A/N: I haven't abandoned you all! Sorry for the delay, but real life became, for a lack of a better word, unfun for a little while, and I just finished summer school (another 'A' weee) and I started another story so I've been completely scatter-brained lately! Plus I'm reading a book…come on, even writers gotta read! :]

Moonpie: Lol, I'm sorry! I swear I've been paying attention to this story, too, but I've been making tweaks before posting because now we're in the thick of it. You're absolutely right though - you and all of my amazing readers who have reviewed since day 1 deserve more frequent updates. And I was doing pretty good with the first 13 chapters, remember? Lol, but yeah, stuff happens. I promise I will not abandoned this story, in fact, it's all completely outlined up until the end and we're more than half-way through. Forgive me!

Enjoy chapter 14 :D *Warning: This chapter, which serves as the bridge for events to come, contains graphic violence and a slightly darker side of Sheldon that'll make you cringe…or get you a little excited. Either way.*

If only he could get his hands to stop shaking. Or maybe if Penny would cease her sobbing. Maybe then he could make the room stop spinning, stop the bile from rising in his throat, stop his heart from beating so fast that it threatened to take flight out of his chest and never return. But his sight zeroed in on his brother's body as a dark liquid dripped from the side of his stained shirt, and he realized that the most important thing that Sheldon had to control right now was the bleeding. He snapped to, like a splash of cold water to his face, and he hurried to Penny's door where she was hovering over Junior. The blood pooled all around them, soaking Sheldon's flannel pajama pant legs as he kneeled beside his brother.

"Oh, God!" Penny shouted as she rolled Junior's moaning body onto his side. He began to cough, his mouth slack and blood pouring from his nose, dribbling from his lips. "Sheldon! What do we do?"

"Mmmph…" The older Cooper brother wheezed and gasped, then stopped making noises all together.

"Junior," Sheldon said, ignoring Penny's shrieks. He placed his trembling hands on his brother's ribs, feeling for any sign of a fracture. He lifted Junior's shirt and found the source of the bleeding-a gaping hole about one inch wide and half an inch in height. When Penny saw the gash, she screamed again. "Penny!" Sheldon hollered suddenly, cutting her off. "Call 9-1-1. Then go to your kitchen and grab the vodka from your freezer and a clean steak knife. Lastly, bring plenty of towels." He growled at the prospect of having to repeat himself, but Penny blinked twice, the tears streaming down her face and she finally lifted herself to her feet and ran into her apartment to retrieve the items Sheldon requested. Meanwhile, Sheldon looked back down at his brother, both of his palms now pressing against Junior's open wound.

"George," Sheldon tried again with vehemence. His brother's eyes were nearly swollen shut, but from what little he could see, the eyeballs were rolling up into his skull. His lips were turning blue. "Penny! Bring me an ink pen!"

He heard Penny repeating the address to the apartment building on the phone while she tossed items around, but he kept his eyes on Junior, watching precious time slip away.

Eight years earlier.

Junior had a lot to celebrate that night.

Marky had finally released him and Sheldon from his sick and twisted hold, fleeing the state after he made bad on a deal. And Junior had just won the biggest contest he had ever been a part of. It was wholly legit, a match with actual MMA professional scouters in attendance. They had been impressed by Junior's bout and had promised to keep in contact. Then a pair of men that he usually did business with promised Junior that his winnings were being counted and ready for him to collect behind the barn. Junior's chest swelled with pride; his victory tonight had been entirely on him. But when he finished his opponent off with a triangle choke submission, Junior had looked into the crowd, scanning it for Sheldon's identical eyes, although he never saw him. He knew that his little brother didn't belong in this world, a barn full of hollering and spitting crowds watching blood spill and bones break in the center of a makeshift octagon, but after everything they had been through together, Junior had hoped maybe he would show.

Sheldon had stopped scouting other fighters after Marky left, and Junior couldn't blame him. He had brought Sheldon into this mess, and now it was time for him to get out. He knew that his brother was home, packing to leave for California the next day. So Junior slinked out of the barn, passing up the crowd, and headed to the back to collect the winnings, of which he would split down the middle with Sheldon. A cool five thousand as a parting gift from Junior to his little brother. Not that it would ever make up for the hell he had put him through, but it was a start.

