The Tangerine Factor

"Penny wait!" Claire shouted as she followed the irate blonde across the hall to the boys' apartment, "Hold on! Just..."

But it was too late, Penny had already shoved her way into their apartment, storming to the window with a brisk, "I need to use your window!" shouted at Leonard, not even waiting to hear a response before she was slamming their window open.

"Oh, yeah, no, sure, go ahead?" Leonard frowned, confused, glancing at Claire for some sort of clarification of what was going on, either because she was Penny's roommate and had been trying to stop the woman, so she clearly knew what was going on, or because she was a girl and if it was a girl thing she'd be the best person to explain it. He wasn't sure he wanted to risk asking Penny now that the woman seemed to be on a warpath.

Penny half leaned out the window, making Claire jerk forward as if to grab her incase she fell out, calling out to a man on the street, "Hey jerk-face, you forgot your iPod!" and threw it out of the window, none of them knowing if she was aiming for the man's head or the street but whatever the case, the device clearly hit the concrete below.

"Um...what's going on?" Leonard asked Claire as he saw the girl shaking her head.

"Well, Leonard, it seems Penny and Mike...um...broke up?" Claire simplified, trying to give the most PG rated version of events for what had happened with Sheldon in the same room.

Penny, however, was all for telling them straight up, scoffing out, "Ha! That stupid, self-centered bastard wrote about our sex life in his blog!" she turned back to the window, "Drop dead, you stupid, self-centered bastard!" she slammed the window shut once more and turned back to them, forcing herself to take a breath, before turning to Leonard, "Thank you," she offered, gesturing at the window and stalked out of the room.

"Penny..." Claire ran after her, wanting to make sure Penny was ok...though she was very tempted to turn back when she heard Howard say, 'Not now, I have a blog to find!'

She shook her head at that remark and hurried after Penny, hopefully the little tricks that Sheldon had taught her would help her find Mike's blog first and shut it down before Howard or any one else could see it.

~8~

Claire opened the apartment door when someone knocked on it, "Hey," she winced, seeing Leonard standing there, "Not really the best time Leonard..."

"I know, I know," he nodded, trying to glance past her and over at Penny who seemed to be scooping ice cream into a bowl with a bottle of alcohol next to it, "I just wanted to see if she was ok," Claire sighed but stepped back, letting Leonard in, "Penny, are you ok?"

"I'm fine, Leonard, just go away," Penny grumbled, stabbing the ice cream with her spook and stuffing her face with it.

"Look, I understand that breaking up with someone can be very painful…"

"GO AWAY!" she snapped.

"Ok, feel better, bye," he stumbled back, half running out of the apartment.

"Told you!" Claire called after him as he disappeared back into his apartment.

Penny sighed, moving to sit down on the couch, the bowl clutched in her hand, "I shouldn't have yelled at him."

"No," Claire agreed, moving to sit beside her, hesitating a moment before she put her arm around Penny's shoulders, giving her a little squeeze, trying to be comforting, "But he'll understand. It's not easy to be nice to others when you're hurting inside. Shelly's heard me holler a few times at him when I get a migraine, he understands it's just my head hurting that makes me shout. Just like Leonard will understand it's just your heart hurting that was making you shout."

Penny shoved another spoonful into her mouth, "Still...I feel even worse now."

Claire gave her a sympathetic look, "Want me to go check on him?" she asked, rubbing Penny's back, "Apologize for you?"

"Would you?" Penny looked at her. She wanted to do it herself, but she...she didn't want Leonard to see her like this.

"No problem, sugar," she smiled, getting up and heading across the hall, stepping in to the apartment in time to see Raj looking over Howard's shoulder as he sat at a laptop on Leonard's desk, Sheldon and Leonard away from the duo and by the couch.

"...posted intimate details of their physical relationship on his blog, which I cannot find anywhere," Howard was grumbling.

