He opened his eyes when he heard that his cell phone was ringing. She sat bolt upright so she could respond without even looking at who was calling her.
"Amy, where are you? I can go wherever you are and... "
"I'm not Amy," said a voice on the other side of the line.
Sheldon ran a hand over his face, disappointed that it wasn't his wife who had called him. "What do you want, Wolowitz? "
"The boys and I have been waiting for you for a long time. You said you would come at 7pm and" he looked at the time on his cell phone "7:25. Where the heck are you? And why did you think it was Amy who called you?
"I'm at my house and I'm not going to move from here" He couldn't see his friend, but he imagined that Howard must be rolling his eyes "Amy left me. "
"What? She left you?" Howard's tone of voice changed completely. Sheldon could hear several footsteps. Surely the others had come closer to hear better "Is this one of your silly jokes that no one understands? "
"I wish ... I wish it was a joke. "
"Okay, but when you say she left you, do you mean…?
"She grabbed her clothes, personal belongings and left the house," he whispered looking at Amy's almost empty closet.
Nothing was heard for a couple of seconds and then Howard spoke "Do you want us to go to your house? " he asked "She surely is at her parents' house and we can help you convince her to come back with you.
"She left me a note. She plans to continue lecturing around the country again so she is most likely in Wyoming by now.
"Oh well. Amy left because she went back to work. Possibly she will be back in a few days.
"I don't think so; from the way she wrote the note." Sheldon took a deep breath. "It's like she's not planning to come back anytime soon."
"I know it's not what you want to hear, but maybe it's the best for both of you," Howard said after a few seconds.
"I don't need time. I'm completely sure I want to spend the rest of my life with her. "
"Well, maybe you don't need time, but she clearly needs it. " Added "You must be positive that when she decides to return, everything will improve."
"What would you do if your pregnant wife left you?"
"Bernie would never leave me like Amy did" Howard laughed and Sheldon was grateful he didn't have his friend in front of him because he probably would have beaten him for making fun of his situation "She would have burned all my things and she would never speak to me again. "
"Oh ... "
"Hey!" Howard's protest made Sheldon frown.
"Why are you yelling at me?" Sheldon asked.
"I'm not yelling at you, he is yelling at me because I took his phone from him," Raj explained. "And I wanted to tell you that Howard is right."
"I doubt it."
"Sheldon, do you remember when you went by train for weeks without telling anyone? "
He opened his eyes in surprise "Do you think Amy is taking revenge for leaving her years ago? "
"That's not what I'm trying to say," Raj said. "Look, how did you feel while you were on the train without Amy?" Did you miss her?
"Yes, I missed her more than I thought it was possible. That's when I realized that I love her" he admitted. He had never told anyone. Not even Amy.
"And when you found out that she was going to New Jersey, what did you do? "
"You were there. You know what I did. "
"I want to hear you say it. "
"Fine. I didn't take it too well, but after talking to Leonard I realized that I should be proud of her and support her. "
"Exactly, so ... "
"And that's what I told her," Sheldon interrupted. "And after that I asked her if she wanted to have coitus with me and she agreed."
"You don't have to remind me. I was there. "
"What? "
"Never mind. "
"I still don't understand why you ask me all this. "
-Sheldon, what I'm trying to say is that maybe while Amy is away she will realize that she misses you and that she still loves you despite everything.
"I know that she still loves me. She told me."
"Well, then maybe a time away is what she needs to finally be able to forgive you. "
19 weeks pregnant.
It had been three weeks since Amy had left Pasadena. At that moment she had just finished her lecture at University state Iowa and was on her way back to her hotel room.
The conference had been a great success. She received praise from many of the scientists who were there and the questions they had asked her had been very encouraging. For the first time in weeks she felt happy and all she wanted at that moment was to be able to talk to her husband.
She took out her new phone that she bought before leaving Pasadena, as she knew that if she continued with her old phone, Sheldon and all of her friends would be calling her to ask when she was coming back. She looked at it for a few seconds as she debated whether or not to call Sheldon.
