Loving Reaction

by Wildcat Warrior

Here's one containing our favorite couple Shamy. Sorry about this coming out to look like one chapter when it's actually ten chapters. I still can't get that just right. First Big Bang Theory story, so please be nice but honest. Amy's life and mobility are on the line and Sheldon realizes how much he loves her, and that he'll always be there for her. Everyone involved too.

Loving Reaction

Chapter One

The Engagement Ring

No matter how hard Sheldon tried to deny the fact that he loved Amy, he was still afraid that one day she'd find something else to get mad at him for and decide to break off their relationship once again. He's pacing in his room while looking at the engagement ring he held in his hand, the night Amy broke up with him in the past, and finally he can't take it anymore. He goes and stands outside Leonard and Penny's bedroom door and does his famous "Sheldon Knock" before entering.

"Oh darn. That's right. They moved across the hall to her apartment. Well, what am I gonna do about this?" Sheldon says, thinking out loud. He steps out into the hall where he runs in Leonard, fully clothed with his coat on.

"Oh. Hello. Where are you going at 2:30 in the morning?" Sheldon asks, not being used to seeing him in anything that early but his red pajamas, house coat, and socks.

"Penny's sick. I think she has the flu again. Third day in a row. I'm on my way to get her something to settle her stomach. Wanna ride along? You look like you have something on your mind." Leonard replies.

"I do. I really do have something I need to talk about." Sheldon tells him.

"Okay, that's fine. Go grab a jacket or something. It's pretty cold out there. Put on some pants, or you're fine in your pajama pants. I'll go start the car and get it warmed up while you're doing that. See ya downstairs." Leonard says, and Sheldon nods his head, goes toward his apartment door, and says, "Thanks Leonard."

Across town, a certain little girl is giving her parents a hard time about going to bed when Howard gets up and tries the one thing they never did think of before.

"Okay Halley. Daddy should have done this a long time ago. Come here, I wanna show you something." Howard says as he picks up his three year old.

"What Daddy?" Halley asks, and Bernadette can't help but get out of bed and go see what's going on.

"Okay. You know you're named after a comet right?" Howard asks, and she only shakes her head no.

"Come on baby, we talked about this. It's not time yet for that comet to come back around but, I wanna show you something really cool through Daddy's telescope. Look right up there. What do you see?" Howard tells her and when she looks, she sees a couple of planets. She jumps back and looks at him with a big smile, and tells him, "Oh Daddy! It's so pretty. I wanna go there sometime. Can I please?"

"Well young lady. The first place you're gonna go is to bed. We'll talk about you being a little astronaut like Daddy, when you get bigger okay. Come on, let's go. Howie, I'll take her." Bernadette says, and Halley pulls away from her and says, "Love you Mommy but, I want Daddy." Bernadette hugs her and kisses her on the cheek, and lets Howard take her to her room. When he gets back, Bernadette tells him, "Very nicely played Mr. Walowitz. We should have tried that hours ago."

During the car ride into town, Sheldon and Leonard are discussing the engagement ring when Raj calls to let them know, he has to go back home to India for about a week due to a family emergency, and both Sheldon and Leonard wish him safe travels, and when they get to the gas station, Sheldon has a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Oh buddy, not you too." Leonard tells him.

"This isn't that kind of feeling Leonard. I really wanna ask Amy to marry me but, I'm afraid it will push her away from me. We've been dating for five years then she broke up with me, and I understand why before you say anything. Ever since we got back together, I've been the happiest than I ever was in my life. Call me crazy but, I love the woman Leonard." Sheldon explains.

"Sheldon. You're not crazy, you're in love. What you're feeling is perfectly normal, and it's understandable to have butterflies in the pit of your stomach when you're contemplating on how and when you're gonna ask someone you love, to marry you." Leonard replies while they're in the gas station looking for something to get Penny through the night.

"These aren't butterflies. Those I could handle. These are more like fire crackers and gasoline, mixed in with matches. I'm a mess. She's gonna say no, I know she will." Sheldon says, in a sort of rambling way like always.

"Buddy, you'll be fine. Trust me on this. Okay, I can't remember what all she asked for but this usually is a safe bet." Leonard replies as he reaches up and gets Pepto Bismol, sprite, crackers, and chicken noodle soup. Next he gets her some strawberry cough drops, vick's vapor rub, and the whole time he's gathering everything up, Sheldon thinks to himself, "They have their fights, which let's face it, what couple doesn't? But they are so much in love. Look at the way he's down here in the wee hours of the morning, getting things for his wife when she needs him the most. It's just beautiful. Oh God, I'm turning into a sap."

When they get back to the apartment building, Sheldon, even though it is out of context for him, he reaches out and hugs Leonard and tells him, "Thank You so much for talking with me."

"No problem. It's getting to be around 3:30. Are you going to be able to sleep or what?" Leonard says, when he hears a thump in his and Penny's apartment.

"I'll probably call Amy and tell her I need to talk to her. Don't worry about me, just go. Make sure she's okay. That sounded like she fell." Sheldon replies, and Leonard tells him goodnight and then rushes in to find Penny curled up in a ball on the bathroom floor with a blanket wrapped around her.

"Oh you're sicker than I've ever seen. I'm gonna have to just put this all on the counter in the kitchen and take you to the hospital. Wait there honey." Leonard says, and she can only nod her head and try to go back to sleep.

Twenty minutes later, Leonard has Penny in the backseat so she can lay down and as they're going through town on their way to the hospital, an ambulance is coming in their direction with the sirens and lights going crazy. Leonard pulls over to the side of the road for respect and says, "I'm not much for praying but God be with whoever they're going after." No one in their group had an idea that their lives are about to be turned upside down because of where that ambulance was headed.

Chapter Two

Pillow Exchange

Sheldon has waited and waited for Amy to get to his apartment so he could ask her properly to marry him, and for them to talk when he gets the idea that she probably decided to wait until daylight. Just as he's about to make his way back into his bedroom, Leonard calls him.

"Leonard. I tried my best but, Amy just didn't want to come over and talk to me I guess. What did I do wrong?" Sheldon asks.

"Buddy, I hope you're sitting down." Leonard tells him.

"Why? What's going on? Do you know something I don't know?" Sheldon asks him again, really poking at him for an answer.

"Sheldon, you need to promise me that you won't get to excited here. Amy was on her way to see you and talk with you. On the way there, she was in a terrible car accident. We met the ambulance. I had to bring Penny to the hospital cause she was so bad off. Amy's still alive but just barely. The EMT's said it's a wonder her being thrown through the windshield, it didn't kill her on impact. She's still in surgery, and they said if she lives, she'll be confined to a wheelchair. She was one big bloody mess when they brought her in. I'm on my way to get you. Walowitz, Bernadette, and Raj have been called already and they're on their way here now. I'm just glad this hospital has a child care center so Halley doesn't have to see Auntie Amy in that shape." Leonard explains to him.

"Thanks for letting me know. I'm getting dressed right now. I'll be downstairs and outside in ten minutes or less." Sheldon replies.

At the hospital, everyone's waiting on news for both Penny and Amy when a doctor comes out, getting their hopes up, thinking it's Amy he's there to deliver news about.

"Mr. Hoffstadter? Your wife's asking for you, and about Ms. Fowler. There's no word on her yet but, your wife's doing fine and ready to go home now." The doctor tells him as he takes him back. Leonard turns to Sheldon and tells him, "I'll be back as soon as I get Penny taken care of. You call me if I'm not back before then okay."

"I will. Go home and get her to bed. She was white as a ghost earlier." Sheldon replies. Leonard nods and smiles, and goes to get Penny who tells him, "Are you crazy?! My best friend / adopted sister is in surgery. My ass is staying here until I know something on her."

"Honey, you're sicker than a dog. She wouldn't want you to do this to yourself. She'd want for you to be rested up and healthy. It's going to take all of us in the best shape and health to care for her when she gets out of here until she's back on her feet again. How are you gonna do that when you look like a member of the walking dead? No offense. I love you." Leonard tells her.

"Pain in the ass. I'm still staying here. I love you too. Oh God Leonard, what if something happens in there? I hope she's okay. She can't die. She's four years younger than I am. She's only 26. Please Leonard. Please, please, don't make me go home. Let me stay here for her, and for Sheldon." Penny begs him.

"Okay. But, if you're staying here, you're not walking around anywhere. Here." Leonard says, and he picks her up in his arms like a baby and hollers for Howard to get a wheelchair so he can put Penny in it.

"Dude, is she okay?" Howard asks, while getting the chair.

"I'm fine. He just won't let me walk around anywhere with me having pneumonia. Any word yet?" Penny replies.

"No. I can't get Sheldon to really talk. You're not contagious are ya?" Howard asks.

"No. I'm not running a fever. Why?" Penny says, and when he wheels her over to Sheldon, she tells him, "Since I'm not contagious or running a fever, I'm not going home. I'm staying here until I know how she's doing. I don't care how bad I'm feeling. I have to know for myself, how Amy is before I leave." Sheldon raises his head up from his hands and leans forward and just cries on Penny and tells her, "I love her so much Penny. She can't leave me. She just can't."

Three long hours later, Sheldon is pacing up and down the hall, trying to figure out which one is the OR and he remembers the first time he ever met Amy. He thinks back to that day in the cafe and a smile comes to his face. He's pulled away from his thoughts when he hears, "Mr. Cooper? Mr. Cooper. Son!" The doctor had been trying to get his attention but finally does so in putting his hand on Sheldon's shoulder.

"Oh yes Doctor. I'm sorry. How is she?" Sheldon asks him.

"She came through surgery just fine. It was touch and go for about an hour. We really fought the death angel for her this morning. We won that fight too. She made it. She's in recovery. You are more than welcome to go in and stay with her. Just let the nurse finish up in there with her before you go in." Doctor Wilson tells him.

"Of course. Thank You. Oh wait, Doctor Wilson. My friend Leonard said she was thrown through the windshield of her car. Is she paralyzed? I mean, I'll still love her and be with her no matter what but, I don't want that for her. She's doesn't deserve that. No one does." Sheldon replies and Doctor Wilson smiles and nods his head in acknowledgements to Sheldon's true feelings for her.

"Son. I wish I could answer that. At this time, it's best to just let her rest be there for her, help her with her recovery, and we won't know about any paralysis for awhile. You better go tell your family out there the news. They can go see her but if you feel the need too, you may stay with her." Doctor Wilson explains and Sheldon wipes a tear away and whispers, "Thank You."

"My pleasure son. Go. Be with your lady and family." Doctor Wilson replies and Sheldon passes on the news. They all get up to go in there and see her, and Bernadette just grabs Penny and they both cry on each other at the sight of their best friend.

"Oh my God. Poor Amy. We're here with ya honey, we're in your corner." Howard tells her, and he puts his hand on her shoulder. They all kiss her on the forehead and then leave Sheldon to talk to her before she wakes up. Leonard says he'll bring some clothes back to Sheldon when Bernadette says, "No. You go ahead and get her home to bed. She needs to rest too before she's in here as well. I'll run by the apartment and pick Sheldon up about a week's worth of clothes and stuff. In fact, I'll do that now. Howie, do you want me to get Halley or leave her here with you?" Howard tells her to go ahead and take Halley with her and get her home and back to bed and that he'll be along shortly. They were in the same car but Howard knows it will take at least ten minutes to get Halley ready to go back home. He hugs Sheldon, then takes him by his shoulers, looks him right in the eye, and tells him, "You need anything, anything at all, you let us know okay brother?"

