"You…you died during childbirth"
Amy had always thought there might be a possible fall back in Sheldon after the first time they really slept together. She thought he might pull away from her afterwards, scared of what it meant to him, to her and to them.
Or that he actually enjoyed it so much, he couldn't get enough of it all.
But this? This was something she couldn't have imagined.
It did explain why Sheldon had been tossing and turning last night, and everything that followed after that.
"Sheldon…" Amy said softly, sliding over so she was sitting right next to him, no space between them.
"Why didn't you tell me this right away? You should have told me as soon as you remembered this" she said, not angry but actually in a soothing tone.
"I wanted to tell you Amy, but I didn't want to scare you even more then I already had done" Sheldon said, looking her into the eyes.
"Sheldon, I love that even in a time like that you think of me first, but we are in this together" she said, as she pulled him even closer to her.
"I was already worried about you, and have been all day. Even when you seemed to have recovered after the bath this morning, I still didn't feel right to leave you" Amy said.
"But it's good that you told me now, we can talk about it" she continued, slowly caressing his back.
"I don't want to Amy, every time I talk about it, I see that image again before my eyes" Sheldon replied, as Amy noticed he was close to crying.
"It's all right Sheldon, we don't have to talk about it. Just know that if at some point you do want to talk about it, you come to me ok?" Amy asked, unsure if this was the best approach.
She knew it would be better if Sheldon actually talked about it. After all these years, she knew how the human mind usually worked, even one as remarkable as her boyfriend's.
Discussing troubling situations made the mind having to deal with it, even when it's a disturbing scene like this.
But Sheldon has never been good at having to deal with things like this. She had been told about how he had locked himself away in his room when his parents' marriage imploded, not wanting to come out or even talk to anyone.
Or when Penny and Leonard were fighting often a few years ago, he actually ran away to the Comic book store, hiding away in the dark corners of his mind.
After this, Sheldon and Amy just sat together on the couch, with Amy still sitting close to him.
When a half hour had passed, it was still relatively early, Sheldon said he would take a quick shower and turn in, as he wanted to catch a few extra hours of sleep, before having to go to work tomorrow.
As Amy wasn't tired yet, and now feeling a little bit calmer about it all, she wanted to work on the preparation of her new project some more, which she would start setting up tomorrow.
The animals for her study wouldn't be arriving for a few more weeks, which was fortunate because she hadn't been working on this new study as much as she had planned for, Sheldon moving in had caused her mind to drift off to wonderful daydreams as soon as he had accepted her invitation.
After spending two hours on this, she decided it was time to follow Sheldon's example, and had a long shower before slipping into her nightgown and crawling in bed with him, quietly, seeing Sheldon was sleeping soundly on his side of the bed.
When Amy awoke the following morning, she noticed Sheldon's side of the bed was empty. The covers had surrounded her, just like it had before Sheldon started sharing this very bed with her. After she sat up and yawned, stretching her arms out wide, she forced herself out of the comfort of her bed and put on her bathrobe and walked out of the room.
As she entered the living room, expecting Sheldon already up and about, maybe even preparing a lovely breakfast, she actually saw something completely else.
Sheldon was curled up on the couch, his head resting on the pillow she had used last night too before Sheldon had gotten home, and clutching onto the spare blanket they always kept in the bedroom closet.
Why was he sleeping here, and not by her side, as he should have been? Should she wake him up to ask him, or let him rest for now?
After a short moment, she knew he probably needed some more rest, so she decided to head back and change into the cloths she had already selected for today.
Half an hour later, as he was fully dressed and made up, she returned and saw her boyfriend still sleeping peacefully.
Looking at the clock, she knew they hadn't much time before they had to leave to the University, so she started making breakfast for two.
As she had set two plates on the table, she woke Sheldon up gently, pulling back the blanket and giving him a soft kiss on his lips, which caused him to open his eyes and pulling away quickly from her.
"Amy!" Sheldon shouted, as he jumped up from the couch.
Amy noticed he was already wearing a t-shirt, and his pants were lying on the floor in front of him, which he now started putting on.
"What…what are you doing?" he asked, a startled look present on his face.
"Sorry Sheldon, I didn't mean to scare you. I thought it would be a nice way of waking you up" Amy said, as she took a step towards him, only seeing Sheldon taking a step back, keeping the distance between them intact.
"Sheldon? What's going on?" Amy asked, confused about his behavior.
"Why did you sleep on the couch? You seemed to be sleeping well last night when I got in" she continued.
"Yeah, as soon as I hit the pillow I was gone" he said, looking at her, not moving closer to Amy, who stood frozen to the ground.
"But somehow I awoke in the middle of the night, as I had that dream again" he said.
"When I looked over to where you were sleeping, I noticed you had moved your arm over me, as you were sleeping face down" Sheldon continued, fiddling with the shirt he was wearing.
