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Episode Eight

The Old Flame Recombination

Updated 2/8/2015

-=o=-

"Leonard, I've been thinking."

Sheldon said this as Leonard entered their apartment after returning from having dinner in Penny's apartment.

"Really?" Leonard asked, going to the refrigerator for a bottle of water. "Oh, boy, I can hardly wait to hear!"

Sheldon gave him a wary look. "I sense sarcasm. But as my ideas are always brilliant and insightful, that seems misplaced. Perhaps you were going for awe and admiration and simply misspoke."

"Could be," Leonard said, sipping on the bottled water. "So what have you got?"

"I've been considering some changes to the apartment," Sheldon said.

"What? Really?" Leonard said, surprised. In the past seven years their apartment had changed very little. Sheldon was mostly against change of any kind—except, of course, those changes that he instituted. "So what've you got in mind?"

"I have a list," Sheldon said, handing Leonard a typewritten sheet of paper. Leonard took it and began reading.

"Ah. Hmm," Leonard said after several moments. "Some of these changes are rather involved. For example, exactly what do you mean by 'Convert my bedroom to a Thinkatorium.'?"

"Oh, that!" Sheldon smiled happily. "One of my better ideas, I must say. My room will be expanded to hold (a) my bed, which will be king-size; (b) all of my books and research materials; (c) a small dining area, including a kitchen with a replicator unit."

"A replicator? Sheldon, replicators haven't even been invented yet!" Leonard objected.

"Well what difference does that makes," Sheldon retorted. "I'm sure Penny can whip one right up."

That made everything suddenly clear. "Ah. So you expect Penny to just whip up all of this for you with her magic?"

"It would be for you, too, Leonard," Sheldon pointed out. "Wouldn't you be happy with a box of ice cream that can never be emptied?"

"I can't eat ice cream, Sheldon," Leonard retorted. "You know I'm lactose intolerant."

"Well, maybe Penny can cure that, too."

"If I wanted her to do that I would have asked her already! Not everyone knows that Penny's a witch, Sheldon—I'm starting to think maybe you shouldn't know it, either, if all you're thinking about is what she can do for you with her witchcraft," Leonard complained.

"Well I'm confused," Sheldon sniffed. "I thought witches were supposed to serve humans."

"I don't know where you'd get an idea like that."

"Well from you," Sheldon pointed out. "You said Penny was trying to use her powers to help people. Well I'm people, but I don't see her doing anything for me."

"It doesn't work like that!" Leonard sighed, aggravated. "Penny is not your personal genie in a bottle!"

"Maybe she should be," Sheldon said. "Like that TV show where the astronaut finds a genie in a bottle who's willing to do anything for him. I tell you, I would be on the fast track to a Nobel Prize if I had something like that!" Sheldon shook his finger chidingly at Leonard. "Shame on you, for not letting Penny utilize her powers to their fullest advantage!"

Leonard turned and walked toward the door. "Oooh-kay, that's enough of that. I'm leaving!"

"Where are you going?"

"Back over to Penny's so I wouldn't have to listen to you!"

"You wouldn't have to listen to me if I had my own Thinkatorium to work in!"

"Aaaaugh!" Slam.

-=o=-

"I can't believe that's how Sheldon thinks of you after all this time!" Leonard complained to Penny later in her apartment.

"I suppose I understand where he's coming from," Penny told him.

"Well I wish you'd explain it to me," Leonard snapped. "I mean, it's like the part of his brain that's normal like everyone else keeps getting a wedgie from the 'I'm the awesome Sheldon Cooper, bow down and worship my brilliance' part!" He was pacing back and forth in Penny's living room, aggravated by Sheldon's selfishness.

"It's not really that big a deal," Penny said, trying to calm him down. "People who can do things will always be asked to do them for others. Isn't that why the university hired you in the first place, because of what you could do?"

