Revelations

"I wasn't expecting a call from you until Sunday, is everything okay?" Leonard asked a tired looking Sheldon on the screen. Leonard could see that he was in his pyjamas and his hair was slightly ruffled, suggesting that he had probably already been to bed and had gotten back up again.

"Well, that depends on what you mean by 'everything'." Sheldon replied with a slight shrug. "Professionally; I am more than okay. I am a brilliant scientist, working in one of the highest rated Universities in the world and I am currently on the road to proving String Theory and receiving a Nobel Prize." He sighed, "Personally; I am perfect healthy. My regular visits to the dentist have gone smoothly, as have my hairdressing appointments..." He thought in his head for a few seconds. "A few days ago I sneezed three times in a fifteen minute period and worried that I had once again caught the flu due to spending so much time with the carrier that is Penny; but it turned out to be nothing..." He said with a dismissive wave. "Almost every day since your departure has gone without any major problems. Both Amy and Penny have been keeping to their schedule; they have each done their part in bringing over the correct food for dinner and although Penny has been less than pleasant on more than one occasion, she has still gotten me safely to work every Tuesday and Thursday."

Leonard frowned. "So what's the problem then?"

Sheldon shrugged again. "There is no problem. That is the problem. Everything is 'okay' both professionally and personally. Logically; nothing should be wrong."

Leonard continued to stare into the screen curiously. "But something is wrong?"

"Most definitely." Sheldon slowly nodded. "I am unable to attain the REM sleep that is required to keep my brain working at its full potential."

"You can't sleep?"

"Yes Leonard, I can't sleep."

"Oh." Leonard nodded. "And you don't have any idea as to why you can't get to sleep?"

"No." He sighed. "At first I thought it was caused by the fact that there were unorganized comics in the next room, but sleep still eluded me after I had sorted them out." Sheldon shook his head and looked towards his feet. "It's a mystery Leonard."

"Maybe you-" Leonard stopped and frowned, "Hold on, were you talking about my comics?"

"Yes."

His frown deepened. "Why were my comics unorganized?"

"Why is it that my world, once filled only with intelligent conversations, video game marathons and trips to the comic book store, ended up poisoned with talk of shoes, shopping and gossip about 'celebrities'?"

Leonard stared at Sheldon with utter confusion on his face. It was far too early for him to be dealing with Sheldon's cryptic conversations.

"Penny." He stated as if it was obvious.

"Oh…" A sly smile crept over his face, "Penny was looking at my comics?"

"Leonard…" Sheldon sighed, shaking his head. "The topic of this conversation was supposed to be focused around my lack of sleep. Can we please stick to the subject?"

Putting a hand to his forehead and gently trying to rub the pain of his oncoming headache away, Leonard breathed slowly in and out. He thought about just saying goodbye and shutting him off, but deep down he actually felt bad for him and wanted to help, despite the fact he was being such a pain in the ass. "Alright Sheldon." He softly sighed. "Is there anything in particular that has been on your mind? Anything that's bugging you? Some unbalanced formula maybe, or some new dispute with Kripke?"

Sheldon shook his head at each possibility. "No. All my formulas are perfectly balanced and my disputes with Kripke have been easy enough to deal with; I simply express to him how much more laid I am getting in comparison to him and he walks off like a puppy with his tail between his legs."

Leonard chuckled at the thought of Sheldon bragging about his 'sex-life' and moved on. "What about Amy? How are things going with her?"

Sheldon stiffened a little at the mention of her name. "Amy?" He shook his head once. "Um… things with Amy are fine."

The change in Sheldon's demeanour didn't go unnoticed. "Are you sure?" Sheldon nodded, but Leonard could sense something was up. "Sheldon, what's going on?"

"Nothing is going on Leonard. Amy and I are fine. The relationship contract is still in full effect." Sheldon shifted in his chair at the glare he received through the screen and looked down thoughtfully, "In fact, in some ways things with Amy are better than ever."

"How do you mean?"

Sheldon looked up. "Well… recently I have found that certain things, that would have greatly bothered me in the past," He shrugged, "just don't, anymore."

"Such as?"

"Um… well, I have found that physical contact, with her, isn't such a problem anymore," Sheldon looked off in thought, "We hold hands more often, and although I still find it unnecessary and sweaty, it isn't as much of an issue for me anymore… I also found that when we danced on her birthday, I wasn't as opposed to the closeness and touching as I have been in the past. In fact, I quite enjoyed it. The experience was somehow soothing."

