It had been two days. Two whole days that she had been apart from her husband. Two days of hell. Joey had been supportive and had offered to come with her, but she felt that Dr. Beverly would not want spectators as she helped her and Howard figure out what the hell the problem was. Her parents hadn't contacted her. They were probably angry. She glanced up and saw a familiar mop of brown hair belonging to a figure about to enter Los Robles. She ran towards it. The figure turned.

"Bernie!"

She stopped, breathless. Would it be OK to hug him? She jerkily reached her arms up, worrying that he would back off. He didn't care for any protocol and engulfed her tightly, not wanting to let her go again.

"I'm so sor-"

"Don't. Let's just see what's going on."

He wasn't angry or upset that she could see, but something told her he wasn't forgiving her again until they knew what was up. Still, he offered her his hand and as they walked up the stairs, they felt as close as they had before.

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Beverley looked disapprovingly at the group of people facing her. She didn't say anything, but glared at them for quite some time before clearing her throat.

"What's wrong, Bev?" Penny asked.

"How can I put this delicately? Go away!"

"Mother!"

"This has nothing to do with any of you."

"But.." Penny began only to be cut off by her boyfriend's mother.

"No. Are the six of you married to this couple?"

"No, because we'd all get arrested. Polygamy is illegal." Sheldon answered.

"Exactly. Now please get out of here."

With much sighing and the occasional resentful glance to the older woman, the other six made their way out, leaving Howard and Bernadette alone. Feeling unexpectedly nervous, Bernadette slid closer to her husband and slid her hand in his. He lightly squeezed her hand and looked at his friends' mother, wondering what she'd find.

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"You're listening in on them?!" Priya hissed, glaring at the other 5 who all had their ears pressed against the door.

"How do you suggest we know what they're saying?" Raj hissed back

Priya sighed heavily and took a place by Amy. She was pretty curious to hear what was being said too.

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"Alright." Beverley shot the couple a piercing look. She'd counselled people before on their marriages and the last thing she wanted was an oversensitive pair who would either be offended or hurt by everything she said. Her son had told her that the blonde woman thought she'd figured it out, but wanted to be absolutely sure.

"Yes?" the bespectacled woman prompted. Beverley knew it was rude to stare, but sometimes all it took was a heart-stopping glare to get to the heart of things. Today that was not the case. She cleared her throat and continued.

"I hear you've come up with a reason for your outbursts of prolonged violence. What is it?"

"I think it might be connected to my 'childhood'."

"Oh, yes, I rmemeber now. Dear, were you beaten as a child?"

"No. Not really."

"Were you or weren't you? 'Not really' doesn't make a lot of sense."

"No, I wasn't."

"Were you?" she directed this question to Wolowitz this time. It was a question she disliked asking the victims of violence. It always ended with sad, sad looks aimed her way.

"Sometimes."

Bernadette bit her lip. What the hell had she done to her Howie?

Beverley leant a little closer to the screen. Very very rarely did it turn out that the abused spouse had been hurt in their childhood. Normally, it meant only one thing, and she was loathe to say it out loud until she knew absolutely all the facts. She opened her mouth to ask the next question, but the tiny woman beat her to it.

"Who hurt you?" she was holding onto his thumb now. She'd wanted to hold his hand, but he'd clasped his hands so tight together that she'd only been able to wrestle his thumb free.

"My dad did." It had been so quiet that only Bernadette could hear it. Regretting having to ask him to repeat, Beverley tried her best to look sympathetic and requested that he say it again so she could hear. On the other side of the door, the other six people, sans Sheldon, looked horrified.

"I never knew his dad hurt him!" Penny whispered.

"Well, I did." Sheldon told her.

"How did you..." Leonard began to ask. Amy lightly elbowed him.

"Shush all of you! I'm trying to listen."

"Hmm." Beverley thought for a moment. If it had turned out that his mother had been the one to hurt him, it would explain how he'd been so reluctant to leave his wife. And yet he had, eventually. But that wasn't the only thing. She was missing something. She just didn't know what, but she knew

" Dr. Hofstadter ?"

"What?"

"Why do you think I'm hurting Howie?"

