Sheldon
"Penny and I decided to keep the couch here."
Sheldon looked over at Leonard, confused.
"Where else would it be?"
Leonard raised his eyebrows. "At Penny's apartment…with the rest of my stuff."
Sheldon looked affronted. "What do you mean with the rest of your stuff? The couch isn't yours. It's a communal piece of furniture…" He did a double take. "You would have taken my spot away?"
Leonard sighed. "Ok first off…yes, the couch is mine. I bought it. And secondly no. That is the point. We decided to keep it here."
"But there was an actual discussion regarding the issue! You actually considered removing my spot from this apartment." Sheldon narrowed his eyes. "That's a strike for you."
Leonard scoffed. "What for? Being nice to you? Leaving my couch behind?"
"I already said…it's not your couch. It's in the communal space, therefore it's a communal piece of property."
"Oh well, by that logic, I could have been using your desk as my personal table all this time."
"Absolutely not!"
"Well, if, as you said, all items here are communal, then it would have been fair game."
Sheldon glared at Leonard, taking in a deep breath, trying to implement Kolinahr.
"Don't make me give you another strike!"
"I'm still debating the first one! I'm trying to do something nice for you and yet I'm the bad guy!"
Leonard glared back at Sheldon, who opened his mouth to reply, when Penny and Amy came through the door.
"What the hell is going on in here? We could hear you yelling from my apartment."
Leonard turned to Penny and gave an exasperated sigh. "Oh nothing. Just Sheldon being Sheldon."
"Ah. Of course."
Sheldon turned to Penny. "And just what is that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing sweetie." Penny smiled at Sheldon in what he perceived to be a condescending manner. He detested when she did that. In what universe was she in any position to view him with any condescension?
Howard came strolling through the door, followed closely by Raj and Bernadette. "What's with all the yelling? We could hear you from a couple flights down."
Leonard turned and answered. "Sheldon acting insane as usual."
"Ah yes. Of course." Howard replied. Raj nodded in understanding, while Bernadette replied with a non-committal "mmm".
"Why does everyone keep saying that? I'm not being insane. I'm being perfectly logical…"
Amy interrupted him. "Sheldon, while I would normally stand back to admire as you verbally outwitted each of our friends here…" Everyone rolled their eyes, "I think the wisest course of action at this moment would be to desist from arguing. I believe it would be counter-productive to anger all of our friends right before they are to help us carry all of my belongings up several flights of stairs."
Sheldon looked down at Amy, who was standing unusually close to him. He saw the logic in her argument. "What a shrewd observation Amy." He smiled at her and she returned it with a grin that made his stomach drop. Hmm. It had been a while since that had happened.
"Hold on a minute." Howard looked confused. "What do you mean all of your belongings…where are the movers?"
"I didn't have any movers. I had asked my extremely muscular cousins Brad and Tadd to help, but they only had enough time to load the items in the moving truck."
Penny raised her eyebrows. "Brad and Tadd?...and wait…you have muscular cousins?" She nodded thoughtfully. Leonard did a double take. Penny smiled and pinched his cheek playfully.
Amy nodded. "Yes. They are twins and have a rather unhealthy addiction to the gym. I believe their reason for abandoning me mid-move was that their spin class was going to start in twenty minutes."
Howard looked incredulous. "So wait. Let me get this straight. Not only are we moving all of Leonard's stuff out of here and across the hall, but we're going to have to move all of Amy's furniture up three flights of stairs?" He looked around at Leonard, Amy, and Sheldon in turn. "Please tell me you're joking."
Amy shrugged. "Sorry."
Sheldon looked at the time and realized it was now 9:04 in the morning. "Let's quit all this yacking and get to moving people. It's 9:04. We're four minutes behind schedule." He turned to Leonard. "And don't think I don't remember your strike." He shook his head and mumbled to himself, "…actually thought he would take my spot."
He walked over to his desk and grabbed a clipboard and pen. "Alright. We're going to divide into teams. We will begin with Leonard's belongings of course. Amy, Bernadette, Howard. You will be moving the boxes of comic books, lamps, and any other light lifting that you can find. Raj, Penny, and Leonard can move the heavier boxed items and the furniture."
Penny rolled her eyes. "And just what are you going to be doing?"
Sheldon looked at her in surprise. "Supervising of course."
"Hold on a minute," Howard said. "Why am I on the list with Amy and Bernadette to do the light lifting?"
Everyone looked over at Howard.
He looked affronted. "Hey! Raj and Leonard are no body builders either. If they're able to move furniture then I can too."
"Aw, Howie," cooed Bernadette (Sheldon hated when she did that), "Amy and I will let you carry the drawers from Leonard's dresser if you like? We can keep the clothes in them too!"
Leonard cleared his throat. "Um. Actually, the clothes are already packed."
"And hey wait a minute! Why am I on the list of people set to do the heavy lifting Sheldon?" Penny raised her eyebrows at him.
Sheldon rolled his eyes. "I would think that would be obvious Penny. Your corn fed Nebraskan physique matched with that athletic butch spirit probably makes you the strongest person in this room."
