I hope you like this chapter! Another long one for you, and I won't be able to do another chapter at all this weekend. Enjoy this one though!

More crazy drama, in the conclusion of Thursday!

Leonard was concerned, Sheldon had left the apartment in the middle of the night, the opening and closing of doors woke him up, but it worried him because of the break up, he had been too lazy to get up and check on him afterwards, but it had been worth getting up 5 minutes early. He rolled out of bed and walked to the kitchen. Sheldon was in the early phases of breakfast preparation. "It's anything can happen Thursday!" Leonard said reminding Sheldon. Sheldon disliked the day, but he had gotten a little bit used to it. Raj nearly always went to a bar, trying to drag Howard or himself along. Generally it filled its role, a day free of Sheldon's crazy strict schedule.

"Oh great, the day when we throw routine to the wind and "let loose" Yay!" Sheldon used sarcasm correctly, Sheldon usually tried to keep the schedule, but with only him, it could be difficult.

"So, um where exactly did you go last night?" Leonard asked curiously.

"I visited our neighbor; she had some helpful suggestions for my Amy situation. Did you know that she works at Caltech, she really doesn't seem the type, but I guess if Howard can work there I guess there must be quite a margin of intelligence…" Sheldon rambled.

"Oh, well that's interesting, but why at 3 in the morning?" He shouted.

"I wanted to talk to Penny, Penny had to go look for Amy." He explained, unconcerned. The fact that Amy ran off should have sent up a red flag for Sheldon, but I guess it just seemed like normal ex-girlfriend behavior to him. I Penny broke up with him, and then Amy and Bernadette had to hunt her down he would want to go with them, not chat with the neighbor. Sheldon will be Sheldon though.

Amy woke up to see Bernadette had stayed the night here, and so had she. "Guys?" She squeaked.

"Yeah, you had a rough night… Stewart called your cell about an hour ago. I told him you were still sleeping, he said that you had taken the bus to the comic book store, and asked him out, but neither of you had thought to make plans for the date. Bernadette and I were worried when you left…" Penny explained.

"I ran up and down four flights of stairs twice barefoot with a pounding headache for you, not to mention calling the bus station and driving around town yelling "AMY" which only made my head hurt worse!" Bernadette scolded, "How dare you scare us like that!"

"Sorry" Amy whispered. Her head hurt, and she couldn't remember anything but breaking up with Sheldon.

"You're fine, and that's what matters, but you really could have left a note…" Penny reassured her, "I'm driving you to work at noon, Bernadette is going to work now, and you need to get some sleep." Closing her eyes it was good to have 4 extra hours to sleep.

Alison opened the door to see Penny standing behind it, "So I just need to know what you told Sheldon…" she demanded. This wasn't surprising; Penny had sent him to her door for advice, so Penny needed to know what he had been told, so she could provide further advice later.

"I basically told him that Amy was a totally wrong for dumping him like that, and that he should move on since she was pushing the relationship along faster than he was ready for." She summarized leaning with one hand on the door jam.

"WHAT?" Penny wailed.

"She ended the relationship over IM! And I think that was pretty accurate. Now Penny, if you don't mind I can't be late for work, it's my first day." She said. This day meant everything to her; she had wanted to be a real scientist, since the first grade. She didn't know much about careers in science, but she knew she loved science more than breathing. She didn't start to iron out the details for years, but it has been a dream of hers for so long. She forced her way out the door, walking down the stairs, she stated "We can talk about this later," knowing that Penny clearly wanted them to get back together someday, Alison shook her head. That sounded like a bad idea, she knew so little, but from what Sheldon said it was destined to fail from the beginning. "Dating Sites, Really!" She mumbled as she reached the door, silently promising she wouldn't ever use them. She drove to work, she decided to try to take her lunch break at the same time Sheldon did, if she could manage that.

As she drove to work thinking about it all, this was another huge day! The day she actually would be a scientist. When she really thought about it she felt like she couldn't breathe. In moments like that it was all she could do not to let out a high pitched squeal and flail her arms uncontrollably. This always happened when she dug a little too deep. She hid her love of science to escape a bully once. They became friends, and she was to young and naive to notice, but she stayed like that until the bubble finally broke. She stayed thinking about her past until she pulled into Caltech. Opening the doors she took a deep breath. This was it. Three million times more nerve-racking than her first day of high school, that was another huge day for her, she had been identified for a special program for students with "particular interest and ability" for science. This was the fulfillment of her dreams.