"I will. Thanks Howard. I love you guys." Sheldon tells him.

"We love you too man." Howard says, and then it's just him and Amy alone in that hospital room.

Two days later, Amy still hasn't waken up from her ordeal so everyone talks Sheldon into going home for a few hours and getting a shower, something to eat, and a little bit of sleep. He tried to tell him he was fine and that he wasn't going anywhere, especially since the nurses brought in a bed for him so he could be more comfortable. He just took down the railing on the one side of his bed, and on the one side of Amy's bed, so he could be as close to her as possible. He would even drape his left arm across her while she slept, as if to protect her. Leonard finally talked him into going home for a few hours and while they're on the staircase, Sheldon just sits there on the third flight of stairs and cries once more.

"I talk to her every night and every morning. As often as I can Leonard. She won't respond, she doesn't move, she's just gone. I know she's taking care of business and I even told her that. I told her about how when she was sick and I stayed at her apartment to take care of her. She slept most of the time but, that's because she was doing what she needed to do to get better. This time though, it's as if, nothing is going to bring her back around. My Mother called yesterday to see how we all were doing and I told her what happened. She's on her way here from Texas now. Leonard?" Sheldon explains, then pauses for a question, and he doesn't even look up to face Leonard.

"What is it buddy?" Leonard asks, taking a seat in front of him on the stairs. Sheldon thinks for a second with his head in his hands again, and just lets out a big sigh. Not the sigh that tells everyone he's getting tired of the company, but the sigh that says just how worn out he is, and worried at the same time.

"I really wanna do something. I'd like to have one of Amy's pillows here with me while I get some sleep today. That way, it's like with her scent on that pillow, she's here with me and I can know that she's okay. Then, when you go back to the hospital to visit with Penny, take one of mine that has my scent and lay it beside Amy. She'll know by the smell on it, that I'm there with her. Does that sound incredibly stupid?" Sheldon tells him.

"Not at all. I think a pillow exchange is just about the most sweetest thing I've ever heard of. I'll be happy to do this for you." Leonard replies. They get in Sheldon's apartment when he asks how long Penny's gonna be in the hospital anyway.

"I had thought that she'd be okay with the medicine the doctor gave her. He said that the reason she was sick to her stomach was when she got to coughing so bad she couldn't breath, it caused the muscles in her stomach and throat to tighten and that's what caused it. But over all, he said she could be in there another couple of days. The nurse said last night it's the worst case of pneumonia she's ever seen." Leonard explains to him. Sheldon gets him a shower, then sprays a little bit of his men's body spray on one of his pillows, hands it to Leonard, and Leonard takes it and puts it in his car. He then takes the key that Sheldon gave him, and he drives over to Amy's apartment where he gets one of her pillows, and sprays a light mist of Cherry Blossom body spray on it for Sheldon. He then does his part in the pillow exchange, hoping for the best possible outcome.

Chapter Three

Out The Window

Just two days after the pillow exchange took place, Sheldon's back at the hospital with Amy, and he's watching Greese on TV. He keeps singing along with the music of it when his Mom tells him, "You remember how you used to not like this movie?"

"That's because Danny and Sandy are trying to change who they are in order to impress each other. Thinking about all that now with what's happened with Amy, I'd be willing to change everything about myself that she didn't like or whatever she thought was strange, just to bring her out of this. I mean, this movie is actually the best kind of love story. It has anger, some mean content, love, friendship, all the biggies." Sheldon tells her when he hears, coming from Amy's bed, "That's what people do when they're in love. They change things about themselves in order to better themselves."

"Amy! I am so glad you're awake. I didn't think you were going to wake up. Oh I love you so much. Do you know that?" Sheldon says, while giving her multiple kisses, one after the other on her cheek so he doesn't take her breath.

"I know you do, and I love you too. I don't remember much about the accident, all I know is, you needed to talk to me face to face, and not over the phone. So, as I was driving over to your place, I wanted to miss a deer in the road, and I hit a pole. How long have you been here? Where's everyone else at?" Amy says, while trying to sit up, and Mary tells her, "Easy there girlfriend. You've been through hell. Don't get too spunky."

"Leonard and Penny are three rooms down from you. I'll go let them know you're awake. Howard and Bernadette have been having trouble with Halley lately, Raj had to go to India for a family emergency, and Stewart is trying to deal with his girlfriend's son, Chris. I guess he's been having nightmares again or something. Stewart did call to see how you were doing though." Sheldon explains to her.

"Wait. Back up to that, Leonard and Penny are three rooms down thing again." Amy tells him, and despite Mary's warning, she manages to sit up all the way.

"Well yeah. The night you were brought in, well the morning you were brought in, Penny was here in the ER because she was so sick she couldn't breath. The doctor seen her, gave her a couple of shots, some medicine, said she has pneumonia, and sent her home. Leonard got her home and a couple days later, she wasn't any better, her fever spiked, and she literally passed out from lack of oxygen. She's been here in the hospital for about four days now." Sheldon replies, and Amy just brings her hand up to her mouth and almost cries.

"Oh no ya don't young lady. No crying. Not after what you've been though. You get yourself well and when Penny's able to, she'll come see ya." Mary says, and when she sits on Amy's bed by her, Amy leans up toward her, and lays her head on her shoulder and tells her, "Thank You so much for coming and staying with me. You didn't have to do that."

"Well. I kind of did. Plus, I wanted to. You've made a difference in the way Shelly looks at the world now. You're a special little lady. I'll be right back. I'm going to go let Leonard and Penny know you're awake and up for visitors." Mary tells her.

"Amy. The reason I wanted to talk to you the morning of your accident was, do you remember that ring I had for you?" Sheldon asks, and she just yawns but then almost cries cause of her back hurting so bad.

"Yes. I remember Sheldon. What about it?" Amy asks, and he's now on her bed beside her.

"When I seen you right after your surgery, I thought I was going to lose you. I've not slept hardly at all, cause I've been right here by your side. I only went home once to grab a shower, eat, and get a little sleep. The whole thought of never getting to hold you again, really scared me. I was just waiting for the day you'd get mad at me again and break up with me all over again, and I couldn't bear to think about that. So, I'm asking you as a man who loves you more than his own breath, if you, Amy Farrah Fowler, would be my wife?" Sheldon explains, while proposing. She brings her hands up to her face, and just starts bawling.

"I'm scared here. Does that mean yes, or no?" Sheldon asks.

"It means, I can't believe this. I've waited for so long for you to ask me that I didn't think it would ever happen so my answer to you, Sheldon Lee Cooper, is yes. Yes I will marry you. I'd be honored to be your wife. I love you so damn much that there are no words." Amy tells him, and with that, she throws her arms around him, pulling the stitches in her side where she got cut going through the windshield, but she didn't care.

An hour later, Penny's released from the hospital, and they're all in the hall while the doctor is redoing Amy's stitches. Sheldon's in there with her and she's just squeezing the crap out of his hand. He doesn't seem to mind though. The doctor finishes up and everyone goes inside the room to visit with her.

"So, I hear you two are engaged now?" Bernadette says, while Halley messes with stuff again.

"Yes we are. I have an idea too. I want you all to witness this." Sheldon says, and he stands up off Amy's bed and pulls something out of his pocket.

"Buddy, what is that?" Leonard asks.

"This Leonard, is Amy's and mine, relationship agreement. It no longer has meaning or purpose to me anymore because when it comes right down to it, there are more important things in life than needing to check over something all the time. You shouldn't have to make a date night for only a few hours, like you don't really wanna do it. You should want to be spending time with that person. Ever since the accident, you all seen how bad I was in thinking I'd never see her again. Amy, wanna do this with me?" Sheldon replies, and he turns to face Amy. She nods her head and tries to get up out of bed, but notices she can't move her legs at all. She just ignores it and tells him she's tired and that she'll do it from her bed. He takes one side of it, and she takes the other, and together, they rip it up to a bunch of shreds, and it goes right out the window.

Later that night, everyone has already gone home and Amy is whispering to herself that he won't want anything to do with her since she can't move her legs anymore. He walks back in and sees there's something on her mind.

"Amy? Sweetheart? Is everything okay?" Sheldon asks.

"You called me Sweetheart." Amy says.

"Yes, I did. It felt right too. What's the matter?" Sheldon asks her.

"I lied earlier today. I was tired yes. When I was going to get up and walk over to the window with you, and I told you that I was tired?" Amy starts to say.

"Yes, okay." Sheldon says.

"There's more to it than that. I was tired like I said. I didn't want anyone to worry either. Sheldon, honey. I can't move my legs. I can't move them at all!" Amy tells him and with that, she breaks down and cries.

"Oh dear Lord. You could have told me. It's okay. I love you no matter what, and if you can't walk down that isle, fine. Leonard or Walowitz one, or even Raj, will wheel you down that isle. It doesn't matter to me. I'm not leaving you. I'm just happy you're back with me and I'm never letting you go." Sheldon says, and that does bring a smile to her face.

"You mean that?" Amy asks.

"Of course I do. Now, I'll go get a doctor or nurse or someone, and we'll see what our next plan of action is for us okay?" Sheldon replies, and he kisses her, and then goes to the nurse's station to see what can be done about Amy's legs.

Three days later, Amy has made remarkable progress and the doctor's letting her go home. Since they are engaged, Amy and Sheldon both, did it in secret as a surprise to the each other, and had the gang to move Amy's stuff into Sheldon's apartment. He may be skinny and not very built looking but, Sheldon picks Amy up out of Penny's car, and carries her up to the apartment and when they walk through the door, they both holler surprise to each other.

"Wait, what? I thought I was surprising you." Sheldon says, while sitting her down on the couch, and even in his spot.

"I thought I was surprising you. Great minds think alike huh?" Amy replies, and Raj says, "I can't believe he put you in his spot."

"Rajesh, I'm going to be his wife. Why wouldn't he put me here?" Amy asks, and Penny is in the kitchen pouring a glass of sprite for her and Amy and she even says, "Makes perfect sense to me." Then she starts coughing again and since Leonard and Howard are still unloading everything, Sheldon runs over to her, and gets her to raise her arms, and he rubs her back and kind of pounds on her middle back, but not enough to hurt her.

"That's amazing. Where did you learn that?" Amy asks him.

"As a child, I was sick a lot and my Mother would do that whenever I couldn't catch my breath." Sheldon replies.

"That's so much better. Thank You. It's going to take forever for me to completely kick this." Penny tells him.

"Okay. We have the last of it. Now, there's a dresser out here, and I'm not sure where it's going yet." Howard says, while placing Amy's favorite center piece on the coffee table in front of her. She just looks around and then says, "Well, there's the other bedroom that was Leonard's. I guess we can put it in there. That should work for now."

"Okay. We'll bring er in here in just a minute. I gotta use your bathroom and Leonard needs to catch his second wind." Howard says, while making his way through the apartment.

"Amy. I was just thinking, and this is just a thought." Sheldon says, catching her attention.

"What is it Sheldon?" Amy asks.

"Since you're going to be starting your physical therapy in a few days, why don't we have you in Leonard's old room and that way, you have the space to be comfortable and that can be the recovery room until you're able to join me in our room." Sheldon says with a thoughtful expression.

"Sounds like a good idea. I don't wanna be a burden in any way. I'll work on my own before my therapy and do what I can and then I'll continue with upper body regimines even after my therapy starts." Amy replies. Sheldon just gets up and goes into the kitchen, then stops and turns around really quick.

