A/N: An epilogue follows and ties up loose ends.

Reparat

Chapter 10 Moving On

Juliana's father, Enrico, was, to say the least, underwhelmed with his daughter's choice for a husband. The Parea family had been social and political allies with the Duarte family for generations and so he found Sheldon, by comparison, a mere shadow of the man Eduardo Duarte.

And he was not particular about to whom he voiced his opinion, much to Juliana's anger and Sheldon's amusement.

"How can you laugh when he says such things about you? Have you no balls, Sheldon? No honor?"

"Jules, Eduardo Duarte is the man who set me up to fail and probably die on the ice. He certified that the homing device and the snowcat had been calibrated and fueled. He did so in writing. No doubt his family connections will save him from time in prison for attempted murder but nothing will save him from the public humiliation of being publically drummed out of the scientific community and the University."

"But – but Eduardo is a good man, a true – "

"If you think so highly of him, you should have remained engaged. Just why did you break it off, Juliana Parea?"

She knew she'd crossed some line with Sheldon that she didn't even know existed. She ended it with Duarte because he couldn't keep his pecker in his pants, and because he'd managed to pass on a by-product of his philandering to her in the form of Chlamydia.

In a whispered voice, she said, "He gave me an STD, Sheldon, and it took that to make me see him for the man he really was."

For just an instant, Sheldon felt disgusted and unclean. He knew that Jules had been intimate before he came along but to have it paraded in front of him in such a manner made him ill. He wondered if Penny ever – no, no thoughts of her. He left her out on the ice.

He wrapped his arms around her and whispered that it didn't matter since she was with him and he could guarantee he would never stray. He'd given her is word and so far as he was concerned, 'forsaking all others' was ironclad.

They thought they'd been alone on the large verandah but they'd been under observation by Juliana's mother – who did not share her husband's loathing of her daughter's future husband. Armed with facts about Duarte, she stormed through the house in search of her husband. She found him in the stables, preparing to go for his morning ride.

"Enrico Parea, you are wrong about Dr. Cooper. Duarte is a lecherous dog and soon the whole world will know what kind of man he is. He tried to kill Dr. Cooper down on the ice and he is being called to accounts. Your precious Eduardo gave our daughter a sex disease as well. That is why she broke her engagement to that filthy whore monger!"

Enrico sputtered invectives and then told the stableman to prepare two more horses. He was going to take the tall American and his daughter riding and try to mend fences. He was a proud man but not above admitting he was wrong.

"See to it that you apologize, Enrico, in front of Juliana, or your bed will be very cold in the future. Now, go and make amends. And be back before lunch. We have a dowry to discuss and wedding plans to make, you old fool!"

Enrico Parea eyed Sheldon as he and Juliana walked to the stables holding hands. He saw his daughter's smile when the bearded man laughed at something she said.

'Hopefully this one will at least keep his willie in his pants for Juliana's sake. I will have my own vengeance on Duarte. A father's vengeance.'

"Juliana, take the mare. Dr. Cooper, El Diablo is frisky this morning, so take care." He rather hoped the horse would dump the man on his ass and embarrass him in front of Juliana but…

Sheldon eyeballed the horse, standing in front of it and checked the fit of the halter and bridle. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a sugar cube he'd pocketed when he heard they were going 'riding'. He hated horses. Big animals with strong wills and when he'd ridden the last time, he'd ended up on his butt.

Sheldon walked to the horse's side and it turned it's head and watched him. He was a 'kicker' and he planned on showing this man who was boss by kicking him when he walked around behind him.

He glanced at the horse and smirked. It was as if he could read it's mind. Well, time to show it who was the boss. He kneed the horse in the belly and pulled the saddle cinch tighter and smiled grimly. It had been loose and he knew from experience that he'd have looked like a fool when he tried to mount and the saddle slipped.

His brother had been a mean son of a bitch even at 12 and Sheldon had been his favorite target for painful pranks.

