He was running. He didn't know what from, but he knew that whatever it was it was terrifying and he needed to get away from it, he needed to find somewhere safe. It was dark, yet hot. He didn't know where he was or how he got there, but somehow he knew where he was running. There was no light ahead for a while, but then a pale glimmer showed. He ran faster, praying the light would hold, thankful beyond belief when it shone brighter and stronger the closer he got. He suddenly became aware of footsteps, running directly behind him. His legs were starting to ache, but he tried to keep going, but then he felt an vice-like grip on his right shoulder. He staggered and when he saw his follower, his dark eyes widened.

"Bernie?"

Why had he been running from her? His soul mate, his best friend. Why had he been running? As soon as the thought had been released to his mind, he glanced at her and saw the anger in her eyes. She was going to kill him, he remembered. That was why he'd been running. The next thing he knew he was in darkness once more and was falling, down, down, down...

FLUMP!

Amy awoke suddenly. She'd heard something coming from her living room- where Howard was sleeping! Grabbing her umbrella in case there were intruders, and wishing that the monkey was still there, she moved towards the living area. To her relief there were no villains, but the non-doctor had fallen off the couch. When he saw she was holding an umbrella, his eyes widened and he flinched.

"Aww, no." Amy thought to herself. "He doesn't think I'm gonna hurt him, does he?"

"Did I wake you?"

"No." She lied, not wanting to worry him. She placed the umbrella down and went to sit by him. "I just heard a noise and thought it was something dangerous. Are you alright?"

"Yeah. What's the time?"

"Um.." She turned her head to look at the oven clock. "It's 7:30AM. How are you feeling?"

"Better."

"Did you know you duck your head when you lie?"

"No, actually."

"Tell me the truth. You can trust me."

"Yeah, I know.."

He looked at her and sighed. How was he going to explain this? How empty he felt, the still-lingering sense of terror he had because of his bad dream? How sore and achy he felt after the beating he'd had last night? He decided to sum it up in one word.

"I feel crappy."

"Can you elaborate?"

"I don't know, Amy. I'm feeling things I've never felt before. It's gonna take a while to explain."

"That's alright. I'm a very patient person."

He thought for a short while before trying to explain to the neurobiologist.

"I just feel, um, trapped. Like whatever I decide to do, it'll be the wrong decision."

"Howard, we're with you for this."

"What about Bernadette?"

"Well, we'll help her too, of course we will."

"I don't know what's happened. What have I done to her?"

"I don't think you did anything. There's just something in her past that she's upset about and she's lashing out. It's not your fault, but it might not be hers either."

"I left her a note. Do you think she got it?"

"I honestly don't know."

She hadn't even known Howard had left a note. She snatched up her cell and turned it on. There was a chance that the microbiologist had called or texted and she was curious as to what she would have to say. Howard shuffled close to her and looked at the screen.
Nope. Nothing from Bernadette, though Sheldon had texted to let her know that he, Leonard and Penny would be over at 10AM and he'd texted Raj to ask him to meet them at hers. As if on cue, a text message came through from the astrophysicist.

Is 10:30AM OK? BTW, what's up? S said it was v important :/ x

That's fine. Amy typed. Yeh, is kind of important. C u soon.x

Howard pulled out his own cell and had a look. He had a text from his mom asking when he and Bernie were coming over next. He bit his lip. Just how would he explain that he was being beaten up by a woman to his mother? She didn't like it when Bernadette bossed him around, so how would she take it when she found out he'd been slapped around by his wife?

"Howard, she's your mother. She's not going to be ashamed of you."

"But.."

"No." Amy was firm in this belief, but she'd never met his mom. She didn't know her. He pointed this out, but was met by a shake of the head.

"OK, were you ever beat up by a girl in high school?"

"...Yes. Once. She pulled a handful of my hair out and punched me in my chest. I had the worst asthma attack following that."

"And what did your mom do?"

"She went bat crap crazy."

"Exactly. Look, some men get beaten up by their wives. It's not the man's fault, same as a woman getting beaten by her husband isn't the woman's fault."

"I'm just embarrassed."

"You shouldn't be."

She felt like she was being insensitive. He was sad and scared and was getting more so every time she kept pointing out that it wasn't his fault. Tentatively she put her left arm around his shoulder. He turned and put his arms around her middle. She wrapped her right arm around him and tried her best to be comforting. The only man she gave hugs to was Sheldon and while she suspected that he liked the contact deep down, he never reciprocated. Howard, on the other hand, clung to her, seeking her comfort. They stayed locked in their embrace until Howard pulled back, noticing the time.