Penny scoffed and Leonard said "Sheldon!"
"What?" He looked between them. "You two really need to recognize a compliment when you hear one."
Sheldon heard Howard say behind him "That's what I was wondering too."
Raj had his hand against Howard's ear and was apparently whispering something. Howard directed his question at Sheldon. "Why do you get to be supervisor? Why do we have to do all the work?"
"Well someone has to keep you folks on schedule and make sure the work is done correctly." He looked at the time again. "It is already 9:13 and you're still not working…"
"Which means you're doing a piss poor job," Penny interjected.
Sheldon glared at her. It was not his fault if they spent an inordinate amount of time challenging his leadership.
Penny rolled her eyes, "Sheldon, we're not going to do all the work while you sit in your spot yelling orders. You're helping."
"I object!" Sheldon didn't have the upper body strength needed for vigorous work…and he didn't want to help anyways.
"I don't care. You're helping. Leonard is your friend and soon-to-be-ex-roommate and Amy is your girlfriend. Man up."
Sheldon looked around at the group, stopping at Amy last. Even she just shrugged at him. "She has a point Sheldon."
Sheldon pursed his lips. "I'm unhappy."
He looked around the group again but didn't see anyone giving him a sympathetic look. He detested manual labor. Theoretical physicists didn't do manual labor. Their labor was of the mind. I'll bet Albert Einstein never had to put up with tedious situations like this.
He felt someone grab his hand and looked down to find Amy standing close to him again. She was tugging on his arm. What was she doing? He looked down at her in confusion and noticed that she was standing on her toes. She continued to pull his arm. Why would she be on her toes and pulling on his arm.
"Sheldon I'd like to whisper something to you, but I can't reach your ear."
Oh. He didn't like it when people put their germy breath on his ear…but seeing as he had exchanged kisses with Amy on multiple other occasions in the past six months, he didn't see why her breath in his ear should make much of a difference. He bent to the side so that her lips could reach his ear.
Their friends were shuffling awkwardly as Amy put her other hand up to his ear and whispered, "If you help with the moving we can watch all six Star Wars movies in a marathon tomorrow." Her breath on his ear sent a little involuntary shiver through his body. That was curious.
He straightened up. "Ok, fine. I'll help."
The other five of the group exchanged surprised looks. He heard Penny whisper to Leonard, "What the hell did she say to him?"
As expected, the day was a harrowing experience for Sheldon; both of his mind and body. He had never lifted so much in his life. His entire body hurt and yet all he could do was lay on his bed, willing his body to move towards the shower.
The apartment now looked different. He didn't like it. Instead of Leonard living in the bedroom down the hall from him, it was now a girl…and there were feminine products taking up nearly fifty percent of the bathroom. And there was an extra couch in the communal living space with an afghan thrown over the end. It looked inviting…No he didn't like it at all.
He turned on his side and looked at the clock. It was 8:53 p.m. He really needed to shower but still couldn't manage to make his body move off the bed. He curled his knees up, thinking about the fact that Leonard was now living across the hall; about how things had changed…
He jerked awake when he heard a shriek. He was completely disoriented. He looked at the clock. It said 2:39. Was that a.m. or p.m.? He looked around and realized it was dark. Must be a.m. He looked down at himself and realized he was still in his clothes…and that he was rather stiff. What had happened?
He heard another shriek, longer this time. It scared him. What was going on? Who was shrieking? Was there an attacker in the house? He panicked for a moment and briefly considered his options before hearing another shriek and the sound of something hitting the floor. He didn't know what to do. Who was shrieking? Should he call the police?
He decided to text Leonard to see if he was being murdered in his sleep, but when he grabbed out his phone, he finally remembered that Leonard no longer lived in the apartment; that it was he and Amy now.
Amy! Amy was the one shrieking! Panic set in. What if someone was trying to murder her? What should he do? Should he try to save her? What if he got killed in the process? He heard another shriek, this time lasting a full 5 seconds.
Before he quite knew what he was doing, Sheldon threw open his door and ran down to Amy's bedroom. He didn't even knock before he threw open the door. He looked around, but the only person he saw was Amy, and she was currently still shrieking and thrashing around on the bed. He quickly took in the scene. Most of her stuff was still in boxes, but he saw that a lamp was on the floor. This was likely the thud he had heard.
He didn't know what to do. Was she having a nightmare? Were these the night terrors she mentioned so long ago? What was he supposed to do? When people were sleepwalking you weren't supposed to wake them up. But Amy wasn't sleepwalking. What was the protocol for night terrors?
Sheldon's heart was racing and his nerves were becoming more and more frayed as Amy continued to scream. He decided to see if he could wake her up.
He cleared his throat. "Amy?"
She continued to shriek.
He drew closer to the bed, unsure whether touching her would make it better or worse. He decided to speak a little louder. "Amy?...wake up."
It didn't work. Amy was still thrashing and shrieking every ten seconds now.
