A/N - I just recently watched all the way through The Big Bang Theory (I hadn't seen it before *gasp*) and have fallen in love with Sheldon (I clearly have a thing for snarky physicists). I'm a hurt comforter at heart so here's my first foray into TBBT fanfic. I'm hoping to make this a series but I'll have to see where the plot bunnies take me.

The Laser Beam Ouchy

Leonard was busy typing on his laser control console when the door to his lab swung open. He only had a moment to register the tall man who entered and shout, "Sheldon, no!" when the pre-programmed laser aimed at the well protected wall near the door fired.

Instead of hitting the wall, its path was halted by Sheldon's midsection. Leonard hit the big red kill button as Sheldon yelped, "Ouch!"

Sheldon was pawing at the small smoking hole in his shirt. "This is one of my favourite shirts!"

"What were you thinking, coming in here when the door was closed?" Leonard said as he cautiously approached his friend. "It does warn about live lasers."

Sheldon was starting to look distinctly ill at ease and his pawing had now turned to clutching at his abdomen. "I... came to say I finished my formula and to... see if you wanted an early lunch."

"It's a pretty powerful laser, did it hurt you?"

Sheldon nodded and grimaced.

"Come on, let's get you to the nurse."

"I'm not sure what she could do," Sheldon protested. "The wound is already cauterised." But his body didn't protest as Leonard guided him out of the lab.

Sheldon was uncharacteristically quiet as he limped his way to the nurse and Leonard used the opportunity to say, "I'm sorry, Sheldon. I should've locked the door."

"Too right you should have. A child could've wandered in."

Leonard bit his lip.

"Would you like me to hold your hand when you go in?" Leonard asked as they approached the nurse's office.

They stopped outside the door and Sheldon turned to him and said, "No."

"I'll just wait out here then."

"I didn't say you didn't have to come in with me, just no hand holding."

"Oh," Leonard smiled. "Okay."

The nurse was a businesslike woman who immediately ordered Sheldon to lie down on the examining bed.

"You've got to be kidding," Sheldon tried to fold his arms but the movement made his face twist in pain. "Sick people lay there. I don't want what they had."

"Be nice, Sheldon," Leonard warned as he settled in a chair. "She's the one with the needles."

Sheldon looked wide eyed at the nurse. "Are you going to stab me with needles?"

"I don't know yet. What can I do for you?"

Sheldon said, "Dr. Hofstatder shot me with a laser."

"Uh huh. Where?"

"Can't you see the huge hole in my shirt?"

"I don't care about the shirt, what did it do to you?"

"Don't care about the shirt?" Sheldon said in exasperation. "This is a limited edition black Superman shirt."

Leonard interrupted. "And Superman wouldn't have let himself get shot by a laser."

"I didn't let myself get shot. You pulled the trigger."

The nurse held up her hand to stop their bickering. "Lift it up and let's see what we're dealing with."

"I'm not lifting up my shirt! It hurts a lot but it's already cauterised. I don't see how looking at it is going to change anything."

The nurse snapped on some blue gloves and indicated Leonard before addressing Sheldon, "Would you like me to ask him to leave."

Sheldon lifted his chin a little and eyed Leonard. "No. It's okay. Let him see what he did." Sheldon lifted the edge of his shirt and revealed the expanse of pale skin that was his abdomen. To the left of his navel was an angry red-black burn mark a few millimetres across. The skin around the mark was red too.

The nurse checked his back. "Well, it didn't go all the way through." She moved in to touch him and Sheldon quickly backed off and lowered his shirt. The nurse sighed and looked to Leonard for support. Leonard could only shrug.

The nurse went to her workstation and took off the gloves, throwing them away. She grabbed a swab, some antiseptic, a box of pills and a few small square bandages then turned around. She looked between the men watching her and then passed the items to Leonard. "Make sure he cleans the wound and takes some painkillers. If it gets any worse, take him to the hospital."

"Okay, thank you."

Sheldon was staring at the nurse, deep in thought until Leonard interrupted him. "Come on, Dr. Cooper. Let's go."

xxx

"What happened to you?" Penny asked from where she sat on the sofa with Sheldon, tucking into their food.

"Leonard shot me."

"Took him long enough."

"It's not funny," Sheldon said, trying to shift himself and stopping with a wince. "It hurts."

Leonard came back and set down three bottles of water for them. "It would hurt a lot less if you took the painkillers the nurse gave you."

"I can't." He addressed Penny, "They make me crazy."

Penny and Leonard shared a knowing look.

"I said I was sorry, Sheldon," Leonard said. "But you need to help yourself."

And it just went to show how much pain he was in that Sheldon soon gave in and swallowed a couple of the tablets. "Don't say I didn't warn you when I do something crazy later."

xxx

Leonard woke up abruptly at 3am to the sound of muttering coming from outside his door. Pressing his ear to the door seemed like a good thing to do to make sure it wasn't someone breaking in, but the voice was definitely that of his wayward room-mate.

The sight that greeted him was not all that unusual - Sheldon scribbling formulae on a whiteboard and mumbling to himself.

"Sheldon, it's three in the morning. What are you doing?"

"Very important things. I'm calculating the velocity at which a cat needs to be travelling in order to jump through a cat flap."

"Uh huh." Leonard eyed the formulae and shook his head. "Have you figured it out yet?"

"Nearly. But there are so many variables: size of cat, weight of cat, cat flap size, height from floor..."

Leonard stepped a little closer, but not too close. "How about you go to sleep and come back to it in the morning?"

Sheldon turned back to the board and scribbled some more numbers. "But I'm so close now."

"Okay, well, keep it down, some people are trying to sleep."

"No problemo," Sheldon said with a grin that didn't quite reach his eyes.

Fin

xxx

A/N – I have a few more ideas about further hurty stories for Sheldon, but I'm always open to suggestions :)