"It's not the same," Leonard disagreed. He finally sat down on the couch as Penny brought him a cup of hot chocolate. "Sheldon is only focused on Sheldon. Pretty much everything he does is focused on self-gratification. Which is pretty ironic," he added, looking at her. "Considering that's the one thing he never does." Penny smiled at that as she handed him the cup. Leonard took it and sipped, smiling at the flavor. "That's pretty good," he said. "I didn't know you had hot chocolate mix."

Penny shrugged. "I don't," she said. "I, um, whipped that up with witchcraft."

"Great," Leonard looked upward. "Now I'm a hypocrite as well!"

"No you're not!" Penny admonished him. "Leonard, you didn't ask me for that chocolate! In fact, it's really weird how little you've asked me to use my witchcraft, considering how easy I could make our lives if I did."

"I don't know," Leonard said, sighing as he put down the cup. "I guess I just don't think about what you can do like that. I mean, I know we could go on fabulous vacations and things like that, but that's not why I fell in love with you."

"Oh?" Penny smiled at him bewitchingly. "So why did you fall in love with me?"

"I guess you just bewitched me all by yourself," Leonard said, reaching over to put an arm around her. He kissed her, and the kiss quickly turned passionate.

Suddenly Leonard stopped, looking around at the door.

"What's wrong?" Penny asked, looking at the door as well.

"Well, usually when things get hot between us Sheldon comes a-knocking and ruins things," Leonard said. He looked at the door for several seconds. "Good, he probably went to sleep," he said, turning back to kiss Penny again.

Knock knock knock. "Leonard and Penny."

"I think you jinxed us," Penny said, getting up to answer the door as Sheldon knocked and repeated their names two more times. On the third "Leonard and Penny" she opened the door. "What's shakin', bacon?" she asked Sheldon, who was standing there with several sheets of paper in hand.

"Hello Penny," Sheldon said. He had a look of anticipation on his face that Penny recognized as his I-want-to-get-you-to-do-something-for-me look. "We have been friends for a long time now, have we not?"

"I'm not making your room into a Think-a-whatever-it-is-ium," she said flatly, heading him off at the pass.

This only made Sheldon more determined. "Oh, but just think how useful something like that would be, both for you and Leonard as well as for me!" he told her, stepping into the room as Penny went back to sit on the couch next to Leonard.

"How would it be useful for us?" Penny asked. "I'm not even sure what the thing is, much less how it's going to be useful to you!"

"The more I use the Thinkatorium, the less I would be around to annoy you and Leonard," Sheldon pointed out.

Penny looked at Leonard. "He does have a point there."

"I know," Leonard agreed. "He can be quite annoying."

"See?" Sheldon said, then paused when he realized what he'd agreed with. "Also, I could use the Thinkatorium to be by myself, to resolve the imponderable mysteries of life, the universe, and everything."

"I usually just use the shower for that," Leonard said, grinning at Sheldon.

"Don't remind me," Sheldon said distastefully. "I still have to scrub it out after your long shower last night."

"The answer is still no," Leonard said. "And you should be ashamed for trying to use Penny like that."

"You use her all the time," Sheldon accused him.

"Excuse me?" Leonard was dumbfounded by that. "How do I use Penny?!"

"For coitus, for starters," Sheldon said.

"Sheldon, we're in love. Besides, that's a mutual thing," Leonard said.

"Mostly," Penny added under her breath. Leonard looked back at her for a moment, and she smiled innocently at him.

"I'll never understand what people see in the act of coitus," Sheldon went on. "People go on about it incessantly. It's everywhere you look—people talking about it, people wanting it day or night. Then once they have it, they take it for granted. It's so confusing."

"Well, sweetie," Penny mused. "Someday, when you put your big boy pants on, you'll know what we're all talking about." She pointed toward the door. "Now, speaking of coitus, it's time for you to go."

"But I'm not done talking about the Thinkatorium—" Sheldon began to protest.

