{Alison}
She sat staring into the microscope. She wanted so badly to be wrong, she wanted to have the perfect vacation, but it wouldn't happen. It was too perfect. Just as she was about to assume herself wrong, she spotted it, one of the little viruses, other than the blue tint the virus had, it was easy to spot, Sheldon's mouth was meticulously thought, confirming beyond any imaginable doubt that she had way too much coffee. She scolded herself for letting her mind drift to such an odd topic.
She was right. 9 years ago she would have been thrilled to be officially confirmed to have a correct hypothesis, but not now. She had hoped to be wrong; she wanted him to be unharmed. They had the groundwork for a perfect trip, but the plans left her wishing that she didn't know. Knowing that they wouldn't get the picturesque vacation, and that she would have to go on acting like everything was fine, it hurt, worse than when she fell off the high dive and landed on her back flat into the water. Mandy had distracted her then, and the free spirited girl in her fell hard. When would she learn that some things in life just cause unnecessary problems? Whip around to watch your best friend do a perfect back tuck off the low dive, crash onto your back and spend the next ten minutes hardly able to breathe. Mess up and get a close friend sick. She had to be perfect.
Alison has always had a terrible tendency of magnifying her errors. A tiny mistake of her own and she scolded herself ruthlessly, but if someone else did something a hundred times worse she forgives them instantly. She would often end up blaming herself for the whole thing.
{Sheldon}
Howard was sick. He coughed and sneezed more times than seemed humanly possible during lunch. Sheldon had washed his hands multiple times, but no matter what they what they wouldn't feel clean. At least he had been courteous enough to sneeze away from the table into a tissue to avoid contaminating the air, but he still couldn't imagine that someone like Howard being able to completely avoid spreading the virus onto the table. He couldn't think of any reason why Alison would visit the table on such a day.
Alison, she was smart, even given the fact that she gave up a lunch in the solitude of a disused conference room to spend time at a germ ridden table in Raj's place. Maybe he would join her in that conference room tomorrow. Risking one day at lunch with Howard would be enough. He was looking forward to a trip where he was basically guaranteed that he wouldn't be shuffled about from room to room. That was a pain.
Alison was the simple response to the social requirement that he have someone there. He'd choose the occasional weekend of solitude, but that wasn't an option very often. Alison was an excuse; Amy was never willing to just be the superfluous addition that appeased the social requirements for companionship. She wanted to have a physical relationship. Alison, something about her was just different.
Alison was brave, a kind of brave. He might be tempted to say that she was only fearless because she was too uninformed to know what to fear, they say ignorance is bliss after all. But Alison was smarter than that, he could tell that she was aware of the risk; she just chose to defy it. Science eloquently states the danger in simple tasks. Yet she acknowledged it, the moment of thoughtful hesitation before she picked up many items, she had learned to ignore the impossible to ignore. She was dangerous, she behaved a lot like Penny. She simply used the knowledge for practice. Sheldon shook his head as he caught himself thinking about her. He was a man of science; he needed to focus on his equations. However was it really illogical for him to question the motives of his back up? Usually when Leonard does research before or after work he has to beg Raj or Howard for a ride. Alison nearly volunteered. She fully supported his schedule and didn't mind the things that drove the others crazy.
Sheldon knew she was a bit stubborn; she would fight back in an argument, however she seemed not to argue over much. If she wasn't sure about something she wouldn't say it. That made her thoughts seem slow, except he could tell when she was thinking. She tilted her head ever so slightly, and tightened her lips. When they played chess she was inexperienced, but she could learn. She possessed the strategic capabilities. She could be brilliant if only she learned to trust her own judgment.
Typically the trip would be an unwelcome interruption. Something made him a bit optimistic about it. Maybe it was just the whole concept of having a new friend to explain everything there is to know about Star Trek to. As long as Alison liked it then there would be nothing to worry about. That would make the trip fun rather than a disruption. Plus if Alison liked it they would have a level of friendship that he never had with Amy. Amy could hardly tell the difference between Star Trek and Star Wars, let alone like either.