She put the phone back in her purse. If she called Sheldon at that time she would give him hope that she would return soon and she did not want to delude him. She missed him too much, but she still didn't feel ready to go back.
She wanted to come back the moment she was completely sure that she had forgiven Sheldon. She knew it was acting selfish and stupid. After she had the accident, her husband showed her over and over again that he was sorry for everything he said and she believed him, but try as she might, she couldn't erase of her mind the expression on Sheldon's face when he found out that she was pregnant and believed that her child could be from another man.
She put a hand to her belly that had started to show even when she was wearing baggy clothes as she shook her head. She didn't want to think about it again since she knew that she would end up crying as usual.
21 weeks pregnant.
"Dr. Fowler, please wait" said a voice behind her. Amy turned around to see who was speaking to her and saw that it was Marissa, the young woman who had been assigned as her assistant during her visit to Ohio who ran over to where she was. "I have to… I have to rest for a moment" she bend her knees a little and place her hands on each one of her knees as she tried to catch her breath.
"Are you okay?" Asked Amy, looking around. "Do you need water or something else?"
"No. I'll be fine in a second," she said, breathing sharply. "Are you leaving?" she asked when her breathing normalized.
"Yes, the conference ended half an hour ago. I was talking to some very nice people, but they all went back to their jobs or left, so I decided to leave too" she shrugged "Is something wrong?"
"Aren't you going to the museum? "
"What museum?" Amy asked without understanding what was happening.
"I thought Director Stevens would have told you that he asked me to organize a tour for you at the Cleveland Museum of Art."
"Oh, that sounds interesting, but ... "
"You don't like visiting museums?" The young woman in front of her seemed somewhat disappointed.
"On the contrary, I love it."
"But did you already have something planned to do today? Because if so, I can try to reschedule the visit for tomorrow and... "
"No, no, don't bother" Amy sighed "We can go today."
"Excellent" Marissa smiled cheerfully "Are you ready to go right now or do you need to go to your hotel? "
"No, we can go now."
They left the building where a driver was already waiting to take them to the museum. Marissa kindly let her get into the car first. She began to chat happily about the kinds of paintings and objects that Amy was going to see in the museum.
Amy tried to pay attention to her. She even made comments on a couple of occasions, but most of the way to the museum she let Marissa speak while she simply nodded since she had no idea what the girl was saying to her because her mind was elsewhere.
Upon arriving at the museum Amy she could not avoid stare astonished at the entrance of the museum. It was bigger than she had imagined.
"It's impressive right? " Amy nodded as they walked towards the entrance "Is there any art exhibitions that you want to see in particular? "
"No, you choose," Amy said, smiling briefly.
"Very well," she put a hand to her chin as if to think, "Do you prefer to start with paintings or sculptures?"
After Amy chose to start looking at the paintings, she walked over to where the young woman indicated her to go.
"If you like, we can go to the area where the Renaissance paintings are" Marissa commented after almost an hour of walking around the museum "There are paintings of people like Titian, Gerard David ...
"Frans Hals, Nicolas Poussin. Yes," interrupted Amy, "I am familiar with most of the works of Renaissance painters in this museum. "
"Was visiting the museum in your travel plans?"
"Something like that" the young woman looked at her curiously "It's a somewhat a long story. "
"If you want we can go to the cafeteria to have a drink and talk. "
"Sounds good" Amy agreed that she already felt a little tired after walking for a long time.
She didn't know if she should tell her or not what it happened with Sheldon, after all she had only known the girl for a couple of days, but she desperately needed to be able to talk about her husband. From the moment she walked into the museum, all she could think about was how much she wished Sheldon had come with her and how much she missed him.
Marissa set her coffee on the table and placed a bottle of water in front of Amy before sitting down. Dr. Fowler seemed to be lost in her thoughts that she did not even notice that the young woman had returned.