"Yes you are," Penny said, and with a snap of her fingers Sheldon disappeared.

Leonard grinned in delighted disbelief. "What did you do with him?" he asked.

"Just put him back in your apartment," she said, turning around and moving into his arms. "And locked the door so he won't be back. Now, where were we…?"

-=o=-

Leonard pulled into the coffee shop parking lot and got out of his car whistling a happy tune. He swayed a little to the beat of the song he'd been listening to on the radio. It was a wonderful day: the sun was shining this morning, traffic had been light on his way to the university, and best of all—

No Sheldon.

When he'd knocked on Sheldon's door this morning to remind him it was almost time to leave for work, Sheldon had responded that he wasn't going in today—he was going to stay home and build his own Thinkatorium, since Leonard and Penny were both being mean poopy-heads about it.

"Sheldon," Leonard had sighed, exasperated. "Come on, you can't just keep on throwing tantrums when you don't get your way with something."

"The evidence suggests I can," Sheldon had answered through the door. "So you may just as well give up now, get Penny over here, and whip up my Thinkatorium."

"Goodbye, Sheldon," Leonard had said, and smiled as he grabbed his key from the key bowl at the door, realizing that without Sheldon along, he had a lot of options for his trip to work. He'd decided on listening to the radio, and could whistle along with a song that came on. And now, he was stopping for a cup of coffee from the coffee shop. Maybe even a bagel or a muffin, too!

It was sort of sad how small his dreams were.

The coffee shop was bustling with people on their morning commutes, buying coffee and pastries, and chatting with one another and with the shop staff. It was a very comfortable environment. Leonard got into line, asking for an extra-large cappuccino and deciding to try a blueberry muffin that morning. He paid for his coffee and muffin at the cashier, smiling back at the young girl that took his money, then headed for the exit.

As he neared the door, however, he noticed the dining area had added some furnishings: there were plush chairs with tables nearby for one's coffee or breakfast item, and newspapers and magazines on a rack. It was tempting to stop and enjoy his coffee and muffin at leisure rather than bringing it to work with him. It was certainly not something he could do with Sheldon along!

"Hello, Leonard!" the greeting made him look around, startled, at the auburn-haired young woman who had stopped and touched his arm.

"Uh, hi," he said, wondering who she was. He didn't know any women with auburn hair—

"How are you doing?" She asked, with a pretty smile that seemed familiar to him. Where had he seen it before—?

Then it came to him. "Stephanie?" he smiled, delighted to see her again. "I'm doing great!" he told her. "It's good to see you again! It's been a long time!"

"I know," she agreed, with a small, rueful smile. "You know, I feel absolutely horrid that I never called you back after I moved all of my stuff out of your room."

"Oh, it's okay," he said, trying to reassure him. It's not like he hadn't had something like that happen before. In fact, it was the rule, not the exception. "So what are you up to these days? I assume you finished your residency at Fremont…"

"I did," she nodded. "Now I'm in private practice doing plastic surgery work. My job's not far from here—I stop here sometimes for a quick breakfast. I'm surprised we haven't seen each other before now."

"Well, I don't often get a chance to stop for coffee," Leonard told her. "Not when Sheldon's with me."

"Oh yes, Sheldon," she said, and giggled. "I haven't thought about him in quite a while. At least, not as often as I've thought about you," she added. "So, how are things going for you romantically?"

Leonard smiled, but he was a little taken aback by her directness. "Actually, I'm engaged," he said. "To Penny, if you remember her."

"The girl across the hall, right?" She smiled and patted Leonard on the arm. "I'm really happy for you."

"Thanks. How about you?" Leonard noted that her left hand, which she left resting on his arm, had no ring on it.

"Still unattached," she said. She glanced toward the counter. "Well, I better get going or I'm going to be late for work."

"Sure," Leonard agreed. "Me, too." Not really, but it felt like she was making an excuse to end the conversation now that she knew he was unavailable. "Maybe I'll see you again sometime and we'll have a chance to catch up."

