Next update… thank you to sarahha and stardustmelody77 for their compliments on fanforum :)
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As some of you may know, I'm looking for a beta so just PM me if you're interested, I'm suffering from a severe lapse in confidence :(
They stood there for a while; Amy stopped crying but remained motionless.
Sheldon was unsure what to do now; he thought about the relapse of tachycardia he felt when he had grabbed her hand, even more so when she squeezed it.
Abruptly Amy let go of his hand, pulling Sheldon out of his thoughts and quietly said "We should call Leonard and Penny,"
Sheldon nodded as Amy dragged her feet towards the waiting room, looking for her phone through her bag.
When they reached the waiting room, Amy sat down in a corner, looking as though she wanted the walls to swallow her whole. A very reluctant Sheldon sat down next to her; he wasn't looking forward to sitting in a germ incubator for who knew how long.
He saw Amy place the phone against her ear and take deep breaths. He counted each rise and fall of her chest.
1, 2, 3, 4…
"Hello?" a cheery voice on the other line answered.
"Hello, Penny, it's Amy,"
"Oh hi Ames, how's Marie?" Penny replied the cheer gone from her tone.
"Umm, she's... she's not doing very well," Her hands shook slightly.
"Why? What happened?"
"We brought her to the hospital and they examined her, the doctor said it was very likely she has meningitis so they took a blood test, but then... she..." Amy's voice cracked as tears threatened to spill over.
"Amy, what happened? You're scaring me,"
Amy took more deep breaths and willed herself to continue, "When the nurse finished taking her blood she said she didn't feel very well and she... passed out,"
"Oh my god, Ames,"
"She's in the ICU now and that's all we know,"
"Okay, well don't worry, I'm coming down there,"
"No Penny you don't have to,"
"Of course I do, Ames. Is Sheldon with you?" Penny's tone resembled warning.
Amy's gaze flickered to Sheldon, he was staring into space, "Yes, he's here,"
"Okay, well, I'll be there in half an hour or so,"
"Okay, bye Penny," Amy sighed.
"Bye Ames and don't worry, I'm sure she'll be fine," Penny replied, before the line went dead.
Amy sullenly put the phone on her laps and sat very still.
Sheldon cleared his throat. "Amy?"
"Yes?" Amy said turning slightly to look at Sheldon.
For the first time that night, she made eye contact during a conversation with him.
"Has this happened to Marie before?"
Amy closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Sheldon looked at her, waiting for her to respond. She didn't.
Amy looked away, "Irrelevant, your career was more important and I refuse to dwell on the past,"
That stung Sheldon more than he ever could have imagined, slowly he brought his hand up to his chest; the stinging pain was not subsiding. In addition to the stinging pain, he felt slight irritation at Amy, he would've been there had she made him aware of the situation. Whatever it was.
Suddenly, before he could say anything else, the doors flew open and Penny walked in, Tyler in one hand and Leonard with a baby's car seat behind her.
"Oh Amy," Penny said as she flung herself around her, Penny knew how tough this was for her.
Sheldon stood up as Leonard approached, "Hey Sheldon, I'm sorry buddy," Leonard said, he received a curt nod from his best friend.
"What's the matter, mommy?" Tyler said tugging on her trousers.
Amy quickly wiped away the stray tears and looked down.
"Hi Tyler, did you enjoy your time with Aunt Penny and Uncle Leonard?" she asked, feigning enthusiasm.
Tyler looked suspiciously at his mother then at Sheldon who was looking down at him.
"Where's Marie?" he asked hesitantly.
"Marie is with the doctor," Amy replied.
"Oh,"
"I'm sorry, Amy," Leonard said as he gave her a one-arm hug.
"Oh Moonpie, I'm sorry," Penny said as she flung herself around Sheldon, he rolled his eyes at her ceaseless name calling.
He immediately stiffened and patted Penny awkwardly on her back. She let go and sat down next to Amy who had Tyler perched on her lap, Leonard sat down next to Sheldon.
After five minutes of heavy silence passed, a doctor walked out, "Family of Marie Cooper," he said to the waiting room; everyone jumped up and walked toward her.
"Yes, I'm her mother," Amy said, "How is she?"
The doctor offered her a small smile, "I'm doctor Williams and I'll be taking care of your daughter." she offered Amy her hand; she shook it rather vehemently, wanting to skip the idle forms of human interaction.
"Her condition has been kept stable, but we don't want to wake her up just yet as she was severely dehydrated and had moderate swelling of the hindbrain, but as I said, her condition is stable. She is currently receiving fluids, but we don't want to take her out of the ICU because of the swelling of the brain. In addition, because she has been put in a barbiturate-induced coma, due to the large amount of fluids we have given her, we have hooked her up to a ventilator, just as a precaution," the doctor smiled reassuringly.
"Can I see her?" Amy asked, holding onto Tyler's hand.
"I'm afraid that you can't see her just yet because she's in the ICU but as soon as she's ready to be transferred to paediatric care, we'll come and get you,"
"Okay, thank you," Amy said quietly as the doctor walked away.
Penny gave Amy a hug before saying, "Ames, I'm going to the cafeteria to get you some tea. Leonard, sweetie, take Ryan out and come with me," she said looking at her son wriggling in the car seat.