"Because I managed to get access to it and block Howie," Claire called, moving to sit beside Sheldon on the armrest, "Only Penny has access to it now," she hadn't been quick enough to keep other people from seeing it, but she'd managed to keep it from spreading.

"Is she..." Leonard began.

Claire offered him a smile, "She's calmed down some, wanted me to apologize to you for her for snapping before."

He nodded, standing, "You know what," he took a breath, "I'm going to go back and try talking to her again."

"Good for your Leonard," Claire beamed, "You are the sweetest man on earth."

"Thank you," Leonard grinned adorably.

"Hold on," Sheldon looked at her, a small pout on his face, "I'll have you know I can be incredibly sweet too, see," and gave her a heart-melting smile.

Claire just shook her head, smirking at that, "We both know that's your Koala face," she tsked him, she'd gone to the zoo a time or two with him, he always made that face at the koalas, they were his favorite.

Sheldon let out a little huff at that but turned back to the conversation when Howard decided to offer his opinion as well, "Good idea! Sit with her, hold her, comfort her, and if the moment feels right, see if you can cop a feel."

Claire leaned over and grabbed a pillow off the armchair and threw it at his head for that remark, "Pervert."

"I'm not going to do that, Howard," Leonard rolled his eyes, reaffirming Claire's faith in mankind.

"I'm not aware of any social convention that requires you to intervene at all," Sheldon frowned, remarking offhandedly.

"What about the damsel in distress, Shelly?" Claire pointed out.

"The 12th century code of chivalry is not exactly current," he argued, "Leonard would also have to be knighted for that to apply."

She scoffed, "You can't tell me you don't remember when we used to play that game Shelly Bean. Don't you dare deny that you weren't always the knight coming to rescue me from our brothers."

He sighed, "Oh the days of ignorant youth."

"The 'social convention' you're looking for extends from that," Claire continued, "It's the modern notion that, when a woman is upset, a friend, whether male or female, comfort her," Claire explained, gently putting her hand on his shoulder, "Like when my daddy threw that little robotic dog you made for me away. You comforted me then."

"Yes, because you were upset," Sheldon frowned, "You were crying, and you never cry."

Claire smiled softly at that, "Well right now, Penny's upset" she explained, "Probably more than I was."

"Oh," Sheldon blinked and nodded, "I see."

Leonard nodded, relieved Sheldon was going to lay off him going now, "I'm going over there."

"Remember to sit on your hands a bit so they're warm!" Howard called.

"Howard, don't make me get the duct tape," Claire rolled her eyes, trying to find another pillow in reach but came up with nothing.

"I'm her friend, I'm not going to take advantage of her vulnerability," Leonard told them.

"What, so you're saying that if, in the depths of despair, she throws herself at you and demands you take her, right there, right now, you'll just walk away?" Howard smirked, catching the next pillow Claire managed to grab hold of.

"I said I'm her friend. Not her gay friend," Leonard mumbled before heading out...only to return not even 5 minutes later looking like he'd just made the worst mistake of his life.

"What happened Leonard?" Claire asked, catching sight of his expression first, cutting off her debate with Sheldon about whether actual knights would be more chivalrous than robot knights that were programmed to be such.

"I think I may have just helped Penny get back together with Mike," he sighed, falling down onto the couch, stunned that he'd done that, "She's on her way over to his place right now.

Claire shook her head, getting up, "Leave it to me," she told him, pulling out her cell phone as she headed for the door, not wanting Howard to overhear some of the things she'd be saying, "Pen?" she called as Penny picked up, "What in the nine circles of hell do you think you're doing running off after a man who told the world that you…"

"No!" Howard cried as the door shut on what Claire was saying, leaving him falling off the chair he'd been sitting in in his attempts to lean over and hear more.

"So...how did you convince penny to forgive Mike?" Raj asked.

Leonard sighed.

