Chapter 13

"Sheldon?" Leonard called, after rasping on his door a couple of times. "Are you alright?" There wasn't an answer, so he tried again. "Can I get you anything buddy? Comics, pizza, anything?" There was still only silence and Leonard shifted from his spot outside of Sheldon's bedroom door. "It's worse than I thought." Mary Cooper mumbled under her breath, slightly shaking her head. "Shelly, come out her and give your momma a proper welcome." She demanded in a firm tone. They heard shuffling come from inside Sheldon's room and he opened the door enough to stick his head out.

"Mom?" he asked. "What are you doing here?" Mary looked her son up and down before answering. Boy was he a mess. It looked like he hadn't shaved in weeks and he had bags under his eyes. His back was hunched over slightly and his eyes were red and puffy. It also appeared that his top lip was swollen, along with his face being flush; hair askew. "Well can't a mom visit her little Shelly Bean when she wants to?" All Sheldon did was nod slightly at her and move to close the door. Before he could, Mary put her foot in front of it to block it from closing.

"Now Shelly, Leonard tells me you've been spending a lot of time in your room. Now, why is this?" Sheldon stayed silent and kept his gaze on the floor, wishing this conversation was over with. Mary nervously glanced over at Leonard and he gave her a look of 'I told you'. She sighed inwardly, she never saw her Shelly like this. The problem was, she didn't know why he was like this. Nobody did, because he wouldn't talk. When it became apparent to Mary that her son didn't have any intention of speaking, she considered just leaving it be until the morning. Once again, her eyes fell on Sheldon, who was still looking on the ground. After a moment's hesitation, she decided she would wait.

"Well Shelly, you look pretty tired. I'm letting you off the hook for now, but don't think that this is a free pass to ignore your mother after she spent all her time and money flying over just to see you." Sheldon merely nodded and without another word, he stepped back into his room and closed the door. "Oh, and Shelly," she said through the door, "Where's Amy?" Mary thought she heard Sheldon mumbling in his room but nothing more. She decided if she wanted answers, she was going to have to talk to Leonard.

"Leonard, dear, where's Amy?" she asked him. Leonard's eyes quickly darted from Mary to Sheldon's door and back to her. He moved in a little closer to her and whispered "I don't know. All the sudden it's like Amy was gone from Sheldon's life. I'd assume she's at her apartment. But she wouldn't even tell Penny what happened. All we can do right now is assume things and hope that one of them is right. Maybe you can help?" The last part of his sentence sounded like a plea. Seeing the worried look on Leonard's face, Mary relented, and with a nod she agreed to help her little Shelly and his Amy to sort things out.

Sheldon heard Leonard and Mary's conversation even between his silent sobs. It didn't matter what they tried to do, they weren't going to fix anything. What was done was done and he was trying the best he could to do his part. Without warning, the conversation that he and Amy had had weeks prior popped into his head.

*Flash Back*

It was exactly 3 weeks ago in the Pre-evening that Amy had come over after work to see why he hadn't gone in. He had invited her in without question and even let her sit on his bed. She asked him "Why have you not gone into work and why are you so nervous?" and he had done something that even surprised him- he had confessed his feelings to her. Well, not all of them of course; but only the ones that mattered at that particular moment. What had she done? She had assumed that when he told her that he couldn't 'do this' anymore, he meant that he couldn't date her anymore. She had begun, what he assumed, to have a slight panic attack. He was not in his right mind to help her, he didn't even know how. She asked him "Are you breaking up with me?" and he had been so shocked.

At the time he didn't have enough strength to talk to her so he merely shook his head, to indicate that he wasn't breaking up with her. After a moment, he looked up to see tears streaming down her face. In a split second decision, he had quickly kissed her and timidly hugged her. When she still hadn't calmed down, he told her not to cry. "I'm sorry." She apologized. "Don't be." He whispered back to her. "Look, Sheldon, I think I know what will help us both in this situation." She told him, sniffling. "And what would that be?" He asked her quietly. "If I leave" she stated, but before he could counter argue, she continued. "I leave and no longer call myself your girlfriend and I don't see you at all." So far, he did not like her idea. He frowned at her in response but she continued.

