"You okay, honey?"

Sheldon Cooper is ten years old and already certain of two things: he will win a Nobel Prize, and his family will never understand his genius.

Sheldon pauses. "The data suggests I function optimally alone."

"No, Mary," Dr. Sturgis assures her. "Only questionnaires and standardized metrics."

But that night, he sits on his bed, watching Missy laugh on the phone with a friend. He doesn't feel lonely. He feels… curious. He sneaks back to the university library and reads Rebecca's notes. One line stops him: "Subject displays high cognitive ability but low emotional awareness. Possible indicators of isolation masking as preference."