The area behind the barn where he was supposed to meet the two guys with his money was vacant, so Junior leaned against the clapboards and waited. The air was humid, thick, like a big wet blanket, making it hard to breathe. But Junior inhaled deeply anyway, staring up at the stars that shone down on him. Sheldon was going off tomorrow to make a new start for himself. Maybe Junior could do that, too someday. He had the money, he just needed the motivation.

The stars twinkled fiercely, the supporting cast behind the bright, ghoulish moon, as two men snuck up on Junior's flank. He was dreamily staring up at the Texas sky when one of the men brought a knife to his throat, flipped him around, and brought the blade down in a swift slitting motion against Junior's neck. But the Cooper boy was too quick, even having been caught off-guard, and flicked his head towards the blade, causing the knife to gash his face instead of his jugular.

While the stars continued to blaze above them, and the crowd roaring as they watched another fight inside of the barn, three men struggled until two were left unconscious, and one staggered away.

Present day.

"Why…why a pen, Sheldon?" The moment Penny heard her voice she wanted to smack her own mouth. She sounded so childish and weak. Usually she was the one in charge, the one who would know what to do. But when she opened the door and found Junior staring back at her through the slits of his swollen eyes, a hand out to grab her before he fell, she completely checked out. As Junior fell to the ground at her feet, so did her sanity. She saw Sheldon before she could finish screaming his name and now he sat with his brother on the ground, holding an open wound to stop the bleeding. The color had still not returned to his face. She ran back to the threshold and handed Sheldon the bottle of vodka first. He twisted the cap off with the forefinger and thumb of one hand, keeping the other on his brother's wound just below his ribs. Then he put the bottle down and used his free hand to feel around Junior's exposed side.

"I need you to remove the ink cartridge cylinder from your pen and place it in my left hand. Then pour vodka all over Junior's ribs and the tip of that steak knife."

Penny allowed all of Sheldon's directions to sink in, then felt her hands mechanically begin to work, twisting the back end of a pen and removing the cylinder, then placing it in Sheldon's open palm. The entire time, she kept her eyes on Sheldon's, who never broke eye contact with her. She finally looked down to grab the vodka bottle and poured the cold liquid over Junior's ribs. She saw the skin stretched thinly over what looked like a broken, mangled bone. She whimpered as she poured more vodka over the steak knife. "Sheldon?" she met his eyes again. "What are you going to do?"

"I need you to listen to me closely," Sheldon said quickly, his calm tenor disappearing as the urgency of the situation set in. "I need your undivided attention and unflinching participation." Penny nodded as she watched Sheldon swallow, his Adam's apple bobbing. "I'm going to remove my hands from Junior's wound and you will replace them with your own. You will need to apply firm pressure with your palms, but do not lean onto it. Next, I am going to make a small incision between Junior's bottom and second to bottom rib. They have broken and punctured his lung, collapsing it so that he cannot breathe, that's why he is turning blue."

"Sh…Sheldon," Penny began, panic causing the tears to well up in her eyes until she couldn't see him clearly anymore. But before she could protest further, he shook his head firmly, leaving her no room for argument.

"Penny, listen to me. If I don't get air into Junior's lungs in the next few seconds, he will suffer sufficient brain damage from lack of oxygen. I am not asking for your permission, I am asking for your help."

Penny blinked back the tears, realizing if there were ever a time that she would be required to uphold her promise to Sheldon that she would never leave him, it would be now. "Okay, okay," she whispered, readying her hands to take Sheldon's place on Junior's wound. They stared at each other for a split second before they got to work, switching places swiftly and a moment later, Penny felt the pulsating wound beneath her hands. She felt the blood pumping, working to get past her flesh and pour out of Junior's body, but her hold was firm. The blood began to clot against her palms. Although she tried not to, Penny found herself watching Sheldon as he began to work on his brother's side. She felt the nausea threaten to overcome her as sure enough, he used the tip of the steak knife to create a deep circular incision between two of his fingers that were held flush against Junior's skin. Then, to Penny's horror, she watched Sheldon dump the rest of the vodka onto the empty pen, then held it tightly in his fist before jamming it directly into Junior's incision. Blood flowed freely through the pen, gushing out like a water hose, hitting Sheldon's stomach, but his focus remained true. "That's too much blood," Penny cried, watching the blood continue to ooze out of the pen. She looked at Junior's unconscious face, seeing no change.

