Chapter Four

Sheldon's thumbs anxiously hovered over the touchscreen of his phone. His office was silent, but his Vulcan hearing could pick up the muffled voice of one of his coworkers, no doubt in discussion with someone else about some scientific discovery that Sheldon, in all probability, didn't care about. His blue eyes remained on the phone and his eyes read the 'I'm sorry.' that he had sent to Penny. It was brief, and direct and exactly what needed to be said, but the physicist's brows furrowed as he felt that maybe he should say more.

He didn't enjoy this feeling and he briefly wondered if a hot drink was applicable in this situation. Penny had not responded yet, and for some reason that Sheldon could not discern he felt that it was his fault. Maybe if he explained himself? Sheldon's thumbs moved to form his explanation, but his mind simply didn't know what else he could say.

Sheldon's ears picked up the familiar voice of Raj, who was no doubt talking to Howard while heading to the cafeteria. Sheldon held his breath.

"Dude, I'm telling you, someone should make a Miles Morales movie…"

Raj's voice faded as they passed Sheldon's door, and Sheldon felt a great disappointment pierce him. For a second, his problems with Penny had evaporated and the tiny hope that they would knock on his door so he could educate them on how Miles Morales should not have his own movie, let alone his own comic run. Sheldon's shoulders slumped and his blue eyes drifted away from his phone and stared at his door. His stomach plummeted and he felt the recently familiar feeling of isolation come over him. Sheldon's mouth thinned as he considered his condition. He wasn't a social animal, he didn't like idle chit-chat, but he missed his conversations with his friends. He felt incomplete without them. However, it could be argued and has been in Sheldon's head that they weren't acting like friends at all to him. They stopped coming over for dinner and rarely ever made it to Halo Night, even though they made promises. It seemed that with Leonard gone, Howard and Raj weren't able to deal with his idiosyncrasies and so they essentially took him out to pasture. Sheldon Lee Cooper was many things, but stupid was not one of them. He knew thinly veiled and half-baked excuses when he saw them, his father had made more than enough for him to tell the difference.

He thought about his friends, his phone laid forgotten in the palm of his hands as the brilliant blue eyes stared through the door. It had been nearly four years since the time when they had sabotaged his experiment, and it still weighed heavily on the genius's mind. When Sheldon had first discovered science, it felt like something deep inside him had shifted. The very fabric of his being had been altered. He had always been a curious child, but everything changed when he had discovered science. He felt flooded with curiosity, with longing, with a feeling that Sheldon couldn't understand until that moment. There was only one thing that fit all the facts, love. Sheldon was in love. Sheldon, from that moment on, loved science, and loved knowledge more deeply than he had ever loved anything before, and his bestfriends trampled all over it in their attempt at a prank. His eidetic memory pulled him back to the events that had transpired, and his body was wracked with the emotions of the situation as powerfully as the first time. He remembered the feeling of betrayal, and his eyes grew downcast. They had managed to ruin his career, to topple the great Sheldon Cooper off from his high pedestal and shatter him on the ground. They had broken something in him that he thought would never be broken. For the first time in his life, Sheldon wished that he didn't know something. He wished that he never found out that his best friends, the people he had let in his life, had betrayed him and everything he stood for. He had trusted them, not because they were the most qualified people he knew (he certainly didn't believe that), but because they were his friends. It was because they were his friends that made it worse.

However, that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was no-one took their sleight against him seriously. Howard, Raj and Leonard were never really sorry for what they did. Sure, after Sheldon had left for sanctuary back in his hometown of Galveston, Texas, they had apologized, but Sheldon could hear the hollowness of their repentance. It left a bad taste in his mouth, but he acquiesced and went back because he thought he would rather have horrible people around him than be without his best friends. Sheldon's hands tightened subconsciously on his phone as he remembered how quickly everybody returned to normal, leaving him to pick up the pieces and glue them together again. Penny was no better, while she tried to comfort him, she didn't understand just how severe of an offense it was. Sheldon expected her to feel, to understand his emotions, but she instead took the side of his friends and that's when he felt truly alone. That's when he decided that there was nothing for him in California anymore.

Sheldon's phone buzzed twice, breaking him out of his depression.

'I quit my job.'

Sheldon furrowed his brow in confusion as he reread the text from Penny. She had quit her job? She was the waitress at The Cheesecake Factory. An unsettled feeling, like a stone lodged in his stomach, flooded Sheldon. Things were changing, and he had no control over it. A panic grew inside and Sheldon's thumbs flew to type out a response.

'Why?'

