"The X-Advisors..."

"The X-Advisors..." Part XVI...

Disclaimer: All is Chuck's...

Part XVI...

"Of course, in my bizarre way then, I was madly in love with your grandmother..." Stein smiled at Amy. "The first person I'd met in years who really could challenge me intellectually...As well as looking damned hot in a tweed suit and hair bun. But of course, her heart was elsewhere set...Though, realizing my passion despite my attempts to cover it with what I believed was coolly arrogant indifference, she was very kind to me...Though not above occasionally having her bit of fun with me."

"We were all such good friends then...Xavier, Margaret...And your future grandfather...And I loved them all, in my odd and selfish way, but especially Xavier and his sweet Maggie...These two generous souls had brought me out of the dark of my loneliness and into the light, Amy."

"I think I know the feeling..." Amy beamed. "God knows where Sheldon and I would be but for Leonard Hofstadter and Penny...And our other friends..."

Eyeing Stein carefully... "But you have quite the reputation, Doctor..." Worried look... "Of course Sheldon would never..."

"Well, he has the girl of his dreams...I did not. And I've spent my life seeking someone who combined Maggie Fowler's intellect and the wild spirit some of us sensed underneath that forbidding exterior." Stein smiled. "I don't think you need be worried about young Cooper...We do differ a bit in our amorous natures. But, I think you will find him, once he feels safe with you, rather surprisingly good in his lovemaking. As a physicist, I surrender our prowess in determining and understanding processes to none...And Cooper, whatever else he is, is a dedicated student of any subject he takes up...Including you." Grin... "And by the way...Meaning no disrespect...And oddly, I don't think my source actually did, either...You yourself have a bit of a rep, Dr. Fowler. At least, according to Mr. Kripke...Or is it Kwripke, I couldn't make out?"

"I do?" Amy blinked. "Why the foul little...?"

Thanks, Barry...You strange little pervert...

"I'd guess...While someone of your beauty certainly deserves a 'rep'...It's largely like mine own, at least at the start...Unearned and the product of rather intense imagination? Though in my case, my 'creator' rep was largely in fact the joint 'creation'..." sigh... "Afraid I'm still addicted to bad puns...Of my two dearest friends, Xavier and Margaret. Who hoped it might stimulate the imagination of the young ladies of our campus, in combination with my Brit accent and my aloofness to see me as a somewhat alluring figure." Smile, shrug...

Hmmn...Amy pondered...

A good caution to avoid dangling Sheldon before the Cal Tech population as I did tonight too often. Don't think I didn't see Lesley Winkle eyeing Sheldon at the keyboard. And I did handle that old lady moneybags among the alumni who kept trying to speak to him...

"Accidently" step on her toes...Yeah, right...

Thanks, tortuous footwear...She eyed her heels...

Not that I'm concerned of course...

"Of course after I 'lost' Maggie Fowler..." Stein continued... "To a man whom at the time I was sure was my inferior...No offence to your grandfather, , simply my strange mixture of arrogance...And fearful insecurity at that time...I was determined to show I could outdo a mere businessman...Even a founder of the scientific basis of Business Psychology like your really quite brilliant grandfather. For better or worse, at least the experience of defeat in love, along with my friends' efforts, got me out of my shell for once and all. Over time I began to see how the calculations involved in winning a woman's heart could be almost as satisfying as the most complex calculations in quantum theory. More important..." smile... "In time I found I rather liked loving and being loved. And it became as essential to me as Physics. It is all a part of the mystery of the Universe, after all."