A/N: Okay so Valentine's Day deadline came and went but this fic continues.

Chapter 4
Moving On – VD Challenge

Facultad de Ciencisa Exactas y Naturales
University of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Sheldon Cooper sat in his office, hunched over his laptop, glaring at Dr. Beverly Hofstadter. The pair were conducting their weekly Friday evening Skype conference although each for a different reason.

Sheldon actually 'liked' Beverly and considered her one of his closest 'adult' friends and often wished she were younger because in many ways she was his optimal mate but obviously with the age difference such thoughts were frivolous and not worthy of consideration.

Beverly, on the other hand, felt a sense of responsibility for the damage wrought on Sheldon both personally and professionally by her son. She considered these weekly 'chats' to be an unusual but effective mode of therapy for the brilliant but oh, so eccentric genius.

"So, Sheldon, tell me more about your activities. Are you seeing anyone? And how are you handling the language nuances between 'Texican' and South American Spanish? Any more 'incidents'?"

She was referring to some cultural differences in idioms that caused Sheldon no end of consternation when he asked a woman police officer about where to catch a bus and was arrested for solicitation of a prostitute.

"I'm handling the language with no problems. I simply don't use slang in either dialect. As for 'seeing' someone, Beverly, I 'see' people every day as do you."

"Sheldon, you know perfectly well what I was alluding to. Really, Sheldon, you can't keep carrying a torch for a married woman! You need to put her out of your mind and move on. Genes such as yours are a great gift to mankind and should enrich the human gene pool, not – "

"Ahem! Beverly, my reproductive proclivities are not discussion items. I've tried my hand," and he glared when she smirked, "at coitus and I must say it is much ado about nothing." Now he smirked.

Sighing to herself, Beverly said "I hardly think that a single bout of coitus with Dr. Fowler, given your subconscious sabotage of it, hardly makes you able to rule out future partners or even lovers. Sheldon, you should not be alone. You have such great gifts and – "

Sheldon felt his face burn with both embarrassment and chagrin. He curtly bade Beverly a 'good evening, Dr. Hofstadter' and slammed down the lid of his laptop, severing the link with his one true remaining friend.

'To hell with them all,' he thought. 'I like being alone with my thoughts. I can't think of another person worthy of sharing my thoughts with anyhow.'

He grabbed his briefcase, pulled on his raincoat and left his office at the university and walked through the light showers to a restaurant near the two-building northern campus. The university had its various schools in different locations throughout the city. With almost a quarter million students, the need to expand within the crowded city meant that there was no central campus, just satellite campuses such as this one.

He entered the small restaurant and quickly found his usual spot in the rear where he could work while waiting for his food. He always ordered the same thing and he'd waved to his usual waiter, confident that his order would be promptly placed in the kitchen.

There was a problem, however. A group of students, some of whom were in his theoretical lecture series, had set up shop and had pushed several tables together and were loudly debating some subject he had no interest in.

His waiter brought him his evening cocktail and scurried off in pursuit of tips, but not before giving Sheldon his usual greeting and assuring him that his order was now safely in the hands of a qualified chef with only the highest standard of culinary cleanliness. It had become a joke between them and since Sheldon was a 'big tipper', he made sure his food was properly prepared and presented.

Sheldon sipped his Suntori and water (no ice, ever) and opened his laptop and checked his email, deleting the few spam items that got through his filters, and reading the remaining emails from his students and fellow faculty members.

Sheldon looked up from his reading, annoyed at a particularly loud outburst of raucous laughter. He looked over at the table and frowned.

This was his time to recall the day, mull over events that warranted mulling, read his email and enjoy his last meal of the day before catching a cab for his apartments. He was going to ask them to tone it down when his 'Voice of Reason' piped up in his subconscious.

'Oh Moon Pie, don't be such a dick. They're having a good time and debating some arcane points of some lecture you gave. You should go over there and join them – after taking the stick out of your ass first!'