Alison had never seen Star Trek. Usually that would be a terrible thing, but it meant they would have something to do together for a long time. Although she did have a coffee problem, but so do most of his friends, though not to the same level. This trip was the deciding factor in the success of failure of his potential friendship with Alison. It wasn't abysmal if she didn't love it like he did, but there was something valuable to be gained if she found the show to be more than interesting.
{Raj}
Raj felt totally out of the loop getting ready for the sudden trip. Sure it had been worth it at the time, more time with Lucy in exchange for missing some group stuff. They were getting close. He felt comfortable with her. He didn't want to risk ruining the relationship by saying something he shouldn't while drunk. He'd had a close enough call with that already. They mostly texted, even face to face. She liked it because she didn't have to say things in front of everyone in the room, just to him. He liked it because he could communicate with her with no risk of messing things up.
All he knew was that Caltech had a new geneticist who happened to live next to Sheldon and Leonard. Sheldon had helped their new neighbor unpack on anything can happen Thursday. The geneticist had filled his place for vintage game night, and had been driving Sheldon to work, had joined the group at lunch that day, and most importantly had accidentally contaminated Sheldon's fork with a genetically modified virus, then got rooms for the other group members for the convention to reduce the risk of public outbreak.
This near-stranger was doing the unthinkable. Not simply putting up with Sheldon because he is Leonard's roommate and friend, but actually caring about him enough to stay behind and take care of a sick Sheldon. Typically the group flees to another building. He had taken care of Sheldon once when he had food poisoning, and that was a catastrophe. Sheldon is the worst patient! He never wanted to think about that day again, Raj couldn't imagine why someone would voluntarily take care of Sheldon, even if the whole thing was their fault.
Whoever it is must be as crazy as, no crazier than Sheldon. To actually like being around him… And not just the kind of resolved like that comes from having to put up with him for so long, but to actually enjoy being around him. This geneticist is no doubt a total psycho. He, Stewart and Howard had only hung out with Sheldon because of Leonard, Penny because she lives across the hall and has dated Leonard for quite a while, Bernadette because she's Penny's friend and Howard's wife. Amy on the other hand almost liked Sheldon for Sheldon. She got really sick of it after a while, which proves beyond doubt that Sheldon is a complete pain.
{Sheldon}
The ride home had been uneventful. Raj had apologized for missing so much time with the group, and he would come to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, except when he was finally able to come to something it was cancelled for packing time. Penny had gotten her shift moved so that she could bring the usual order to the apartment. Alison, upon further questioning, admitted to have called Penny, and later her boss on Monday night to get this arranged.
"One of the only times I call strangers and instead of 'Hello' I start the call with, 'Dr. Alison Carter' but if they listen that's all that matters. I suppose if it's important enough for someone to start a call like that they might as well try," Alison rambled on, her tone indicated that she had put effort into the arrangement, "Plus it was like 4 in the morning. That probably added to the sense of urgency"
Alison went to her apartment, just as her was nearly done packing all of his socks and pajamas Raj called.
"Sheldon, I don't have your neighbor's number, but could you please ask if Lucy could come. I'll really miss her if I had to spend a whole week without her. She would enjoy the convention," He requested.
"I'll go ask," He set the phone down and went to Alison's apartment door.
(Three Knocks) "Alison?"
(Three Knocks) "Alison,"
(Three Knocks) "Alison."
She opened the door and he asked, "Can Raj bring Lucy?"
"Umm, Is Lucy a cat, a dog, or the girlfriend?" She asked with a curious expression.
"Girlfriend," He replied.
"Yeah, sure, they will have to share a room," Alison accepted, "And we'll have to drive there in a separate car.
"Really, well can we at least be lead car?" Sheldon begged.
