Fic: The Scientific Connection
....and now for something completely different...
Title: The Scientific Connection
Part 1: Discovery
Author: she_burns1
Pairing: Sheldon/Penny
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2,065
Summary: Sheldon helps Penny with her screenplay.
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The plot is all mine. No copyright infringement is intended.
Spoilers: Through all of Season 2
Notes: My first BBT fic - hopefully not too painful. Comments/criticism welcomed and appreciated!
Sheldon kept hearing the most incessant ringing.
Being alone in the apartment, no television on, a thick textbook in his hands, he could not account for the sound and he tilted his head, eyes darting from side to side. Perhaps Stephanie had been wrong about that tumor…
Closing his book and putting it to one side, he got up from his spot on the couch and listened intently. The sound seemed to be coming from Leonard’s bedroom and, as much as he didn’t like the idea, he headed in that direction with the intention of discovering if his hypothesis was true.
Sure enough the ringing came from the room and, considering the door was open, Sheldon saw no real harm in granting himself access to the area momentarily with the sole endeavor to end the sound if possible.
The ringing was emanating from Leonard’s cell phone, which rested atop his freshly made bed; the little screen alit with distress. Sheldon grabbed the phone and saw Penny’s name was highlighted on the screen; he flipped it open, “Hello?”
“Hello, Leonard?”
“No, Penny, it’s not Leonard, it’s Sheldon.”
“Sheldon?”
“Yes.”
“Sheldon…did I-? Is this-? Why are you answering Leonard’s phone?”
“Apparently Leonard left it here in the apartment. I merely answered it in order to make it stop ringing.”
“Oh,” Penny paused and Sheldon frowned, wondering if she had lost signal, he was just about to shut the phone when she spoke again, “Is Leonard there?”
“No, he is at the movie theater-” Sheldon was about to elaborate more but Penny interrupted him hurriedly, “What about Howard?”
“No, he too is-”
“Raj?”
Sheldon frowned, “Penny, Koothrappali cannot even speak to you in person how do you expect him to converse with you over the phone?”
“I know, I know, it’s just…I’m kind of desperate.”
“Oh, really? Well, if that is the case, then I am certain Leonard will be most distressed to have missed this call, as it has come to my understanding recently through watching certain television programs that desperate women are more likely to-”
“No, no, Sheldon look,” Penny sighed, the sound sort of strangled, “I need…I need a favor.”
Sheldon blinked, startled, “Penny, I don’t think it would be wise of me to help you in satisfying your sexual needs.”
“What?!” Penny cried loudly, making Sheldon withdraw the phone from his ear for a moment, before he responded, “You said you were desperate-”
“Desperate for help, not for-” Penny let out a frustrated breath and he heard her muttering something about how this was like ‘selling her soul to the devil’ or some other folksy claptrap, but when she spoke again she seemed a bit more grounded, “Sheldon, I need you to do a favor for me. I need you to go into my apartment and get my Cheesecake Factory uniform.”
“Your uniform?”
“Yes.”
“You’re not wearing it now?”
“No, I went to the gym before work and I thought I had packed the uniform in my duffle bag, but apparently I didn’t and my boss told me I can’t work unless I wear my uniform and I have to work or-”
“Penny, please, I can deduce the rest for myself, I do have 2 Ph.D.s,” Sheldon muttered, then, suddenly backtracking in their conversation in his mind, said, “I thought we weren’t allowed access to your apartment. You took back your key, remember?”
“Sheldon, that was a while ago, okay? I gave the key back to Leonard in case of emergencies. You should find it in the DVD case for the movie ‘Sleepless in Seattle’.”
Sheldon exited Leonard’s bedroom and went towards their DVD collection, his eyes quickly searching through the ‘S’s’ for the title in question, “I wondered why Leonard purchased that film. He knows I find the whole concept of the plot to be exceedingly banal and improbable.”
“Yeah, well, we knew you’d never watch it and that’s why the key is in there,” Penny snapped peevishly and she absently began thinking of where she and Leonard would next hide the key after this fiasco.
Sheldon found the movie easily and opened it, finding a small envelope tucked inside. He then opened that and drew out the key, holding it with some puzzlement as he said, “So Leonard is aware of the key and is allowed access to it, but I am not?”
“Sheldon, sweetie, please, I don’t have a lot of time. Have you found it yet?”
