Carmen received Ems text just as she was leaving work. "gone into labour going to hospital now!"
Never had Carmen driven so fast in such a panic. She had agreed to be her friends birthing partner and she felt scared herself, so goodness knows how Em felt. As she ran up the steps into the hospital Carmen saw Ems mum in a gown, hat and slippers.
"Its a girl!" she told Carmen. "They had to do and emergency c section."
Carmen went white .
"They are both ok. They are just settling them in there room, come on come meet the baby!"
Feeling wobbly after her race to the hospital, Carmen followed ems mum into the room. Em was propped up on her bed, a tube coming out of her hand and frankly looking shell shocked. Next to her in a crib, wrapped in a pink blanket, was the tiniest baby.
"Wow!" whispered Carmen leaning over the crib "oh Em, she is gorgeous, look at all that dark hair, and those long finders and toes, she is beautiful!"
Em smiled tiredly. "It all got a bit mad at the end there! She is fine though, and I guess the c-section saved me hours of pain and pushing!"
Carmen grinned. "Have you named her yet?"
"I was thinking Katherine after my grandmother, Katy for short" smiled Em .
"Lovely" said both her mother and Carmen together.
As Ems mother left to start spreading the good news to the family Carmen asked gently
"Do you want me to call Sheldon?"
"No, thanks though. I will ring him tomorrow. He should hear the news from me and I cant face the call now, but I will do it in the morning."
Carmen nodded, then grinning said "Can I hold her?"
"Of course" Em smiled back.
Gently lifting the tiny bundle from the crib Carmen sat cradling the baby.
"Em she really is beautiful." as Katy opened her eyes Carmen muttered "shame she has hers fathers eyes!"
Em sniggered "all babies have dark hair and blue eyes when they are born."
Katy began to grumble so Carmen gently handed the baby to her friend so she could feed her.
"You look a natural!" said Carmen in awe!
Em smiled "No! The nurse showed me what to do just before you came in! I told her she could show you how to do her diaper!"
Laughing the two friends sat quietly chatting until Ems mum returned.
"Everyone sends there love! I have said I will let people know when you are up for visitors, you might want a day two get used to this little bundle first!"
Em smiled as she gently rubbed Katy back. "Thanks mum"
Having settled the baby back into her crib, and bidding Em a good nights sleep, the two women left. Em lay gazing at her daughter. Wow she was really here she thought as she drifted off to sleep.
~73~73~73~
Sheldon was at work the next day when his phone rang. Across the desk sat Raj. They were discussing the latest paper they were working on and disagreeing about the time frame for publication. Things were getting heated and just as Sheldon phone rang off the door opened and Leonard and Howard entered to see if the two men would be joining them for lunch. The phone on the desk rang and Sheldon grabbed it snapping "Yes, what?" rudely whilst still glaring at Raj.
"Sheldon its me" said Ems voice hesitantly.
Sheldon froze. " I am at work I told you not to call me here!"
Em snapped back "Pardon me for bothering the great Dr Sheldon Cooper. I am in hospital, I don't have my watch on and I have just had a sleepless night giving birth to your daughter. I thought you might want to know" she then promptly hung up the phone.
Sheldon stood frozen in shock.
"Hey buddy, you ok?" asked Leonard noticing Sheldon had gone white.
"yeah... if you would please excuse me gentlemen..." He pointed to the door.
Looking at Sheldon strangely the men made their way towards the door. "Sheldon are you sure you are ok?"
"yes! Goodbye" Sheldon slammed the door on their shocked faces and slumped down in his desk chair.
"I swear he gets odder everyday" muttered Howard, heading towards the canteen. At the end of the corridor Raj stopped, "I'll catch you up guys, I have left my papers in Sheldon office and he is likely to burn them if I don't rescue them!"
Opening Sheldon door Raj closed it behind him and said "was that Em?"
Sheldon nodded. "I have a daughter!"
"Congratulations Sheldon!"
"hhhmmm!" was all Sheldon replied.
~73~73~73~
Em stayed in hospital for 5 days. She was climbing the walls by the time she was allowed to go home! She had had lots of visitors which had been lovely but she just wanted to take her baby girl home so she could get her settled.
Carmen came round the day after Em and Katy got home. She was nervous holding the little girl who was so very small, and stared in awe as Em bathed her at settled her down for a nap.
"Can you believe you have a baby?" Carmen asked.
"Its weird, I cant imagine not having her now! She has only been here a week and I can not imagine my life without her. When I got home yesterday after mum had left, I literally sat staring at her for hours! She is perfect!"
Carmen smiled. "I am so glad you are happy Em. I was really worried. I could not do what you are doing. I would freak out! Steve called and was asking if he could come visit. What do
you think?"
Em smiled "You two are really friendly now! Something you want to tell me?"