"How can you say that about being a burden? Amy, you and I tore up that relationship agreement for a reason. This isn't just fun and games anymore. This is the real deal. I'm in this with you for better or for worse. You are anything but a burden to me. I'm here to help you in whatever way you may need me to be." Sheldon tells her. Amy nods her head and says, "Okay. I'm sorry for saying that. Thank You, and I know you're in it with me for the long haul. I stand beside you as well, with whatever you may need from me in the future." They continue to get the spare bedroom sat up for Amy, then Leonard and Howard, and Raj, prepare lunch for everyone while Sheldon gets Amy to her temporary room to rest for awhile, and Amy tells Penny, "We're more like sisters than best friends. Same as Bernadette too. You're still recovering from being sick and being in the hospital. Come on in here with me. You can grab some sleep too. I've got a wool blanket that you're more than welcome to use."

"Thanks. I allergic to wool though." Penny tells her.

"Oh okay. I do have others. Sheldon honey, would you care to get in that box over by the door and get Penny a blanket?" Amy says, and then she asks about another blanket for Penny.

"Sure thing. You ladies get some rest and we'll all fix some lunch. We'll let you know when everything's done." Sheldon replies. He lays her down and then gets the extra blanket for Penny and then leaves them alone so they can rest for awhile. He then goes back into the kitchen and says, "Gentlemen. What can I help with?" They put him to work on peeling potatoes while Howard opens cans, and Leonard opens up boxes and gets them started, and Raj gets to work on the seasonings and stuff.

Chapter Four

Trial And Error

When Amy starts her physical therapy, Sheldon finds her in her temporary room, and she's doing arm exercises, trying to do some upper body strengthening. She still has multiple stitches from the back surgery and the stitching on her left side where she went through the windshield, but she keeps pushing through the pain, and when Sheldon sees that one tear fall, he asks her to please slow down.

"Can't slow down hon. Got a lot to do before therapy today. I have to show them that I'm trying everything on my own first. Hey, hey look what I can do." Amy tells him, while slowly turning in her bed, and then trying to bend.

"Thank God for pain pills cause you're gonna need em when you're done today. You're doing good though. Hey, I have an idea and I'd like to know what you think of it." Sheldon says, while getting her an outfit from the closet.

"What's that? Oh crap! That one hurt!" Amy replies, but then she hollers out in pain cause she leaned too far.

"Easy. My Mom said don't push yourself too far. Please, be careful. Here's my idea. I was thinking about since Howard's an engineer, we could have him to build you one of those physical therapy walk way things that you see in hospitals and on TV. What do you think?" Sheldon tells her, and he's rubbing her back where she pulled it.

"I'd like that. I hope the doctors don't find out about it." Amy says, and she scoots herself upward and gets her shirt on, and then she uses her arms to move her legs over the side of the bed, and when she has some trouble getting into her shorts, she does ask for some help.

"Oh I don't think they'll say much. Here, once we get these on, we just stand you up, and you hang onto me. I'm not, going to let you fall. I can't believe the hospital let you go so soon. You had that wreck and then got released just a week after it. You went through the surgery just fine and made it through the recovery. Then from there, they seen that your stitches are healing very nicely. I just figured they would have kept you in there longer." Sheldon explains.

"Some days, I wish they had. I hurt so bad Sheldon that, the pain medicine isn't working much and I wonder if there isn't something wrong." Amy tells him. He sits her back on the bed and checks her back, which looks clear, and he even gives his report. He then stands her back up, and sits her in the chair.

"Are you sure I'm okay and I don't need to go back to the hospital?" Amy asks.

"I didn't see anything wrong. We can ask the physical therapist when we get there. Now, Bernadette will be driving us so, we'll go over to Leonard's and while I'm calling them, you can visit with Penny. How's that sound?" Sheldon asks.

"Great. I've not been out of that bed except to go to the bathroom since I've gotten home. It actually feels pretty good to be in this chair for once." Amy replies, while they go across the hall. She only sits there for a few seconds and then the door opens up where she hears, "Hey! Come on in. How are you feeling today?"

"Much better. A little nervous about starting my therapy. I've been doing upper body strengthening exercises all morning." Amy says, and she wheels herself over to the fridge and gets out some apple juice. She then wheels herself into the bedroom where Penny's still down a little bit, and watching an I Love Lucy marathon, to which she invites Amy to watch with her. Sheldon calls Howard and Bernadette and Halley answers.

"Hello Uncle Sheldon. I'll get Daddy." She tells him and Sheldon only smiles and rolls his eyes. He's not much on kids, but that little girl stole his heart.

While they are in the physical therapy building, the therapist is checking over everything and he tells her that she is healing pretty good, and her stitches are looking really clean, and they're not infected. He then checks her muscle tone in her legs and calves, and does some MRI scannings to check the tendons, ligaments, and joints. While they're waiting on the results of those, they have her on her back on an exercise table, and a nurse is working her legs, with different ranges of motion.

"What's that you're doing there?" Sheldon asks her.

"Just keeping her joints and muscles in working order. We have ten minutes left until the results are in. They might be back now. Do you need some help up, or are you okay?" The nurse asks with her hand on Amy's shoulder.

"I do have a bunch of stitches in my back and in my left side. I can try to get up, but I might need a little help." Amy tells her. The nurse is on one side of her and Sheldon's on the other, and they try to let her do the most work if she's able to. She struggles, grunts, and cries a bit, but is finally to a sitting position. She tells Sheldon she wants back in her chair and he tells the nurse to go ahead and see about her results, and he'll get her back in her chair on his own.

"I have to pick you up like a baby again. Is that okay?" Sheldon asks her. She nods her head yes and says, "Just please hurry Sheldon. I'm hurting like a bitch in heat." He gets her back in her chair, and covers her up with her blanket when the therapist comes back in with some good news.

"From here, it's gonna be trial and error folks. Her muscle tone and joint movement are excellent. Her back's healing quite nicely. What we're dealing with here, is a mind over matter thing now. Her legs were not broken, not even one of them, and the tendons and ligaments might grind and pop a little bit. That's just because they're stiff though. Let me try something. Tell me if you can feel any of these tests I'm gonna put you through. Could be something as simple as a pinched nerve in your back. Here we go." The therapist explains and he takes a sewing needle to the tops of her bare feet. It takes him a little bit of trying different areas, but he finally gets her to react to it.

"I felt that one. That was on my ankle wasn't it?" Amy says, with her teeth gritted.

"It was. Okay, we're going to go up here on your shin and your calf. Tell me if you can feel that. Next from there, we'll try on your lower back. This here is just to test if she has pinched nerves or if there's something more serious that the doctors at the hospital may have missed." The therapist explains again. He takes that needle up her calf and she doesn't react much but when he gets to the back of her legs, she feels it then.

"That's it. I'm trying something." Amy tells the both of them, and she wheels herself over to the therapy walk way.

"Amy. No." Sheldon says.

"Let her go. She might just be able to do it. She could prove the whole hospital staff wrong. If this is nothing more but pinched nerves, then she's gonna make a full recovery. However, she does have some nerve sensitivity so she's still gonna need some help here and there." Doctor King tells him. They go over where she is, and she tries to stand, but is just too weak to do it yet. She sits back down, and just sighs, and hangs her head.

The next few weeks go on like that for Amy with her being in her temporary room and when Leonard and everyone are at the apartment for family dinner night, Penny has an idea but keeps it to herself as to what the ladies are gonna do. Eventually, she has to tell the rest of them. Amy wheels herself out of the bedroom and greets everyone, and her back is just starting to scab over and scar a little here and there, and her side is looking much better too. She goes into the kitchen and gets herself something to drink, but then she has a problem with the glasses. She's been working her arms and even her legs little by little of a night after Sheldon's went to bed, so no one would know. She wanted to surprise them, but just wasn't sure when she should do it. Mary was even able to fly in for another visit.

"Amy honey, could you get me a glass from there too? I'm short or I'd get it. Thanks." Bernadette tells her.

"We all know you can reach that but, yeah. Let me give it a try." Amy replies. She then hangs her head for just a second and whispers, "Okay God. Here we go." She reaches down and puts the breaks onto the locked position on her chair, and from there, she slowly pushes herself to a standing position, but still has a hold of the counter top so she doesn't fall. She can at least stand. It's just getting her legs to move like they should. She sits the glasses down, and sits back in her chair.

"Here ya go Bernadette. What would you like to drink?" Amy asks her. Bernadette thinks for a second before answering.

"That can wait. What I would really like, is for you to walk over here to me. I know, you can do it." Bernadette tells her.

"Uh Bernie. Come on honey." Howard says, trying to defend Amy. Penny turns around to see everything too. Sheldon stands up and even waits to see what's going to happen next.

"Get up Amy. Get up out of that chair, and walk to me. If you fall, I can and will catch you." Bernadette says, and Amy just sits there with an almost hurt look on her face, but the kind of look that says, "Don't you think I'd love nothing more than to get up and walk?" She just slowly shakes her head no like she's not ready and that's when Penny tells her, "Come on Amy. You know as well as the rest of us, that you can do this."

"Come on baby." Sheldon tells her, and it's like pushing a button. Amy lifts the foot rests up on her chair, locks the breaks again, and stands up. She holds onto the chair arm though.

"Walk to me Amy. Come on. Walk to me. You can do it." Bernadette tells her. Without even saying anything more, Amy makes sure the breaks are on, and the foot rests are up, and then she stands up, and just stays still for a minute. Mary comes out of the bedroom where she was looking for something for Amy, and she sees the whole thing.

"Oh praise the Lord. She's standing. Come on baby girl, walk. Move those legs." Mary whispers to herself. Amy takes one step while still holding onto the arm rest of the chair, but then she straightens up, and tries to take another one. She is a little wobbly and when she's ready to give up, Penny goes over by Bernadette and says, "Walk to us Amy. Come on, you can do it." Amy takes one more step and one by one, each one hurting more than the last one, she takes four big steps until she collapses, throwing her arms around Penny and Bernadette, and almost taking them down. They all sit there on their knees, crying and hugging for about five minutes and it's hitting Amy pretty hard. She cries like Sheldon's never heard or seen before.

"I did it! Oh God, I did it you guys. I don't, need that stupid, chair anymore! Thank You. Thank You for pushing me so hard." Amy says, having to pause once in awhile cause she's crying so hard. Penny and Bernadette get her back up to a standing position and Sheldon is right there to take over with her. She just falls into his embrace and he tells her, "Was there ever any doubt? I'm so proud of you. God I love you Amy." Howard, Leonard, and Raj, are all jumping around the apartment in excitement to have thier friend back to perfect health, Mary's in on the hugging and giving Amy kisses all over her cheeks, and she even hugs Bernadette and tells her, "You sure know how to get things done. That was great. You both knew you would get her up?"

"And I love you too Sheldon! Oh yes, Mary. They got me up. They were'n't going to give up on me. I love all of you." Amy cries out and she tries to laugh some as well as try to quit crying. They get her sitting on the couch and get to their celebration dinner and Leonard raises his glass.

"I'd like to make a toast if you guys would give me that much. Never have I seen anyone in my entire life, defy the odds like Amy has tonight. I don't know if it was just her drive and determination to walk down that isle to Sheldon, instead of one of us wheel her down there, or if it was her undying love and faith that God had her back in all of this. It could be that she secretly exercised in the middle of the night and did her own work out regimine, I uh, I don't know what the cause was for her to work as hard as she did. The doctors at the hospital, said she's most likely never to walk again. The physical therapists all said there was a chance that she could, or possbily would again one day. She knew more than what she was willing to tell any of us. She proved em all wrong and I for one am glad to have the old Amy back, and here's to her amazing us all each and every day from here on out. Amy? We love you girl." Leonard says, and everyone raises their glasses and joins him in the toast.