“Yes, I have it.”
“Okay, good, now go over to my apartment. And keep in mind, that this one time grant of access does not create and permanent easement,” Penny said this last part with a slight smirk. While she would have much preferred to have Leonard doing this task for her, something had to be said for being able to throw Sheldon’s words back in his face.
Sheldon didn’t rise to the bait, but instead crossed the hall towards her apartment. He unlocked the door and, before entering, asked hesitantly, “Penny, before I enter your apartment is there anything you should forewarn me about?”
“What?”
“I would appreciate the social nicety of awareness before I enter your domicile if it is, again, in a state of complete and utter disrepair.”
“Are you asking if my apartment is clean?”
Sheldon rolled his eyes but couldn’t help but nod to himself as he replied, “Yes, Penny, and must I say, I am impressed by your improved ability to grasp the English language.”
“It’s not an improved grasp of the English language, I’m just getting better at learning Sheldon-speak,” Penny snickered, “And yes, Sheldon, my apartment is clean. You’re safe.”
“Now, Penny, why would you say that? There is no empirical evidence to suggest I’m safe. For all you know, at this very moment, I could open this door only to trip and fall, hitting my head on the coffee table and-”
“Sheldon!” Penny hissed, reaching the end of her rope, “If you don’t hurry up and get my uniform, I promise you, I will hit you.”
Scowling, Sheldon entered her apartment and clicked the lights on, he looked around and couldn’t help the tiny, self satisfied smirk that formed on his face, “I see you’ve been following the organizational chart I wrote up for you.”
“Yes, I’ll admit it. You were right. Your ideas for keeping the apartment tidy were helpful. Can we move on please?”
“They weren’t just ideas, Penny, they were a well crafted set of rules and regulations that-”
“Okay, Moonpie, focus!”
“I told you not to call me that!” he hissed, his voice slightly shrill.
“Only way to get you back on track! Now! I think you’ll find my uniform on my kitchen table-”
“What is it doing there?”
“Eating a sandwich! What does it matter?! Just get it!”
Sheldon walked over to the table and found that her uniform was, indeed, folded up and waiting expectnatly, “I see the uniform. It is where you said it would be. Before I touch it, I must ask-”
“It’s clean, Sheldon.”
“Are you-”
“I washed it last night, hand to god, okay? I washed it and folded it, it’s good to go.”
“Well, it may be clean, but I don’t know if I would say it’s ‘folded and good to go’. Your folding style is something left to be desired.”
“What?!”
“Penny, the right folding and handling of clothes can help in the up keep of your attire. A proper wardrobe folding style is essential in order to help retain the luster and crispness of clothing and reduces the hassles of ironing. You folded your shirt sleeves first, when, what you should have done was fold one half of the shirt vertically, then fold in the sleeves-”
“Sheldon, please tell me you’re at least holding the uniform right now.”
“Yes, I have it in hand, but I don’t see-”
“Okay, look, I need you to bring my uniform to me.”
“Bring it to you? Where? At the Cheesecake Factory?”
“No, in Hawaii, yes, at the Cheesecake Factory!”
“But…Battlestar Galatica comes on in,” Sheldon checked his watch, “Nineteen minutes and fifteen seconds-”
“Sheldon, if you don’t bring me my uniform, my foot will be up your ass twenty four seven!”
Sheldon’s lips pressed together hard, voice tight, “I concede to your point.”
Penny’s voice was sweet again as she pleaded, “Please hurry and Sheldon,” Penny took a breath, “I want you to know I really apprecia-wait, what?!”
Sheldon frowned, wondering what Penny meant by that, when he came to the realization that she must be talking to someone else as he could hear some male voice murmuring in the background.
Penny answered whoever the mystery person was, “No, Mark, listen, I’ve got someone bringing me my - no, no, no I need the shift! Maybe Marci could just loan me her uniform! She’s about to get off and we’re about the same - no, I, look, I, just, if you could give me - hold on a second! Sheldon?”
“Yes?”
“Sheldon, I have to go for a second. Don’t come down here just yet; okay, but just - just wait for me to call back.”
“But, Penny-” Sheldon heard the telltale sound that signaled she had hung up on him and he groaned in annoyance. He couldn’t waste time waiting for her - the show was going to be on in, he checked his watch again, approximately eighteen minutes and fifty five seconds!