"I'd like that," she said, and patted his arm again before she turned and walked toward the line to get coffee. Leonard watched her for a moment, wondering if her sentiment was truthful, but Stephanie had never lied to him, as far as he knew.

He left the coffee shop and got back into his car, thinking about their conversation. If she really was open to talking again sometime, it wouldn't be that big a deal (he hoped) to have her come to the apartment sometime and see Sheldon again. Sheldon had always liked Stephanie, though he'd treated her like his own personal physician while she and Leonard had been together. Leonard chuckled, remembering the time when Stephanie convinced him he had a throat infection and needed to remain absolutely quiet for it to get better. That was the most peaceful 16 hours he'd ever experienced in his apartment, thanks to Sheldon's self-enforced silence.

And somehow, Stephanie was still unattached, Leonard mused as he pulled back into traffic. That was a shame; she really was a nice woman, if a little neurotic about her self-esteem and the need she'd had to have a man in her life. In fact, if Sheldon wasn't with Amy now, he thought…

That would be funny—getting Sheldon together with Stephanie! Leonard laughed at the absurdity of it, considering how much Stephanie had used sex to connect with Leonard! "Boy, I wish I could see what it would be like if Stephanie was his girlfriend," he muttered to himself as he headed toward the university. "That would be something to see!"

-=o=-

Amy put down the phone, wondering where Sheldon could be this time of the morning. It wasn't long before lunch and she wanted to know if he would be available to eat with her in the cafeteria. The Roommate Agreement specified giving Sheldon at least 45 minutes' notice if she wanted to have lunch with him, and she was nearly out of time. She might have to use one of her "Cooper Coupons" to arrange a last-minute lunch with him, and there weren't many left in her desk drawer…

"Hey." Amy glanced up, seeing Bert from the geology department coming into her lab. He didn't visit as often he had in the past, since learning Amy had a boyfriend, but he still did drop in occasionally.

"Hello, Bert," she greeted him, wondering if he was still checking up on her to see if she still had a boyfriend. When Howard and Rajesh told her the reason for Bert's visits she'd been flattered but not attracted to him. Sheldon was all the man she wanted, even if actually having him was proving to be an almost unattainable goal.

"What are you up to this morning?" Bert asked, wandering over to her desk.

"I'm continuing my research on various animal reactions to certain stimuli," she said, not bothering to go into specifics. Bert wasn't really interested, anyway; he only asked to make conversation before asking her how her boyfriend was or to show her some mineral he'd found.

"How's your boyfriend?"

"He's fine," Amy said, smiling. "I was just about to call him for lunch," she added, hoping Bert would take the hint and go away.

"Oh," Bert nodded, letting an uncomfortable silence grow as he continued to nod, almost obsessively, Amy thought. He could give Sheldon a run for his money in some ways, Amy knew. Bert had a bit of an obsessive-compulsive disorder, and it felt like Amy was one of the objects he fixated on. "Where ae you having lunch?" he finally asked.

"I don't know," Amy answered honestly. She didn't even know whether Sheldon was at the university today; perhaps she should call Leonard and inquire.

"Well, if he's not here," Bert went on. "Perhaps I'll see you in the cafeteria."

"I suppose," Amy said, wondering why he'd phrased his comment that way. Did Bert know something about where Sheldon was? That was far-fetched, but there was a quirk on Bert's face, like he knew something she didn't and was using it to manipulate or trick her. "We'll see," she added, warily.

"Okay, it's a date," Bert said, smiling and nodding like she'd just agreed to have lunch with him! "See you there." He turned and lumbered out of the room.

Amy immediately grabbed the phone and dialed Leonard's lab. "Hello, Leonard?" she said when he answered. "Is Sheldon at work today? He's not answering his phone."

"I'm sorry, Amy," Leonard said. "He didn't come in to work today?"

