Sheldon had never liked hospitals.
One would suppose a brilliant young mind like his would spend all his time there; Studying and watching, ready to become a real life Doogie Howser. But even as a young child, the germs, the stifling sickness of the place had just disgusted him.
Sheldon had never liked hospitals.
But after one fateful day, he absolutely hated them.

May 7th, 1998
"Moonpie!"
"Shelly!"
Mary and Mae smiled as a tall, gangly figure emerged from the train doors, clutching a green suitcase in each hand. Sheldon's hair looked darker, and he was a bit slimmer, but otherwise he seemed fine. Mae ran forward and wrapped her arms around her grandson as Mary hung back, cautiously. Sheldon stiffened at the hug and dropped his luggage. Mae sighed in exasperation and kissed him on the cheek, dropping her arms and picking up his bags.
"I'm so gla' yuh cayme home." She said as she walked him across the turnstile. "How wus yer ryde?"
Sheldon turned around and cast a fond look at the Amtrack pulling put of the station. His blank face quickly flashed a smile.
"It was wonderful Meemaw. You know how much I love trains." He said happily.
Mae bit her lip at the all-too-noticeable sharpness in Sheldon's voice, the way he was careful to pronounce his 't' and 'ing'. It was like he was trying to get the Texas out of him, she thought. She didn't like it.
"Yoo gotta tell me all 'bout yer researchin'. I cain't believe you were up in New York City! A doctir and only sixteyen!"
Sheldon smiled as they continued their walk back to Mary. Again he spoke in a chilling, flat tone.
"Yes, I'm very excited about opportunities that will be available now that I'm part of an elite few." He allowed himself a moment to daydream, then snapped back to Earth.
"All right, are you driving me back to your house or will you call a car-"
He stopped talking when he caught sight of his mother, shrinking into the corner.
"Hey baby boy." She whispered, almost fearfully.
Sheldon dropped his bags and set his mouth in a thin line.
"What is she doing here?" He asked shortly. Mae gulped and glanced at her daughter.
"Moonpie, she's yer Mama-"
"You told me I'd be visiting you. I was not told other people would be here."
Sheldon cut her off, glaring at a point just above her head. Mary looked scared. Mae crossed her arms.
"Listen here Moonpie. You best be payin' yer Mama respect."
Sheldon crossed his arms and stamped his foot.
"You told me I'd be visiting you. I don't want her here. I don't WANT this." His voice rose on the last few words. Mary, in a surge of courage, stomped over and grabbed him by the ear.
"Shelly, you git it together or I will take you o'er mah knee like last Christmas."
Sheldon pulled himself away, glaring at his mother and rubbing his ear.
"I think I'm the one with a doctorate. I think I'm the one who has been places and seen things the rest of you can only dream of. I think I am the genius... and nobody threatens to spank geniuses." He spat out. Mary glared right back at him.
"I THINK yer sixteen. An' you won't be sassin' me." She jabbed a finger at Sheldon's chest. He flinched, clenching his teeth and rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. Mae saw what was happening but too late to stop it; Sheldon let out a piercing scream.
"GO! AWAY!" He moaned, his accent returning rapidly. "MEE-MAW I DON' WAN HER HEYRE. WAH IS SHE HEYRE?"
Mae clutched Sheldon's arm.
"Shelly, calm down-"
"DON' CALL ME THAYT!" He screamed. Other people in the station were starting to stare as Sheldon fell to the floor and started rocking back and forth.
"Mee-Maw, why is she heyre?" He whispered in a broken, distressed voice. Mae took a deep breath.
"Sh-Moonpie..." She swallowed, looking down at the floor of the station. "Yer...Yer daddy's in the hospital. He ain't doin' so well...We wan' ya to..." Mae shrugged and
looked down at her grandson. "See him. Check up on him."
Sheldon paused for a moment, taking in what had been said. Now was the crucial moment, where Sheldon would either pull himself together or desend into a full out tantrum.
His ragged breathing slowly returned to normal.
"What is the nature of his condition?" Sheldon said. He had stopped rocking back and forth and had pulled his long legs to his chest. His face was going blank again.
Mae shared a worried look with Mary before crouching down neck to her grandson.
"Shelly, yer daddy's bin drinkin' too much. They brought him in fir alcohol poisoning."
Sheldon nodded curtly, his composure regained.
"I see."

"Out of the way! Get out of the way!" Shrieked Penny as two orderlies carted Sheldon into St. James Hospital. She was crying hysterically as Leonard held her hand, dragging her along behind him.
Raj, Howard and Bernadette had surrounded a weeping Amy and followed not far behind.
"He's going to die, he's going to die." Penny whimpered as ran into the emergency room. Leonard clenched her hand.
"Don't say that." He growled. Inside though, he was sobbing, the same words repeating over and over in his head.
This is all my fault.

Mary saw Sheldon tense as they entered the East Texas Regional Hospital. His eyes darted around madly, zoning in on all the germs that could find and kill him.
"Sheldon, relax." She whispered. Sheldon whipped around and glared at her.
"Don't tell me what to do." He said shortly. Mae reached over and took her daughter's hand as Mary's face fell.
"Darlin'-" She started. Mary's lip trembled. She screwed up her face and looked down.
"I'm losin' 'em Ma." She said in a strained, teary voice. "I'm losin' 'em all."