He reluctantly picked up her uniform, prepared to take it across the hall and at least wait in his apartment for her to call, when he noticed a stack of papers under the clothes.
He couldn’t say why the pile caught his attention but he found his eyes drawn to the center of the page where the words ‘The Girl From Lincoln’ were clearly typed. These typed words were, however, hastily scratched out in blue pen, words below that reading, ‘Lincoln Girl’. But this too, was also scratched out though this time in red pen, and, once more below it were the last set of words reading ‘The Scientific Connection’.
Sheldon knew that, theoretically, it was wrong to snoop through people’s things. After all, he certainly had no business being here past Penny’s invitation to get her uniform and he knew that he certainly wouldn’t want someone poking around in his bedroom. Proper social behavior dictated that he ignore the papers before him and go about his earlier decided course of action.
But for someone reason, seeing that Penny of all people wrote ‘scientific’ on something, on anything, made him unnaturally intrigued. He put the uniform down to one side and picked up the papers.
It couldn’t hurt to just take one teeny, tiny peek.
He flipped the first page over to be greeted with a full, typed out page of words, red pen marring this place and that with connotations and corrections. It read simply:
FADE IN
EXT. APARTMENT BUILDING
A bus pulls up to the building, exit PATTY, twenty, young, bright-eyed and hopeful but with a little air of sadness. The bus pulls away, leaving her out front.
PATTY
Well, California, look out ‘cause here I am!
Sheldon stopped reading and flipped through the pages some more, sort of glancing through it. Well, as far as he could tell, this screenplay had nothing to do with science, so why the title? Did Penny write this?
What little evidence he had before him would point to ‘yes’, as not only had the penmanship on the first page certainly been in her handwriting (with the ridiculous loops and hearts on the ‘I’s’) but he was in her apartment, pointing to anything being in said apartment as her property.
Still, it was surprising to see. He had no idea that Penny had any sort of literary aspirations. And while he certainly wasn’t normally one for fictional literature, he had to admit some curiosity over what little he had read.
Surely it couldn’t hurt to read just a little more…
Hopefully the one person I know on my flist (xxsmoothopexx) who knows about BBT won't kill me. I know you're all for Leonard/Penny and I like them too, but, um, *hides*!
Title: The Scientific Connection
Part 1: Discovery
Author: she_burns1
Pairing: Sheldon/Penny
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2,065
Summary: Sheldon helps Penny with her screenplay.
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The plot is all mine. No copyright infringement is intended.
Spoilers: Through all of Season 2
Notes: My first BBT fic - hopefully not too painful. Comments/criticism welcomed and appreciated!
Sheldon kept hearing the most incessant ringing.
Being alone in the apartment, no television on, a thick textbook in his hands, he could not account for the sound and he tilted his head, eyes darting from side to side. Perhaps Stephanie had been wrong about that tumor…
Closing his book and putting it to one side, he got up from his spot on the couch and listened intently. The sound seemed to be coming from Leonard’s bedroom and, as much as he didn’t like the idea, he headed in that direction with the intention of discovering if his hypothesis was true.
Sure enough the ringing came from the room and, considering the door was open, Sheldon saw no real harm in granting himself access to the area momentarily with the sole endeavor to end the sound if possible.
The ringing was emanating from Leonard’s cell phone, which rested atop his freshly made bed; the little screen alit with distress. Sheldon grabbed the phone and saw Penny’s name was highlighted on the screen; he flipped it open, “Hello?”
“Hello, Leonard?”
“No, Penny, it’s not Leonard, it’s Sheldon.”
“Sheldon?”
“Yes.”
“Sheldon…did I-? Is this-? Why are you answering Leonard’s phone?”
“Apparently Leonard left it here in the apartment. I merely answered it in order to make it stop ringing.”
“Oh,” Penny paused and Sheldon frowned, wondering if she had lost signal, he was just about to shut the phone when she spoke again, “Is Leonard there?”
“No, he is at the movie theater-” Sheldon was about to elaborate more but Penny interrupted him hurriedly, “What about Howard?”
“No, he too is-”
“Raj?”
Sheldon frowned, “Penny, Koothrappali cannot even speak to you in person how do you expect him to converse with you over the phone?”
“I know, I know, it’s just…I’m kind of desperate.”