"It was also too Leonard, I looked online and read up on Orlando Bloom. He fell out of a three story window one year and was told at the hospital that he'd never walk again. Twelve days later after his accident, he walked out of that hospital. He had doctors who knew what they were doing, had great surgeons, he had God in his corner, and he had the determination to never give up. I figured if he could do all of that in only twelve days, then what was stopping me? I also had all of you. So, I'd like to toast all of you for pushing me so hard and taking such great care of me. I love you all. God Bless each and every one of you." Amy replies, and she stands this time, on her own and raises her glass in their honor, and Halley is standing next to her saying, "Love you Auntie Amy. You're the best."

Chapter Five

Wedding Plans

Amy was given strict orders from her boss at the lab that she was not to return to work until she's been cleared from her doctor. She's just about to lose it and go out of her mind since she's been walking again for three weeks. The hospital staff sent word to her doctor saying that she's lucky to be alive and that she wasn't paralyzed for life. Her back still gives her some spasms once in awhile but the scabs are just about healed up all the way, and almost gone, leaving behind what she calls, "Beauty marks." They're really just scars but to her and Sheldon, they're the most gorgeous patches of skin on her since she almost died. He's walking through the apartment one afternoon and he hears weird noises coming from their bedroom. He walks in there and finds her, on her back, with her head down toward the foot of the bed, near the TV, and she's got her head hanging off the end of it, with her hair just dangling. She's laying there making up songs and he walks over to her when she sings one saying, "I'm so bored that I could cry."

"What are you doing Amy?" Sheldon asks, while smiling and trying to keep from laughing.

"Going out of my mind, stuck at home, husband getting on my nerves. He's getting really really strange, not sure why he's here." She sings again.

"You said husband. We're not married yet." Sheldon says, and he sits down beside her and gets her back up on the bed.

"I know. Just thought that since it's so close, may as well get used to calling each other that when we introduce each other to new people at work or wherever. Is that okay?" She replies, and she sits straight up on her own with little to no help at all.

"Of course. I've even told my Meemaw that when she comes back out here to visit again, she is not to disrespect my wife in any way shape or form. I made it very clear that the wedding is going to take place in three months. It will be summer time then and everyone at the University will be home for the summer or doing whatever else they may have planned. So, classes are going to come to a stand still, and I thought if you're okay with it, that'd be the perfect time." Sheldon explains.

"I'm fine with that hon. We've been dating for so long, then engaged for about two, two in a half months, so however long I have to wait, I'll wait. Oh boy, this is not good." Amy tells him and she swings her legs back to the edge of the bed to get up and Sheldon's telling her the whole time, "Whoa whoa, easy honey. Take it slow."

"I take it slow and I'm pissing all over this bedroom." Amy tells him. He just stands there and sort of grins for a second.

"Damn. Okay, listen. I understand but if you do that, it's okay. I don't suppose this means you held it too long?" Sheldon says.

"Of course not! I just went an hour ago. I guess that injury to my back has really messed me up more than I thought it did. I mean, I can walk again yes, but what if there's more?!" She hollers through the bathroom door so he can hear her better.

"You've got at least another month of medical leave so, I say we get it," Sheldon tries to say when she flushes the toilet and runs the sink water to wash her hands, and she says, "Do what now?"

"I said, since you've got at least another month of medical leave left, I say we get ya checked out head to toe. Make sure it's nothing else going on that would put you down for longer again. I know how hard it was on you the first time. Certainly don't want to go through that again. I love you too much, and it's not fair. For anyone really." Sheldon says, and she slowly makes her way out of the bathroom, and just does as he suggested, and grabs a blanket from the closet, and lays across the bed to relax awhile longer while he calls her primary doctor's office to make an appointment. While he's fixing her pillows to make sure she's comfortable, he asks if her feet are cold at all because of the air being on. She shakes her head no and says, "No not at all. My arms are cold, but my feet are fine." About that time, Penny comes over to invite them over to hers and Leonard's apartment for supper, and she sees Sheldon checking Amy's feet.

"What's the matter Sheldon?" Penny asks.

"She said her feet aren't cold but her arms are, the air's on, and she's barefoot right now. So I felt of them and they're like ice. She can't feel her feet but she won't admit to it. I have to call her primary doctor. I want to make sure there's nothing wrong. She's walking yes but, her bladder is not under control from her accident, and then her feet are as cold as if she's walked ten miles barefoot in the snow." Sheldon explains to her and she doesn't even wait for the invitation. She just goes right past him and into the bedroom to see Amy.

The wedding plans almost got put on hold when Amy had to take it slow from being on a powerful antibiotic. Her primary doctor said she was perfectly fine, not ready to return to work yet, but from where she had went through the windshield, and had some surgeries on her back, there was one area on her lower back that got pretty bad infected, and the inflamation caused urinary incontinence, balancing trouble, and the sensation in her feet and legs, to be cut off for awhile. Sheldon is just about wore out from home health care and working at the University each day that when he comes home, he wants so desperately to fall on the couch and not move, but he never does. He comes in one evening, and doesn't hear anything from the bedroom, and so he just sits there on the couch for a few minutes, eating some dinner that he picked up on the way home. He still doesn't drive but a co worker dropped him off at the apartment.

"Okay babe. I'm just going to go and see if I can't find her pajama bottoms." Leonard says, standing outside Sheldon and Amy's door. Amy was asked to spend the day with Leonard and Penny while Sheldon was working in case if anything happened with her being on that antibiotic, and since it was so late anyway, and they hadn't heard from Sheldon, Penny decided to just let Amy stay there until he got home. She wanted to get her a shower and rest on the couch so Leonard had to go over and get her pajamas and stuff for her. He walks in and sees Sheldon passed out on the couch so he lays a blanket over him, leaves a note for him on the bedroom door, and gets Amy's things for the night.

When Amy's done with her antibiotic two weeks later, she gets out of bed the morning after her last dose, and she notices that Sheldon is already out of bed, and she hears him in the kitchen making breakfast. She rests her feet on the floor and when she takes off across the bedroom to get her clothes for the day, she hits her toe on the dresser, and the next thing Sheldon is aware of, is her hollering, "Ouch! Son of a bitch, that freaking hurt. Oh, that dresser doesn't give."

"Amy! Are you okay? What happened?" Sheldon asks, busting through the door and finding her on the bed, holding onto her big toe, and he sees some blood on her hand.

"I'm anything but okay. I was getting up to come in there with you and I hit my toe on the dresser. I must have split it open cause I'm bleeding. Oh damn it, that hurt." Amy replies, then she stops and ignores the pain in her foot for a minute. She stands up, looks him in the eye and says, "Sheldon? Do you realize what's just happened? Like, at all?"

"Yes. I heard what you said too. You felt everything involved with hitting your toe and splitting it open. Do you know what that means?" Sheldon replies. Amy just nods her head yes and then she cries out, "I felt it honey! I felt it all! There's no numbness with my standing here, I felt it when I hit that dresser, I have feeling again, and I'm okay! This has got to mean that the inflamation around my spine is gone now. I can get back to work too." With that she throws her arms around him, and hugs and kisses him for the longest time.

"We can get back to our wedding plans now. I know you wanted to walk down that isle on your own without any help, and now you can do that. Oh, Amy Farrah Fowler - Cooper, there's no stopping you in doing what you want to do is there babe?" Sheldon tells her, and she only shakes her head no and replies with, "One thing might stop me from doing what I want to do. It's 7:00, and we need to hurry up with breakfast and get to work. No time to play with ya for awhile." He has to take a second to process that and then he says, "You're such a beast. I love you."

Amy still hasn't gotten used to being back at work yet and when she comes in one evening, she's still talking on the phone with Penny and Bernadette, through three way calling. She has to take her time climbing the flights of stairs, and when she sits down for a minute, Bernadette asks if she's okay.

"I'm fine. It's just hard to get back in the swing of things since I've not worked in almost two months or more. I'll be alright. Penny, when you said that about a family with you and Leonard, does he know yet?" Amy replies, trying to talk to the both of them. Penny just sighs and says, "I'm not sure now's the right time to tell him. He's got so much to do with his project at work. He won't even tell me what it is. I've learned quite a bit about the Scientific world, in the years I've been around all of you, that I could help him, if he would just tell me."

"Good luck. Howard never tells me anything. Halley! Leave the kitty alone. You're gonna get scratched again. Sorry, she's getting kind of out of hand." Bernadette says, and then Halley hollers saying, "Mean kitty!"

"Put her on the phone for a minute Bernadette." Amy tells her.

"Here ya go." Bernadette says, and then Amy and Penny hear, "Auntie Amy, Auntie Penny, kitty scratched me."

"I think your Mom told you to leave her alone didn't she?" Penny asks and Halley only says, "Yeah. I wanted to play with her."

"Halley, would Mommy let you come and stay a weekend with Uncle Sheldon and I sometime?" Amy asks, and Bernadette says, "Whenever you're ready for her, take her. I'll bring her over there now if you want me too."

Chapter Six

Outdoor Wedding

Sheldon and Amy set their wedding date for May 18th, and while Penny and Bernadette have Amy over in Penny's apartment fixing her up for the ceremony, the guys have Sheldon, getting him ready. Bernadette is fixing Amy's hair and pulling it back to where it's in a princess kind of bun on top of her head, and Penny's doing her makeup.

"What color is this here that you're doing next?" Amy asks.

"Well I know that you're not a big fan of red colors so, instead of my Rose Red like I was going to use, I'm doing a light foundation and then lip gloss, and on your eyes, let me see here. With your eye color, this will bring them out and make them shine. Light tan eye shadow, and do you trust me to do eye liner?" Penny replies, and she stands back to admire what little work she's already done, and still has everything in her hand.

"Of course. I still have that issue with people getting to close to my face though but, this is my wedding day so, we're good." Amy tells her, and Penny just smiles. She takes Amy's chin in her left hand, and gently tilts her head just a bit to where she can see better and tells her, "Okay sweetie, look over to Bernadette and just, get in a conversation or something, and keep your eyes as wide open as you can keep them. It gets to bothering you, tell me. Bernadette, before I get started, please holler across the hall and tell the guys, no interuptions while I'm doing this."

"Will do. Hang on, be right back." Bernadette says, and she jogs through Penny and Leonard's hallway and into the living room.

"Last thing we need to happen after everything that's already happened, is for me to jab ya in the eye." Penny says, thinking out loud to which Amy jumps back and says, "Oh no!"

"Relax sweetie, you're fine. I promise." Penny assures her.

"Hey Leonard, where's Howard at? Ya know what? Never mind. Just please pass on the message to him and Sheldon that we're doing up Amy's hair and makeup and getting her ready before we get there, and Penny just wanted to make sure that no one tries to come and knock on the door while she's working on Amy's eyes." Bernadette tells him.

"That makes sense actually. Don't wanna poke her eyes out. She's already been through enough this year." Leonard agrees, and Bernadette pats him on the shoulder, thanks him, and turns to head back to his and Penny's apartment.

Both Sheldon and Amy had said they wanted an outdoor wedding. She has never said anything to him about her religious background, and everyone knows where he stands on the subject. He gets to his spot while they're waiting on everything to get started, and he's sees a Cantor.

