A/N: Thank you for all of the lovely responses to the first chapter of this story, including a few requests to make this story longer. I don't know if there is more to tell here, but Amy's past and her family are something that I always want to see explored more. Thank you for reading. I'll see you folks next time.

When Sheldon looked over at Amy again, she seemed to be sleeping peacefully. He slipped out of the bed and out of his room and out of his apartment. Then he knocked on the door across the hall.

"Hey, Sheldon. I heard Amy had a bit of an accident this morning. Is she okay?" Penny asked when she answered the door.

"Yeah. She's sleeping right now. Can I come in?" Sheldon asked.

"Yeah. What's up?" Penny asked.

"Has Amy ever told you about her brother?" Sheldon started.

"Sweetie, Amy doesn't have a brother. She told me that she's an only child several times," Penny said looking at Sheldon like he was the one with a bump on the head.

"She told me this morning that she had a little brother, but he died when she was a kid. You're her best friend. I was just wondering if she had ever told you. I understand why she had never told me. I've been told that I'm not very warm, but you are," Sheldon explained.

"No. I've never heard anything about a brother," Penny said as she sat down on the couch next to Sheldon. "How did he die?"

"Cancer. When he was eight," Sheldon said sadly. He was thinking about how Amy's voice broke as she told him about it.

"Poor Amy," Penny said.

"Do I say something to her?" Sheldon asked.

"Just let her know you are willing to listen and mean it," Penny told him.

"That's it?"

"Sorry, Sheldon. That's all you really can do. You lost your dad. Was there anything anyone could do that would make it better?" Penny asked.

"No," Sheldon said. Sheldon was frustrated. It wasn't often that he came upon a problem that he couldn't solve. He didn't like it, but he understood. Sheldon decided to go be there for Amy even though she was likely still asleep. He said goodbye to Penny and went back to his apartment.

In his room, Amy's arm was reaching across the bed like she was looking for him in her sleep. Sheldon decided that a little nap wouldn't hurt, so he changed into his pajamas and got into his bed with her. She pulled her arm back to her body once he was there. Sheldon had to admit to himself, even if he couldn't to anyone else, it was nice falling asleep with Amy next to him.

Sheldon woke up, but didn't leave Amy except for a quick trip to the bathroom. He wanted to make sure that he was there if she needed something. She didn't try to cuddle him or anything in her sleep. In fact, she seemed to be conscious of his location even in her sleep and tried to keep a careful no contact position.

When Amy did wake up she was surprised that Sheldon was still in the bed with her. Though, she knew he must have left for a little while because he was in pajamas now.

"Don't fall out of bed again," Sheldon said. He was worried that she would panic and try to get away from him again.

"I won't," Amy told him with a smile. She was trying to find a little humor in the day's events.

"About what you told me earlier..." Sheldon started.

"I don't want to talk about it," Amy interrupted him.

"I just want you to know that I will listen," Sheldon finished.

"I don't want to talk about it!" Amy nearly shouted. "It was a mistake telling you. Just forget about it, okay?"

"Okay," Sheldon said. "The offer still stands," he added. He wanted to make sure she knew that he was there for her.

"This is all your fault, so just drop it," Amy said.

"What is my fault?"

"When he died, I swore I wouldn't have any love in my life again. I didn't want friends, and I certainly didn't want a boyfriend. I found love to be an unnecessary cultural construct that added no value to my life. It hurt too much and it wasn't worth it. However, despite my protests, my mother made me date. She knew how I felt, but she seemed to think she could make me love again by getting me to date. Instead, I found you. You seemed so much like me that I thought we could be friends, and I could use you to get my mother off my case. You could be someone I could talk to without ever really feeling anything. You would never make me love you. And then you did. You made me love you and you made me love your friends. Do you have any idea how much pain that is going to cause me one day?" Amy said. By the time she stopped, she was sobbing.

"Amy," was all Sheldon could say. He reached out his hand to touch her shoulder, but she pulled away from him.

"Don't, Sheldon. You aren't allowed to pretend that you care about this. You've never cared about my feelings the whole time we've been together," Amy said.

That stung Sheldon. He knew that he wasn't the best boyfriend and he knew that he made plenty of mistakes, but he often went out of his comfort zone to be there for Amy.

"That's not fair. I always care about your feelings," Sheldon said.

"That's funny. Can you give me an example?" Amy asked. She realized that she was being unfairly mean to Sheldon. "I'm sorry. I know you care in your own way," she added quickly before Sheldon could say anything.

