Love on the Brain

The Luminous Fish Effect

The two went across and greeted Leonard and did their introduction with Sheldon's mother. Mary, Sheldon's mother, was cooking dinner and was finishing up and putting the dishes away when Leonard looked at the hallway while fidgeting.

"Leonard, if you want to say something then say it," Rose gave him a soft and encouraging smile.

"Sheldon, your mom made dinner,"

"I'm not hungry!" Sheldon snapped from his room.

"Leonard, don't trouble yourself, He's stubborn. He may stay in there until the rapture," Mary was putting the food into plates.

"Are we so sure that's a bad thing?" Penny asked as Rose nudged her to stop.

"I love the boy to death, but he has been difficult since he fell out of me at the K-mart," Mary said, making Raj slightly uncomfortable.

Howard turned to Mary, "excuse me for benign so bold, but I now see where Sheldon gets his smoldering good looks,"

Rose laughed as Mary started talking, "Oh. Honey, that isn't gonna work, but keep trying," Mary turned to Raj, "I made chicken. I hope that isn't one of the animals that you people think is magic," Raj shook his head, "you know, we have an Indian gentleman at our church. Dr. Patel. It's a beautiful story. The Lord spoke to him and moved him to give us all 20% off on Lasek. You know, for those who needed it,"

"That is a lovely story. Are we gonna do anything about Sheldon?" Leonard asked.

"We will. You just have to take your time with Sheldon. His father, God rest his soul, used to say: 'Mary, you have to take you time with Sheldon'"

"Sounds like a wise man," Rose said.

"Oh, not so wise. He once tried to fight a bobcat for some licorice," everyone gave her a weird look, "so everybody grab a plate and a pretty placemat that Shelly wove,"

"Has 'Shelly' ever freaked out like this before?" Rose asked.

"Oh, all the time. I remember one summer when he was 13, he built a small nuclear reactor in the shed and told everybody he was gonna provide electricity for the town. The only problem was, he has no, what you call, fissionable materials. Anyway, when he went on the internet to get some, a man from the government came by and sat him down real gentle and told him it's against the law to have yellow cake uranium in a shed."

"What happened?" Penny asked.

"Poor boy had a fit. Locked himself in his room and built a sonic death ray." Mary recalled.

"A death ray?" Leonard asked with a small smile.

"Well, that's what he called it. Didn't even slow down the neighbor kids," Mary scoffed, "it pissed our dog off to no end," Mary looked at Rose and Leonard, "you know, you two make a cute couple,"

Rose blushed and laughed a little as Leonard responded, "I- no, no. we're not a couple. We're singles. Two singles like those individually wrapped slices of cheese that..." Leonard trailed off, "or friends,"

The two were glancing at each other awkwardly as Mary and Howard had a small exchange. Rose felt a pang as she wanted to at least try with the nerd that she felt a little connection with. Leonard, on the other hand, felt his heart hurt as he watched the girl that was sat next to him. How he oh so wanted to take her on a date and have a future with her, but thought she didn't want him and would rather have a guy like the ones Penny always dated.

"Alright, everybody, it's time to eat," Mary said and just as everyone was about to eat, "Oh, Lord, we thank you for this meal and for all your bounty," everyone spit back their food on their plate, "and we pray that you help Sheldon get back on his rocker," Mary turned to Raj, "now, after a moment of silent meditation, I'm gonna end with 'in Jesus' name' but you two don't feel any obligation to join in. Unless, of course, the Holy Spirit moves you,"

Dinner went by with no problem except for glances between Leonard and Rose so they moved onto dessert.

"This is the best cobbler I have ever had,"

"It was Sheldon's favorite. You know what the secret ingredient is?"

"Love?" Penny smiled sweetly.

"Lard,"

Sheldon slowly crept out of his room and into the kitchen. Howard noticed first and was about to talk until Mary shushed him.

"You'll spook him. He's like a baby deer. You gotta let him come to you,"

Everyone stared at him getting a plate of cobbler until he quickly turned his head to look at them so everyone looked down again. Leonard looked around and just shook his head.

"This is ridiculous. Damn it, Sheldon, snap out of it," Leonard went and stood in front of him, "you're a physicist. You belong at the university doing research, not in your room,"

Sheldon stared and quickly scattered into his room with a slam of his door.

"You don't hunt, do you?" Mary asked Leonard.

The night went into an end and Penny and Rose went back into their apartment. However, when Rose was about to go into her room, Penny had called her into the living room. The two sat down on the couch and Penny turned to Rose.

"Do you have a crush on Leonard?"

"No!" Rose scoffed, but her stutter gave it away, "w-w-what do you mean? That is crazy. You are talking crazy.

"I fucking knew you had a crush on him! The blushing during dinner and the secret glances that, don't worry, nobody saw except for me," Penny reassured Rose.

Rose sighed, "shut up about it now. I gotta sleep, but I do have a crush on him,"