"I…I think that caused me to have that dream again" he said eventually, so soft she barely heard him.
"You think what?!" she asked, knowing full well what he said.
"You think me simply touching you, in my sleep no less, caused you to dream that again?" Amy replied, hearing irritation seeping into her voice.
"Do you think I like dreaming like that Amy?" Sheldon asked.
"I don't blame you for anything Amy, I'm just trying to share my thoughts about this with you" he said, frustrated with how this conversation was turning out.
"I know that Sheldon, and I appreciate that. It's just hard to hear that my fears are coming true" Amy said.
"Your fears? What fears are you talking about?" Sheldon asked, unsure about what she meant by that.
"I always feared that when we finally got really intimate with each other, you would freak out about it. I hate being right this time" Amy confided to him.
"Well, nice to hear you have so much faith in me!" Sheldon shouted, as he grabbed his coat and stormed out of the apartment.
As soon as he had gotten on the bus to take him to the University, he regretted his outburst minutes ago.
Quickly he reached inside his pocket to find his phone and started typing.
"Amy, I'm sorry for what I said just now. That wasn't fair to you, I know you trust and believe in me. I hope you will meet me for lunch today after all."
Not long after he had hit the send button, he got a reply from her.
"I'm sorry too, I should have spoken about my fears earlier, and we might have prevented this whole situation. I will see you at lunch."
This lifted a heavy burden of Sheldon's shoulders and mind, as he hated to not be on good terms with Amy after their last fight, which had resulted in their temporary break up.
After arriving at his office, he happily spent working on his current project, and surprisingly time flew by.
When the clock starting moving towards the afternoon, he heard the familiar knock of Leonard on the door, which he knew by heart after all these years.
As they walked towards the cafeteria, Sheldon told his best friend about all that had happened after Leonard had dropped him off last night.
"Well, I don't really know what to think Sheldon" he said, as they continued walking down the corridors.
"But I'm glad you two made up, it's not good to leave these things hanging."
"I agree, I was so angry at myself when I left the apartment this morning, it's just frustrating to think that Amy might be right about it, that I wasn't ready for this yet" Sheldon replied, almost mumbling to himself.
"But it's too late now, there is no turning back, is there?" he asked.
"No, I don't think there is. But talking about it helps, with me, with Penny, but especially with Amy" Leonard said, as they reached the lunch room.
As they walked inside, they noticed Amy already sitting at their usual table, waiting for them to arrive. When she saw Sheldon approaching, she couldn't help but to give him a smile, that said all that needed to be said between them for now.
As he answered it with a nod, lost on everyone else but her, they knew they were fine, for now that is.
They still would need to talk about the consequences of the dreams, but Amy already thought of that too.
"Leonard" Amy spoke right after they had seated themselves, Sheldon opposite of her and Leonard right next to him.
"Would you mind driving Sheldon home today?" she asked.
"Sure Amy…" Leonard said, hesitating as he thought about the meaning of this request.
"Why can't we drive home together Amy?" Sheldon asked, confused.
"Did I do something wrong again?"
"No Sheldon, you didn't" Amy replied quickly.
"I just have a surprise planned for you, and I need to make some final arrangements, that's why I'm leaving early" she continued.
"What is it?" Sheldon asked, uncomfortable about what she had said just now.
"Sheldon, you know the concept of a surprise, so I'm not going to tell you" Amy simply stated, taking a bite of her salad.
"Amy, you know I hate surprises almost as much as I hate the Green Lantern movie" Sheldon said, almost fussing like a little child denied a 2nd piece of candy by his mother.
This made Leonard laugh, earning him a stern look from his former roommate.
"I know Sheldon, but you have to trust me on this. Can you do that?" Amy asked, now fully focused on the man sitting right across from her.
"I do trust you Amy, I just don't like secret keeping" he responded.
"Don't worry about it, I think you like this one" Amy said, giving him a coy smile.
As soon as both Leonard and Sheldon had finished their work for the day, Sheldon was driven to his apartment in Glendale, and after thanking Leonard for the ride, he wished him a good evening.
When he walked in, he noticed Amy had already started dinner, and greeted him from the kitchen.
After he had put away his coat, and placed his messenger bag near his desk, he walked over to the table.
Something was off, and quickly he realized Amy had set it not for two, but for three people.
"Amy, are we having someone over? Is that the surprise?" he asked, staring at his girlfriend, who didn't turn around as she heard his question.
"Yes" was the short reply.
"Who? Amy, is it Penny coming over?" Sheldon asked.
"Just wait, you'll know soon enough" Amy said, now turned around and smiling at him.
And just when Sheldon was preparing to fire another question at her, there was a knock on the door.
When Sheldon reached the door, and carefully opened it, only one response came to mind.
"What…what are you doing here?"
Thanks everyone for the feedback, please, keep it coming.