"No" said Carmen blushing, "Well we did go for dinner last week and he does text me every day! He is sweet really and I think he was worried about you too"
"Of course he can come visit. I really don't feel I have anything to be ashamed of
now. I did, but not now"
"Cool I will bring him round tomorrow before we go out"
The two girls chatted a bit more, then seeing Em was tiring, Carmen left her to rest.
~73~73~73~
It was two weeks later that Raj bumped into Steve at the canteen at Caltech. Steve had become a regular visitor round Ems, visiting with Carmen every week. Seeing Raj sat on his own was unusual as he normally had his little group of science geeks with him, including Sheldon, who Carmen had banned him from talking too on Ems insistence.
Seeing Raj on his own, playing angry birds on his phone, was too much of a temptation for Steve, so he went and sat next to him. Without saying a word Steve pulled Raj's phone out of his hand and sent himself a text. Then using his own phone he forwarded the photo of Katy he had taken on his last visit to Raj and waited for the astro physicist to comment.. Raj looked at the photo, looked at Steve then back at the photo.
His eyes filling with tears he said "She is beautiful. What is she called?"
"Katherine" replied Steve.
Raj nodded . Then without saying any more got up and walked away.
~73~73~73~
Raj tried to talk to Sheldon that night after Halo, but Sheldon was ignoring him again. He had mentioned the photo when he had returned form the canteen to his office and Sheldon had quite literally got up and walked away. Now the girls were in the kitchen washing up after their evening together. Amy had left early to go check on her lab monkeys and so it was Bernadette and Penny who heard Raj shout
"Sheldon I am done with you! If you can be that much of a bastard then I don't want any more to do with you" as he slammed out of the apartment.
"What the frak..." said Penny staring at Sheldon.
Sheldon just glared, stood up went to his room and slammed the door.
Leonard and Howard had watched the whole thing with bemused expressions and clearly no more of an idea as to what was going on than the girls.
"Problems in wedding planning heaven do you think?" asked Howard flippantly.
"No" said Penny. "but there is definitely something going on. Raj knows something I'm sure he does" Bernadette nodded.
Raj had stopped on the bottom stair at 2311 and sat wondering what to do. He couldn't force Sheldon to face up to his responsibilities and he did not want to be the one to break Amy's heart telling her what he knew. But he knew he could not carry on seeing Sheldon lying to Amy like this and pretend nothing was wrong.
In his room Sheldon sat on the edge of his bed and felt trapped. He had successfully blocked thoughts of the baby form his mind. Now he knew her name, and he knew Raj had seen a photo. Pulling out his phone he sent Em a text.
"I hear you have named her Katherine. Can I come see her?"
As he hit send Sheldon was not sure he had done the right thing, but he knew he couldn't not see her.
~73~73~73~
Em had been shocked when she received Sheldon text. Steve had told her he had seen Raj and had shown him a photo so she should have been prepared, but it was still a surprise. She honestly didn't know what she wanted now. Katy was the best thing that had ever happened to her. She hadn't realised how in love she would fall with her little girl but fall she had.
It was 2 days before she replied to Sheldons text.
She simply said "ok"
His response had been a prompt " I will be at you home at 6 on Thursday."
Sheldon had not spoken to Raj since his outburst at the apartment, so did not mention his up coming visit. Penny had been watching Sheldon closely and quizzing Leonard about his room mate. Leonard admitted Sheldon was not his normal self but put it down to wedding nerves as Amy was getting quite excited with her plans now and texting Sheldon almost hourly with updates and ideas.
Penny wasn't convinced and decided to talk to Raj if things didn't improve.
~73~73~73~
Em made sure Katie was dressed in one of her new pretty dresses that Carmen had bought her She fed, changed and put her down for her nap early so she was at her best when Sheldon called.
Letting him in felt weird. It had been so long since they had seen each other and so much had changed. Looking at Sheldon though, it struck Em just how like her daddy Katy was. Her eyes that Em had been convinced would change were the same startling blue and seeing Sheldon nervously fiddle with the strap of his bag drew her attention to his long fingers that his daughter had also inherited. Smiling to herself Em beckoned him into the living room where Katy was lying in her Moses basket. Cooing gently as she picked up her daughter she whispered "Come say hi to your Daddy, Katy."
Sheldon stared at the baby in front of him. Even he could see the resemblance as his own eyes stared back at him. Sitting down on a hard backed chair Sheldon held out his arms and cradled his daughter.
"She is beautiful" he said quietly. "Raj said she was, and he was right"
Sheldon gazed at the little girl then looking at Em said "How are you? Are you ok?"
Smiling she said "Look at her Sheldon how could I not be ok. She is perfect, and as scared as I was and as tired as I am I would not change a second of it !"
