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CHAPTER 18

"Oh right, I forgot."

It's a few minutes after one o'clock at night, and Leonard is not amused by Sheldon's lack of consideration. "You forgot? We've been stuck out here in this waiting room for over an hour since you went back to see her, and we were here several hours before that. We are just as worried about her as you are."

"I highly doubt that."

His dismissal of their feelings is to be expected, but it irritates Leonard anyway. To his surprise, Sheldon actually seems to notice their discontent because he adds, "I apologize. I may have nodded off briefly."

Penny folds her arms across her chest and says, "Well, while you were napping, we were out here wondering about our friend's wellbeing. We're tired too, but there are calls that need to be made. Amy's mother, Bernadette, Howard, and Raj for starters. I didn't want to place those calls without being able to tell them at least something about her condition." Her tone softens by the time she finishes, "How is she, Sheldon?"

He takes a seat across from both of them before replying, "They have taken her to radiology for some precautionary X-rays. She hurt her wrist and ankle when she fell. The blood that we saw was from a wound to her head. She's not bleeding anymore, but she suffered a fairly severe concussion."

Penny's eyebrows turn up in the middle, and she covers her mouth with her hand. "Oh my God. But where has she been for the past five days? What happened? Is she going to be okay?"

Sharing in his wife's nervousness, Leonard wraps an arm around her shoulders and waits for an answer. The response is slow in coming.

Sheldon bites his lip and fidgets in his seat. "I was checking vacant houses between the trail and the location of an unusual robbery that I thought might be related to her disappearance. At the fifth house I went to, I found her. There was a man there too. I don't… I don't know why he was keeping her there. He got away." He runs his hands over his face, and Leonard can see him getting more upset with every word he speaks. "Beyond that, I don't know anything. I was told not to ask her about any of it until the police have had a chance to question her."

With his head bowed, Sheldon stares at his feet. This must be incredibly difficult for him, and while Leonard feels an intense need to know the truth, he knows that it must be so much worse for his buddy to be left in the dark. Penny stands and jerks her head. He follows her lead, and they each move to take new seats on either side of him. She leans her shoulder against Sheldon's, and Leonard pats his back a few times to offer some manly comfort.

Perhaps it is helping because he does raise his head. He looks back and forth between them with a look of hope on his face. "I did get to talk to Amy about other things. She sounded okay. I know that she was tired and hurting, but she didn't let it stop her from lecturing me about proper nutrition and the importance of getting adequate sleep."

That makes Leonard smile, and Penny has a hopeful little grin on her face as well. She gives Sheldon's shoulder a playful nudge and says, "That is so good to hear. Because sweetie, we all need that girl. Someone has got to keep you in line."

"Best of luck to her with that," Leonard teases.

After a few moments spent sitting in quiet solidarity, the seriousness of the situation sinks back in. To offer a distraction, Leonard suggests, "Hey, maybe you should listen to Amy's nutritional advice. We can take you down to the cafeteria to get something to eat while you're waiting for her to get back."

Sheldon shakes his head. "No. No, not yet." He crosses his arms over his belly. "I can't."

That's understandable at this point, and Leonard doesn't think he would be able to eat if he were in a similar position. His roommate hates lack of closure for even the most mundane and meaningless of situations. It's no surprise that his mind and stomach would be churning given the uncertainty of the past five days.

"Will the two of you take care of calling Amy's family and the rest of our friends? She should be back in her room soon, and I want to be there."

Penny raises an eyebrow. "Are you sure you aren't passing that little task off to avoid speaking to her mother?"

His shoulders twitch with a hint of a shudder. "Okay, that too. I don't understand how someone like Amy could have come from such an unpleasant woman. Although, I suppose my own lineage wouldn't have been expected to generate someone of such import as myself either."

Leonard feels oddly comforted by hearing Sheldon speak of his own preeminence. There is a certain familiarity to his arrogance, and it amuses him that it is unwavering even at a time like this.

"Her mother is not that bad," Penny says. "It's just that like most people, she can't quite relate to your special brand of human interaction. And you haven't exactly been speaking to her under ideal conditions recently."

