Chapter 8: The Fainting Physicist

Minutes turn into hours as the night drags on slowly for Sheldon and Penny who both sit in the waiting room awaiting news. Bernadette returns around midnight to find Penny sleeping beside Sheldon.

She notices that Penny is curled up with her legs in her chair and Sheldon's jacket slung over her body as a blanket. Bernadette sweetly asks the nurse if there has been any more news on her friends, but the nurse tells her "No."

Bernadette decides not to wake Penny up so instead she puts a bag full of Penny's clothes underneath Penny's seat.

Sheldon's eyes are red and extremely tired looking. He is still staring off into space and mumbling gently under his breath unable to sleep. Bernadette holds up his Star Trek Spock blanket so he can see it hoping it will make him feel better.

Bernadette: "Here you go Sheldon, look what I brought you."

Sheldon says nothing to her just keeps mumbling to himself quietly like a crazy person.

Bernadette: "You need to get some sleep okay, so I'm going to unwrap this for you. Is that alright?"

Sheldon finally nods at her.

Bernadette removes the bubble wrap from around the blanket and unfolds it for him. She puts the bubble wrap behind Sheldon's head to act as a pillow then covers him up with the blanket.

Bernadette: "Now you go to sleep. I'm going to go look for Raj and Howie okay?"

Bernadette quietly leaves the waiting room and Sheldon continues his confused mutterings alone. He is very tired, but he refuses to sleep out in the open with strangers around him. His mind feels like an inverse tangent function approaching an asymptote. Sheldon continues to replay the image of Amy on the train over and over again in his mind.

Amy finally sits back in her chair on the train and smiles sweetly at him.

Amy: "Sheldon are you sure you're not hungry?

Sheldon: "I am hungry. But, I never eat in strange restaurants or dining cars you know that."

Amy: "Okay then."

Amy gets up and prepares to go by herself. Sheldon sadly frowns at her.

Sheldon: "Wait, you're not going to just leave me here are you?"

Amy: "Well you're welcome to come with me Sheldon."

Amy holds out her hand to him and he stares at her hand in silence. He understands this is a defining moment in their relationship. If he takes her hand and journeys with her to the dining car he will lose his spot on the train and have to venture in to the unknown. For some reason he's terribly attached to this spot as if its represents the same kind of comfortable consistency as his spot at home on the couch does.

But, on the other hand if he refuses to go with her then he fears losing her forever. In his mind Sheldon realizes that if Amy goes to that dining car alone that she is not ever coming back to him. That means no more counterfactuals, no more vacationing in her lab or boyfriend girlfriend sing along nights, but worst of all it means no more Amy.

He forces himself to look up into her eyes and he can sense she's just as afraid of leaving him as he is of losing her. This image is all that is keeping them together and back in the real world the decision has already been made. No matter what he can't stop her from leaving him if Amy is truly the dead cat in the box then all there is left to do is open the box.

Sheldon can't do that. No, that's not entirely true, he won't do it. Not now, not after spending a life time wondering if he's too evolved for mankind, too intelligent to indulge his baser urges and too Vulcan to express emotions like romantic love.

Amy Farrah Fowler wasn't standing there asking him to come with her because she is dying; she's standing there asking him to be with her so they both can truly start living. She doesn't want to be alone and Sheldon finally realizes that he doesn't want to be alone either. Sheldon raises his hand to touch her this time more determined than ever, but once again the trains whistle blows loudly before he can.

Instead, Sheldon finds himself being pulled back into reality by Penny who is calling out to him.

Penny: "Sheldon! Sheldon, look Leonard's doctor is here. Come on get up."

Penny stands straight up feeling incredibly helpless and terrified. She reaches her hand out for Sheldon to join her. Sheldon's knees feel very weak, but he musters the strength to stand. He looks at the doctor with woeful eyes.

Penny: "Please just tell me Leonard's not dead?"

The surgeon: "No he's not. Patient Leonard Hofstadter is out of surgery and is currently being moved to room 411. He did suffer major fractures in his right tibia and fibula. I had to reset the bones and he's been fitted with a leg cast. The usual healing time for a mid-shaft Tibia and Fibula fracture treated with cast immobilization is 12 to 16 weeks with necessary continued rehab. He also has some mild burns on his legs and cuts to his left elbow and neck mostly due to broken glass, but those should heal up in a month or so. Now after reviewing his record I saw that he does have asthma, but so far he hasn't had any asthma attacks. Still we'll be monitoring him closely for the next 48 hours just to make sure. Do you have any questions?"

Penny: "Can we see him?"

The surgeon: "He's still sleeping right now due to the anesthesia administered, but you can go up and see him during regular visiting hours if you like. The effects should wear off by then."

Penny: "So you're saying he's going to be okay?"

The surgeon kindly smiles at her glad he is able to deliver somewhat happy news.

The surgeon: "Yes, I don't foresee any major complications for him so he should be able to go home in a few days."

A huge smile covers Penny's face and she wipes her eyes in relief.

Penny: "Sheldon, did you hear that Leonard's okay? He's alive!"

Sheldon nods at her, but doesn't smile yet. He realizes that this means Leonard will not be able to walk or drive for several months and that he is going to need a lot of looking after.

Sheldon makes a mental note to call his mother when he gets home to come out to Pasadena so she can help take care of Leonard since no one is a better caretaker in his mind than Mary Cooper and his best friend deserves the best care as far as he's concerned. But, what about Amy he thinks to himself. Before he can ask about her Penny asks for him.

Penny smiles at the doctor expecting to hear more good news.

Penny: "Now tell us about Amy, she's okay too right?"

The surgeon's eyes turn serious and his smile disappears completely. His head turns to look as Amy's surgeon approaches them to answer that question.

Amy's surgeon: "I'm afraid I have some bad news…"

Before Amy's surgeon can even say another word to them Sheldon starts to feel extremely dizzy. His vision becomes blurry, his hands feel clammy and right before he hits the ground he calls out her name…"Amy!"