Sheldon walked up to the horse's head and handed it the palmed sugar cube and whispered that he'd be the one kicked if he tried to fuck around.

"Have you ridden before, Dr. Cooper?" asked Juliana's father, knowing full well that the man knew his way around a saddle.

"Yes, although not in some years. I'm from Texas," he said, as if that alone would explain his actions.

The ride was pleasant even though the day was hot. He flashed back to the ice and shivered, something both Jules and her father noticed.

"Shel, baby, the ice is a long way away and it's warm and we're together. Don't worry about it. Besides, soon you'll be a Nobel Prize winner and no one will ever doubt you again."

"Is he ill, Juliana? It is quite warm. Is it something he picked up from the Antarctic?" Jules' father was a bit of a germaphobe although nothing like Sheldon.

"No, but I can always tell when he's thinking about his time on the ice. He survived when others would have given up and died, papa. Sometimes things remind him of it, that's all."

"Yes, I heard something about sabotage but surely – " her father started to say, figuring it could lead into an apology of sorts but she cut him off.

"Duarte tried to kill him because I would not sleep with him while Sheldon was on the ice overnight. He thought if he could eliminate my Sheldon, then he could easily assume his 'rightful place' between my legs." She watched Sheldon's face and saw his ruddy complexion grow more so with her admission. She waited for the explosion but none came – it was her father who grew angry.

"That bastard! If ever I see him, I'll thrash his ass good and proper and let everyone in Buenos Aires know what a goat fucker he is. He should be imprisoned for attempted murder of my future son-in-law not allowed to – "

"Mr. Parea, nothing would be gained from beating him. His public humiliation will be a lifelong revenge. Better he lives a long life knowing how happy Jules will be. The jealousy and envy will kill him eventually."

Hofstadter residence
Princeton, NJ

"Penny, are you out of your frikkin' mind?" Jislane was almost yelling at her best friend while helping her dress appropriately for a 2nd wedding.

"I sincerely hope not. He's changed, Jizzy, and you should be damned glad since your husband went to the same therapist. If just a month of so of therapy brought about this change in his son, I doubt his father will ever stray again."

"He better not. I've got pinking shears in my nightstand drawer and I'll Bobbetize his cheating ass if he so much as thinks about breaking his vows. Besides…I'm pregnant, Penn, and the 2nd trimester might make me a widow."

"Oh, Jizzy! How far along? Do you know the sex yet? Does he know yet?" Penny gushed questions rapid fire not allowing Jislane to answer one before popping another.

"Penny…I haven't told him yet. I'm afraid he might feel it's too much to handle this late in his life."

"He'll be thrilled, Jizz, trust me on this. Leonard might be a bit shocked though. A new brother or sister at his age!" They both laughed and then Jislane walked with Penny out into the garden where Leonard and a Justice of the Peace waited to marry them again.

She had no idea that Sheldon Cooper had survived his ordeal on the ice nor that her husband knew about it and chose not to tell her until after the wedding. He didn't want anything to get in the way of his marriage to the only woman he truly loved. Not even the resurrection of her best friend.

Sheldon and Juliana flew to Miami and then on to Galveston. Sheldon held her hand the entire time. He wasn't a good flier and he was nervous about reuniting with his family and also still recovering from his in-laws gift of 100 square miles of prime grazing land as a wedding gift.

"Jules, your parents don't really expect us to give up our academic careers to become ranchers, do they?" They'd had this conversation before and as always she reassured him.

"Of course not, honey. They just want us to have a place of our own to retreat to when life gets hectic and to retire to when we get old and crotchety. The house is rather large though for just the two of us. Perhaps we can do something about it?"

"Jules, please tell me you're not pregnant? Your father would 'thrash my ass' if you got pregnant before the wedding. He's old school and has that strange Argentine morality streak."