Nodding Sheldon returned his gaze to the baby in his arms. "She looks like me!"
"I know!"laughed Em. "Can I take a picture of you holding her?"
Sheldon twitched and hesitated.
"Sheldon if we never see you again at least I will be able to show her her Daddy did come see her, hold her and cared."
Sheldon nodded.
Em used her i-phone to snap a few quick pictures. Sheldon did not look at the camera but placed his long finger into his daughters tiny fist and felt her hold on tight.
Sheldon stood and placed Katy back in her crib and turned to look at Em.
"Thank you for letting me see her." he said awkwardly shifting his feet, his gaze on the floor.
"Will you come see her again?"
Sheldon nodded but did not meet Em's eye and she knew he was lying.
~73~73~73~
After Sheldons visit life continued pretty much as it had before. Em settled into a routine and began to reassess her priorities. Prior to Katy's arrival Em had enjoyed a life of working hard and playing hard. Now all she wanted to do was spend time with her baby. Every day Katy seemed to grow and change. Ems new favourite time of the day was waking up in the morning, seeing Katy's smiling face and smelling her hair as she lifted her baby into her arms and Katy buried her face into Ems neck.
Em still saw Carmen and Steve but their relationship had changed . It was hard to keep every thing the same when you no longer cared about clubs and drinking, or the latest shoes and handbags. It was unreasonable to expect the others to care about how many ounces of milk Katy had consumed or how many hours sleep they had gotten the night before.
Em sent one of the picture of Sheldon with Katy to his cell phone one evening. She didn't get a response but this didn't surprise her. She now felt her and Katy could move forward and build their lives together and leave Sheldon to do whatever Sheldon wanted.
~73~73~73~
Penny noticed Raj and Sheldon were still hardly talking. Amy was so excited about the wedding she had convinced Raj that he did want to help out, and as it involved little interaction with Sheldon Raj had agreed. It had become like a military operation with Amy holding weekly briefings and assigning new roles. Sheldon should have been proud but as it was Sheldon had seemingly little interest in the plans and just agreed to whatever Amy suggested, telling her it was her day so she could have whatever she wanted.
The latest meeting was taking place in the boys apartment, as Amy had decided she needed to check on Leonard in his role as best man. As the gang sat around the room Penny watched Sheldon make tea in the kitchen and assemble bottles of water from the fridge onto a tray. He appeared to be only half listening as Amy explained to Leonard the need for all the grooms men to match their respective bridesmaid in both height if possible and colouring.
"Ames, don't you think that is taking things to the extreme" muttered Penny, having seen Leonard look desperately at her for help.
"No Penny, I have a vision and I expect Leonard to help make this day perfect"
"He cant change someone's height though" sniggered Bernadette who was realising she had definitely had a lucky escape having a last minute wedding.
"OK granted some of my wishes may be a bit precise but please Leonard try and focus."
Leonard nodded and picked up his note book and pretended to take notes. Sheldon had moved to his white board in the corner and continued his work..The others nodded and agreed with everything Amy said in the hope this torture would end quickly.
Having satisfied Amy they were all on track the gang decided to go out for breakfast. Sheldon was reluctant but when he heard Raj say he was going to go into the office Sheldon agreed. Penny frowned and realised things were really no better.
"Leonard why is Sheldon avoiding Raj still?" Penny whispered as they walked down the stairs.
"I don't know. Raj has avoided halo night and paint balling for the last few weeks and when I asked him he just said he was busy. Howard doesn't know either, I asked him"
~73~73~73~
Raj did go to the university after leaving the apartment. He had found that his avoiding Sheldon had improved his work if nothing else. He missed spending time with Howard and Leonard but even looking at Sheldon made his blood boil. As he entered the canteen he saw Steve. Crossing over he sat down opposite and said "Will you ask Em if I can visit her please?"
Steve looked confused "I will ask but I'll be honest with you, Em is happy, her and Katy are doing great and I don't think she will be keen. Seeing Sheldon was hard enough."
"Sheldon saw her? When?" Raj asked stunned.
"Listen Raj, this is between Em and Sheldon. Ask Sheldon if you have any questions. I know he visited, I have seen a photo of him and Katy. I don't think Em is expecting him again but you need to leave me out of this. You should stay out of it too."
"That easy for you to say. Sheldon is getting married soon and his fiancée has no idea he has a daughter."
"Like I said Raj talk to Sheldon not me"
Steve got up and walked away leaving Raj staring after him.
~73~73~73~
Penny arranged for Howard to meet Raj at his and Bernadette s apartment so the girls could find out once and for all what was happening with him and Sheldon. Seeing the girls waiting for him Raj knew he was in trouble. Howard handed him a glass of wine as soon as he entered and sitting down with a resigned sigh he said,
"I don't want to talk about Sheldon! I know you have questions but it is not my place to say why we have been arguing, you need to talk to Sheldon."