Leonard was stuck between wanting to question Sheldon on what he had just said, and wanting to wait to see if he came out with any more revelations. He decided to stay quiet as he spotted the thoughtful look on his face.

"I enjoy spending time with her a lot more than I used to."

"I thought you always enjoyed spending time with her?"

"Oh, I did; when we went to the train store, to see a movie I liked, or when we would 'hang out' in the apartment and play counterfactuals or film the newest episode of Fun with Flags. I never enjoyed it when she would force me to go shopping with her so she could get my 'opinion' on her choice of clothes. I would never enjoy watching those programmes that your girlfriend introduced her to and I always thought our date nights were tedious and boring, unless we were doing something that I had picked out for us to do…"

"And now?

"And now what?"

Leonard shook his head, "And now do you enjoy doing those things?"

"Mh." He shrugged, "I don't particularly enjoy them, but I am not completely opposed to it either."

"Why?"

"What?"

"Why aren't you so opposed to it anymore?"

"I'm not sure. I certainly don't enjoy the activities. I would never do any of them out of choice, but somehow when Amy makes me do them, it isn't as bad."

"Because you are doing these things with Amy?"

"It would seem so." He nodded.

Leonard smiled as he saw where this was going, "Have you and Amy been spending more time together lately?"

"I suppose so. I see her almost every day, and on the days that I don't see her, we at least call or text one another." Sheldon let out another sigh, "Leonard, I don't see what all this has to do with-"

"Hold on." Leonard interrupted causing Sheldon great discomfort. "At the end of the day, before you get into bed and go to sleep, what do you do?"

"What do I do?"

"Yes."

Sheldon was becoming slightly irritated. These pointless questions weren't getting him any closer to understanding his insomnia, and he wondered for a second why he had thought Leonard would be able to help. "I wash up, brush my teeth, floss, go to the bathroom, get into my pyjamas, get into bed, set my alarm, text Amy and switch off the lights."

Leonard smiled again. "And when you wake up?"

Sheldon huffed, "Leonard. This is-"

Leonard held up a hand to stop him talking, "Just humour me."

Sheldon frowned at being cut-off again, but answered his question anyway. "I wake up a few seconds before my alarm goes off, turn it off, text Amy, go to the bathroom, shower, brush my teeth, floss and get ready for work."

"When you text Amy, what do you say?"

"In the evening I wish her a pleasant sleep, and in the morning I wish her good morning and ask how she slept." Sheldon frowned as he realized just how odd that kind of behaviour was, especially for him. He hadn't even realized it forcing its way into his routine, but that still didn't explain why he was finding trouble sleeping.

"So, she's the first person you think of when you wake up?"

"It would seem so."

"And the last person you think about at night?"

"Perhaps."

"Sheldon, can I ask you something personal?"

"I doubt you would listen to any objections I may have to it, so go on."

"Are you in love with Amy?"

"Excuse me?" He asked, a little taken back.

"Sheldon, you two have been in this relationship for almost two years. You are almost always together and because of her, you do stuff you don't like doing and enjoy it because you are with her. You forced yourself to try and overcome your dislike for physical contact to become closer to her and you text her, saying the stuff that you moan at me for saying to you!"

Sheldon continued to stare at Leonard with a frown to mask his fear. This was something he had considered in the past, but he hadn't thought it had become obvious to those around him. Sheldon shook his head. "Leonard, I still don't understand what this has to do with-"

"Look, you don't have to tell me if you do or not, frankly, I'm pretty sure I know the answer to my own question." Sheldon opened his mouth to speak but Leonard cut him off again, "However, I think you have to own up to whatever it is you are feeling. It's obvious you're relationship with Amy has gone past what it used to be and it is possible that you bottling up whatever emotions you are feeling, is keeping you up at night, whether you realize it or not." Leonard spotted the uncertainty in Sheldon's eyes. "You have to let that sort of stuff out of your head Sheldon, or else it will just play on your mind."

Sheldon began to consider it for just a second, before quickly shaking his head. "Alright, well, it seems this has been a waste of time. I should have known that the only explanation you would be able to come up with for my problem would be something related to 'feelings'."

Leonard let out a sigh. He wanted to be mad at him for asking him for help and then dismissing it as if it was nothing, but he knew that his sudden change in character meant that what he had said had gotten to him. "It was lovely talking to you too Sheldon." He replied with sarcasm.