"Come on, damnit," Sheldon murmured as beads of sweat formed on his slick forehead.

"Sheldon," Penny's voice raised. Where is the fucking ambulance?

"Come on…" The weakening resolve on Sheldon's face caused Penny's stomach to drop. They heard nothing except for each other's labored breaths, the racking sobs Penny allowed to escape from her lips.

And then finally.

"Unnghh…uck."

"Oh, my God!" Penny yelled, watching in awe as Junior's legs began to move while he took in deep, raspy breaths through his slack mouth. He gasped like a fish out of water, his lips puckering with great difficulty.

"Aw…hh..hh-uck."

"Sheldon, what is he saying?" she turned to watch the physicist as he shuddered his own deep breaths of relief. He blinked rapidly, still staring down at Junior as he used both of his hands to intricately hold the pen upright. The blood had finally slowed, and bubbles were now being emitted from the end of the pen that wasn't inside of Junior's body. "Sweetie, are you okay?"

"Yes," Sheldon answered, still blinking quickly. She noticed a slight tremor pass over his chin.

"H-un-uck-uh." Junior continued to moan and much to Penny's relief, she heard the unmistakable stomps of boots climbing the stairs quickly.

"Oh, thank you God, EMS is here," she said before raising her voice. "We're up here! Fourth floor!"

"Uh…h-un-uck-uh."

"What's he saying?" Penny asked again as the three paramedics finally reached the fourth floor with a gurney ready to transport Junior.

"I believe he's trying to say, 'motherfucker'," Sheldon mused, his tone flat and his stare vacant, seemingly unaware of the foul language leaving his lips. "He can't pronounce it correctly because from what I can see, his mandible is dislocated anteriorly."

Penny watched as Sheldon freed one of his hands to grasp his brother's arm and rub it reassuringly, an act that both shocked her and left her heart heavy. And before the paramedics could ask Sheldon to move, Junior shifted the arm from under his body up to grasp Sheldon's hand, then gave it the tiniest of squeezes.

Eight years earlier.

Sheldon's cell phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and read the e-mail confirming his appointment with a highly recommended E.N.T. the same day he arrived in Pasadena. Traveling anywhere outside of Texas aggravated his sinuses and he didn't want to be hampered by his sinusitis the first week on the job at Caltech.

Sighing deeply, Sheldon gently placed his cell phone on his night stand before surveying his empty childhood room. This room where he could never sleep soundly, where he never felt safe. A familiar twinge of hate threatened to consume him, but he swallowed it down, reminding himself that in less than 12 hours, he would be boarding his train and off to his new life. A life he worked hard for, a life he deserved. With an apartment already lined up (and on the route shuttled by Caltech's own bus system), Sheldon had much to look forward to.

"Sheldon!" his sister screeched. "Sheldon, get out here! It's Junior!"

"Missy?" Sheldon inquired, hustling out of his room and rushing down the hall until he saw his sister standing by the screen door that overlooked the front porch. "What on earth has gotten into you? Why are you screaming?"

"Look! Junior is outside! He's bleeding! I'm calling the police…"

"Don't call no goddamn police," a rough voice, thick and sappy, ordered from the other side of the screen door. "Just tell Shelly to get his skinny ass out here."

"Missy," Sheldon murmured. "Go to the back. I'll take care of it."

"Junior, don't you go putting your hands on Sheldon!" their sister warned, wagging her finger at Junior through the door. "I won't hesitate to pull Momma's Mosberg on you!"

"Shut up, Melissa! Get Sheldon!"

"Missy," Sheldon repeated, a little more forceful as he placed a hand on her shoulder and yanked her back from the door. "Go to the back." He stared her down until her shoulders sagged and she finally nodded, stepping out of his way. Sheldon waited until she was down the hall and in her room before he turned and looked out of the mesh material of the closed screen door. "What are you goin' on about, Junior?"