"Who are you?" Sheldon asks him.

"I'm Amy's Cantor. I'm guessing she never told you that on Saturday nights, she'd be in temple?" Cantor Bob replies.

"She did not. I wonder why she never did. Oh, that's right. She probably thought I'd make fun of her. I wouldn't ever do that. I have a question, if that's alright." Sheldon tells him.

"Got a feeling you'd ask anyway son. Go ahead." Cantor Bob says and Sheldon's only reply is, "Yes, I would."

"What's up?" Cantor Bob asks.

"I'm marrying a woman who's Jewish. Does that mean I have to convert or something?" Sheldon asks, and he's clearly hoping he doesn't have to.

"Nope. Only if you want to. Amy and I have talked quite often of you, and I'm sure you know this already, just how much that little lady really does love you. If you feel it in your heart to ever do so, come to Temple with her sometime, and you and I will sit down and talk. For right now, I think we're getting ready to start. Are you okay with me performing the ceremony today?" Cantor Bob explains and Sheldon replies with, "Of course. This is for Amy today. It's for the both of us, of course. I just meant that,"

"I know exactly what you meant. You mean that, even though it's for the both of you, you're going to do what makes her the most happiest. That's a very good example of the best act of kindness, that I can think of. She's got a good man with you." Cantor Bob tells him. Sheldon hangs his head, then looks him in the eyes and says, "Thank You Sir."

The wedding finally gets underway and with Penny and Bernadette being the bridesmaids, they walk out first, then get where they need to be, and then the music starts playing. Amy had decided that she wanted the one person to walk her down to Sheldon, who had always treated her like one of his own. That was Penny's Dad. He of course felt honored to have her ask that of him. Ever since she and Bernadette had gotten so close to Penny, the only thing he could say about it, was that his family only grew with all of them, and that Amy and Bernadette were two beautiful young women that he and his wife didn't have to do any work to get. Penny still hasn't found the right time to tell Leonard about the baby, even though she found out in March, so she's right around five months now. Leonard just thought that she was a little bit heavier, but never gave it any thought. Cantor Bob does a Jewish prayer, and then the vows start.

"I've written my own for today." Sheldon says, and he makes sure to look her in the eye while reciting the vows.

"I've layed there of a night while you were asleep, just trying to figure out how someone like you, could love someone like me. I'm sure at times, it would have been much simpler to just whack me over the head with a blunt object and be done. You never did that. Despite how difficult I've been to live with, or how much I've kept you at arms length, the only thing I can think of Amy, is you're nuts for this, or you love me. All I know is, there's so many questions that I know the answers to, and there's just as many that I don't know the answers to, and I'm still doing my best to find those answers. I love you Amy, and I hope to be with you always. I know that today is going to be filled with love and laughter, and the companionship of our family and friends, and the rest only gets better after today." Sheldon says with his vows, and Amy wipes a couple of tears away. Then it's her turn.

"Sheldon. I couldn't really think of the traditional vows per say. I did however finish writing you a letter last week. While we were running around, trying to get everything done. I had about ten minutes to rest up my first day back to work, and I had started this letter then. It reads, "My dearest Sheldon. I know it's wrong of me to say this and for that, I ask God to forgive me. When you called me the morning of my wreck and told me you needed to talk to me, I absolutely hated you for getting me out of bed, knowing it was cold that morning and I had just settled in after working a long shift at the lab. The last thing I remember from my wreck, and I didn't tell you in the hospital but, the last thing I really truly remember is, just as I slammed on those breaks to try and miss that deer in the road, the car jerked to the side of the road, sending me in a spiral, where the car hit a pole head on, and right as that seatbelt snapped, and I felt myself go forward, I yelled your name. I was crying out for you to stop me from going through the windshield. I seen it coming when I saw the deer. I looked up from the ground before everything went black, and I seen you standing there over me and I," Amy says with her vows but then she breaks down crying.

"I'm sorry. Oh, okay. I'm fine. I seen you standing there over me, and you told me, don't you dare leave me cause I will be there with you, and you're my everything. Sheldon honey, it wasn't the doctors or the surgeons, or the nurses for that matter. Not only was it God who decided it wasn't my time to go, it was your love that kept me alive. You were with me through all the long hours of surgery, the recovery process, you was there with me when I woke up a few days after the accident, and you were there to cheer me on the night Bernadette and Amy got me up out of my wheelchair, and made me walk to them. I never really thanked you for that. Then, I realized you don't thank people for loving you, like it's a chore or something. You love them because it's the thing to do, and your love for me Sheldon, has shown me, that without you, I'm nothing. When I get up in the morning, your face is the first thing I want to see, and the last thing I want to see when I close my eyes for the night. You're my partner in this life, my best friend, my soul mate, my world, my life. I love you, and I'll always be honored that you even had the strength, to ask me to be your wife." Amy says, and finally she's done. She even has Sheldon in tears now. Then she looks back to the crowd and she sees that both Mary and Beverly, Leonard's mom, are even crying by this point.

"Those were powerful vows to each other from the both of you. Sheldon. I'm gonna ask you first. Sheldon Lee Cooper, do you take thee Amy Farrah Fowler, to be your lawfully wedded wife? Do you promise to love, honor, obey, and cherish her? Keep thee only unto her, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, until death to you part?" Cantor Bob says, and Sheldon replies with, "I do. I really do."

"Your turn Amy. Do you, Amy Farrah Fowler, take thee Sheldon Lee Cooper, to be your lawfully wedded husband? Do you promise to love, honor, and obey, and cherish him? Keep thee only unto him, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?" Cantor Bob asks, and Amy cries again, and nods her head yes. Then she stops herself and says, "Oops, yes. I do." That made everyone laugh.

"What God has joined together, let no man separate. I know pronounce you husband and wife. Son, you may kiss your bride." Cantor Bob says to everyone, and after they kiss, he announces to everyone, "It is my honor and privelage to present to you all, Mr. and Mrs. Doctor, Sheldon Cooper!" When he says that, Sheldon gives Amy a certain look that asks, "Are you able to do what we said we would?" She smiles, nods her head, slips her wedding shoes off where Penny already knew what was going on. Penny picks her shoes up, and with that, Sheldon takes Amy by the hand, and instead of walking back toward the shelter house at the ball park, which is where they wanted to have the wedding at, they take off running full speed, hand in hand.

Chapter Seven

Twice The Fun News

During the wedding reception, everyone's eating, drinking, dancing, enjoying each other's company, and even toasting the newlyweds. Penny whispers over to Leonard that she needs to speak with him as soon as possible, and Halley keeps wanting to sit with Uncle Sheldon and Aunt Amy. Howard keeps telling her to stay with them, and Sheldon finally gets out of his seat at the bride and groom table, diagonal from the bridal party table, and gets down to one knee, and holds his arms wide open for her. Halley runs over to him where he picks her up, hugs her, and kisses her little blonde head, then sits her on his lap.

"As scientists, we often work together as lab partners on different projects. I know how important finding the right partner can be when you're facing a dead line to finish your assignment. You rely on each other to get your part done in a professional manner, as well as on time. I like to think the same principal applies to marriage. It takes time, it takes a lot of work and effort, and sometimes you might find yourselves wanting to choke one another, but at the end of the day, you find a middle ground and come to the conclusion together, that the decision you both have reached and agreed upon, is that it's been the best decision of your life. To Sheldon and Amy. I love you both." Leonard says, and they all hold up their glasses.

"My son was one of the most difficult children I've ever dealt with in my life. It took everything in my power throughout his childhood not to co cock him with my bible. However, I like to think the reason he repelled away from me so much wasn't because he was trying to tell me that he didn't want me anymore, he was trying to let me know that he was getting old enough to make his own decisions, and live his life in a way that made him happy, and in a way that he could understand and figure out. My new Daughter there with him, makes him happier than what I've ever seen him. He knew early on that he could make his own decisions and he clearly has made the best one that I could have ever gave him credit for. I love you son. Amy sweetheart, welcome to the family. You're not my Daughter In Law honey, you're my Daughter." Mary says, and Amy almost cries again, then Missy stands up.

"My most fondest memory of Sheldon growing up was that, he always so bossy with me. I'm actually a few minutes older than him but still. He would always whine and cry when I went into his room to help Mom with putting laundry up. He'd always say, "No one goes into my room, not even on laundry day. Leave it at my door." Goofy goofy guy. Oh but, I love him to death and I'm thrilled to have a sister, and it's amazing to me that he lets Amy in his room. All joking aside though, I've often wondered if he'd ever find the right one for him, and I can see, he has found her. Welcome to the family sis. I love ya both." Missy tells them.

When all the toasting is done, and everyone's eating again, Penny takes Leonard into the hall so they can talk. Sheldon and Amy, Howard and Bernadette, Stewart and his girlfriend Crystal, and even Raj and Emily who had given him another chance, all gather together like so many times before and discuss everything right there in front of the wedding guests and wedding party.

"Think she's telling him?" Amy asks.

"I think it's high time don't you?" Bernadette replies. The guys had no idea of what the hell was going on. Amy whispers to Sheldon and then he's just grinning from ear to ear.

"Do what!? Oh wow! Why didn't you tell me before now? We could have been planning everything out. I love you." They all hear Leonard say and Mary picks up her glass and looks at Beverly and says, "Congratulations Grandma." Beverly actually smiles cause none of her other kids ever wanted to have any children. They were too busy with their careers, where as Leonard on the other hand, was always more family oriented. They come back in from the hall, and Amy whispers to Sheldon, "I have to talk to you now as well." So they make their way into the hall.

"What is this anyway? One couple goes in the hall, then another one. Why doesn't Bernadette and Howard or Rajesh and Emily go out there next?" Mary says and Beverly only responds with, "Ya know something Mary? I never liked you before but since I've gotten to know you here lately, you're actually a very sweet person. Although you and I think so very differently about religion and such things, you are a nice lady and I never gave you the credit for that."

"Thanks Beverly. Coming from you, that means a lot to me." Mary tells her when Sheldon comes back in from the hall and says, "A wife, a bigger family, and a baby all in the same day. What else can a man ask for?" The whole time he's saying that, he's leaping into the air out of excitement.

Everyone found out that Penny is due in November, around the middle of the month, and that Amy is due in January toward the end of the month. Sheldon and Leonard tried to promise they would not be the over bearing husbands who don't let their wives do anything so when it's Halloween and Penny only has a couple of weeks to go, leaving Amy all alone until her time in a couple months, they're looking over costumes for a party at the comic book store when Penny stops for a second on her way back from the kitchen. Her and Leonard had finally bought a house the looked like two houses in one from the inside of it. So, that meant that Sheldon and Amy were asked to move along with them so neither couple was taking a baby into the apartment building. Amy's reading up on different costumes when she hears Penny inhale pretty deep and slowly let it out.

"Are you okay?" Amy asks her.

"Yeah. This boy doesn't get it that my back is not a place to sleep. I wish he'd just get back in the front where he usually is. How are you doing?" Penny replies, and when she goes to sit down, she's even more uncomfortable than before.

"I'm okay. Not much movement today. She's been asleep most of today, Thank God. She was flipping around and kicking up a storm yesterday and this morning too. Are you sure, you're okay?" Amy says, and she gets up off the couch and has her hand on Penny's shoulder now. Penny keeps saying she's okay and not to worry about her, but Amy manages to make her way into the back bedroom that's her's and Sheldon's, where she calls Leonard. She tells Sheldon, who had answered the phone, that it's not herself she's calling about and that she's fine. Leonard gets on the phone with her, she tells him what all's going on, and he clocks out, tells the Dean of the university what's happening at home, and gathers up his stuff. On his way out, he hears from his friends, "Good Luck."

