Congratulations if you're actually reading this. The website's being glitchy, showing my story on the page as most recent, but not letting you get to the chapter neither through email nor by selecting it.


Each day passed by at the Cooper-Hofstadter household with much familiarity, but at the same time it was still always changing.

Mary continued to live there, but Sheldon was becoming less dependent on her. Eventually, Sheldon would emerge in the mornings fully bathed and dressed, and he figured out how to use silverware, make toast, and pour himself juice. He grew less sensitive to sound and light, and when Mary reintroduced him to his Star Trek collection, he started to watch it every day. ("Are there really people with foreheads like that? I like Spock, he has a lot of great ideas, though his ears are silly, don't you think?")

Amy continued to take Sheldon out on walks, though to her disappointment, he started to refuse to wear the sunglasses. Eventually they went to places like the grocery store, which was always a big challenge for Sheldon, and the planetarium, where Sheldon would always exclaim that he remembered things, like the names of stars or how black holes worked. He was no longer scared by the outside world, but instead adored it. He would touch the walls of buildings and pick things up off of the ground, often surprised by what he was observed, and often pointed things out, like billboards and displays, saying that he thought they were pretty. He smiled at dogs being walked on the street, and sometimes even at the dogowners themselves, as if people were wonderful things, which was definitely something no one had seen from Sheldon before.

Howard and Raj began visiting again, complaining that Howard's mother was becoming more unbearable than ever, and that they were sick of Raj's 98%-of-everything-they-ever-watched-on-it TV screen. Howard and Raj spoke minimally to Sheldon, mostly coming for Leonard, who was proving to be much more pleasant to be around. Though Leonard still didn't interact with Sheldon much, he was obviously happy to see that his best friend was coming back to his senses. Penny and Bernadette were frequent visitors as well. They didn't have Girl's Nights often anymore, respecting the fact that Amy was inseparable from Sheldon, but still kept her company.

When there were visitors, Sheldon would shyly hide in his room or remain drifting in the kitchen. He would greet people however, mostly just to avoid conflict with Mrs. Cooper, sometimes remembering their names and sometimes not.


One day, about four months after the stroke, Amy was sitting on Sheldon's bed next to him, trying and failing to explain Sudoku, when she looked up to find him staring at her. It wasn't new; he always did it. It was bizarre, but not uncomfortable, though Amy finally decided that this time it wasn't an accident that his eyes were fixated on her, because the glazed look had started to peel away and it was clear that he was alert and engaged in the physical world.

"Sheldon, why do you always look at me like that?"

Sheldon immediately snapped out of his gaze. "I don't know, I just enjoy lookin' at you," Sheldon said, his speech almost smoothly strung together, though still peppered with a Texas twang.

"Why so?"

Sheldon though for a minute. "Your skin is a lot less wrinkly than momma's. And your eyes look like shiny green glass, like the stuff I saw when you took me to the beach, and at momma's church in the windows. And- the way you talk makes me feel comfy, it's so different from the way other people talk. I always liked the way you talked though, even last year and the year before that."

Amy's face grew extremely warm. "You remember me from last year?"

"Yes, a lot of you. We went to the zoo and lot and the planet place a lot like we do now. One time you kissed me, maybe more than one time. And you hugged me a lot, even though other people didn't hug me a lot. ...Were you my girlfriend?" Sheldon asked, suddenly timid.

Amy looked at him. "...Yes, and I still am, technically." she said.

"So that's why you're always here. I thought you got paid to do that. I heard a lot of people get taken care of just cuz someone is paid to do it. Why are you still my girlfriend?"

"Because when you bruised your brain, I didn't stop being your girlfriend. Because I don't want to." She also would have mentioned the Relationship Agreement, but somehow she felt like it wasn't a good idea to remind him of it. He'd probably get angry at the fact that he couldn't read his own writing, which was a common occurrence when he came across journals and letters around the apartment.

"Why? I can't make you pie like momma and I can't tell you interestin' stories like your other friends can."

"Sheldon, you're every bit as interesting as my other friends. Even if you can't do a lot of things, you've learned a lot of things and you're going to continue to, and for now I just enjoy you the way you are."

Sheldon looked at Amy for a few seconds, trying to find a hint of insincerity. Finally, he seemed convinced, and happily said, "Cool, so how do I do this sido- su- number thing again?"

Amy smiled and explained it for the fifth time.

An hour later and they'd barely made progress; Sheldon seemed to understand the concepts of digits and that they were put into boxes and rows, but he couldn't make it so that they fit in both. He also always forgot about numbers elsewhere on the puzzle. He didn't seem discouraged, but Amy couldn't help feeling exasperated. Once upon a time, Sheldon could complete the hardest of Sudoku puzzles in less than a minute. Amy never had very much patience with teaching in the first place.

She badly wanted to go home and play her harp. It wasn't that she wanted to leave Sheldon, it was just that playing the harp let her get at negative emotions and anxiety effectively.

Her eyes drifted to Sheldon's shelf, where on top of it was a vintage Spiderman clock radio. Maybe crummy pop music would be just as effective as her harp.

As Sheldon scanned over the sudoku puzzle (which only had two numbers written in so far, both by Amy), Amy got up from the bed and took the alarm clock off of the shelf. She sat back down and turned it on.

It was on a classical music station; she wouldn't expect anything else out of Sheldon, who probably tolerated whiny singers and primitive beats even less than her.

The song playing tittered melodically, with a harmony of choir singers and violins. Sheldon suddenly froze up. Amy immediately turned the radio off, thinking something was wrong with him, but as soon as she did, Sheldon looked at her and barked, "Turn it back on!" And she did. She sat, confused, and watched as Sheldon closed his eyes. A smile crept up slowly on to his face, and it didn't leave until the song was over and the broadcaster began to speak.

"Sheldon, I never knew you enjoyed music so much," Amy said when he opened his eyes.

"I don't remember it ever bein' so wonderful before," Sheldon sad. "Can I hear that again? With less static cuz the static was yucky."

Amy's scientific side was nudging her. It's very interesting; Sheldon is hearing music as if it were for the first time. He's certainly never cared for it that much before, always saying that music was just a series of frequencies that could be diagrammed into simple math equations; that all music was much the same. A different part of his brain must be picking up on the music now, a less analytical side. What else could that mean for how his brain has realigned itself?

She pulled out her laptop, waited as it warmed up from hibernation mode, and then quickly searched for the piece on YouTube.

Sheldon lay down on the bed and listened. Amy sat with her laptop, legs crossed and facing him, replaying the song a few times, and then moving on to suggested pieces.

And that's how they remained, neither of them saying a word, until they heard Leonard come home and Mary call "Dinner!"


A/N: I hope you don't mind me jumping so far forward. I just don't think a good story should stay in one place for too long.