"Raj you know he wont tell us, and at this rate the wedding will be a disaster with you two barely able to look at each other."
"Maybe there shouldn't be a wedding" muttered Raj.
"RAJ!" Penny shouted "stop being so dramatic and tell me what Dr whack-a-doodle has done to annoy you"
Scared Penny was going to go all Nebraska on his ass Raj pulled out his phone and pulled up the picture Steve had sent him of Katy and showed it to the girls.
"Who's that?" asked Penny quietly, scared she already knew the answer just from the look on Rajs face.
"That is Katerine. Sheldon's daughter."
Howard moved to look over Penny's shoulder at the picture.
"son of a ….. how long have you known this" growled Penny standing up and throwing the phone down on the seat she had just vacated and pacing the floor.
"Oh God... poor Amy" gasped Bernadette.
"You can see now why I cant bear to be in the same room as him. Em, Katys mother, is the sweetest girl. She deserves better than the way Sheldon has treated her. She doesn't deserve this crap and her friends have closed in around her and wont let me see her. Sheldon refuses to acknowledge any of this is happening, or so I thought, but I found out recently he has been to see Katy."
"Shit" said Penny "We have to tell Amy, she deserves to know!"
"It will break her heart!"said Bernadette
"She still has a right to know what Sheldon has done. Leonard will never believe this!"
"Penny, Sheldon is going to be mad I have told you guys. Be careful I don't want you to all fall out too.
"Raj right now my concern is Amy, not Sheldon. He doesn't deserve our loyalty but Amy does.
~73~73~73~
Amy looked at the faces of her friends then back down at the phone in her hand.
"How... Why..." she mumbled.
"Ames" Penny moved to put her arm around Amy's shoulder
"No! Shouted Amy standing up. "I don't need sympathy, I need to see Sheldon and ask what he has to say for himself. Someone is obviously jealous of our relationship and trying to break us up"
"Amy look at that baby. This isn't a joke. Sheldon has a daughter, her name is Katy. He has been to visit her! He has lied to everyone and he had done so whilst arranging to marry you!"
Shaking her head Amy stood up and handed the phone back to Raj.
"Thank you all for coming. I would like to ask you to please not mention our conversation to Sheldon. If what you say is true then I need to ask him face to face. Raj please can you forward me that picture."
Nodding Raj quickly forward the picture, then followed Penny Howard and Bernadette out of the apartment.
Amy sat back down and picking up her phone stared at the baby.
How could Sheldon do this to her? He had been distracted again recently and now Amy knew why!
The wedding was planned, invitations sent and Amy shuddered at the thought of explaining to her family that the man she had paraded in front of them, had gloated about for hours, had gone and got some stranger pregnant.
Amy wasn't jealous of the baby, she did not particularly want children of her own. It was more the fact Sheldon had slept with someone else. Knowing how long it had taken to persuade Sheldon to hold her hand, let alone anything else, the thought of him being intimate with someone also made Amys stomach turn.
"Sheldon we need to talk" Amy typed into her phone and hit send before she could change her mind.
"Sure Amy, do you want to skype?"
"no Sheldon I need you to come here now please"
"Amy is everything ok?"
"Sheldon just come round now please we will talk when you get here."
Sighing, Amy moved to the bathroom washed her face and changed into fresh clothes. She needed to feel strong and confident for whatever she was about to learn.
~73~73~73~
Amy answered the door on Sheldon's third knock. Closing it behind him she motioned him to take a seat and placed a bottle o water on the table in front of him.
Sheldon frowned. "Amy? What is wrong?"
Not speaking Amy just opened the picture on her phone and placed it on the table in front of Sheldon.
"Oh" Sheldon mumbled.
"OH! All you can say is OH! Sheldon you better have more to say than that."
"Amy … I ..." wiping his hand over his face Sheldon started again "Amy, nothing I say will make this better. Is this Raj's doing? Did he show you this?"
"Really Sheldon? Blaming Raj? I thought I wanted to hear what you had to say but I really don't. Please will you take this as my formally declare our relationship agreement and our engagement null and void. I will inform all concerned parties the wedding is cancelled and I will be sending you any bills that arise due to our late cancellation. I do not want to see you again Sheldon. Please leave."
Sheldon, shocked at this unexpected turn of events did as Amy asked. At the door he turned
"Amy I'm... "
"Just go Sheldon"
He left.
Amy picked up the phone on the table and deleted the photo.
Then typed:
"Sheldon and I have cancelled our wedding. I do not wish to go into details. Please respect my wishes. Amy Farrah Fowler"
Sending the message to everyone in her address book Amy put down her phone and closed her eyes.
~73~73~73~