"Why, what's wrong?" she asked, immediately concerned. He hadn't called to complain he was sick and that she should come take care of him…

"He wanted to stay home and work on his Thinkatorium," Leonard said, and Amy heard a smile in his voice.

"Thinkatorium? Is he still wanting that?" Amy had heard all about that room and how badly Sheldon wanted one for the past few weeks.

"I'm afraid so," Leonard said, commiserating with her. "He sounded really determined this morning. I was thinking of going home over lunch to see how he was doing." Okay, that wasn't precisely true, but Amy didn't need to know that. In fact, she might volunteer to go check things out herself. Leonard unconsciously crossed his fingers.

"Maybe I should go," Amy suggested, thinking Leonard's heart might not really be in Sheldon's best interests, like hers was.

"Well, if you really want to," Leonard said, trying to sound disappointed.

"Or we could go together," Amy added, remembering their trip to Kingman Arizona together. "Between the two of us we might be able to convince Sheldon he doesn't need a Thinkatorium."

Leonard felt like panicking. Another trip with Amy to take care of Sheldon? Not really up for that! "Well, I'm in the middle of an experiment, I don't know if I can get away—"

"I wish you would," Amy said. "He listens to you."

Leonard shook his head in disbelief. "Are we talking about the same Sheldon Cooper? Tall, skinny guy with a head the size of a pumpkin and an ego the size of Jupiter?"

"Please, Leonard?" Amy voice was tinged with desperation. "I'm really worried about him."

Dammit. Guilt was a bitch. But he could never resist a plea for assistance from a woman. "Well, okay, I'll go with you," Leonard sighed. I just hope Sheldon didn't go over after I left and convince Penny to whip up his Thinkatorium. That would be awfully hard to explain to Amy! "Pick me up in five minutes," he said resignedly, and hung up.

Amy hung up her phone and smiled. It was pretty easy to get her way with Leonard, he was sometimes too helpful for his own good.

-=o=-

Sheldon was at his whiteboard, sketching a diagram of his planned Thinkatorium. He paused, deliberating. "Rotating bookshelves would solve the space problem, of course, but who has time to build them? Well, I suppose I could farm that out to Wolowitz, let him trot out that masters in engineering he keeps bragging about."

There was a knock on the door. "Now would could that be?" Sheldon wondered to himself. He went over to the door and opened it, finding Stephanie Barnett standing there smiling at him, a bag of food in her arms.

"Hello, Sheldon," she said brightly, walking into the apartment.

"Doctor Stephanie," Sheldon exclaimed in surprise. "It's been a long time! It's so nice to see—what are you doing?"

"Why, bringing you lunch, of course," Stephanie said matter-of-factly as she began setting out containers of food on the coffee table.

"What? I don't understand," Sheldon watched, bewildered, as Stephanie sat down in the middle of the couch, then patted Sheldon's cushion invitingly.

"Come over and sit down, honey," she smiled at him. "I brought your favorite Thai dishes from Siam Palace. And that's only the beginning of the fun we're going to have!"

"Um," Sheldon said, completely lost. "But I—I have a girlfriend!"

"I know," she agreed. "Me!"

"Nooo," Sheldon disagreed. "Not me. I mean, not you. I mean—my girlfriend is named Amy Farrah Fowler. And that is not your name. Therefore, you are not my girlfriend."

Stephanie beamed at him. "I love it when you get all logical like that," she purred. "It makes me feel so…sexy." She got up from the couch and walked over to him, making Sheldon shrink back a bit in apprehension. "How does it make you feel, honey?"

"Confused," Sheldon said, taking another step back from her. "What are you trying to pull here, Doc?"

"What would you like me to pull?" Stephanie asked, batting her eyes at him seductively, a gesture that was completely wasted. She came toward him and Sheldon retreated. "I've got a few ideas, you know."

