The Cooper Libido Experiment 12/?
Title: "The Cooper Libido Experiment"
Author: g_girl143 / gwendy
Rating: PG
Chapters: 12/(?)
Timeline: Post L/P...beyond Post L/P...
Summary: There are times when the thing you love the most will cause your downfall. In the case of Dr. Sheldon Cooper, that would be Science...
Disclaimer:I do not own the characters or the series and am not making any money out of this despite putting my sweat and blood into it. So save me the lawsuits and just allow a beggar to indulge in fantasies. Thank you.
A/N: I think there’s been a clamor for a different type of action. I hope this one lives up to your expectations guys :P Oh, lots of dialogue. Rating’s a LOT lower than last chapter’s ^_^. Again, my love to gemsile123 and
life_coveter for their insightful and thorough betas :D
Previous Chapters:
Chapter 1 // Chapter 2 // Chapter 3 // Chapter 4 // Chapter 5 // Chapter 6 // Chapter 7 // Chapter 8 // Chapter 9 // Chapter 10 // Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Dr. Leslie Winkle worked late into the night in one of Caltech’s laboratories. Around her were tubes of strange, bubbling liquid, which hissed and sputtered as it was heated and transferred from one vial to another with the use of machines and various apparatuses. Leslie monitored the machine’s progress, and satisfied with what she saw, went back to gathering the necessary fibers before slipping the sample fabric back inside the zip-loc bag.
Using the tweezers, she picked up the fibers and slipped it onto a glass slide before putting it under a microscope. This was her third time doing it, and though she had already reached a conclusion, she needed to make sure.
She took one more look, entered her findings into the computer, opened an application and clicked the print button. She waited patiently as the machine spat out a myriad of numerical data and charts only few could understand, and once it was done, she thoroughly poured over each entry until she finally smiled.
Chances for the experiment’s success were up to 90.8%. Now, all she needed to do was remove some variables, and she was thankful that all it would take was a single phone call…
***
Penny had never been an early bird. If sleeping were a form of exercise, she’d probably have the same physique as Venus Williams, but things were different that Friday morning. She’d slept at three, woken up at seven and hadn’t been able to get back to sleep since. So she settled for making coffee and staring at the clock while she waited.
The knocks came at 7:12AM. She hugged her robe tighter around her body and opened the door to usher Leonard in.
“Got your text.” Leonard stepped inside. “I’m sorry you missed your bus. Are you…” He trailed off, his brows rising up to his hairline. “Penny, what happened to your neck?”
Penny’s hand flew to the scratch, and she cursed under her breath when she felt it sting. She had almost forgotten about Sheldon’s fingernail marks. “I…accidentally scratched myself. Is Sheldon still in the apartment?”
“No. He’s actually gone off to work. Ramona picked him up.”
The name ran a shiver down Penny’s spine. “R…Ramona?”
“Yeah. Remember that grad student who had a thing for Sheldon a while back?”
Penny nodded quietly. Something was beginning to nag at the back of her head. “I thought Sheldon had already brushed her off.”
“Well, she’s apparently a very persistent girl,” Leonard muttered and took a seat on the couch, his eyes on the floor. For some reason, Penny felt he was downplaying some facts. “From what I’ve seen and what Sheldon has told me, she’s been bringing food and coming on to him for nearly two weeks now.”
Penny’s fingers tightened around her cup of coffee. She started to sit beside Leonard, but changed her mind and headed for the green swivel chair beside the couch. Sheldon’s spot.
“Two weeks…” she muttered, settling herself on the chair and trying to act nonchalant as she sipped her coffee. “And she’s been bringing him food, you say?”
“Yep. Chocolates, brownies…she brought oysters once but Sheldon doesn’t like shellfish. She also brings him juice from time to time. Oh, and peach cobblers. She orders from La Marea.”
The cup almost slipped from Penny’s hands. Leonard started to stand, but she held her hand up. “I…I’m okay. Too much coffee I guess. Nerves.” She gave Leonard her best reassuring smile before slowly heading off to the kitchen to put away the cup and give herself time to think.
La Marea. The pastry shop. The day she’d really began noticing something strange with Sheldon’s behavior. The day he’d casually wiped the chocolate off her lip before sucking it off his thumb. The day she’d joined him in a Halo victory hug and felt him for the first time.
Her eyes widened. If she were in some weird comic book or cartoon universe, she imagined she’d have either a light bulb or an exclamation point on her head.
Sheldon had mentioned Ramona giving him some brownies that day.
“Penny?”
