A/N: *mwah!* Cheers all :D Final chapter tomorrow!

"The Visitor Complex: The Step Dynamics"
Chapter 5 of 6

He regretted pointing her to the video games almost immediately, as he was treated to her personal commentary while playing Mario Kart. The way she was going on, he was convinced she believed the various racers could hear her and do her bidding. Now he could urge his player on as much as the next guy, but this was just something else entirely. After fifteen minutes of it, he got up from his desk, grabbed the abandoned noise-cancelling headphones, and put them over his ears once he sat back down. He let out a breath… This was better…

He lost track of time, lost himself in his work, as one might be able to do once all distractions were eliminated, something which Sheldon Cooper had a particularly strong talent for, just as much as he had a low threshold for tolerating anything that would dare stand in the way of that and of his progress. Still he was only human, and at one point he had to get up to go to the bathroom. He didn't notice the girl rummaging through the various game boxes as he passed her, having now grown accustomed to the silence he'd afforded himself, to the point he almost forgot she was even there.

It was only as he returned, after a detour to his room, that he heard the music coming from the living room. He made his approach, slowly, finally remembering the girl, and also discovering that she'd abandoned the Mushroom Cup and Baby Peach in favor of a game he did not recognize at first. But then he realized… Ah, yes, this was one of Penny's so called 'presents,' a dance game she had gifted both he and Leonard, though he personally would never ever dream of attempting it… at least not in the presence of others… He had seen them all make fools of themselves… Leonard, Penny, Raj, Howard, Bernadette, even Priya, and most alarming of all, his own Amy… Well, not necessarily 'his', but… This was not a matter of pressing concern. Instead, he observed.

If the others had been making fools of themselves, Brittany was absolutely nailing it, as Penny would say. 'Perfect,' the circle below her counter would continue to flash, on and on, to the point of redundancy. He had long claimed it ridiculous, seeing as they never did anything close to the character on the screen, but here there was this girl he had been this close to condemning to a life of insignificance, and she was making the on screen model appear completely obsolete. Her energy was completely honed in here, where she seemed so mellow and soft-spoken every time he'd encountered her. He wasn't the type to say this, but in this case it was true… She came to life when she danced.

The song ended, or at least the part where there were still points to be earned, but she carried on as long as the music would play, still hopping about as she waited for the score… "Hi-score," it proclaimed… Well of course it would… When she turned and spotted him standing there, he took steps to approach her, still amazed. "Hey, I hope that's alright, I…"

"It's more than alright," he told her. "You were very good," he declared, and she smiled.

"Thanks. You want to play?" she asked, moving to find a second remote.

"Oh, no, that's not…" he shook his head. And then she said it…

"What are you, scared?" she asked, smirking, and he stood up straight. Had she managed to read him that well? He stared at her, at the screen… There was only so much he could do; he couldn't reach that high of a score, and yet the temptation to try was coiled around him, leaving him no escape… When you challenged Sheldon Cooper, you would get Sheldon Cooper…

"This never leaves this room. You breathe a word of this to Penny, or Leonard or the others, and I will come down to Lima, Ohio for my revenge. Deal?"

"Just take the remote," she held it out to him, looking like she was about to burst out laughing. He snatched it away, slipping his hand in the strap and tightening it to his wrist. "Any song you'd like? I can choose one that's not too hard," she began cycling through the different songs, bits of music escaping if she ever took more than a second to skip to the next one. Sheldon watched them go by… How was he supposed to choose? He'd been made to sit through the others playing this game enough times that he was familiar with the choreographies against his will.

"There, that one," he just pointed at one song as she'd stopped on it.

"Oh, good, it's a duet," she kept on smiling. He tilted his head.

"Is this supposed to be some kind of Pirates of the Caribbean dance?"

"I don't know," she shrugged.

"Then why does the man look like Captain Jack Sparrow?"

"I don't know," she repeated. "Come on, are you ready?" she asked, and she sounded so giddy… All the better for his reward, he guessed.

"As I'll ever be," he stretched out his shoulders, neck, jumped around a few times. He looked back at her, and she was still staring at him. "That means yes."

"Oh," she turned to the screen, aimed with the press of a button, the living room was filled with the first notes of 'Jump in the Line.' Sheldon immediately fell into step, just as she did, clutching a non-existent skirt. His face was so serious as he went about following his counterpart on the screen that Brittany was having difficulty keeping her laughter buckled in. But then the dance really kicked in, and her attention returned to it. His movements were not nearly as fluid as hers, but he was getting along just fine, much better than Leonard and the rest, he would later assess. And for the moment of this dance, he didn't feel the slightest bit of annoyance with her, the way he had since he'd met her. He wouldn't go so far as to say he'd miss her when she was gone, but he could tolerate her more now that he had come to know this side of her.

When the song ended, as expected, Brittany had come in first, though Sheldon's own score counter pinged with one, two, three, and then four stars, while hers rocketed above a fifth. "Oh, you were so close!" she cheered, patting his arm. He looked at her.

"I was?" he asked, and she nodded energetically. He stared back at the screen, considering. He stretched his shoulders, his neck, hopped about. "Hit retry."

TO BE CONCLUDED (TOMORROW)