Sheldon stared at his reply, his thumb hovering just above the 'Send,' hesitating. He knew why. No doubt this was an unintentional result of their conversation. The guilt reared its ugly head first as Sheldon slumped in his chair, the computer screen still displaying search results. His eyes flicked toward the ceiling, his irises sweeping over it in an attempt to find anything new to take his mind off how he was feeling.

It didn't work.

Penny's words filled Sheldon's mind and he felt strangely as if the world around him was fading away as his mind's eye focused on each pixel that formed the characters of Penny's message to him.

This was his fault.

'"Shelly, if you do someone wrong, you have'ta make it up to 'em."'

MeeMaw had always given him good advice, even if he didn't realize it at the time. She would always say this to him whenever an outraged parent would call Sheldon's house, pressing his family for some kind of explanation. However, the little genius never thought he did anything wrong, and therefor never really felt like he needed to make it up to them. That ended when a certain blonde had crashed into his life and demanded that he be held accountable for his actions.

If anyone deserved Sheldon's recompense, it was Penny.

So what should he do? What can he do?

Preferably, Sheldon would like to restore order. That meant Penny would continue being a waitress at the Cheesecake Factory, but he knew that it would be impossible, nor really preferable. This experience had changed the fabric of the Universe he lived in, and unless he somehow managed to procure a time-machine (or discover the laws of time-travel while avoiding paradoxes and pitfalls), it simply wasn't possible. Even if Penny returned to being a waitress at the Cheesecake Factory, there was no certainty that she would be as happy as she previously was, in fact if his admittedly limited knowledge of emotions holds true, it would almost certainly be the other way.

She would be unhappy.

Sheldon's stomach plummeted at the thought and he instantly knew that this was not the preferred course of action. If Penny wasn't happy, then his attempts to rectify his errors would be in vain. If Penny wasn't happy, then neither was Sheldon.

RING! RING! RING!

The ring of the office phone broke him out of his thoughts, and his eyes flicked toward the clock. His lunch was nearly over. Sheldon reached for phone with his eyebrows raised, wondering who it could possibly be.

"Dr. Sheldon Cooper speaking." Irritation tainted his tone slightly, and Sheldon remembered in the back of his mind that he had yet to respond to Penny. He would get to that later.

"Hello, Dr. Cooper, this is Dr. Ryan Decker, the American head of Scientific Collaboration from CERN." A middle-aged American voice replied.

Sheldon's eyes widened and he held his breath at the mention of one of the most premier scientific research center, home of the Hadron Collider. Sheldon had the opportunity to visit the Collider with Leonard, but, despite his best efforts, he had gotten sick and couldn't go. Why were they calling him?

As if to answer the question, Dr. Decker continued, "I'm calling on the behalf of CERN to extend a research opportunity to you concerning Magnetic Monopoles."

Sheldon's stomach plummeted at the mention of those words. Magnetic Monopoles. They were the subject of his failed research expedition to the aforementioned Arctic. After that disgrace, Sheldon had thought he would never have to deal with them again.

"Hello, Dr. Cooper?"

Sheldon opened his mouth to reply, to no doubt accept the offer that had been given to him, but the only thing that came out was, "Why?"

"Excuse me, Dr. Cooper?" Dr. Decker's voice indicated that he hadn't expected the question.

"I did research on Magnetic Monopoles in the past and it… was inconclusive," Sheldon's face fidgeted at the euphemism. His eyes looked at the clock and focused on the second hand as it ticked away. He adjusted the receiver and moved it to the other side of his face.

"Ah, yes. We are aware of the Arctic expedition, Dr. Cooper. In fact, it's the main reason that we chose you."

That statement confused Sheldon, but Dr. Decker continued and Sheldon paid attention.

"We are currently doing an expedition that would be analogous with the one you went on, and we need someone who has had the," Dr. Decker paused here, and Sheldon's brows furrowed in concern, "experience that you had in order to make it as accurate as possible. Based on the testimonies given, we have come to understand that the source of your error was due to an extenuating circumstance," Sheldon's brows furrowed. What testimonies? "and also your track record in accuracy, The Arctic notwithstanding, is impeccable."

A certain pride filled Sheldon as he heard those words.

"That being said, we at CERN would like to have a mind like yours analyze the data we collect and cooperate with the team."

"Y-Yes," Sheldon said suddenly with uncontrolled excitement before he coughed, "I mean," he corrected, "It's only natural that I lend my intellect if CERN so desires."