"Get your ass out here," Junior sneered. He was sitting on the front steps, leaning upwards towards the porch, peering up at Sheldon through blood that covered his face. One of his thick, muscular arms was cradling his own chest, wrapping around his ribs. "You fucking pussy."

The tips of Sheldon's' ears burned as a familiar sensation of hatred trickled all over his body. Against his better judgment, he pushed the front door open, heard it squeak on its old hinges, then stepped out into the summer air. Thunder cracked in the background, giving the cicadas singing in the grass a tempo to sing to. The sound of home. "You have something on your mind, Junior?"

"Why didn't you come to the fight tonight?" The older brother's breaths were labored, a wheezing noise coupled with a small moan each time he spoke.

He was obviously in pain, Sheldon could tell, but his pride had brought him straight back here to tussle with him instead of to the hospital where he belonged. "I have a train taking me to California early tomorrow morning. I have been packing all day. Plus, it didn't interest me."

"Does it interest your highness to know that two men tried to kill me tonight?"

Sheldon wanted to say no. He tried to say it, but the word died on his tongue. He was through caring about what kind of debauchery Junior got himself involved in anymore. Sheldon's life was just beginning. He wasn't going to waste it sitting around this place anymore. "Would you like for me to call an ambulance for you?"

Junior chuckled humorlessly. Then he rose from his sitting position, grasping the railing of the porch steps tightly to steady himself. Blood continued to pour from his face, where a thick gash had been cut along his temple and zigzagged down to his chin. "I want you to come at me."

"I'm sorry?"

"I said, fuckin' put your dukes up." Junior released his hold on his ribs and staggered up the steps until he was face-to-face with Sheldon on the porch. "Come on, Shelly. You been walking around your whole life with that shitty, higher-than-thou attitude. Let me bring you back down to earth." He accentuated his offer by bumping Sheldon's chest with his shoulder, driving him back until his back slammed into the house. Sheldon turned away from Junior to run inside, but before he could grab the door handle, Junior threw himself into Sheldon's back, sending both of the men flying through the screen door.

"Junior!" Missy began to shriek again, rushing out of her bedroom to watch her older brother topple onto her twin.

"Come on, Shelly," Junior grunted, sitting upright and straddling Sheldon as he flipped the younger man on his back. He cocked his fist and brought it hard down on Sheldon's jaw.

"Stop it!" Missy cried, her voice high and shrill.

Sheldon's eyes were wild as he felt the force of Junior's fist make contact with his chin. He blinked as shock overcame him then quickly left him as the blinding course of pain shot through every nerve ending on his face. He squirmed to get away from Junior and watched just in time for another blow to come hurtling towards him. This time he reacted, craning his head to the side and he felt the knuckles graze his ear accompanied by the sickening crunch of Junior's fist pounding the cement beneath the cheap dollar store throw rug Mary Cooper had laid down on the floor.

"God damnit!" the older brother bellowed, clutching his fist to his chest as he continued to straddle Sheldon.

Conjuring another surge of energy, Sheldon bucked wildly under Junior's weight, catching him off-guard and flinging him off of his body. When Junior tried to pull himself back up, grabbing onto Sheldon's legs as he tried to get away, Sheldon swung his fist back until it made contact with Junior's nose. His brother yelped while Sheldon scrambled to his feet, backing away into a wall to get his bearings. His eyes were still unfocused, his jaw still screaming with pain, as his brother writhed on the floor, howling as he held his fist still, which was probably broken.

Sheldon licked his bottom lip and tasted the unmistakable metallic liquid he knew to be his own blood, and it ignited something dormant inside of him. He ran his thick tongue over his top and bottom row of teeth to make sure they were all still intact then unsteadily rose to his feet. He felt Missy rush to his side to help him up, but he shook her off angrily, ripping his arm from out of her grasp. He heard her begin to speak to him, to ask him to calm down, but soon the roaring buzz of his fury filled his ears, and he had no other mission, nothing else to do, than to grab the hot poker propped up beside the fireplace that Junior was laying in front of, and use it to slay his brother. He moved quickly, shooting his arm out to grab it, then held it up over his shoulder like a baseball bat. The energy that had been building up inside of him for six years, the resentment, the hurt, the fear that was brought on by his brother and Marky, hummed in his arms as they waited for Sheldon's neurotransmitters to deliver the message to his muscles to swing away.