"Sir! Sir, are you with that man?" A piete Asian woman piped up from the front desk in the ICU.
Leonard skidded to a stop, causing everyone behind him to crash into his back. It would have been funny if the situation was not so serious. Leonard nodded, hastily swallowing the tears that had been building up in his throat.
"Uh, yes I am. If you'll excuse me I need to follow him-"
The nurse frowned.
"Sir, not only do you need to fill out this paperwork for him, but only family is allowed in-"
"I'm...his boyfriend!" Leonard blurted out wildly, much louder than he meant to. The nurse frowned. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sheldon getting farther and farther away.
"That's not family si-"
"OH, SO IT'S HIS DAMN FAULT GAY MARRIAGE IS ILLEGAL IN CALIFORNIA?" Raj had broken from the tight little circle and fled straight up to the desk. He leaned across and started waving his arms in the nurse's face.
Penny stopped crying long enough to look dumbstruck.
The nurse was shrinking back in fear. She peeked at Raj through the spaces in her fingers.
Suddenly, Leonard had an idea.
Pleased with his height for once, he dropped to his knees and crawled, Bond-style past the front desk. He was halfway down the hall in seconds, unnoticed by the cowering nurse.
Raj was still on a roll.
" -AND LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING ELSE. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MANY CELEBRITIES WANT TO GET MARRIED? NEIL PATRICK HARRIS, JIM PARSONS, ROSIE O' DONNELL-AND YET YOU PEOPLE DENY THAT-"
Bernadette glanced at Howard. He nodded and together they followed Leonard out of the room on their knees. A shaking Penny tucked an even more distraught Amy under her arm and went after her friends. They left Raj screaming at the front desk. Something told them this was something he needed to say, regardless of what provoked it.

"I'm heyre tuh see George Cooper." Mary said quietly to the nurse at the front desk. The nurse didn't even look up.
"Yoo know wheyre his room is Mary."
Sheldon narrowed his eyes as his mother nodded and silently headed down the hall.
"You are here often?" He asked his mother. She didn't answer. He scurried up next to her on spite of himself. Mae walked a few steps behind the Coopers.
"Yer mama's heyre almost ev'ry day." She said as the stopped in front of room 627. Mary bowed her head and let out a sort of strangled yelp. Sheldon, however, just turned and look at his mother, incredulously.
"Why?" He asked. His voice was cold and full of disgust. Mae gave him a stern look.
"'Cause yer mama is a forgiven' and kind woman." she said, knowing this to be more true of Mary than anything else. "You could learn a thing or two from her."
Sheldon stared at his grandmother with cold eyes.
"I don't need to learn anything. I know it all."
. . .
"Where is he? Where is he?" Penny asked feverently as the group hurtled down the hallway. Howard bit his lip and looked around frantically.
"Just look in the doors until you see him."
There was a few second of awful, terse silence as the five friends rushed down the hall, craning their necks into empty rooms.
Suddenly Bernadette shrieked at the top of her lungs.
"HERE!"
Leonard, who was a few doors ahead, turned on the spot and ran back towards the door Bernadette was standing at, 627. Part of him didn't want to go in, for fear of what he might see.
Some things are better left unknown.

. . .

Mary took a deep breath and pulled back the paper curtain. She clasped her hands together and looked down at her husband. Behind her, she saw Sheldon and Mae tense.
George Cooper was much thinner and gaunt than he'd been just a few weeks earlier. His large, powerful arms and fists had become frail and skinny. A tube was laced through his nose and connected to a bag of fluids next to the bed he lay in. His eyes, though sunken into his face, were sharp and blue as they'd always been. He merely blinked when Mary nodded to him.
"George, look who cayme tuh visit." She said, waving a hand towards Mae and Sheldon.
George's eyes narrowed. With a grunt, he pulled his head up from the pillow and looked his son up and down.
"That Shelly? Wha' the hell's he doin' heyre?"
Sheldon took a step back and swallowed. He forced himself to speak.
"I came to visit my grandmother and celebrate earning my doctorate with her." He spoke very fast and clearly. George snorted. Mary bit her lip, looking nervous. George leaned forward a little.
"You too young tuh get a...a..."
"A doctorate. It is a degree awarded to one for studies in a specific field. The term comes from the Latin docere, meaning 'to teach.'" Sheldon rushed out. While his voice was still full of ice, there was a quiver of fear intertwined.
George narrowed his eyes.
"Don' you sass me boy." He said slowly. With some difficulty, he sat up in bed.
"You've always bin a smart-ass. Yuh think yer better than all o' us 'cause you went to college?"
Sheldon opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Mae felt fear race through her. Mary shot her husband a warning look.
"George-"
"Shaadup Mary. You-" He pointed a shaking finger at Sheldon, who flinched and backed up against the wall. "You ain't nothin' bu' a coward. A fuckin', freak and coward."
He fell back on his pillow, a self satisfied smirk on his lips as he went in for the kill.
"An' that's all yuh'll e'er be."
The room was dead silent. Sheldon stared at his father for a long time.
Then he ran.
 . . .
Unconscious Sheldon was an eerie site to see. He lay on a stretcher motionless, his face expressionless and muscles relaxed. Three EMTs swarmed him as a doctor came in.
"What do we have here?" Doctor Shea said, rushing to Sheldon's side.
"Attempted suicide by slitting of the wrists. Patient unconscious and losing blood rapidly."
Doctor Shea nodded, and turned to call a nurse, when she froze.
Standing in the corner of the room, pressed against the wall, were two men and three women with tear-streaked faces. Two of them had blood on their hands. All of them looked terrified.
Doctor Shea frowned.
"Hey! What are you doing in here?"
For a split second, they all shared a look of absolute panic.

And then they ran.