and then have them retested."
"I know but I just ended up yodeling again." After a heavy sigh he stepped closer towards Amy to sulk further, "that host just isn't hospitable."
Amy continued placing notebooks and office items in a cloth grocery bag but was looking back and forth at him and what she was doing to subtly mention, "Sheldon, when you told me you were going on the show I thought you had been invited. You never said you invited yourself. You owe Leonard an apology."
Taken aback he scrunched his face and squatted to meet Amy at eye level. "What semiotics are you interpreting? He rained on my parade. He robbed me of my greatest achievement and my claim to fame. If it weren't for him -"
Her voice rose with firmness and irritation, "Sheldon, we already went through all of this so please open your eyes. If it weren't for him it would have been someone else. Leonard is your best friend and from what you've told me he's more of a brother to you than George Jr. He is only guilty of trying to be a kind and considerate friend and you've done nothing but brow beat him for days."
He rose and crossed his arms, "Amy, how can you take his side?"
"Sheldon there are no sides here and if you weren't so self-absorbed you'd see that Leonard did all of this for you. He took his entire weekend of his own time to review the testing done by the Chinese research team to verify their results. The fact that he disproved their work made him happy because it would stop you from feeling miserable. He wanted to make you happy and free you from the discovery you said time and time again that you didn't want. Could you appreciate his investment of time and energy just for you? No you couldn't, you had to make him feel guilty. You had to antagonize him. You had to butt in to his moment in the spotlight to make this about you and not about science."
"I may have overlooked -"
"Overlooked is an understatement." Amy's volume had risen several decibels but her speech had remained even and clear, "You told me he even tried to stand up to Kripke for you but I'm beginning to think you just don't care how much Leonard does for you, you don't appreciate how much he cares about you because you continue treating him like a peon."
"We're men you wouldn't understand how we communicate and -"
"Respect and appreciation are gender neutral you—you—you just take him - you take too many things for granted. The two of you have been at odds so much lately; he may be reaching his limit. Everyone has a limit. " She paused to catch her breath, squeezing her eyes tightly shut in hopes of holding back the tears.
"Amy, are you still angry about the other night? – Your body language is telling me this may not be just about Leonard?"
She shook her head looked directly at him and said, "No, Sheldon it's about you."
The room began to spin as it had on his last visit to the lab and the only thing he could think of doing was getting him and Amy out of, what he considered, a germ infested space, "Maybe we should go somewhere for lunch before we discuss this further. Hunger is a known trigger for misguided hostility."
"Misguided?" The sobs that escaped trapped the rest of her words and smothered her thoughts. "No, no", she covered her face with both of her trembling hands, trying to inhibit her emotional waterworks. "I didn't want this at work." She used her hands to fan her tears and walked back to towards the back wall of the lab to grab a tissue.
Sheldon followed and began furiously rubbing his left temple, "Amy, what's wrong? I don't know what I've done but I don't want to be at odds with you. It's not supposed to be this way for us."
"Maybe all of this is just too much for us. Were both scientists first and none of this was in our plans." She sniffed. "I know we're scheduled to talk tonight so it might be a good time to consider that we may need to give each other some space."
Eyeing the hand sanitizer behind the sink Sheldon gave it three quick pumps then rubbed his hands nervously before asking, "Space?"
She nodded
"What does that -"
Like a needle piercing an inflated balloon Bernadette's entrance through the lab's rear doors invaded the hovering tension. The sound of her voice startled them but the air slowly changed into something to which they were accustomed.
"Thank gawd you're here. Don't you answer your damn phone anymore? I've been calling you for the last forty minutes."
"Why?"
"Get your stuff we need to hurry."
Bernadette grabbed Amy's wrist to pull her and then gently pushed her towards her desk. Noticing the redness in Amy's eyes she frowned then looked back at Sheldon with a scowl, pointed her index and middle fingers towards her eyes and then pointed them back at Sheldon. He hopped back until he was stopped by the sink digging into his back.
"Hurry for what?"
"I'll explain on the way. There's no time." She grabbed the grocery bag with Amy's supplies. "Are you taking this?"
"Yes." The bag was shoved into Amy's arms. She looked back at Sheldon who was just standing in stunned silence. She raised her hand to signal – I don't know what's happening – but changed it into a wave as Bernadette pushed her in the back and through the doors.
"Let's go. Let's go. Hurry." She squeaked.
They were gone leaving only silence, until Sheldon threw up in the sink.