As always I own nothing, make no money from this and bow before the genius that is Chuck Lorre, Bill Prady and all of the writers, actors and crew that bring the TBBT to life. Thank you.

I would like to thank all of you that left comments on any of my stories. When I used to read fan fiction I would see the writers asking for reviews because it gave them inspiration to write. I never understood why but the stories were good so I kept reading and tried to leave reviews. Now I realize that reviews are like pistachios , there can never be enough. That blatant request for pistachios aside I would like to point out something totally irrelevant to this story. How great is the nome de plume "Ella the Owl with Amber Eyes"? Also if you are searching for a big bang story to read check bamadude's favorites page, he has great taste (and no not just because he listed one of my stories). Thanks for reading, I hope you will not be disappointed.

V2 L1

Without the daily regimen I had maintained during the vendetta fiasco, I found myself with an abundance of free time. The whole sordid affair had left me feeling emotionally numb but there were some benefits. I found that in my single minded pursuit to make Edward look like I monster I had in fact become physically stronger. The kickboxing had built up my body but also cleared my mind. The additional blood flow appeared to have enhanced my mental faculties. To my amazement I also found that I had thoroughly enjoyed the whole decision making process. Determining the desired results and determining how to prove them. I actively began to search out careers that would allow me to use my new found skills. During my free time

I had adapted my project management software for other applications. Now it covered everything from my personal schedule to managing my burgeoning comic book collection. It was thru this software that I partially redeemed myself.

It was the 2nd week of January and Mrs Loletta had driven us up to see Angelo. When we arrived we found Uncle Floyd alone in Angelo's room. He looked tired and had lost a lot of weight. He was going thru his company books trying to line up statuses on shipments with money taken in or spent.

I could see the frustration because he was a very good business man normally and was wallowing in the details. The events of last year had distracted him and I found out later he was on the verge of shutting his business down.

Uncle Floyd shut the lid on his laptop and pulled each of us into one of his traditional hugs. Except for me. He had started to reach out and stopped. He looked me up and down and then stuck out his hand. I shook it, feeling the moment of being accepted as a man (albeit a small one) for the first time in my life. I decided I liked it but grabbed hold of Uncle Floyd anyway. This made him smile. Angelo was in PT for the next 2 hours so while Mrs. Loletta took Michael and Eleanor down to the children's ward to visit, Uncle Floyd and I discussed his business. I realized as he described his day to day business activities that many of the problems he had could be overcome by using my project program to manage the events. We sat there mapping out his business into decision trees and listing the desired outcomes. I was sure it would work. At first Uncle Floyd was just humoring me. Sharing his knowledge but really not expecting me to get anything from it. I was his distraction from the turmoil that was his day. I explained the decision tree and told him how the project manager software could help. Using his laptops modem connection I retrieved the file I had stored in an email to myself. Configuring it to match his basic needs we populated the data from his books covering his imports from south america (the smallest of his ventures). Once completed he watched in wonder as I showed him what the program could do. He asked if I could do that for each of his vendors remarking how it would make doing the centralized book keeping so much easier because he could just pull the data from each vendor and combine them. That is when I let him know that once we had them all entered we could tie it in to the central program and it would track everything. He was amazed. Then I showed him how versatile it would be and most of all how easy it would be to maintain.

Do not get me wrong I spent a lot of time configuring that program to match how my Uncle was used to doing books. The programs interface was not very versatile required reconfiguring if additional items were added. When I presented him the final program and showed how easy it was to use he was stunned. He and I worked together getting all of his data imported and Uncle Floyd then ran his business from it.

The program removed a lot of the pressure on my Uncle. He no longer looked tired the smile had returned to his face. Eventually the business began to show a solid profit again. I had refused to take any money from Uncle Floyd for my work so he gifted me with a share in his business and the promise of a job during the summer.

Things were looking up. Angelo would never be 100% recovered but his speech was much clearer and he could once again read Italian (interesting note, he never lost the ability to speak English or Italian, but sometimes he would blend the two languages together making conversations interesting.)

With Angelo active once again Aunt Marie had regained much of her joie de vevre. Laughter had returned to the Hofstadter family (at least Uncle Floyd's side).

On the following visit Angelo had taken me aside. He explained that he had heard from friends at school and was very concerned about me. I confessed to my vendetta and he had been saddened by it. I did not like disappointing him but Angelo hugged me and slowly explained why it was a bad thing.

He explained that by retaliating in that way I had become part of what I hated, a bully. What I had attained was not justice but vengeance and I was diminished by it. He stared into my eyes and reminded me of the role of the catalyst. I was to make the people around me able to be more than they could alone. I needed to return to my role as sheep dog. Allowing those around me to flourish in the safety of my presence. It sounds hokey when I say it now but when Angelo said it aloud it became my new mission. I would do my best to find and nourish those minds that had the potential to be another Angelo. Another beautiful mind. This I would do above all else. To do this I must first start at home, repairing my relationship with Eleanor and Michael. Next I had to find a way to create a relationship with my parents knowing that neither of them would every be parents in the traditional sense. Angelo told me that my Mother would never be able to give me the affection I craved. Mother did not know understand the whole concept of intimacy. Getting angry at her about it was futile. His analogy was it would be like getting mad at someone who had never had site for not understanding what the color blue was. My parents did not know or understand people well enough to make proper decisions. Since I did, it would be my job to assume the role of parent and find a way for all of us to live together without damaging each other.

Once again Angelo changed my life. His insight was still incredible but the light was so much dimmer. Angelo told me one last thing before we left that day and that was the I needed to let the old Angelo go and love the new Angelo. He would never be what he once was, but he would always be my family.

I kissed him on the cheek and let go of my remaining anger and hate.

I mentally tore up my enemies list. It was time to get to work.