48

"Hello. Dr. Sheldon Cooper."

"Dr. Cooper, Gabelhauser here."

"Hello."

"Hofstadter resigned."

"Thank you for informing me. Was there a scene?"

"Not exactly. The board, President Seibert and I decided to remove him from the tenure track and reduce him to adjunct instructor."

"Thereby denying him any future at CalTech."

"Indeed. It was appropriate. We couldn't fire him. It would make us look stupid. But we don't trust him to work with his colleagues or our students. The result is best for the university. He has been escorted off the premises."

"Thank you for informing me, Dr. Gabelhauser."

Sheldon immediately took out his cell phone and hit a number on his speed dial.

"Dr. Beverly Hofstadter."

"Hello, Beverly."

"Hello, Sheldon. This is not our regularly scheduled time to chat."

"I have news for you concerning Leonard. It's serious."

"Please elucidate."

After Sheldon was through updating Beverly Hofstadter he tried to reach Penny but his calls went straight to voicemail. He then called Missy."

"Hi, Shelly."

"Missy, Leonard has resigned from the university and I can't reach Penny. I can only get her voicemail."

"Penny said she had a couple of meetings along with the wardrobe thing. She might have turned her phone off."

"I need to get home. I suspect Leonard will be awaiting her and I want to make certain she is prepared."

"I understand, Shelly. Let me pack up and get the baby. I'll pick you up in twenty minutes."

"Thank you."

Sheldon then went over to Alex's office.

"Alex, Leonard has resigned from the university. Missy is coming to pick me up. Please inform Koothrapali and Wolowitz."

"I'll take care of it Sheldon. Would you like me and Nora to come over to your place so we're there for Penny."

"That would be good. In a very short time Penny has come to depend on you and Nora a good deal."

"We like her Sheldon. She's a good person in a bad situation and she's trying to work through it."

"I'm going outside to wait for Missy. I'll see you shortly."

On his way out of the building Sheldon ran into Howard and Raj.

"Leonard…"

"We heard, Sheldon. What do you want us to do?"

"Meet me at North Los Robles. Penny doesn't know."

A/N: This isn't much of a chapter, I know, but this and the next couple of chapters will serve as a bridge to Penny and Leonard's conversation. Pacing-wise it just didn't make sense to me to jump from Leonard's firing tight to that meeting. So, bear with me, I think it'll be worth it.

Thanks again for playing along.