Leonard gets to the house, and he hears the two women talking and laughing from one of the side bedrooms. When he nears the bedroom he hears Amy ask, "Hey do you remember when we had that wine tasting that you had won from work? Howard was the only one for me to talk to and I thought everyone was just going to leave us there like that. I was so happy to see you that evening." Penny only smiles and laughs, trying to take her mind off of how bad she's feeling, but Leonard gives them a minute or two and then he hears Penny almost cry.

"When is he going to get home?" Penny asks.

"I don't know. I honestly don't, know. Come on Penny, please hold yourself together until he gets here to take you on over to County. I'm a neuroscientist, not an OBGYN. I don't know nothing about birthing babies." Amy cries out, literally crying by the time that Leonard sticks his head inside the door and says, "Amy?"

"Oh Thank You God! Get in here, and take her to the hospital so I can relax. I've been so worried and I'm a complete wreck, and if Sheldon knows that I've gotten this upset, I'm gonna be," Amy keeps rattling on and on when Leonard gently takes her face in his hands, blows in her face to make her catch her breath, and he lightly shakes her, saying, "Amy! Stop it. It's okay, I'm home. I'm here to take over." He then hugs her and rubs her back, making sure she's okay until Sheldon gets home. He then tells her, "Thank You for sitting with her and keeping her calm until I got here. Go into your room, run some bath water, and hop in and relax. You're close enough to your third trimester so a bath will not hurt you at this point. I'll call you as soon as we know something. Now please, go take care of yourself and get that bath. I told Sheldon I'd check and make sure you was okay before taking Penny to the hospital."

Chapter Eight

False Alarm With One Surprise

Leonard had went and made phone calls to let everyone know that Penny is okay, and what she was experiencing was called Braxton Hicks Contractions. The body's way of practicing for the real thing. Howard asks when is she being released and he tells him that they want to keep her over night for observation due to her blood pressure being a bit elevated. He tells everyone that he's gotta get back in there with her after they get her settled and that's when Bernadette gets on the phone.

"How is she doing really? I'm a Mother Leonard, I've been through this. Do you need me to come and sit with her for a few minutes, or however long she may need me?" Bernadette asks.

"No really, it's fine. She's just really tired and worn out from the scare she went through and then with them telling her about her blood pressure being elevated, she's just really needing to rest right now. I'll be sure to give her love from all of you though. But, I do Thank You for your offer." Leonard replies.

"Do you need anything buddy?" Howard asks him.

"Yeah. Just a change of clothes. I'm gonna see if I can't possibly use their shower here and clean up from work a bit. I mean, if it's no problem that is." Leonard tells him when the doctor says Penny's ready for him to come back in there with her.

"Oh Howard, I gotta go. Penny's settled in for the night. Could you go by the house and get me a change of clothes please?" Leonard says, and Howard tells him, "No problem."

The next couple of days go by with Penny being placed on bedrest, and even Amy's still working until she goes on her maternity leave toward the middle of January. Leonard has already called the University and told them he has to take time off to be with Penny in case if anything happens. When he looks over to her and sees that she's asleep, he takes her breakfast dishes into the kitchen where he sees Sheldon and Amy, and they're just finishing up.

"Morning." Leonard says, while unloading everything into the sink and running some dish water. He had gotten up before they did so he could make sure that Penny was taken care of.

"Morning." Sheldon replies and Amy says, "Oh good morning. How's Penny today?"

"Miserable. Worried, anxious, driving me up the wall. Other than that, she's great. How are you feeling?" Leonard tells her.

"I was fine until yesterday. The two of you were at work and the mail was late. I cried because of it being late." Amy says, and Sheldon mumbles under his breath, thinking no one heard him, "Stupid hormones. Crying cause the mail's late. Gee wiz."

"What'd ya say?" Amy asks in a sort of way that says, "Sheldon Lee Cooper, turn around and face me, cause you're in trouble."

"Nothing dear. The only thing I said was, it must be rough having to deal with the hormones." Sheldon tells her.

"No you didn't. You said, and I quote. Stupid hormones. Crying cause the mail's late. Gee wiz. What the hell was that? Think us women can help the way we feel?" Amy says, and he just turns about as red as a tomato. Amy puts her plate in the sink and Sheldon sneak attacks her, getting up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder, and he says, "I love you. My sweet beautiful wife."

"I love you too, ya pain in the ass. We gotta get going or we'll be late. Leonard. When Penny wakes up, tell her we love her." Amy says, while giving him a quick hug. They hurry out the door, and Leonard cleans up the kitchen, then gets out his phone.

"I love you honey, and I hope you don't get mad at me but, I really want someone here to be a part of us starting our family." Leonard whispers, after turning on the couch and looking toward the bedroom.

While at the University, the guys are all sitting down to lunch, and Bernadette and Amy join them. While they're talking about the upcoming events of Comicon and other comic book related super heroes, Amy pushes her salad away, and just tries to eat her apple sauce, but is still feeling very full.

"You didn't even eat much breakfast this morning. Are you feeling alright?" Sheldon asks.

"I just can't eat much anymore. A few bites and I'm stuffed. The doctor wants me to gain at least twenty pounds with this baby but I'll be lucky if I gain ten." Amy replies when Barry Kripke walks by and says, "That's cause you're so damn skinny. You were small before pregnancy."

"What do you want Kripke?" Sheldon asks.

"Just trying to be helpful is all. I promise. My sister had the same problem. She had to eat certain pastas just to reach her goal weight that her doctor told her to gain." Barry says. Amy sighs, and puts her head in her hands and just says, "Like what? Everything I eat just about makes me sick."

"Try Zofran tablets. Talk to your doctor about them. They help nausea. Just trying to offer my advise." Barry tells her. He walks away but before he gets too far, even though Sheldon gives the look of relief since he walked off, Amy calls out, "Barry!"

"Yes?" Barry asks.

"Thank You." Amy replies.

"My pleasure." Barry tells her.

Leonard had called his Mother and invited her to Thanksgiving dinner with all of them, and she accepted the invite as long as her ex husband wasn't there. Penny is able to be up out of bed once in awhile since her blood pressure is back to normal and she and Amy, are working with Bernadette on the last few items and yes, Penny's been in bed awhile, but she's slower than usual.

"Are you okay? Something's wrong with you." Bernadette tells her, and Amy turns around from the stove to see it too.

"I'm okay. Just, I just, you're right. I'm not okay and something ain't right. It's Thanksgiving so this will pass. I'm about a week over due but the doctor said at this point, he'll come when he's ready." Penny replies. They just leave her alone and when Leonard comes through the door, he has his Mom with him.

"Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I brought a side dish. I wasn't sure what to bring." Beverly says, and she hands the baking dish to Amy. She sets it on the counter and when Beverly tries to hug Penny, trying to make an effort, she asks why her knee is suddenly wet. Penny looks down and instantly hollers, "Leonard! Baby, hospital, now. Amy, Bernadette, haul ass ladies."

"By the way honey, my Mom was a surprise. I knew you had to be delivering soon around Thanksgiving and I just wanted her to be able to share in the birth of our son. Also, it's the holidays." Leonard tells her.

"Less talky more walky." Penny replies, and they just get the turkey out of the oven and make sure everything is set and then head for the hospital.

Everyone's been at the hospital for quite awhile and then the nurse comes and asks who all's going to be in there with her.

"She said she wanted the two of us. I know of course, her husband is going to be there with her. Beverly? Think you'd be up for being in there too?" Amy says. They have the nurse to ask her and then they hear her saying all the way from the OB ward, "I don't care who the hell's in here just get this boy out of me!"

Leonard's holding Penny's hand and she's just about to break his, and then Amy starts to get a little concerned because she's up next. Bernadette just smiles when Penny says that she feels like she's dying, cause she can only remember how much stress and pain she was in with Halley.

"You're doing great Penny, look at you. You're almost there." Amy tells her, and she's taking a cold wash cloth to her head.

"I don't think I can do this anymore." Penny replies when the doctor tells her to push again.

"Just remember how mad you got at Leonard when he blew off a date with you to go to comicon before you were married." Bernadette says, and that seems to speed things along. Of course, in her state of mind, Penny's done yelled at everyone in there and decides to try to be quiet for awhile.

"Penny dear. I'm not going to think anything less of you if you wanna scream your head off. Those last few pushes are pure hell." Beverly tells her.

"Yeah, ya think!?" Penny replies, and she finally starts making progress and within maybe three or four more pushes, she now has a hold of Bernadette's hand as well, and her head on Amy's shoulder and before anyone can say anything else, they hear that first cry.

"We got a boy folks. He's awfully small for the trouble he gave you Mommy." The doctor tells them, then talks to Penny.

"Say that one word again. It's great to hear it." Penny begs.

"Mommy." The doctor says again, and he hands him to Penny, and Leonard actually, for the first time in years, hugs his Mom and says, "Mom. I've got a son."

"Yes, and I'm proud of you Leonard. I'm very proud of you. Proud of the both of ya. Penny, you done great honey. Penny?" Beverly says, and when she looks over at Penny, she's a complete mess and out like a light.

Chapter Nine

Batter Up! Next In Line

Now that Leonard is back to work, and Sheldon's home all the time with Amy, Penny is back to her old self just about, and she's giving the baby a bath and asks Amy if she wants to help.

"Micheal. Calm down now buddy. Aunt Amy's not hurting you. Get out of that fetal position. I know it's cold, I understand." Amy tells the baby who's full name is Micheal Leonard Hoffstadter.

"I don't think he's gonna listen to you babe." Sheldon says from where he was reading a newspaper.

"Well then Uncle Sheldon. How about you come and help us out here huh?" Penny says with that Motherly smile that she always wanted to aquire.

"Alright. What should I do?" Sheldon asks, while making his way into the kitchen where Micheal smiles at him. Sheldon returns his smile and Amy hands him to Sheldon while she gets his bath water started, and Penny gets him a fresh diaper and a clean outfit. Sheldon's walking with him over by the window and showing him different things outside and telling him about rock formations and the clouds, and the snow, not that they ever get much in California, but he's telling him stuff anyway.

"Look at that Amy. He's so ready to be a Daddy." Penny says, just as they get everything ready for Micheal's bath.

"I know. He's great with that little boy. Look at him and Halley too. He told me last night, we were talking about our baby and he said he couldn't wait to meet him or her, and hold them, and play with them, and teach them everything he could. Then he started to cry. He asked me how did I see what I seen in him that would make him a good husband and great Father. I told him that it was in the way he loves me, and the way he's there for me, and that he really does care and love with all his heart. I'm a little concerned about something though. My Doctor said I could go early with me being as small as I am and I've not put on quite as much weight as she would have liked for me to put on. It's the middle of January now. I'm due toward the end of the month." Amy explains and Penny tells her, "Don't worry. You seen me. I was hysterical but, I made it. You will too." Sheldon gets Micheal over to the baby bath tub they have sitting on the counter and while they're giving him his bath, he just throws a fit until Sheldon tells him, "I know how you feel. My Mother always made me take a bath when I didn't want to." Then Micheal smiles. His bath only lasts about eight minutes, and then it's time to dry him off, and put his baby lotion on him, his diaper, and baby powder. Penny gets one of his blankets and goes in her bedroom.