"Okay, we won't be long," Leonard said to Amy and Sheldon, who had retreated back to the corner of the waiting room.
Both Sheldon and Amy remained quiet, Tyler sitting on Amy's legs again.
Penny and Leonard frowned at their friends, giving each other a prudent look of doubt and walking briskly towards the elevator.
Tyler wriggled on Amy's lap before leaning deeper into her chest and grabbing her hand, twirling her fingers around his own.
He yawned, "Mommy, I'm tired, when we are going home?" he separated her middle finger and ring finger and extended her thumb into a rather familiar salute.
Amy looked down at him, "I don't know, we have to stay here and wait for Marie to feel better,"
Sheldon looked at Amy, "What are you going to do?"
Amy sighed and looked down at Tyler, who was falling asleep on her lap, "I don't know, it's not very pragmatic nor responsible to keep a four year old in a hospital chair all night," she wrapped her arms around her son as he nestled into her.
"Mommy I want to go home!" Tyler whimpered, nearing tears.
"I know baby, but we need to wait for your sister," Amy said, feeling just as tired and emotionally drained.
Amy saw Sheldon watching Tyler with curious eyes, today had been the first time Sheldon had seen both his children be so defiant against their mother, but of course they had every right to do so, they were scared and tired.
Tyler continued to play with Amy's hand as he said, "Daddy do you like trains?" he furrowed his eyebrows, as if in deep thought.
A tiny, knowing smile formed on Amy's lips, Sheldon answered, "Yes, I am in fact quite fond of locomotives,"
"Mommy said you liked them, but I don't, I get dizzy on them, I like planes," Tyler said, still looking at his mother's hand.
"Daddy can I see your hands?" Tyler said looking up for the first time during his conversation with his father.
Sheldon's eyes narrowed as he slowly extended his left arm, slightly jerking in his seat as Tyler grabbed it, turning it around and looking at each finger individually.
Sheldon and Amy watched him as he examined Sheldon's hand with an unwavering intensity.
Suddenly he grabbed Amy's hand and placed it so that Sheldon and Amy's hands were palm to palm.
The warmth emanating from his hand made Amy shudder even if he had visibly stiffened at her touch.
Amy looked at Sheldon who was looking at their hands; it had been a long time since she had felt that way before.
Tyler grinned proudly as if his discovery would impact humanity forever, "Just as I thought, mommy has smaller hands than you, daddy,"
Sheldon looked at Tyler, who was grinning at him. He looked up at Amy who was looking at him and down at their hands, Tyler had let go of them but they were still touching, this touch was different, it wasn't to console or reassure, it was... different.
Amy pulled her hand back and looked away, she saw Leonard and Penny watching them, holding white polystyrene cups.
Penny sat quickly next to Amy and spoke in a hushed tone, "What was that Ames?" she said handing Amy a cup of the hot liquid.
"Thank you. I don't know what you mean," Amy replied wrapping her suddenly cold hands around the cup.
"You know exactly what I mean, what was all that hand-holding about?" Penny said, her desperation for the grimy details mounting.
"Penny, I didn't hold his hand, Tyler was playing a game and it happened to involve him and I," Amy said taking a sip of the liquid in her hands.
"Okaay and I understand what Leonard means when he talks about the Pig's boson," Penny said sarcastically, crossing her jean-covered legs.
Amy looked at her, confused, "Are you sure he wasn't referring to the Higgs Boson?"
"Yah, that's what I said," Penny scoffed.
With Leonard
"Hey buddy, I brought you some peppermint tea," Leonard was being careful not to scare the deer.
"Thank you, Leonard,"
"So, uh, everything okay between you and Amy?" Leonard said, leaning closer.
"Yes, why do you ask?"
"Umm, just- no reason, just happened to catch you, you know… holding hands,"
"Yet again, Leonard, you are wrong, although I must say it doesn't surprise me," Sheldon kept his gaze forward, holding the cup tightly.
"Then, uh, what were you doin'?"
"We were merely trapped in Tyler's insignificant need to distract himself from his current state of inactivity,"
Leonard sighed, defeated, "In all those four years, you haven't changed a bit, have you?"
"Change? Why would I change?" Sheldon's brows furrowed at his friend's logic, or lack thereof.
Ryan started to cry so Penny stood up and took him from Leonard, she sat next to him and whispered, "Did you see the hand-holding?"
"Yeah, but Sheldon didn't spill anything," Leonard whispered back.
"Yeah neither did Amy," Penny said swaying her son slowly from side to side, a steely frown forming on her face as she stared at her troubled friends.
/
15 minutes later.
Tyler was fast asleep on his mother's lap and Sheldon sat still on the chair. Penny was still holding Ryan in her arms and leaning against Leonard's side, his arm hung lazily around her.
"Leonard, sweetie, take Ryan, I need to stretch my arms," Penny said shuffling around to hand Leonard the sleeping infant.
Leonard took Ryan as Penny stood up and swung her arms around.
"Ames, aren't your arms hurting? Just holding Ryan for, what, 15 minutes made my arms ache," Penny said looking at Amy holding the 4 year old.
"I don't know, I guess I'm used to doing it alone," she said, her voice fading out by the end of the sentence, realising that part of her didn't get over the fact that Sheldon was never there.