"I let you just figure out how you're going to deal with all your emotions and get your priorities straitened out. I realize you need time for this, and I am wiling to give you all the time in the world." She said the last part quietly, avoiding his gaze. "And when you're ready, you can come back." Sheldon considered her suggestion, still frowning, when she looked up at him. "I promise you that I will wait for you. There's nobody else for me Sheldon." She tried to explain, although the uneasiness in the pit of his stomach didn't seem to be listening to her words. She waited for a moment for him to reply, and when he didn't, she got up and left.

*Present*

The rasping at the door jolted her awake and she sat up, rubbing her head. Glancing at the clock, she realized that it was now 4:30 in the afternoon and her nap had gone longer than planned. Getting off the couch and smoothing down her skirt and her hair, she made her way towards the door. She wondered who it could be, she wasn't expecting anybody. Maybe it was Sheldon, finally coming to tell her that he had worked things out and whished for them to get back together. With that thought in mind, Amy put on the cheeriest expression she could. Upon opening the door, her lop-sided grin turned into more of a confused look. It didn't last very long, and within moments she put on her usual blank expression. "Leonard, Mrs. Cooper." Amy stated with a nod. Leonard nervously fiddled with his hands, giving her a small smile. "Now sugar, please. Call me Mary." "Oh, right." Amy said. "Please, do come in." She moved aside for her guests to enter her home. Once they were inside, she closed the door and turned to them. "Would either of you like a beverage? I have water, strawberry quick, yoo-hoo and Mountain dew."

Mary smiled to herself. All those drinks were something that Shelly would have if he were to come over. Those two were like pees in a pod. "I'll take water dear." Mary told her. Amy nodded and turned to Leonard, who shifted uncomfortably. "Water's fine." He told her nervously. For the third time in the last hour, Amy nodded and proceeded to go into her kitchen to fill the glasses with water. Once the task was complete, Amy walked back out into the living room, a glass of water in each hand. Mary grabbed hers from Amy and took a small sip from it, as did Leonard. Mary cleared her throat, gathering both Leonard and Amy's attention.

"Now, sugar, I bet you're wondering why we're here." Amy slowly nodded, not quite sure where this conversation was leading. "Well, before I go into my rantin', Leonard wants to tell you somethin'." "Right." Leonard added with a shaky voice. He took in a slow breath and his words came out hastily. "You have to come fix Sheldon." Amy's eyes practically bulged out of her head and she sputtered the little water that was in her mouth all over. "I'm sorry." She stated; confusion evident in her voice. "I must have heard you wrong." "No, sugar, you didn't hear anything wrong. Shelly's in one of his stages that even his Momma can't seem to figure out. If you really can't come to help, then can you be ever so kind as to tell us what's gotten into my little Shelly bean?" Her voice sounded desperate as she pleaded, but her pleas fell onto deaf ears.

Amy knew exactly why Sheldon would be in such a state, but she didn't know it was that bad that Leonard would consider him 'broken'. Pondering this new information, Amy was not sure what to do. She had told Sheldon she wouldn't interfere with how he was going to sort out things. She even volunteered to give him as much space as he needed. In truth, she hadn't waited for a response to see if he was okay with it, but the concern never crossed her mind before. The thought of him in such a state over her was hard to believe. It was so hard to believe that Amy needed some sort of clarification.

"Leonard, what do you mean?" she asked him, truly curious as to what he meant. "Let me put it like this, Sheldon has not done any group activities with us at all, no Halo Night, no Pizza Night, no Paint balling, no Comic Book Night, no New Comic Book Night. He hasn't even done laundry on Laundry Night. I haven't seen him come out to eat any food for three whole weeks. He hasn't come into work, he didn't even complain when I watched Babylon 5 the other night. It's been three weeks Amy. It's not getting batter."

Amy didn't know what to make of any of the news she just received. The fact that Sheldon had quit doing everything that was important to him over her made her feel very guilty. "Really?" she asked him in disbelief. "Yes" Leonard said "and, to top it all off, he doesn't talk to anybody, Ever." All this information seemed to slap Amy right in the face. Suddenly, she felt light headed. Setting her drink on the coffee table, she sat down on the couch and began to process the information. After a moment, she looked up at Mary, who was giving her a sympathetic look.

"Sugar," she said, when she had Amy's attention. "Do you have any idea why my Shelly's been acting this way?" Amy was torn. She hated to lie to Sheldon's mother like that. But she knew that if she told her why, Sheldon would never forgive her. And what's worse, she might get accused of breaking Sheldon's heart on purpose, something that she hoped would never happen.

