Mary shot bolt upright in bed as a series of muffled sounds coming from the living room woke her from a deep sleep. She reached out and grabbed the first thing that came to hand and crept down the hallway; her first instinct to protect her sleeping charge at all costs.
"Take one more step and I'll drop you where you stand. I'm from Texas and you should know that I've taken the first prize in the State Fair on more than one occasion." She warned as she pointed her weapon at the dark shape stumbling around the living room.
"I don't think a blue ribbon in Pecan Pies count, and isn't that a Darth Vader torch you're threatening me with?" A familiar voice had her hand falling to her side and peering through the darkness.
"George Jnr, is that you son? What on earth are you doing stumbling around in the dark?"
"Well if I could find the damned light switch, maybe I wouldn't be in the dark!"
"Language, George!"
"Sorry, Mama." George apologised and continued stumbling around, bumping into things before he finally found the light switch on the wall nearest the hallway. "Damn it Sheldon! I swear to God, Mama that boy is as slippery as a snake in July! He was right by my side a moment ago and now he's vanished again! I knew I shouldn't have poured that third Scotch down him…"
"Sheldon's here in California? How'd y'all get here so fast? I only called Meemaw a few hours ago?" Mary sat down on the hallway steps and looked up at her eldest son in surprise.
"You can thank Missy's old man for this one; Meemaw got straight on the wire and called an emergency summit meeting while Sheldon was still out cold. Mike called up one of his pal's and somehow arranged for a chartered jet to bring us here…Sheldon woke up screaming blue murder as we were halfway over Dallas and the only way to calm him down was to pour Scotch into him. We grabbed a cab from the airport; dropped Mike, Missy and Meemaw at a hotel and then came straight over…now though, I have no idea where he is…I thought he was behind me but he could be passed out in the hallway for all I know." George sat down next to his Mother and leant his head back against the wall, tiredness seeping into his every bone. Mary looked over at her eldest son and swiped his dark hair away from his brow; he reminded her so much of her late husband that it was sometimes like looking at her old wedding pictures. George Jnr wasn't a good half foot shorter than his younger siblings, but packed more muscle on his shorter frame than the pair of them put together.
"You did good, George. I'm real proud of you. Now, you look all done in, why don't you settle yourself down in my bed for a nap and I'll go look for Shelly." Mary rose up from the steps and held out a hand to help George up to his feet.
"Now Mama, what kind of gentleman would I be if I turned a lady out of her bed at three o'clock in the morning? You raised me better than that. No, you go on back to bed and I'll check the rest of the apartment for Shelly…knowing him, he's got his head down the toilet and is praying that God will put him out of his misery." George smiled at his Mother as he placed a gentle hand in the small of her back and steered her back down the hallway. As they reached the end, Mary happened to look over in the direction of Amy's room and noticed the door standing ajar.
"He'd better not be doing what I think he's doing…that poor girl's had enough of a shock for one day; she doesn't need Sheldon yelling her awake in the middle of the night as well!" Mary fumed as she strode toward the door and nudged it open with her foot. George reached the entrance first and when he saw what was going on, he held out a hand to stop Mary from entering.
"Uh…Mama…I don't think Sheldon's gonna be wakin' up anytime soon…take a look, but keep your voice down." George murmured in a quietly shocked tone and Mary edged around her son and saw what had him amazed. Sheldon had managed to navigate his way around the apartment in total darkness and was now sleeping heavily in his own bed; curled up around Amy. She'd kicked off the comforter during the night and had removed her grey leggings when she'd gotten overheated. Sheldon's legs were entwined with hers and one of his slender arms was wrapped around her waist holding her tightly against his body with their heads resting on the same pillow. What brought tears to Mary's eyes was the way one of Sheldon's hands was splayed over Amy's abdomen as if he were already cradling his unborn child. She looked at the way Amy had her hand wrapped around his arm, as if she recognised Sheldon's presence in her sleep and was seeking comfort, a faint smile was on both of their faces and Mary backed quietly out of the room, taking George with her.
"Well, that's a fine kettle of fish…I don't know how Amy's gonna take this when she wakes up." Mary shook her head lightly as she made her way back into her bedroom and scooped up a pillow off the bed and tossed it over to George.
"It might be Sheldon we have to worry about, rather than Amy…he was in a pretty terrible state on the plane. He was real shook up, Mama; cryin' an' everything." George flipped the pillow from hand to hand as he thought about Sheldon's emotional behaviour before he started drinking. "I ain't never see him act so…human…before. It kinda freaked me out a little, if I'm honest."
"Sheldon's always had real deep emotions, honey; he just got better at not keeping them to himself. I think he feels that he can only show them to a few people; like Meemaw. That all changed when he met Amy – she was suddenly the only one that could get him to open up a little, although even she admits that he's not real good at verbalisation."
"Well he's gonna have a heck of a hangover whenever he wakes up…we'd better try and get Amy up before him; who knows how either of them are gonna react when they realise who they're waking up next to. I need to get some sleep before I hit the ground…" George swayed slightly on his feet and cracked a jaw popping yawn. "I'm gonna bed down in the hallway just so that I can be near to whoever wakes up first…you go on back to sleep, Mama."
"Okay, George…you wake me as soon as you hear a stirrin' in there, ya hear me?"
"Yes, Ma'am. Night Mama."
"Night, son. I love you."
"Love you, too." George murmured sleepily as he propped himself up against the wall in the hallway in between the two bedrooms. He was asleep before Mary could even get herself situated back in bed, and she took a moment to send a brief prayer of thanks up to the Almighty, for bringing her boys together in their time of trouble.