She did not know what to do. She didn't know if she should say something or leave Dr. Fowler with her thoughts for a little while longer, she was about to open her mouth when she saw the woman shaking her head.
"Sorry" she apologized "Were you saying something? "
"I left your water there," Marissa pointed to the bottle in front of Amy as she nodded. "I don't want to sound nosy, but are you okay?"
"No," Amy answered after a moment of silence that felt too long. "I'm not."
"I will fully understand if you say no, but if you want to talk to someone about what is happening to you ... here I am. "
"Thank you," she said before taking a breath. "Sheldon ... Dr. Cooper has never been a big fan of public speaking. In fact, the idea terrifies him. So when we won the nobel prize, we knew that it meant being part of many interviews and conferences and we agreed that I would be the one to take care of all this" she paused to give it a sip of her drink "He would stay working in Pasadena while I toured the country giving lectures in different places. And that's what we did, at least for a time. Until... he thought that I was cheating on him and that the baby I am expecting was another man's baby.
"I… I don't know what to say," she bit her lip before asking, "Why did Dr. Cooper think you were cheating on him?"
Amy briefly told her about the argument with Sheldon, the accident, and how things changed between them. Although she omitted the loss of one of the babies. She knew that if she talked about it she would end up crying.
"I thank you for trusting me about the situation with your husband and I want to say something about that, but first I want to understand, what all you said has to do with wanting to visit the museum?
"Like I told you, Sheldon is not a fan of public speaking so we decided that he would stay in Pasadena. Even so, I wanted him to accompany me to some of the places that I knew he could like visit, so when President Siebert told me that coming to Cleveland was a possibility, I investigated all kinds of interesting facts about the museum to try to convince my husband to come with me, but the next day I went to San Diego and when I came back... all of that happened.
"That sucks," the young woman commented sincerely. "I suppose it was not a good idea to have brought you here after all."
" No, It's okay. The museum is amazing and… yes, I'm thinking I wish Sheldon were here, but I've been thinking the same thing ever since I left Pasadena. Every place I have been to, for one reason or another, I have thought about it.
"And he thinks of you every day," Marissa assured. Amy looked at her without understanding how she could sound so sure about that "That was what I wanted to tell you. You say that Dr. Cooper gets nervous when speaking in public, but the man I saw in a video yesterday seemed very confident and spoke so lovingly about you.
"What video are you talking about?" Amy asked even more confused. She saw Marissa take the phone out of her bag.
A few seconds later she handed Amy her cell phone. Amy hit the play button and saw Sheldon at his office in what looked like an interview. She was able to hear various voices so Amy guessed it wasn't just one person who was interviewing him. She suddenly heard how one of those people mentioned her name.
"I don't doubt that Dr. Fowler is intelligent and has contributed some ideas to the research of super asymmetry, but she is a neurobiologist," said one of the men. "Don't you think you should have won the award alone?"
Amy knew her husband well, so she could see how his expression of calm changed to one of anger, although he was doing an excellent job to control himself.
"I am going to say this once, and I hope it is clear so that I do not see the need to repeat it to anyone in the future "he paused briefly "Dr. Fowler is the only reason I deserved to have won the nobel prize. Without her I may never have managed to win.
"Come on Dr. Cooper" said the man with a mocking smile "You probably says that because she is his wife. "
"Yes, Dr. Fowler is my wife," Sheldon mentioned. Amy noticed how her expression softened slightly when he said that "But she is also one of the most intelligent people I have had the fortune to meet. For many years I thought I was the brightest mind of my generation, but I have realized that she is even brighter than me.
"Why do you say so?" Asked another of the reporters.
