Hi! I have wrote this story for like probably a month trying to fix this. But I am too excited to post this anyways! I hope you enjoy and please don't give any negative reviews please.
Sheldon Cooper stared at the envelope addressed to him as his legs carry him up the stairs without tripping. It's from Texas which warms his heart to know someone special from there writes to him... mainly his mom, or Meemaw.
He walks into apartment 4B after unlocking it and sitting on the couch about to read it. He heard a knock on the door and went to answer after putting the letter down. It was Penny.
"Hey sweetie, dinner is ready. We have some saved for Amy when she comes later," she said before going back across the hall.
Amy is at an important meeting with the Neuroscience department and will be late.
Sheldon calls out, "Be there in a minute!" He takes the letter and puts it in his bedroom and hides it under his pillow so he can read it before turning in for the night.
He leaves his bedroom and walks across the hall to 4A finding Penny sitting in the armchair with Leonard sitting next to her in his own. Bernadette and Howard sitting on the left side of the couch close to each other and Raj on the floor leaving his one and only spot open on the couch. He sits on it as the Chinese food was passed to him.
He gets a fork and starts to dig in but then it accidentally slipped from his fingers and it went onto the floor. He muttered, "Drat! Leonard, can I borrow one of your forks?"
Leonard rolled his eyes. "Sure Sheldon." And his best friend gets up to go to the kitchen to get it. But as he did, the phone rings in Sheldon's pocket and he takes it out seeing who's calling him.
"Oh hang on, I gotta take this," Sheldon announces going into the bathroom taking the call.
Penny says starting to eat, "Are we watching Bachelorette?"
"Unfortunately, Sheldon called dibs before lunch wanting to watch Star Trek tonight," Leonard said with less enthusiasm.
Raj groaned, "Oh c'mon! We watched it too many times already."
He sighs, "He begged all morning after I said yes to watching what he wants but no to Star Trek."
Howard shook his head in disapproval before saying, "When will he ever grow up?"
"What can I say Howard? He loves Star Trek-"
"No, I mean when will he ever grow up and stop getting his way all the time," he asked his friend.
Leonard shrugs. "Beats me, I've been asking the same question for the past fifteen years."
"Also, his fork was on the floor for one second and picked it back up," Howard complained.
"He just doesn't want to get sick from the germs on the fork," Leonard explains, "He still doesn't believe in the five-second rule."
His wife says picking at her food, "Oh yeah! And all those times Sheldon got sick. Either of us have to end up taking care of him like we're his slaves!"
"And he was pretty mean," Raj agreed with her.
Leonard says sighing, "Hey, he couldn't help it, he's just helpless when he's sick. Still doesn't know how to take care of himself."
Howard calls out pointing at Leonard, "See! Exactly! Sheldon is nearly forty years old and is still acting like a child! He never takes care of himself!"
His wife punches Howard on the arm. "Howie, stop! He couldn't help it!" But Howard continued.
"And what about his routines? I mean, every day, he would stick to the same thing regardless."
"Howard, his routines sometimes change little by little throughout the years," Leonard replied defending a bit.
Penny then says, "And he really hates change! I mean seriously! He wouldn't even go to any place we want to go to eat."
"That's true, remember when we took him to a restaurant," Raj tells the gang.
Bernadette then said sounding frustrated, "I remember. We had to drag him there, and he complained about it and refused to eat anything and had to take him to get McDonalds on the way home! Kinda ruined me and Howie's night cause he was sitting next to us."
"Guys, that was many years ago! Sheldon has changed a lot for the past few years," Leonard explains, "Yes he can still be an asshole. But he's Sheldon."
Raj cries out, "Exactly! He's still an asshole and never gave us any respect!"
"Yeah, us except Amy," Penny agreed nodding. "And we known him longer than her."
Howard says digging into his food, "I feel terrible for Amy! She deserved better than him."
"Howard-"
"In fact! She might've already regretted marrying him, having sex with him, or even meeting him in the first place!"
Everyone stared in shock at what Howard just said.
"Dude? Remember that it was you and I who found her for Sheldon?" Raj informs his best friend and Howard said annoyed, "and she could've just walked away sooner!"
