Chapter 31
The long stretch of highway laid in front of Penny with the sun starting to peak up in the horizon. Sheldon was lying against the window, lightly snoring with his face pressed up against the glass. Every time Penny would accelerate past 70 miles an hour, Sheldon would awaken with a jerk and tell her to slow down before passing back out. It probably helped that Penny put half a sleeping pill in his tea to make him pass out. She knew that wouldn't be able to be in a car that long without wanting to smack him.
With every mile Penny's trepidation grew. She knew that she was taking a huge risk with trying to get Sheldon close enough to his trigger before an alter would come out. Penny knew that she had one chance at Sheldon being able to fully assimilate Fabio back into his mind.
What Penny did not know was how Sheldon would react once he had that knowledge. Was it really so awful that Sheldon cracked? Was the experience truly so devastating in magnitude that Sheldon had to hide within himself to escape?
Sheldon's snort broke Penny from her musings. His face pressed against the glass, sleeping so peacefully. Little did he know that Penny was about to try and turn his entire world on its ear. 'Please, God, anyone, just let Sheldon make it out of this whole. I don't think that he can handle another break and come back from it the same.'
They pulled up into the hotel parking garage and Penny gave Sheldon a good shake.
"Moonpie?" light shove
"Two more minutes Meemaw. I almost figured out how to mmmmmm" Sheldon drifted back off into sleeping.
"Moooooonpie?" Penny got closer to his face.
"Meeeemaw! I'm so close to the nobel peace prize. Mmmm" Sheldon wrapped the Care Bear blanket that Penny brought along for the ride closer.
"Sheldon!" Penny exclaimed in his ear.
Sheldon bolted awake and hit his head on the top of Penny's jeep. Penny had to stop herself from laughing too hard at the complete ridiculousness of Sheldon jumping so high.
"We're here Moonpie. We have to get going if you want to get a good seat."
"Penny, now that we are at the location that you aforementioned, will you please let me know what we are doing."
Smirking, Penny nodded her head to the hotel digital sign. "Look for yourself."
Sheldon turned to the window Penny indicated and read the sign. The biggest smile Penny had ever seen from Sheldon lit up his face.
"Penny! This is the symposium that the physics Nobel Prize winners are speaking at! Serge Haroche and David Wineland will both going to be speaking!" Sheldon scrambled to get the door open so he could be released from the car. He looked up at the sign just as Serge Haroche and David WIneland's names appeared on the sign. Squealing, he popped his head back into the car, "Let's go, Penny! We have to get front row seats!"
Sheldon raced to the back of the car, pulling the luggage out and made impressive strides to the hotel front doors.
"The reservations for the hotel are under Moonpie", Penny yelled after him as he raced through the hotel door.
Penny followed at a more amiably pace, as she texted Leonard that everything was going as planned. Leonard was worried that this would end badly if Fabio came out too soon. Penny just had to keep a list of speakers out of Sheldon's hands long enough to get him in the same room as Professor Hartferd.
William Hartferd was the professor who "mentored" Sheldon in Germany. He was the only other professor at the university from the US, so the president put Sheldon with him to help him acclimate to being a professor. He is also the reason for Fabio's creation. Hartferd did "something" that created Sheldon's alter Fabio. Penny had been unable to figure out what he had done to Sheldon, but it was enough to warrant his mind splitting into another alter to save his sanity.
'Please don't let this break him again. Please let him be strong enough to understand and handle what happened to him this time' Penny pleaded to the sky as she entered the hotel.
"Oh crap on a cracker" was all she could say. The hotel was filled to brim with nerds, geeks, dorks, and weirdoes. Her boys would have blended right in. Which meant that Penny stuck out. Penny pulled her daisy duke shorts a bit further down but to no avail. 'I feel naked' was all she could think.
Every head was turned her way as she crossed the hotel. Every nerdy eye was on her so fast that she felt exposed. The snorts of derision from the female scientists and the leers from the male scientists were enough to make Penny want to hide in her room for the enter trip. 'I didn't think of this part.' In a matter of seconds, the hotel entryway went from a dull murmur to filling up entirely with fervent whispers.
"My goodness, do you see what she's wearing? Who invited her? She must have been a hired companion" a female scientist snorted to her fellow companion as Penny passed by.
Penny felt like her face was on fire from embarrassment at the blatant Firefly prostitute reference.
"I bet she can't even calculate PI to one digit" her friend cackled back. It was that comment that made Penny go from feeling red to seeing red.
Penny was about to show them some Nebraska style whoop-ass when Sheldon came up behind her. He placed his hand on the small of her back and smiled down at her. The joy in his eyes was enough to push down the rage against the scientist women's remarks. Forcing a smile, she followed when he led her into the elevator.
"I feel like the best idea would be that we go to our hotel rooms, make sure they are not infested with bed bugs, and then go down to the symposium. Oh my goodness, Penny. I cannot wait to get a copy of the lecturer list. " Sheldon continued to prattle off when the doors opened to their floor. Penny smiled indulgently. She was not looking forward to sitting in on all these lectures. However, she couldn't leave Sheldon alone when one of his biggest triggers was walking around in the same building.
Sheldon had the door open for her and was smiling like a madman.
'Let the games begin.' She thought as she walked in the room.
'I never knew someone could be so boring.'
Penny was slumped down in her chair in the conference hall. The man speaking at the moment, Sheldon informed her, was working on finding out something or other about string things. Penny had zoned out after Sheldon started talking about resonating strings or something like that.
Trying to stay awake, Penny started to play on her IPhone when Sheldon plucked it out of her hand with a disapproving glare.
"Penny, you are listening to one of the most brilliant minds in the world right now. Please show some respect and pay attention."
"I hang out with you all the time and don't always pay attention. Does that not mean you are one of the most brilliant?" Penny quipped.
Sheldon blinked at her snappy retort and Penny plucked her phone out of his hands. Smiling to herself, Penny loaded up her fashion app again to browse new shoes.
"…and then he talked about how his new study…."Sheldon was giving Leonard a full recap of the lecture that they had just attended. Leonard had been extremely helpful in procuring these tickets for Penny. He had to ask his mother for a favor, which Penny knew that he would never do unless under dire circumstances. Penny planned to make it up to him when she got home. She already found a restaurant whose catch was "No Dairy? No Problem!"
Penny was maneuvering through the conference hall, looking up food places on her phone she bumped into someone.
"Oh! I'm so sorry. I was not looking where I was going." Looked up at a brunette woman in what looked like double cardigans.
"Clearly. It is fine. You were otherwise engaged with your cellular device. It must have been of dire importance that you were unaware of your surroundings."
Penny blinked. The woman sounded just like Sheldon did, merely at a higher octave. "Well, I am sorry. I should have been more aware of where I was going."
"It is fine. I accept your apology." With that being said, the woman turned around and disappeared into the crowd.
"Freaky." Penny turned around to ask Sheldon where he wanted to go for lunch. He was gone.
****I know that Amy is not a Physicist, but she is my favorite character. Even if she only got a small mention, I needed her in my story.
Next chapter to come shortly. I really want to see the end of this story. Any comments, concerns, etc, please let me know. It is the constant people sending me feedback that made me want to finish.****