"I thought it was obvious," he said, rolling his eyes. Those men in front of him did not seem to know anything " Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler is a woman who has dedicated her life to the study of neurobiology, but suddenly one day I told her something about what I was thinking and the next thing that happens is that we won a Nobel Prize in Physics, a field of science where I'm supposed to be the expert, "he added. "And if you don't believe what I'm saying, you just need to watch one of the lectures she's given around the country to realize how brilliant Dr. Fowler is and how much she knows about super asymmetry. "
"You sound very proud of Dr. Fowler. "
"I am" he looked directly at one of the cameras "And I really hope she sees this video so she would know how proud I am of her and reminds her how much I love her. And that I hope she returns soon from her trip. "
"I haven't talked to my husband in a while so I had no idea that he would agree to give interviews," Amy said when she finished watching the video. "And I can't believe Sheldon said those things about me in an interview that could have been all about him" A tear slid down her cheek.
"Everything he said about you was very nice " Marissa commented with a smile "Especially the last part. "
"Yes" whispered Amy. She rewinded the video for a few seconds to hear Sheldon's voice saying that he loved her. She couldn't help but smile, but in a second her smile turned into a grimace. She had seemed to feel something strange inside her belly.
"Are you okay?" Asked Marissa, noticing the change in the expression of the woman in front of her.
"I don't know" she put a hand to her belly, somewhat scared "I think there is something wrong with the baby. "
"Oh god" Marissa immediately stood up and approached Amy without knowing what to do "Should I call the hospital or ... " she looked at the tables around where people were talking quietly. "Is there a doctor here?" She yelled louder than she thought. All the people turned to see her "I'm sorry, she's pregnant and I think something's wrong with her baby," she explained by way of apology.
Several people approached them and began to make suggestions or offer to take them to the nearest hospital.
"If you allow me" said an older woman appearing behind the crowd that was surrounding Amy "I used to work as a nurse and if you like… " She raised a hand and pointed to Amy's belly. She nodded slightly. The woman moved closer to her and placed her right hand on the lower part of her belly.
"There's that feeling again," Amy said with her voice shaking with fear. "It's a bad thing, isn't?"
"Oh honey" the voice of the stranger sounded so tender and maternal "No, it's not bad. It is actually a very good thing. Your baby is kicking. "
"Rea …. Really?" Tears of happiness fell down Amy's cheeks. Her baby was fine. More than fine. The baby had started to move.
"Yes, Dear."
"That's very cool" Marissa said when the crowd returned to their tables "It seems as if the baby had recognized the voice of her father and just like you were excited to hear him. "
Amy parted her lips in surprise. Marissa was right. She had started to feel the kicks just as Sheldon's voice was heard. Did the baby miss him like she did?
"Is this the baby's first time kicking?" Amy nodded. "Again, I don't want to be nosy but… it's obvious that Dr. Cooper loves and misses you and I think you should call him to tell him about it."
"For the last time. " he placed the house keys on a shelf "I am not going to go to video game night at Koothrapali's house. "
"Come on, Sheldon. Howard convinced Bernadette to let him sleep there "said Leonard taking a seat on the furniture of his friend's house "It would be like in the old days. "
"When were we all single and you were bitter about it? "
"Yes, but now almost all of us have a wife who will wait for us at home to ... " he saw the expression of pain of his friend and realized very late what he had just said "I'm sorry, I didn't want to ... "
"It's Okay," Sheldon said, looking away. "It's been six weeks since Amy left me."
"She do not let you. I'm sure she will be back soon. "
"No one has talked to her since the day she left and if it weren't for the lectures I wouldn't even know if she and the baby are okay. "
"Well, based on what you've told me, the lectures end in three weeks so I guess that's when she'll be back."
"Or maybe it's when she decides to go somewhere else and then I don't know where she'll be." Sheldon stood up.
"What are you going to do? "
"What I should have done weeks ago. I'll go find her. "
I said that in this chapter Amy was going to find out the sex of the baby and that was going to happen, but then the museum scene came to my mind and ...
I've been busier than I thought so I preferred to leave it there and post today than not know when I will be able to post. Probably chapter 14 will be published around November 15th. But If I can I'll update sooner.
Thank you very much for reading and being patient!