A/N: Thank you for the reprieve. And for all your wonderful reviews. They were greatly appreciated. :)
Sheldon strode into his office, placed his bag in its spot, and then stood in front of his whiteboard. He stared at the equations, unseeing. He attempted to focus but the numbers and letters kept blurring. He had slept very little the previous night.
Sheldon felt the pain in his chest, and closed his eyes, placing one hand over the pain. Even since he had visited the hospital, the pain had been ever present. He opened his eyes and walked over to his desk to sit down. He closed his eyes again as his mind was flooded with images of the previous evening.
Sheldon slowly opened the hospital door, unsure of what he would find inside. His eyes were immediately drawn to the cast which enveloped…Amy's entire leg. He felt himself get lightheaded, and grabbed the doorpost for support. He felt an emotion he could not place start to register, but he immediately squashed it. The pain in his chest, which he had previously thought cured, returned and he absentmindedly put a hand over the spot.
Sheldon shook his head to clear it, standing up again, and walking back to the whiteboard. He picked up the black marker and tapped it to his chin as he contemplated the equations.
"I am afraid you will need to remain in Genève until ze cast can be removed," the doctor said. Sheldon looked over at…Amy, who closed her eyes and laid her head back on her pillow. He looked down at his arms as one of them twitched in her direction. Sheldon swallowed hard and clenched his fists together. He could hear…Amy and the doctor talking, but ignored them, instead focusing on continuing to squash whatever emotion it was that kept attempting surface.
Sheldon's ears picked up the doctor saying "Your friend will not leave you alone will he?" and looked over at her. She glanced in his direction a moment later and Sheldon felt the pain in his chest intensify. She was going to be in Geneva for eight weeks. And he was the only person she knew. And she was going to be a in a wheel chair, which would likely mean an inability to maneuver the streets of Geneva without aid.
Before Sheldon realized it, the doctor had left, leaving him alone with…Amy. He glanced down at her leg, feeling faint at the sight of it in a full cast, wondering if she was in pain. He swallowed and then looked over at…Amy. She was watching him.
He couldn't hold her gaze and dropped it. He supposed now was the time to say something.
"I am relieved to see that no…life threatening harm has befallen you."
"Thank you," she said.
Sheldon felt his arms twitch towards her again, along with another intense dose of pain in his chest. He had to get out of there. He started inching his way to the door, eager to leave.
"Now that I can see that you are in no immediate danger, I think it would be best for me to leave."
As he continued to inch towards the door, he inexplicably heard his mother's voice in his head, telling him that the gentlemanly thing to do would be to return and escort…Amy back to her hotel when she was discharged. But he didn't want to be near…Amy. Now that he knew she was in no immediate danger, he did not wish to be in her presence. She had left him.
But with each shuffle towards the door, his mother's voice got louder in his head.
He glanced back in her direction and then quickly dropped his gaze. "I shall arrive here tomorrow to help escort you back to the hotel."
Sheldon suddenly snapped back to reality, scolding himself for allowing his mind to drift. He took a step closer to the board, focusing on one specific part of the equation. Usually he preferred to stand more at a distance, to view the board as a whole, but today that approach did not seem to be working. Perhaps if he were to stand closer, the necessity of having to have his eyes roam around the board would help hold his focus.
He frowned. He did not like that he was losing focus. Ever since…that day in which she had left him, his mind had been focused completely. He had been able to throw himself into his work, without even the most minor of distractions. He would not allow himself to lose focus now. Not when he was so close; making so much progress.
Sheldon balled his fists at his sides and squeezed his eyes shut. I cannot let this distract me, he thought. But even as he thought it, the image of Amy in a hospital bed entered his mind, causing his breath to catch and his chest pain to return.
"Leonard, I'm not over reacting!" Penny said, sounding frustrated. Leonard watched her pace in front of him.
"Just…Calm down," he said.
When Leonard had woken up this morning, Penny had already been awake, which was…unusual. He had opened his mouth to ask her what was wrong, when she all but shouted, "Sheldon and Amy are in the same hotel and they got stuck in an elevator together and I emailed Amy to Skype me as soon as she got my message, but it's already been two hours and she hasn't called yet!"
It had taken Leonard a few moments to let the verbal assault sink into his brain. But when it did he had frowned. "How did they end up in a hotel together? The odds of that happening are astronomical."
Penny had put a hand to her forehead. "Leonard, if I knew that, I wouldn't be freaking out! Can you imagine what this is going to do to Amy? She was starting to actually move on. Now she's stuck in the same hotel with her ex-boyfriend, who, by the way happens to be totally off his rocker."
Leonard had sighed at that. He hadn't seen Amy too often in the past seven months, so he couldn't comment on her state, but he knew for sure that Sheldon was, as Penny said, "off his rocker". Leonard hated to think what direct contact with Amy might do to his roommate.