"Not yet, but not for lack of trying. I'm ready to start a family, my love, now that I've found my soul mate. I've proven my theory that the Antarctic was once a warm and green place and I haven't found much else to pique my scientific curiosity so…perhaps a baby or two to keep me busy?"

"Twins run in my family, Juliana. Are you certain – "

"Yes. I'm off the pill and I've taken a needle to your stash of condoms. The sooner the better!"

Galveston

His mother cried and thanked Jesus and her prayer group while his sister shyly talked with Juliana who intimidated her both because she was nearly as tall as she and because she was 'scary smart' like her eight minutes older brother whom she adored.

"So, you and Shelly are going to tie the knot? I don't know if I can get my mother off my brother long enough to give the big guy a hug. You know all about his schedules and his OCD and his phobias, right? And you're still gonna marry him?"

"What can I say, Melissa? It was love at first sight for me. Those blue eyes, that wry sense of humor, his beautiful mind…"

"Don't hurt him, Juliana. He's very fragile and – "

"Never! He is the one for me. When I thought he was dead I had no taste for life. It was he who saved me, even though he was thousands of kilometers away, he saved me."

As clingy as his mother was, Rajesh was worse. He wept like a baby and affixed himself to Sheldon like a limpet until Leslie finally pried him away and then took his place.

"You do something like that again, Dumbass, and I'll hunt you down and hurt you. Raj and I…well, you brought us together, your death I mean, and well, I'm glad we're all together again. It's good to have you back, Cooper, even if you're full of crap about String Theory!"

Howard and Bernadette both cried and Sheldon finally called a halt to it.

"Listen, I'm covered with snot and Lord knows what kind of pathogens you six harbor but enough is enough. At least on the ice I didn't have to worry about catching Lord knows what from the occasional penguin. Besides, this is the woman I'm marrying and it's high time she got introduced."

Sheldon felt almost whole again. He was looking out over the crowds but –

Leslie answered his unasked question.

"She – er, they aren't coming, Sheldon. They got divorced but right about now they're remarrying. Leonard's been in therapy that helped his dad and then Penny disappeared about the same time you did…and when she came back she wanted to start over."

'I'm so sorry, Moon Pie. I never meant things to go this far.'

"Honey, are you okay? Are you still feeling a bit tired from your ordeal?" Jules knew that look. He was back on the ice again but what sent him back this time?

They had a wonderful visit but all too soon it was time to leave and Sheldon finally did something he was putting off. 'If I don't see it, it's not real and I can pretend she's at home, baking and cleaning and – '

When Sheldon's death had been announced, his beloved Meemaw had suffered a massive coronary and passed away. Sheldon hadn't quite come to terms with his loss yet.

"Juliana, I'd like you to meet my grandmother, Meemaw. It'll just take a second and we can drop by on our way to the airport. Missy won't mind the detour a bit."

The visit to the small but well-kept cemetery was a revelation to Jules. Her husband had wept uncontrollably but then pulled himself together and became a stronger man.

"She's at peace. What more can one ask for than peace of mind? Let's go home, Jules. We have a wonderful journey ahead of us and I am strangely excited to begin it."

The return flight was just as tedious for Jules and as nerve wracking for Sheldon. She found herself looking at her future husband with new eyes. Where before she thought him somewhat distant and aloof from people, she now knew that it was just a question of Sheldon fitting them into his life before 'relaxing' around them. She certainly enjoyed his idea of relaxation when they were in private.

"I love you, Shel. Never doubt that." She made the statement as they were arriving back at her apartment. The University had emptied his out and put his personal items in storage and it was now leased to a visiting lecturer from Italy. Sheldon was staying with her until after the wedding when they'd be moving into the family apartment in Central Buenos Aires.

"I never doubted it for an instant. Why should I?"

"Because you are a man of science and science is a cruel mistress. No matter how lost you become in your white boards and quest, I know you love me because you show it all the time in little things you'd never do for another. I just wanted to reinforce your understanding of the depths of my love for you, nothing more."

