Screen Name: Biogirl

Occupation: Neurobiologist

IQ: 198

Stringboy: Don't leave me hanging, what did he say next?

Biogirl: That he didn't like glycol ether!

Sheldon let out a breathy chuckle as he read the punchline and Howard looked over from where he was discussing a problem at the lab with Sheldon's roommate, Leonard.

"What's up with him today? He's laughing to himself again and not made one snarky comment about my lack of a doctorate all afternoon; it's not like Sheldon to be so quiet."

"He met a girl…" Leonard said drolly, and when his friend's jaw dropped, patted him on the shoulder, grinning widely. "Don't panic, Howard, not a real one."

"Like Siri?" Howard asked with a chuckle, referring to the intelligent personal assistant on their iPhone's.

"Almost, Sheldon met a girl in an online chat room for high IQ doctors. He was looking for someone new to play his word game with and she popped up on screen asking why he was concerned with something so banal. Now, they've made up some stupid ass game about what the world would be like if so and so happened…you need to be a freaking genius to even understand half of the rules. They talk every day at six o'clock and it can go on for hours." Leonard glanced over at where Sheldon's fingers were flying across his keyboard before turning back to his own laptop. "It's been great." He whispered to Howard, "Last night he didn't even notice that I watched three whole episodes of Babylon 5 and he was sitting right there!" The two men chuckled as they stared at the 3D schematic on Leonard's monitor, and Howard leant forward to enlarge something that caught his eye. He was just about to open his mouth to speak when Sheldon let out an excited squeal from the couch.

"Biogirl is going to be attending the conference next month in Chicago!" Sheldon was excited about the conference on two levels; one he was making the key note address at the start of the physics seminar and secondly he was going to make the journey to Chicago by train. He'd booked a week off before the conference was due to start and was going the whole 2265 distance on the South West Chief, journeying through California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas and a whole host of our states before reaching his final destination some 40 odd hours later. Sheldon's excited tone dropped lower as he read the end of the message. "Oh…she wants to meet up." Leonard swivelled his chair around to raise an eyebrow in question as he looked at his friend.

"I thought you'd be leaping at the chance to finally meet the girl that you said, and I quote 'was your intellectual equal on every level'…"

"And she is, despite the fact that her IQ is at least 10 points higher than my own. I don't have any preconceived notions of what she might be like in reality as her mind is what I am drawn to; I am a Homo Novus, Leonard and it doesn't matter one jot whether she is tall and shapely or small and curvy…" Sheldon's tone held a note of wistfulness that had Leonard looking sharply at his friend, but then Sheldon shook his head in an effort to banish the stray memory that threatened his peaceful exterior. "We are perfectly happy as we are…why does she suddenly want to change that? I think it might be quite exciting to attend a conference knowing that the other will be there, but never knowing who they were precisely…it would be quite the puzzle, don't you think?"

"Why don't you tell her that then?" Howard suggested, "Or," He leant forward a little rubbing his hands together as he thought of something a little sneaky.

"Yes?"

"Why don't you tell her that you want to meet her in that little coffee shop a few blocks away? Get her to wear something distinctive that will make her stand out, Raj and I can get a seat at the back of the shop; set up a little live camera feed that feeds to you in the car…you can then take a look and decide whether you want to meet her or not."

"Sounds like something from a spy thriller to me, and highly illegal to boot." Leonard remarked from the chair and the other two just hushed him.

"It's from 'The Shop around the Corner' actually." Howard muttered behind his hand. "Ma had it on last weekend. It's about two pen pal's that decide to meet up and the guy recognises the girl as someone he works with and doesn't reveal that he's her pen pal. They made a remake a few years ago with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks."

"Perfect…I can observe her from a distance whilst preserving my anonymity. I'll have the upper hand at the conference knowing exactly who she is." Sheldon started up a new conversation with Biogirl and glanced at Howard, waiting for details.

"Make it four thirty on Saturday at The Coffee Company on the corner of Main and Vine. Raj and I will get there around four so that we can spot her when she comes in…Tell her to step up to the counter and order a drink at precisely four thirty five and we'll know our target."

"Okay….sending now."

Stringboy: Have decided maybe prudent to meet after all. How about 4:30 this Saturday at The Coffee Company in Pasadena?

Biogirl: It's a date!

Stringboy: It is certainly not a date! We will just be two like-minded individuals meeting over a cup of tea…Please order a drink at 4:35 and let me know what you will be wearing so that I will know who you are

Biogirl: I'll wear a purple cardigan and order a glass of water. See you there!

"Oh no you won't little lady…" Sheldon breathily chuckled again as he signed off, closing his laptop with a satisfied sigh. "All set, she'll wear a purple cardigan and order a glass of water."

"This is gonna be great! It's like we're secret agents of SHIELD or something." Howard grabbed his jacket from behind Leonard and pulled it on.

"Wait! Where are you off to? Don't you want to work some more on your problem?" Leonard pointed at the rotating image on his screen and Howard waved him away.

"Nah, I think I see where the kink is coming from…I need to get over to Raj's place and fill him in on Saturday, have a little strategy meeting and start getting the camera feed set up. Later guys!" In a flash he was gone, Leonard switched off his laptop and turned around to talk to Sheldon only to find he had disappeared into his room as well.

"More Babylon 5 for me then." He murmured to himself as he picked up the DVD control and settled back for another thrilling adventure in space.