Chapter 13: It's all over?

Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Sheldon just kept that on an endless loop in his head, if he didn't he risked spiraling right back into thinking about the event that transpired merely an hour ago, he was numb but numb was better than…well better than reliving a second of it. He hadn't moved or spoken in a while so got out of his hospital waiting room chair and went to ask about Missy and Georgie. Last he heard Missy should have the bullet removed without much trouble and Georgie had a grade 2 concussion but should recover.

"They're almost done, they'll be in recovery soon" the nurse explained solemnly

Sheldon returned to his seat, there were several magazines in front of him but he neglected to look at them.

"SHELDON!" a voice boomed through the entire waiting room, alerting everyone else there, although Sheldon recognized it so he wasn't as shocked.

His mother sprinted across the floor and kneeled to his level faster than he would have expected "SHELDON ARE YOU ALRIGHT, WHAT HAPPENED?"

"I'm fine" Sheldon responded, he spoke calmly almost whispering "Missy and Georgie are almost finished"

His delivery threw her off guard, nothing could have prepared her for how underwhelming yet heartbreaking it was.

Eventually Dad and Meemaw also showed up and tried to comfort him, they kept pushing to try and get him to explain what happened but he didn't have much interest. The Dr's eventually finished patching up Missy and Georgie and let them rest. George went home and back a few times, bringing Sheldon whatever he wanted in an effort to get him to open up but to little avail.

The wait for his siblings was staggering, but he was gonna be with them when they woke up. Mom, Dad, and Meemaw all popped in and out but usually waited in the waiting area outside. Sheldon still had 3 minutes left on his timer before he would switch to Georgie's recovery room, he might not be able to see them today, with his timer nearly going off Sheldon packed his stuff and ready to leave Missy's

"Ogh" he heard a whimper come from behind him

Sheldon turned swiftly and saw Missy push herself up on her bed, it took her a moment to fully wake up until they locked glances. She pushed herself off the bed to her feet, Sheldon immediately running to help her before she hurt herself. She had some pain as she pulled her shirt up and looked at her bullet wound, it still hurt but she seemed fine to stand on her own.

Before she could say anything Sheldon stepped towards his bag and pulled out a few papers stapled together, once Missy grabbed it she realized it was the math test he graded for her only this time with the 52/80 crossed out and a 100 replacing it.

Missy took a moment before she tossed it onto the floor and hugged her brother. He returned the embrace and tried to hold himself together.

After what Sheldon was shocked to learn was only a little over a day he and his siblings were finally back home.

"Are you hungry I..I can make dinner" Mary offered

"Yes, that sounds nice" Sheldon said calmly before going to play with his trains

"Sheld-" Georgie tried to get his attention but he kept going "you think he'll be alright"

Mary bit her lip not knowing what to say. Doctors said any physical damage should heal in a few days, physical damage. "I hope" was all she could get out.

Meanwhile Sheldon was staring at his trains, out of the corner of his eye seeing the Ho-scale model set that he was showing off a little over a month ago. What once held so much value to him now hurt his eyes, so he threw it away.

Knock knock

Sheldon swiftly turned to see Georgie at the door "..can we talk, please"

Sheldon nodded and pulled out a chair for him, once they were both sitting he braced for the worst "before you say it, I'm so sorry"

"Wait What!"

"You almost died and-"

"NO! STOP!" Georgie said a bit too abruptly but needed to keep him from finishing "Sheldon if it wasn't for you I'd be….you know, and you paid for it" Georgie said solemnly "I... just know that I'll never forget that"

"It was my fault you were there in the first place"

"It wasn't your fault" Georgie asserted "it was hers"

Sheldon didn't say anything, he just sat there with Georgie trying to have fun with his trains.

After several minutes they both came back in "I'm gonna go lie down" Sheldon said before going to his room. Georgie sat on the couch but instantly regretted it, no way he could watch tv with mom cooking so loud. He went to the kitchen to see if he could help, he saw Mary smashing her knife down cutting carrots-

"WOAH" Georgie leaped in and stopped her from accidentally chopping her fingers off

"Mhh ugh thank you" Mary said, before returning to making dinner.

"You feeling ok? You need to lie down?"

"No" Mary bluntly said "I'm gonna make everyone dinner, gonna let you watch tv, stay up late if he wants, don't even have to pray tonight if he don't want, or tomorrow, or next week, or-" Mary said before bursting into tears

Georgie comforted her until she raised her head again "you need to calm down"

Mary sighed "...everything that happened was my fault….and to make worse my punishment will probably be getting stuck next to her in hell for eternity"

"This isn't what'll help" Georgie told her "(sighs) go lie down I'll.. order or something"

"I..alright" she hesitantly said before went to bed and locked the door

Georgie put in some effort to find something to make but everything would take too long. He approached Sheldon's room "Sheldon, I'm gonna order something for dinner, do you want to get a pizz-?" he was cut off by the view through the crack of his door of Sheldon crying. A large part of him wanted to go in and help him but Sheldon needed to let some feelings out by himself. He closed the door and went out to get the pizza.

On the way out he noticed Missy at the Spark's door "GO AWAY!" he heard Brenda Sparks scream in tears "I SAID GO" she yelled again. Missy obliged and left, Georgie met her at the door and offered her to get the pizza with him.

After about ten minutes after they left Sheldon emerged from his room to find the house mostly empty and his mom asleep while rolled in a ball. He went to the back yard to investigate something. He picked up his robber trap and yes, the shoe definitely belonged to Stephanie. She was causing all their problems right under his nose.

"Hey! Loser I want to talk to you" Bobbie Sparks yelled

Sheldon just sighed as he's now experienced far worse "you know what, have at it. Feel free to throw or shoot whatever you want at me"

"I guess those genius rumors are gone because you were such an idiot with that lady"

"Yeah agreed" Sheldon said completely disregarding his sibling's words

Bobbie rolled her eyes "and your fucking bitch sister should've kept her nose clean"

Sheldon dropped the robber trap.

"What did you just say to me?" he said before barreling towards her. He grabbed her hair and slammed her face into the fence "What Did You Just Say!" he said yanking her as hard as he could "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME! WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME!" he furiously spoke, the most threatening he's ever been

"I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry" Sheldon yanked harder "I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY" She said pleaded in tears

Sheldon started to regain his thoughts upon seeing her bloody nose and released her, she immediately ran home crying. Sheldon recognized his mistake a moment too late and missed his chance to yell out that he's sorry.

Sheldon stood there hating himself for a full three minutes. Finally Georgie and Missy came back with dinner. After what just happened, he might not be out of danger yet, maybe he really needed to talk about all this. He walked back into the house, both terrified and happy to get it off his chest, one way or another he needed to.

The End

Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this story and I can only hope I handled the sensitive topics respectfully. In case anyone was curious, yes the title is meant to be ironic since Stephanie wasn't a stranger by the time she started showing her true colors. This was a pretty big milestone for me, this was my first M rated story, I might make another one if it suits the story or concept but don't have any plans as of now. Thank you for reading, and Please Review!