Later that evening after making love, Sheldon asked, "Have I given you any reason I would dount your love for me? I can't think of one but then you are a woman and your thought processes are so alien to me…"

She just laughed and then kissed him deeply and sighed. "I've never felt more loved in my life, honey. I've found my other half, even if he is a physicist." She said 'physicist' like it was unpleasant but wanted to enjoy the banter that followed such a statement.

"I beg your pardon! Physics is the basis of all knowledge. You people who play around in ancient dirt are the weak-minded ones. Let me again demonstrate the principle of the 'screw' and see if eons-old diatoms can hold your interest as well."

Her giggles were soon stifled by his mouth and replaced by gasps and whimpers.

Two years after exchanging vows, Sheldon Cooper and his wife, Juliana, welcomed Marisa Parea Cooper into the world. Eight minutes later, her twin, Isabella, was born. Twins did indeed run in the family.

Princeton, NJ

Despite their best efforts, Penny and Leonard were unable to conceive and it brought stress to the marriage that was exacerbated by Leonard's feelings of inadequacy. They talked about adoption but Penny wanted a baby of her own, not someone else's.

Jislane's little boy, Ben, quickly became Penny's favorite and even Beverly took a shine to the dark-eyed, precocious child and allowed him to call her 'Auntie Bev' when he got old enough to talk.

Leonard's feelings of inadequacy were further intensified by the news that his father, 34 years older, had managed to knock up Jislane again.

And then Sheldon won the Nobel Prize for Physics and things got worse – a lot worse.

Sheldon and his wife, Juliana, were coming to New York City to accept some award and Penny had read about it and demanded that Leonard contact Sheldon and ask if they had time to spend a few days with their friends here in Princeton.

He was backed into a corner when Beverly announced that she'd already invited 'the Coopers' to stay at her home in Princeton and get reacquainted with his old friends.

There was no way he could avoid his old roommate and 'best' friend now. Not with his mother and his wife on his ass.

It had been four years since that dinner in Pasadena, four long and eventful years but for Leonard it was pure hell.

Here was Sheldon Cooper, the robot, who suddenly morphed into a world famous physicist and husband to an incredibly sexy woman who looked like a swim suit model despite having two children – children that Sheldon simply could not quit running his mouth about, or so it seemed.

They were sitting on Beverly's patio drinking beer (another change he had trouble accepting – Sheldon's new-found tolerance for alcohol in moderation) when Sheldon asked if he and Penny were planning on children.

"Sheldon, I don't think that's any of your business. You haven't changed a bit, have you? Deep down inside, you're still a selfish, arrogant and tactless ass."

"You're right, of course. It's none of my business but Penny wants children, Leonard. That's all she and Jules have talked about – kids. They're really not all that bad, Leonard. Being a father is the highest calling I can imagine."

"Yeah, well that's not gonna happen anytime soon, Cooper, and I'd appreciate it if you told your wife to back off on the subject. In fact, I insist on it. Penny cannot conceive. It's a touchy subject and I'd appreciate a little discretion for her sake."

"Of course. Anything for Penny. She's just as I remembered her, although she doesn't smile as much as before."

Leonard had a night class and Beverly offered to take Penny home so Leonard left without so much as a goodbye.

"He's jealous of you, you know. He's never quite forgiven you for not staying dead. Leonard's quite pleased to tell people all about his friendship with Sheldon Cooper but he's jealous, Moon Pie."

Penny had finally found time to talk with her best friend alone. Juliana had begged off dinner saying she was tired and Penny took the opportunity to talk with him in the privacy of the garden.

"You called me that in Antarctica, Penny. That and a lot of other things, some not so nice or endearing."

"What? I did what in Antarctica?"

"My subconscious and I spoke many times during my trek and during the time at the Summer Research Station. It was your voice I heard urging me not to give up, reminding me of my obligations and my goals and finally reminding me that I was crazy to trek back across the ice on a 'hunch'. You kept me sane, Penny."