He had looked over at Penny then, and had walked over to give her a hug. "Look, I'm sure she just hasn't gotten the message yet. Who knows, maybe the hotel doesn't even have wi-fi. We've only heard from Sheldon the one time."
Penny hadn't looked very convinced. Leonard supposed that, Sheldon and Amy aside, Penny had had the hardest time out of all of them with the Shamy breakup. Sure Leonard felt for Amy, but he couldn't say that he was exactly close or had spent much time with her alone, aside from that one wedding they had attended together. But Amy was Penny's best friend…or at the very least Penny was Amy's best friend (he wasn't quite sure how that all worked), and Sheldon was…well, whatever Sheldon was to Penny, they were as close as one could expect someone to be with Sheldon. Leonard supposed that after himself, Penny was Sheldon's next closest friend…not that Sheldon was currently acknowledging that either Penny or Leonard was his friend at all at the moment.
So, given the situation, it was probably reasonable to expect Penny to freak out…after all, there was a good chance that Sheldon was having another meltdown, and Amy (from what he had heard from Penny) was probably sitting in her hotel room in a bed soaked with her own tears.
Leonard had kissed Penny on the nose then. "Just give her until tonight. If she doesn't call by then…well…we can always try to Skype with Sheldon."
Penny had sighed. "Fine…but I still think something is really wrong."
But she had agreed to wait. She had gone back to her apartment and had called in to work. Leonard had thought long and hard about whether or not to call in as well, but eventually had decided to play hookie, calling in with a fake asthma attack. They had spent the day watching t.v., with Penny frequently looking over at her computer.
Now it was dinner time and Penny had just screamed at him when he suggested they go get dinner. Leonard thought his girlfriend was being a touch melodramatic, but he had at least learned enough to know not to tell her that. Instead he walked over and patted her on the back.
"You're right. I'm sorry. You're not over-reacting."
Penny gave Leonard a look. Perhaps he had come across a tad condescending.
Penny shrugged away from Leonard and walked quickly over to her computer. "That's it, I'm Skyping Sheldon. Something weird is going on here. I can feel it."
Leonard walked over and sat down next to his girlfriend. In truth, he was a little worried about Sheldon…and Amy. It wasn't like Amy not to immediately contact Penny when Penny asked her to.
Unfortunately, Sheldon never answered. Penny tried Skyping Amy, even though Leonard secretly thought it was pointless to try since they probably just didn't have wifi, but also got no answer. Penny sat back, looking worried. Leonard sat back as well and looked over at her.
"Why don't you just send an email to Sheldon, and maybe another one to Amy? One of them is bound to get the email and then email you back. Then you'll see that there's probably nothing to worry about…" Leonard trailed off half-heartedly, thinking of how Sheldon would be handling an encounter with Amy in close quarters. When Penny looked over at him, he tried to put on a bright smile. From the look on Penny's face, however, he wondered if he came across more like the Joker.
Penny sighed. "Fine. I guess that's all I can do…wait." Penny suddenly looked over at Leonard, grabbing his arm. "Didn't Sheldon leave the number to the hotel? We can call it!"
"Penny…do you have any idea how much it would cost to call Geneva?"
"Leonard! This is important!"
Leonard looked at Penny, but knew as soon as he saw her pleading look that he was going to give in. He grabbed the phone. "Fine." He handed it to her and stood up. "Let me go find the number."
He found the number in the packet Sheldon had left him before his trip. "Here," he said, pointing at the number so Penny could dial it. She put the phone up to her ear and waited. "Yes, I'd like the room for Amy Farrah Fowler please."
She waited…and waited…and waited. Finally, just as Leonard was about to suggest she hang up, Penny started speaking. "Amy? Where are you? Why haven't you returned my email? I've been waiting all day. I just want to make sure you're ok!...Call me!" and she then hung up.
"So…I take it she wasn't there?"
Penny shook her head, already redialing. "Hi. I'd like the room for Sheldon Cooper please."
And again Leonard watched as she waited…and waited…and waited. Then, "Sheldon, this is Penny. I know Amy is there. Please call me…or Leonard. One of us. Just call!"
Penny hung up the phone and then just sat there. Leonard walked over. "Penny, I really think you're worrying over nothing. They're both probably just busy. You don't even have any more information other than they're in the same hotel and they got stuck in an elevator together. Amy didn't sound like she was upset…at least it didn't read like that."
Penny gave him a look. "Please. I can tell. She was upset."
Leonard sighed. "Well…there's nothing else we can do now…" Leonard started to run a finger over Penny's collarbone. "You know…while we wait…"
Penny gave him a look of disgust. Leonard cleared his throat, dropping his hand and grabbing the remote. "Right. So…" he sighed. "More Sex and the City then?"