"I let you sleep in my bed," Sheldon answered anyway. Didn't she see what a big deal that was? She was the only person who was even allowed to come into his room when she wanted. She was the only person he had ever kissed. He loved her. He told her all of those things while she sat quietly. "I'm not saying that you need to talk to me about him or what happened, but I am here. I can't imagine it's the same, but I do know what it's like to lose someone I loved very much," Sheldon finished.

Sheldon didn't know what else to do, so he just kept lying there next to Amy. He didn't flinch away when she moved to put her arm around him. She was still crying, so he just let her hold him for a while. Then he moved to gently rub her back in soothing circles.

Through her sobs, Sheldon heard Amy say something he couldn't understand. "Deep breath," Sheldon said. After she did, he said, "Okay. What was that?"

"He wanted me to read him a story. I wouldn't because I had to do my homework. I promised him that I would read him a story the next day, but then he didn't make it through the night. I never got to read him that story," Amy said.

"You couldn't have known what was going to happen," Sheldon said. "You were just a little girl."

"I was eleven. At that age, you were graduating high school. I should have put him before my calculus homework. I knew he wasn't going to make it by then," Amy said. Then she pressed her face into Sheldon's chest. She was still upset, but she felt a little lighter talking to Sheldon about it. Not even her parents knew about the guilt she held onto all these years.

"I hadn't seen my dad in almost a year when he died. I kept putting off going home, and then it was too late," Sheldon said. He was trying to share with her, but he didn't know if it was helping. Amy's pain felt like a stab in the chest. He would do anything to make her stop hurting in that moment. Sheldon just felt so lost, but he knew he had to help her.

Amy started sobbing harder into Sheldon's chest again, so he stopped talking. He just kept rubbing her back and reminding her to breathe. Those were the only things that seemed to be helping. She was starting to calm a little when Leonard knocked on Sheldon's door twenty minutes later with dinner.

"We'll be out in a little bit," Sheldon said loudly to Leonard. Then he turned to Amy and said, "Do you want to eat now, or should I tell him that you are still resting?"

"I'll eat now," Amy said. Then she grabbed a tissue from Sheldon's nightstand and tried to clean up her face a little. She noticed that Sheldon's pajama top was tear stained, but he didn't seem to care. He just pulled his robe over it and went out to the living room.

Uncharacteristically, Sheldon forgot that everyone was coming over for dinner that night. His apartment was already full when he walked out there.

"In bed with your lady, Sheldon?" Howard asked.

"We were just taking a nap," Sheldon said.

"Sure," Howard replied as he looked at Bernadette with his eyebrows raised.

"She hit her head this morning," Penny snapped at Howard.

"Too bad it didn't knock some sense into her and made her leave Sheldon," Howard said back. Then he stopped when Amy appeared. She'd been in the bathroom and had washed her face, but they could all still tell she was upset.

Amy sat down next to Sheldon. She wondered if she should have changed into her clothes, but no one said anything about her pajamas. Penny touched her arm as she walked by in a way that made her think that Sheldon had told her friend about Aaron.

"Penny, please don't tell anyone," Amy said in a quiet voice. "Sheldon? Please? No one else."

"Of course not, but everyone in this room loves you. You don't have to hide anything from us," Penny told her. Leonard looked at Penny, but she just shook her head.

Bernadette was on the other side of Amy from Sheldon. Bernie just grabbed Amy's hand and squeezed it quickly before Sheldon handed his girlfriend a plate of food.

"Thanks," Amy said quietly with her head down. It was both to Penny for her words and to Sheldon for the food.

Leonard, Howard, Bernadette, and Raj all sat quietly because they had no idea what was happening. They were clearly left out of the loop, but it seemed like something very sensitive. It made dinner a little awkward, but they eventually started talking again. Amy remained quiet, but she was relieved when things seemed to go back to normal.

Despite the nap, Amy was tired when Howard and Bernadette got up to leave. Bernadette leaned in and told Amy that she would always listen without judgment. Then Raj got up and he told Amy that he cared about her and squeezed her shoulders before he left.

"Leonard, can you give us a few minutes?" Penny asked once it was just the four of them.

"Yeah," Leonard said. He got up and went into his bedroom.

When they were alone, Amy spoke first. "I don't want to talk about it," she said as she pulled her knees to her chest. "It was twenty years ago."

"It's obvious that it still hurts you," Penny said as she got up and moved to sit next to Amy. "You don't have to talk about it, but, sweetie, we love you. We want to help you though this."

"I know. I just haven't had anyone close enough to talk to about Aaron aside from my parents since it happened," Amy said quietly.

Penny put her arms around Amy and held her for a moment. She thought about the woman she first met who was so closed off, and how Amy had changed so much in the time that they had become friends. Had she really been without any kind of close friends for nearly twenty years? Penny just held Amy while she cried. Sheldon had his hand on Amy's back and they just sat there like that for a while. Waiting in case Amy changed her mind and wanted to talk.