"Dr. Alison Carter, reporting for my first day of work" She said proudly to the receptionist who looked up with disinterest. She looked at her and said, "That way, Third floor, Elevator is Broken." Alison hardly cared that she would have to run up 3 flights of stairs in heels, nothing could faze her today. She opened the door and began the journey up the stairwell.

Sheldon couldn't think about anything other than Alison's advice. If Penny had work in the morning she wouldn't have taken the time to talk to him, but Alison did, and she was almost a stranger. She told him to give up, and it made sense the relationship was completely shattered, maybe he could be her friend again sometime. He tried to go over the list of negatives, she always wanted to hold his hand, to cuddle, and she didn't care about star trek, and hated comic books, actually those were the only ones that stood out… That felt about right for a casual friendship but not a romantic relationship. He tried to focus on his work, but it didn't feel like the time. It all felt wrong. Breathing even felt wrong, he had no ideas for what he needed to be doing, but he knew it wasn't work. Then he realized, Howard was going on a date with Bernadette, Leonard was going to the movies with Penny, and Raj would be in an alcohol filled death trap. All of his friends were busy… Then the name hit him. He would call Stewart; they could watch the super hero movie of Stewart's choice and have a small pizza. That would be as close to normal as he could get! He picked up the phone and dialed the comic book store number.

"Stewart, how would you like to come over to my place for pizza? We could watch a movie and finally get to know each other," he proposed trying to sound genuine, rather than desperate. He couldn't sit alone tonight, usually there wouldn't be any problem with a night of peace, but he needed someone tonight. He was still to shaken up about the whole Amy situation.

"Actually I can't, I've got a date tonight. Amy and I are going to a nice dinner!" he declined. Sheldon knew Stewart didn't mean to hurt him, but it did, it hurt. Sheldon hung up the phone unable to manage any kind of a farewell. Amy was dating Stewart.

"Dr. Carter! I'm so glad to see that you made it," Dr. Neilson greeted her enthusiastically offering a handshake, which Alison returned without hesitation.

"I'm not late am I?" She questioned fiddling for her watch.

"No, actually, quite early, I wanted to ask you if you would lead this team. I took a look at your resume, and I think that, while you aren't the most experienced on the team, you are certainly the most capable," He complemented her with a smile that confirmed that it was genuine.

"Really? I'd be honored!" Alison accepted blushing, sure that her face was as bright as her neon pink nail polish.

"Great, the team should be here soon, 5 teammates that you will lead. You have the final decision, but clearly someone as humble as you won't be making many choices single handedly. There is a project packet in the lab," He explained as he opened the door to a bright, glimmering, clean work space. She closed the door and pressed her head into the hard wood of the lab door. Clenching her fists and squealing. This wasn't a dream. Her dreams never made her team leader. She couldn't wait to meet the team, 5 likeminded people that she would have the honor of collaborating with! She hadn't ever had that. In all of high school she only ever met one person who was entirely likeminded, and she moved to New York after Junior Year! This would be beyond incredible! She straitened her clothes and hair then opened the door to await the team.

What arrived was less than encouraging. A troop of people, her age or only slightly older, messy haired people, and the most exciting color anyone was wearing was lavender. She tried not to let it worry her.

"Hello everyone, it's great to see so many bright, shining faces on this team. It will be a great experience to work with every one of you, and I look forward to meeting you all!" she exclaimed grinning. No one moved, no one smiled, but one girl spoke up and said, "I hope you realized we are just working the dangerous section of a senior project. The university can't risk that their precious geniuses get sick right before the nationally televised conference, so they give the risky work in close contact with pathogens to a bunch of newbies."

"Don't think of it like that, for all they know we could be every bit as brilliant as the senior team, we just haven't had the chance to prove it yet. So being given such an advanced project is an extreme honor! And just so you all know I volunteered for this team! Maybe someday you will see that you don't get to be leader by taking the easiest job they will assign to you. You have to put yourself out there and give your Bosses a reason why you stand out, now let's get to work!" She said trying to perk them up a bit.

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Penny had driven Amy to work, and she looked a lot better than she had this morning. She was glad that she would be going on a date with Stewart, that would end the relationship drama for Amy, but how would Sheldon take the news. She couldn't imagine him taking it well… He'd probably just freak out, and no matter how crazy he is she couldn't stand to see him upset. She couldn't believe Alison had just told him to move on; he had loved Amy with at least a tiny part of his heart. Maybe he didn't see it; maybe he doesn't know what love feels like, but she could tell that there was something between them that might have been worth saving. Then again, maybe not, Sheldon was Sheldon; he knew how to handle himself alone.