"Howard stop! Sheldon never knew any better," Leonard also tries to stop this knowing that Sheldon might hear from the bathroom.
But Howard won't stop. "And Leonard! You roomed with him for over ten years! You ever stand up for yourself?"
Leonard thought for a moment and then said nodding, "Sometimes. But he's my best friend. He's like my brother."
"Seriously?" Asked Howard staring at Leonard who said instantly, "You know what, You're right. Even when Sheldon moved out, he still is an insufferable arrogant jerk."
"Testify," Howard praises and they nodded in agreement at that only statement. He then had an idea. "Why don't we just make plans to get away, without telling him… Just for a week. And we'll put our phones on airplane mode so he won't call us! Ooooh! We'll bring Amy along with us!"
Bernadette says sounding nervous, "Howie, that's kind of harsh."
Leonard and Penny look at each other feeling nervous about this. It sounds hurtful and really evil though a week without Sheldon sounds tempting.
Just then, the bathroom door opened, and Sheldon waked out with the look of a mixture of shock, pale, and hurt, like his heart had just broken into pieces.
When she saw Sheldon, Bernadette hits Howard again and cleared her throat gesturing to their friend who now stands in the room, eyes on them that fill up with tears.
Howard says cheerfully, "Heeeeeyyyyy! We were just talking about you!"
Sheldon stares at everyone before immediately racing out the door, slamming it behind him while tears run down his face. Everyone stares in a shocking silence.
"What's with him?" Raj asked suddenly concerned.
Howard replies not caring, "I don't know… Shall we start with the packing?"
Leonard looked from the door to his friend before saying, "That was pretty low Howard."
"What did I do?"
"Well you kind of hurt his feelings. Have you forgotten about his Vulcan hearing? He might've heard every word while in the bathroom!"
Howard snapped, "So what? All those years, he's been teasing me about not having a doctorate like you guys! He has no idea how he feels about it! I think it's about time to give him the taste of his own medicine!"
"That's still hurtful Howie!," his wife says upset. "You have to apologize!"
"Why do I have to apologize? After all he put us through? He got what he deserved. You were all in on it too!"
Penny argues, "But Sheldon hasn't done anything wrong recently Howard! If he said something insulting to you or the rest of us, he deserves it! But this time he isn't insulting and he doesn't deserve that!"
"Oh perfect," Howard says sarcastically, "One minute you agree with me, and another minute later you get concerned about freaking Sheldon!"
Leonard was starting to feeling bad for his buddy, "Alright, after we eat, we'll go across the hall and apologize."
Everyone just kept eating and the door opened and Amy walks in. "Hello."
"Hey," the others greet not in unison.
Penny smiled. "You're back early."
"Yeah, the meeting ran short," Amy said as Penny gave her Chinese food. She notices Sheldon's spot is empty. She asked with concern, "Where's Sheldon?"
Howard answered that question with a smile. "Who even cares? He might've taken a walk along the short pier."
Leonard rolled his eyes answering the real question. "He left because he looked upset. We kind of said stupid things about him."
Amy crossed her arms getting mad. "What stupid things? What did he do this time?"
"Nothing! We were just kidding around," Penny promises but Howard says with a evil smile, "Actually we're not."
She asked crossly, "What did you do?"
Bernadette explains much to her husband's dismay putting Amy into shock, "We made fun of Sheldon's quirks, habits, personal stuff, some maybe involving you. Oh! And Howard said that you might've regretted having sex with him! Or even meeting him the first place!"
Her husband looks at her like he's about to kill her. "I did not say that!"
"You said it just now!" Bernadette shouts upset.
That made Amy explode, "ARE YOU ALL OUT OF YOUR MINDS?"
They all sat in silence not answering.
"I can't believe you all made fun of him like that!"
Howard tries to say, "We known him longer than you Amy-"
She yells furious, "Shut up! That doesn't mean anything! Now Sheldon's gone and it's all your fault!"
"Wait! What do you mean he's gone? Isn't he in across the hall?" Leonard asked starting to get concerned.
Amy said calming down suddenly, "No! I was just in my apartment to get into my comfortable clothes. He's not there."
Everyone looked at each other now shocked and ashamed of themselves. Sheldon ran away from the apartment, and it was all their fault.
