A/N: Would you look at that. This story having an update, so weird, right?
Thought I'd better make this joke-y since I can't really begin to apologize for just leaving this hanging for years and years... Yikes. What can I say? When I started this I had BIG BIG plans. Thhis story was meant to cover decades of plot in over 50 chapters... It was too ambitious, truly. I might've been able to make if I was fully dedicated to it, but I had other stuff going on. Life went on with many changes and all sorts of challenges, and I'll admit, I also "grew apart" from the BBT. After it ended it wasn't in my mind anymore and it has been years now. I always had this outline that I wrote back in the day and always knew I could post it to end this. However, I truly loved my story and characters and didn't want to end it like this. But after all this time it's obvious I'm never gonna get to write more than this, and I did want this story to have its ending, at least to an extent.
So here is what I had for an outline. I wrote this back in the day, and I didn't want to make changes now, since back then I had clear ideas of my characters and where I wanted to take them. This wasn't meant to be posted this way, so a lot is abbreviated and there's probably language mistakes. But better than nothing, maybe?
Anyway, thank you to whoever read this story, commented, liked. I'm sorry I bailed on you this way. Thanks to those who helped, especially Joyce who was my beta reader for the actual chapters (not this messy outline, that's all on me!)
I hear there are plans for another BBT spin-off? Hope it goes well (and also fits within the current social and cultural landscape)
Oh and The Big Bang Theory and its characters belong to their creators and not to me, I just own my original characters, ya' know
Ch 33 – "Safe and warm" – November, 2041- Riley POV – Michael is back from MIT, after finishing his studies. Riley goes with the Wolowitzes to pick him up from the airport. It has been almost 7 months since his last visit. She's excited and very happy to have him close again and going back to the way things were before, seeing each other nearly every day and in person, not through any kind of technology. Says it's nice that they have video calls and that prices for hologram calls are lower now, and that her parents told her how when she was little there was a major pandemic outbreak and how they only had video calls back then and they'd have to reconnect after 40 minutes and there'd be delays and all kinds of problems. Still, even with current technology, it's not the same as meeting in person. When she Michael, Riley runs to him and they share a long hug. Riley describes it as the best hug she's had in a long time, feeling safe and warm. She could've stayed like this forever, had lost track of time, until Michael suddenly cut it off, saying Nick wouldn't like it. Riley is taken aback for a second, suddenly reminded of Nick. She's ashamed and embarrassed that she'd totally forgotten about her boyfriend and thinks she was out of line with Michael and made everything weird with her feelings for him that are still there all the time, no matter how much she'd tried to make them go away. Riley and the Wolowitzes get to their house. Riley helps Michael unpack. Gives him some updates while doing that, telling him the fresh PhD of the group, Stephen, will be giving a lecture for the (Hofstadter) fund for the first time next week, about the discovery he made in neurobiology, that made it to Nature (one of the most prestigious science journals). Michael says he hopes Stephen would do better than Sheldon does in his lectures. They bring up memories of different Sheldon mishaps at lectures, laughing. Then Michael asks about Nick. Riley starts saying everything's fine, but Michael notices something's wrong. After some denying on her side, and some convincing on his side (saying if he's her best friend then she should trust him with that, he should be there for her in that as well, etc.) Riley finally confesses to him that Nick somewhat pushes her to have sex a lot, and it's a bit much for her and sometimes it's at times she doesn't really want it. She feels the relationship is too much about the physical aspect. Michael is appalled and outraged. Riley is shaken by his reaction, and Michael clarifies it's Nick he's mad at. She says he shouldn't be, that maybe she's the problem, Nick says that's what you do in a relationship and that he wants her so bad because he loves her. Michael tells her that is wrong, and that that is not love, but manipulation. He says love is when you accept the other person for who they are and what they're comfortable with and you both adjust to each other in a way that safe, it's safe and warm. Riley cries and Michael holds her. To "readers" says she mostly cried because of the tension with Nick and her discomfort, which she felt was wrong, being validated. But it was also, in some part, out of frustration of having the guy she feels this way with, so terribly close but at the same time out of reach. Michael asks if she wants his help with Nick but Riley decides to confront him on her own. Later that day she invites Nick to her house. She tells him she's uncomfortable with the way things are and would like to turn things down a little physically, and to spend more time talking, watching movies, maybe paying cards which they used to do but don't anymore. Nick says that's not how it works, you don't take a step back to the "foreplay" phase of the relationship, that is unless you don't really care for the person you're with and want to be in a pretend relationship. That's not a real relationship. Riley takes a breath and says their definitions of a relationships differ, and that he should look for someone whose definition is more like his. But check with her, instead of trying to enforce his own beliefs. Nick is taken aback. He suggests they should take a breath and think things over, he says he just can't help it with her because she's so beautiful. This makes Riley mad, and she reminds him how when they met and then started dating, he would always say she was so smart. Nick says that's also true, but Riley yells at him to get out. Just when he gets out, her mom comes home and runs to hug her.
Ch 34 – 2041 - Leonard is chosen for president of Caltech. Before starting, in 2042, he and Riley work together. (Add something with Penny and Max?)