"Can I come back out now?" Leonard asked after about ten minutes of them just sitting there together.

"Yeah," Amy said. She knew this wasn't over, but she still couldn't bring herself to talk about it. Despite living so long without wanting love, it was nice having it from someone other than her parents. She could tell that Leonard was concerned when he came back out.

"You can tell him, but please no one else," Amy said after a moment. Then she disengaged from her boyfriend and her best friend and went back into Sheldon's room.

Sheldon followed her. Amy was just looking through his comic books. She didn't take any of the out of the bags. She was just looking at the covers when he caught up to her.

"I haven't cried about him once since the funeral," Amy said without looking up. "Here I am blubbering to you three times in a day."

"Maybe that's why you are crying. I couldn't talk about my dad for six months after he died without crying," Sheldon said.

That took Amy by surprise. She had heard Sheldon say a lot of nice and not so nice things about his father, but he was never emotional about it.

"I should go ask Penny if I can sleep on her couch. Thank you for the hospitality," Amy said.

"Stop being ridiculous. You are sleeping in my bed until you feel up to going home. If you don't want to share a bed with me, I'll sleep on the couch. However, I've discovered that it's quite pleasant to sleep with you in my bed. You are quite warm and soft. There is something very calming about your presence. That must have been what the dream was trying to tell me," Sheldon told her.

"I'm fine sharing a bed with you, Sheldon. Thank you," Amy said. "Okay. I'm tired. I'm going to go back to bed," Amy added as she put Sheldon's comic books back.

Sheldon walked over to Amy and kissed her softly on the lips. Then he walked Amy over to the bed and tucked her in again. Amy wasn't sure she liked it because Sheldon was fond of having the blankets up to her chin, but she let him do it anyway. Once he left again, Amy pulled them down a little and went to sleep.

Sheldon went back out into the living room to see Penny and Leonard quietly talking. He sat in his spot and watched as Penny finished telling Leonard what she knew. Then they both looked at Sheldon.

"She's sleeping," Sheldon told them. "It seems that she hasn't spoken of her brother in a very long time. It's been taking a bit of a toll on her to bring him up after so long. I think we should let it go," Sheldon said. It would kill him to see her in any more pain. He would do anything to make her feel better.

"I agree. She needs some time. If she wants to come to us, then that's fine, but we probably shouldn't push it. I've never seen her that fragile," Penny said.

"Maybe we should call her mom. Sheldon, do you have that number?" Leonard said.

"Tell on her to her mom? That seems a little harsh," Penny said.

"Not 'tell on her.' I was just thinking that maybe we could get a bit more of the story. Also, if Amy hasn't spoken to anyone else about this in nearly twenty years, maybe we can talk to the people she has talked to," Leonard explained.

Sheldon pulled out his phone. "Should I call?" he asked.

Leonard and Penny both nodded their heads, so Sheldon found Mrs. Fowler's number in his phone.

"Hello," Mrs. Fowler answered after a couple of rings.

"Hello, Mrs. Fowler? It's Sheldon Cooper. Amy's boyfriend," Sheldon said.

"Sheldon? Is everything okay?"

"Yes. Well, no, but Amy's fine. Well, not fine, but she isn't hurt or anything," Sheldon said.

"Young man, out with it. You're going to give me a heart attack," Mrs. Fowler finally cut Sheldon off.

"Amy told me about Aaron this morning," Sheldon said.

"Oh. Really? She won't even talk to me about him anymore. I didn't think she told her friends about him. She certainly wouldn't talk to that therapist we sent her to," Amy's mother told Sheldon.

"Well, she fell out of bed this morning, so I took her to the hospital. She's fine, but the hospital upset her quite a lot. I think it just sort of came out. She doesn't want to talk about it now. We were wondering if you thought we should just let it go," Sheldon said.

"No. I don't think you should hound her about it, but she's been very closed off for a long time. I miss my son everyday, but I allowed myself to grieve for him. I don't think Amy ever did. She just built up a wall and locked him away. I think you and your friends have been chipping away at that wall for a while. She's been much warmer in the last year. If she's telling you about her brother, she might be ready to talk about him again. Please, don't let this opportunity just pass by," Amy's mother pleaded.

"Okay," Sheldon agreed. He hated seeing Amy in pain, but he also believe that Amy's mother had a point.

"Sheldon?" Mrs. Fowler asked her tone turning sad.

"Yes, ma'am," Sheldon said.