~8~

Needless to say, things had not gone well with Mike and Penny getting back together. Mike had, apparently, already moved on to another woman...which Penny walked in on. She'd shouted at Leonard once more and ended up crying on her couch, Claire beside her, rubbing her back, trying to calm her down. Penny had, of course, felt awful for what she'd done, again, yelling at Leonard when he'd been trying to help but this time SHE insisted on being the one to apologize to Leonard for yelling. She'd asked Claire if she might send Leonard over and give her a minute or two to talk to him.

So Claire had gone to Sheldon's to give them time to talk and come back only after Leonard returned looking rather pleased...only to find Penny pacing a hole in the floor, wringing her hands.

"Pen?" she paused, shutting the door slowly, "You wanna tell me why Leonard looks like he just went and won the lottery, sugar?"

Penny stopped pacing and looked over at Claire, smiling softly, seeming very touched by what Claire had said, "He looks like he won the lottery?"

"Oh yeah," Claire laughed, nodding her head as she thought back to Leonard's face.

Penny's smile faltered quickly as she shook her head, "No, no, that's bad."

"Can I ask why?" Claire frowned, confused, moving to sit on the couch and look at her.

Penny took a deep breath, hurrying to sit down beside Claire, before blurting out, "He asked me out."

Claire blinked, still not following, "...ok?"

"And I said yes," Penny gave her a look like she should know what that meant.

But Claire just nodded slowly, "Still not seeing the problem."

Penny sighed, "What if I go out with him and it destroys our friendship? Or...what if he's just a jerk, I don't exactly have the best track record with men and..."

"Pen," Claire reached out to take her hand, quieting her, "Weren't you just complaining to me earlier that all the men you picked were good looking but pigs? Well, yeah, Leonard's cute in his own way, but he's also smart, and he's the farthest thing from a pig. He's clearly taken with you, he would never treat you badly...or else I'd kick him so hard in the nuts he'd be singing soprano till the day he dies."

Penny laughed at that, "Thanks," she put her hand on Claire's, "So...you think it's a good thing to date Leonard?"

"It's just one date, sugar," she reminded her, "If it's bad, then you're better as friends and you'll both know that. If it's good...who knows, Leonard may be just the guy you need right now. Smart, stable, dedicated, and just...a good person."

Penny smiled a bit, "You're right, there's nothing to worry about," she nodded, before a sly smirk made it's way to her face, "Or, you know, you could always join us..."

"I slapped Howard for is comment on a threesome, I'll slap you too," Claire warned, though it was more with a joking tone, as though she knew that wasn't REALLY what Penny was getting at.

Penny laughed, "No, I mean, join us in a double date."

Claire's face scrunched a little at that, "How would that work?"

"It works when I go on a date with someone and a friend goes on a date with someone else, just the dates happen together."

"Yeah, I know what a double date is," Claire shook her head, "I meant, why would you ask me? I don't have a boyfriend or...or anything like that."

"Really?" Penny deadpanned, giving her an incredulous look, "There's no one you'd be remotely interested in dating?"

"Hmm..." Claire hummed, deeply considering the question, "No, can't say that there is..."

"No one at all?" Penny tried to nudge her on.

"No."

"You're not interested in anyone?"

"I don't really know many guys, Pen," Claire pointed out, "I mean, I had some courses with a few guys working for my PhD but," she shrugged, "I know if it's like it was for me everywhere, but most of those guys seemed to think they were destined to be someone's knight in shining armor and I never really was interested in any of them."

"Really?" Penny blinked at that, "I thought all that stuff was your niche."

Claire chuckled, "It is but I just...I never really had a need for a knight in shining armor. I already had one."

"You did?" Penny baited, sensing they were getting back to the point she was trying to make.

"Well yeah," Claire smiled, "Shelly's always been my knight in shining armor."

"And yet you didn't even consider him for a double date?"

"Why would I do that?"