"What's up?" Sheldon asks.

"She's going to feed him and put him down for a nap." Amy tells him, and it doesn't register at first.

"I wanted to feed him, oh. Never mind. These wells are dry." Sheldon replies.

"I'd sure as hell hope so!" Amy says, and she goes in their room to lay down for awhile.

Amy gets up every morning, hoping to see results and when she doesn't get anywhere, she just goes and relaxes on the couch to watch some TV for awhile. She sees a commercial about animals in shelters that are being abused, and she starts to cry. Sheldon stayed in the bedroom to do some work from home stuff and Penny is still feeding Micheal, and then Sheldon comes into the living room and he sees her crying.

"Are you okay hon?" Sheldon asks.

"These poor little furry babies. They don't deserve that." Amy replies, and when she gets up to get something to drink, she starts to feel some strong, sharp pains that just about take her down. She knows that she's not ready yet cause she's about two and a half weeks early. She tries to walk off the pain and when that doesn't work, Sheldon is at her side, helping her back to the couch. He realizes he didn't have time to call his Mom earlier in the week like he would have liked to, but he does call Howard and Bernadette, and he stands around the corner from Penny and Leonard's room, to let her know that he's taking Amy to the hospital. She comes out without Micheal and says that he's down for a morning nap already, and she tells him to go ahead and get her to the hospital, while she rounds up everything, including Micheal, his carseat, his diaper bag, and while they're getting everything together, Amy's in so much distress that she's actually in full blown tears by this point.

"What do I do?" Sheldon asks.

"I need you to get him in his carseat, fasten him in, you've done it before, you know what to do. Everything is in the diaper bag, and you take over with him, and I'll go get her down to my car." Penny tells him. She runs into Sheldon and Amy's room, and gets her bag for the hospital, then goes to get her, and she can barely stand. Sheldon comes out of the bedroom with the diaper bag over his shoulder and he has Micheal in his seat, who is still asleep. They get Amy in the front seat, and Penny climbs in the back with Micheal, while Sheldon finally calls his Mom.

At the hospital, the nurse has Amy hooked up to the fetal monitor, and an IV already in the back of her right hand. They've got everything settled down for awhile, trying to stop her labor since she's early, but when it starts back up, the nurse walks out with the doctor to talk to everyone.

"Cooper family?" The doctor asks.

"I'm Amy's husband. How is she? Can I see her?" Sheldon says.

"For a minute at the most. We have to take the baby. If we don't, things can go south in a heartbeat. We've tried to stop her labor but it's not working. We need to get her to the OR, in the next three minutes, in order to save both her and the baby. She's in so much distress and that's causing the baby's heart rate to drop at this point." The doctor tells him. Sheldon looks at Bernadette and Penny, like he doesn't know where to go from there, and Penny tells him, "Go. She'll be okay. They both will." When Sheldon gets in there, Amy asks him, "What if she doesn't get the baby out in time? What then?"

"She will. You can't be thinking of such things right now. I almost lost you once, and I'm not going to lose you again. I know you wanted to have our baby natural, but it's okay. Just so long as you both are okay. I love you." Sheldon tells her. The nurse comes to get her, and Sheldon leans down to kiss her.

"Thanks for marrying me Amy." Sheldon says.

"Thank You for asking me. We'll see you soon." Amy replies.

Two hours later, the doctor's coming out to talk to Sheldon who has his back resting against the wall, and when Sheldon sees her coming their way, he lets everyone know she's headed over.

"Mr. Cooper. I have a question for you." Doctor Beckett says.

"Alright. What is it? How is my wife? How's the baby? What did we have? And when can I see Amy and the baby?" Sheldon replies, asking question after question.

"Not helping buddy. Give her time to answer you." Leonard, who had just gotten there from the University, tells him.

"Well. Amy's great. Her vitals were kind of tricky during the operation given the amount of distress she was. Everyone's fine. In answer to what you had, how about one of each? That's the question I had for you, when I came out here is how would you feel about one of each." Doctor Beckett replies and Sheldon just stands there for a second.

"You swore up and down that you only heard one heartbeat. How did she two of them in there?" Sheldon asks.

"Well son it's like this. One was hidden behind the other one. Amy's trying to come back around and when the nurse gets her out of recovery, you can see her. For now, would you like to see your babies, Daddy?" Doctor Beckett says, and everyone else is just sharing hugs while Sheldon still can't believe it.

Leonard went to the nursery window with Sheldon and when they look in on the babies, Sheldon sees them and he can't take the pride, whelling up inside him anymore. He looks at those little faces, and just loses it.

"Leonard. I'm a Daddy. I'm a Daddy to two gorgeous babies. Look at my boy over there, and then his sister laying right next to him. Missy and I never looked alike growing up or when we were babies but, those two do don't they?" Sheldon says, and when he hears the girl start to cry, he asks the nurse, "Hey. Could you hand me my little princess? She's throwing a fit in there." The nurse just smiles and rolls her eyes in a jokingly manner, figuring he's a first time Dad. She also brings the boy out and she places one of them in his right arm, and the other in the left arm.

"Oh. Your Mommy is just going to love the two of you. Of course though, who wouldn't just love you to pieces? Sheldon? May I?" Leonard says, talking to the babies, then to him.

"Oh sure, here ya go." Sheldon replies, and Leonard gets to hold the little boy. Leonard is just talking to him in rememberance of when his boy was born, and then the nurse asks about Amy.

"No word yet on if she's awake or not. I've got to have her to see the two of them." Sheldon tells her.

"Sheldon. I just came from Amy's room. She's starting to wake up, and asking about you and the baby. She doesn't know yet. We all think you should be the one to tell her." Penny says, coming around the corner and finding him and Leonard with the babies. She instantly grins, thinking about how when Micheal was born, and now, he'll have someone to play with, besides Halley, even though she just loves him to death.

It took Amy over an hour to get fully awake and stay awake, and when she is feeling comfortable enough to sit up, she finally asks, "Where is the baby Sheldon?"

"I have a surprise for you. Hang on just a second. Nurse?!" Sheldon tells her, as he sticks his head out in the hall and calls for Amy's nurse. The nurse pushes a double baby bed down the hall from where she was at with them, waiting on Amy, and they have Amy to close her eyes.

"I do that and I'll go back to sleep." Amy replies. Instead, Sheldon just puts a towel over her head and says, "This won't take long. Trust me. You'll love this surprise." With that, the babies are pushed through the door to Amy's room, and Sheldon takes the towel off of her head and says, "He we go."

"Oh my God. We had twins. Sheldon honey, we had twins. Wait, how?" Amy says, in total shock.

Later that night, after everyone has explained to her that the girl was hiding behind the boy, Mary has just arrived at the hospital and she's asking about what room Amy's in when she runs into Penny in the hall, carrying a very fussy Micheal.

"Hey boy. What's all that racket for? Come here and see me. Where's Amy's room? I'll just have you to direct me there." Mary says, and Penny hands him to her and tells her, "My pleasure. This boy won't settle down for anything or anyone. She's right down this hallway here."

"Hey Momma. Look who I ran into in the hall." Penny says, coming back inside with Mary behind her. Leonard takes Micheal so Mary can see her Grandbabies.

"Hi Mom. Guess what we had. We had twins! Isn't that crazy?" Amy cries out when she sees her cause she and Mary just hit it off instantly when they met. Mary sits there beside Amy on her bed and when Amy hugs her, she's crying.

"They're beautiful. What are their names?" Mary asks.

"We still haven't quite decided. For the girl, I love the name, Ciara Jade. Sheldon can't come up with a name for the boy that ties into her name. To be honest, neither can I." Amy tells her.

"Let me see him. Hey there. You look like a, let me see here. How about Charles Jacob? Charles Jacob Cooper and Ciara Jade Cooper. Do you like that sweet boy?" Mary says. Amy and Sheldon both look at each other for a second before they both say, "That's it. That's perfect."

Chapter Ten

Memory Lane Isn't Always Nice

Ten years later, the two couples are still in the same house and while Leonard has the day off, everyone else had to work. It's very unusual that there was work on a Saturday, but it was some left over stuff from Friday. He tries looking everywhere for the three children that have inhabited the house since the adults moved in, and when he doesn't find them in any of the bedrooms, he suddenly hears a basketball bouncing in the basketball court. He looks out the window and he sees Micheal, trying to teach Charles and Ciara, about the proper way to shoot baskets. He goes outside to join them and the two boys are trying to whip up on her. They end up knocking her over, nearly skinning her leg from her knee to her shin. She sits there for a second on the ground and then there's a hand, helping her up.

"You boys are just getting downright mean. Come on babygirl. Let Uncle Leonard show you this game without you getting beat up." Leonard says, helping her up. He stands behind her with his hands over top of hers, showing her where the best places are to position her hands, and of course she's left handed like her Mom. Then he shows her that when she's ready to push off and shoot, to make the ball flip and roll off her fingers.

"Dad, that's not fair. You're actually showing her exactly how to do this. You have to learn how to play with pain. That's what Grandma always said." Micheal tells him.

"Yeah and your Grandma, before she actually started being nice to your Mother, used to be a real pain in the behind. She is the only girl out here and you can't rough house her like this. She's very small framed like her Dad. She has her Mom's height but his body build. You're going to hurt her. Charles, you and Ciara are so close that I can't believe you allowed Micheal to talk you into ganging up on your sister like this." Leonard explains and Ciara gets the ball from Micheal due to him being distracted and when he tries running toward her, she passes to Charles, who shoots and makes it, then Ciara grabs it again, and does a quick lay up.

"Nice! That's the way to do it. Hey, Micheal. Your Mom will be home in about an hour. Do you have any homework?" Leonard says, and Micheal thinks for a second.

"Physics. Got it done on the bus though." Micheal replies, and Leonard just can't believe how much that boy is just like him.

"We got ours done too already Uncle Leonard. You know how critical our Dad is. If I tell him that I'm having trouble in Math and Science, he's gonna kill me. Ciara and I are the children of a Physical Scientist studying string theory in the universe, and a Neuroscientist. I can't be having trouble with Math and Science. Ciara on the other hand, her favorite thing to do in school, is to be in the Biology Lab with all the Chemistry majors, who are four years older than her, and wait for a rat to die of Anthrax so she can take notes on it and see just how dangerous of a disease that is, and what it can do to the central nervous system, and brain tissue. What am I gonna do Uncle Leonard? Dad's gonna look at me as a failure." Charles tells him. Leonard takes them inside and suddenly Ciara feels something on her leg.

"Aaww! Uncle Leonard, my knee is cut open and I just didn't notice until now." Ciara cries out. Once he gets the kids inside, he's trying to take care of Ciara's knee, and naturally, she used to be Daddy's little girl, but now she's her Mom's best buddy.

"We're home guys. How is everyone?" Amy asks, coming through the door, and even though Ciara was having her knee taken care of by Leonard, she jumps up, and runs across the living room, where Amy picks her up like a baby. Amy has her arms underneath Ciara, who has her legs wrapped around her Mom's waist, and Sheldon asks what all the medical supplies are for.

"The kids got a little rough outside today when they were playing basketball, and the boys sort of ganged up on her, she got knocked over, and I can not get her knee to quit bleeding. She's already soaked through five whole gauze packages." Leonard replies, and Amy sits her down and takes a look.

"Oh no. Sheldon, we're gonna have to take her for stitches. She's cut her knee pretty deep. Come on baby girl." Amy says, picking her up again, and heading toward the door.

