Chapter 10

"Does anybody know a good remedy for dark circles and puffy eyes?"

Howard took a sip from his water bottle and cleared his throat before answering sarcastically.

"No, but I definitely know a remedy for you to shut up quickly!" He pretended to threaten him with his knife. "Stop bragging about having sex, ok? Everybody knows it already!"

"Hey, easy, Dude! What can I say, my pretty redhead won't get tired of tasting this delicious caramel here!" And so Raj opened up a huge smile.

"Wha- wha- wha- did you hear yourself? It's disgusting. STOP IT! Both of you! I'm trying to have lunch here!" Leonard didn't know whether he was more annoyed by Raj or by the guys fighting. He and Penny had been fighting lately, and he just needed a moment in peace.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but if Sheldon were here he would have already changed this topic." Howard sighed. It was hard to admit how much he missed Sheldon, and even with all his arrogance he would be really useful in times like these.

"Ok, ok, the Indian guy can't feel happiness, he is fated to suffering and loneliness." Raj looked down, dramatizing the situation.

Just before Howard replied to Raj's whining, his phone vibrated in his pocket. "Look, a message from Sheldon!" Then, trying to hide his enthusiasm, he faked a bored voice and continued. "Well, it's probably just another message mocking my lack of doctorate degree."

Leonard looked at Howard a bit jealous. "How come he's been sending you so many messages lately and I get none?"

"Honestly?" Howard stared at him.

Leonard stared back. "Yes, please be honest. Why would my best friend and roommate call you instead of me?"

"Well, I didn't ask him to move out of his own apartment! Does that ring a bell?"

"Hey! It's my apartment, too! Why do I need to move out? He could get a smaller apartment and live on his own!"

"SHUT UP YOU TWO! I'm dying to know what is in that message!" Raj interrupts, hitting the table with his hand. "You can argue about who's his best buddy later!"

Leonard looked up to the ceiling, trying to spot something interesting there, while Howard looked down at his phone, reading Sheldon's message. "Hey, that's good news! He wants to Skype us tonight! And he wants everybody to be there!"

"What's the good news?"

"I can't tell you yet, just be patient, he wants to explain everything himself." Howard was relieved not only because Sheldon's mother got better, but also because now Bernadette could understand his need to be around his mother lately. He was tired of fighting with her all the time. The guys texted the girls to inform about the gathering at the 4A that evening, and they all forgot about their fighting and resumed eating.

"So, what do you think, Penny?"

Even though she was having lunch with the girls, Penny's mind was far away from the Cheesecake Factory. It was just a silly argument, it was not meant to go that far. Leonard was excessively concerned about the wedding preparations and he was driving her crazy. Did he think she was not able to organize their party? To send the invitations to all the guests on time? It seemed sometimes that he was the bride instead of her. Now they were not speaking to each other. He even slept alone in his room the night before and Penny felt terrible.

"Penny?"

"What?"

"Is there anything wrong? You look distant."

"It's nothing, I've just been too worried about the wedding preparations. What did you ask?"

"We were talking about Howie's message about the get together tonight, should we get pizza or Chinese?"

"Oh, that? Whatever you take will be fine."

"Really? No teasing Sheldon about eating the wrong food on Friday? No dropping sauce on his spot? So it's worse than I thought, spill!"

"What? Nothing! I guess I just miss Amy. I wished she could help me with all the preparations, that's all." It was true, she did missed Amy. She instantly picked up her phone and texted her. Bernie was a good friend, but Amy had a special way of throwing the truth in her face. She really needed that.

"Raj is helping you with the wedding, I can help you too if you like." Emily prompted herself. She was still getting used to the girls, she didn't want to seem needy.

"That would be nice, thanks!"

"Maybe we could help you choose your wedding dress? How about Saturday? We could have lunch and then hit the stores!" Bernie was excited about Penny's wedding dress. She needed also something to busy herself, she was sick with Howie's excessive need of visiting his mother lately. She just needed a break.

"You may park over there."

"At the church?"

"Yes."

Amy stopped the car near the entrance of a modest church. Before leaving the car, Sheldon put his hand on her knee. "Amy, can we wait a little before we enter there?"

"Sure, but why, is there something wrong?"

He turned his face down, staring at his legs. He sighed, before speaking again. "There's nothing wrong, it's just that the last time I've been to this church was in my father's funeral. Since then neither I or Mom came back here. She moved to another church right after that."

"Would you like me to go inside and ask him to come out if he's there?"

"No, that won't be necessary. I just need a minute, that's all."