“Oh, really? Well, if that is the case, then I am certain Leonard will be most distressed to have missed this call, as it has come to my understanding recently through watching certain television programs that desperate women are more likely to-”
“No, no, Sheldon look,” Penny sighed, the sound sort of strangled, “I need…I need a favor.”
Sheldon blinked, startled, “Penny, I don’t think it would be wise of me to help you in satisfying your sexual needs.”
“What?!” Penny cried loudly, making Sheldon withdraw the phone from his ear for a moment, before he responded, “You said you were desperate-”
“Desperate for help, not for-” Penny let out a frustrated breath and he heard her muttering something about how this was like ‘selling her soul to the devil’ or some other folksy claptrap, but when she spoke again she seemed a bit more grounded, “Sheldon, I need you to do a favor for me. I need you to go into my apartment and get my Cheesecake Factory uniform.”
“Your uniform?”
“Yes.”
“You’re not wearing it now?”
“No, I went to the gym before work and I thought I had packed the uniform in my duffle bag, but apparently I didn’t and my boss told me I can’t work unless I wear my uniform and I have to work or-”
“Penny, please, I can deduce the rest for myself, I do have 2 Ph.D.s,” Sheldon muttered, then, suddenly backtracking in their conversation in his mind, said, “I thought we weren’t allowed access to your apartment. You took back your key, remember?”
“Sheldon, that was a while ago, okay? I gave the key back to Leonard in case of emergencies. You should find it in the DVD case for the movie ‘Sleepless in Seattle’.”
Sheldon exited Leonard’s bedroom and went towards their DVD collection, his eyes quickly searching through the ‘S’s’ for the title in question, “I wondered why Leonard purchased that film. He knows I find the whole concept of the plot to be exceedingly banal and improbable.”
“Yeah, well, we knew you’d never watch it and that’s why the key is in there,” Penny snapped peevishly and she absently began thinking of where she and Leonard would next hide the key after this fiasco.
Sheldon found the movie easily and opened it, finding a small envelope tucked inside. He then opened that and drew out the key, holding it with some puzzlement as he said, “So Leonard is aware of the key and is allowed access to it, but I am not?”
“Sheldon, sweetie, please, I don’t have a lot of time. Have you found it yet?”
“Yes, I have it.”
“Okay, good, now go over to my apartment. And keep in mind, that this one time grant of access does not create and permanent easement,” Penny said this last part with a slight smirk. While she would have much preferred to have Leonard doing this task for her, something had to be said for being able to throw Sheldon’s words back in his face.
Sheldon didn’t rise to the bait, but instead crossed the hall towards her apartment. He unlocked the door and, before entering, asked hesitantly, “Penny, before I enter your apartment is there anything you should forewarn me about?”
“What?”
“I would appreciate the social nicety of awareness before I enter your domicile if it is, again, in a state of complete and utter disrepair.”
“Are you asking if my apartment is clean?”
Sheldon rolled his eyes but couldn’t help but nod to himself as he replied, “Yes, Penny, and must I say, I am impressed by your improved ability to grasp the English language.”
“It’s not an improved grasp of the English language, I’m just getting better at learning Sheldon-speak,” Penny snickered, “And yes, Sheldon, my apartment is clean. You’re safe.”
“Now, Penny, why would you say that? There is no empirical evidence to suggest I’m safe. For all you know, at this very moment, I could open this door only to trip and fall, hitting my head on the coffee table and-”
“Sheldon!” Penny hissed, reaching the end of her rope, “If you don’t hurry up and get my uniform, I promise you, I will hit you.”
Scowling, Sheldon entered her apartment and clicked the lights on, he looked around and couldn’t help the tiny, self satisfied smirk that formed on his face, “I see you’ve been following the organizational chart I wrote up for you.”
“Yes, I’ll admit it. You were right. Your ideas for keeping the apartment tidy were helpful. Can we move on please?”
“They weren’t just ideas, Penny, they were a well crafted set of rules and regulations that-”
“Okay, Moonpie, focus!”
“I told you not to call me that!” he hissed, his voice slightly shrill.
“Only way to get you back on track! Now! I think you’ll find my uniform on my kitchen table-”
“What is it doing there?”
“Eating a sandwich! What does it matter?! Just get it!”
Sheldon walked over to the table and found that her uniform was, indeed, folded up and waiting expectnatly, “I see the uniform. It is where you said it would be. Before I touch it, I must ask-”
“It’s clean, Sheldon.”
