Many of you asked how things were going on Earth so here's your answer.

Reparata

Taken Chapter 15

December, 22, 2012
Pasadena, CA Old Earth

Howard called his friends from Houston and arranged for them to pick him up at the airport. He'd finally finished debriefing NASA. His hospital stay in Halifax, where he'd been treated for exposure and pneumonia as had most of the crew of the ill-fated Russian spacecraft had been brief but busy. His time in Houston had mostly been a retelling of his experiences.

The shuttle commander had been sent back to Russia as soon as the doctors felt she could travel and Howard worried that she'd be in deep shit with her government but the reception she got in Moscow was televised and she and her family were being treated like royalty.

The rest of the crew had returned to their homes and Howard faked a mini-relapse in order to get some time to himself. He'd managed to smuggle his laptop into the hospital when they'd been admitted and now he opened it up for the very first time since Sheldon had given it to him. It was Sheldon's laptop. His was somewhere in the great void along with pieces of the Russian shuttle.

He opened up the file labeled '7' and looked at the jpeg photos that filled the file. Sheldon's wife was beautiful and he looked happier than Howard had ever seen him. He didn't know if he could have left behind someone so beautiful in order to save the past and ensure the future.

Getting down to business, he sent the files marked 'Monopole' to all the addresses in Sheldon's email account along with a message that they'd been found and belonged to the world. He used his skills at hacking to bounce the ISPs around so that anyone trying to find a point of origination would end up looking in Nepal, Vanuatu, Borneo, Sydney or any of 23 other locations. Satisfied, he closed out the file and prepared to go home.

LAX
December 22, 2012

Bernadette had slipped under the arms of the security guards and run to him as he left the jetway and entered the concourse. Cameras and microphones were shoved in his face but he ignored them all and kissed the fire out of the little woman who had become his wife just before his flight.

He greeted the others and asked about Penny. Leonard told him that she would meet them back at the apartment but that right now she was out 'looking for Sheldon', something she did a lot anymore.

"Well, Bernadette and I have to stop by and see my Ma and then we'll meet you at Leonard's. Seriously, guys, I have something that will knock your socks off but Penny has to be there. I'm not sure if it's a one off but I was told to open it once and in the presence of everyone. I got a list and we all need to be there. Hell, it's not like it's the end of the world. That was yesterday."

Leonard's apartment

Penny looked worse than he'd ever seen her. She'd lost weight, her hair was scraggly and she hadn't bothered to change clothes from her searching expedition. In short, she looked like a homeless person. And she was sitting in Sheldon's spot.

"Okay, let's get this show on the road, Howard. I stink and I want to shower and then sleep for a week. I got to find another job. They let me go because I missed too much time."

Howard opened up his messenger bag and took out three letters and handed them out to the right people and said, "You can't open these here. You have to do it in private. Those are the conditions and if you all don't promise right here and right now, the deal's off and you can all go to hell."

This brought protests from Leonard and Raj but Penny was quiet. She'd recognized the scrawl on the envelope and she would wait to read it.

"First, the Russian shuttle didn't crash. It's still up there someplace, just not anywhere you can see it. It's not there yet. Second, we didn't crash off the coast of Nova Scotia, we were brought back and set ashore. It just took us forever to find civilization. Lastly, if you breathe a word of any of this, you'll either be killed or put away for a very, very long time."

Everyone tried to say something at once and finally Bernadette put her fingers in her mouth and let fly one of her football whistles and the room quieted down.

"Thanks, Bernadette." "No problem, Howie. Go ahead. Tell them. Better yet, show them."

"Yeah. Okay, this may only work one time. I was told to run it when you were all together and sober and paying attention. Here goes."

Howard set the laptop down on the coffee table and opened a file on the desktop and sat back. He knew what to expect. Sheldon had been very specific about it. Besides, he'd been there when it had been made.

A holographic image of Sheldon Cooper in the cockpit of the Voyager shuttlecraft appeared. He was wearing his black coveralls and seated in the command chair. The wormhole was clearly visible behind him through the cockpit windows.

"Hello. You all know who I am and I hope this message finds you all well and healthy. First, I was really touched to hear how you all searched for me but believe me, you never would have found me. I'm not – well, take a look for yourself." He pointed out the window.

"Howard and I are 500 years in your future and we're going to come back to Earth to make sure the Butterfly Effect doesn't wreck that future. Howard can fill you in but the bottom line is – I'm happy and I'm glad to be able to do this for all of you. I hope to make it back to where my life is now once I drop Howard off at the bus station in Halifax. That's a joke."

