Penny stormed into Sheldon's hospital room and closed the door behind her. She took one look at Sheldon and sank into the chair next to his bed and cried. She couldn't stop thinking of what could have happened, what if Sheldon was working late that night? what if Sheldon didn't go across the hall? What if her husband had succeeded in whatever he planned to do with her? What if she and Leonard decided to go home instead? Her best friends would have been a treasured memory. She cried long and hard at the last thought. 'I should have known' she thought, 'I should have stayed with her. At least then she might have been safe, instead of lying in a hospital bed down the hall.'

She kept on crying until she heard one of the monitors make a noise. She looked up to see Sheldon's heart rate had spiked, and he was thrashing around trying to get the tu=breathing tube out of his mouth.

"Calm down sweetie. Just relax so I can take it out." She put on a pair of gloves to take the tube out.

"Amy" Sheldon rasped as soon as Penny took out the tube. "Amy's hurt. Mike hurt Amy" he said before going into a coughing fit.

"Here, drink this" Penny said handing a cup of water.

"We need to get Amy. He took her." Sheldon said trying to get out of bed, ignoring the pain in his stomach. Penny pushed him back gently. "Relax. We found her. She's here. She's stable."

"He was choking her Penny. Her feet weren't even on the ground. This is all my fault" he cried

"It's not your fault Sheldon."

"It is. Something always seemed off about him. But I just pushed away those feelings, I thought it was jealousy because he had the nerve to ask her out first. I should have told her how I felt before. That way she would have never met him." Sheldon finished with a sob. Penny wrapped her arms around him as best as possible, "Its not your fault sweetie" she said stoking his hair.

" Do you want anything?" Amy asked as they stood in the basically empty coffee shop

"Oh no. I promised my mother I wouldn't do drugs and caffeine is the most addictive one there is."

Amy giggled, "You don't have to order coffee Sheldon. There are other things"

"Then why is it called a coffee shop Amy" he said raising an eyebrow

She giggled again, "to attract the other 'drug addicts'"

Sheldon sighed, "Fine I'll drink whatever you're drinking. Just don't let it be too crazy."

"Oh I'm only ordering tepid water"

"Water? Then why were you hassling me about ordering coffee" Her soft giggles turned into a full belly laugh, and Sheldon wanted to bottle that sound, "Fine" she said when she caught her breath. I would order us some tea. Is Earl Grey fine?"

"Sheldon nodded, "I'll find us a table." Sheldon looked at her as she looked back at him and smiled and he smiled back. Anybody who passed by would have thought they were on a date, and for once Sheldon didn't mind if they thought that.


Her body felt heavy, as if a truck was lying on top of her, but also light, like if she was floating. 'This must be what death feels like' she thought. She heard voices. She tried to open her moth to answer but it was clamped shut. She felt someone hold her hand, she tried to hold theirs back, she really did try, but her body wasn't cooperating with her mind. "It wasn't my place!" she heard Penny yell. Penny. Sheldon said Penny. Sheldon was bleeding. Oh God where was Sheldon. Was he even alive? She tried to think of where he could be, but her head hurt. Maybe it would be better to float in the darkness for a while.


One of the officers had sent a screenshot of the stranger to his station, "They put a BOLO out on him" he informed Leonard

"Are you sure you've never seen this man?" the other officer asked

"No. not that I could remember"

"Does your friend have any enemies or ex-boyfriends?"

"She said she was married, but she never gave a name"

"Was your friend abused by her husband?"

"Who Amy? No. She couldn't be. I mean she didn't look abused" Leonard said sounding like a lost child

"No one ever looks abused son" the officer said

"We have a 75% match on our guy. Someone saw somebody matching his description enter the hospital." The other officer said

"Oh God Amy" Leonard said before rushing down the stairs after the police officers.


Howard was walking back to Amy's room after he cooled off. Now that he thought it over, Penny was right, she had no right to tell them about such personal details about Amy's life. He had brought her a muffin as an apology and some Neil Diamond songs to play for Amy. Maybe that might make her feel comfortable. But when he walked towards the room, nobody he knew was there. Only a strange man sat in the chair next to the bed.

"Excuse me sir? Can I help you?" Howard asked. The man turned partially to face him, and Howard could see one of his eyes were swollen

"I'm just… a friend of Amy's. I wanted to see how she was doing" he said gripping her hand.