Sometimes Sheldon is a help

I own nothing

Raj, Leonard and Howard just turned and looked at Sheldon. The lanky Physicist was positively giddy in his victory. Howard was the first to just turn away from Sheldon's alleged accomplishment and focused back on his other two friends. "Yeah… that's great…. So… anyway…. Have either of you heard Penny or Alex talk about Bernie?"

Leonard was the first to respond. "What do you mean Howard? Is there something that Bernadette would be telling the girls rather than you?"

Howard shrugged. "No…. nothing definite…. It's just that Bernie has been a little different lately".

Raj inquired. "Different how, exactly?"

Howard thought for a minute. "She seems a little distant. Preoccupied may be a better way to put it. She's been really busy at work and she has been putting in a lot of extra time. There is some kind of big project going on at her company. They have a bunch of new possibilities and they are giving Bernie first crack at which one she wants to participate in."

Leonard smiled. "Howard… That's great! She must be so excited."

Howard smiled. "Yeah… she is. She did a good job on that laxative thing that we went to Vegas for. This is still part of that pay back. Boy, they would have lost their shirt if she didn't figure that one out".

Raj wanted to know more. "So how does this new project have anything to do with why you think Bernadette is preoccupied? And why do you think that we would have heard anything?"

Howard took a sip of his beer. "Well, not for anything, but you guys do know that those girls tell each other EVERYTHING that goes on in their lives don't you? And I don't mean to say anything against anyone in particular… but…. It's pretty well established that Penny couldn't keep a secret if her life depended on it".

Sheldon was setting up a different game on the gaming System. "That IS true… it was well established in the gossip experiment that Amy and I conducted that Penny had more holes in her ability to keep a secret than well aged Swiss cheese".

Leonard looked at his former roommate. "Sheldon was that really necessary? I seem to remember that we were ALL not very good at keeping a secret". He then turned to Howard. "Everything? Really? Even…. You know…. Stuff?"

Howard smiled back at Leonard. "Don't worry, your secrets are safe with me".

Raj looked surprised at Howard's response and turned to Leonard just shaking his head NO.

Howard still wanted to get any information he could out of his friends. "Anyway, It's more than work. I can tell. She is usually pretty forthcoming with any of the projects at work. She really is career driven. She likes to talk about anything new and then usually included all the benefits and possibilities of advancement if she got the project. It's just that recently, she has been so quiet at home when we are alone."

Leonard looked concerned. "That's too bad Howard, what do you think could be bothering her other than work?"

Howard continued, "I don't really know, it seems that the only time she is really happy is when she gets together with the girls. I mean, you see her when we go to your place, Leonard, She sparkles all night. She even plays with Max and Jenny… She just isn't the same when we are alone."

Sheldon was ready to start a new game. "Gentlemen… it's time to stop all this idle chit chat. We have some vintage video games that need to be tending to".

Raj put his hand up to Sheldon. "Sheldon, stop being crazy for a minute. You're right, Howard, Bernadette is a delight when we are together as a group. Are you having problems…. Elsewhere? Maybe…. You know…."

Howard looked completely surprised. "What? NO… I'm fine… WE are fine…. At least, she doesn't complain. She just doesn't seem herself. She's not sad or mad or anything… just something is bothering her. Like I said, she has spent a lot of time at work, and just the other day, Ma said she had lunch with her… She wouldn't tell me what they had lunch for… I don't think she was supposed to say anything".

Sheldon decided that he had enough. "Gentlemen, are we going to continue with this seemingly endless train of thought on trying to figure out what is wrong with one of the females in our society? There is simply no way to definitively and objectively determine such an answer when you are dealing with a purely subjective set of variables. Have you considered under what circumstances or set of environmental conditions occur when Bernadette seems to be the most normal?"

Howard answered first. "We already said that she is a complete delight when we are all together for dinner and the other time seems to be when she has been out with the girls when they get together for a Girl's Night."

Sheldon pondered the data. "Well…. Considering that both sets of data consist of close encounters of the feminine kind…. She may be thinking of crossing over to the other side of the proverbial sexual fence".

Leonard just stated emphatically, "SHELDON!"

Howard protested. "Sheldon… my wife is one hundred percent on this side of the fence!"

Sheldon considered again. "All Right….. well…. Then, what are the other consistent variables to these two meeting environments?"

Raj pondered Sheldon's request. "Well, as you said, the most glaring similarity has been the girls themselves. If we discount this variable, what remains?"

Howard questioned. "Where do they go when they have a Girl's Night? Bars? Clubs?"

Leonard answered. "Not lately, when they get together these days, they have been spending most of the time in my apartment."

Sheldon looked thoughtful. "Howard, how long has this been going on"?

Howard thought. "Well, at least the last four months or so…"

Sheldon questioned again. "Has the alleged effect of these meetings intensified in the recent past?"

Howard thought hard. "I guess so…. Why?"

Leonard was no interested in Sheldon's line of thought. "Sheldon, what are you getting at?"

Sheldon looked at Howard. "Howard I suggest that you have a conversation with Bernadette about pregnancy".