"What have we done?" Penny sighed.
Leonard said standing up, "We gotta find him."
All except Howard agreed and put their food down before leaving.
"Come on! You're all wasting your time. I'm sure he's fine," Howard said and Bernadette yells in his face, "You're coming with us and your big mouth will be zipped shut or else i'll rip it off!"
He looked at his wife before groaning and following her out the door to their car followed by Raj and Amy who's joining them. Penny and Leonard go in their car and started to drive around the city.
"Sheldon!" Penny calls out the car window looking for the tall and lanky physicist but he's not around. She asked Leonard, "Why didn't we track his phone like when he ran away to the train station?"
"I tried before driving. He must've left his phone at the apartment so no one would track him down," Leonard replied.
She asked, "What if he's at the train station again?"
"No. He could've gone that far," he said continuing to drive to the obvious places.
Meanwhile in Howard's car, Bernadette is the one driving while Amy's terrified eyes search around for her love. Howard just sat there quiet like Bernadette wanted him to because he has done enough.
"What if he's at the train station?" Raj asked.
Bernadette said continuing to drive, "I don't think so. He might be at the comic book store."
"But Stuart is watching the kids tonight. Remember?" Howard said but Amy shouts in a threatening voice, "Who said you can talk?!"
He immediately gets quiet again starting to feel very ashamed of himself.
"Leonard. Look!"
Penny points over to the tall figure standing on the sidewalk by the railing that overlooks the harbor. They have found him. Leonard immediately pulls over, texts the others where they are before they get out of the car and head over to him.
They walked over to Sheldon, and though they were a couple feet away, they heard him ask, "What are you doing here?" He knows those familiar footsteps anywhere though he doesn't turn his face to them.
It was Penny who answered, "Sweetie, we are worried about you."
Leonard looks at the boats and water in front of Sheldon and asked getting scared for his best friend, "Are you committing suicide?"
"No."
"Then why are you standing at the harbor looking like your about to?"
Sheldon answered, "I needed a place to take it in… And drown my sorrows to."
The two both looked at each other not knowing what else to say until Leonard sighs before saying in a apologetic tone, "Buddy, we didn't mean to say all these things behind your back. Howard is just being a-"
"It's not just that," Sheldon says sounding broken.
He asked suddenly concerned and confused at the same time, "What?"
"Though there will be words," Sheldon says still not looking at them.
They nodded in understatement and Sheldon continued explaining why, "The reason I ran off is because… Remember that phone call and I had to take it?"
Penny and Leonard both nodded again.
"It was my mother… Meemaw passed away this morning."
A small gasp erupted from Penny's mouth instantly feeling bad. Leonard's facial expressions turned to shock. They have known for years that he and his grandmother had this special relationship together since his childhood. He loves her a lot and she loves her little Moonpie. They still share their love to this day when she came and visits him.
"No…" Penny squeaks out and both hands covered her mouth.
Leonard says in a very sad tone, "Oh Sheldon… We're very sorry buddy."
Sheldon says sounding very upset, "No. I don't understand why your sorry about someone who I was so close to is now gone."
"Sweetie, we know how hard it is to lose someone special."
That made Sheldon glare at them. The streetlamp illuminates his face revealing that he has been crying. His big blue eyes are red, puffy and teary.
"No! You have no idea how hard it is for me to lose someone who has made my life better! Whenever I felt sad, she's always there, whenever I'm happy, I tell her why, whenever I'm sick, she's always there to sing 'Soft Kitty' when mom has to work and couldn't take care of me. When I was bullied, she would fix me up and make me feel a lot better. She's the one who's always there for me whenever something goes wrong…" Tears fall from his eyes. "Why do people have to die? Why does everyone keep leaving me? All the people I have known or looked up to, I have lost…" He goes down the list chronologically, "My Pop Pop, my father, Arthur, Howard's mother, Stephan Hawking… And now her… Also… For some reason… Her death and what you all said had me realize…" More tears fall down from his eyes admitting this, "When I thought that you all would comfort me, I have overheard about all those things that to be honest, made me feel a lot worse… Which is why I ran off. When I heard you, my eidetic memory flashes back and I found out it was all true… You all hate my guts." His voice starts breaking as he continued, "I didn't realize how rude and unappreciative I was and what I put you all through and having you put up with me… Was I really that mean?"
