Stuart and Alice
Author's Note: Just to say I'm really happy that they've finally allowed Stuart to have a girlfriend in the final series of The Big Bang Theory.
Chapter 8 The Aftermath
"Hey Stuart," Penny said, strolling into the empty comic store with Amy.
"Oh hi," Stuart said dully, leaning on the sales counter and staring into space.
"Leonard told me you split up with your girlfriend, wosshername."
"Alice," Amy said.
"You are so good at remembering names." Penny looked at her friend with admiration.
"I'm good with names," Amy said, shrugging her shoulders. "Besides, her name begins with an A so it's easier for me to remember."
Penny turned back to Stuart. "Anyway, I was sorry to hear that."
"Me too," Stuart said. "I'm sorry we broke up."
"Why did you?" Amy asked.
"Amy!" Penny exclaimed, frowning but Stuart said, "I don't mind telling you. Because I'm a stupid jerk."
Penny lost the frown. Both she and Amy leaned forward, inviting him to tell them more.
"I didn't trust her. She had a business meeting with an ex-boyfriend called Jasper about our comic—"
"Jasper! Who's called Jasper?" Penny interrupted.
Amy frowned at her and jerked her head at Stuart.
"I know, right?" said Stuart, momentarily distracted. "He's British, apparently."
"I didn't realise British parents could be so cruel," Penny murmured.
Amy growled at her before saying, "Please continue, Stuart."
"They went out to dinner and I accused her of sleeping with him."
Penny and Amy sucked in their breath.
"How did she take it?" Amy asked.
"Not well. She went mad. Alice hates cheaters. That's why she tossed Leonard out on his ear when she found out about Priya."
"Good for her," Penny said.
"And she said that I hadn't told her about me dating you two. Even though I told her that I only went on one date with Amy and not many with you, so it wasn't worth mentioning. I don't know how she found out. She said I was probably cheating on her to be so suspicious of her."
"Cheating with who?" asked Penny incredulously before she could stop herself.
"That's what I said!" cried Stuart. "I mean, look at me. No girl wants me. The only one was Alice and I lost her through my own stupid jealousy."
He sank yet further onto the counter. "Lovely, wonderful Alice who was so good to me, she made me want to get up in the mornings. She made me feel good about myself. I even stopped my anti-depressants," he sighed. "It was too good to last. Why would she want to go out with someone like me?"
"Wow," Amy said. "You really do have low self-esteem issues."
Come on, Stuart. Both Amy and me went out with you. You're funny, nice…" Penny gave an appealing look to Amy.
"You've got your own business," Amy continued.
Stuart laughed bitterly. "Yeah. A failing comic store." He said softly, "Alice helped me set up a website for the store, talked to me about finding a niche. She was the best thing that ever happened to me, period." He heaved a sigh.
I'm interested in your state of mind, professionally. Would you consider letting run some tests on you?" Amy asked.
"Amy!" Penny protested.
'Sure, why not," Stuart said wearily and laid his head on the counter.
Penny and Amy exchanged a glance.
"So you want Alice back?" Penny asked.
Stuart raised his head and nodded.
"Then you need to come up with a plan," Amy told him.
Stuart raised his head from the counter. "Such as?"
"I don't know. Is she going to stay in touch with you?"
'She has to. We're still doing the comic." Stuart thought about it. "Unless she decides to stop doing it." He groaned.
"Don't let her," Penny said. "Give it a few days. Then ring her and tell her that you're sorry she broke up with you, but you hope she'll carry on working on the comic with
you—"
"And you promise to be just a business partner," Amy interrupted.
"And ask her when you can start work on it again." Penny said. "But just talk about the comic nothing else.'
"Keep your tone professional," Amy advised.
"Do you think it would work?" Stuart asked with hope in his voice. He straightened up a little more.
Penny hesitated then said with brutal honesty, 'It might not but it definitely won't work unless you try."
"Alice has invested time and effort in this project. She probably doesn't want it to fail," Amy told him.
"But leave it for a few days. Don't pester her. Can you do that?"
"I'll try."
Meanwhile back at Leonard's apartment, Raj sat on the sofa and flipped through the pages of the first edition of "The League of Supergeeks". He frowned.
"Hey guys, I've been thinking about one of the league's superheroes being called Ratman," he told the others.
Leonard took a bottle of water out of the fridge and shut the door. "So?"
"Well, I've always said that if I were a hero, I'd be Ratman."
"You're kidding!" exclaimed Sheldon. "What a lame superhero."
"Being a rat is no different from being a bat. They're both rodents."
"Wrong again," Sheldon said, fishing the teabag out of his cup. "Bats aren't flying rats. They're not even remotely related to rodents. Bats belong to the order Chiroptera, which means hand-wing. And bats don't spread diseases unlike rats. And Batman is way cooler than Ratman."
After the obligatory half hour argument about Batman, Raj came back to Ratman.
"That was my name for a superhero," he complained.
Leonard took another swig of water. "Are you saying Stuart took your idea for a superhero name?"
'He took my idea," Raj insisted. "It's not just the name. This Ratman has the same superpowers as I would have if I were Ratman."
"Such as?"
"The ability to creep through narrow spaces and move around in the dark."
"Can you prove that?" asked Sheldon. "Did you ever put anything down in writing?'
"No."
"Do you remember talking to Stuart about it?"
"No, but I must have."
"Hope you're not planning to take him to court," was Sheldon's comment.
Leonard came over to the sofa, plucked the comic out of Raj's hands and started skimming through it. After a few pages, he looked up. "It is kinda funny that the alter egos of the superheroes are four scientists like us," he said.
Sheldon snatched the comic out of his hands and skimmed through. "But they live in Boston and work at MIT," he pointed out. "And they are from different ethnicities."
"Two are white," said Raj, "one's Chinese and one's African."
"So, nothing like us."
"The African one is a prince."
"He's the son of the chief," Sheldon corrected. "And none of us are princes."
"But think about it, you and Leonard are white, Howard's Jewish and I'm Indian."
'But the two white guys are nothing like Leonard and me. One is short with red hair and the other one is tall with blond hair."
Leonard grabbed the comic back and began reading again. "Their names are nothing like ours," he said after several minutes. "Grant Wheeler, Stanley Di Caprio, Cameron Lee and Joseph Adebayo."
"Well, obviously, Stuart wouldn't give his characters our names," Raj said impatiently.
"Grant Wheeler is really an alien. He came to Earth when he was a young child. That's the reason he doesn't understand how humans relate to each other."
Leonard and Raj exchanged a look.
'So, they've plagiarized Spiderman, and Superman, as well!" Sheldon exclaimed.
"And Cameron Lee has a dominating mother," Raj added. He stood up. "I suggest we go over to the Comic Store and talk to Stuart about this." Raj took his cellphone out of his pocket, swiped it and began tapping a number.
"What are you doing?" Leonard asked.
"I'm going to let Howard know to meet us there."
'Leonard, why are you still sitting down? Didn't you hear Raj say we need to go to the Comic Store?" Sheldon tapped his foot impatiently.