"Sure, why not?" She sighed, "I have to go out for a bit… Buying travel supplies. Dou you need anything while I'm out?" There was an unnatural pause in between her statements, but he dismissed it for exhaustion.
"I'm fine" He declined her offer and darted back into his apartment to tell Raj that Lucy was approved.
{Alison}
"I'm fine," He stated running back inside, it took a lot of her energy not to tell him that he wasn't fine, but she somehow managed her way to the store. She bought a tub of instant coffee; Sheldon wouldn't have a coffee maker, and yet she would need it, badly.
'Penny, what is Sheldon's favorite food in the whole world?' she texted her friend.
'Spaghetti with cut up hot dogs and strawberry quick' Penny replied quickly.
She picked up the ingredients, pasta had to be the single most irritating food to cook, but she would do it anyway. She was fighting herself not to run away from the whole situation. It was like volunteering to leap into a bear trap.
She knew Sheldon would be mad; she would have some really bad news for him. She had to make an attempt to cheer him up, and to prove that she hadn't intended to cause harm. Here she was spending the one week anniversary of her first day in California in a Wal-Mart, She was in shock that it had just been one week; the moment of her dreams to the most chaotic mess of her life was only one week. Did she regret coming, no. She just wished she could prevent the impending disaster.
'Penny, what is Sheldon's Favorite animal?' she texted.
'If I had to guess I'd say Koala… Why the questions?' She answered.
'Do I have to go over the whole thing?' Alison replied jokingly.
Now she had to find a stuffed Koala, as she darted to the toy section, as indicated by a huge hanging sign.
'Anything else I shud know?' Alison asked in a frantic attempt to get any helpful information she could manage.
'Yah, a ton, you wouldn't have everything if u bought the whole Wal-Mart.' She replied. This text was followed by many more.
Now she had to get a plush koala. This was a challenge, at first she couldn't find any, and then she found 4 different kinds of plush koalas. Eventually she picked the one that best balanced cuteness, realism, and price, actually managing to do it without math this time. Penny's list left her scrambling through the store, mostly because she didn't know where anything was. In actuality she only needed 5 items, until she got to the last text.
'Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty, Little Ball of fur; Happy Kitty, Sleepy Kitty, Purr, Purr, Purr' Alison couldn't figure that out for the life of her. Sheldon didn't have a cat. She sat mulling over the words.
Soft cats are Happy. Warm cats are typically sleeping. Warm Cats are happy. Freshly bathed cats are soft. Cats generally don't care about the softness of their fur, so that must be the point. Cat Shampoo, I need cat shampoo. Little ball of fur… Cats play with balls of yarn… And the purr, purr, purr is probably just for rhyme.
Figuring that was all the sense she could make out of that she headed to the pet and the craft department.
Why would Penny send me such a riddle, this is Penny.
"Ah Wal-Mart. Catastrophe preparation for less." She muttered as she got into her car.
{Penny}
Alison was serious; she had told her that there had been a trace of the blue tinted virus on the rim of the travel cup. Penny had taken care of Sheldon on more than one occasion. She knew what it took. After helping her through a list of needed supplies she added the words to soft kitty on impulse. Alison wouldn't understand it now, but she'd get it. Alison is a smart girl; she'll put two and two together when the moment is right.
As she threw her things in her suitcase she remembered the time she was supposed to go to Switzerland with Leonard. She and Sheldon got sick before the trip, but Leonard said he still wanted to go. In the end Raj went, and she had to stay back and take care of him. She would tell Alison about that later. Alison was a good actress. She could convince him that it would all work out.
Alison had told her that she hated lying to Sheldon. Seriously these two would make an adorable couple. And the fact that neither one noticed it was further proof. If they both mad it through this week without losing their minds they would have to at least like each other…
I'm almost done with the renovated Chapter 1, Soon it will be up, the story retitled and given a proper summery. Then onto chapter two. Sorry about the wait, I seem to be fundamentally incapable of remembering to press the "Post New Chapter Button"