What was it that Penny had said Amy told her to do? Oh yes…pin her down and stroke her hair.
Sheldon swallowed. His fear was threatening to get the better of him. He didn't know how he was going to pin her down. Did he lay down on top of her? That thought made him recoil slightly. What if she started punching him and scratching his eyes out?
He took a deep breath. Think Cooper! You can do this! What is the most logical way to restrain someone? And then he had it. He would grab her from behind. He would be able to pin her arms to her sides…although she could still kick him…but he would worry about that if the time came.
He walked quickly to the other side of her bed. Although by the time he got there, she had already thrashed so that she was facing him. Well…he couldn't keep going to the opposite side of the bed. Amy was still screaming and he needed to stop her.
He paused. How did he grab her? He supposed he would have to get in to the bed. Luckily she thrashed away from him at that moment, leaving a space for him to climb into the bed. He jumped in quickly and grabbed Amy from behind.
It was difficult to get both of her arms pinned to her sides, especially when she bit him as he was trying to grab her hand. He almost let go of her, but remembered that he had to stop her shrieking. He managed to get a firm hold with both his arms around her, but she was still thrashing her legs and shrieking. He used one of his legs to try and pin down her legs. He was acutely aware of just how much of Amy he was touching. It was…distracting.
But she was still shrieking. How did he stop her shrieking? What was he forgetting? He thought back to what Penny had said…oh yes! He needed to stroke Amy's hair. But how did he do that and retain his grip on her?
He turned them both so that they were on their side in an almost spooning position and used the position to pin Amy's right arm against the bed so that he could free his to stroke her hair.
He did like her hair…He stroked it gently. Amy continued to scream out but he noticed there was less intensity and that her body had started to relax. Perhaps if he tried talking to her again, she would wake up.
He stroked her hair again. "Who's a good Amy…"
Suddenly her body went limp. He paused, unsure of what had happened. Was it a good thing or a bad thing?
Amy started trying to move her head. "Sheldon?...what are you doing?"
He let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. "Amy? Are you all right?"
"Yes…why are you holding me in a vice grip and stroking my hair?"
He relaxed his grip and removed his leg from atop hers. She turned around so that she was facing him. They were very close. His old friends tachycardia and shortness of breath returned. He mentally shook himself. He needed to focus on the matter at hand.
"Sheldon?"
He looked at her, so close to him. "You were screaming. Loudly. And thrashing around in the bed. I remembered that you had once said you had night terrors and that you told Penny to pin you down and stroke your hair…so that's what I was doing. You bit me."
She didn't answer him at first, only blinking.
After a few moments she simply said, "I'm sorry."
Sheldon frowned. "You're sorry for what?" Were the night terrors something she could control?
"For biting you." Oh. "…and waking you up."
"Amy, your apology is unnecessary. I can only assume that you have no control over such things."
Amy nodded. "That is correct. But I should have warned you that new places bring them out more frequently. And I could have told you myself what to do." She reached out a hand and found his, intertwining their fingers. He squeezed her hand. He was really beginning to like the feeling of holding hands.
Where had that come from? It must be because it's the middle of the night. He wasn't thinking clearly. And he was rattled from the experience. People did crazy things when they were on adrenaline highs…and yet he found his eyes drawn to her mouth. He saw her catch her breath and looked at her eyes quickly, acutely embarrassed to be so close to her and caught staring at her lips.
He sat up quickly. "I should go back to bed…now that you're alright." He started to get up, but Amy didn't let go of his hand.
He turned back to face her. "Amy…you have to let go of my hand."
She looked as if she was considering something. She looked down at their hands. "Sheldon…I have a proposal…"
Oh no. He wondered where this was headed. His already fast heartbeat increased even more. "Alright…"
"Would you…stay here tonight? With me…in…in my bed?" She looked up at him. "It might help me to avoid any more night terrors if you're here."
He eyed her suspiciously. Was that really true? He would have to google it the first chance he got.
"Alright…" he said a little cautiously. He wasn't comfortable with this at all.
He lay back down. She was still facing him and still holding his hand. He lay on his back, unsure what to do; feeling that sleep was very far away.
Suddenly Amy's face was right above his. She put a hand on his cheek and then kissed him quickly.
"Thank you."
She lay back down on her back.
Sheldon stared at the ceiling, unsure of what he was feeling. Amy was still holding his hand, and was laying no more than a foot away from him, and she had just kissed him…and his tachycardia was showing no signs of slowing.
He turned his head to look over at Amy. She turned her head to look at him.
"You're welcome Amy."
They both turned their heads back to stare at the ceiling.
Sheldon lay there for a long time, unmoving, listening to Amy breathing. After awhile he realized that her pattern of breathing had become more rhythmic and that she was likely asleep.
He looked over at her. Living with Amy was already proving to be very different than living with Leonard.
A/N: Thank you as always for reading. I'd like to give a shout out to Glynna who totally made my day when she said that I made her day when I updated. :) Please let me know your thoughts. Each review I receive makes my day that much brighter :)