She sat nursing her 4th drink of the night and looked up at him from her seat on the bench. "I almost died when Beverly told me you were dead, Shel. I was in the middle of a divorce, my life was in shambles and then she dropped that bombshell on me…"

"I'm sorry about that, Penny, but it was sabotage again just like the North Pole expedition. I'm sorry you suffered mental distress but you seem fine now. You and Leonard are a couple again and you seem very much at ease around Beverly. That's progress I never expected to see from you."

"I loved you, Sheldon. Did you know that? All those years in 4B I was falling in love with the guy from 4A but hooking up with anyone else but him. I wish…"

"I loved you too, Penny, although I was much too stupid to recognize it until you came down that evening to the laundry room and told me of your engagement. I think that's when I labeled the emotion."

"Do you love her, Sheldon?" meaning Juliana.

"Without reservation. She is my life, she and the girls. I would be nothing without her just as you would be nothing without Leonard."

"Do you still love me, Moon Pie, if only just a little?" She felt a tear drop slip down her cheek and wiped it away hastily with the back of one hand.

"You were my first love, Penny. I shall always hold you in my heart."

"Sheldon, could you, I mean, just this one time and never again, could you kiss me, please?"

He wasn't shocked by her request but he was uncomfortable with it but this was Penny, not some trollop of a grad student wishing to trade sex for a grade.

"Just this once, Penny."

It was sweet and she felt another tear slip down her cheek and when he ended it she almost cried out.

"Good night, Penny. Stay in touch."

2 Years Later

T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia. It took her from him in less than 8 months after diagnosis. Nothing seemed to work and finally she just gave up.

"My love, I'm tired. You have to let me go, Sheldon. I'll always love you and I thank God for giving you to me if only for a little while."

He held her hand long after she quit breathing. The nurse finally came and gently pried her hand from his and led him out into the hallway where his in-laws were already in tears.

"I'm sorry. She's gone."

Life got hectic and he found his time stretched to the max dealing with two 3-year olds who didn't recognize that their father was grieving for his lost love and who demanded his time more and more.

He was rich after winning the Nobel even after the government took it's hefty bite out of the $1.5 million dollar award that came with the fancy plaque so he hired a nanny and a cook and threw himself into his work and his girls.

Despite the renewed efforts of his friends to find him a suitable match, he declined any and all social obligations that weren't work or family related.

In short, he became exactly as he'd been in Pasadena only this time he functioned quite well in society – given that he'd had his heart ripped from his body by a merciless disease that took away his Juliana.

In New Jersey it was a different story. There was a disease that found its way into the Hofstadter marriage – alcohol. Only this time it wasn't Leonard who was the problem. No. It was Penny.

"Going out again tonight? What do you and Jislane find to talk about all the time? Maybe you should think about getting into community theatre or volunteering to work with the drama department at the University."

"We talk about the kids, you, her husband, our lives and we drink, Leonard, and tell each other lies about how happy we are and how perfect our lives are."

"You came back to me and asked for a do-over. Do you regret it?" He burned with furious anger at his wife but mostly at himself for not being who she needed to make her happy.

"Do bears shit in the woods, Leonard? You work, we go out to dinner, I sit around all day, just what the hell kind of life do I have?"

"I've been on the straight and narrow and I've never strayed. Maybe we should see a counselor? It worked for me, Penny.

"Maybe I should see a divorce lawyer." She grabbed her keys and stormed out of the house, hating her husband and herself for what they'd allowed themselves to become.

A year later the Beta Test ended in divorce court only this time Beverly offered a mother's support to her son who was torn apart by the divorce.

Penny sold everything she'd been awarded in the divorce and after a great deal of soul-searching, she bought a one-way ticket to Paradise.

Okay, so maybe I lied a wee bit but the epilogue will tie things up nicely, you'll see.

Reparata