"No!" Missy pleaded, keeping her distance in case Sheldon snapped and decided to use it on her. This cry of horror from his sister caused him to hesitate just long enough. He listened to the clang of the poker falling to the ground, the grunts of his injured brother at his feet, the soft cries of his twin sister, and all he could think about was getting out of there. Every ounce of control he had ever possessed was now lost, somewhere out in the universe mocking him from afar. Right now, he didn't want to see Missy. He didn't want his mother to drop him off at the train station in the morning, nor did he want to kiss his Meemaw goodbye.

"I…" Sheldon began, his mouth hanging open slightly as he looked frantically from Missy to Junior and back again. "I'm leaving." He turned to retreat into his room to grab his bags, but stopped and whirled back around. He stomped over to Junior and stood over him, almost relishing the way his older brother flinched under his presence. "I never want to talk to you again. I never want to see your face again. And if you ever come near me again, one of us is going to need a coffin."

Junior followed Sheldon with wary eyes as he stalked to the back of his house, much to the protests of his sister, then emerged back into the living room with both of his duffle bags. The theoretical physicist threw one last scathing look at his brother before walking out the front door and never looked back.

Missy drove Junior to the emergency room later that night where he was treated for a broken rib and got his face stitched up. The two remaining Cooper siblings made sure the screen door was back on its hinges before Mary Cooper returned from Indian Bingo, but neither had an explanation as to why Mary's baby boy was already gone.

Present day.

The squeaks of Penny's rubber soles as she jiggled her legs up and down on the tile echoed in the waiting area of the hospital where she found herself for the second time that day. She tried to calm herself down; Junior was out of surgery and was out of the woods, though still in critical condition. She had not been able to see him or Sheldon yet, as only one person at a time was allowed back in ICU. Sheldon had been back there for nearly an hour now. She was impatient and pulled out her cell phone to check the time. She noticed for the first time that day that she had unread text messages, but didn't open her inbox to see from who. She could have taken three wild guesses as to who they were from, but wouldn't need all three to know they were from Amy. Suddenly she ached for her friends. For some camaraderie, or some perspective. She hovered her thumb over the small screen and began to wander who she could call, who she could talk to that would even remotely understand the feelings that were bubbling up inside of her at the moment.

The day had been a roller coaster of events. First she witnessed Kurt get his ass beat by Rob, then came home and fought with Sheldon, then had amazing, mind-blowing sex with him, then not ten minutes later, opened her door to a half-dead Junior.

What the hell had Penny gotten herself into?

She backtracked a little, tracing her train of thought until it came back to Kurt. He wasn't too far from her at the moment, in fact, he was on the floor above. All she had to do was ask a nurse in his recovery wing which room he was in and she could talk to him. She couldn't stand the guy for all intents and purposes, but she still truly felt horrible about what happened to him today. Would it be too risky to go see him now, after all that has happened? Though she didn't know what exactly got into Junior today, she couldn't help but think that it was somehow all related. A chill ran through her body and she remember telling Sheldon earlier that she was scared that what happened to Kurt could happen to Junior, and even him.

Before her thoughts could go any further, she heard the double doors at the end of the hallway open and breathed a sigh of relief when Sheldon walked through them, coming straight for her. "Sheldon!" she called, waving him over to her. When he was a few feet away, she quickly closed the gap, running up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing his body close to hers. He stood still for a second before conceding and placing both of his arms around her waist, allowing her to hold him. "How is he?" she asked, murmuring close to Sheldon's ear. She felt him fidget away from her slightly, then pull back, holding her at arm's length. His face looked saggy with tiredness, dark circles forming under his eyes, the stress of the last week catching up to him no doubt.