"Yes we are. That looks really bad. Charles, come on." Sheldon tells him, and he just slumps down farther on the couch and says, "I don't wanna go. As the only girl, she gets baby'd all the time. I love her but, I'm tired of her most of the time." Sheldon walks over, stands over Charles, and tells him, "Charles Jacob Cooper, you move your little happy rearend and get outside and into that car like I told you. We need to have a discussion when we get on the road."

Sheldon and Amy get Ciara's knee stitched up at the hospital and when they leave there, with her prescription, Ciara's trying to get away from Charles as soon as possible, but with crutches, that's more of a challenge than what she thought.

"Leave me alone Charles. You already said you're tired of me most of the time so, I got an idea. How about if I just pack my stuff for a few days and go stay with Aunt Bernadette and Uncle Howard? At least Halley likes having me around." Ciara tells him.

"Good. At least I won't have to see you for awhile. I'm sorry that you got hurt today. I do love you, but you annoy me. You're better at Science than I am, you're better at Math than me, you love History where as, I think it's a bunch of crap that is not interesting, and you do your best every day to show me up in front of Mom and Dad. Why do you do that?" Charles says.

"There's no shame in being smart Charles. I know that you are. I've offered my help to you but you won't take it. You're so darn much like Dad that you won't take any help from girls. You're gonna have to get over that. Now, I don't wanna talk right now. Leave me alone." Ciara tells him again. Sheldon tries to get Amy out in the hall where the kids are, but it's too late. By the time she gets out there, Ciara has already took one of her crutches and smacked her brother right across his knee cap.

"What was that for?" Charles asks, while he's sitting on the floor.

"For being a butt head. How's it feel to have your knee injured? Stop picking on me all the time because of my intelligence." Ciara snaps, and then she hears, "Ciara Jade! Charles Jacob! That's enough. For God's sake you two. This is a hospital, not the jungles of Africa."

"I'm sorry Ciara." Charles says.

"Yeah me too." Ciara replies. Sheldon gets Charles off of the floor, and Amy gets Ciara out to the car, and she looks back at Sheldon and nods her head like it's time for a change.

Two weeks later, Mary has already been called for drastic measures and she tells Sheldon that she's in the process of moving to California anyway. He's thrilled to hear that so, he just tells Amy about it, and keeps the kids in the dark about everything. Ciara is caught by Penny, playing with her knee where the stitches came out three days ago, and when she tells her to stop it, Ciara just sighs and says she's bored.

"I can take care of that being bored thing." Mary says, coming through the door.

"Grandma! When did you get here?" Ciara asks.

"About ten minutes ago. I just moved here. Your parents asked me to keep it a secret. Now, I have something very important to ask you. How would you like to come and stay the rest of your summer vacation with me? Your parents know all about it. Since you and your brother don't get along and he picks on you for being smart, and the boys gang up on ya, how about it?" Mary asks her. Ciara climbs to her feet, from the couch, and just goes into her room and starts packing.

That night, Mary and Ciara are talking about different things from the past, that brought forth her and Charles, Halley, and Micheal.

"I remember when I first met everyone during a visit out here to see your Father. They all seemed like very nice people and the more I got to know them, the more I wanted to see them. I've known everyone for a long time. Have you ever been told about the accident?" Mary explains.

"What accident? Is everyone okay at the house? Did something happen to Uncle Rajesh and that's why he hasn't been around? What about Uncle Howard and Aunt Bernadette, or Halley? What about them?" Ciara asks, getting all scared.

"No baby, everyone's fine. Well now anyway. Your Mom and Dad dated for five years before they even had coitus. I'm sure you know all about that." Mary says and Ciara nods her head yes.

"Okay. They had broke up for awhile. Actually, your Mom broke it off with your Dad because he just wasn't showing any real affection and kept her at arms length. The night she broke up with him, he had an engagement ring for her. He was miserable for about three weeks. Then he called me up and asked me what he should do. I told him that if he really truly loved her, then he should track her down and tell her, and throw himself at her mercy. We're getting up to the accident I'm talking about. He went after her, and confessed his love for her, and then once they got back together, they dated for another year when he finally gave her the ring. Now, keep in mind I said something about an accident. The night your Daddy was finally going to propose, he called your Mom and told her he needed her to come over right away cause he needed to talk to her. It was the middle of the night, well actually more like 3:30 in the morning." Mary explains even farther and Ciara says, "Wow. I'd have shot him for getting me out of bed that early in the morning."

"Well sweetie, I'm sure you Momma would have done that, but. On her way over to the apartment where he lived at the time, she swerved to miss a deer standing in the road, and lost control of the car. When that car hit the pole, even though she had her belt on, she snapped the seatbelt and went through the windshield. Your Daddy proposed to her in the hospital after she came out of a coma. We thought we had lost her honey. Then after she got out of the hospital, she had to retrain herself to be able to walk again. So, the next time you and your brother get into it, just remember what all your Mom and Dad went through together, and then they finally had the two of you. It's fun to look back on how things happened and the events that took place for us all to enjoy the here and now isn't it?" Mary tells her.

"Grandma? It's fun yes but, I really wanna go home and talk to my family. I was so mean. I shouldn't have acted the way I did. Please, can we go to the house?" Ciara begs. Mary nods her head yes and tells her, "That's all I was waiting on."

When Mary pulls into the driveway, the only light on in the house is the living room light. This tells Mary they're all either in the middle of a movie or Sheldon and Leonard got the boys to participate in Halo or something else on X Box. They get inside and all four guys are in the living room, while Amy and Penny are in the bedroom, going through their own walk down memory lane, and the guys are still enjoying their game.

"I remember how when neither one of us wanted children. Now look at us. We wouldn't take anything for them. Funny isn't it how things work out?" Penny tells her.

"Do you remember when the guys were all going to Comicon and they wanted us to go to? Bernadette had to make something up about having to work, so she drags us down to the lab, and has me working on research papers, she's putting reacters together, and you were trying to piece together little figurines of Protons. I thought that was so funny. Of course, we all got busted when they got back." Amy says, when Mary announces to the guys that she had to bring Ciara back.

"So soon?" Sheldon asks, pausing the game.

"Daddy. I need to speak with all of you. Grandma took me on a trip down memory lane, and I've been so mean to everyone. Acting like intelligence is the only thing that matters. But it isn't. Intelligence is nothing when it causes you to hurt people you care about." Ciara says, after having her head down. When she looks back up at everyone, she has tears in her eyes.

"Is that Ciara and Mary? I thought she was staying with her the rest of summer." Penny asks.

"Me too. Come on. Hey, what's going on in here? I thought you was staying with Grandma for awhile. Is everything okay?" Amy says, while reaching the living room.

"Momma! I'm so sorry. Grandma told me everything. You know something Charles? The next time you and I get into it, we need to realize the kind of hells that Mom and Dad went through just to have us. We ought to be grateful and stop fighting." Ciara tells everyone, when Leonard says, "Ah! Watch your mouth. We've talked about this."

"Sorry Uncle Leonard." Ciara replies. Sheldon calls up the rest of the gang, and even though Raj is still single with no children, he goes over there as well. Sheldon tells Walowitz, "Bring dance craze. The kids need to interact. We need time to ourselves as well again."

Even though it's now around 12:30 in the morning, the kids are all in the living room playing dance craze on Wii, the adults are in the kitchen, watching them all and Howard can't help but laugh.

"What's so funny Howie?" Bernadette asks.

"Halley. She moves like me. Do you guys remember how I used to dance on that thing at the apartment, and I'd always have a cramp afterward the size of Texas. No pun intended Sheldon, or Mary." Howard reminds them while Halley continues to bounce around, and she even pulls some moves that Howard never knew about. Sheldon sees that and goes, "Ooh, Walowitz, your Daughter's better at that than you ever were."

"I remember a time when we were all over at Debbie's house and she was serving dinner, and she looked at me and Sheldon and sort of hollered at us, "You two either need to get married or call it quits. What are you waiting on? Hanukkah? New Year's? Twenty years down the road? I miss that old woman." Amy says.

"Yeah. I think we all do. Boy, she would have loved that girl in there ya know?" Leonard replies.

"She'd have loved all of them. They all would have been considered her Grandbabies." Penny adds to the conversation.

"What the heck kind of dance is that Micheal? Watch this and prepare to be amazed." Ciara tells Micheal as she gets up on the dance pad and starts playing the song "From AM To PM." She even sings along to it to, just to keep in rythem. Sheldon just about busted out laughing at the way his young Daughter was talking to Micheal, but instead he smiles and says, "Ciara. Nice baby. Be nice."

"Now everybody in the club keep bobbing your head now to this song, we got the beats and breaks and your body shakes, and we're doing it all night long. Anytime or place any place or time no we don't need no sleep. 365 days a year 24 a day, 7 days a week." She continues to sing, and Mary just stands there watching, and she says, "I don't think she got that from either one of you. She may be the Daughter of two Scientists, but she's killing her competition in there.

"Mm, she didn't learn that from them. She learned it from me." Penny speaks up while trying to drink her coffee.

"Do what?" Amy and Sheldon ask together.

"Yeah. Whenever you guys would have me to watch the kids, she and I had to do something together that interested us both. Did I screw up again?" Penny replies.

"It's perfectly okay. She's having a ball in there. They all are. Oh no Sheldon, look." Amy says, while having her arm around Penny's shoulders, then pointing in there where the kids are.

"That's supposed to be a contest and Ciara is sharing the glory with the rest of them. She's got them dancing with her. Now that's what you call, having the makings to be a special warm hearted person. You two are doing just fine with them." Bernadette tells Sheldon and Amy who can only thank her for her kind words, cause they were so afraid they'd do something wrong, somewhere with one of them.

"Come on Charles, move. There ya go." Ciara tells him.

"Oh Lord guys. Do you realize what's happened here in the past twenty years since we all first met?" Bernadette asks, while still watching the kids.

"What's that Bernie?" Howard asks.

"We started off as just being aquaintances, and thinking each other was weird, awkward, or just plain shy, but somewhere along the way, we went from that to friends, to being best friends, and later on, we just became, I don't know. This is great though." Bernadette says, and she's stuck on the last word.

"We became a family. All of us together. Different cultures, backgrounds, religious beliefs, careers, degrees, jobs, personalities, just, what we have may sound stupid to the rest of the world, but for us, it works. I wouldn't have it any other way." Amy says, helping her out.

"Neither would I. These past twenty years have been the best of my life and I'll cherish them forever." Leonard adds.

"Me too." Penny says, raising her glass.

"Here's to more guys?" Mary says, also raising her glass.

"I'm in on that." Howard tells them.

"Not getting rid of me." Sheldon says too.

"Nor I." Bernadette replies. Amy looks at Raj and says, "Well Rajesh? How about it? You staying in this weird wacky, whatever we all are?"

"What the hell? You can't get rid of me. Been a wild ride and I'm very honored to be a part of the family. Even though, you all have relationships and children, and I may not. But, I get to spoil them and send them back home." Raj says, and he raises that glass.

"Here's to, here's to the world's craziest family. I love you all." Mary says, and they join her in the toast, then continue to watch all the kids, and when Charles and Ciara, high five each other and pull one another into a hug, that's the best one their parents have ever seen, they know then and there, that what doesn't kill them will only make them stronger in the end, and that when it comes down to it, all you need is a loving reaction to every crazy or dangerous, or even deadly, situation.

THE END