Chapter 1: The Cooper Reinsertion
Summary: Sheldon's return brings along a surprise or two.
A/N: As hard as writing can be (especially when I set myself self-imposed deadlines like this one!), it's always worth it when I get so much feedback and follows from you guys. Thanks so much to all those who took time to review and I hope you'll enjoy this story as it progresses.
I wanted to make sure this was posted before the writers' panel at Comic Con, so as to not get too influenced by whatever spoilers might be coming out. I have a very specific plan for this story, which is already mapped out all the way to the end, and I don't want to be tempted to deviate too much.
Massive thank you to Stef, a.k.a. teoriapostmoderna, for the beautiful cover art for the story! And thanks to Lio for her ever-so-useful and speedy feedback on the chapter.
I do not own TBBT or I would be sitting on a Comic Con panel right now instead of posting fanfic online.
Penny held onto Leonard's hand, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot. "Are you sure you don't want us to wait in the car so you can greet him alone?"
Amy shrugged. "It's fine." She answered over her shoulder, squinting up at the arrival boards. "You guys saw him off when he left. Since his departure wasn't a big enough deal for me to be even warned about, why are you concerned that his return would be any different?"
Penny cringed inwardly at the not-so-subtle jab. "Still haven't let that one go, huh?" she mumbled under her breath.
Amy finally turned around to face them, her voice losing the resentful edge. "Besides, it's not like this is the first time I've seen him since. Even though it was only via videochat, we have spoken every day."
"Are we sure we are at the right platform?" Leonard asked, looking around at the swarming crowds of passengers, just as the next train pulled into the station.
As the train slowed down and passed them by, Amy's eye caught that of one very familiar, lanky passenger who was making his way to through his carriage.
He stopped dead in his tracks in the eye-lock, causing the people behind to trip into him, and he wasted no time in turning around in annoyance, probably reprimanding them for their clumsiness, before the window disappeared from view.
"We are at the right platform." Amy confirmed, walking off in the direction of his carriage.
The trio reached Sheldon's coach just as the physicist was stepping down the narrow ladder, carrying two bags and arguing with the middle-aged couple that followed him.
"What if we had been in cars?!" he scoffed. "Is that the way you drive on the road? Ever heard of safety distance?!"
The bewildered couple pulled out the handles on their suitcases and made a beeline away from the train, yelling "You're insane!" over their shoulders.
Leonard leaned to whisper in Penny's ear in with a smirk. "This trip truly was for the best!"
Penny gave him a light shove with her elbow in response. "Don't speak too soon, Leonard." She reprimanded him.
"Sheldon!" the blonde made her way up to Sheldon and she excitedly launched herself at him. "It's so good to see you, sweetie!"
"Good Lord! " Sheldon withstood the force of the hug, doing his best not to drop his bags and awkwardly patting her on the back with his free hand. "No need to be over excitable, Penny. I have been gone less than seven weeks. And what happened to your hair?!" He asked, mildly alarmed, as he leaned back to study her short haircut.
Leonard snorted at his comments. "So good to see you, again!" he exclaimed, over-enthusiastically.
The veiled hint of good-natured sarcasm was lost on Sheldon, as he stepped out of Penny's hug to greet his friend with a smile. "It's good to see you too, Leonard."
His eyes, however, had already set on Amy, who stood a few steps away from the little group, silent, hands neatly clasped in front of her.
They hadn't really noticed Sheldon had company until his company suddenly threw himself into Penny's now empty arms, squeezing tight her in a bear hug. "It's so good to see you, too!"
Caught off guard, Penny instinctively returned the hug, before maneuvering around so she could face Leonard over the man's shoulder and mouth "Who the hell is this guy?!" to her fiancé.
Leonard turned his palms upwards, mouthing back "I don't know!"
Sheldon approached Amy and toyed with the handle of his trolley, looking down at her and trying to catch her eye. "Hello."
"Hi." Amy looked up to him, then down to the ground, then at his chest. She smoothed her hands down the sides of her skirt, swallowing.
Despite the daily communication, the two suddenly found themselves at a loss of words, as they stood once again in front of each other in the flesh.
"Um." Sheldon leaned down slightly, looking at his shoes. "Thank you for coming to pick me up."
Amy gave a little shrug, her eyes not quite reaching past his chin. "You're welcome." She tried to shake off the awkwardness by making herself useful and reached a hand out for his suitcase. "Let me help you with that."
Sheldon let go of the handle, but caught her by surprise when instead of letting her take the bag, he took a deep breath and moved in closer to slowly but smoothly envelop her in his arms.
As Penny extirpated herself from the grip of the strange man, she shared a glance with Leonard in acknowledgment of Sheldon's uncharacteristic display of affection.