Dr. Decker chuckled light-heartedly before replying, "Well, that's quite a way of accepting an offer. We'll be sure to coordinate with your employer to send over the data. If you don't have one already, I strongly recommend that you get an assistant to help. We'll be in touch, Dr. Cooper."

When Dr. Decker hung up, Sheldon ran through the call once more so that he may fully understand it. He sat back in his chair and pondered the last sentence. He would be in touch. This was quite the opportunity. Sheldon didn't believe in luck, but even if he did, he wouldn't have believed it anyways. However, luck had nothing to do with it, Sheldon thought as he remembered parts of the conversation. Dr. Decker had mentioned that CERN had received testimonies about the Arctic. Whoever had made those testimonies was unknown. Sheldon's mind instantly went to his friend Leonard. He must have been the one to testify to the record on the behalf of Sheldon. After all, Sheldon had taken it for the team and had chosen not to report their intentional interference with the experiment to their employers, even though he was sorely tempted. He had made his sacrifices, allowed his career to take a hit so that they would not face punishment, and when he thought that his friends would never fully make it up to him, they had given him an opportunity to succeed.

Feeling decidedly better, Sheldon considered what Dr. Decker had said about getting an assistant. Alex Jensen, Sheldon's previous assistant, had deserted her post as soon as she could. She claimed to be unable to continue their partnership due to the intensity of her studies, but Sheldon knew that it wasn't the total truth. He had over-heard her peers talk about him in hushed tones and while he may not have the emotional capacity to fully understand, he knew enough from experience to get the point. Sheldon was confident that he could handle the workload alone, but he would rather not have to waste time and energy that he didn't have to, that would only pull his focus from the work ahead of time.

His blue eyes widened as the idea hit him.

It was so simple, so obvious that Sheldon couldn't believe that he hadn't thought of it the instant Dr. Decker had mentioned an assistant. He had caused Penny to lose her job, the least he could do is give her another one. However, the instant Sheldon had thought of it, doubt crept in. Would she make for an adequate assistant? He knew that he wasn't the easiest to work with and no doubt it was going to be more difficult for Penny to keep with his intellect and genius but, Sheldon supposed, an assistant didn't need to fully comprehend or understand Quantum Mechanics or Magnetic Monopoles in order to sort the data in an orderly way and take phone calls. He thought back to the Penny-Cooper equation and what it stood for along with the conversation Sheldon had with the blonde. Her words reverberated in his head once more and Sheldon considered how this might affect their relationship. Would Penny be able to stand him enough to do her job? Would she eventually abandon him like all of his other friends? Sheldon wasn't certain, and he didn't like this odd feeling of insecurity that had wormed its way into his head. The physicist looked at his cellphone, which was held loosely in his left hand. When he had unlocked it and stared at the messages between him and Penny, he broken away from his doubts and decided that he take the chance.

'Can you drive me home from work?'

Thinking that reply alone might not be good enough, Sheldon added, 'We have a lot to discuss.'

Penny laughed through the unshed tears at her TV set, which displayed an episode of her favorite show, Community. She hadn't been watching it long, she started it after Leonard had left to kill time, but she fell in love with it quickly. In a manner of days, she dipped into her very meager funds to buy all of the available seasons and watched them in rapid succession. At first, the main attraction to the show was Jeff Winger, a disgraced ex-lawyer who needs a degree to resume his career. When she first tuned in, she found him irresistibly attractive. However, no matter how hot the actor, Joel McHale, was, Penny found Jeff to be an asshole sometimes. He was selfish, manipulative and a host of other things that made him undesirable to the blonde.

Another character had wormed into her heart with his movie references and his catchphrase ("Cool. Cool cool cool"). Penny's attention became enraptured by the awesomeness that is Abed Nadir, an aloof and emotionally stunted boy in a man's body. From the very first second Penny had seen him on screen, she was reminded of a certain man-child of her own. Trade movie references for comic and science ones and Penny had her very own Sheldon Cooper.

The blonde was still upset about the events that transpired earlier today, and she found that watching Community lightened the mood. Penny's green eyes, still sore from crying, watched the interaction that was playing out on the screen.

"Hey," Troy, played by Donald Glover, said to Annie Edison as she entered the group study room, "sorry about bailing on the psych experiment."

"That was the experiment, Troy," Annie inveighed, her head moving in anger, "we were testing to see how long people would wait in the room."

"Whoa," Troy exclaimed, his eyes widening in comedic realization.

"Oh, gotcha." Abed casually responded.

'"Gotcha"? That's all you have to say?"' Annie shot at Abed, her quintessential "innocent school-girl" appearance contrasting with and sharpening her tone.

