A/N: Chapter 4, lovely readers! I hope you're all enjoying it. Please leave a review, they make my day and give me warm, fuzzy, writing urges!

Once again, thank you to those who have followed/favorited/reviewed!

I have a major presentation due for a class, so I don't know if I'll get the next chapter up before the end of this coming week. I will try though. Feedback and votes of support can help speed the process, however!

Anyway, read and enjoy!

Copper was still puzzling over the flowers a week later when Leonard invited her to join Sheldon, Penny and he in a Star Wars marathon. She hopped in the shower, lifting her body wash bottle to her nose and inhaling deeply. The soft scent of sweet peaches wafted up, making her smile delightedly. Pouring a liberal gloop into her palm, Copper let her thoughts swirl like the soap suds that slid off her body. Sheldon had been scarce for the last several days, but he had not strayed far from her thoughts. How could he when every time she opened the door to her apartment there was a new surprise waiting for her with a note that offered his apologies.

The day after receiving the tiger lilies, she had unlocked her door and discovered around half a dozen giant stuffed horses. A little card hung from a palomino's reins,stating the good doctor's knowledge that sewn bags of fluff could not replace an actual equine in her affections, but perhaps she would consider the thought behind the gesture.

The card had found itself in tiny slivers in the trash, but she kept the horses. There was no sense in being completely heartless. When Penny had dropped by, a look from Copper had silenced the question before it was asked.

Yesterday, she had peeked around the edge of her door and found seven little baskets of differently scented soaps and candles. Granted, at least three of them were so strong that they gave her a headache, but the others were pleasant enough. The note tied with a bright green ribbon expressed another desire for reconciliation. With a sigh, she hauled all the baskets into a bag and promptly delivered them to her pretty friend one floor up. Penny had let her in with a puzzled expression.

"What's all this?"

"Either Sheldon's idea of an apology or the latest stage of my punishment. I haven't really decided which, but I'll let you guess which one I'm leaning towards."

Penny had laughed and Copper had given her a sharp glance.

"You knew about this, didn't you?"

Penny couldn't stop snickering to answer and Copper thus inferred that she had hit the proverbial nail on the head. She had also had to conclude that Dr. Cooper would go to any length to gain the upper hand. With that thought firmly in mind, Copper dismissed the various, and obvious, attempts at bribery. Still, it had given her a fluttering sensation in her stomach every time she had opened her door that entire week. She attributed the feeling to a combination of not having someone show her this kind of attention for a longer span of time than she cared to think about and the thought that had to have been put into finding gifts that had the potential to please her.

Admittedly, most of them had qualities that appealed to her and she had a pretty good idea where he had gotten the information. The exception was the chocolates, those had attracted a horde of bugs. Copper's disgust had only been exceded by her horror when she had made that little discovery.

The exterminator was coming that afternoon, thankfully. Fortunately, while that meant she had to vacate the apartment for at least twelve hours, Penny had offered her couch to crash on. Not the most comfortable bed in the world, but beggars couldn't be choosers. Copper had for a brief, irrational moment, believed that the pompous ass had known that his gift was going to lead to an unpleasant infestation. She had subsequently dismissed the suspicion as groundless. He may very well had been sincere in offering his metaphorical olive branches.

All the same, she thought as she stepped out of her shower, it could all be just a ploy to get her guard down. She found that to be the most likely scenario.

Flattered, she was. Optimistic, she was not, she thought grimly.

Copper ran a towel through her damp curls, grateful that they were beginning to return to their original russet color. Running a brush through the mass, she pulled on a worn Flash t-shirt, refusing to think about the possible implications behind that choice, and a pair of baggy cotton sweats. Before she entered the living room, she found her feet stopping in front of the little desk at her bedroom door. The tiger lilies were still vibrant and she bent over to enjoy their fragrance for a moment. A feeling of spontaneity washed over her and she plucked one blossom from the bunch, skilfully weaving its stem into the burnished strands of her hair. It was doubtful that she was going to need anything else, so she grabbed her keys, her bag and her iPod, shutting the door firmly behind her.