Penny blinked again and stared at her, a realization dawning on her that Claire genuinely had NO idea there was something between her and Sheldon. She thought it would just be Sheldon that she'd have to try and get through to, get him to realize his real feelings about Claire. She'd really thought that Claire, of all people, knew there was something there, but...looking at her now, seeing how Claire was just staring at her, she realized Claire genuinely didn't seem to realize it either.

"Because you two are perfect for each other," Penny tried, "Because you have a major crush on him?"

"I-I d-don't...I don't have a-a-a crush on Shelly," Claire stuttered a bit, seemingly very shocked by Penny's assessment, "I...he-he's my b-best friend! That's all!"

"Oh sweetie," Penny shook her head, "Trust me, the way you act around Sheldon, the way you treat him, I don't think there's a pair of best friends alive that act that way."

"I...I d-don't know wh-what you mean," Claire kept stuttering.

Penny sighed, "You know his entire routine, all his likes and dislikes. You've got the patience of a saint when it comes to him. You shuffle your butt over to his apartment at all hours of the morning if he sends you a text..."

"You know about those?" Claire blinked, startled Penny had heard her leaving.

"Your phone isn't exactly quiet, neither is your cursing when you trip over things," Penny frowned at that, "Seriously you should just nail down your stuff instead of changing it around every two days."

"I can't decide how to fix my room," Claire admitted, "There's just so much stuff and once I set it somewhere I start to think it might be better somewhere else and..."

"No," Penny cut in, not about to let them get distracted from this conversation, "No, no, we're focusing," she looked at Claire, "You and Sheldon, are so not JUST friends, Claire. Trust me."

"We are though," Claire insisted, "All the stuff you said, friends do do that and..."

"I know I don't kiss my friends..."

"You kissed Leonard," Claire pointed out.

"For his birthday," Penny defended, though her cheeks blushed a bit, not about to tell Claire she'd also kissed Leonard during Halloween too before Claire had moved in, "And I definitely did NOT kiss him the way Sheldon kissed you," Penny challenged.

Claire seemed stuck for a response to that, her cheeks flaming, "He-he was d-drunk..."

"Claire, a boy like Sheldon doesn't just kiss anyone like that, drunk or not," she gave Claire a look, "He treats you differently than the rest of us..."

"He's known me longer..."

"And you treat him differently," Penny continued as though she hadn't been interrupted, "You treat him differently than women treat their 'friends.'"

"I-I don't th-think that's tr-true," Claire mumbled.

"Oh sweetie," Penny patted her arm, "It is," she got up, moving to the kitchen, still talking as Claire listened, "And I may not be the expert on fairytales and knights and things like you, but even I know that the 'knight in shining armor' usually ends up being the prince charming that whisks the princess away for their happily ever after, aren't they?"

She returned to the couch with a carton of double chocolate, chocolate chip ice cream and a spoon, handing it to a very stunned Claire who just started to eat it, lost in her thoughts at what Penny had said. Penny shook her head with a small smile as she watched the girl eat, knowing that her words had gotten to the girl. Claire might be a genius according to Sheldon...but when it came to real life and matters of the heart, SHE was the genius then.

~8~

"Hey Pen," Claire greeted, scraping what seemed to be black hockey pucks into the trashcan when Penny entered the apartment later the next day...the woman belatedly realizing that they were meant to be pancakes, "Everything ok?" she asked, seeing that Penny appeared a bit confused about something.

"Ok, three things..." Penny began, not even about to comment on if Claire had thought about what she'd said in regards to liking Sheldon as she was starting to freak out about her upcoming date with Leonard now and her last conversation about it had left her feeling very, very confused.

"Shoot," she called, wiping the pan off, scratching at a bit of stuck on pancake remains with her nail, but still giving Penny her attention.

"Ok, so I tried asking Sheldon his opinion about the Leonard situation since he knows Leonard best..." Claire started to smile, just KNOWING where this was going, "So now I need to know what are..." she looked down at her phone where she'd texted herself her notes, "'Excess epithelial cells slough off naturally?'"