“Are you-”
“I washed it last night, hand to god, okay? I washed it and folded it, it’s good to go.”
“Well, it may be clean, but I don’t know if I would say it’s ‘folded and good to go’. Your folding style is something left to be desired.”
“What?!”
“Penny, the right folding and handling of clothes can help in the up keep of your attire. A proper wardrobe folding style is essential in order to help retain the luster and crispness of clothing and reduces the hassles of ironing. You folded your shirt sleeves first, when, what you should have done was fold one half of the shirt vertically, then fold in the sleeves-”
“Sheldon, please tell me you’re at least holding the uniform right now.”
“Yes, I have it in hand, but I don’t see-”
“Okay, look, I need you to bring my uniform to me.”
“Bring it to you? Where? At the Cheesecake Factory?”
“No, in Hawaii, yes, at the Cheesecake Factory!”
“But…Battlestar Galatica comes on in,” Sheldon checked his watch, “Nineteen minutes and fifteen seconds-”
“Sheldon, if you don’t bring me my uniform, my foot will be up your ass twenty four seven!”
Sheldon’s lips pressed together hard, voice tight, “I concede to your point.”
Penny’s voice was sweet again as she pleaded, “Please hurry and Sheldon,” Penny took a breath, “I want you to know I really apprecia-wait, what?!”
Sheldon frowned, wondering what Penny meant by that, when he came to the realization that she must be talking to someone else as he could hear some male voice murmuring in the background.
Penny answered whoever the mystery person was, “No, Mark, listen, I’ve got someone bringing me my - no, no, no I need the shift! Maybe Marci could just loan me her uniform! She’s about to get off and we’re about the same - no, I, look, I, just, if you could give me - hold on a second! Sheldon?”
“Yes?”
“Sheldon, I have to go for a second. Don’t come down here just yet; okay, but just - just wait for me to call back.”
“But, Penny-” Sheldon heard the telltale sound that signaled she had hung up on him and he groaned in annoyance. He couldn’t waste time waiting for her - the show was going to be on in, he checked his watch again, approximately eighteen minutes and fifty five seconds!
He reluctantly picked up her uniform, prepared to take it across the hall and at least wait in his apartment for her to call, when he noticed a stack of papers under the clothes.
He couldn’t say why the pile caught his attention but he found his eyes drawn to the center of the page where the words ‘The Girl From Lincoln’ were clearly typed. These typed words were, however, hastily scratched out in blue pen, words below that reading, ‘Lincoln Girl’. But this too, was also scratched out though this time in red pen, and, once more below it were the last set of words reading ‘The Scientific Connection’.
Sheldon knew that, theoretically, it was wrong to snoop through people’s things. After all, he certainly had no business being here past Penny’s invitation to get her uniform and he knew that he certainly wouldn’t want someone poking around in his bedroom. Proper social behavior dictated that he ignore the papers before him and go about his earlier decided course of action.
But for someone reason, seeing that Penny of all people wrote ‘scientific’ on something, on anything, made him unnaturally intrigued. He put the uniform down to one side and picked up the papers.
It couldn’t hurt to just take one teeny, tiny peek.
He flipped the first page over to be greeted with a full, typed out page of words, red pen marring this place and that with connotations and corrections. It read simply:
FADE IN
EXT. APARTMENT BUILDING
A bus pulls up to the building, exit PATTY, twenty, young, bright-eyed and hopeful but with a little air of sadness. The bus pulls away, leaving her out front.
PATTY
Well, California, look out ‘cause here I am!
Sheldon stopped reading and flipped through the pages some more, sort of glancing through it. Well, as far as he could tell, this screenplay had nothing to do with science, so why the title? Did Penny write this?
What little evidence he had before him would point to ‘yes’, as not only had the penmanship on the first page certainly been in her handwriting (with the ridiculous loops and hearts on the ‘I’s’) but he was in her apartment, pointing to anything being in said apartment as her property.
Still, it was surprising to see. He had no idea that Penny had any sort of literary aspirations. And while he certainly wasn’t normally one for fictional literature, he had to admit some curiosity over what little he had read.
Surely it couldn’t hurt to read just a little more…
Hopefully the one person I know on my flist (xxsmoothopexx) who knows about BBT won't kill me. I know you're all for Leonard/Penny and I like them too, but, um, *hides*!