"He was stabbed, but the wound was hollow enough to avoid the puncture of a major organ. It was mostly artificial, but still hit a vein, thus the copious amounts of blood. His ribs were broken, but luckily puncturing an air hole was able to reverse any long term damage and his surgery was successful." Sheldon quietly added, "And his jaw is broken, so right now it's wired shut and he cannot speak." His eyes were round and quite sad, causing Penny to tear up.

"I am so sorry, sweetie," she whispered, softly pecking him on the cheek. She wanted to hold him close again, to fold him up and keep him safe somewhere with her, but he was standoffish, pensive. She didn't want to push him beyond the brink of sanity he had left. "Could he communicate at all? Maybe write down what happened to him?"

"He could, but he won't."

"I'm sorry?" Penny blurted, totally confused. "He won't communicate?"

"He's completely lucid but refuses to write anything down but stupid remarks to get under my skin," Sheldon muttered, suddenly taking on the demeanor of a small boy who was just told he couldn't have any sweets before dinner. "He won't tell me what happened to him, who did this to him, or even where your car is."

"Well," Penny started, her eyebrows furrowing. "That doesn't make any sense. Can't the police make him talk?"

"This hospital isn't required to report his injuries since they fall short of a gunshot wound. He could have just as easily obtained his abrasions and broken bones by falling down a flight of stairs or through a window, and he knows this. I swear, he's keeping mum on purpose. When I asked him who did this to him, he wrote down, 'Didn't get a good look. Had to be an ex-girlfriend. Whoever it was hits like a bitch'. He's being impossible." Sheldon's hands were on his hips as he looked down at Penny, searching her face for the answers that she didn't have. She was just about to suggest that maybe she could go talk to him and sort this mess out when Sheldon's face hardened. "I want to go talk to Kurt."

"What? Why?"

"I have a feeling Marky did this to Junior," Sheldon started as he turned on his heels and began to walk down the hall towards the elevators. "And Kurt knows where I can find Marky." He punched the up arrow by the elevator door and the ding followed shortly thereafter. He stepped onto the elevator's platform as Penny followed him.

"Sheldon, no," she said fiercely, her voice lowering to a whisper. "You don't need to be knocking down doors looking for that monster. You promised me-"

"He almost killed my brother, Penny."

"And what, you want to be next?" She met Sheldon's eyes as the elevator closed and the shaft lifted them up to the above floor. They were silent until the doors swished open again, revealing Kurt's hospital wing.

"This has to end sooner rather than later," Sheldon said as he walked down the hall towards the nurse's station. "I have to put a stop to this before Marky finds out you're involved. He already got his hands on my brother, and that's too close to home."

"Listen to me!" Penny tried to swipe at Sheldon's arm but he was moving too quickly, his long legs taking goliath strides as she struggled to keep up. "Sheldon, please, you promised me you wouldn't face Marky. Junior and Kurt already racked up more injuries than I can take, please, don't put yourself in harm's way."

Sheldon finally slowed his pace and then stopped, turning to face Penny as she walked up to him. "I told my brother eight years ago, the night I last saw him, that the next time we met, one of us was going to need a coffin." His voice broke and the cleft between his bottom lip and chin trembled. "I said it to make him stay away from me. It was a warning. And until tonight, I didn't know how true it was."

"Sheldon, there was no way you could have known…" Penny croaked, reaching out to touch her friend, but he shied away from her hand.

"Penny," Sheldon said quickly in a hushed tone, cutting her off. "I truly wish I hadn't gotten you involved. And I know what I promised you. But I'm going to find out what happened to my brother, with or without his help. I have a feeling a pretty good place to start is by interrogating your ex-boyfriend."

"Then I'm coming with you," she said, her eyes twinkling in defiance. She dared him with her intense stare to argue, and if he had the fight left in him, he chose not to summon it. Instead, he reached down and pulled her arm towards him until her body slammed into his and he brought his mouth down to her lips, brushing them softly with his own. After they broke apart, he nodded at her then they continued down the hall hand in hand to the nurse's station. Penny knew they were all in now. And there was no turning back. Whatever happened to Junior was the lit wicker that had begun a slow burn of events. She didn't know if they would make it out unharmed, but she knew a thing or two about family loyalty. Sheldon wasn't the type of man to outwardly care for anyone but himself, but with the arrival of his brother, a new side had begun to show. Or maybe this was the real Sheldon Cooper, and his concrete walls built of self-esteem and science were the act.