Penny shook away from her thoughts and stared at Leonard’s concerned face. She had almost forgotten he was still there. “Oh, sorry. Were you saying something?”
“Um…no actually.” Leonard twisted his body some more on the couch, his arm settling on the backrest. “Penny, are you sure you’re okay? You zoned out earlier.”
“I’m fine. Like I said, too much coffee,” Penny explained lamely, then walked over to sit in the swivel chair again. “You mentioned Ramona’s been coming on to Sheldon. How did he react to that?”
She watched Leonard’s lips press together until the corners of his mouth turned white. “Initially, the same as he treated any other women who came on to him-either with indifference or condescension.”
“Initially?” Penny parroted, punctuating each syllable.
“Well yeah. He had been pretty rude to her, which is why I was surprised when he agreed to go on a date with her and-“
“He what?” Penny felt as though a bucket of ice cold water had just been dumped on her. “When was this?”
“Yesterday,” Leonard stammered a little, and Penny had to try and calm herself down. “Ramona came over to our table and asked Sheldon out. He just said yes, right there and then.”
“Why?”
Leonard shrugged. “He said something about feeling pathetic. I don’t know. I mean, who knows what goes on in Sheldon’s mind?”
“Is that why…why Ramona picked him up earlier?” Penny leaned back on the chair, her shoulders drooping, as were the corners of her lips. “Because they’re going on a date?”
“Oh, no.” Leonard shook his head. “They won’t be going until seven tonight. She’s just giving him a ride to the office because he’d asked her to.”
Penny gritted her teeth behind closed lips. She didn’t think there could be any more surprises, and remaining calm was practically killing her. “Sheldon asked her to pick him up?”
“That’s what he told me.” Leonard blinked at her and frowned. “Penny, are you sure you’re all right?”
“Yeah. I…just need to lay off the coffee for a lil’ while.”
“If you say so.” Leonard shrugged again, and grew quiet for a moment. Then, his chin rose. “Oh, I almost forgot to ask. Why did you text me to come here? You wanted to talk about something?”
“Oh. That.” It was only by some miracle that Penny managed a steady smile. “Funny, but I actually forgot what it was. Thanks anyway, Leonard.”
***
Penny maneuvered her car to Caltech’s parking lot, giving her wristwatch a quick glance as she slowly drove to Sheldon’s space. She was minutes ahead of schedule, which was good. Sheldon should be about ready to go home by now, possibly gathering his books or doing some last minute calculations. More than enough time for her to barge in on the university to corner him and get to the bottom of everything. That had been her sole purpose for giving the rest of her shift away so she could change out of her uniform and get to the school on time.
God. It was almost like her early pre-Kurt community college days.
She saw another car in Sheldon’s usually empty parking space and hit the brakes. Sheldon, of course, didn’t have a car, and the one occupying his space wasn’t Leonard’s.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out whose car it was. Penny had barely stepped out of her Volkswagen when a girl with long, curly, blonde hair appeared from the corner, practically skipping towards the car in question.
Penny gasped, and Ramona Nowitzki spun around to face her, her expression turning from surprise to shock.
Penny imagined her expression wasn’t far from Ramona’s…minus the creepiness.
“You!” she growled, moving away from her VW and stepping towards Ramona, her eyes taking in the grad student’s ‘new look’. Aside from the hair, Ramona was also wearing her: a pale yellow blouse and tight flower-patterned jeans, minus the cleavage, but it was definitely her style of wardrobe, and Penny shuddered when she remembered the term cosplay.
Ramona took three steps back. “W-What are you doing here? Are you here to steal Dr. Cooper away from me again?”
Penny widened her eyes at Ramona, who had narrowed her eyes and scrunched up her face. It took Penny a minute to realize she was attempting a death glare.
This was seriously creepy.
“Okay, sister. Fess up.” She threw her own death glare, and smirked when she saw proof that the ‘original was always best’. “What did you do to Sheldon?”
“I…I didn’t do anything.”
“Right. And I’m the tooth fairy.” Penny took a step closer and readied her attack. “You put something in his food didn’t you? What was it? Coffee? Rum? Drugs?”
She knew her accusation was almost groundless and somewhat borderline paranoia, but when she saw the way Ramona’s eyes flickered with the last word, she knew she had hit on something.
“W-Why would you accuse me of drugging Dr. Cooper?”
“Because I know you did.” One more step, and she was practically toe-to-toe with Ramona. “Now tell me what you did, or so help me, I will tear every single fake blonde strand off that creepy little head of yours! And after that, I’m gonna tie ‘em together with a pretty little bow and sell ‘em as hair extensions in a costume shop for Halloween!”