"Yeah,"

" You sat in a room for 26 straight hours! Didn't that bother you?" Annie asked Abed in disbelief.

"Yeah, I was livid," The trademark unconcerned tone in his voice seemed to belie Abed's words.

"Then why didn't you leave?" Annie exclaimed at the brown man.

"Because you asked me to stay and you said we were friends," Abed pointed to her and him, his voice never changing as if he was stating a fact.

That interaction was Penny's favorite part of the episode and possibly the season. She watched it frequently because that interaction hit home with her and it was the thing that cemented Abed as Penny's favorite character. The look on Annie's face after Abed had left her with those words was powerful and Penny could relate because she went through similar interactions with Sheldon. It was moments like those that made Penny really appreciate Sheldon.

However, Penny was finding it hard to appreciate Sheldon today, especially after she had quit her job. Penny wiped the tears away from her face and glared at the phone, almost as if it was Sheldon. She couldn't believe that she had agreed to take him home after how rude his texts were, and the blonde briefly considered texting him back to tell him to find his own damn ride. However, that thought withered and died the instant it bloomed. Sheldon relied on her, and since he didn't take his bus pants with him, she knew that unless he, Howard, and Raj managed to reconcile, he needed her.

Sheldon also needed to talk to her. The Whackadoodle's text concerned the blonde. A slight, but perturbed frown formed on Penny's face as she considered it. What could Sheldon want to talk about with her? Not for the first time, the conversation the pair had earlier today popped into Penny's mind, and her frown deepened. He had hurt her feelings immensely when he told her that she was the source of all the disorder in his life, and her emotions about it were still so raw that she didn't want to go for a second round.

Checking the time on her phone, the blonde let out a deep sigh as her mind darkened. If she wanted to avoid a lecture, she should be making her way out the door to pick up Sheldon. Her green eyes glanced once more at her TV screen, which was now focused on a whole separate subplot. She reached for the remote and paused it, the screen frozen on a particularly unflattering image of Jeff Winger. Under different circumstances, Penny would have laughed at the propensity for TV to do that, but her mind was too busy dreading the conversation she was to have later. She pocketed her phone as she got off the couch, and her green eyes trolled around for her keys. They were on the counter, glittering in the light and for a second, Penny's mind wondered how exactly the keys had gotten there. However, she shook the thoughts from her head, grabbed the keys and made her way out of her apartment.

Penny found herself outside of physics department in Caltech. Her green eyes shifted around uncomfortably and she took a deep breath before heading off in search of Sheldon's office. Penny wasn't a complete stranger to the University. When Leonard was working, she would sometimes drop by, but every time she was here, she felt out of her element, intimidated even. This was a place where some of the smartest people she would ever know gathered to work, to discuss, to discover. Penny felt that this was a place where she just simply didn't belong.

When she found his office, Penny knocked to alert Sheldon that she was here to take him home. Her ears picked up the sudden sounds of movement, as if she had broken his concentration with her sudden appearance. Penny's mind grew apprehensive at that thought. What if she had actually interrupted his thoughts? Penny quickly checked the time on her phone, worried that she had inadvertently arrived early, but she was here exactly at the time she should be. With that in mind, another question popped into the blonde's head, what exactly was going on in there?

Suddenly, the door swung open and Sheldon appeared, clad in his trademark windbreaker and shoulder-strap bag.

"Hello, Sheldon," Penny said, slight apprehension coloring her tone. Her mind instantly wondered what it was that they had to discuss.

"Penny," Sheldon nodded in greeting, seemingly unaware of the nervousness behind Penny's words. He adjusted the strap on his bag so that it rested more comfortably on his shoulder.

The walk back to Penny's car was done in silence, and the silence made Penny rather uncomfortable. Sheldon, Penny observed through sideways glances, seemed to be unaffected. However, the tell-tale signs that he was deep in thought were evident on his features. His piercing blue eyes were observant, but not aware, his features were rigid and poised, ready for some type of breakthrough. These moments always made Penny nervous. Sheldon's brain was dissecting something, and whatever it was, it had to do with Penny.

"Penny," Sheldon finally said when they got into the car, his voice revealing a hint of nervousness, "Have you found a job yet?"

Penny's green eyes looked at Sheldon in disbelief, her fingers falling slightly from the ignition. Her engine failed to turn over and she hastily tried again. When it succeeded, she turned to Sheldon and stared at him like he was crazy. After a few more seconds of eye contact, Penny sighed and looked forward again.