The Voice sounded like Penny Hofstadter. It always spoke up when he was about to violate some social construct and he always listened to it, if only to hear her voice.

He sighed and nodded as if in agreement or acquiescence to his inner voice. 'You're right, of course but I prefer my own company.'

He was re-reading an email from his Director of Curricula that once again requested that he give serious consideration to becoming a permanent faculty member of the School of Exact Sciences when he heard the phrase 'Científico loco' precede another burst of laughter.

'Mad Scientist' was what they called him now? Well, it certainly beat the poo out of 'Dr. Dumbass'. Sheldon glanced up to see if he could identify the speaker when he locked eyes with one of the students. Her gaze challenged him and his challenged back. There was just the hint of a smile on her face and he felt his own mirror hers.

She raised her glass of beer and saw her lips form 'Salud!' and he raised his Suntori and mouthed the same. Someone on her right touched her arm to get her attention and she turned and smiled and reentered the fray. People at the table were shifting around to make room for late arrivals and he lost sight of her.

'Oh, Sheldon! Did you see those eyes, those lips and that smile? She was definitely coming on to you, sweetie!'

He ignored the Voice and turned back to his email. His sabbatical was almost at an end and he'd been wrestling with the offer to change his status from 'Visiting Guest Lecturer' to something more permanent ever since it was first offered a month ago.

He really had nothing waiting for him in Pasadena. 'You mean no ONE, sweetie!' He loved Buenos Aires and enjoyed just walking around the city on his days off, taking in the sights and marveling at how open and friendly the people were.

Language posed no barrier (he spoke five, after all) and he had even made a few friends among the faculty at the school. True, they were mostly twice his age and nearing retirement but he enjoyed their company and they seemed to enjoy his, even inviting him into their homes for dinner or parties.

And they were constantly introducing him to young and attractive women.

Apparently the wives felt it their moral obligation to find him a girlfriend and as the time for his decision to stay drew closer, they seemed to redouble their efforts.

He found the whole thing rather tedious but tolerable. They seemed to have his best interests at heart, but his just wasn't in it.

His waiter brought his meal and another Suntori.

"I'm sorry, Jorge, but I didn't order another drink." He looked up at the smiling face of his waiter.

"No, Professor, but the young lady did. Enjoy your meal and thank you in advance for your generous tip." The 'generous tip' was his standard farewell and Sheldon always managed to look suitably outraged at the suggestion.

"May I join you, Professor Cooper?"

It was her, the girl with the eyes and hint of a smile now standing in front of him, gesturing at the empty chair across from him.

'Don't just sit there, Moon Pie, stand up and gesture towards the chair and for God's sake, smile!'

He stood unconsciously, remembering his manners, and as his Voice suggested, gestured towards the empty chair.

"Por supuesto, por favor hágalo," he answered in Spanish even though she'd spoken to him in English.

His waiter appeared as if by magic and pulled out the chair for her and then placed a linen napkin across her lap, grinning shamelessly at Sheldon.

"Your Spanish is quite good, Dr. Cooper." Her voice was soft and silky and seemed to seep into his ears.

He cleared his throat nervously. "As is your English, but you have me at a disadvantage. I don't know your name."

She laughed and again the sound seeped into his ears. He could listen to the sound forever. He gathered his wits about him and sat down, suddenly very uncertain of what to do next and running the rules about faculty/student 'relationships' through his mind.

"I am Juliana Quizas Parea. Doctor Juliana Parea, but please call me Juliana or Jules or whatever you like. May I call you Sheldon?"

"Of course, or Shel or even 'Científico loco', if you prefer." He wasn't being snarky and he smiled when he said it so her blush was unexpected.

"When one theorizes that the Universe is made up of strings, one must live with the consequences, Sheldon. When I talk about my own theories that fly in the face of accepted convention, I too am given nicknames, but your students were being respectful and affectionate, Sheldon, whereas my detractors merely mock me."

He didn't know what to say so he followed his mother's advice and said nothing but the look on his face told her that she'd struck a nerve.