Sheldon narrowed his eyes as he stared at Leonard and tried to figure out if he had heard sarcasm in his tone, "Okay. I will call you again on Sunday as arranged. Goodbye Leonard."

"Bye Sheldon."

Sheldon sat at his desk for a few moments after he had shut down his laptop, as his mind played over his whole conversation with Leonard. He hated to admit it, but it would seem he was right. Thoughts of Amy often plagued him at night; the only time when there was nothing else around to distract him. In those quiet moments he would wonder about love and had even considered asking her, or someone, about it.

It was unsettling for him to not be able to understand his feelings. Being unable to figure out why he was behaving in a certain way or why he wasn't reacting to situations in the way he usually would, frustrated him, and he could see now why that sort of thing would keep him awake. He knew he cared deeply for Amy, if he didn't he wouldn't have gone through so much trouble to please her on her birthday. He wouldn't have bothered so much about getting her an acceptable gift and he certainly wouldn't have participated in that dance, social protocol or not.

He also had to face up to the other slight changes going on inside of him. The ones that had caused that indescribable urge to kiss her at her doorway.

He knew these changes were things he finally had to face up to, but the thought of telling anyone how he actually felt, terrified him. At moments like these he wished for the simplicity of his routine filled past, but that would mean he would be without Amy, and that was something he would never wish for.

Sheldon took in a few deep, calming breaths and headed to his bedroom to try, once again, to get his find off Amy so he could get the sleep he so needed.

Leonard lay on his bed once his conversation with Sheldon was over. The call had surprised him, but he had to admit he wasn't completely shocked over what was said during it. He had seen these small changes in Sheldon before he had left, and in almost every call he had had with him since then. Sheldon wasn't exactly good at recognizing feelings, and he was terrible at masking them. Leonard knew that he was falling in love with Amy. He could see the similarities from when he had fell for Penny; that constant desire to be with them, thinking of them as you fall asleep or in that first moment when you wake up. Doing stuff with them because they wanted to, even though you hated it, going out of your way to make them happy. It was all stuff he had done, and still did with Penny, and it was just a matter of time before Sheldon figured it out for himself.

In that second Leonard's thoughts shifted from his best friend to his girlfriend, and he grabbed his phone to check the text she had sent him earlier.

I think ill manage to cope. I've got my chew toy to keep me happy ;) Xxx

Leonard frowned at the text for a few seconds as his mind figured out what she meant by 'chew toy', but as soon as he remembered that day Sheldon had reorganized her closet, everything fell into place and he was unable to stop the grin that spread across his face.

For a brief few seconds he allowed his mind to travel over the thought of her putting it to use before shaking his head and focusing on what to text her back. He wanted to keep up the playful flirting, but he honestly had no idea what to say back to that. After a few minutes he thought of something that was still flirty enough, but didn't cause the conversation to become any more risqué. After all, he had work to go to and the last thing he needed as he worked with high powered machinery, was for his mind to be focused on thoughts of Penny and her chew toy.

Fine, we will see about that when I get home. Xxx

He put down his phone and sat up, just as Paul was wakening up.

"What are you smiling about at this time in the morning?" He groggily asked as he rubbed his eyes.

"Nothing," Leonard replied, shaking his head as he headed to the bathroom. "I'm going for a shower."

A cold one, a really, really cold one.

Penny, Amy and Bernadette stumbled down the street, giggling and making jokes as they walked through the dark streets, illuminated by the light coming from the various bars and restaurants, as they made their way to the liquor store a few blocks away.

"Who are you texting?" Bernadette asked with a grin as she pushed Penny on the shoulder.

Penny stumbled in the direction she was pushed, then looked up from her phone and laughed. "No-one!"

"I bet it's lil' Leonard." Amy slurred. "Is it li- lil' Leonard?"

"Mmmaybe." Penny replied with a shrug.

"It is!" Bernadette giggled, "Are you telling him how much you miss his-"

"HOO!"

Penny and Bernadette stopped walking as soon as they heard the noise come from Amy's mouth and turned around to see her, standing in front of the cinema they had just passed, staring into the window.

"What's up Ames?" Penny asked as she stumbled towards her, sliding her phone into her purse, deciding to finish off what she was in the middle of trying to write later on.

"Who is he?" She asked as she pointed to the full sized cardboard cut-out of Superman.

"Um, Superman." Penny replied with an, 'isn't that obvious' tone.

"Hoo." Amy said with a sigh as she tilted her head, dreamily staring ahead of her.