Sheldon leapt off to lunch as soon as it was time. He wanted his friends, they'd know what to say. He wanted to cry again, for the second day in a row he was crying over Amy. It scared him to think it but maybe he was in love with her, in love despite her flaws, he desires, maybe it was all real. She really had liked Stewart, and Alison had been right, she had left him for someone else. He remembered the day that he asked her to be his girlfriend, she was on a date with Stewart, he entered the dark movie theater with the specific intention of asking her out, just so that she wouldn't leave him for Stewart.

She had used some kind of mental attachment that he had for her, exploited it to get him to move the relationship forward. She had only wanted to make him jealous back then, but now, she wouldn't need that. He felt betrayed. Stewart had accepted a date right after the break up. He had trusted her, and now it was all over. He wasn't sure he would ever want to be her friend again now. He didn't want to be alone tonight. Picking up a tray of food he started out of the cafeteria, not ready to face his friends.

After hours of staring at the computer screen and microscope, it was finally lunchtime. She was late, she might miss Sheldon. "Okay, guys, tomorrow is Friday! Certainly you will be excited for the weekend, Right? So I want to see bright colors, smiling faces. Lab 305! TGIF! TGIF!" She chanted giving it all one last attempt to rally enthusiasm from her dull colleagues. Then she sprinted off to the cafeteria trying to catch Sheldon. Looking down at her phone she crashed right into Sheldon leaving the cafeteria with a tray of food.

"Oh gosh, you probably hate me right now," she said as a glass bottle of iced tea hit the ground, shattering everywhere, "This is the second day I've run into you too, I'll buy you a new tea," She apologized. The janitor arrived to clean it up, mumbling profanity under his breath. "I'm so sorry!" She gasped trying to make eye contact, though he intentionally avoided her.

After Alison had bought her lunch and replaced Sheldon's tea, she asked, "Is there anything I could do to make it up to you?"

"Well actually, if you would be willing I need a ride to and from work up until the conference; my usual ride has to catch up on missed work overtime before the convention." He asked looking right at her, but softly.

"I could definitely manage that." She agreed happily, "We live right next to each other, and work at the same place; it's no trouble at all." Alison left the cafeteria and ended up eating in an empty conference room. It would have been awkward to sit with Sheldon at lunch then, friendships have to form slowly. That would have been too much at once.

After work Sheldon rode home with Alison. She was clearly stressed out. "So like I go into work, it's my first day so I'm like thrilled beyond words, then the head of the department chooses ME as the lead of the team, and we are like working on a fragment of a senior project, and I'm overjoyed, but like my team is to boring, I was picturing 5 mes in there, and I get a bunch of grey clothed, messy haired, people who will hardly smile. No matter what I did they were just like sucking the enthusiasm out of the air. Then I crash into you, again," He thought she was almost smiling when she got there, "and make a huge mess. Sorry about that by the way, and then the grouchy janitor… I was so embarrassed I ate in a conference room. Then it was back into nofunville…" She just talked the whole way home.

When they pulled up to the building he blurted out, "Amy's going on a date with Stewart."

She gasped and wailed, "NO WAY! Sorry, I probably sounded ridiculous in the car… It's just this whole day has felt like high school…"

"Understandable, though I never went to high school…" He said, as they started up the stairs.

"Really, I didn't go to regular high school, but it was at a regular high school… If that makes any sense… I guess they figured that high school was important." She explained.

"Would you be interested in pizza?" He invited her, "My friends are ALL off on dates."

"Sure, want to come over to my place, I have to unpack some more stuff, but I wouldn't mind company…" She asked.

"Great!" Sheldon loved organizing things; this would be a refreshing change of pace for anything can happen Thursday.

The pizza had arrived and they were unloading her clothes. No matter how awkward an activity would be for strangers usually it wasn't with him. It felt different; he didn't have of the things that made interactions awkward. He didn't have any of the things she fed off of in high school, she sought out people who know the social rules and followed them like it was life or death, and she figured that was the only way she could learn. They made it hard to really hang out though. She spent the better part of four years in two worlds. The science world that she dreamed in, and the social jungle that she fought for survival in. When she was around Sheldon they blended into one, she wasn't stuck fighting for balance on the line.

He was a genius when it came to organizing, she had insisted on paying for the pizza, but he seemed puzzled when she explained that it was because he was doing all of this, but eventually conceded. They spent hours moving things around, not caring what time it was. Eventually they realized that it was nearly 11 and he went back to his apartment.

(Dawww, everyone is coupled off right now… Well Raj is loose in a bar, but it counts.) I'm sorry, but there won't be another update all weekend. So sorry.