"I don't know," Sheldon insisted, his back now against the door. Stephanie ran her hands down Sheldon's arms, making him shiver with some unknown dread. She reached up, running her fingers through his hair. Her lips were within an inch of his.

She moved forward and Sheldon ducked and slipped around her. "Dr. Stephanie!" he pleaded. "Please get control of yourself!"

"I can't, Sheldon!" she said breathlessly. "You're driving me wild with desire!"

"I think you're doing that to yourself," Sheldon argued, looking around for a way to escape. He turned and ran into the kitchen, behind the island. Stephanie followed him. They stared at each other over the island top.

"No, you're doing it to me," Stephanie declared, feinting left then bolting to the right, around the island, forcing Sheldon to run back into the living room.

"Come on honey, don't play hard to get," Stephanie cried, chasing after him and wrapping her arms around him.

Sheldon cringed as her puckered lips neared his. "Please," he whimpered. "Why are you doing this to me?"

Stephanie stopped and stared at him. "I'm your girlfriend, Sheldon. This is what boyfriends and girlfriends do."

"Why do you keep saying that?" Sheldon demanded. "I've never been your boyfriend and there's no way something like this could happen—" He suddenly stopped, remembering. "Hold on." He turned to Stephanie. "How long have we been boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"Why, for—" Stephanie paused, thinking. "Wha—um, I don't… I don't know, exactly," she admitted. "But that's not really important, is it, sweetie—?"

"I think it is," Sheldon insisted. "When did we meet again before today? When did we ever go out? You can't answer these questions, can you?"

"No…" Stephanie paused with a thoughtful look on her face. "But you know what?" She beamed and flung her arms around him, kissing his cheek. "I don't care!"

"Oh, this is a nightmare!" Sheldon wailed, trying to disentangle himself from her embrace and barrage of kisses. "This day couldn't get any worse!"

The door burst open and Leonard and Amy rushed inside. "Stephanie?!" Leonard gasped.

"Sheldon?!" Amy exclaimed. "What the hell?!"

"It's not my fault!" Sheldon said loudly, pointing at Stephanie. "She's been bewitched!"

"I was wrong," Leonard said, shaking his head wearily. "This is going to be much harder to explain!"

-=o=-

"SHELDON WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!" Amy screamed at him as Stephanie disengaged herself from Sheldon, backing away from the crazy screaming woman.

"Sheldon, who is this woman?" Stephanie asked, her perennial smile starting to wane as Amy glared at her. "Why is she yelling at you?"

"This is Amy Farrah Fowler," Sheldon said, gesturing toward her. "Amy, this is—"

"I DON'T CARE WHO SHE IS SHELDON I WANT TO KNOW WHAT SHE'S DOING KISSING YOU!" Amy shouted.

"And I want to know what business it is of yours?" Stephanie shot back at her. "You're not his girlfriend!"

"YES I AM!" Amy screeched. "SHELDON, TELL HER WHO I AM!"

"I just did," Sheldon pointed out. "Weren't you listening or is your brain squirting too much crazy juice into your system for you to hear correctly?"

"Alright, fine," Amy said, her voice returning to normal, although her teeth were clenched tightly in anger. Oddly, Sheldon's condescending attitude had calmed her down some. "What was she doing kissing you?"

Sheldon gave Leonard a significant glance. "I have my suspicions," Sheldon said. "They involve Leonard's—"

"Dreams," Leonard interjected quickly, thinking Sheldon was about to spill the beans about Penny's witchcraft. "My dreams about Stephanie."

"You were dreaming about me, Leonard?" Stephanie seemed pleased to hear that. "Really? How interesting."

"Yeah, well…" Leonard looked uncomfortable. "I was talking to Sheldon about them last night, but he must have gone to sleep while I was talking to him. It was a weird coincidence that you and I met this morning at the coffee shop."

