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.

Settling In

My first few months in Pasadena were spent equipping my new Lab. That is how I met Dr. Rajesh Koothrappali. Howard Wolowitz had brought him around to my lab to introduce him to the new Applied Physics guru. Howard and I had met while attending M.I.T. and renewing our friendship was one of the reasons I had accepted the position. Howard and "Raj" had hung around to help me unpack boxes and most importantly to check out the new high energy laser. Tired and hungry I had offered to take them to dinner. We decided on the Cheese Cake Factory because it had a varied menu and "Raj" was eating vegan that week. The restaurant was clean and Howard, of course, made crude passes at our waitress. Having had been out in public with him at MIT I reminded him what Nicolette had said. She had told him that less of the creepy and more of the brainy. It seemed to have worked because he was better. Anytime he would slip I would simply mention Nicolette and he stopped. Raj found this amusing but in the process first displayed his selective mutism. Unable to talk while our waitress was in ear shot he instead whispered his order to Howard. All in all it was an interesting evening. Since I was still living at the hotel we decided to grab a drink at the bar before calling it a night.

Howard regaled us with stories of his mother, and a few of our time together at M.I.T. He would be a great guy to know if he could only shed the creepy candy coating as Raj put it. I agreed, Howard would do great things if he only let the right head control his actions. I was almost set, I had friends, I had a job and all I needed now was a more permanent abode. Rather than waste my time looking at endless apartments I instead hired a local realtor to locate an apartment for me. While not key to my visit to death row, I will also introduce the realtor. Sasha Volkov was an actress who was paying her bills by working at a realtor. She was tall blonde haired and blue eyed. She was taking care of my search because none of the senior realtors felt it worth their while. Sasha was extremely flirty and Howard fell in love with her the first time she spoke Russian. Surprised to hear Howard reply in flawless Russian they began an odd courtship that ended up with Howard going with us to see each apartment she thought I might like. It took viewing 10 different apartments till I found the one I wanted.

2311 North Los Robles Avenue was an older building but had a lot of character. 4A had hardwood floors, a large living room dining room area, a nicely laid out kitchen, and two bedrooms. The rent was reasonable and there were plenty of stores and restaurants in walking distance.

I was home.

Now to begin inserting myself into the life of one Sheldon Lee Cooper.

Destiny delayed

Reviewing Nicolette's notes on Mr. Cooper I found a disconnect. According to her journal Sheldon was about to compete his doctorate in mathematics with the intention of moving to CalTech to work on his doctorate in Theoretical Physics.

The first doctorate had never been achieved. I had introduced myself to Sheldon's faculty advisor and stating up front my interest in the genius level mind Sheldon had asked him what he could tell me. The story was pretty dismal. A fellow doctoral candidate had accused Sheldon of plagiarizing his Masters thesis. The University had investigated and determined the charges had merit. After 8 months of investigating the Ethics Board still could not agree on a verdict because of the lack of any notes ever being found to support Sheldon's claims of innocence. Sheldon had demanded a hearing and in the front of the whole board had sat down and had begun to write out his entire thesis with footnotes from memory, his eidetic memory. This with other doubts lead the board to exonerate him. He was offered the chance to continue his Doctorate. No apology for the lost time, and worse no compensation for the money he had to spend while his grant was under review. Livid with anger Sheldon declared that he would never enter the University grounds again. They had besmirched his honor (he actually used that word I read the transcript) and worse yet they had doubted his genius . Sheldon left that University and true to his word never set foot there again. As Sheldon was fond of saying he was from Texas and they knew how to hold a grudge, just ask Mexico. After several interviews at Cal Tech it was decided he would start working on his Physics Doctoral the following year. Since his scholarships had been cancelled due to perceived impropriety Sheldon was having financial problems. His new Grant would cover his work on M-Theory but not his tuition and board. These had to be paid using a combination of work-study jobs, student loans, and scholarships. His current residence was very close to Cal Tech because he did not drive and because of his cash flow issues it was not in one of the better areas of Pasadena. His neighbors were loud and he had to spend long hours either in his lab or at the library to get any studying (and in some instance sleeping) done.

I was stunned. It was like Angelo all over again, a magnificent mind brought low by thoughtless people. I knew I had to intercede. I had failed Angelo, I would not fail Sheldon.