Slipping her blue headphones over her head, she bounded up the stairs, bounced onto the landing, and knocked on the door. Aerosmith was blasting in her ears as Leonard opened the door and she gave him a bright smile. She lowered her slender headphones and breezed past him, lifting her free hand in a lazy salute as she spotted Penny sporting a hot pink Penny Blossom in her blond tresses.

"Hey Smokey, nice flower."

"Hey Bandit, nice plastic."

"Are you ever going to tell me where that came from?" Leonard interjected with a small pout that made Copper want to roll her eyes.

"If you had watched the right movies as a child, you would understand," Copper teased him, "As it is, all I'm going to say is that I told her I preferred 'Smokey' to 'Cop' any day."

"The rest is history," Penny agreed as the two women shared a knowing look.

"Oh, ok. Right, well, um, Penny and I were just about to step out and grab some snacks from the store down the street. You want anything?"

"I'm fine, thanks. But, Leonard, don't let her get any pork skins, alright?" Copper threw the question over her shoulder with a smirk as she unzipped her duffel bag and lifted out a bulky black case.

"Wh-"

"Nevermind," Penny cut him off with a glare at her friend as she hauled the poor physicist out the door.

Copper chuckled quietly as she pulled her headphones back up and unsnapped the case, pulling out a delicate instrument and the bow that made it sing. Tucking her chin upon the rest, she raised her arms with a quiet smile. Soft, dulcet notes were coming through her speakers, the familiar strains of an old, old song filling her ears. Hanging the earphones around her neck, her eyes closed as she placed the bow against the strings, drawing it across them languidly at first, then picking up the tempo. She knew the melody by heart and her body moved of its own accord, swaying as she let the music carry her with it. She had plenty of time before Penny and Leonard came back.

She never heard the door open.

Sheldon could not overstate his pleasure at how well his plan had been working. Copper had naturally not responded to his repeated apologetic gestures. Her mind was clearly attempting to wrap itself around the paradox his gifts had presented to her. One more day and he would have her in the perfect state of confusion to implement the next stage of his plan. Penny had been just as easy to get the necessary information from as he had anticipated. When he had let it slip that he wished to express a gesture of friendship towards the grey eyed redhead, Penny had swiftly quiesced to his request for intelligence.

Sheldon slipped his key into the mailbox, thumbing through the mail idly as he reflected on his nefarious plot. Truly, by the time he had achieved the final stage of his stratagem, she would be unable to remember any reason why she may have ever suspected him of anything in the first place.

Sheldon paused at the landing, the lively Legend of Zelda theme echoing down the stairwell. His cobalt gaze narrowed with irritation. Why on earth would Leonard be playing the game so loudly? Something about the music was off, though, but he couldn't place his finger on that could be. He opened the door, fully prepared to give his roommate a thorough tongue lashing. It was hardly practical, or healthy, to have the volume up so high that the neighbors downstairs could even make out the tune. What he saw, however, made him feel like all the air had been stolen from his lungs.

Copper was making the music. And she was moving.

Even he knew, as sheltered as he was, that this was not just mere motion, though he may have argued that it was motion at its finest. Copper sauntered around the island in the kitchen, one arm working furiously as it danced across the strings of the violin she held in the other. He recognized the tune from the Gerudo desert. Her body's liveliness harmonized with her playing, a sultry blend that was utterly bewitching. A sliver of skin peeked at him where her Flash t-shirt rose up, sending a tiny bolt of something through his body. Another one slivered down his spine when he took in the emblem that was blazoned across her chest. The sway of her hips kept him from examining these reactions properly, their smooth swiveling more enticing at that moment than the answer that would lead him to confirming string theory.

Sheldon could quite clearly feel his pulse rate increase when she turned on her heel, hips still gently rocking and giving him a view that, quite frankly, he found far more compelling than the ample amounts of tanned flesh that Penny constantly flaunted. In fact, Copper's supple movements made Penny's prancing about the morning she tried to feed him french toast seem jerky, inelegant, and clumsy in comparison.

And that music; that familiar, nostalgic, beautiful music.

