6th Chapter. Please review. Hopefully you read the warnings before but just in case, mentions of rape throughout the story. I don't own any characters.

The next day things went back to normal, or as normal as they could get after Sheldon's confession to Leonard. Leonard was trying desperately to process what he was told, and working really hard not to express his emotions about it. All he really wanted to do was to help Sheldon through this by talking about it and getting Sheldon to a therapist who is more skilled at handling trauma than him, but Sheldon wouldn't have it. He insisted that it just will take time for him to recover fully, and he didn't need a stranger's help to make him feel worse. Over the next few days, Leonard noticed that night times were very difficult for Sheldon, he would wake up in a sweat, scream or both. Leonard would get into a habit of going into his room, reassuring him that he's in a safe place and wait for Sheldon to go back to sleep. Leonard's sleep deprivation was evident as he went back to work.

"Jeez what happened to you?" Howard pointed out the circles under Leonard's eyes.

"Haven't been sleeping very well lately, that's all" Sheldon sat next to him in the cafeteria and looked at him observing the dark circles.

"Yeah you look pretty rough dude, you need beauty sleep" Raj said looking slightly concerned.

"Yeah, yeah whatever" Leonard dismissed their comments.

"So, what's disturbing you?" Howard said nonchalantly eating his salad.

"It's nothing really, just work related stuff, it's a bit stressful" Leonard replied, trying and failing to make it look normal. Sheldon continued to watch Leonard and Howard's interaction trying to determine if what Leonard was saying is true or if he was the cause of the dark circles. "How was your guys' weekend, we didn't see you Sunday" Leonard was trying to change the subject.

"Well I took Raj to a club and showed him to pick up chicks" Howard said proudly.

"And Bernadette was okay with that?" Leonard asked suspiciously.

"Sure, I'm not the one picking up chicks I'm just telling Raj what to do" Howard said assuring, as Raj nodded smiling.

"Were you successful?" Leonard asked Raj, who in turn stopped nodding and smiling and became defensive.

"I just have to develop my own unique Indian style, it was just the first round" Raj said with confidence. Sheldon continued to play with his food as his friends discussed. His energy level wasn't very high either, as he kept getting awoken by horrific images that is out of his control. He was in his own thoughts, paying little attention to others at the table, when he heard his name being called.

"I said Sheldon," Howard was attempting to get his attention. Sheldon awoke from his zoned out state and shook his head.

"Yes?"

"I said do you and Amy want to go on a triple date tonight with me, Bernadette, Leonard and Penny?" Howard asked again.

"That's nice, leave the Indian guy out" Raj said in a huff.

"Well when you get a girlfriend then we'll go on a quadrupole date how about that?" Howard said to Raj in an attempt to satisfy his need for attention. Raj smiled and nodded. "Well Sheldon?"

"Hum? Uh… I'll ask Amy" Sheldon said, without any intention of asking her that minute. Howard just stared at him waiting for him to pick up the phone and call her. Leonard observed the interaction, choosing to not defend Sheldon or tell Howard to back off like he would have liked, because of Sheldon's request at not treating him any different way or coddling him.

"Well?" Howard was impatient

"Well what?" Sheldon looked at him quizzically.

"Call her and find out!" Howard exclaimed irritated.

"Oh… Okay…" he slowly got his phone out of his pocket and started dialing it, hesitant because he truly didn't want to go himself, but felt too scared to be alone in his apartment. "Hi Amy"

"Hi Sheldon," the gang could hear Amy's voice on the other end.

"I have a proposition to make" Sheldon said in his usual tone of voice. Amy's voice appeared quite excited to hear what Sheldon will say.

"Oh really? Well what is it Sheldon?"

"Howard is asking if we would like to join him, Bernadette, Penny and Leonard on a triple date tonight?" a slight disappointing "oh" could be heard coming from Amy's side.

"I'm sorry Sheldon, but I can't do it tonight, I'm giving the monkey's in the lab cocaine and will be switching to placebos tonight, it's gonna be a rough ride" Sheldon was disappointed, he will have to be by himself in his apartment without Leonard tonight.

"Okay, well until next time then" he tried to make it out that he wasn't disappointed but Amy could tell from the tone that he was hiding it.

"I'm sorry Sheldon," she repeated.

"It's okay, I hope you have a productive rest of today, Amy" Sheldon said before hanging up. Leonard could tell Sheldon was more than a little disturbed by the turn of events.

Later that evening, Leonard was getting ready for his double date, he looked at Sheldon who was intensely fixated on his computer screen, playing a game. "Sheldon" Leonard said.

"Yes?" his roommate said without looking away from the screen.

"I could make an excuse and stay here if you're not comfortable being left alone tonight" Leonard was worried. "we could hang out, watch a movie, play a video game"

"No, Leonard, you cannot babysit me forever, I'm a big boy I can take care of myself," Sheldon said not taking his eyes off the screen as his fingers tapped on his keyboard controlling his character.

"You know you could still go with us even if Amy isn't going"

"And risk Howard saying something inappropriate and homosexual about the relationship that we have with one another, I don't think so." Sheldon quipped. Leonard sighed.

"Alright, well call me if there is anything you need" Sheldon was trying not to act like a mother, but he had issues when he was protective of his friend.

"I don't need anything, enjoy yourself, Leonard" Sheldon said still fixated on his game. Once he heard the door close, he paused the game, got up and locked every lock that was on the door for protection. He then went to sit on the couch, being hypervigilant about his surroundings. He finally got up and checked all the rooms in the apartment, making sure there were no intruders. He also looked in the bathtub and the cabinets just to be sure. After he was satisfied with making sure there weren't any intruders in the house, he sat back down in his spot, hands on his knees, unsure of what to do. If he continued to play his game, he wouldn't be alert in case someone were to break in, but if he sat there, he will be filled with crippling anxiety at an incident that has not happened yet. He got up and looked out the window, then he thought it was a bad idea because someone would see that he was in his apartment alone, so he shut the curtains of the windows. This was going to be a long night.

Leonard wasn't enjoying himself either, sitting and eating his dinner with his girlfriend and friends, jabbering about something random that held no interest to Leonard. He just wanted to go back to his friend and make him feel safe again. He knew that despite Sheldon's persistence that he will be fine alone, he didn't trust him. Leonard continuously checked his phone for miscalls or texts from Sheldon begging him to come home, but there were no texts or missed calls. Penny noticed Leonard being mentally absent from the conversation at the dinner table, and finally chose to address it.

"What's with you?" Penny asked directly after remaining quiet about Leonard's behavior for what seemed a long time.

"What?" Leonard asked defensively.

"You've obviously been very preoccupied with your phone and thoughts throughout this whole conversation, do you even know what we were talking about?" Penny was angry.

"Uh… Bernadette's new prescription medication that has strange side effects?" Leonard took a stab in the dark.

"That was 15 minutes ago, we were talking about Howard's mother's back issues" Penny said annoyed.

"Oh, sorry Penny, I'm just. I just feel bad about Sheldon" oops he didn't mean to say that.

"What about Sheldon?" She asked curiously.

"He's just, alone in the apartment, and I hate leaving him like that" Leonard was trying to backtrack.

"He'll be fine, he's probably having a good time by himself, he's a loner after all" Penny was dismissing Leonard's concerns but he didn't know how to respond without her suspecting something, and he knew when Penny suspected something, she's going to get involved enough where he will reveal Sheldon's secret, so he went along with it.

"Yeah, you're probably right".