"It's a fancy-smancy word for skin cells," Claire explained, "Like when you scratch your arm, those little flakes. I'm guessing by the 'slough off naturally' Shelly was trying to say that it's best to let it fall off naturally than to scrub them off."

"Right," Penny nodded, that made sense, "And...who's Men-laus?"

Claire's face scrunched, "Menelaus?" she asked for confirmation and Penny nodded, "He was the husband of Helen of Troy, the guy who started the Trojan War to get her back, she was a real beauty according to the myths."

"Ok..." Penny sighed, "One more, a light year? Anything?"

"It's a way to measure distance while travelling in outer space."

"Thought so," she huffed, falling onto the couch, "Sheldon found a spot," she gestured at the room, just letting her know...incase she wanted to find a 'spot' of her own near his.

She glanced at Claire, debating whether she should tell the girl exactly what she and Sheldon had been talking about before she'd asked him about his opinion on her and Leonard. She'd actually asked him if Claire had any tells for if she was lying. Sheldon had remarked that he didn't believe she had any when it came to lying to HIM, though after her remark that she HAD lied to him a time or two he had actually sat down and considered her interactions with others and how she lied to them. Well not really lied, it came out more when someone was asking her about a lie or something she was trying to hide. Turns out, Claire stuttered. Just like she had when she'd been asked if she liked Sheldon that way. She was starting to think that maybe Claire really didn't realize, consciously, that she liked Sheldon in that manner. But it HAD to be a Floridia...Freudian Slip that the girl stuttered when she'd been asked that particular thing. Why else would Claire stutter unless some part of her was trying not to admit something, was trying to hide it? Maybe Claire didn't consciously know she liked Sheldon, but subconsciously...she had no doubts the girl was gone for Sheldon Lee Cooper.

Penny shook her head, deciding to keep that little 'telling' tidbit to herself for now, going instead with, "He came in to talk...and then kept going on about some Shubert's cat..."

"Schrodinger's cat?" Claire guessed, setting the pan down and trying to wipe some of the black ashes off her shirt.

"Oh thank god you know about it," she perked up in her seat and twisted to face her, "Explain it to me in a non-Sheldon way?"

Claire laughed, tugging at her shirt as she examined it, wondering if she might be able to get away with just calling the shirt camouflage since it was an olive sort of green and the black smears could count as that, "Basically an experiment that sort of says you won't know what you're gonna get, whether it's good or bad, unless you go for it."

Penny blinked, "Can you like make a book or some sort of translation app for my phone to just translate whatever the hell Sheldon says to me?"

Claire shook her head, "Sorry sugar, I'm one of a kind."

~8~

Leonard sighed as he walked through the University cafeteria with Sheldon, spotting two open seats beside two Asian coworkers, "Two seats right there."

"Chong sho sha pwe," Sheldon nodded at the two, not knowing he'd basically said 'Long live concrete,' before sitting, "Xie xie," he had been trying to learn the language so that he could confront a local restaurant about his unhappiness with their service in their native language. Needless to say, it was not going well.

"Sheldon, I think I've made a mistake," Leonard murmured.

"I can see that," Sheldon agreed, eyeing Leonard's lunch tray, "Unless you're planning on running a marathon, choosing both stuffing and mashed potatoes is a starch filled redundancy. Or unless you're Claire," he added, "She loves potatoes, she actually eats French fries by dipping them in mashed potatoes..."

"Fascinating," Leonard cut in dryly, "No, it's about Penny."

"A mistake involving Penny?" Sheldon paused to think on that, "Ok, you'll have to narrow it down."

"I don't think I can go out with her tonight."

"Then don't," he shrugged.

Leonard sighed, "Other people would say 'why not?'"

"Other people might be interested."

"CLAIRE would ask why not," Leonard pointed out.

