This title is obviously not a real song-title, and you will understand the meaning once you've read the chapter. The song however is real. Its name is "Gabriellas Sång" and it is from the movie this story is inspired by. The lyrics at the end of this chapter are from the translated version of the song, since the original is Swedish (and – just saying this – if you want to listen to this song, please listen to the original Swedish version, it is so much better than the translated version).

At this point I'd like to thank everyone who is still reading this story! I know it's a tad dramatic and the Shamy romance is moving slowly for now. But I promise, things are about to heat up very soon. On the drama part and on the romance part.

As It Is In Heaven

Chapter 14 – "Missy's Song"

Thus began a very busy time in Sheldon's life.

Determined to win the competition, he first had Amy convince the more reluctant members of the choir to enter in the first place.

She did that quite successfully and he once again admired her persuasive nature. But after she had been able to persuade him into managing the choir with her, he guessed, he should not be surprised at all.

He knew firsthand that it was almost impossible, saying no to her.

When that had been cleared up, he had put his all into coming up with the perfect program. He had asked everyone for suggestions and then spent hours on listening to each and every song that was recommended to him.

He had watched and analyzed videos of former competitions. Per Amy's suggestion, he had even looked up the competition and checked their social media for videos of recent performances.

Amy had given him a key to her – well, technically his – house, so he could go there and use the piano even when she was at work.

It was strange at first, being there without her, but after a while, he embraced it, and he always had a pot of tea waiting when she came home.

The choir practiced every other day in the early evening and after that, he and Amy would go back to her place to do more work on the arrangements.

Except for family dinners on Saturday, they always ordered food to her place and more than once they worked together well into his usual bedtime.

Of course he always went back home to sleep in his own bed, but other than that, it was almost as if they were living together. And even when he was back in his own room, she was always there. On his mind and in his dreams.

And it came as a surprise, but he did not mind at all. No matter how much time he spent with her, he couldn't seem to get enough of her.

His mother never commented on it when he came home in the middle of the night, but she did scold him once for always ordering food, when she had made it a habit to cook heart-friendly dishes for him.

"You're still recovering from a heart attack, Sheldon.", she reminded him. "Please keep that in mind and take care of your health."

He scoffed at her. That had been months ago. He felt much healthier now than he did then.

But then Amy heard about it and suddenly, there always seemed to be a big salad on the menu to whatever they ordered.

"I'm sorry, Sheldon. But I intend to have you in my life for a very long time.", she told him, when he asked about it and he really couldn't be mad at her for it.

Then a day happened, that made Sheldon hope, things for Missy would take a turn for the better soon.

On what started like a usual family dinner, Robbie complained about the choir practicing so much.

"It just feels… wrong. All those women spending so many evenings out. They should be spending that time with their families. It's been so stressful. And it's not even for church. We hardly eat dinner on time anymore. And surely Mary, you must be fed up with babysitting every week for so many hours."

Sheldon looked at Mary, gauging her reaction. She used to mostly agree with Robbie, but ever since Missy had shown up with a black eye – even his mother must have seen that – her behavior towards Robbie had been indifferent at best.

"Oh no, I love spending all this time with my lovely grandchildren.", she insisted. "In fact, Robbie, if you worry about this all being too much for Missy, why don't I make the kids dinner whenever the choir practices? Missy can come too, and you can go out with your friends if you want. I mean… it's only temporarily of course, until the competition is over. I think we all should do what we can to help Missy reduce some of her workload during this time."

He smiled as he felt Amy squeeze his upper leg under the table.

Yes, this was definitely a sign that some things were changing for the better.

Robbie seemed to have lost the ability to speak for a second, as he stared at Mary in shock.

"That's a great idea, mother.", Sheldon chimed in since Missy seemed to be frozen on the spot. "And maybe, if Missy has more time to practice, she could sing a solo. I've wanted to give her one ever since I took over the choir, but she always said she has no time."

"It is unseemly for a woman, trying to be the center of attention.", Robbie grumbled from his seat. "The bible says 'Do not let your adorning be external'".

Sheldon rolled his eyes and was about to protest, but his mother beat him to the punch.