"They're gonna be here in under two hours." A smile flickered at his mouth. "I can't see Sheldon being happy if we're not ready."

"No. Go and shower first, I have an email to finish up."

Wow. Just... wow. He looked like he'd gotten a tan, his skin was so dark with bruises. He touched his stomach. It was numb. It was actually numb with all the abuse he'd suffered. He looked at his sides. Bruising. He looked at his arms. Scratches. He looked at his left leg. A bruise. And he had a cut on his face and neck where one of her nails had cut into him. Even his dad hadn't wounded him like this. Mainly because he'd just swing and wouldn't go after him if he ran from him. He forced the memories to go away and climbed into the shower.

Torture. Amy had placed it so it was on the gentlest setting and was nearly cold but his skin was being hyper-sensitive and every drop that hit his skin felt like a drop of acid burrowing its way into his body. He gritted his teeth and was as quick as he could but was cringing and breathing deeply by the time he got out. He'd been shown where the spare towels were kept and after trying to dab himself dry and feeling as though he was pressing hot metal on his body, he decided to just cram himself inside his clothes while still damp. He'd gotten his loose-ish long denim shorts and a white T-shirt, and these were much better things to wear than his skinny jeans and long sleeved shirts. He didn't look like himself anymore, but at least when he couldn't feel the pain as badly he could wear his normal clothes again.

Amy left some bagels for him and went to take her shower. When she came back, she looked in surprise at the uneaten bagels.

"Aren't you having breakfast?"

"I'm not hungry."

"Howard, if you don't eat, your internal organs will wither inside you. Dying of starvation is one of the worst ways to go."

"I know, but I don't want anything right now. Thanks, Amy, I'll eat later."

"OK." She put them back in the cupboard and went to switch on the TV. She found Scrubs, which she knew they both liked and they watched in companionable silence until 10AM rolled around. As expected, Sheldon's knock began on the dot.

"He's never going to not knock like that, is he?" Amy said to Howard as they walked to the door. The engineer smiled at her, remembering Sheldon's exaggerated story of how she used 'hokum' to attempt to cure him of his 'supposed obsessive compulsive disorder'.

"Hey." Penny greeted. She was holding Leonard's hand and both were looking very peaceful. Glancing at Amy, Howard saw she was looking rather dreamily at Sheldon who was looking quite happy to see her. The Jewish man began to suspect he'd missed out on something.

"You didn't drink your tea." Sheldon accused the non-doctor.

"I'm sorry. It wasn't intended."

"Alright . Has Raj contacted you two?"

"Yes." Amy answered.

"Is he coming?"

"Yeah, 10:30."

"What?! That's too late. Why isn't he coming earlier?"

"I don't know. I didn't ask." Amy responded.

"Has, um.. Bernadette called or..." Penny asked.

"No." Howard replied. "I don't know if there's a protocol for this kind of thing, so..."

His cell buzzed. Oh, crap. Mike Rostenkowski. He answered it and after Penny hissed "Loudspeaker!" placed it on loudspeaker.

"Where the hell are you?"

"I'm...at a friends'."

"My daughter is devastated! She thinks her marriage is over."

"I'm sorry?"

"She came over last night and she was so upset we couldn't get any sense out of her. So what, she hits you a couple of times? Get over it!"

"Sir..."

"Where is he?" Bernadette whispered in the background.

"He says he's at a friends'."

"Who?"

"Don't say." Leonard mouthed.

"Who're you with?"

"Um.."

"Say you're at one of your fellow engineer's places."

"I'm at Nico Hammel's."

"Get your ass to Bernadette, right now!"

"I can't."

"Why?"

"It's not like she's occasionally throwing punches. She's...really angry and I can't go back to her unless I know she's going to be calmer."

"WHAT? Who the hell do you think you are..."

"Hey!" Penny had had enough now. "Back off, you don't know what's happened to him, you old jackass!"

"Penny?!" Bernadette shrieked incredulously in the background. Howard hung up.

There was a growing silence until Penny couldn't control herself anymore.

"I'm sorry! I just got mad."

"It's OK. Umm... Yeah, he's gonna kill me when he next sees me."

"Sorry."

KNOCK! KNOCK!

"I bet that's Raj." Sheldon muttered looking at his pocket watch. Penny gave it a withering look. "Look at that," the physicist scoffed. "Four minutes late. Amy, I strongly recommend you implement a Strike System..."

"Oh!" Amy said, surprised. "Priya!"