"But I'm not Claire."

"I'm going to talk anyway."

"I assumed you would. Claire does that too only I'm contractually obligated to listen anyway, though, to be fair, most of what she says is far more interesting than your drivel about Penny..."

"Now that I'm actually about to go out with Penny, I'm not excited," Leonard ignored his comment, really wanting to talk to someone about it and he wanted to attempt Sheldon, of all people first, he needed cold hard logical thinking right now, "I'm nauseous."

"Ah, then your meal choice is appropriate. Starch absorbs fluid which reduces the amount of vomit available for violent expulsion."

"Right..." ok, perhaps he should have tried Claire first then, that was a bit too cold hard logic for him.

"You also made a common grammatical mistake, you said nauseous when you meant nauseated..." he paused, stiffening, "Oh good lord I'm turning into Claire," he sighed, "Go on."

"Sheldon, this date is probably my one chance with Penny, what happens if I blow it?"

"Well, if we accept your premise, and also accept the highly improbable assumption that Penny is the only woman in the world for you, then we can logically conclude that the result of blowing it would be that you end up a lonely, bitter old man with no progeny. The image of any number of evil lighthouse keepers from Scooby Doo cartoons Claire and I would watch comes to mind."

"You're not helping."

"Alright, what response on my part would bring this conversation to a speedy conclusion?"

"Tell me whether or not to go through with the date."

Sheldon considered it a moment, before answering, "Schrodinger's Cat."

"Wow," Leonard blinked, grinning, "That's brilliant!"

"You sound surprised," Sheldon smiled at his food, "Mmm," he turned to the Asian man beside him, "Hou zi shui zai li du."

The couple quickly got up as they stared at Sheldon, before hurrying away, not wanting to know why he'd just said 'your monkey sleeps inside me.'

~8~

"You're gonna do just fine, Leonard," Claire reassured Leonard, Sheldon having asked her to 'fill in' for him in the role of supporter as he had some 'more serious' business to take care of with the Chinese food restaurant that continually gave him an order of tangerine chicken that was not up to his standards, "Stop worrying!"

"But what if..."

"What if what?" she shook her head, putting her hands on his shoulders so he'd look at her, "The worst that can happen is you both discover your better as friends and you'd still be able to hang out."

"I'm just...I want to try and make this the best date she's been on, show her that I'm different than those other jerks that hurt her or let her down in the past."

She smiled at that, touched at how much he really cared about Penny, "'Do or do not," she recited words of wisdom from Master Yoda himself, "There is no try.'"

Leonard laughed at that, "I see why Sheldon likes you," he nodded, feeling confident as he stepped out of the apartment, heading for Penny's.

"Just don't use the Force on her!" Claire laughed after him, waving him on, before shutting the door quickly and watching through the peephole as Leonard entered the apartment, having left the door open by accident. She could see him say something to Penny before swooping in and kissing the girl, making Claire squeal with an ungodly, inhuman noise expressing her glee at the turn of events especially when she saw the wide smile on Penny's face after he pulled away.

Mission successful.

She brushed her hands off and turned to sit on the couch, careful to avoid Sheldon's spot while she waited for Penny and Leonard to head off before going back to her apartment. Her smile started to fade into a considering line as she thought back to what Penny had said the other day, to what Leonard had said only moments ago, 'I see why Sheldon likes you.'

He meant it in a platonic way, she was sure, the same way she liked Sheldon. Because of course she liked Sheldon, he was her best friend, she would always like him. Penny was just...she was getting her signals mixed up. It was Sheldon, the same boy she had grown up with. Yes, she treated him differently because he had some quirks that she had seen others, far too often, push aside and ignore or make more difficult for him to live with and she wasn't going to do that to him. So...sure, she did go over his apartment at ungodly hours because he texted that he needed her help. Friends did that. She was almost sure of it. And, Sheldon was a kind man at heart, sure he was sarcastic and sometimes arrogant and his remarks and pride sometimes hurt others, but deep down he was a caring man that did try to look out for the people that were important to him.

