Written for BigBang_Land at Livejournal, inspired by the Shamy fans at FanForum. Enjoy!

I do not own The Big Bang Theory or any of its characters.

Sheldon has not been on the roof in months. It's never necessary for him to go up there, there's no experiments to be done – they hit the moon once, no need to do it again – and it's not the most sanitary location on the planet. That would be his bedroom. He does like his bedroom.

But he has to come up here tonight because of a bet that he's lost with Wolowitz. He really does need to stop making bets with Wolowitz. For some reason he always loses to Wolowitz and that embarrasses him. The man doesn't even have a doctorate. But he does know his insects.

Sheldon opens the door, steps onto the roof, and decides that he is only going to stop making bets with Wolowitz about entomology.

The extension cord should be coiled up in the corner, Leonard had said. By that box of custodian's tools that was left up there from before our lunar experiment.

Of course Sheldon had not known what box of custodian's tools. He was the mastermind of the experiment. It wasn't his job to know where custodian's tools were.

Now, however, he wishes that he had paid more attention that night, spent less time worrying about where that dirty sock was. Or maybe not, he thinks, shaking his head. It is very important to know where dirty socks were.

Sheldon notices a cardboard box in the corner and moves toward it There is indeed a yellow extension cord next to it. Wondering why this custodian would carry his or her tools in something as weak as cardboard – and then deciding that it was just the same type of custodian that would leave tools on a roof – he reaches over and picks up the extension cord.

An instant later he drops the cord and holds his hands out so they won't touch anything else. Now that the cord is moved from its original place, he can clearly see the other dirty sock, lying right where his hands have just been.

Sheldon's mind flashes back to a time a little more than a year ago, to that night when he was approached by his friend and their mutual acquaintance about meeting someone from an online dating site.

"Sheldon, I've hidden the dirty sock from the roof somewhere in your apartment. Unless you are willing to come with us to meet this girl, it will remain there forever."

"You're bluffing."

" Are you willing to risk it?"

"Curse you."

Raj had been bluffing all along. Sheldon should have known then, but now he does for certain. He thinks about picking up the dirty sock with the meter stick lying against the wall and flinging it over to the building that Penny had leaped to when their time machine prevented her from attending her menial job. He is sure he can come up with the force needed to get it there. He thinks about running downstairs and cursing out Raj for bluffing and forcing him to endure…

Sheldon stops two feet from the meter stick and straightens himself up. He looks back at the dirty sock, the filthy, unsanitary piece of hosiery that had caused him no end of worry. And he realizes that, without that dirty sock, he never would have met Amy Farrah Fowler. Even if they'd managed to get him to the coffee shop, if he hadn't mentioned the dirty sock he never would have known what he and Amy have in common.

Sheldon's mind is logical. It would make Spock proud. And Sheldon's mind tells him that without that dirty sock, he wouldn't have someone with whom he could web chat with about the rest of his friends. He wouldn't have a partner to take to Brian Greene lectures. He would not have been able to track gossip through his social group.

He wouldn't have someone who understands him. He wouldn't have his only relationship of mutual respect, which he realizes that he values more than he thought he did. He wouldn't have someone to vent his frustrations to. He wouldn't have someone that he genuinely enjoyed being around on a fairly consistant basis.

Sheldon moves the box of custodian rubbish over the top of the sock. It can remain there. It's the least he can do for the object that had caused him to meet a fellow Homo novus.

Sheldon is halfway back to his apartment when he mentally slaps himself for acting so silly. A sock is an inanimate object, with not even a minimal system of intelligence. The fact that he let it stay on their roof due to a feeling of owing it something is a courtesy that Sheldon is sure only people like Missy or Penny would grant to something as worthless as a dirty sock.

But, despite this realization, Sheldon does not return to the rooftop to move the sock. Instead, he returns to the apartment, hands the filty extension cord to Wolowitz, who grins in the satisfaction of making Sheldon Lee Cooper, PhD, trek up to a filthy rooftop to fetch such a meaningless object, and goes to his room. It's almost time for his daily Skype with Amy Farrah Fowler.