Penny and Leonard were silent the whole time not knowing what to say. Tears form in their eyes seeing their friend so broken hearted.
"Meemaw is the only one who really truly understands me… And now that she's gone… Who can?" Sheldon starts sobbing and falling to the ground curling up in a small ball.
After looking at Leonard, Penny kneels down to Sheldon's level, wrapping his arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug, having his head on her shoulder and one of her hands to stroke his hair calmly. They know he hates hugs, but Penny didn't care. He needed the comfort. And Sheldon is now too weak to care about it. Leonard joins them by kneeling down and starts gently rubbing Sheldon's back.
Penny starts whispering quietly in his ear but Leonard heard every single word, "Sweetie, we do understand you. There are times that you can drive us crazy. But we don't hate you. We never hated you. It's just because of who you are! You are you and that's enough."
Sheldon continues to cry in her shoulder and Leonard whispers, "We love you buddy… It's ok…"
Just then Amy, Howard, Bernadette and Raj came to see what is happening. Leonard stands back up and pulls Amy to the side and told her what happened. When she found out, she went to Sheldon, kneeled down to his level and when Penny noticed her, she lets go of Sheldon having Amy pull him into another tight hug. His body relaxes and goes numb though he continued to cry in Amy's jacket knowing she's there. Penny starts rubbing his back soothingly.
Leonard quietly told the rest what happened and they instantly feel terrible for not only Sheldon, but the way they made fun of him earlier, especially Howard when Leonard told him about the part where Sheldon mentioned about his late mother. He even kneeled down and looks at Amy who nods having him talk to Sheldon.
Howard asks, "Hey Sheldon?"
Sheldon looks up to Howard with very teary eyes in question. He didn't want to hear from the person who had just hurt him
"Remember the day my Ma died?"
He nodded in reply.
Howard then said, "I remember what you said about not having friends to help you through your father's death and that I have friends who help me through… You do have us to help you through this one."
He lets go of Amy before wrapping his arms around Howard to sob once more. He froze in shock for a minute looking at everyone else before gently patting him on the back as everyone watches on depressed for their friend.
It was after midnight but everyone is still at Apartment 4A getting everything set up for Sheldon. Leonard calls the University to have Sheldon take off for a week and spend time with his family in Texas. Penny calls Mary Cooper to talk to her and to comfort her for a little while. Howard and Bernadette books Sheldon and Amy's flight to Texas. Raj calls Sheldon's twin sister Missy who sounded emotional over the phone.
Just then, Amy slowly came in the apartment.
"Hey," Amy greets sadly.
Leonard replies wanting to know if his buddy is ok, "Hey… How is he doing?"
She sighs, "He's alright now, I just got him to sleep. He needs a little rest since he and I have to go to Texas tomorrow."
They all nodded understanding and Penny says giving Amy the phone, "Amy, it's Sheldon's mother."
She takes the phone and starts chatting with his mom and explaining that she'll accompany her husband home to see his family and go to the funeral.
"I feel terrible," Howard said to his wife who stops typing on the laptop and kisses him on the forehead.
"It's alright Howie. What matters now is that Sheldon is now home and safe and has us here to help."
He nodded sipping his coffee from the mug. "You're right. I have crossed the line and I need to apologize."
"That's my Howie," she whispers kissing him again.
Meanwhile in the Shamy's bedroom, Sheldon lays in bed finally sleeping after Amy hums the Star Wars theme to soothe him and calm him down. She tries having him get some rest since they got home, but after he's done crying which took a while, he feels very worn out and very sleepy. She asks to sing to him and he nodded not saying a word. She didn't get through half of the song and he was out like a light. He didn't even get out of his clothes and into his pajamas and after he drifted off, Amy puts a blanket on top of him and kissed him on the forehead before leaving to check in with the others.
Unfortunately his sleep was filled with fitful dreams of the events that happened in the past hours. His eyes opened and saw on his clock that it's nearly three in the morning. He looks over not finding Amy in bed which made him feel more sad and scared though he thought she might be across the hall talking to Leonard and Penny.