Ch 35 – 2042 – Sophie gets her PhD, excelling, has published 4 successful papers. Kevin, who's gotten his MA, moves to study for his doctorate at Harvard. After a few months, when he visits, Sophie and him decide to break up, which is very hard for them. Halley finishes law school and passes the bar test. Breaks up with Bryce. Later starts at a firm, has to do a lot of menial work.
Ch 36 – 2044 - Halley gets her first serious case. A new worker, Carter, transferring from another office of the company, constantly teases her. Mentions Michael back with Jess.
Ch 37 – 2044 - Riley moves in with hippie roommate Kelsey. Tells the story of how they came to live together. Riley has taken her as a roommate because the landlord was prejudiced against Kelsey, who has a regular job and is very organized. Funny things about their living together. Penny doesn't want Riley to move out, "under the surface" (completely obvious) tries to make her stay.
Ch 38 – 2044 - Max starts in UCLA. Will be going through his degrees quickly as he already studied a lot when still in high school after graduating. Lizzie starts Caltech, wants to be a theoretical physicist. Tells of their relationship over the years. Throughout middle school and high school Max keeps doing things he's not that good at, as he's small and clumsy, leading to weird injuries or almost-injuries, but nothing serious. He wants to be part of the group, to be liked. Lizzie is a cast-away nerd with one friend. She's considered weird and over-enthusiastic. She's charmed by Max, even when he screws up. Max and Lizzie's interactions become more and more awkward, they like each other. The gang comes to expect that one day they'll get together, something that's strongly embraced by Amy, but it seems to never happen. Mentions Michael breaking up with Jess, "not it". Riley says he may not know what "it" is. He says he does (means her).
Ch 39 – 2045 – Riley&Michael POV. "So many years". Michael broke up with Jess. Halley tells Riley about Michael's feelings for her. Riley confesses her feelings to him and they start a relationship. The parents find out after about 6 months. Mentions Halley back with Bryce.
Ch 40 – 2045 – Kelsey POV. About her relationships with Riley and with Stephen. Tells about Michael and Riley's relationship.
Ch 41 – 2045 – Michael POV. "Disney Princess". Kelsey and Stephen going to do something together, Riley and Michael shocked. Mentions Sophie's success as a chemist, 2 major papers on Science (first in 2043, second 2045).
Ch 42 – 2045 – The parents find out about Michael and Riley. Awkward dinner. Howard realizes Riley is "a girl".
Ch 43 – 2045 – Turns out it is Michael who Howard is not comfortable with dating Riley after everything he's taught him (comedic reversal).
(Ch 44 – 2046 - Michael and Riley break up due to a breach of trust and a misunderstanding. Later decide to become friends again.)
Ch 45 – 2046 - Kelsey reveals to Stephen that she has no family. Her mother died when she was 14, her father is estranged. Her mother did not want her, did what she could but was cold to her, sent her off to boarding school at 6. After she died her father became her guardian and moved her to a strict boarding school. At 15 Kelsey ran away. No one searched for her.
(Ch 46 – 2046 - People from a secret government project offer Leonard, Riley, Sophie, Max and the Cooper-Fowlers to conserve their brains in artificial beings after they die. Leonard is not much into it, Penny gets mad and there's tension for some time between them until it's revealed that she's deeply scared that he'll die before her, and so they won't be together forever. Leonard explains this artificial being won't be him. The Hofstadters reject the offer, the Cooper-Fowlers agree.)
Ch 47 – 2046 – Halley with Carter, tells the story. Turns out Max and Lizzie are together. They manage to keep it a secret from everybody for a long time. It comes out after everybody but Amy has accepted that they may not get together after all. Sophie likes a guy named Josh, even though, and because, he challenges her to face her fears. Mentions Kotie not doing well romantically (humorous parts). Michael can't be with anyone else after Riley. She hasn't been with anybody either. He decides to try to talk to her but hears her with a blind scientist, Nollen, she has been working with lately, he thinks they may be together or there's something developing.
Ch 48 – 2047 – Riley&Michael POV. Riley's back from an expedition led by Nollen. Michael mistakenly thinks she got engaged to Nollen. Turns out Nollen had a serious girlfriend and they are the ones who got engaged on the expedition. Riley and Michael confess they've missed each other terribly and that they've never had a relationship anywhere near as good as they had with each other. Michael tells Riley about his misguided joke. Riley takes responsibility for jumping into conclusions and admits she has work to do regarding her issues with physical appearance (suspicious and hostile towards everyone mentioning her beauty in any way, fearing being stereotyped). They get back together.
Ch 49 – 2048 – Michael proposes. \Kelsey and Stephen sub-plot.\
Ch 50 – 2049 – Riley and Michael moved in together a few weeks before. Kelsey said she found a place, dodges questions. It turns out she traveled to confront her father, encouraged by Stephen (who didn't mean for her to do it that way) but is given a cold shoulder. She ends up in the streets. The Hofstadters look for her and find her, get her back to their home. Leonard and Penny take her in (temporarily).
Ch 51 – END – 2062? Luke POV? (Luke – Riley and Michael's son, Halley happily married and happy without children but invested in her nephew, Kelsey and Stephen together. Leonard thinks of the day he met Penny as a big turn in the expected course of his life. He credits her, and their meeting, for the turn that brought upon generations of smart, beautiful, and most importantly, loved and happy Hofstadters.)