Everybody's head darted towards the door. Yes. Clear as day, there was the Indian woman, who looked very uncomfortable, especially as Penny's eyes were burning into her like lasers.

"Hello. Rajesh said..."

"Yes, Raj said he'd be here at 10:30, not 10:34." Sheldon completed her sentence for her.

"Sorry, dude, the traffic was bad." Raj explained, stepping in, lightly pushing his little sister in front of him. His coffee-brown eyes widened at his best friend. "What happened to you?!"

Howard wouldn't be ashamed to tell Raj, but Priya? He barely knew her! How could he explain in front of her?

"Why is she here?" Penny growled.

"Her fiancé. Look, she's here for support, he wasn't very nice and she doesn't want trouble." He placed a hand on her shoulder. She wrapped her arms around herself. Penny looked a little more sympathetic.

"Was he.. hurting you?" Howard asked.

"He did."

The knowledge that Priya had been through what he had gave him the courage to admit to Raj why it had been important for him to get to Amy's.

"I've left Bernie."

"Oh, dude, I'm sorry. How bad was it?"

"It was pretty bad. She was angry because I told you guys about the false pregnancy. I still maintain it wasn't her fault!"

"Why?" Priya was looking very confused at him. She didn't blame herself for her fiancé, so she didn't see how it was his fault that his wife hurt him.

"Well, I should've waited till she was ready."

"That's ridiculous. Mummy had a false pregnancy when I was 6 and she didn't hurt Daddy for telling people before she did." Raj nodded in agreement.

"Bernadette wasn't like this before we got married. I must have done something!"

"Oh, Lord! Did it never occur to you that she is only now showing her true colours?"

"What are you trying to say?"

As the argument continued with the two, Sheldon whispered to Amy, "I have a feeling one of them will lose their temper." Amy was engrossed in the argument, but nodded.

"What I am trying to tell you is that she has issues and they've been simmering away and now they are erupting to the surface!"

"That's a load of sh-"

"Oh, really? Then how do you explain her beating you with a wine bottle for something as simple as..."

"You told her?" Howard stood up and faced the astrophysicist.

"Well, she was upset that her fiancé was a jerk, so..."

"I..I..you..what the hell?"

"I-I'm sorry.."

"Look, it's nothing to be ashamed of..."Priya began, only to be cut off swiftly.

"Nothing to be ashamed of? Getting battered by someone as, let's face it, tiny as Bernadette isn't something to be ashamed of? Making someone as sweet-natured as her so angry isn't something to be ashamed of? Oh, God, can you just imagine the reactions of the guys in my department if they ever found out? Do you know what it's like being a guy getting beaten up by a girl? It's shameful. A man will never want to admit to it. You think I like admitting it now? A woman has support, a man has ridicule."

"That's not true."

"Really? You know what my father-in-law said? 'Get over it'. Those were his exact words. What do you think my rabbi would say? What do you think my mom would say?"

Priya didn't know how to answer. Finally, she mumbled, "I don't know."

"I'll tell you. 'What kind of shmuck lets a girl beat him up?'"

"I'm sorry, but it's not your fault and hopefully, I'll be there when you realise it."

"There's nothing to realise."

Priya sat back defeated. This was not the cheerful, somewhat quirky man she knew. That tiny woman had broken him. Howard sighed slightly at her forlorn expression.

"Look, I appreciate it, but I just don't believe that I'm not at fault. Sorry."

"It's fine. But you are going to see sense one day."

"OK, why don't we something to get our minds off things?" Penny suggested

"There's a showing of the new Batman!" Sheldon announced.

"We've already seen that." Leonard reminded him

"Priya hasn't." Sheldon countered.

"Uh..OK.." The raven-haired woman agreed.

"You're gonna need a jacket, buddy." Leonard informed the engineer.

"Alright, I'll be back in a bit."

Once Wolowitz was out of earshot, Penny looked guiltily at Priya.

"Sorry about your fiancé."

"Yeah, well I got away before things got too bad. It's terrible!"

"I know, right?"

"Hey, good argument, by the way." Sheldon congratulated her.

"Yeah, well I didn't exceed at Cambridge for nothing."

Was it Cambridge she excelled in? I'm beginning to think it was Harvard...Ah,well. Folks, I'm focusing on Bernadette next chapter, if that's cool with all you guys! Once again, thank you for the reviews, past present and future! Could you tell me if Howard's speech on the shame of a guy being beat up by a woman is offensive? Cos I'm starting to think it is, hopefully it isn't, but I'd like your opinions! Thanks again, guys!

Love from Shania. xx