He suddenly forgot about the letter he was about to read earlier. He reached under is pillow, pulls the letter out and opens it seeing words written in his Meemaw's writing.
"Dear Moonpie,
If you have or have not received this letter before knowing about my soon to be passing, then you know. If you don't know, then I am afraid I'm not going to live much longer, I was sick the past few days and I thought it was the flu. But unfortunately it was something life-threatening, which is not good. I knew that it would be my time to end very soon and I am now expecting it.
It's very difficult, but we're just going to have to accept the fact that I'm leaving. But I will still be here in all of your hearts. And your friends will help you through it all. I know you are or will be depressed about it. I am going to miss you very much my little Moonpie.
I will be watching you right from up there with your Pop Pop and your father. You are going do great things and you will get that Nobel Prize! I know you have what it takes. You are a smart, special and wonderful person and I love you very much.
You take good care of your wife Amy, your friends and family.
With lots of love, your Meemaw.
PS. I have a present for you in the envelope :)."
Tears went down Sheldon's face again as he reread the letter a few times hearing his Meemaw's voice. It took minutes before looking in the envelope finding old photos from when he was a child, there were five of them.
One was where Sheldon at 2 days old asleep in Meemaw's arms all swaddled up in a blue blanket. And by the look on her face which is a beautiful smile, she loves him very much.
Another photo is Sheldon at the age of 3 playing with the train set with his Meemaw. They didn't look at the camera his mother took, they were having so much fun.
The third is a 9 year old Sheldon and Meemaw having their own little date at the ice cream parlor spoiling his dinner.
The forth is when he was 14, and he remembers it very well. It was the day he went to Germany and his mother managed to sneak an emotional photo of him and Meemaw hugging each other before he left to the airport.
And finally the fifth was when he was forced to go back to Texas from Pasadena at the age of 25 for the Tucker family reunion and the photo shows him and Meemaw smiling at the camera.
Carefully, Sheldon put all the photos back in the envelope and held it close to his heart as more tears pour from his eyes. He laid back down on the bed not letting go of the letter. He softly cried and cried till he couldn't cry anymore and lets exhaustion carry him back to sleep.
Hours later, Sheldon awakes finding sunlight outside the window knowing it's after dawn. He turns over and the bed is still empty. Amy has not returned home.
Thinking she's still at 4A, he finally gets up off the bed, leaving the letter in the nightstand drawer to keep it safe and heads out of the apartment, goes across the hall to 4A and opens the door seeing Leonard, Penny and Amy talking while having some coffee. When they see Sheldon, they look up and smiled.
"Look who decided to join us," Penny greets chirping. Amy came over to give Sheldon a hug and kiss on the cheek. "Hey sleepyhead."
Leonard smiled sadly asking, "How are you feeling buddy?"
Sheldon nodded yes not wanting to answer the question and heads to sit in his spot with Amy sitting next to him.
"Hey, uh, we arranged everything for you to go back to Texas. We got you a flight which will leave in less than two hours. And your mother will be expecting you," Leonard says going over the details. "Also I called the university for you to have a week off."
His best friend nodded still not saying a word.
Penny sighs before starting, "Now listen, I know that this question could devastate you and have you snap at me. But… Since your grandmother calls you Moonpie, is it alright if I call you that from now on? I know it's not the same. But-"
Finally a voice comes out, it was rough and exhausted.
"Nobody calls me Moonpie but Meemaw. But now… Only you can."
Penny grinned and put her arms around him for a hug while he still sits. He hugged her back gently which wasn't like him, but he enjoys the comfort.
Leonard cleared his throat and the two friends broke apart. "I hate to break it up, but we gotta get you and Amy to the airport."
They all got up off their seats, Penny took the mugs away and Amy gestures to her husband. "Let's go pack. Ok?"
He nodded and left the apartment getting ready to fly back home to see his family once more with his wife. Soon as they got to the airport, Leonard and Penny gave them a hug and the couple boards on. Sheldon leaned back in his seat in the plane with Amy seated next to him resting after being up all night taking care of things. Soon as the plane takes off, his eyes gaze out the window deep in his own thoughts the whole way home…
No matter what happens, no matter how quirky or insufferable, he now have loved ones and friends to always count on.