Putting on her best innocent look, Amy looked at Mary for a moment before settling her eyes onto Leonard next to her. She felt that if she was going to lie, she would feel better about doing it without making eye contact. "Mrs. Cooper, I mean Mary, I have absolutely no idea why Sheldon's been acting like that." Mary could feel her nerves rising again and it showed in her expression. "However," Amy stated. "I do not know because I have not seen Sheldon in close to 3 weeks. He has not been in contact with me and I have not seen him at any of our social gatherings. As for the information about his odd behavior lately, I can tell you that Penny has told me some of those things already, but unless Sheldon would be willing to let me cut open his brain and see what exactly caused him to behave that way." Amy paused for a moment; perhaps she should just stop talking. After all, she didn't want this lie to get too out of hand.

"I see." Mary said. She sighed then. "My little Shelly; I've never seen him like this before." She paused, fighting back tears. "I really thought he was different now, falling for the girl of his dreams. Whether that boy sees it or not he loves you." She said to Amy. Amy nodded in response, thinking of how much she loved him. No matter how much she loved him and he loved her, he would never say it, and she didn't intend to either.

"Amy," Leonard interrupted her thoughts. "Do you think Sheldon's odd behavior is because of that night when he was in his room and you went in there to talk to him?" Amy felt guilty, she knew now that that was probably the reason why, although she would never admit it. She looked at Mary, whose eyes were almost jumping out of her head. "My, my," Mary said, slightly shaking her head. "Shelly let a girl into his room at night? You two weren't sinnin', were you?" Amy sighed inwardly. Why did his mom always think that whenever they were alone together in a bedroom that they had sex? She gave Leonard the death glare for spilling the beans before turning back to Mary.

"Mrs. Cooper, I can assure you that Sheldon and I definitely have not 'sinned' and we are not planning to ever." "Oh, sugar. You can have plenty of time to do that stuff when you two are married." Amy almost choked on the air she was breathing. Married? She leaned over and grabbed her own water bottle that had been sitting on the table since she got home and took a long drink. Once satisfied, she cleared her throat. "I guaranteed you that Sheldon has no intentions of marrying me now, or in the future." Once she said it, she realized that her tone sounded a little more cold that she had anticipated, earning her stares of confusion from both Leonard and Mary.

"What do you mean that boy won't want to marry you?" Mary asked. Leonard gave Amy a confused look as well. "All I'm saying is, he, he never… said anything… about that." Amy stuttered out. She was starting to get nervous about this whole lying thing and she could feel herself starting to perspire. "You guys are still dating, right?" Leonard asked her. Amy darted her eyes across the room, trying to figure out a way to avoid the question. This was all they needed to see to figure out that they indeed were not dating any more. "Well, what happened, dear?" Mary asked, her voice displaying her sympathy. Amy shifted uncomfortably in her spot; she had no idea what to say. So, she chose not to say anything and just shrugged.

"Awe," Mary said, while moving closer to Amy on the couch and giving her shoulders a hug. "Well that explains Sheldon's behavior." Leonard commented. "What'd he do that made you break up with him?" he asked her. Again, Amy did not reply; as she did not trust her own words. Instead, she repeated her action of shrugging. "I think you should go talk to him." Mary stated, pulling away from Amy. "I know my boy can be a handful, with his schedule and his pride issues and his no physical contact rule. But baby, I know my Shelly and I also happen to know that he loves you dear, very much. Whether he chooses to admit it or not won't change the fact that it's true.

Amy wanted for Mary to stop insisting that Sheldon loves her. She had her suspicions, but she preferred not to get her hopes up anyway. She also wasn't very excited knowing that others were messing with their relationship. In truth, she did want to go talk to Sheldon; she missed him after all. What she had told him that night still remained true. She just didn't know if he would accept seeing her, or even want to. As if Mary could read her thoughts, she said "Dear, please don't think I'm trying to meddle in your relationship. I was just trying to make you see that Shelly loves you, that's all. I'm sure he would not have a problem with you paying a visit." Amy cast a nervous glance Leonard's way and he shrugged. What did they have to loose?

*Next chapter will be up by Wednesday, I promise(: Thank you for all the reviews!