"The bible also says 'Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre, sing praises to Him with a harp of ten strings.'", she disagreed. "God has blessed my daughter with a lovely voice for a reason. She should use it. Thank you, Shelly, this is such a lovely idea!"

Even Georgie nodded at him.

"Well done, little brother. I've heard you're really doing well with this choir thing. Didn't think you'd have it in you."

Why did he suddenly have to blink like that? Was there something in his eye?

"I… I can't take all the credit. I really couldn't have done this without Amy."

Amy's eyes shifted to his and they shared a smile like they so often did. Without even thinking about it, he covered her hand, that was still on his leg, with his.

"Th… thank you, Sheldon.", she stuttered as she squeezed his hand lightly.

It gave him goosebumps, the way she looked at him and he ignored the curious glances of the members of his family as again, he felt himself lost in her eyes.

He knew what they were thinking. It did not matter. They were probably right anyway. And deep inside, he knew, he would not be able to deny himself much longer.

As usual, he walked Amy home afterwards.

"So… thank you for dinner.", she said as she stood in front of her door.

He looked at her surprised. She had thanked his mother already. This was strange.

"Thanks for joining us. I had a… nice time.", he mumbled, a little unsure if this was the right thing to say.

Somehow, he felt a tension between them, like he often did, although he didn't really know what to do about it.

"You think, Missy will sing a solo?", he finally asked to break the silence. Also, this topic had been on his mind since dinner.

She shrugged.

"I don't know. She seemed a little scared after what Robbie said about a good woman not seeking to be the center of attention."

Yes, he had sensed this too.

"I just think it would be good for her. She always loved it as a child. People looking at her. Paying attention to her."

"Hey, what if I share my solo with her?", Amy offered. "It would give her a reason to come over and spend time with us here. We could practice together and then if she is too afraid to actually sing it on stage, it wouldn't be a problem."

He smiled at her softly.

"I can't ask you to share your solo, Amy. I know you're excited about it."

Amy had picked the perfect song for herself. 'I am Woman'. It fit her perfectly and he remembered how her eyes had lit up, when he had agreed to add it to the program.

"I am excited, yes. I love this song. But I think it would be perfect for Missy. And you're not asking. I'm offering."

Overcome with emotion, he pulled her close and hugged her to his chest.

"Thank you, Amy. You are such a good friend. Not just to me. To Missy too."

He could hear her gasp before she returned his hug. He was surprised too. Yes, they had been affectionate in the past. Much more than he usually was with anyone. But hugging like this to say good-bye? This was new.

But he reveled in her touch. The way she wrapped her arms around his lower back and breathed against his chest. Just for a moment he allowed himself to rest his head on hers, her soft hair tickling his chin.

"I… uhm…", he said as he pulled away from her. "I'll text Missy to tell her about your idea. Maybe she can come over tomorrow after choir practice."

He was still holding her lightly by her hip and there was something in her eyes that made him not want to pull away from her completely.

"Sounds like a great plan.", she said, her throaty voice barely more than a whisper.

She bit her lip then and he inhaled sharply when she quickly kissed his cheek before turning away and going inside.

When he was lying in bed that night, he already knew he would dream of her again.

What would it be this time?

Her crawling into his bed again at night, completely naked and wanting him? That seemed to be the main theme of his dreams lately.

Or one of the more chaste dreams, where he took her dancing and she smiled at him as if he was the best thing in the world for her?

Or one of those really confusing dreams of her in his apartment in Pasadena, laughing and having Chinese food with him and his former friends?

Well, he would find out soon.

In the morning, after dreaming of countless variations of the hug they had shared, many of them much more intimate than the reality had been, he saw that Missy had texted him back.

To his surprise, she had agreed to their plan and so, after practice that day, Missy drove with them to Amy's house.

"Do you want to order pizza? Since it's Thursday?", Amy asked, as she went into the kitchen to start the tea kettle.

Sheldon had already taken his seat at the table while Missy stood awkwardly in the doorway.

He took his phone out and dialed the restaurant they usually ordered from.

"We usually take half peperoni, half vegetable, is that alright with you, Missy?"

His sister just nodded and finally sat down, her eyes shifting from Sheldon to Amy and back.