Amy had spent the entire night in her hospital bed awake. Not only could she not get to sleep with her leg in the air, but even if she had been able to sleep, the nurse had come in so often to check on her that she was certain little sleep would have been had. So now she was exhausted, on top of being in pain. The morphine seemed to work much better when it was a drip, rather than a pill. And that's not to mention the extreme awkwardness she felt being in a wheelchair with her leg sticking straight out in front of her.
As much as she was loath to admit it, perhaps Sheldon coming to pick her up was a good thing. She wasn't sure she'd be able to do make it back to the hotel on her own.
And loath to admit it she was. Amy did not like the thought of relying on Sheldon for anything. For so many months she had been consumed with thoughts about him. Even when dating Stuart…especially when she had been dating Stuart. In fact, she was pretty sure that Penny's idea of getting over someone by dating someone else was, well…wrong. The only time Amy had really felt like she was returning to normal was the month after Stuart had broken up with her and before she had inexplicably found herself in an elevator with Sheldon. And now she was being forced to rely on the last person she wanted to rely on.
She had spent most of her waking hours since Sheldon had left trying to decide if she was angry or sad…or just lonely.
When she had initially found out that Sheldon was moving to Geneva, she had been angry. Some part of her had hoped that he would…not fail exactly…but at least discover that he needed more than work to keep him satisfied. So it had felt like a blow when he had instead thrived without her presence.
But she wasn't sure if she was still angry with him. In fact, she just wasn't sure of much anymore. Before she had left Pasadena, she had thought she was getting over Sheldon. But now that she had been in his presence, she could see that her belief that she had successfully started on the path to moving on had been tenuous at best. All throughout the night she had felt equal amounts of anger, sadness, and pure longing. And this was only at the thought of him picking her up from the hospital.
Amy signed the last of the paperwork releasing her, and then asked the nurse to wheel her to the door. She would wait for Sheldon there.
As Sheldon walked from the tram stop up to the hospital, he kept reminding himself of his reasons for helping…Amy. He had spent the entire previous night alternately cursing the situation, and trying to resolve it. He had thought through many scenarios of how he could avoid spending copious amounts of time with…Amy. But no matter how much he tried to think of ways around it, he always came back to the image of Amy in the hospital bed with her leg in the air, looking…vulnerable.
Sheldon swallowed as he recalled the image again, and put his hand back to his chest, feeling the pain intensify.
Every time he had told himself that he would merely do the bare minimum for…Amy, the image of her hospital bed had popped into his head, and his hand would suddenly twitch.
He had wondered briefly about the twitch, but had decided he didn't care enough to examine the root cause. He normally would have made a doctor's appointment to make sure it was alright, but after the previous doctors had all insisted his chest pain was due to emotional stress, Sheldon had come to the conclusion that those of the trade weren't as smart as he had previously given them credit for. Likely they would give him the same spiel for the twitch.
Once he had reconciled the fact that he would be forced to help…Amy, Sheldon had come to the unfortunate conclusion that he would be hard pressed to do so if they were in different hotel rooms on different floors. It simply was not practical. As much as he found the idea of sharing a room, or suite, with…Amy abhorrent, it only made sense for them to be within close quarters.
Sheldon stopped walking, standing in the middle of the sidewalk, looking at the hospital across the street from him.
He couldn't do it. He couldn't be in close quarters with…Amy. He wouldn't do it! Sheldon felt the beginnings of a panic attack. He had foolishly convinced himself the evening prior that he would be able to handle the situation. He had reminded himself that he was in control of his emotions and that he would continue to be in control of them even while taking care of…Amy.
Sheldon turned on his heel, ready to head back towards the tram stop, when he again heard his mother's voice in his head, reminding him of what a true southern gentleman does when a lady is in distress. He squeezed his eyes shut, wishing he could eradicate his mother's voice from his head. But no matter how much he tried to think of something else, the image of Amy in a hospital bed was the only thing he could think of.
Sheldon opened his eyes. "Fine," he said aloud. He turned back around. You can do this. You can control your emotions. You feel nothing.
He took a deep breath and then scolded himself for allowing his emotions to overwhelm him. He was going to have to redouble his efforts. Spock would not be proud.
He started walking across the street. When he reached the door, he strode inside, and immediately spotted…Amy by the door. The sight of her in a wheelchair again caused his chest to hurt and his hand to twitch.
He swallowed and walked forward. "Are you prepared?"
Amy looked at him, merely nodding. He walked around to the back of the wheelchair. "I called the cab prior to arriving here. It is currently waiting."
Sheldon pushed the wheelchair forward, looking down at…Amy's head as she nodded but again said nothing.
Sheldon flinched as Amy's hair brushed his hand as he wheeled her outside. He mentally scolded himself. He could do this. He would do this. And he would not let his emotions rule him.
A/N: Thanks for reading! :)