Howard returned minutes later, followed by a young doctor who was struggling to keep up. The doctor's curly hair, which was perfectly styled hours ago, now looked messy and chaotic. He was carrying a clipboard and folders overfilled with paperwork. Penny actually wondered if all of it was for Sheldon or his other countless patients staying at the hospital.
Sheldon reopened his eyes lifting his head a bit. It took him far more effort than it should to keep them open.
"Good... ummm... morning," the doctor said, pushing up the glasses that were sitting at the tip of the guy's nose, his attempt to sound professional was almost funny, if not sad.
"Mr… um…Dr. Cooper, how are you feeling?"
Sheldon blinked a few times, as if to process the question, with puzzled look on his face. Without waiting for a vocal response the doctor continued, his entire monologue filled with ums and nervous stuttering.
"I…we are still running some tests, so it's not determined … yet …how long you will be staying… have to stay under... um… observation. But... you have lost a considerate amount of blood and have a lot of internal and external injuries so it's best if you could… be here for a couple of weeks... I'll… I'll leave the report here for you to go over… if you wish... I…." The doctor proceeded to pull out a few stapled pieces of paper handing them to Howard, an apologetic smile on his face.
"Um… a nurse will be coming here shortly if you need anything." The doctor said opening the door and almost ran out of the small room.
"Weird" Raj said looking over Howards shoulder, his face ridiculously close to his best friend's. He just didn't see it, did he?
The paper that was handed to them had an enormous list of random injuries – broken bones, deep open wounds, bruises etc. Raj's eyes widened in surprise; he knew the situation was serious, but he could ever imagine something so bad happening to any of his friends. It seemed almost surreal, like something he would see in a drama or even a horror movie.
"It's not too bad" Howard lied and threw the papers on a journal table beside the armchairs. He imagined Sheldon giving him the best are-you-kidding-me face, but the physicist just laid there, his empty eyes were moving all around the room, stopping and fixating on something, then blinking a few times and repeating the pattern again. It sent shivers down the engineer's spine. Sure, Sheldon was in "the zone" a lot, but he always looked busy; thinking, solving problems or making new ones. Now it looked like he was standing beside a broken doll.
Sheldon was one of the greatest scientists at Cal-Tech and President Siebert insisted on getting him the best room in the hospital for the physicist's continuous contributions. It also meant that Sheldon would be most likely to spend more time away from work, giving the president (and everyone around) a few weeks of peace. He also doubled Leonard's vacation time, giving him 4 weeks off, which Leonard considered extremely weird, but decided not to object. Although Raj, Penny, and Howard were not as fortunate, and had to go back to work on Monday, which they were not ready for, considering the Saturday sun which was rising over Pasadena, while a nurse walked down hospital hallways to Sheldon's room.
Seconds later, there was a knock on the door and a short blonde nurse entered through the door pushing a small trey with all kinds of things on it. Howard would've hit on her, if he wasn't too busy reading the 5th page of Sheldon's diagnosis, which he picked up a second after he threw it.
Disregarding the four people in the room, she rolled the trey closer to Sheldon's bed and walked over to the light switch.
"I am going to turn the light on, okay?" she flipped the switch, and bright, florescent light filled the room, blinding Sheldon for a couple of seconds and causing him to close his eyes shut, wincing.
When his eyes finally adjusted to the light, Sheldon started to look around. Now he could see Leonard sitting in one of the chairs hugging his legs, sleeping in a cocoon position. Penny was right beside him, eyes bloodshot and her hair as messy as ever. Howard was extremely tense and was standing in the corner reading the papers with a serious expression. Raj was still somewhere beyond Sheldon's view. Now the physicist was aware if of his right arm being in an uncomfortable cast, all of his fingers separated and fixed in place on their own. A thick tube was sticking under it and going to a DRIP stand that contained multiple bags, which Sheldon didn't want to think about. He was also aware of a Nasal Cannula which went uncomfortably around his head.
After a brief procedure of the nurse shining an extremely bright flashlight into Sheldon's eyes, testing his reflexes, measuring his temperature and such she replaced some bags on the DRIP, she put some water on the nightstand near Sheldon's bed and after putting blankets and extra pillows beside, she gave Penny some more, presumably for Leonard, and left. The nurse was advised Sheldon to rest, made him take some sleeping pills and was supposed to return in about 5 hours, so Penny turned off the lights finally asking Howard to explain the source of his sudden seriousness.
Seconds later, Sheldon Lee Cooper drifted away into uncomfortable, fragmented sleep flooded by dark images and flashes.