Penny was crying silently but never taking her eyes of the hologram. Raj was staring in disbelief at the wormhole behind Sheldon and Leonard was grinning like an idiot.

"What to you on Old Earth has been months has been somewhat longer up here in the future. I've met a woman and we're married although I don't think it would be legal in California but since California doesn't exist any longer I don't think it matters."

"Howard will show you some photographs on my laptop. I just hope he remembered to send my solutions to String Theory out to all involved in similar research."

His voice changed, hardened and the look on his face was not one any of them had ever seen before.

"Now, listen up, people, because this is the really important part. There is a war coming that will kill billions of people and you all must survive. Howard has given you each an envelope and it contains your survival plan. I love you all and it would break my heart if even one of you failed to survive because you didn't believe Howard. It's true. Oh, by the way, I've met a Klingon hybrid and a true Vulcan who even knows about Spock! Again, Howard has details. Well, we must be off so live long and prosper." The hologram collapsed and there was silence and then pandemonium.

Howard grinned at Bernadette. They both knew that Sheldon would have loved this.

Penny's Apartment

Penny opened her letter from Sheldon hours later after spending a surprisingly enjoyable evening with her boys and Bernadette. Even without Sheldon being there physically, she knew he was there in spirit.

Raj had bedeviled Howard with questions about the wormhole and the spacecraft. Howard said what he could about the wormhole but knew nothing at all about the starship that had rescued them except that it had a way of keeping an open bay onto space without losing atmosphere. That set the gang to diagramming and writing formulas all over Sheldon's white boards.

She finally slipped away and showered and poured herself a glass of wine and read Sheldon's letter. She started to cry when his debit card fell from the letter. He knew she'd need financial help and somehow he'd put her name on his account years earlier without her knowing and now…she had access to his savings and checking accounts.

It was the closing that tore her up and then restored her faith in herself.

'In closing, Penny, I know that you will do what you think is best despite the obvious evidence confronting you but I sincerely hope that the only woman I felt love for in the 21st Century would, for once in her Nebraska-plagued life, do what I say. Use our money wisely but use it, Penny. I dread even thinking about the past without knowing you're safe and making it a better and brighter place for those who survive. Always, Moon Pie'

In the coming years, Penny would read the letter before going to bed. She and Leonard had formed a relationship based on survival, not love, but love came sliding quietly into their lives anyway, just as Sheldon had hoped.

The couple survived the war and the dark winter that lasted for a few years together with Howard and Bernadette. They'd joined forces and finances and were prepared when the end came.

Sadly, Raj felt obligated to return to India and prepare his parents and family for the coming catastrophe and nothing was heard from him again.

Voyager
Sickbay

Seven hovered over the sterile field that encompassed the bio-bed and watched for any signs that Sheldon was in distress. She knew that the instrumentation would alert the EMH to the slightest variance in any of the many systems and organs they watched over but still, she felt better, useful, maintaining her vigil.

She longed to touch him, to somehow give him her strength and hasten his return to awareness. She had much to explain but first she needed him to understand that what he saw and his conclusions were false.

She was Seven Cooper, One of Two, and nothing would change that.

The EMH watched from his office. The medbay systems were doing the best they could with what they had left to work with. His biggest concern was how long it was taking. By his estimates, Sheldon should have been conscious and alert but he slept on, in a natural sleep. Leonard was almost to the point of waking him when he heard Seven suddenly call out for him.

"Leonard, he's awake!" Her face hurt from smiling so broadly and her breathing was erratic and she felt this bubble of joy burst out of her and she leaned forward and kissed him gently the second the doctor had removed the sterile field.

"I've missed you so much, Sheldon. I've waited for you. I was not unfaithful. I have not yet had a child but hope to do so as soon as you're able to handle the middle of the night feedings. I do not love Harry Kim but I confess that I do love his son, his dead wife's baby boy, J.R. I've let nothing come between us. I am Seven Cooper, One of Two!"

He was so tired and he lacked the energy to even smile but he thought he felt his face change shape in a strange way. He took a deep breath and let it out and managed to say her name.

"Sev – en."

"Yes, Sheldon, Seven. It's so good to see you. I had almost given up hope. You will recover, Two. You will be strong and healthy again. I want to hold you but the doctor says you have 'issues' and there are devices affixed to you to aid in your recovery. Your left arm – oh, Sheldon, your left arm…Leonard has begun the regeneration process and you'll soon have full use of it. I want to feel both your hands on me, understand?" She tried to make light of it but she was appalled at the stump that ended just below the elbow.

Next: Sheldon's Tale