Chapter Text
Chapter One
1.1
Penny stared down at her belly, her seven month pregnant belly which had kept her from drinking but not yet kept her from her medical rep job. It had been profitable, but now that profitability came with apprehension from others as they pulled out a chair from her or asked if she needed to use the bathroom during a presentation.
Leonard had been sweet as always, but something had been bothering him since before Amy and Bernadette had surprised her with a vacation to Hawaii. This would be her last chance to fly anywhere for a while and they wanted to make it as pleasant an experience as they could.
Amy had managed to buy a green sparkly one piece swimsuit that she said made her feel like a mermaid, like Ariel, and Bernadette had already lectured her on the right type of sunblock to use and how to apply it in the best way. And Penny hated how she had chosen to wear a bikini similar to what she used to wear, but this time it had to be bought from the maternity section and guys kept looking at her.
“I thought this would be more exciting,” she complained to Bernadette as they sat on the beach. “But I don’t think Hawaii matches anything without a cocktail.”
“I know, I miss Howie,” Bernadette sighed, “And the kids. I know that Raj is there and I do worry that sometimes that’s who Howie believes he’s married to, but I miss him. I keep thinking about how he’d be excited about the volcanoes or the rocks or how the sky looks here or something.”
“He’d definitely be interested in something,” Penny said as her eyes strayed down the beach to a bunch of younger women who were playing volleyball.
“Well, I miss Sheldon, I found a flag in a gift shop and I even inquired with the store clerk about the accuracy of the flag, but I’m just wondering if it’s enough of a gift. I mean, does a flag really tell him how much I love him.”
“Are you kidding?” Penny laughs, “To Sheldon that is like a hundred gift baskets. You get someone smart to sign it or attached to Star Trek or Star Wars or something and that’s practically gold to him.”
“Have you found something for Leonard?” Bernadette asks as she placed her hand on Penny’s shoulder.
“I have a few options but I haven’t really picked out anything yet,” Penny told them. “He just said that all he wanted was for me to enjoy my time before the baby comes.”
“I’m sure that he’ll love whatever you bring back,” Bernadette reassured her.
Amy smiled with a nod, “Definitely. You could bring him a jar of sand and he’d still treat it as some amazing artifact, I mean, I would.”
Penny took out her phone and sighed. Leonard had told her that she didn’t have to call him all the time if she didn’t want to, that he’d appreciate it but she didn’t have to, so she hadn’t. It wasn’t because she didn’t want to, but this would be her last trip with her two girlfriends before the baby arrived.
Still, something about seeing his name there made her gravitate to the idea of calling him. She got herself up and walked aside, assuring them she would be right back she just felt like checking in.
She called him hoping for some kind of nice calming chat probably with some science or scifi cultural facts in it, but what she got was stressed Leonard, a Leonard she wished hadn’t respected her need for a getaway this much and could actually speak to her.
“Penn,” he said sounding as if he needed his inhaler, “Sorry. Are you okay?” he said and Penny frowned.
“I’m okay. Are you okay?” she said and could hear the noises Leonard made when he got stressed or upset.
“He’s gone too far this time,” Leonard told he trying to keep himself together and controlled. “I didn’t know how far he had gone. I thought things would be obvious to him. I didn’t think that he would carry this through more than a theory.”
“What did Sheldon do this time?” Penny sighed and then closed her eyes, “You know, you’re not always responsible for cleaning up his messes or saving him from himself. Leonard, there are other people who can do that for you. I know that Sheldon is your best fri—”
“He got his hands on stuff that the government didn’t want people to know about,” Leonard interrupted her, “He’s got plans. Diagrams. He has scientific equations down to precise decimal places. And he’s got today’s date and a time only in a few hours in here. He’s trying to Bruce Banner himself.”
“Okay…” Penny said confused by that last statement, “That’s the Hulk, right?” she asks and Leonard groaned.
“Superheroes aren’t real,” he told her, “I mean, yeah, I’ve had dreams to be a superhero, I think in some way we all have, but you don’t just…try and turn yourself into one.
“Sweetheart,” Penny said as she hated herself a little for saying it, “I don’t think that there’s anything you can do about it. Hopefully, he’ll come to his sense, but you have to just let the police get involved.”
Leonard frowned, “They might not come in time and if Sheldon is caught with all of this stuff, there’s no way he’s not going to Federal prison.”
Penny paused, “Then maybe that’s what’s best for him this time.”
1.2
Leonard paced in the kitchen of Howard’s home as he tried to put his mind to ease about what might be going on with Sheldon. “Don’t you have anyone to watch the kids?” he asks the two of them, “or one of you could stay behind and someone could come and help me and talk some reason into him before he does something like blow himself up.”
Howard sighed, “Didn’t Penny just suggest that you contact the police? I mean, he can be really stubborn when he wants something and he really wants this, apparently,” he shrugged. “Look, I think that I’m a friend of Sheldon’s, but I haven’t ever been able to stop him. You’re the best one for him to talk to.”
“Maybe there should be some kind of…legal authority,” Raj added. “If it was someone else, someone who you didn’t know, then would you be asking us to help you stop it or would you be calling the police?”
“Probably calling the police or the FBI or someone,” Leonard said before sighing, “But he’s not just anyone, he’s Sheldon, and he probably has no idea how serious this really is. I mean, I just need to go there and stop it and just…” he bowed his head. “This isn’t even my field of expertise or his. We’re not chemists or biologists, we’re physics, we deal with physics, and unless a scholar is talking about the dynamics of The Flash or something, we don’t do superheroes.”
“Then maybe call him on the phone,” Raj suggested.
Leonard frowned, “He has his phone off. It goes to voicemail every single time.”
Raj looked at Howard and nodded before Howard spoke again, “Then, I don’t think that there’s anything that you can do except get the authorities involved and hope that they react in time to do something, but I’m not going to risk my life over Sheldon Cooper, and I don’t think that you should do so either.
1.3
Sheldon looked over his papers and the items in front of him. He was just about to combine Hydrogen peroxide, acetone, and something he felt should stabilize them in the right conditions an acid base that the military was keeping secret. All of these items might not work as pairs, but as a combination of the three it was just enough to give him the superpowers which had existed in a long line of comic books.
As he was about to pour them together, there was the sound of someone breaking into the lab and Sheldon looked up to see Leonard there, sweat dripping down his face, his glasses fogged. Sheldon tipped the liquid beakers together and Leonard stared at him as if he had gone absolutely crazy especially as the concoction seemed to shake the beaker and it felt as if the lab table was shaking as well.
Leonard rushed over, showing athleticism he had never shown before and all in the sake of stopping an emergency situation. He grabbed Sheldon and pushed him outside but the explosion threw Leonard backwards as soon as he had shoved Sheldon forwards and was caught in the blast before the whole room became smoke and fire and charred walls with Sheldon staring back at the room.
“Leonard?” he asked in disbelief.
End of Chapter One
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