"That's a nice little routine you two have.", she whispered to Sheldon, who felt his cheeks turn slightly red.

"Yeah, well…", he whispered back. "We are so busy with the choir, and you know me. I like routines."

"Sure.", she answered and maybe for the first time since he had moved back to Texas, he saw his sister smile a little. "And I am sure it has nothing to do with how that girl makes your eyes sparkle whenever you are together."

"Missy.", he whisper-shouted.

Amy was not standing too far from them and even if the tea kettle made some noise, he couldn't be sure she did not hear them.

"So, about that solo.", Amy said as she came to the table with filled tea mugs. "What do you say I get the notes and then we can see how we divide the whole thing?"

Missy sighed. "Amy, I feel really bad about this. It is your solo. Are you really okay with this? You don't have to do me a favor."

"Missy, I am more than okay with it. Or I would not have offered.", Amy said sincerely. "You have such a nice voice. I really think it could be good for us if people could actually hear it in the competition."

Sheldon nodded in agreement.

"Besides, I don't think we should just divide the solo. I have given it some thought, and I'd like to change the arrangement, make some of it in two voices and divide the rest of it."

Both women were thrilled with his idea and while the women engaged in chit-chat until the pizza arrived, Sheldon already planned in his head, how the song could sound like in the end.

As they were eating, the conversation shifted from small town gossip to childhood memories.

While he wasn't a fan of that, he did enjoy how Missy seemed more at ease with every sentence she spoke. So much of the darkness that seemed to surround her was already dissipating as she was laughing with them and joking about the crazy things she and Sheldon had done as children.

"And were you two always into music growing up?", Amy finally asked.

"Well, I was.", Missy explained. "I always liked performing in school plays when I was younger. But not Sheldon. He was too busy with his experiments."

And then she told the story of how she had lost her eyebrows after he had improved her Easy Bake Oven.

Who cared about eyebrows, when he was trying to do a serious science experiment?

"Why weren't you interested in music? You said Erica noticed your perfect pitch. And you clearly have a talent for it.", Amy asked him after the laughter had died down.

He was about to answer but Missy was faster.

"Oh, I remember. He said musicians end up doing drugs and going broke."

He could have gotten mad at her for sharing embarrassing stories about him. But really, he just enjoyed seeing her so energetic. Almost like the Missy he knew from his childhood.

"You talk about this as if I didn't write you a song when we were seven.", he protested.

"A song?", Amy asked impressed. "What song?"

"Oh God, I can't believe you still remember that.", Missy exclaimed. "Right. That song. It was so cute."

"Of course, I remember, Missy. Eidetic memory.", he shrugged.

"What song?", Amy asked again.

Missy smiled at him silently.

"Why don't you tell that story, Shelly?"

He cleared his throat as he pondered the events that had let to the first and only song he had ever written.

"Well…", he started. "As I said, we were seven years old. It was before our parents agreed to let me skip schoolyears, so we still went to school together. There was this boy…", a painful expression washed over his face. He did not like talking about that part so much.

"This boy who always picked on Sheldon.", Missy continued for him. "He used to hide his things and break his pencils. And sometimes he used to hide near our house and throw rocks at Sheldon when he came outside."

"Gosh, that sounds horrible. You weren't even safe when you were home.", Amy said and gently touched his arm.

"He was just a stupid boy.", Sheldon said calmy.

He had hated that boy. But compared to how Robbie and his friends had treated him in High School, it really was nothing.

"Anyway, one day, I had enough.", Missy said. "Sheldon might have been weird, but I couldn't let this behavior fly."

"If I remember correctly, and you know I do.", he interjected grinning at her. "Your exact words were: 'If anyone throws stuff at my twin brother, it's me.'"

Amy broke out laughter and Missy playfully slapped his arm.

"Well… yeah.", she agreed. "And I still stand by it."

"Then what did you do?", Amy asked her curiously.

"I punched him.", Missy said simply.

Sheldon snorted. "That's an understatement. First, she grabbed a rock and threw it back at him. She hit his nose. Then she tackled him to the ground and punched him repeatedly, screaming 'Leave my brother be, you ugly stupid dumbass'. Our father had to pull her away from him and call the boy's parents because he wouldn't stop wailing."

