A/N: This chapter could be called the 'time traveler' since it hops from period to period. pay attention.

Separate Lives

Chapter 5

Present Day

He had a week until his one month of vacation and he hadn't figured out an itinerary yet. After that drought-ending night with Winkle, Sheldon resumed his monk-like existence, remaining within his office and pondering the unimaginable as he scrawled equations and notes all over his white boards. He was thinking, considering, imagining and evaluating a total shift in his thinking towards String Theory.

His theories were beginning to coalesce when his office phone rang. Cursing the interruption, he answered with uncharacteristic venom oozing from his voice at whoever dared to interrupt his impending moment of clarity.

"What is so damned important that you find it necessary to interrupt me?" He didn't care who it was. They had interrupted his train of thought.

"Wow, Sheldon, you really have to lay off the Mountain Dew. Cooking for one is like masturbating. Vaguely satisfying but much better if done with another. I'll make spaghetti with garlic bread and salad. Seven o'clock and please, be prompt."

She hung up the phone and waited, slowly counting One-Mississippi, Two- Mississip – and her phone rang.

"It's a work night." A blunt Cooperesque statement of fact as if those four words explained everything he was thinking.

"Bring a change of clothes." She hung up and went back to work, a tiny smile on her lips. She ran fingers through her hair in frustration at filling out damned grant forms. She grabbed a phone book, found what she was looking for and made an appointment for 1pm. Screw the grant forms. She was going to get laid in style.

1600 Fulton St
Apt 1006

He added another reason why owning a car was foolish. It took him longer to find a parking spot than the last time, probably because of it being a weeknight. He was five minutes late and he hated being late. He also worried about leaving his Jaguar parked on such a busy street.

'I'm getting as bad as Penny regarding puntuality. Her ancestors came to this country on the Juneflower.'

He knocked and the door opened and he did a double-take. Gone was her frizzy 'I don't give a shit what I look like' hairdo and in its place was a straightened and wavy hairstyle that softened the planes of her cheeks and peeled a few years off her apparent age. She was wearing her contacts, makeup and a button-up sleeveless dress that ended mid-thigh.

"You're late," Leslie said in the same tone she used when calling him 'Dumbass'. She really wasn't that upset. She was behind schedule so he really was early but she had to stay in character and not let him know she was a disorganized mess in the kitchen.

"You look different." His eyes roamed over her, categorizing visible changes. She almost pirouetted for him but caught herself at the last minute.

"Good different or bad different or just different-different?" Cooper was obviously not indifferent to the changes she'd made, changes that were long overdue but for which she hadn't had sufficient provocation to make.

"It makes you more aesthetically pleasing to the eye and less like a cold-hearted bitch." He was characteristically blunt but honest. No one ever expected tact from Sheldon Cooper. But they could always rely on him to tell the truth – always.

"I'll have to re-frizz it for work. Don't want the competition thinking I'm going soft."

"No! No, don't do that. I think you will gain the advantage over them, at least those with a pulse. You look…nice."

"I was going for 'stunning' but considering the look on your face, I'll settle for 'nice'. Come in."

10pm

"I'm not looking for a relationship, Sheldon, just friendly sex with someone who knows what they're doing and doesn't want unnecessary emotional entanglements. You fit the bill so stop thinking about the 'why' and get on with the 'what'."

"I'm not looking for any relationship at all, Leslie. I've learned my lesson. Some of us are meant to be alone."

"Good. I'm glad that's settled. Now, how about showing me that tongue trick again?" She wanted him to concentrate on something that gave her pleasure but then remembered something.

"Oh, by the way, Ramona Nowitzki's back. Got her doctorate from someplace back east and is assisting Dr. Franconi in his gravity research. She asked about you."

Sheldon snorted. Franconi was a cobbler of a physicist and his 'gravity research' was nothing more than a sponge to soak up grant monies from more worthy endeavors – like String Theory.

"I hope he's made her sign a contract regarding publications and intellectual property rights. The woman is positively predatory when it comes to gaining credit on publishing results attained through the efforts of another".

"Sheldon, use that gifted tongue of yours for something other than petty politics. It's beneath you."

"Hmm, I thought you were beneath me?"

Castiglia's Fine Dining
Pasadena, California
6 weeks later

They were dating again and sometimes he'd sleep over but Bernadette was not convinced that the relationship could turn into more. The battles they'd fought over family and religion had left scars.

"So, Bernie, what about this weekend? I was thinking maybe we could go out to Santa Catalina and knock around Avalon and stay at that little quaint hotel you loved and – "

"Howie, I – I have a date this weekend. I'm going on a tour up in the wine country and – "

He threw down his napkin and glared at her. He hated this. He hated that she was moving on with her life and that he was just someone 'just' she dated. For the love of God they'd been married and he was trying to win her back by being the guy she'd loved enough to marry but it just wasn't working.

"Who - " he swallowed the words he was going to say and instead said, "Oh, well, maybe some other time." There was an awkward silence and then it just popped out, he couldn't help himself. "Who are you going with?"

"Sheldon, Howie. I'm not sure it's even a date, really. He just wanted someone to go with and it's no big deal, really."

"Yeah, with that Jag of his, you can be up and back in a day." Oh, how he hoped it wasn't –

"We're leaving Friday after work and spending Saturday on a guided wine-tasting tour and Sunday we're just going to enjoy a slow drive back through the countryside."

She was glad he'd asked her to go with him. She liked Sheldon a lot more since he'd begun to move on with his life. She liked his new outlook on life. He was a fun guy to be around. They'd gone out a few times before and he'd always smiled and begged off when she asked him to stay for a while. She knew he didn't drink coffee so 'a while' was her personal 'Sheldon Coitus Code' but so far he hadn't gotten the hint.

"But you'll have separate rooms, right? I mean, it's Sheldon, after all."

Flashback

She stood in the bedroom doorway, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue. He had finally fallen back to sleep and she was torn between lying down with him to ensure there were no more bad dreams for a while at least and running away as fast as her legs would carry her.

When she walked into the bedroom, the heavy drapes had been closed against the heat of the day and the only light was from the floor lamp in the corner of the room. Sheldon had fallen asleep.

Bernadette had walked over and sat on the edge of the bed and looked down at him. She was remembering the argument she'd had in the parking lot with Penny. Sheldon woke up for a few seconds and saw her outlined against the light of the floor lamp and sighed.

"I had the most horrible dream…" Bernadette leaned closer to hear his whispered comment and he reached up and pulled her into a kiss. She was so shocked that she unable to even think.

"Mmm, you taste different, Penny, but a nice different. I'm so tired…" and he fell back to sleep, still holding her against him.

'He thought I was her…and that she's come back and that this has all been a horrible nightmare…"

"Sheldon, wake up, please. It's Bernadette and I need to tell you some things."

She had held him while he cried and then finally fell into an exhausted slumber. Pulling herself free from his loose embrace, she grabbed a Kleenex from the vanity and walked down to the kitchen, dabbing at her tears.

End flashback

"No, Howie. I made the reservations at the Bed & Breakfast for him. And before you say anything about Sheldon, it's not the first time we've dated. It's just the first time I've been in the position to do something I've wanted to do since Penny left him."

She'd been admiring his car in the parking lot and they got to talking and one thing had led to another and then…she and Sheldon were going away for the weekend together.

A/N: Trouble is coming for Sheldon as he sorts out his life. His friends prove their worth as Sheldon continues to try and make sense of a world without Penny in it. Meanwhile Penny discovers that having isn't quite as nice as wanting.

I have a direction poll being put together by my erstwhile assistant and it will be important to the story. Next chapter will include notations.

Reparata