"She hates me."

"Oh, she probably doesn't hate you." Leonard's voice wavers with doubt at his own words, but he figures Sheldon isn't likely to pick up on it. He clears his throat and continues, "She doesn't even know you. You've been avoiding both her and Amy's family events for years now."

"You're going to need to deal with her eventually," Penny agrees. A hint of a smirk grows on her face when she adds, "Don't forget. If you ever get the chance to give Amy that ring of yours, then you will also be gaining yourself a mother-in-law."

That earns both of them a wide-eyed look from Sheldon. Leonard thinks that the poor guy is going through enough already. It's no time to bring up a mother-in-law.

She pats his arm. "Honey, we will place those calls right after we see Amy, but you can't avoid her mom forever."

"Avoidance had been my plan, and it did serve me well for five years," Sheldon admits. He looks at her with complete sincerity. "It's too bad we can't all have a mother-in-law as great as you have in Beverly."

Leonard knows that it's unintentional, but Sheldon has just trumped her gentle teasing. If it were possible to laugh while thinking of his mother, he would do so at the look on his wife's face.

Not wanting to discuss this matter any further, however, he makes a suggestion. "Come on, guys. Let's all go wait for Amy."

—-

Penny never would have thought that she could miss Amy's everyday frumpy attire. However, as she watches her friend get wheeled into a hospital room, bruised, scratched, and clad in a thin hospital gown, she finds herself wishing that she had some wool and polyester to wrap her up in.

"Oh my God, Ames, we have been so worried about you!" She stands close to her friend's bed and continues to survey her from head to toe. Waving her hands, she adds, "I don't know where it's safe to hug you."

Amy gives a half-hearted looking smile, but pain is evident in her eyes. "I only really managed to mangle my extremities." She holds out her arms in invitation, which allows Penny the opportunity to move in and carefully squeeze her midsection.

She steps back to give Leonard a chance to do the same. A few feet away, she can see Sheldon shifting his weight from one foot to the other, his hands balled into loose fists. It's so obvious to her that he wants his own chance at an Amy hug but that he's too paralyzed by whatever goes through his unusual mind to actually do it.

"If you ever go hiking again, I'm not letting you go without me," Penny warns. She's not kidding about that, but she is joking when she tacks on, "In fact, I'm going to strap one of those toddler leashes to your backpack so that you won't be able to wander off, like the one Leonard uses when he takes Sheldon to Legoland."

"Oh, I don't think that's such a good idea," Sheldon interjects.

"Leashing a human being is never a great plan, but sometimes you've got to do what you've got to do," Leonard defends.

"Not the leash, the hiking. It's not safe." Sheldon folds his arms, no doubt trying to look authoritative. Penny thinks it makes him appear more like a stubborn child than anything else.

"Falling like that… it was terrifying. The unfortunate events that followed were even worse," Amy admits. "But I think simple logic is enough to tell us that the outdoors is not at fault for the choices that were made by a man. It's also not nature's fault that I had an inattentive moment." Her eyes dart to Sheldon and remain there. "I have no desire to go limping out on an adventure anytime soon. But that's for me to decide, not anyone else. Maybe someday I'll want to go again."

The stubborn strength in her voice pleases Penny. Her reference to terrifying 'unfortunate events', on the other hand, is quite troubling. It makes it all the more difficult to stifle the questions that jump to mind.

Sheldon seems to be having the same problem. It takes him several seconds longer than normal to be obstinate. "Well, I have been outdoors, and it is not impressive. Indoors we have television, computers, games, cleanliness, and, most of all, safety."

Amy shrugs. "There are more important things to life than that, Sheldon."

He gazes right back at her with an intense expression. Stretching his arm out, he gently taps the back of her hand with the tip of his index finger. "I know that."

Before Penny can figure out that weird little exchange, they are all interrupted by a soft knock on the open door. Deputy DiSalvo stands next to a familiar looking woman, though Penny can't recall her name.

"Good evening, Sheldon, Hofstadters," he greets each of them in turn and then glances at his watch. "Or maybe I should use a word other than evening since it's well past one in the morning."

