A/N: A bit shorter than normal but I'm back at work and time is rather scarce.
Reparata
Chapter 7
Home of Dr. Beverly Hofstadter
Princeton, NJ
"Follow my lead, Penny. And for God's sake, don't laugh!"
The two young women walked purposefully over to where Leonard and Priya stood. Leonard's face was still tinged in red while Priya looked anything but pleased. When she saw Penny approaching with another young girl she thought, 'Oh, Mother Kali, take me now!' She glanced at Leonard and saw that the reddish caste was gone from his face, replaced by a deathly pallor.
Jislane stood in front of Leonard, well within his personal comfort zone, one delicate hand placed on his forearm, and smiled, waving her drink toward Priya.
"I waited for you in the parking lot, Sport, but I didn't see you come out of the Kroger." She reached over and smoothed down his lapel, leaving her hand flat on his chest.
"You should know that you don't hit on a woman in the Kroger and expect a positive response in such a public place, Sport. One must always be cognizant of prying eyes and waggling tongues."
"Do you know this woman, Leonard?" asked Priya with one sculpted eyebrow raised. The word 'woman' oozed from her full lips with disgust and disdain.
"Uh, well, I uh – "
Jislane looked Priya up and down like a madam in a whorehouse looking over new hookers and then fixed Leonard with a stare. "So this is the best you could do, Sport? I mean, come on, she's old!"
Leonard turned and began stammering out some lame explanation that he really didn't know the girl but Priya threw her drink in his face and stomped out of the living room to call a cab.
Leonard glared at Penny. "I don't know who this girl is but I'll bet you paid her to do that, didn't you? Damn it, Penny – "
Jislane stepped back beside Penny, and now it was her turn to glare.
"You don't remember coming on to me last week in the Kroger. You don't remember telling me how lonely you were and how you'd love to make me dinner at your place and – oh, yeah – just 'talk'?"
He knew who she was. She'd been wearing the tightest skinny jeans Leonard had ever seen on a woman and he'd been drawn to her a fly to honey. "Who the hell are you, anyway? What right do you have to be here at a family gathering – "
"Well, son, I'm your new step mom."
40km from Permanent Station Belgrano II
44km from Sobral Meteorological Station
Sheldon was very pleased with himself. Anyone who knew the tall, lanky Theoretical Particle Physicist would know that from his smug smile and the way he strode purposefully onward, actually enjoying the solitude of the Antarctic desert.
He paused, suddenly unsure of the terrain he had to cross. He didn't remember the up-thrusts of ice that required a great deal more concentration lest he fall and break a limb.
'Perhaps I avoided it in my initial leg to Station #1 and then circled a bit going from station to station until I reached Station #8. I'm sure that has to be it.'
Sheldon checked his homing device and nodded to himself. 'Exactly on course although why I doubt myself is beyond my own reckoning. Despite my grueling pace, I'll have to find a suitable place to set up camp for the night.'
Permanent Station Belgrano II
Argentine Permanent Research Station
Juliana Parea sat up and rubbed her eyes. She'd been looking through a microscope at slides made up of samples of a core boring she'd harvested the previous day for hours. Her back was stiff from the position she'd maintained far beyond what was her usual but she ignored it, overwhelmed with the implications of her discovery and the vindication of her theory.
'Sheldon and I will have to have a special dinner in celebration and then we'll retire to my quarters and – '
"Dr. Parea, Dr. Cooper is overdue and several of us are mounting an effort to retrieve your Americano genius before the weather closes us out. Would you like to accompany us?"
All thoughts of celebration and physical discomfort were forgotten. "Overdue? But he was just going out a few kilometers to check on his instruments and collect data from his computers. Of course, I'm going with you. He should have returned long ago."
"I'm sure it is nothing to worry about. His snowcat is equipped with a transponder and he's probably just wrapped up in his analysis of his collected data. Or perhaps his snowcat broke down and even now he's trudging towards us but with the weather front closing in, we must bring him in."
In another part of the station, a man sits in the mess hall looking at his watch and noting the weather watch that has been posted on the electronic bulletin boards throughout the station. High winds and whiteouts were expected within a few hours. All outside activities were cancelled due to the extremely dangerous weather.
