A/N: I got lost in the details and honestly I'm not looking forward to ending this. I've really got invested in the story – something I almost never allow to happen and so…another chapter.

Final Chapter – Moving On

Sheldon and his girls spent every weekend and holiday with their grandparents at their Estacio. He used the time to visit Jules and allow her parents time to get to know their only grandchildren and spoil them rotten.

He stood beside her grave, a large bas-relief capstone lying on the ground as tradition demanded. He'd wanted to have a likeness of her carved from the finest marble to grace it but cooler heads (Enrico, surprisingly enough) simply mentioned that 'Juliana found such ostentatious displays distasteful' and that banished it from Sheldon's mind.

"I miss you, Jules, and so do the girls. Your mother pesters me to move on with my life and find a suitable mother for her grandchildren but I just can't even consider such an action. I know, I know, you lectured me long enough when your illness was deemed terminal but – "

He wiped tears from his cheeks with his sleeves, not at all concerned about germs or anything remotely like them for once in his life. His little girls brought home every disease known to man from pre-school and so he'd become inured to the possible consequences.

In other words, he didn't give a rat's ass about much but work and his family.

"But Jules, I – I can't bring myself to even look at another woman without feeling my heart break a little because she's not you. My life is so empty without you and were it not for our children, I'd end it."

He spent the next hour talking about their girls' antics and what cute things they'd done and how much they already looked like their mother except for the green eyes. "Marisa has your sense of humor while Isa has your innate curiosity. They both will break hearts when they get older, Jules, and they're growing up so fast…"

He finally told her how much he loved her and missed her and that he'd see her 'next week as usual', and not to worry. He would always love her until they met again.

Amelia Parea was worried about her son-in-law. He was a mere shadow of the man she'd met and she worried about him being alone with just the twins for company.

"Sheldon, you should find a good Argentine girl, perhaps a widow, to warm your heart again and be a mother to our twins. Surely you have mourned my daughter enough? It has been – "

"Amelia, please don't start again. I have no desire to bed another woman or to bring a stranger into our home. I'm comfortable with things the way they are. The children have their nanny and my cook spoils them almost as badly as you and Enrico do. Leave it alone, please."

Princeton, NJ

"Penny Hofstadter, you need to get your act together and quit traipsing around the world looking for someone to take his place. I know Leonard was a putz but – "

"Jizzy, it's Penny Ford. I took back my maiden name with the second divorce. Look, I'm just seeing the world, one country at a time. I always wanted to see Fiji but I could never get Leonard to take me so I went there on my own."

"So how was Paradise?" She envied Penny her freedom but not her loneliness. Although she looked tanned and healthy, her eyes told the truth – she was miserable. The eyes never lie.

"I got bored, got a work permit and taught English in a convent school. I was happy doing it, Jizz, and the headmistress wanted me to stay but I had to move on, y'know? A year away from home was just what I needed."

"It's been more than a year, Penny Ford. So where to next, Penn? Coming home? We miss you and these Skypes just aren't the same. I need my party pal, Penny, and Ben misses you and you never got to meet your namesake and she's almost 2 now."

"Back off the guilt, Jislane. How's Beverly?" She hadn't kept in touch with her ex-mother-in-law at all other than dropping her the occasional note or post card.

"She's getting old, Penny. She sold the big house and has basically retired. She's traveling the world much like you are but she's going from University to University guest-lecturing and now she's on her way to Argentina. Say, isn't that where Sheldon and Juliana live?"

"It's just Sheldon and the twins, Jislane. I got a letter from Missy. She passed on, Jizz, and he's alone with the twins. Missy says he Skype's his mom once a week or so and spends the weekends and holidays with his girls out on his Estacio."

"Aw, I'm sorry, Penny. I didn't know. I suppose that's another thing dear Lenny never got around to sharing."

"How is he? I never expected him to fight the divorce but he did."

"He's seeing that Indian whore of his again. I think it's the real deal with them. She's working in Philadelphia and spends a lot of her time down here. Get this – she and Beverly got quite chummy and Lenny was so pleased. I think he's going to ask her to marry him."

"Penn, I have to go. It's too quiet in the kitchen and that means," there was a crashing sound and then a child's wail, "some one needs Mommy. Talk with you later."

Penny sat back and thought about the past and invariably her thoughts turned to Sheldon. How was he was he handling being a single dad? Was he seeing anyone?

'I really should call him and see how he's doing. I never thought life would be like this. Yeah, I'll call him – tomorrow.'

Parea Family Apartment
The Hippodrome
Buenos Aires, Argentina

His girls were spending the summer holiday with their grandparents and for the first time, Sheldon stayed in Buenos Aires instead of making the trip to the Parea Estacio. He had a paper to finish and then a faculty 'dinner party' to attend later in the month.

Apparently he was getting another award for some theory he'd developed that had led to a startling breakthrough in understanding gravity.

Sheldon was finishing off his second Suntori and water when he heard his cell trill and he went in search of it. Unlike so many others, he viewed a cell phone as an intrusion not a convenience and left his wherever he'd last used it. It used to drive Juliana mad when he did it.