Sheldon could seem so fragile and so strong at the same time. Amy squeezed his hand, and slowly raised her other hand to touch his cheek. Sheldon kissed it and tilted his head a little, locking her hand between his shoulder and his face in order to extend the warm feeling of her caress. Amy was marveled by his reaction, so new to both of them. She smiled, and after a while she reached to him, joining their lips. When they broke the kiss, their eyes met and Amy nodded, and Sheldon felt secure enough to enter again in that church.

They both left the car and he clasped his hand on hers, as if it was as natural as breathing. Amy smiled at him, and they both stepped into the building. It was quiet inside, and in the front row of the wooden benches there was Ron. The couple stopped by the door, and Sheldon tried to suppress the memory from his father's coffin by the altar. Amy gave him as much time as he needed before they started moving again.

They walked towards Ron through the aisle. It was weird, but felt so right, Sheldon thought. He instantly imagined himself waiting for Amy to enter the church to marry him. Drats! Now that thought would be stuck in his mind for quite a long time. Well, it was a better thought than the memory of his father's funeral, although he certainly was not ready for marriage... yet. Removing these thoughts from his mind, he patted gently on Ron's shoulder to get his attention.

Ron raised his head and stared at them.

"Sheldon, Amy, why are you here? And how did you find me?"

"Well, it was just obvious that you, as a religious person, would search for your deity in order to find relief after suffering a distress."

"And it was the only place near the hospital where you could arrive in a short time on foot. This city is as crowded as a desert." Amy complemented Sheldon's explanation.

"I'm sorry for running away like that, but I just can't do it anymore."

"I don't understand, Ron. Since I arrived in Galveston, all I heard was how much you loved and missed my mother. Now that she's awake and recovered, you tell me that you can't do this anymore? It makes no sense to me at all."

"Sheldon, you're a great guy. But can't you see it, buddy? I will be no good for your mother. She is definitely not over your father and she doesn't need a man who has no control over his addiction." He turned his face away, hiding it with his hands, and started sobbing.

Sheldon sat by his side. Too much weeping, he thought. He hated weepy. But he needed to do something about it. He couldn't just leave it the way it was, his mother deserved to be happy and Ron needed to see the situation through a different perspective.

"My father's funeral took place in this church, over 15 years ago." He blurted out. Ron slowly turned to look at Mary's son. "I was sitting over there, beside Mom, Missy and Meemaw. Junior was on his knees beside his coffin, he was crying so hard that nobody could take him away from our father's side. Missy was also weepy, but she couldn't move. I was in the limit between the hurt I felt from the loss and the relief for not having him around anymore."

Amy was listening to that story for the first time. Sheldon never mentioned that to her as he always avoided the topic, and she tried not to push him. Ron just stared and listened to the story, he didn't understand what was Sheldon's point.

"But Mom... I've never quite understood the expression I saw in her face. It was like she was blank. She stared at nowhere. She didn't talk to us during the whole mass, she just whispered the prayers when the time to say them came. Then our uncles and cousins closed the coffin and raised it, taking my father's body to the funeral car. Everybody left the church slowly. Meemaw took Junior by his arm and left with him behind the crowd. The three of us stayed in the same place. Missy looked at me and she asked why I was not crying. I just didn't know why. I had a tough relationship with my dad. And I could never forgive him for being so violent while he was drunk. Then, after the church was empty, Mom stood up and left. She didn't say a word. Missy and I walked after her, and Mom drove us to the cemetery."

Amy wiped a tear that fell from his eye. He looked at her and whispered a 'thank you'.

Sheldon took a deep breath and continued. "After my father was buried, we arrived home. Junior hadn't eaten for days. Mom was so busy taking care of us that I think she didn't have time to stop and moan his death. But I felt that deep down she felt relieved too. I won't say that I don't miss him. He was my father after all. Mom misses him too. All of us do. But it doesn't mean that she is still in love with him. I guess she's not been in love with my dad since much before his death."

Ron was confused. If she didn't love her husband anymore, than why was she dreaming about him? Maybe he overreacted.

"So Ron, when you say that she is not over my dad, I'm afraid you are wrong. She's been over him for a long time, she just didn't want to move on with her life. That is something she did with you. You helped her to move on."

"But Sheldon, even then I can't compromise to her with the fear of a recurrence of my addiction. I thought I had overcome that, but last night proved me wrong."

Amy looked at Sheldon, asking him for a chance to speak. He nodded, and she bent into Ron's direction. "What happened last night was not a recurrence, Ron. You probably didn't drink because you missed the alcohol, but because you were seeking comfort. Do you feel the uncontrollable need to have an alcoholic beverage now?"

"No, in fact I don't ever want to drink anymore."

"Do you still suffer from any symptom of the withdrawal that you feel you cannot control?"

"No, not at all!"

"So you're not likely of becoming addicted again, even if you occasionally have a beer in your life in the future."