'Perfect! If they even find his body it will be months from now and no one will suspect foul play. We will be back in Buenos Aires and Juliana will be in need of comfort and who better to do so than a former lover who knows her so well?'
Eduardo Duarte had assigned the American physicist his return transponder. It was hardly Duarte's fault that the American had ignored basic training and failed to verify the homing location or that his snowcat lacked sufficient fuel to make a round trip. He should have remembered his training and double-checked.
All this was the American's fault. He didn't back off when Eduardo had confronted him and told him that 'Juliana and I are destined to be together and you, my American friend, should step aside and allow true love to follow its course. You're not the one for her. I am. We were engaged to be married before a misunderstanding drove us apart.'
Not that he blamed Cooper for falling hopelessly in love with Juliana. Hadn't he done the same thing? Once back in familiar surroundings, he would show her that he had changed and was no longer the man she'd known. There would be no 'dalliances' this time. He had changed. Surely she would recognize it and take him back?
'Too bad, Dr. Cooper, but rest assured that I shall take good care of her exactly as it was always intended.'
He poured himself another cup of the strong coffee and returned to his own research notes.
'Soon Cooper will be declared 'lost' and then I shall step in, as a dear friend at first, and offer her a shoulder to cry on.'
Home of Dr. Beverly Hofstadter
Princeton, NJ
Beverly looked over at the two young women who were laughing at her son's retreating back. Her ex-husband was standing beside her and said, "It's good that Jislane has found someone her own age to be friends with. I doubt we'll see Leonard again anytime soon, though. Surely he knew that Penny was going to be here, Beverly."
"I told him. I also told him not to bring his Indian Princess but of course he didn't listen. I imagine you're quite tickled with how your new wife handles herself? She certainly dominated the confrontation. Oh, well. Like father, like son. No doubt he's chasing Prius down, offering some fumbling explanation."
"I believe her name is Prium, my dear, not Prius."
"Prium, Prius, whatever. These foreigners have such odd names to begin with."
60km from Permanent Station Belgrano II
24km from Sobral Meteorological Station
The wind had picked up noticeably and Sheldon was certainly glad he'd stopped when he did to set up his arctic survival tent. He was using heat tabs to boil snowmelt for tea over a small stove and gnawing on a high-energy ration bar that must have been made from cornflakes compressed under a million tons of pressure to make it hard as a diamond and as tasteless as wet cardboard.
He began stripping off his cold weather gear as the temperature in the tent climbed into the 30s and 40s. His training had stressed that it was important not to perspire while in the field since the dampness would leach heat from his body.
'Well, as much as I miss her company, I'm glad Juliana is safe and sound in her quarters. That Duarte fellow and his insinuations is becoming quite annoying, almost as bad as Leonard during breakups #1, #2 and #3. Imagine his nerve! Demanding that I step aside and allow him to rekindle his affair with Juliana! As if I didn't learn my lesson with Leonard and Penny. I shall stand aside for no man – certainly not one with a PhD in [shudder] Geology!'
24km from Permanent Station Belgrano II
The treaded snow cat was out of fuel and there was no sign of Sheldon. His survival gear and his precious computer were gone also and one of the men had found a panel marking the direction he had traveled when he left.
"Why would Dr. Cooper not follow his transponder? Why is he heading deeper into the interior, Juliana?" When Duarte had heard that Cooper was overdue, he immediately volunteered to go out and recover him. Although they had parted on bitter terms, she was very grateful for her ex-fiance's assistance.
"I have no idea, Eduardo. Why is his 'cat out of fuel? Isn't it your responsibility to assign snowcats and to ensure that proper maintenance has been done prior to signing it out?" She was very worried and took her worry out on the nearest target, her former boyfriend.
Duarte just stared at the horizon as if feeling guilty and Juliana immediately felt bad for blaming him for something like a maintenance failure or improper record keeping.
"I'm sorry, Eduardo. That was insensitive of me. Of course you would have checked. It must be a leak or something. I'm just so worried about Sheldon. He's out there, all alone, perhaps injured and freezing to death and – "
"Calm yourself, Jules…we'll find him." 'Damn it! Why did he have to remember his training and put out that damned directional panel? Well, the weather is closing in and we'll have to return to Belgrano or risk more lives. The needs of the many…'
Uh ohhhh