Sheldon POV

Rain splattered against the window of the moderately sized apartment located in Pasadena California as one of the occupants waited patiently on the couch for the Thai food that his roommate was soon to arrive with. It was one of the duo's most sacred traditions that had held for the last 8 years of their relationship as roommates. One Dr. Leonard Hofstadter would go and acquire the food and bring it home to Dr. Sheldon Cooper for their joined consumption and would arrive at roughly 7:33 PM every Monday night. Tonight however Sheldon Cooper was slightly annoyed as it was now 8 PM and even with the expected disparities caused by the weather his roommate was late.

'What could have caused Leonard to be this late? Maybe he stopped in the hall to talk to Penny' Sheldon wondered, but quickly dismissed it as Penny was working at the Cheesecake Factory.

When the sound of keys and the rough tumble of the old lock of the door sounded the physicist quickly stood to help his friend. However when the door opened he froze at the sight before him. Dripping wet his friend was not struggling with the expected food stuffs, but was struggling due to the obvious pain that the bruised and bloodied man was exuding. Cuts and bruises littered all the visible skin and blood was soaking into the blue shirt that had been torn in several places.

"Leonard! What happened?" Sheldon exclaimed fighting down his pathological need to scold the other man for getting the floor wet.

"They…I…I…need to go to the doctor…Sheldon, get Penny" the man gasped, shuddering either from the cold, or from pain.

Springing into action the taller man ran across the room grabbing the phone and quickly dialing the waitress.

"Riiiing, Riiiing, Riiing….. Penny, you need to come home right now, it's an emergency, NO A REAL EMERGENCY" Sheldon yelled into the phone and hanging up "Penny will be here soon, I'll be back with towels, a dry coat, and some dry clothes."

Sheldon darted into Leonard's room to grab some clothes, but paused and went to his room since his clothes were larger and less likely to further irritate any injury the man had. Stopping in the bathroom to grab a few towels he returned to the living room to find Leonard exactly where he left him.

"SHELDON, OPEN UP!" Penny called from the other side of the door that led to the hallway.

"Come on Leonard," Sheldon said purposefully ignoring the flinch that his roommate made as he guided the smaller man out by the shoulder.

"Sheldon, wha…oh sweetie!" Penny cut off and quickly ushered the two men out the door and down the stairs once again cursing the lack of a working elevator.

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The ride to the emergency room was short, but felt a lot longer to all of the people in the car. Sheldon had opted to ride in the back seat with Leonard, and had wrapped Leonard in towels and was currently cradling the other close to him. Contrary to what many believed he was not as naïve as they presumed. He with his IQ of 187 was able to piece together that his friend had been assaulted, judging from his unwillingness to talk about it, and the torn clothes he was able to infer that what had taken place was horrible.

"Where here…" Penny said, stating the obvious, 'Probably attempting to maintain some type of sense of normalcy.

Ushering Leonard out of the back seat of the Volkswagen and gesturing for Penny to go notify a nurse as the duo made their way into the building at a more sedated pace. The sterile smell of the emergency room coupled with the sound of nurses and doctors hustling and bustling around assaulted Sheldon as he guided the now shaking man next to him.

"Shh…shh…we're almost there Lenny, I've got you" Sheldon murmured in a voice as comforting as he could and reverted to the nickname that he only used on special occasions such as Leonard being sick.

Two nurses quickly advanced on the after the receptionist called the appropriate code after Penny had explained the situation. As the woman and man began to guide Leonard away and to the back to do an examination the physicist latched on to the one constant in his life effectively dragging Sheldon along.

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"Mr. Hofstadter? Can you tell us what happened?" The Doctor asked as he and the nurses helped remove and bag every article of clothing that was removed.

"I…was walking back to my car from the Thai food restaurant…We eat there every Monday and when I set my food down to grab my keys I was grabbed and dragged into the alley…I don't know who he was…He was a good five inches taller than me…wearing a ski mask…he pushed me against the wall…"

Sheldon's mind shut down. For once in the physicist's life he could not comprehend something. Ususally when he didn't understand something he could at least process it till he could somewhat grasp the situation, but in this instance listening to his friend recount his assault…

"..he ripped my shirt as I struggled...before I could yell he stuffed a sock into my mouth…it should be in the pocket of my coat…then he undid my jeans..a..and he raped me…" Leonard finished sobbing into his hands.

"BANG!" followed by the screeching sound of wood breaking and metal rending was heard throughout the room.

Sheldon found himself standing with his hand having plunged through what had once been a table made of wood with a metal framed construction. The structure was mangled and shattered beyond recognition with its legs bent outwards and the tabletop broken into three pieces.

"Sorry, I'll pay for that…"Sheldon said looking at the people who were currently staring at him.

"Yes…well we'll be sending all of the clothing and DNA samples off to a lab to be tested, we cleaned all the visible wounds and bandaged the broken and bruised ribs. Also we have a prescription for some pain medication and a note for you not to return to work till you are ready…"

"Excuse me doctor, can you add me to that note so that I can stay home to take care of Leonard? We work at the same university and I have enough sick-leave saved up for about a year so it would not be a hardship, especially since I can work from home…" Sheldon said in one large breath.

"Yes, that would be a great idea…now I'll leave you to change into the clothes you brought and send the samples and statement to the police. After that your prescription and note will be waiting with the receptionist at check out…" The doctor finished.

With that the man left and for the first time left the two roommates alone since the assault.

BBTFAN:

Thanks for reading. Reviews are appreciated.