"But he never bullied you again.", Missy finished the story. "And neither did the other kids at our school."

She was right. He had been able to live peacefully until he met Robbie in High School.

"So… the song?", Amy asked then.

"Our parents grounded me for what I did.", Missy explained. "And I wasn't allowed to go to the movies with my best friend and her parents like I had planned to do. I was sitting in our room, sulking because I thought this was so unfair. I only protected my brother, and I got in trouble for it."

"Well, it wasn't necessary to beat him up like this. Our parents were right about that.", Sheldon argued, and it earned him a scoff from Missy. "However, even if I did not agree with her actions, I felt bad for Missy. I wanted to cheer her up. So…"

"So, you wrote her a song!", Amy exclaimed. "Oh, this is so cute."

Sheldon was so busy looking at Amy, he was surprised when he heard Missy starting to sing softly.

It was a stupid song really. With lyrics so clumsy, he felt embarrassed for a second when he heard them again.

But well, he had been seven years old. Writing this song in a hurry because his sister had been crying in their room when he had wanted to read a science book. And he had lacked the social abilities to know how to make her feel better.

And while, at that age, he was perfectly capable of writing scientific papers that went way above the heads of all the people he used to know, he had no experience with songwriting.

It was about how they were opposites that still belonged together. Words like 'You're a cation, I'm an anion' and 'You are Kirk, I am Spock'.

But he was moved by the way, Missy sang it, so softly and with tears in her eyes.

How come she even remembered the lyrics so well? It had been more than thirty years. And he hadn't even written it down for her.

"Oh God, Sheldon, I haven't thought about this song in so many years.", Missy finally said as she was finished. "It was so sweet of you to write it for me. It might have been the nicest thing you ever did."

"Well…", he shrugged. "You beat up a bully for me so… it was the least I could do."

She chuckled.

"I was a wild kid, wasn't I?"

"You were a force to be reckoned with.", he agreed, still grinning. "Everyone knew, you don't mess with Missy if you know what's good for you. I think no one knew that better than I did."

"I mean… you did try to pimp me out for cheese a few years later so I guess that lesson didn't stick."

"He did WHAT?", Amy shouted, and Sheldon cringed as his sister started to tell that story.

Luckily, the pizza delivery guy chose this exact moment to ring the doorbell and he got up to help Amy set up the plates.

"This is going incredibly well.", she whispered to him as Missy went to wash her hands.

And he could only agree.

After eating they spent more than an hour, reworking the music Amy had initially chosen for herself and practicing it. He was amazed by how well the two women's voices worked together.

Amy's rich, deep voice complimented Missy's bright soprano voice and the result sounded almost angelic.

He knew, it was the right decision for the competition to let them sing this powerful song together.

And it had only taken a few hours for Missy to seem happier than she had all this time. At least for the moment, she was almost her old self again.

Later that night, when he was in his room, the melody that had been stuck in his head for months reappeared in his mind again. And while it did, he could see Missy's face in front of him as clear as if she was there.

He grabbed the music sheets on which he had written down part of it and wrote the rest.

And then words seemed to be pouring out of him.

Words he connected to what his sister was going through. Words that were hopeful. Words he wanted her to say.

He wrote them down in no particular order, but after a while, they matched the melody that was already on the page.

"I have never lost who I was, I have only left it sleeping"

"It is now that my life is mine. We only have this short time on Earth"

"I want to feel that I'm alive"

"I want to be happy being who I am. I want to be strong and free."

For the second time in his life, Sheldon Cooper was writing a song for his sister. And this one, he felt, was much more important than the first.

And it was good. It was a really good song. Too bad it was too late for this competition.

But maybe Missy could sing it in Los Angeles, provided they were going to win in Houston.

He had to fight the urge to run over to Amy's and play her the song. She would love it, he knew that.

Tomorrow, he promised himself.

Finally, he was ready to go to bed.

But before he fell asleep, he felt fear gripping at him.

Robbie would not like any of this.

How would he react, if Missy would really start trying to reclaim her life?