It was a captivating performance to watch. It was as if the universe had parted before his eyes, giving him the tiniest glimpse of what heaven, if it existed, could offer him. Surely, he thought dazedly, the angels his mother always spoke of had to be at least comprable to what he was seeing at that moment.

Just when he thought that he had his breath back, however, she scattered his thoughts to the winds once more.

Her feet were a blur across the floor as she spun several times, bowing over the instrument, her hair cascading forward like liquid metal. She slowly rose back up in one fluid move, spinning around again on the balls of her feet. The tempo changed a third time and he recognized the more merry tones of the Skull Kid's forest. His eyes widened considerably as she bent again, thrusting her hips back and her chest forward before straightening in a roll of curves that Sheldon had never given any thought to before. She repeated the action, a smile on her lips that made his knees feel weak. His eyes traced the line of her back and he swallowed mightily.

When she suddenly stopped, Sheldon fought down a swell of panic. had she become aware of his presence? He needn't have worried, as she started to play again, a slow, melancholic melody that he didn't recognize. Her features changed and he noted her lower lip, that had curled in a bright smile, now trembled slightly as it formed words only she could hear. Then that lip disappeared between small, even teeth and the gesture seemed to cause a jerk in his gut. Copper's body was still, the exception being her arm's gentle manuevering of the bow and her fingers soft touch against the strings of the neck.

A mixture of curious emotions rose in his chest at the sight. Shaking his head to clear it, Sheldon carefully sidled past the couch, feeling like an intruder in his own living room. As soon as he shut his bedroom door behind him, he leaned back against it and took several deep breaths. His pulse was pounding dully in his ears, matching the thudding of his heart. He felt as if he had just run up and down the stairs seven times.

His analytical mind finally took back control, processing his responses to stimuli that he had never been confronted with.

Until he had opened the door to the apartment, the human body had held no appeal to him. It was a necessary evil, merely a vessel that contained his genius. Amy, before she had left to join her fiancee in Saudi Arabia had never elicited such a strong reaction from him, much less any other female. But at that moment, when he had seen her, oblivious to anything except herself and the music she created, it had triggered a response in him. Sheldon straightened from the door and sat down on the edge of his bed. A pen was out and his journal in his hands within the next two breaths.

He needed to think and organize. He needed logic, understanding, order; the smooth, even lines of the paper and the steady, flow of ink as it filled the page. What did this mean? What did she mean? The next question had him pause, the point of the pen poised in midair.

Did it change anything?

No, he decided, resuming a quick, but neat scrawl. It changed nothing. He was going to go through with his plan. She needed to understand her place in his highly organized world and it would not do for her to believe that she had free rein to cause chaos wherever she pleased.

But what chaos had she caused him before today?

If he was to be completely honest, she had conducted herself with good sense, as his mother would say. Copper had reacted to the prompting that he had initiated and before that she had argued a point from a logical standpoint. Was there fault to be found in that? Well, of course, she had humiliated him. But that was hardly pandemonium, merely discord. On the other hand, he had firmly believed himself to be above such physicality. If she had caused him even a slight setback, intentional or not, from being the Homo Novus that he so assuredly was, it followed that her actions clearly deserved some kind of response on his part.

Therefore, his original plan remained the most satisfactory option. Sheldon neatly closed the notebook, snapping the pen shut and placing both in the drawer of his nightstand. The music had stopped some time ago and he could now hear muffled voices coming from down the hall. Standing, he wiped his palms on his pants leg and opened the door.

Where was Obi Wan when you needed him most?

Copper was placing her violin back in its case when the door flew open, Penny striding in with an apple in her hand as Leonard struggled into the room with an armload of bags. Feeling some sympathy, Copper trotted over to help the hapless physicist. He shot her a grateful look and she grinned at him.

"Thanks."

"Sure. What did you guys get?" She was in the process of answering her own question, rummaging through the bags as she set them on the counter in the kitchen.

"Nothing you'd like," Penny teased, seizing the bag of Reese's Pieces her friend had dug out.