Ron smiled at her. Amy was really an amazing woman. Sheldon was so lucky to have her.

"You know, y'all together are an incredible team. Sheldon, you should really consider marrying this woman."

The physicist blushed, and looked at Amy, who had a matching color in her cheeks.

"But well, ya'll have a long time to figure that out, right?" Ron smiled at the shyness of the young and naive couple. "Would you mind taking me back to the hospital? I don't want to waste any other minute away from Mary."

As they stood up, Ron put a hand on Sheldon's shoulder. "Thank you very much for opening up to me, Sheldon. I really appreciate your effort on telling me this story. I know it must be hard for ya."

"Well, I believe that it'd be harder to see my mother unhappy without ya in her life."

Amy took Sheldon's hand feeling really proud of her boyfriend. She never thought he would be capable of such sensitive gesture.

The three of them arrived back at the hospital. Sheldon and Amy waited outside in the hall with Meemaw and Missy while Mary and Ron talked in the room. Two minutes later Ron appeared at the door. "She won't talk to me."

"What?" Sheldon emerged from his chair. "She can't be serious." He stormed into the room, leaving Ron outside and closed the door. He stared at his mother in disbelief.

"Mom, what do you think you're doing?"

Mary was looking at the window, her face was blank. She was startled by her son's outburst and turned to him. "Shelly, don't speak to me with that tone. Do ya want me to make you go to your room?" Her words left her mouth like an automatic response.

"Mom, you can't be serious. Are you really dismissing Ron? After all the effort that it was to bring him back here?"

She looked away. "This has nothing to do with you, Shelly."

"Of course it does. You're clearly wrong, Mom. Would you please stop being so stubborn and let yourself try to be happy once?" Mary was shocked with her son's words. He had never been so harsh to her in all his life. She could always put him in his place. But it seemed that it was not working anymore. She was going to speak again but he continued. "When are you planing to move on with your life? When you can't walk out of a wheelchair?"

That was enough. "You shut up!" She already regretted it. She knew deep down he was right and trying to help her, in his own special way. She took a deep breath and started again. "Shelly-bean. Listen to your mother. I don't want to have more problems in my life. I had a short but nice moment with Ron. But I can't keep up with this."

"Are you afraid of losing him, too? Is that what it's all about?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." She scoffed and looked away from her son.

"You're wrong. You know what I am talking about. I thought I was the one who was good at not displaying emotions, but now I know who I learned it from. You had the same look in your face when I entered the room as in the day of dad's funeral."

Mary looked back at him. She shook her head slowly, with her mouth opened. "Ya take that back. Ya take that back now, young boy! Ya don't know what you're talking about!"

"I will not. And do you know why? Because you have no arguments to sustain your hypothesis. I'll show you I know exactly what I am talking about. You wanted to open up emotionally to someone. You found Ron. You took him into your life. You moved in together. You got sick. He was supportive and by your side. But then he had a slip and disappointed you once. And it only happened because of your own behaviour. Then you felt the sensation of loss again. And you didn't want to feel it anymore. He came back to apologize and you preferred to scare him away than to face this again."

Mary bursted into tears. She never expected her son to throw the whole truth so openly to her face. It struck her like a slap in her face. Meemaw used to be the one who did that to her. Now it was her Shelly. When did he grow up?

After a few minutes she stopped crying. Sheldon had his back to a wall, arms crossed, waiting for his mother to recompose herself. He watched her for what seemed to be hours. All that weeping, but it was fine, it was his mother. She was allowed to do that. But he was mad at her, he wouldn't make it easier to her and pat on her back and say

'There, there'. Then she looked up at him again, after wiping away the last few tears from her face.

"Shelly, I'm afraid you're right."

"Of course I am."

"Now you listen to me! I didn't give you the right to be sarcastic with me or to belittle me. You think you're smarter than I am because of your fancy books and doctorate degrees?"

"No, ma'am."

Well... He was still that scared little boy who hid behind her skirt when he was afraid of something. "Good. Now you call Ron back here."

Sheldon grinned. He knew his argument would win that battle. He left the room and called Ron in.

"Now you get in there and you two solve that!"

Ron opened up a huge smile and entered the room. But before closing the door, he popped his head out. "Thank you again, Sheldon."

Author's note: Another emotional chapter. I enjoy a little bit of drama, you know... I couldn't describe all the scene of his dad's funeral. It was getting way too emotional and way out of the point that Sheldon had.

This one was too focused on Ron and Mary. But now that they are fixing things between them I can move on with Sheldon's own issues.

I really would like to know what you're thinking about this story. Please review, or send me a PM.

And thanks for the wonderful reviews I received so far! A special thanks to hazelra7, I really appreciated your reviews from all the chapters!

BTW: I don't own these characters!