Chapter 4:

It only took a fraction of second for Sheldon to reappear on the rooftop of his apartment building, though it was not how he had left it. Granted, it was not the same year. As Sheldon peered out window of the time machine, Sheldon noticed how time had changed his building. The edges of the building were slightly worn from rainfall; the paint job on the door way was slightly faded and a bit grimy. Was that a bird nest in one of the corners of the building?

A shiver went through Sheldon as he peered at the bird nest: the cradle of evil. "It's time to go do this," Sheldon thought as he opened the door to his apartment building. Sheldon had to keep focus though for this beta test would change the nature of how he handled telling Amy of his experiments when he returned to the present. There would be time to plot the demise of that dreaded bird nest when he was back in the present.

The day that he had chosen for this beta test was the day that Amy had learned of his application to be a part of the colonization to Mars project. He had thought that this would emulate his current situation nicely. As he recalled, things had turned out in his favor, eventually as well.

"Amy, wait!" His own voiced called and suddenly Sheldon was aware that he had to start moving. He started racing down the stair case until he saw his former self standing in front of Amy. Being careful to not to show himself fully, Sheldon peaked around the corner of the stair case. As Sheldon gazed at Amy, he found himself in awe at her beauty that shined, despite her anger at him. He examined the look of distress in her eye, wishing that he could hold her and tell her it would all be fine.

"Getting a turtle meant a great deal to me too," his past self said.

"Sure, unless something better comes along." Amy retorted. Amy turned around to leave.

"Do you want me to withdraw my application?" Sheldon asked, the desperation creeping into his voice. Any version of Sheldon hated to watch Amy leave distressed.

She turned around with a look of sadness in her eye. Sheldon hadn't noticed it when he was in the midst of the conversation, but now that he could look at her, he could see tears wanting to build to her eyes. "What I want is for us to be planning our future together." She answered.

A moment of silence passed between the two of them. Sheldon remembered how confused he had been when Amy had said those words. He had been so unsure of how to proceed.

"In that future, are we on the same planet?" His former self had asked naively. Sheldon shook his head. Amy gave him an incredulous look and Sheldon couldn't help but do the same.

"I've seen people make the long distance thing work," His former self continued, unaware of the anger that was returning to Amy's countenance.

"We are on the same planet!" Amy snapped.

Another moment of silence passed between the two. Sheldon watched as Amy shook her head at him. He wondered what she was thinking. He knew that a small amount of fear was building within his past self.

"Does that planet have to be Earth?" Sheldon's voice was almost a whisper.

Amy looked at him incredulously. "Are you asking me to go to Mars with you?"

"Well, if I am going to a bare, lifeless planet, where the chances are slim to none, I want you with me." Sheldon answered.

Without hesitation, Amy gave him a hug. Sheldon remembered how warm that hug was, how the smell of her dandruff shampoo caught him in an almost entranced way. He never wanted that hug to end. "Why don't we go back up to the apartment and fill out your application."

Though Sheldon wanted to continue to listen to the conversation, he knew he couldn't stay. It was only a matter of seconds before they would start to walk upstairs, conversing on how wonderful it would be if they had children on Mars and how they would truly be Martians. Sheldon had to go, quickly. In a sprint, Sheldon ran back upstairs until he was back on the roof and in the time machine.

"Well that didn't go as planned." Sheldon thought. In fact, Sheldon was beginning to think that perhaps he wasn't making the best of decisions today. He had thought that going back in time the first time would strengthen his resolve, yet it didn't. Now, here he was again, and the same thing had happened. Of course Amy wouldn't have wanted Sheldon to possibly leave her on Earth. Dread filled Sheldon, for he knew what realization was beginning to dawn on him. "She would want to know about this."

As he started to tune the time machine back to the present day, he stopped, another realization hitting him square in the face. "This is why we broke up," he whispered. He hadn't understood it for the longest time, even after they reunited. There was always a missing piece. He had thought the breakup was about intimacy, but maybe there was more.

"I've been selfish, no wonder she left me." He thought. Suddenly, the idea of telling Amy about all of this seemed repellant. He couldn't bare the idea of Amy's face contorting in anger, of her eyes displaying the level of sadness that he had seen in the hallway.

"I can fix this," he said aloud, struck with a new idea. Tuning the time machine to a different date, Sheldon knew that what he was about to do would break the rules, yet he didn't care. In a flash, he disappeared yet again.

Well everyone, I hope you have enjoyed this thus far. I am sorry I haven't been updating too frequently. I have been insanely busy. I hope that you all will continue reading though. Thanks.