22

After about an hour Alex's office door opened and Sheldon escorted the two suited men to the suite entrance.

"If you require any further information I will be happy to supply it."

"Thank you Dr. Cooper. We appreciate your cooperation in this matter."

After the men left Sheldon looked at Penny like he wanted to say something.

"Sheldon, what's going on?"

Sheldon closed and locked the door to the suite.

"Penny, what I am about to tell you is confidential and a bit alarming."

"Okay?"

"Do you know of Leonard's carnal dalliance with a Joyce Kim?"

"Yeah, she was a grad student that Leonard almost had coitus with before we met."

"Thank you for using the correct terminology for the office environment, Penny. But there is a bit more to the story. A short time after that encounter Joyce Kim was revealed to be a North Korean spy seeking a sample of a top-secret rocket fuel that Leonard was in possession of. My interruption of their potential coitus subverted her plan and she returned to North Korea in disgrace."

"That's the same rocket fuel that blew up the elevator, right?"

"Essentially, yes."

"So what's the deal now? It's like, what, ten years later."

"Indeed. Apparently Joyce Kim found her way out of North Korea and recently began blogging about her exploits hoping to secure a publishing deal. Leonard's name came up in her blog. That alarmed the FBI who in turn alarmed the President of the university."

"So what's going on? Leonard didn't do anything wrong, did he?"

"Joyce Kim's assertion that Leonard was willing to share a top secret item with her in exchange for coitus has the university and a number of government agencies that provide funding for research here quite worried. The FBI has interviewed everyone who was present at the time and will be interviewing Leonard shortly."

"Sheldon, what's gonna happen to him?"

"Leonard's security clearance could be in peril. However, if Leonard's continued presence here threatens any of the university's funding Leonard could be dismissed. I suspect he may at least be temporarily suspended from his duties until a determination is made. Or he could receive a mere slap on the wrist."

"Sheldon, I think I need to go to Leonard."

"Penny, the FBI agents who just left my office were on their way to see him now. I doubt you will be able to see him for quite a while."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Continue as you have. I will be informed of what is officially happening as soon as it happens. I will immediately pass along to you whatever information I can."

"Thank you, Sheldon."

Meanwhile, across campus at the Humanities cafeteria

Missy saw Amy Farrah Fowler march into her cafeteria.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"I am here to demand that you cease objecting to my union with your brother and interfering with my happiness. I have secured a new apartment just a few blocks from 2311 North Los Robles. I would be willing to sign it over to you and even pay your rent for a time until you are able to handle it yourself or you ultimately decide to return home to Texas."

"Not gonna happen."

"I can see what you are doing, Missy. You are attempting to make Sheldon the primary caregiver for your progeny and surround him with women more comely than I in an effort to deflect his affection from me."

"Amy, I don't need to deflect Sheldon's attentions from you. He simply doesn't care about you any more."

"I am a more appropriate match for Sheldon than any other women he has met or will meet."

"Amy, love is not some kind of silly equation. Just because it works on paper doesn't mean it works in real life. I get that you really want Sheldon for some reason. But you need to understand that it isn't mutual and that nagging Sheldon to commit to you won't make it mutual. It only makes you look needy and creepy. There's someone special out there for Sheldon, someone that really gets his motor running and accepts him for who he is, and that someone just isn't you."

"Sheldon's work at CalTech is unfocused. His roommate is moving on with his life. There is no longer anything for Sheldon in Pasadena except me. I'm certain he returned for me. He knows that I can make him into the successful scientist and man he is destined to be. That proves that Sheldon loves me."

"He wasn't going to come back to Pasadena at all, Amy. He was gonna walk away. He had offers from universities and think tanks all over the world. I convinced him to come back here and face his shitstorm of a life and take control of it. To make it work for him instead of against him. To help him get what he really wants. I promised that I would be here for him as long as he needs me. And there are gonna be some changes. Some of you folks ain't gonna like 'em. Some of you ain't gonna like 'em one bit. And I'm not goin' anywhere. I have a good job. I have a nice place to live. My brother and I are closer than we've been since the womb. My baby loves him and he loves my baby. We are a family. And you have no place in it. Besides, accordin' to Shelly don't you have a fiancée somewhere in the Middle East?"

"His name is Faisal and he resides in Saudi Arabia. And we have a business arrangement for my research."

"Oh is that what they call it now?"

"What are you implying?"

"I'm not implying. I'm inferring. I knew that Word-a-Day Calendar would come in handy!"

"There is nothing untoward between myself and Faisal. Our betrothal is just a business necessity."

"Girl, your whole deal is untoward. And sooner or later it's gonna blow up in your face. And that ain't gonna happen anywhere near Shelly."

"So you are saying that if I sever ties with Faisal my relationship with Sheldon may proceed?"

"I said nothin' of the kind. I am never givin' you the okay to be with my brother. I don't even want you in the same room with him without a witness."

"Then I see no further point to this discussion."

"I coulda told you that. I did tell you that. Now get the hell out of my cafeteria."