"Excuse me, what room is Kurt Hendricks in?" Sheldon asked the nurse at the desk, catching Penny by surprise. She was wondering how he knew his last name, but then remembered Sheldon and Leonard had once been to Kurt's apartment building to try and collect her TV first, then back again a few years later for some money that he owed her. Kurt's full name was on the plate near the buzzer outside of the building.

"Hendricks, Hendricks," the older African-American woman behind the desk typed away on her computer, searching for Kurt's room. "Mr. Hendricks left this afternoon."

Penny's heart beat sped up as she felt Sheldon's hand slip from hers. "I'm sorry. Did you say that he left?" Sheldon asked.

"Yes, this afternoon," the nurse replied. "He left against medical advice."

Sheldon was running on empty.

Between finding out that Kurt had fled the premises against the advice of his doctors, and Junior not giving up any information that would help Sheldon in understanding what exactly happened that day, he was spent. He didn't want to leave his brother in the hospital, not knowing who or what was out to get him, but he needed sleep. He was missing his precious circadian rhythms that had been diminished since the night Junior arrived. So he allowed Penny to call them a cab and take them home.

After a long, hot shower, he changed into his Tuesday night pajamas. The prospect of even a slight amount of routine, like having his Tuesday BBQ burger at the Cheesecake Factory, was long gone as he found himself in the kitchen, fixing a sandwich to fuel him since it had been hours since he last ate. The apartment was chilly, just the way he liked it, but for the first time since Leonard had left, he was feeling the effects of loneliness. After the cab had dropped Penny and Sheldon off at the apartment, he had asked to be alone, promising her that he wouldn't do anything stupid like go out and search for Marky or Kurt. To be honest, Sheldon didn't feel like he had anything left in him. He felt helpless, out of control, and so very tired. He wolfed down the turkey sandwich in three bites and washed it down with a tall glass of apple juice. Turning the light out, he made his way to his bedroom. Opening the door, he saw that his sheets were for the second time, tossed carelessly around the bed, hanging off the mattress after the throws of coitus had been performed there. His body gave a shiver and he thought about his promise to Penny that night. That he wouldn't, in her words, 'do anything stupid'. But he realized that asking to be alone was the stupidest thing he could have done that day.

He turned on his heels and fled his apartment, shutting the door behind him. When he turned, he saw that Penny's door was wide open. His heart froze, and just as a frenzied Penny! made its way up his throat, she appeared in the doorway. "Hey," she greeted softly. Her hands were covered in rubber dish-washing gloves, and she was carrying a bucket of soapy water. "What's up?"

"What are you doing, Penny?" Sheldon asked, eyeing her carefully.

"I was cleaning up the blood from the floor," she said after a moment's hesitation, her eyes avoiding Sheldon's face. "I'm sorry, was I being too loud?" She placed the bucket down on the floor that was now wiped clean of any trace of Junior's blood. Sheldon suddenly turned red, embarrassed by his thoughtlessness. He should have been helping Penny clean it up. And then the weight of what he involved her in and just how much she meant to him came crashing down on his head like a caved-in roof.

There were no words to say. Instead, he crossed the threshold and closed Penny's door with one arm while the other wrapped around her waist, pulling her to him. "Let's go to bed," he whispered before placing a tender kiss on Penny's collarbone. He followed up by tracing another kiss on her neck, then her chin, then ended on her mouth. She leaned into him, purring at his touch. His hand immediately raised until it grasped her breast, thumbing a hardened nipple until he felt his own body swell in unison. He needed this, he craved it. The soft curves of her body at his disposal, beneath his hands that felt so powerless until they held her. It elated him. Sheldon needed a little bit of height after feeling so low.

They tumbled into her bedroom where he laid Penny down on her sheets, thrust himself into her, and took flight.

A/N pt 2: Don't try Sheldon's MacGyver maneuver on Junior's ribs at home, kids!

Chapter 15 is in the works. ;]