"Your students admire you and seem to hang on your very words. I wish I could reach fertile minds and plant the seeds of knowledge as easily as you can."

Now it was Sheldon's turn to blush and he stammered out something about how they simply were attentive because their marks depended on it.

"They would not be discussing your theories nor quoting from your lectures if it was simply a matter of grades, Sheldon Cooper." Her eyes seemed to flash in mock anger and he nodded, almost afraid to disagree with her.

'Did you see those eyes flash? OMG Shel, she wants you!'

The Voice really sounded like Penny when it gave that little girl squeal that so annoyed him. Still, she did cut an imposing figure and he could almost imagine her all decked out in Age of Conan regalia, preparing to lead her troops to battle. He would certainly follow her.

"What theories do you postulate that fly in the face of convention, Jules?" He was curious about her specialty and prayed that it wasn't something like the hokum of the social sciences.

She liked the way he said her name and how easily it was to talk with him. He'd gained a reputation of being shy around people and a loner. She wondered if it wasn't just that he didn't care for socializing.

"I'm a paleobiologist and I believe that Antarctica was once a veritable Garden of Eden." She stared at him as if daring him to laugh.

"That must have been before Pangea broke apart and began drifting and becoming our current continents."

Their conversation became quite animated as Jules used her hands and then various lengths of papas fritas from Sheldon's forgotten dinner to diagram her theory on the linen table cloth. Soon students began crowding around the table and offering their own interpretations and comments on Jules' theory and then on Sheldon's search for the elusive monopole which had been predicted to exist mathematically but never observed and replicated in a controlled setting.

"Well, soon I will be able to throw my discoveries in the face of my detractors as I hope someday you will be able to do to yours. Next month I leave for Antarctica to take core samples from below the ice."

One of his students then brought up Sheldon's own ill-fated expedition to the Magnetic North Pole and asked if such an endeavor might not be possible at the Magnetic South Pole.

"Oh, Sheldon, such an opportunity for you to find your elusive quasi-particle should not be ignored. We have two slots remaining on our roster and since your sabbatical is soon over, why not accompany me – I mean us – and perform your experiments there?"

'Go for it, Moon Pie! Don't let her slip through your fingers. Just think about how long the nights are and how cold you'll be and how the opportunity to snuggle with her under a mound of blankets – "

He mentally told the Voice to 'shut the hell up' and turned his attention back to the discussion.

"I'll have to get permission, of course, and submit an outline of experiments and then – "

"Good! It is settled then. Turn in your requests and I'm sure they'll be approved. Oh, Sheldon, we will have such a great time!"

Sheldon submitted his paperwork to the Director of Curricula and then set about planning his experiments. This was a last opportunity to prove the existence of the elusive monopole.

He and Juliana spent a lot of time together as friends, eating dinner and taking in the occasional movie or concert. They lived in the same faculty apartment complex and frequently 'dined in' in each other's tiny cluttered apartments.

His friends on the faculty, in particular their matchmaking wives, all took the budding relationship as a sign that Sheldon Cooper was staying in Argentina after first going to the South Pole.

"Sheldon, you can't resign from the University. You have a contract for one more year and besides, Argentina? For God's sake, think about your career, your research – none of which will be viewed favorably from such a backwater university such as Buenos Aires."

Eric had serious concerns about the number of faculty who were either not renewing their contracts or retiring. Losing a potential Nobel Prize winner to another school was more than he could stomach.

"Be advised, Dr. Gabelhauser, that I'm exercising my option to forego the final year of my contract as outlined in Section C, subsection 7. I shall, of course, send you a letter of resignation. Thank you for your time."

Sheldon disconnected the call and leaned back in his chair, completely satisfied with the way the conversation had gone. He had nothing to go back to and he'd already moved all his personal belongings into storage. It wouldn't be all that much trouble to have them shipped to Buenos Aires.

He looked at his Batman chronometer and opened up his laptop and initiated a video call with Beverly Hofstadter on Skype.