Amy remained stiff in Sheldon's arms for several moments. It was only when she felt he was about to pull away that she let out a shaky breath and quickly wrapped her arms around his back, holding on tight to return the embrace.
She pressed her cheek against his chest, closing her eyes for a moment. "I'm glad you're back." She murmured.
"Hey, Amy!"
The spell was broken by a cheerful, intruding voice and Amy opened her eyes again to find herself staring at a waving hand and a face way too close for comfort.
She sighed, and broke the embrace. "Hello, Eric."
"Sorry to derail your reunion…" Eric winked at Sheldon, pleased with his pun. "I just wanted to thank you for letting me tag along."
Sheldon just nodded and stared at Eric, until the shorter man opened his arms up to him.
"Don't I get a hug, too?"
Sheldon blinked once. "No." He deadpanned.
"Oh well…" Eric shrugged. "I gotta go, or I'm going to miss my connection."
Sheldon frowned, looking confused. "What connection?"
"The 6.42pm Southwest Chief. I am so looking forward to enjoying that beauty sailing away at 90mph that I'm getting goosebumps already!" He beamed, rubbing his own arms. "I don't know why, but no matter how often I ride that track, every time feels like the first time."
Sheldon exchanged a quick look with Amy, before bursting Eric's bubble. "That was three days ago…"
"Oh." Eric's beaming expression fell, and he appeared to be searching his mind. "What was I going to do today then?"
Sheldon let out an exasperated sigh. "You are spending the night at my apartment and then catching the midday train to Seattle."
Eric snapped his fingers. "That was it!"
"You can stay in Leonard's old room." Sheldon announced nonchalantly while grabbing a hold of his suitcase again. "Shall we?" he motioned the others to head towards the exit.
The group had already taken a few steps in that direction before Sheldon's statement seemed to register with Leonard, who rushed to catch up with his roommate. "Wait… what? My old room?"
Sheldon turned to look at him strangely. "Yes." He replied as if stating the obvious. "You said you were moving out. I am not going to stop you living your life anymore, Leonard."
Leonard stopped walking and widened his eyes at Penny as the others walked on ahead. After a few seconds of disbelieving silence, he took off on a jog once again to catch up with Sheldon.
"I didn't mean RIGHT AWAY!"
"So you haven't moved out yet?" Sheldon inquired, snuggling down into his spot and sporting a much-pleased expression at the feel of the familiar cushions surrounding him.
"Of course I haven't!" Leonard exclaimed while setting down the pizza boxes on top of the coffee table. "It's not something that happens from one day to the next. I just said that once Penny and I are married we will be moving in together." He stared Sheldon down before adding "Alone."
Sheldon reached for a slice of pizza, acting very composed. "And when would that be?"
"We haven't picked a date yet." Penny cut into the conversation. "But I found out my brother is going to be free again next summer, so probably some time around then."
Leonard nodded in confirmation and he plopped down in his armchair. "So, as you see, there was no need to freak out. There is plenty of time for you to get adjusted to the idea of new living arrangements."
Sheldon tossed a look at Amy from the corner of his eye, almost expecting a comment on the matter, but she was just quietly munching away at her pizza, eyes unfocused.
"First of all, I did not freak out." He made air-quotations, mocking Leonard's tone of voice.
"Oh, you didn't?" Leonard snorted. "What do you call running away like some emo teenager, without warning anyone, in the spur of the moment?"
Sheldon sat up straighter in his seat to give himself a sense of authority. "A logical choice at a time when being submerged in my problems did not allow me to gain a clear perspective on things."
"And running away gave you that perspective?"
"No."
"Ah!" Leonard turned victoriously to Penny. "I told you!"
"However… That's not to say I didn't get some… degree of clarity." He put his plate back on the table and folded his hands in his lap, stealing yet another glance at Amy before continuing. "Such as the fact that life on the road isn't really… suited to a creature of habit and order like myself. And most definitely not favorable to finding any kind of solution to my problems."
"You don't say…" Amy muttered from her seat.
Sheldon stopped talking and turned to face her for a second, but she just reached out for her drink, ignoring him, so he turned back to address the rest of the room. "It was draining. The scarcity of overnight trains forced me into seeking refuge at affordable establishments, resulting into several sleepless nights caused by loud motorcycle gangs, drunkards, suspicious-looking customers and the vigorous coitus of neighbors."
"Which are not necessarily mutually exclusive." Eric interjected from the other end of the couch.
"I spent more time planning my next destination than using my mental faculties to solve my predicaments. I thought of finding one place to settle at for an indefinite amount of time but I failed to find it either due to location, temperature, humidity, sleeping arrangements, suitable food provision, and, last but not the least, proximity to good comic book and/or train stores."
"Not necessarily in that order." Eric added again.