He turns to Amy. "And you must be the woman of the week." He extends a hand to offer a handshake, but once he spots her wrapped wrist, he quickly switches to offering his left hand instead.

"I'm Deputy Jack DiSalvo and this is Deputy Susan Keene. We have been looking for you since you vanished on Wednesday, Dr. Fowler, and I can't tell you how happy we are to see you here safe. I'm sorry to have to interrupt your reunion with your friends, as well as any opportunity for a good night's sleep, but we have some important questions to ask you, and it's best that we do so as soon as possible."

Leonard gives Amy's fingertips a brief squeeze. Then he excuses himself by saying, "Amy, I'm going to go start leaving messages for everyone. Your mom, Bernadette, Howard, and Raj. They've all been really worried about you."

Amy thanks him with a soft nod and another weak half-smile. Then he turns to Penny and raises an eyebrow. "Penny? Maybe you should come with me…"

It's not the most subtle hint that she has ever heard. She looks from Amy to the deputies and then back again. Her friend looks very nervous, locking eyes with her. She has never heard Amy refer to anything as terrifying before, and she wonders if it would make her more comfortable to have a friend by her side while rehashing events for the police.

"Is it okay if I stay?" she asks, aiming the question at Amy more than anyone else.

It's DiSalvo who answers, though. "That's up to Dr. Fowler."

He turns his head to address Amy directly. "Sometimes it can be easier to talk about things when you have a familiar person around, and at other times it can make it more difficult to say everything that needs to be said. It depends on what makes you the most comfortable."

"Penny can stay," she answers, her voice not much above a whisper.

Leonard rubs the back of his neck. "Sheldon? Maybe you should come with me…"

Never one to take even the most obvious of hints, he objects, "I don't want to go with you."

After a few seconds of tense silence, Amy says, "Sheldon, I will explain all of this to you, but I want to do it in my own way. The police are going to want a certain sequential telling of events, and that is going to be confusing."

"How can telling something in order be confusing? How else could one more efficiently convey a series of events?"

She sighs. "Please, just go with Leonard for now. I'm tired and I want to get this over with."

Leonard takes his elbow and starts backing him towards the door. It can't be easy for Amy to resist the pleading in her ex-boyfriend's puppy-dog eyes, and Penny is not surprised at all when her friend has to turn away from the sight of the door closing on Sheldon's sad, confused face.

—-

Rather than follow Leonard to the waiting room, Sheldon plops himself down onto a hardback molded chair that sits right outside the door to Amy's room. He's not going to go any farther away from her than he is forced to. They will have to get out the tasers again if they want him to move. As soon as he sits, his rear end starts sliding on the smooth plastic, causing him to become more and more hunched over as the seconds tick by.

A few feet away, Leonard has stopped walking towards the exit. Instead, he backs up and takes a seat in a similar looking chair. "I need to step outside and make these calls soon. Are you going to be okay here by yourself for a few minutes? Maybe you should come outside with me and get a little fresh air."

Shoving himself into an upright seated position again, Sheldon wonders how someone could have designed a seat so poorly. Surely no one's buttocks are shaped like this. He tries shifting his weight from one cheek to the other, but nothing halts the frustrating downward slide.

"I don't want fresh air." He wants to sound adamant, but he fears his words may have come out as more of a pout. It's not the only thing that he fears right now.

Sheldon crosses one leg over the other and then vice-versa. It doesn't help. His lower back continues to bend into the unnatural curve of the seat.

"And I don't want to sit anymore!" He jumps to his feet, knocking the stupid chair a few feet away with the force of his movement. Putting his head in his hands, he has to fight the temptation to actually pick it up and throw it.

After only a few seconds, he regrets his action. Not only was it undignified, but the annoyance of that chair had been giving his mind something to latch on to. Now he has nothing to distract him from thinking about Amy.

Leonard manages to stand without having an outburst. Perhaps he has a misshapen posterior. Taking a step forward, Leonard stands close enough that their arms brush together. "It's fine, buddy. We'll stand."

They remain there in silence until Sheldon whispers, "Why didn't she let me stay?"