Copper didn't comment, merely giving the other woman a disdainful glance. Instead, she plucked up a bag of different candy, striding across the room to plop down on the middle of the couch. As her fingers dug into the plastic to rip it open, Sheldon chose that moment to walk in and Copper sat bolt upright to stare at him.

How long had he been here? And why didn't Leonard or Penny mention it?

She looked over at them still sorting things in the kitchen as Sheldon sat beside her in his spot. Leonard turned and gave a half wave.

"Hey, Sheldon, when did you get home?"

Copper felt her stomach drop. He hadn't been here when they left. That meant- Oh Dear Lord.

She could feel her face heating up and quickly ducked down, pretending to be absorbed in opening the bag in her lap. Thankfully, the long ringlets of curls fell across her cheeks immediately.

"A little while ago." Sheldon answered simply, not elaborating and Copper dared to sneak a swift peek at his face.

Grey met cobalt in one frozen moment. He had seen her, she could read it in his expression. And he knew that no one had been meant to see her. It had been a rare moment of indulgence, a chance to express herself, confident and secure in her solitude in a single instance in time.

She dropped the gaze first, a knot forming in the pit of her stomach. He would hold this over her, she was sure of it and she couldn't blame him for it either. It would be the culminating stroke in their little war and the victory would be his. He only had to turn his head, make a snide remark, and it would be over.

Copper forced herself to breathe, painfully aware of how close Sheldon's side was to hers. This was so embarressing. There was a hot prickling across her skin and she chewed on her lip nervously. Still, the awaited blow did not fall. She hazarded another glance upwards, past the haven of her curls and noted that he was still looking at her. He gave a minute nod of his head and Copper felt her stiff shoulders relax a little. Just like that, however, she was tense again. He may not say anything now, but he would at a later time. One that would maximize the damage.

A slender hand lifted up from its resting place on his thigh, palm towards her and she fought down the urge to jerk back. Sheldon seemed to hesitate, then gently touched his fingertips to her shoulder before snatching them back. He seemed-awkward, as if this interaction was just as uncomfortable for him as it was for her. The thought struck her as oddly out of place, but then realization dawned on her. Copper could recognize a signal of truce when she saw one.

She returned the tiny nod he had given her and he immediately adopted his usual posture, as if her agreement was enough to dismiss her. That was just fine with her. Copper accepted the nonverbal cue and leaned back into the cushions of the couch, popping a piece of candy into her mouth.

All of this had happened within the span of a minute and Penny was just moving to join them on the far right side of the couch, tossing another bag of candy to her friend, who caught it deftly in midair. She then, in turn, offered it to Sheldon, who looked between it and her face in confusion. Copper lifted a brow.

"Would you like some candy for the movie, Sheldon?" She asked politely, knowing by now that he did not share his food, so she didn't offer him any from her bag.

"Why, yes, I would. Thank you, Copper." He took the bag from her loose grasp.

Leonard and Penny shared a puzzled look at the two's formality, but they were ignored in favor of turning on the television. Frankly, Copper thought, they should be grateful for some measure of civility at this point.

The film was already in the DVD player and Copper shifted in her seat to get comfortable. It was going to be a long night, but watching Harrison Ford in his prime was always well worth it. Not to mention Mark Hammil's muscles flexing in 'Empire Strikes Back'.

Copper inwardly smirked as the familiar yellow lines rolled up the screen. Indulging one's inner geek always proved to be, at the very least, entertaining.

She could use some of that right about now.

Sheldon couldn't rightly express the amount of relief he had felt when Copper had understood his silent prompts. He was not the most capable when it came to reading other's body language, but he was pleased that she comprehended his meaning so quickly. At least, he thought she did. There was no need for her to feel threatened or uneasy at that moment. Later, perhaps, when he finally sprung his trap, but, for the time being he preferred her to be relaxed.

He chose not to think too much about how his feeling of pleasure may have been linked to the tranquil set of her features once the movie had started. Nor did he fancy examining the fluttering in his belly when she smiled happily at the first glimpse of the chirping R2D2. No, his carefully compartmentalized world functioned best when he ignored such trivial things.

For now, the hum of light sabers and hyperdrives was quite enough for him.