He was important to her as well.

And, so what if she found his little breathy laugh that he did when he found something funny to be cute? It was. It was adorable and unique to him. And what did it matter if she'd never really had a sort of long relationship with another boy because of Sheldon? Oh she'd had a boyfriend or two here and there, but the ones from Texas would always make some remark about Sheldon and she'd drop them like a hot potato. Or they'd act a little too chivalrous and it would just remind her of Sheldon and her playing knights and damsels and how he was her self-appointed knight. What did it matter if Sheldon was her longest relationship with a man? It didn't mean she liked him like THAT.

No.

His laugh was cute, yes. And his hugs, when he did give them to her, despite being awkward at first, always made her warm inside. And maybe he was her first real kiss and ok, maybe when he kissed her it wasn't like the other handful of men she'd kissed in the past but something...something that made her insides tingle and her mind go black for a little. And ok...she liked being able to sit on the armrest right next to him, and tease him, and perhaps she might have applied to Caltech in the off chance she'd get to see her best friend more. And maybe her favorite color happened to be the same as his eyes, and she really liked to see him happy, and she liked holding his hand (after sanitizing her own) during scary movies she would talk him into seeing for the sheer fact that it gave her two hours of straight hand holding and...

Claire sat up straight on the couch as a realization dawned on her.

Penny maybe wasn't quite so wrong after all.

Penny might just be a little right about her, about Sheldon, about how she felt about the man...

Oh dear lord...she liked Sheldon Cooper.

To be continued...in...The Relationship Expansion!

A/N: And yay! Claire is now conscious of the fact that she likes Sheldon! ;) ;) That's at least one half down, one more to go right? :) It'll be a little tricky for her from that point on though, will she continue to dwell on 'liking' him or will she realize that it might be a bit more than that? We'll have to wait and see :)

And...we'll be getting a special treat! This series is usually updated with a chapter, then we have a 2 day break, and then another chapter. BUT! JUST for the end of one story and start of another, we'll be getting the very next story and its first chapter tomorrow! From there we'll still be continuing the 2-day thing afterwards on the date it should be posted. For example, as I posted a chapter today, technically the next chapter should be Monday. So what I'll be doing is posting the next story/chapter tomorrow, and then we'll only have a 1-day break, and the continuing chapter on that Monday. From there it'll stick with the 2-day break between chapters ;) Just thought it would be good to not make you wait for the next story ;)

Now this story is over! O.O It went by so fast! Lol :) So I wanted to take a second to just thank you guys, all of you, anyone that read/reviewed/favorited/followed/anything this story. I'm really so glad that you're enjoying it and are liking Claire so far :) It really means a lot to me and I'll do my best to continue to give you some good stories to come. I love you guys so much :')

Some notes on reviews...

Nope, once Sheldon and Claire get together I don't think either one would let the other go ;)

I like the pairing name :) I'm actually going to post a note about it on the first chapter of the next story asking for suggestions for pairing names and then make a poll for a vote to make it official :) I'm really glad that Howard toned it down as the show went on, Bernadette really changed him for the better :)

Claire and Will will have a sort of rough start, she dislikes him for the sole reason that Sheldon dislikes him, but once he and Will become some-what friends, she'll warm up to him. Some of their interactions might come across, to Sheldon, as being more serious or flirty than they actually are, which might be interesting to see his reactions and what he says/thinks about it to Amy without realizing he probably shouldn't be complaining about his unhappiness another girl is with another guy to his girlfriend };)

I was debating having Leonard get his party too, but the ending felt more like what Leonard would want/be comfortable with, just his good friends instead of a loud, packed room full of drunk strangers :) But Claire definitely brought up the kiss here ;) Claire and Penny will very much sort of nudge each other's relationships in the future yup ;)