"Well, a lot of things can stem from childhood. I'm sure you've heard of nature vs nurture. It does sound right, that you'd have sudden flashbacks of bad childhood memories and lash out at the person causing said flashbacks." Noticing the husband's crestfallen expression, she hastily added to her sentence. "Don't feel bad, my dears. It's not as though either of you are intentionally causing the abuse."

Neither of the spouses looked convinced, but they didn't argue. Beverley frowned. Just what was she missing? Then the right question hit her.

"Did you love your father?"

On the other side of the door, Leonard silently groaned. "God, Mom, don't bring his dad up."

"Why?" Priya asked, looking at her ex-boyfriend with confusion.

"Listen and learn." Penny answered grimly. Feeling more bewildered than ever, Priya listened.

Howard felt baffled. Did he? This was a man who'd hurt him, left him and hadn't even shown up at his bar mitzvah. However, his dad had still been supportive of his love of science ( he had done the Mentos in Coke experiment with him thousands of times), he'd taught him how to swim and when he was little and had woken up with night terrors, his dad was always the first one there. Did he love him?

Did the bad outweigh the good?

"I..don't know."

"You feel nothing towards him?" Beverley asked.

"I don't know whether I should love him or hate him."

"Well," Beverley tried hard to think of a subtle way to put forward her final questions. Finding none, she decided to just jump in. "Did you ever fight back?"

"No. I was like three feet tall. It didn't occur to me."

"Do you think your father respected you?"

"No." In his mind, he knew for a fact his father had no respect for him. Maybe he loved him a little bit, but respect? God, no.

"Right. Do you think, ah, you may have tried to win your father's respect by taking his beatings?"

Howard began to feel suspicious. Just what was this woman trying to suggest? Glancing at Bernie, he noticed her narrowed eyes, a sure indicator, that she, too, had a suspicion that Beverley was trying to pin something.

But, honestly, yes. His dad had liked wrestling and had gone on about 'what a punch those boys could take'.

"...Yes." he begrudgingly admitted. Bernadette looked at him in shock.

"Howie!"

"I wanted him to think I was as tough like Terry Gene Bollea."

"Who?" Both women asked.

"Hulk Hogan."

"Oh."

"Do you feel that your wife respects you?"

On both sides of the door, everyone winced. Howard because how could he answer that with her sitting right by him? Bernadette because she didn't want to know what the answer would be and the six eavesdroppers because what a God-awful question.

"Yeah."

Beverley wasn't indoctrinated, but she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"Why are you asking this?" Howard wanted to know.

"Well, I think you not fighting back against her and your reluctance to leave her could be your own way of redeeming yourself as a man."

"What?"

The two couples and Raj started backing away from the door. Priya didn't notice this until her brother and Amy got hold of her shoulders and yanked her away.

"What is it?"

"My mother is suggesting that the reason Howard isn't full-on pressing Bernadette to get help is because he wants to show how tough he is by taking the abuse."

"What?!"

"Hide, they're coming!" Sheldon whispered, pulling his girlfriend up the stairs near 4B. Looking up at him, Priya was about to ask how he knew, but was hastily yanked up the stairs before she could get a word out. Her brother put a finger to his lips, silently telling her to keep quiet moments before the door opened.

"Where are you going?" Bernadette asked Howard. He stopped dead and turned to face her.

"I don't know. I just want to be alone right now. Can I call you later?"

She nodded in confirmation, but he walked away before she could actually say anything to him. She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair and then jumped in alarm as the others came down the stairs.

"Were you guys spying on us?" she demanded.

"No," Leonard replied. "We were..on the roof. There's a constellation that Raj wanted to show Priya."

"Really? Which one, Priya?"

"Um...The Fish?"

"There isn't a constellation called The Fish." the microbiologist rather icily informed the lawyer. "But it doesn't matter that you guys were eavesdropping. Can you believe what she said?"

"I can't believe she said it so bluntly." Penny responded. She put an arm around Bernadette and gave her a hug before pulling away. "Look, you're gonna get through this,OK? Both of you will." She looked over at Leonard. "Try and call Howard."