Penny and Bernadette giggled before nodding in the direction they were walking. "Come on sweetie, let's go, my Spidey senses are tingling." She laughed, "The liquor store is only three blocks away!"

"You're Spidey senses?" Bernadette asked with amusement. "I think you get nerdier every day."

"Shut up." Penny said with a small grin as she lightly slapped Bernadette on the arm. "Amy, are you coming?"

"I think we should go in here." She replied pointing to the doors of the cinema and nodding, "Yes, we should definitely go in here."

Before the girls could even protest, Amy had made her way through the doors and up to the ticket desk.

"Looks like we are going in here then." Bernadette giggled as she followed Amy.

"Aww." Penny whined as she looked down the street. "But we are so close to getting more wine!"

"Come on bestie!" Amy shouted from inside the building and Penny huffed before dragging herself inside too. "We're in luck! The next showing of the film is only ten minutes away!"

"But really? Superman?" Penny moaned. "Don't we get enough of this nerdy crap from our boyfriends?"

Amy tilted her head and then walked over to the cardboard cut-out. "Over two hours of looking at this man will make it worth the nerdiness! Come on, look at this face." She pointed to his head. "Look at these muscles." She pointed to his arms.

"Look at that bulge." Bernadette added with a giggle.

"Bernie!" Penny exclaimed.

"HOO!" Amy added as she stood back, admiring the standing cut-out.

Penny grinned as she looked over the figure in front of her. "Alright, I guess it can't be worse than being forced to watch Babylon 5 over and over again… And he is pretty hot. But if we are going to do the whole 'being drunk at the cinema' thing, then we are going to do it right. I'm pretty sure this place has a bar around here somewhere." She said before turning around and skimming the room with her eyes. "Oh! There it is!"

Bernadette and Amy followed Penny, who instantly rushed off in the direction of the bar.

"Wow. Drinking wine through a straw in a plastic cup." Bernadette said sarcastically as they collected their drinks and made their way to the snack bar. "We are so sophisticated!"

"We are!" Penny giggled as she walked up to the snack counter and ordered three regular popcorns, then headed into the theatre.

"Girls, girls, who am I?" Penny said as she put her purse, drink and popcorn on the floor and ran down the steps to the first available seat. "HAH!" She said in a loud, short burst, and then laughed, before moving to another seat. "NNYAHH!" She moved again and lowered her tone of voice. "HOOOO!"

Bernadette and Amy stood at the entrance, laughing hysterically as Penny jumped from seat to seat, mimicking Sheldon's odd ritual, receiving unimpressed glares from the other people in the room, until she was unable to continue due to her own laughter.

"Yeah, it's funny now, but imagine having to go through that every time you want to go to the cinema." Amy said glumly as she and Bernadette picked up Penny's stuff and joined her at her seat.

"I've got no sympathy for you Amy, you knew what you were getting into with Sheldon!" Penny laughed.

The three girls began to settle in their seats as the lights turned off and the picture came on.

"Ooooo." Amy said excitedly as she sat up straight and stared ahead of her. "I'm so glad we did this." She whispered, "Do you think he will take his shirt off?"

Penny and Bernadette giggled as the movie started up and various people around the theatre began to shush them. "Oops," Penny whispered, "Sorry." She giggled again and took a sip of her wine, before beginning to hum the Superman theme tune.

"Penny what are you doing?" Bernadette asked in a hushed tone.

"Singing the Superman song."

"No, I'm pretty sure that's Star Wars."

"Oh, oops." She said louder than she had meant to, resulting in her once again being shushed, not only by other people in the audience, but also by Amy, who was sitting on the edge of her seat, impatiently waiting on Superman to come onto the screen.

Penny grinned and mouthed an apology to Amy, before sitting back in her seat and pulling out her phone. She deleted the words she had written earlier, and replaced them with;

Guess who's at the cinema, bout to watch the Man of Steel kick some ass? Yup, me! Suck on that Hofstadter! Xxx

Okay, first of all I want to apologise for taking so long to get this chapter up! It didn't even take long to write, I just kept on getting distracted by future chapters. The plus side to that is that when it comes to needing them, I will once again be ahead of myself! Yay! Secondly, the whole idea to have the girls go and see Superman came up before the whole thing with Kaley and Henry happened, but I wanted to keep chapter is I liked the idea of them doing some stuff the guys would normally do. Anyway hope you liked it and ill try my hardest not to keep you waiting so long in future, but I can't promise anything!