"Consequently…" Sheldon concluded. "I have come to accept that the only place where I could achieve a level of concentration conducive to thinking is the comfort of my own clean, ordered and pristine bedroom."
"Well, if it's any consolation, you still lasted longer than I thought you would…" Leonard commented.
Penny tilted her head in Eric's direction. "Not to be rude but… where does he fit in all this?"
"We bumped into each other again in Napa Valley. Just like the first time." Eric smiled happily. "It was confusing for a little while." He added with a frown. "Like living in a constant state of deja-vu'. I had to check my calendar several times."
That seemed to finally pique Amy's interest. Startled out of apparent contemplation, she turned her head to look at Sheldon. "You went back to Napa? You didn't tell me you were at Napa at any point during your calls."
Sheldon shifted lightly in his seat. "Um… Yeah. I needed something familiar in the midst of all the chaos, and I have to admit, that weekend was very… comfortable… for me." He broke eye contact. "Your choice of accommodation was impeccable."
"And so I just asked Sheldon of his plans." Eric continued babbling on. "He told me all about his trip and I asked if I could join him."
"And I said I'd rather be alone."
Eric leaned over so he could look at Sheldon, a puzzled expression on his face. "You did?"
"Yes." Sheldon sighed. "Thirteen times to be precise. Before I grew too accustomed to your presence."
"I have to say… I am very surprised to hear that this unplanned, spontaneous and unexpected trip did not work out the way you hoped…" Leonard's comment dripped with sarcasm, and he leaned on his elbows to look straight at Penny, who was sitting in her chair on his left.
She just rolled her eyes before swatting his arm. "Oh, will you give it a rest!"
"I'm just glad things now can go back to normal…" Leonard added, genuinely satisfied.
"Well… not so fast, Leonard." Sheldon corrected him. "Like I said, I have gained some clarity while away. And since I am after all still on academic-sabbatical, I have decided I will continue using my time productively and treat this as a life-sabbatical."
"A life-sabbatical? What does that mean? You're going to put everything on hold and just vegetate in your room?"
"In laymen terms, you're partly correct. Except that this never vegetates, Leonard." Sheldon replied, tapping his temple. "Meanwhile, I will neither hinder nor interfere with anybody's life…" He added solemnly.
Leonard and Penny simultaneously recoiled in their seats from the shocks.
"Really?!" Leonard asked in disbelief. "No interference? No trips to the barber, dentist, allergist or the grocery store to exchange grapes too dark to be classified as red instead of black grapes?"
"No."
"I can have omelets and coffee in your apartment at 11am on a Sunday?" Penny asked.
"Yes."
"And I can take showers outside of my designated bathroom slots?"
"You may even move your bowels whenever it suits you, Leonard."
Leonard and Penny looked at each other, astonished, speaking at the same time.
"This seems almost too good to be true!"
"I told you this trip would do him good!"
Their cheerfulness, however, was short lived, as Sheldon added. "Starting Monday."
"I knew there was a catch…" The bespectacled physicist rolled his eyes.
"Surely, Leonard, you don't expect me to begin a new process on a Wednesday. I need to start afresh. Plus, I have a guest who I, i.e. we, will accompany to the train store in Glendale before his departure tomorrow, I desperately need a haircut, and to stock up on groceries." Sheldon's voice took on a subdued tone as he added "And there are other… matters I need to sort out before I begin my life-sabbatical…" He fidgeted in his seat again, stealing another glance at Amy from the corner of his eye.
"I guess it's a small price to pay for an interference-free life, Leonard…" Penny patted her fiance's arm in sympathy. She then turned her attention to Amy, who had put her empty plate back on the coffee table and was rising from her seat. "What? Are you leaving already?"
Amy smoothed down some barely noticeable wrinkles on her skirt and adjusted her purse over her shoulder. "Yes." She looked down at Sheldon. "I'm glad you're home safe and sound, but I will also abide by the Prime Directive and leave you be. I will still see you tomorrow, as we planned?"
Sheldon looked momentarily stumped and he could only nod at his girlfriend, as she uttered a formal but satisfied "Good" before bidding her farewell to the others and leaving the apartment, and a silent room behind her.
Sheldon stared at the door long after it had closed, before turning to Leonard, wide-eyed. "Did she… did she just reference Star Trek to me?"
A/N: The prize for "Most Intuitive Reader" goes to Cecilia who figured out that the companion was Eric from one line of dialogue in the previous chapter! *hands over prize* Maybe it was a bit predictable, but I happen to think Eric is an amazing comedy valve, and I hope I did him some justice.
If everything goes according to plans, I am hoping to get chapter 3 up before the season premiere taping, again to avoid being too influenced by spoilers. It's going to be the hardest one so far, and judging by how long it took me to finish this, it will be down to the wire. But I shall try!
*jingle*.