His best friend scratches at the stubble on his chin and then bends over to pick up the fallen chair. "Um, I'm not sure. She said that she would tell you later. But I don't know, maybe she felt it would be wrong to have you there for this part because the two of you are broken up."

"It wouldn't be wrong for me to stay. What's wrong is kicking me out. She let Penny stay. Why would she do that?" He looks at Leonard, who shoves his hands in his pockets and doesn't seem willing to take another guess at Amy's motivations.

Sheldon glances to the closed door that keeps him from her. He knows that the person who holds answers is not the man standing next to him right now, but he can't stop himself from voicing one last question anyway. "Do you think it means there's something she doesn't want to tell me?"

—-

After the police and Penny have left, it takes much longer for Sheldon to appear in her room again than Amy would have expected. She spends the quiet minutes trying to figure out the best way to explain things to him, but as soon as she sees his face in the doorway, she loses her train of thought.

He looks so nervous and afraid. Her plan to explain things in a different way was all about trying to spare him from most of that, and she begins to wonder if her previous decision was the correct thing to have done after all. Her hope was to start the story by telling him that her captor never intended her any harm, and that while he was an eccentric weirdo who made stupid choices, he still helped her and did not hurt her.

If Sheldon had been here when she recounted things for the police, then he would have had to hear her talk about how she woke up tied to a bed, how her captor's words sounded so much like threats, how she didn't know what terrible fate might be in store, and how she feared that she would never see him again. It makes her shiver just to think about it. She doesn't want Sheldon to have to feel any of that experience the way that she did, not even for the few minutes that it would take for her to tell the tale.

Standing a few feet away, he is the first to speak. "I talked to Penny. She said that I should insist you tell me things exactly the way that you told them to the police, and that not doing so might tell me what happened, but it wouldn't tell me what it was like for you." He tilts his head with puzzlement. "I don't know what she's talking about."

Amy has the bed tilted up so that she is in a reclined seating position, and she stares at her knees, unsure of the right thing to do. She glances up, and once she sees the bright blue of his concerned eyes, she can't look away again.

"Amy, I am not a child. I'm a grown man. Maybe others don't see me that way, but you should. Please don't coddle me."

He's right, of course, though there is something peculiar about hearing him openly admit to adulthood. She awkwardly scoots her lower body over on the narrow mattress and pats the newly vacant space in invitation. He does not hesitate to take her up on it.

His hip feels warm where it presses up against hers, and his body is twisted to allow him to face her. Some annoying part of her brain reminds her that he is no longer her boyfriend, that they are broken up and she should not enjoy having him near her too much. She stuffs that thought aside and allows herself the luxury of briefly brushing his hand with the tips of her fingers.

He reciprocates the gesture by sliding his entire palm underneath hers, and he gives no indication that he intends to let go. She isn't sure what to make of his frequent, eager touches to her hand. It seems so unlike the man who used to insist that he was not a fan of that kind of thing. Rather than question it, she decides to enjoy the comfort that he is offering while she still has the chance.

"I'm sorry, Sheldon. I shouldn't have asked you to leave. My intention was to make this easier, but I can see that I've only made things worse."

"It's okay. I've been known to make things worse on occasion myself, believe it or not."

"Oh, I believe it."

It's a relief to hear his easy forgiveness and a bit of a surprise that he did so with such a degree of humility. She sighs and starts to explain, "I just want to preface this by saying that I spent a long time with a very wrong impression of what was going on. When I tell what happened from the beginning, it sounds bad. Very bad. It will be impossible for you not to make the same assumptions that I did. Still, what Penny said is correct. If you truly want to understand how it was for me, then I can't sugercoat the situation by starting at the end."

He gives her palm a little squeeze, somehow still managing to avoid irritating her IV line. "I do want to understand. What's the first thing you remember?" he prompts.

She pauses and tries to think of how to begin. There's no way to make her first memories of events sound anything other than terrifying. But that is precisely the truth of how it felt. Terrifying. She grasps his hand tighter and begins to tell him everything.

—

Note: Thanks to everyone for reading, and thanks again to QBMaja for all of her helpful advice on this story.