Amy, Sheldon and Stephanie were all staring at him. "Leonard, you're not making any sense," Amy said dispassionately. "And none of that explains what this woman was doing kissing Sheldon in his apartment. I shudder to think what might have happened in three or four years if we hadn't walked in on them."

"Nothing would have happened!" Sheldon insisted.

"You say that now," Amy said, still unhappy. "But in three or four years—who knows?"

"Sheldon, honey, send your friends away," Stephanie wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close. "We have things to do…"

"Back off, woman," Amy warned her, raising her purse. "I got a coffee can of change in here that'll knock you into next week!"

"Hold on," Leonard said, stepping between Amy and Stephanie. "This has gone too far! We should be able to sit down and talk this out like adults—"

"Shut up, Leonard!" Amy and Stephanie said. They both put a hand on his chest and pushed him away, then each of them grabbed one of Sheldon's arms and began pulling, shouting at him to choose one or the other of them.

"Stop it!" Sheldon cried. "I'm not a wishbone! Leonard, help!"

Leonard, who had fallen painfully to the floor, covered his face with his hands. "I wish none of this had ever happened!" he moaned.

The shouting stopped. Leonard slowly spread his hands apart, peeking through his fingers. Amy and Stephanie were gone, and Sheldon was standing over him, now dressed in a housecoat, staring down at him with a bowl of cereal in his hand.

"What are you doing on the floor?" Sheldon asked him, then walked around him and sat down on his spot on the couch.

Leonard sat up. "Um, what are you doing, Sheldon?" he asked.

"Just having a late breakfast," Sheldon said, indicating the cereal. "I spent the morning drawing up the design for my Thinkatorium."

Leonard looked around the room. There was no sign of Amy or Stephanie anywhere. He glanced at the clock on the DVD player. It was past noon. "Huh," he murmured. "It must've been me, not Penny that…" He let the sentence trail off, unspoken, getting to his feet.

Leonard looked at Sheldon. "I've got to get back to work," he said, walking toward the door.

"I'm not even sure why you're here now," Sheldon said, looking up from his bowl of cereal. "Unless it's to help me build my Thinkatorium."

Leonard stopped, reconsidering. It might not be a bad idea, at that, if they could avoid some of the more incredible things Sheldon wanted. "We can talk about that when I get home from work," he promised.

Sheldon smiled. "Good," he said, pleased. "I knew you'd come around, Leonard. Why I could spend days in there at a time coming up with new ideas. When you see how useful my Thinkatorium can be you'll want one for yourself."

"I'm already starting to see how useful that could be," Leonard said pointedly, and left the apartment.

-=o=-

"So it seems like I still have some magical ability left," Leonard told Penny later, after promising Sheldon he would discuss the Thinkatorium idea with her again. "It's like what you called it before—wishcraft."

Penny nodded agreement. "Interesting that you wished for Sheldon to know what it was like to have a girlfriend," she said. "And that you didn't think of Amy."

"Um, yeah," Leonard muttered. "Well, he really liked Stephanie when we were together," he argued, in his own defense.

"Oh, well, who wouldn't like having their own personal physician," Penny agreed. "It's just too bad Sheldon would never play doctor with her," she joked.

"Yeah," Leonard agreed, grinning. "Anyway, I was talking with Sheldon about his Thinkatorium—"

"Oh, you're not thinking of actually giving him one, are you?" Penny arched an eyebrow at her fiancé.

"No, no," Leonard said. Then, "Well, sort of. Not all the stuff he wants, of course, but making just a few changes minor changes to his bedroom."
"Minor? Like how minor?" Penny asked, cautiously.

"Oh, like adding some shelving for his books," Leonard said. "And maybe a mini-fridge for stuff like smoothies or Jamba Juice. Nothing that would arouse anyone's suspicions."

"Well," Penny considered. "I guess I could do that for him. That would be a nice compromise. Assuming you can get Sheldon to agree to just that."

"I can only wish," Leonard smiled.