"Hello, this is Dr. Sheldon Cooper." He didn't recognize the number in caller ID other than it was an old Buenos Aires exchange.

"Sheldon, it's Beverly Hofstadter. I'm staying at the El Presidente and wondered if we might meet for drinks or dinner, assuming you can find a sitter on such short notice."

"The twins are out at Jules' folks' Estacio for the month so a sitter is no problem. I've given cook and the nanny the month off as well so I could use a decent meal."

They met at the hotel's 5-star restaurant and both hid the shock they felt at the other's appearance.

She'd lost weight. Her normally soft brown hair now appeared shot through with gray, but it was her eyes that told the sad tale.

"How long do you have, Beverly? How long since your diagnosis?"

"Wha – What?" Somehow he'd learned her secret and she didn't know how since she hadn't told a soul.

"Your eyes. They have that same look in them that Juliana's had after her terminal diagnosis. I'm sorry if I've made you uncomfortable but I just want to know."

"A year, possibly more, but I didn't come here to discuss my health but rather to meet with an old friend and see how he's faring." If the hollow cheeks and sunken and dead-looking eyes were any indicator, not well at all.

They talked for almost two hours and Sheldon invited her back to his apartment to talk some more but she begged off citing how tired she was.

He loved walking in Buenos Aires with its broad boulevards and history on every corner. He laughed when he remembered how Juliana had been so excited when she got to tour the Presidential Palace (marriage to a Nobel Prize winner had perks) and stand where Eve Peron had once stood and addressed her adoring masses.

He walked home, lost in his memories and went to bed. Tomorrow he would finish his paper and then spend the day going through the bureaucratic nonsense involved in becoming a 'resident alien' of Argentina.

Once that was accomplished, he planned on resigning his chair at the University and moving out to his own Estancia and becoming a cattle rancher like his father-in-law and raising his daughters and finding what joy he could in the simple life.

Beverly wasn't tired at all. She was worried and had used her illness as an excuse to leave. She Skyped a call to her young friend, Jislane, and got right to the point.

"Jislane, I need to speak with Penny. Where is she and do you have her Skype information? I'm afraid I've forgotten it and I simply must speak with her." Beverly had always liked her ex-daughter-in-law and found siding with her son more difficult that she'd expected but for once, she allowed her long-dormant maternal instincts to prevail.

"Beverly, why are you Skyping? Why not just call from home?"

"Because I'm in Argentina and I've just spent an evening with Sheldon Cooper and I'm worried about him and I thought perhaps Penny might be willing to call him and cheer him up a bit."

"I just spoke with her. I'm not sure exactly where she is but she left Fiji and is on the move. Here's her Skype info…"

Penny had just finished talking with her mother and was making plans to return to Omaha and spend some time with her family. They weren't getting any younger and she'd been away long enough.

She finished her glass of wine and was about to power down when she was alerted to another incoming Skype call – from Beverly Hofstadter, of all people.

"Hey, Bev – " She stopped, unsure how to proceed. Her ex-mother-in-law and friend looked terrible. She looked old.

"Hello, Penny. It's been a while since we've spoken and I just wanted to touch base and ask a favor of you."

"Sure, although I'm in Jakarta, Indonesia and am flying out to Hawaii and then home tomorrow. Whatcha need?"

"I'd appreciate it if you could Skype Sheldon Cooper, if you wouldn't find it too awkward. Penny, I had dinner with him earlier and he looks so care-worn and I thought perhaps you might be able to find out what's wrong since he won't discuss much of anything personal with me except for his darling girls. Other than that, he's the Great Sphinx."

"Sheldon's in Princeton? What's he doing there, Bev, visiting Leonard and Jislane? I just – "

"No, dear, I'm not in Princeton. I'm in Buenos Aires and I have a lecture series at the University here and I called Sheldon. He sent his children to spend the summer holidays with his in-laws and he's at loose ends. Would you mind – unless it's too awkward for you."

"No, I'll – I'm fine with it. I should offer my condolences on the loss of Juliana but I only found out last month in a letter from his sister."

"Thank you. Y'know, he's unattached now…you're unattached…" Beverly allowed the hint of suggestion to color her voice.

"He just lost his wife, Beverly, and I'm not looking to stir up old emotional wounds. I'll call him sometime, if only to offer my condolences. Do you have his phone number?"

"It's been a year since her death and he needs a friend. From what I can determine his life consists of his children, his work, and his mourning."

Beverly gave her his cell phone number and his Skype address as well as the address of his family apartment in Buenos Aires 'in case you'd elect to send a condolence card rather than be a true friend'.

"Beverly, I said I'd call him." Her tone was curt and she didn't mean to hurt Beverly's feelings but she was finally getting her own feelings under control and had no wish to open up old wounds.

'I still love him and if I'm honest, he's always been the real reason for all my failures with men. Hmm, Argentina? I always wanted to see gauchos. But what if he's no longer my friend? What if he's still mourning the loss of Juliana? I can't handle another failure – I'll just…send him a condolence letter. Yeah. That'll work.'