A few hours later, Amy shifted on the bed and sighed happily as the comforting scent of talc hit her nostrils.
"Mmm…Sheldon…" She smiled in her sleep and snuggled back against warmth emanating from the lean body pressed up against her in the bed…Her eyes snapped open in the early morning light as she realised that it wasn't just a Sheldon soaked dream she was having…not if the arm cradling her stomach had anything to do with it.
"Amy, darlin'…you didn't take off my shirt like I asked…you're in deep trouble, little lady." Sheldon's rough morning voice held a slightly off key note that warned her that Sheldon wasn't quite in charge of his faculties; the endearment spilling off his lips merely served to confirm it. Warm, slender fingers trailed a path up along her hand and up her arms to tease around the edge of one sleeve, slipping under to gently rub the material beneath his fingers. His other hand was rubbing along the hem of the shirt where it had ridden up during the night to the lacy bottoms of her panties to the morning air.
"Sheldon…" Amy murmured, trying to shift away from his seeking fingers. Her movements only causing his hand to slip further under her shirt until his fingers were splayed over her warm stomach entirely.
"Amy…" Sheldon replied back in that softly accented voice that always managed to send a shiver of pleasure down her spine. He felt her slight movement in the bed and it only made him curve closer around her body as her shiver echoed throughout his own body. "Mmm…you're so warm and cosy…don't wanna wake up yet, having a nice dream…"
"What are you dreaming about, Sheldon?" Amy asked softly as she turned her head slightly to see his slightly stubbly chin relax into a soft smile, not unlike his face whenever he thought about his beloved Koala's.
"Hmm…winning a Nobel…Amy's there in the front row, smiling and looking proud…I know it's only a dream 'cause Amy left me when I was actin' like a stupid baby…" Sheldon frowned a little in his sleep and then his expression grew softer as he slipped further into his dream. "Hmm…babies…I'm holding our baby, and it's a little girl with the prettiest green eyes I've ever seen…like deep pools of emerald's just like her Mama…I could spend all day just looking at them both…beautiful and they're both mine…Hmm, love you Amy…" Amy bit back a choked tear as she heard the words spilling out of his mouth, words that he would never dare say if he were sober and awake. She extracted herself carefully from his grasp and heard his grumbles as his arms reached out to hit empty space; she tensed a little when she thought he would wake up but he merely turned over onto his stomach and buried his face in her pillow, lightly snoring off the effects of the alcohol. Amy pulled on her discarded leggings and Sheldon's robe before leaving him to sleep it off.
She opened the bedroom door only to nearly trip over the body lying across the entryway, she let out a high pitched squeak of alarm that had George sitting up and blinking the sleep out of his eyes and Sheldon sitting bolt upright in bed.
"Danger! Danger!" Sheldon shouted and then clapped his hand over his eyes as the early morning light threatened to burn out his retinas. "Oh dear Lord! I'm begging you, turn off that darned light!"
"And I thought you were the smart one in the family…that's sunlight Shelly, and I don't think anyone's invented a way to switch it off just yet." George rose up from the wooden floor and let out a groan as he worked out the kinks his body had accumulated from sleeping in an unnatural position.
"George, what did you do to me last night? I feel like I've been tossed around in a spin cycle of the washing machine; my stomach's doing loop the loops at the moment and I feel the urgent need to vomit profusely…" A gagging sound from the hallway had Sheldon looking over to the door and then there was the sound of the bathroom door flinging back against the wall. "Was it something I said? Oh, dear Lord…I'm definitely gonna puke…Outta my way, George…" Sheldon threw back the comforter and stumbled out of the bedroom, only to be held back by George grabbing onto the hem of his shirt.
"You're just gonna have to hold it in for a while, Sheldon. From the sounds of things, it could be a while…" The sounds of Amy's retching echoed down the hallway and Sheldon swallowed hard at the bile rising from the back of his throat. He looked around the hallway and blinked hard as his brain finally caught up with his eyes.
"You brought me back to Pasadena? You know that kidnapping is a federal offence, don't you George?"
"Someone had to do the right thing for once, and I'm grateful that it was George that dragged you back; 'cause I'd have hogtied you and put you in the cargo hold." Mary's strident tone had Sheldon swaying on his feet and looking as though he might pass out at any second.
"Hello, Mama." He murmured weakly, and Mary merely nodded stiffly as she brushed past him to head on how Amy was doing in the bathroom.
"You and me are going to sit and have a chat, real soon. But first I need to check on how poor Amy's doing this morning. Honestly Sheldon, what did you think you were doing creeping into bed with her in the middle of the night? You could've scared the poor girl out of her wits!"
"In my defence, I was not in possession of my full faculties and I thought I was dreaming…obviously I was caught up in some sort of nightmare instead! Kidnapped by my own family!" Sheldon shouted at his Mother's retreating figure and the rise in volume only served as a reminder of the night before when it felt like hot pokers were pressing through the top of his head. He sagged against the walls, hoping that their support would keep him upright.
"You need some food in your belly to soak up all of that scotch you downed on the plane. Yeah, there's nothing like a nice greasy plate of bacon and eggs to make you feel human again…Sheldon…Sheldon!" George started to steer his younger brother into the kitchen but found himself talking to thin air as Sheldon bolted for the bathroom and practically shoved Amy out of the way so that he could make his own sacrificial offering to the porcelain god.