Leonard fished out his cell from his pocket and dialled. The tone of voice mail answered. "He'd not picking up."

"Really? I thought that was how he answered his cell."

"This is no time for sarcasm!" Amy scolded her boyfriend.

"Hey, how did you know what his father was like?" Priya asked the tall man.

"When you have a parent who tries to toughen you up by using violence you can't not recognize the symptoms in others."

"Oh. Sorry."

"Guys! Where could my husband be?"

"Well, he can't be at his mother's, he won't be going to Temple Beth Sadar because his rabbi doesn't know, he's not a very big drinker." Raj trailed off." Do you know of places, Leonard?"

"Could he be at work?"

Raj scoffed. "No! He's not Sheldon."

"Hey!"

"Well, has he got buddies?" Penny suggested.

"Yeah, but they're not as close as we are." Leonard told her.

"Could he have gone back to the apartment?" Amy suggested.

"I don't think so." Raj informed her.

"The apartment is where...everything happened." Bernadette explained. "What about the mall?"

"He's not a girl. He won't be shopping because he's upset." Penny said to her.

"Does he go anywhere...safe, you know, a safe place?" Priya asked.

"Apart from his old room, no." Bernadette answered.

"I know!"

"What?"

"Despite what Rajesh said, there is a huge possibility that he may be seeking answers from the bottom of a bottle."

"But, he.."

"Seriously, he may be. What we should do first is check Bluetooth and see if here's nearby."

There was a simultaenous BEEP! as six of the seven turned their cells on and a collective sigh of disappointment as the search cam up negative.

"OK. I don't see the point in us trawling the area trying to find him. What we should do is stay here and come up with an action plan until he contacts one of us."

"Fine." Bernadette sighed. "I'd better go. I promised Joey I'd help him do his taxes at half eight. Bye guys."

Both Leonard and Penny gave her a hug and promised to call her if Howard contacted. Sheldon gave her a wave and an attempt at a comforting smile. Amy patted her shoulder and parroted the promise Leonard and Penny had made. Priya tried not to be too distant, but she was reminded of Sanjay. Sanjay who'd almost destroyed her. She couldn't bring herself to be affectionate to someone who'd hurt someone who loved them. Surprisingly, Raj wasn't very affectionate either. He stiffly reciprocated the hug Bernadette offered, but didn't say anything other than "Goodbye".

After Bernadette had gone, they all went into 4A. Once they'd all settled down and climbed into their own sitting places, Sheldon looked at Amy who was biting on her lower lip. He wasn't sure, but he thought that lip-chewing indicated worry. He didn't like the idea of her feeling scared. He jerkily reached an arm around her, reminded of the time he'd been robbed out of his LEGO Death Star building time. This time was different. This time, he wanted to offer her comfort. This time he also had five watchers who all seemed astounded at his action.

"Sheldon, I'm not complaining, but why are you holding me?"

"You look worried. I'm your boyfriend and apparently it is a boyfriend-girlfriend duty to offer consolation if one party is scared or upset."

"Aww." Amy hugged the physicist tightly to her. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. I don't think it's a boyfriend-girlfriend duty to squeeze each other to death, though."

Amy released him and tried not to smile. He really was the best.

Oh, my God! I'm so proud of myself. :D So, did ya like it? Mislav, and any other Shamy supporters, this is for you guys! Yeah, I had a bad case of the Inglorious Curse, but I regrouped. I listened to music to do with this topic, namely Pink- Please Don't Leave Me. The music video is SCARY! Now, don't think I'm only gonna be focusing on Howard and Bernadette. Because I won't. I figured out why people aren't viewing this as much ( thank you, America, you've been very interested in this fic and I appreciate that) and the reason is I was only focusing on the pint-sized couple. That was not fair and I apologise to you, 5Mississipis and Mislav and anyone else who likes Lenny and Shamy. Especially as it says it the info box that this fic has Lenny and Shamy in it and so far it's only had one chapter. Well, those days are gone! So, please review so I know if it's good or not, please and hopefully we'll get another chapter up soon, but I'm currently out of ideas so I don't know when we'll see another update. Well, thanks again guys! I OWN NOTHING!

Love from Shania. xx