"It's negative," Sheldon said and sounded slightly defeated. "what?!" Amy was surprised. "are you certain?" she did not expect this. Sheldon nodded and raised the pregnancy test, showing Amy the white stick with one single strike, a negative result. Amy glared at the negative test in silence. She felt as if the one strike is crushing her heart. Before telling Sheldon, she thought she was pregnant, she was so terrified of a positive result because she was worried of how her husband would react. But while waiting for the result, she realized she was wishing it would be positive. She was so busy preparing herself to a positive result because she knew how hard pregnancy and raising a child are, that she forgot to prepare herself to a negative result, which appeared to be just as difficult.
"Are you alright?" Sheldon asked his wife, who looked gloomy. "Yes... I think so. After all, it's not that we lost something. I was never really pregnant," she tried to sound light-hearted, but her voice cracked, and even Sheldon, who didn't shine at picking on emotional cues, could hear the disappointment in her voice. He wasn't sure what to do to cheer his wife up. He was never in a similar situation. But then he recalled an event that took place about a year ago, when they were nominated for a Nobel prize, but it seemed like they weren't going to win. They did win eventually, but at the time, Amy felt like she was the reason they wouldn't win, and she was upset. To comfort her, he held her and sang to her his own comfort song, Soft Kitty.
Sheldon approached Amy and wrapped his arms around her shoulders and put his hand on her head, like he did last time. Amy laid her head on his chest. He inhaled her scent. She smelled like books. Sheldon smiled. He needed it too, and her smell and touch made him feel better in a heartbeat. "Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur..." Sheldon started singing.
While he sang, a teardrop went down on Amy's chick, but she wiped it before her partner would notice.
At that night, Amy went to inform Penny that she wasn't pregnant before she tells all the world that she is. Amy recalled the time she and Sheldon experimented with MIM theory. They told Penny that they slept together, and soon enough, their entire circle of friends knew about it. After that, they spread a new rumor. This time the rumor was that Amy was pregnant and it took even less time for everyone to find out about it. The Nobel laureate hoped it wouldn't happen again. The last thing she needed was her mother calling her, thinking she is going to have a grandchild soon.
Fortunately, Penny kept the information to herself. She and Amy sat by the kitchen table and drank wine while Amy told her everything that happened since she left her apartment that morning. "I can't believe it. Sweetie, are you okay?" Penny put her hand on her friend's arm. "Yeah, I am, I think. I might need a day or two, but I'm okay," She replied. "And how is Sheldon?" Penny knew how sensitive he was and hoped it did not affect him too much. "He's fine, I hope..." Amy sipped her wine. "I'm here for you, you know," Penny hugged her bestie. "Thank you. You are a good friend," Amy was grateful for her best friend, who was always there for her.
After a few minutes of talking, the two besties heard a knock, but not just any knock. It was Sheldon's signature knock.
"come in!" Penny called and Sheldon opened the door. "Hey, Sheldon, how are you?" Penny asked, clearly worried for him, like a sister who is worried for her baby brother, after he fell down. "Alright... why do you ask?" he was confused. "I told her about the pregnancy test," Amy explained. "Ohh, I'm fine," He said in an indifferent voice and then continued: "did you know that while a woman is pregnant, a hormone called hCG is Excreted from the placenta and the pregnancy test detects it? That's how a woman knows if she's pregnant or not." Amy obviously knew it already, but Penny rolled her eyes, grossed out a little. "He tells boring facts about disgusting things. He's fine, for sure." Sheldon raised an eyebrow. "you must have used many pregnancy tests during your life because you are somewhat promiscuous. Don't you want to know how it works?" Penny ignored the insult and answered empathically, "nope." Sheldon shrugged. Making Penny interested in learning new things is like fighting with windmills. "Alright, stay ignorant. Amy, dear, I'm going to bed. Are you coming?" he turned to his wife. "Yes, good night Penny," she put the wine glass on the table and she and Sheldon went back to their apartment.
It was 2 AM and Sheldon turned in his sleep. He put down his arm on the other side of the bed, looking for the warmth of Amy's body, but the bed was cold, and his wife was not there. Sheldon woke up and wiped his eyes. He got out of bed to look for Amy. He went towards the bathroom to see if she was there when he heard her from the living room. She was crying. "Amy?" he went out of the bedroom, and saw Amy, sitting on the couch, crying in her sleeping robe. Her hair was messy, and she was curled up and big wet tears soaked into her robe and on the pillow she was holding.
"what's wrong?" he asked, and a little wrinkle of concern showed up between his eyebrows. He sat on the couch next to Amy. "Is this about the pregnancy test?" he questioned. "yes, it's about the pregnancy test!" she replied while crying. Sheldon has never seen her like that, and he was worried. "I don't understand. Could you explain what's going on?" he hoped he would be more helpful when he understands what's troubling his wife, because at the second, he was clueless. "I know I was never pregnant, and I know this baby never existed, but I was happy about it. I wanted the result to be positive." She sounded so frustrated. Sheldon looked down on his plaid pajamas for a few seconds and then looked directly at his weeping wife. "I also hoped the result would be positive. I didn't realize this until we got the negative result, but I was sad and disappointed," he confessed. Amy was shocked. She took his hand and said: "so why didn't you tell me?" he wondered upon the question for a moment. "well, I guess I wanted to be strong for you, like you've done for me countless times." Amy wiped her tears and then once again, laid her head on his chest and her bushy hair was rubbed against his chick. "you don't need to be strong for me. I want to know when something is troubling you. Besides, the fact that we feel the same way comforts me." She felt much better now when she knew how Sheldon feels. She smiled and hugged her husband more tightly, and the two sat like this, cuddling for a few minutes without talking, and since Sheldon usually can't go a minute without talking, it was kind of a big deal.