“Y-You…you wouldn’t dare.” Ramona tried to back up, but her legs were already against the hood of her car. “I mean, you couldn’t. It’s physically impossible for a person, especially a delicate…vain woman such as yourself, to have the capacity to bald another person simply by the use of their fingers.”
“Delicate?” Penny raised a brow and smirked. “Sister, I used to hogtie bulls and slice off their testicles in under a minute. What makes you think scalping you would be difficult?”
She almost laughed at the way Ramona’s face turned from ghost-white to puke-green. “Y-You’re making that up.”
“You wanna try me?”
Ramona was so obviously flustered, Penny felt her cheek hurt from smirking. “Y-You’re just jealous because you’re in love with Dr. Cooper and yet he chose to date me instead of you.”
Blood rushed up to Penny’s cheeks. Funny how her feelings towards that statement had changed dramatically over the years.
“That’s exactly why I said you’ve done something to him.” Penny pointed a finger in Ramona’s face, resisting the urge to just gouge the girl’s eyes out. “Sheldon would never willingly go on a date with a woman, especially you, under normal circumstances.”
This made Ramona’s shoulders hoist and her face contort into an expression bordering on terrifying, that made Penny step back. “Fine! Say all you want but at least I got him to date me.”
“So you did do something.” Penny took a moment to breathe. “Tell me what it is or-“
“Ramona, I apologize if I kept you wait-“
Penny spun around, as did Ramona. Sheldon was standing before them, hands clasped to the strap of his messenger bag, his wide-eyed gaze moving from one girl to the other.
Penny imagined he must be thinking he’d been sucked into some freaky doppelganger or clone movie.
“Sheldon…” Penny put on her best smile and walked over until she had her hands on Sheldon’s arm. He flinched, but she didn’t let go. “I came over to pick you up. We can have some La Marea before we go home and…”
He wasn’t looking at her. Well, he was facing her, but his eyes were on something else, and that’s when Penny realized he was looking at the scratch on her neck. It was still red, and she hissed at the sting when she reached out, too late to cover it with a palm. Damn, I should’ve worn a scarf…
Sheldon pulled his arm away and stepped away from her. “I’m going home with Ramona.”
Penny’s jaw almost dropped. Sheldon was never a man of few words, but now he was brushing her off? “Sheldon…”
“Ramona, let’s leave.” Sheldon spun around and let himself into the passenger seat of Ramona’s car. The grad student was only too eager to step in and start the engine.
Penny marched over to the car and stuck her head in the passenger seat. “Sheldon, get out of the car. Now.”
She saw him shudder at her tone, but still, he shook his head. “No.”
Penny scowled. It was time to pull out the big guns. “Sheldon Cooper, if you don’t get out of this car right now, I swear I will never speak to you again.”
He didn’t even look at her. “So be it, Penny. In fact, I would prefer you keep a considerable distance from me for an interminable amount of time.”
“What?”
This time, he did look at her, and what she saw in his eyes made her pull away from the car window. “Stay away from me, Penny. Get as far away as you possibly can.”
Penny blinked and stared at Sheldon, but he had once again, faced forward.
She saw Ramona lean over, and she felt her hackles rise when the girl smirked at her. “If you ask Dr. Cooper to repeat what he just said, then you really are a typical blonde. So long, sister.”
The car pulled away from the space. Penny stood, silent and unmoving, watching them until they disappeared from the parking lot.
She had just been ready to tell Ramona she’d understood Sheldon the first time, but she’d been too haunted by the pleading look in Sheldon’s eyes when he’d told her to stay away from him.
He wasn’t being mean. And he hadn’t said it for his sake.
Then, Penny remembered Ramona.
Ramona, and her colored hair.
Ramona, and her copycat clothes.
Ramona, and her blatant lies.
Ramona, and her damned smirk.
Her face tight with determination, Penny got into her car, parked it in Sheldon’s space and marched towards the university entrance.
Oh yeah, she thought, as she dialed Leonard’s cell number. It’s junior rodeo on, bitch.
A/N: Hope you guys liked the confrontation. I know there was no cat-fight, but as much as we would all like to get our claws on Ramona, the story’s not gonna move forward with it :P
And as you see, I DEFINITELY read your comments. You want confrontation? Hair pulling? Got that here…well, almost ^^
Teasers? Er…more investigations and confrontations?
Proceed to Chapter 13
Oh, to those who haven't checked, sorry for the Shameless Plug :P