"No, Sheldon," she replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "I have not found a job yet. I had just quit my job."

A growing annoyance began to fester within Penny. Was this what he wanted to talk about? It would be typical of Sheldon to censure her about her lack of initiative, but Penny had thought that maybe, just maybe, Sheldon had enough sense not to poke the injured bear. Her hand tightened on the gearshift as she braced for his words and she stared at him with a fiery intensity that warned him against continuing and dared him to continue at the same time.

"Well, that's no excuse, "Sheldon began to admonish, "Within the several hours between you becoming unemployed and coming here to Caltech you could hav-"

He stopped, no doubt in realization that he was about to encroach on a rather raw issue. Sheldon's pronounced Adam's apple moved as he swallowed down the thoughts he was about articulate, his eyes darkening as he realized that whatever it was he was going to say was not going to help her or him. In that moment, it was clear to Penny that anger wasn't what he had aimed for and the anger that had risen inside her died. Her hand automatically relaxed from its death grip and she slid the car into reverse.

"The reason I am asking if you are still unemployed is because I have a job opportunity for you."

Penny's eyes widened as she slammed on the breaks, causing her and Sheldon to collide roughly with the seat. Her green eyes scanned Sheldon's face incredulously and her mouth uttered the word, "What?"

"Ouch," Sheldon said, rubbing the back of his head due to the sudden whiplash, "Penny, you really need to learn how to squeeze on the brakes, not only do sudden stops hurt passengers, but they can do cumulative damage to the car, and, considering the state your car is in currently," Penny saw his blue eyes flick toward the Engine light, "You wouldn't want any costlier repairs."

"Yeah yeah," Penny waved off his comments, choosing instead to focus on the words she found most important, "You got me a job?"

"No Penny, that's not what I said," Sheldon replied, his eyes scanning her face, "Are you sure you didn't sustain any brain injury due to the sudden stop? What's the Capital of New York?"

"New York City," Penny said dismissively, "Sheldon, I'm fine. Now tell me about this job?"

Sheldon paused for a moment, opened his mouth and closed it. His mind reconsidered whatever it was he was going to say. When he finally spoke, he began to relay to Penny the phone conversation he had with Dr. Decker from CERN.

"Cliff Notes, Sheldon," Penny told him after he started repeat to her each sentence he and the doctor from CERN uttered.

"Oh," Sheldon exclaimed, "Right. Well, in summation, CERN has extended to me the opportunity to work with them on their study into magnetic monopoles. I will help analyze their data and collaborate with them in their endeavor."

"Ookay," Penny said, a look of confusion spreading across her face, "And what does this have to do with me getting a job opportunity?"

"Dr. Decker recommended that I acquire an assistant to help me in this task." Sheldon replied, "While I am confident that I could do it myself," His blue eyes flashed with self-confidence, but then darkened, "I understand that my statements from this morning may have led to your unexpected termination. With that in mind I concluded that you would make an excellent assistant to me."

Penny's heart sank. From the look in his eyes, she could tell that Sheldon blamed himself for her actions, and while a part of her agreed with that, Penny couldn't hold onto the grudge.

"Oh, Sheldon…" She wanted to hug him. This was by far the nicest thing she had ever had done to her, and for a split second she felt her hands let loose of the wheel, "Thank you so much Of course I will be your assistant."

She felt like she was about to cry, relief had spread over her body as her muscles that had been tightened without her knowledge loosened up. Penny felt as if an immense weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She would have a job, a job working with the very man that she had come to love as a friend.

"How can I ever repay you?"

Sheldon shifted uncomfortably in his seat, his hands fidgeted as he looked up at her.

"Well…."

Penny sensed his hesitation, and in an instant, she said, "Sheldon, anything! You name it."

"Will you be able to take me to dinner?"

"Absolutely," Penny said without hesitation, a smile forming on her lips as she thought about how simple the request was, "Let's see, today is Tuesday, so you would usually eat…"

Her smile faded, and she looked at Sheldon, who quietly finished the words for her.

"The Cheesecake Factory."

A/N Note: Hey guys, long time no post. Sorry about the delay, adjusting to new environments, which delayed my muse and my release times. I just finished this chapter (And while I am not too sure about the quality it of the ending, I am satisfied enough with it to post it), and would like to wish everyone a happy New Year (because 2016 has gone on long enough!) I'm so happy with the ideas presented in this chapter that I would really like your feedback on them, so please review, follow and favorite!

Chapter Preview: Sheldon couldn't help but wonder what exactly it was he had gotten himself into.