"Next week would be Aaron's 29th birthday. My husband and I go to the grave site every year to visit him. Amy hasn't been since before she went away for college. I know it's a long shot, but it would mean a lot to me if you could get her to go. Of course, you and your friends are welcome to come as well. Whatever it takes to get Amy to open up again," Mrs Fowler said.

"We'll try," Sheldon promised. Then he wished Amy's mother a good night and hung up the phone. He explained to Penny and Leonard what he learned and told them of his promise to Amy's mother. They both agreed to help, but there was nothing more that could be done until morning.

Sheldon decided to go back to bed. He wasn't sure if he could sleep since he had taken that nap with Amy, but he wanted to be with her. She was asleep, but unlike earlier, when Sheldon got into bed, Amy immediately curled into his side. Sheldon knew he shouldn't be comfortable with Amy pressed right against him like that, but maybe Amy wasn't the only one who had built up walls that were starting to crumble. Sheldon just put his hand on her back again and let her stay where she was.

The next morning, Sheldon made breakfast for himself and Amy. She told him that she was fine. Other than the purple bruise that had formed on her elbow, all traces of her accident the day before were gone.

"Amy, I called your mother yesterday," Sheldon said. He didn't know how she would react, so he flinched back in case she hit him.

"Why?"

"You know why. She said that Aaron's birthday is next week. She wanted me to try to convince you to come out to visit him with us. Leonard and Penny are already planning on coming. We think that Wolowitz, Bernadette, and Raj will come too when we ask them," Sheldon said.

"Well, have a nice afternoon with my parents, Sheldon."

"Just think about it."

"No. Why do you want to go, anyway?"

"I want to learn more about who you are. I thought I knew you, and then I learn this huge secret. I told you about the time that my dad locked me out of the house overnight because he was tired of me staying up all night reading, and you didn't even hint about this. We might not be as physically intimate as you'd like, but I didn't think we kept secrets from each other," Sheldon said.

That last part was true. They normally didn't keep secrets from each other. Sheldon had told her a lot of his past. He told her secrets that only she knew, but she'd held back the greatest pain she had ever known. It had been easy to tell him about mean girls and performing surgery on her own feet, but she was always convinced that the mention of one little boy would send him running. Instead, he was still there. Still trying to help her though this.

"Okay. Okay, I'll go, but you have to promise me that you won't leave me for a minute and that you'll hold my hand if I want you to without complaint," Amy started. Sheldon nodded in agreement. "You can ask everyone else if they want to come," she added. Amy didn't want to admit that it sounded nice to have so many friends supporting her. She may never wanted their love, but she certainly had it. She knew that.

Amy was thinking of backing out. She'd been back in her own apartment for several days now (though she did stay an extra day at Sheldon's even after the power had been restored in her building), and she was starting to feel nervous about going to the grave with her parents. It had been more than ten years since she had been, and without Sheldon's constant reassurance that he and their friends would be there, she was getting cold feet. It was going to hurt. It was a day that always hurt. Why did she need to go somewhere special for that?

Still, Amy grabbed the few things she had located for today. It had taken some work, including clearing out her closet, but she found it. Now, it was safely in her bag as she went downstairs to wait for her friends. Leonard offered to come pick her up so she didn't have to arrive alone.

They arrived right on time, and Amy got into the backseat with Sheldon. He surprised her by grabbing her hand as soon as she was in the car and had her seat belt on. It was a quiet drive to the cemetery, but Sheldon would squeeze Amy's hand every once in a while. He just wanted to remind her that he was there.

Rajesh, Howard, and Bernadette were already waiting there with her parents. Amy's mother was happily chatting with Bernadette while Raj and Howard spoke with her father. It seemed that Howard was talking about his time in space. He was moving around like he was without gravity. Amy's father was laughing. She wondered how he could laugh in this place.

As Amy got out of the car and started walking over she saw that her mother brought flowers and balloons like she always had. Amy's mother ran forward and wrapped Amy in a hug.

"I'm so glad you came. Just because he's gone, doesn't mean we should ever stop celebrating the time that we had him," Mrs. Fowler said. There were tears in her eyes as she said it.

"You're crying, Mother. Why do you do this to yourself?" Amy asked.

"I do it because love and life are worth celebrating. You should never give up on them. Especially since it seems like you are just starting to find them again. Your friends are lovely, and even though your boyfriend seems a little strange, I can see he loves you. Please don't lock yourself away again," Amy's mother told her.

Amy nodded and let her mother lead her over. Then Amy had to go through the ordeal of being hugged by her father and each of her friends before she was returned to Sheldon. He didn't hug her, but he took her hand back.

Tears streamed down Amy's face as she listened to both of her parents speak to her little brother as though he was still there. They updated him on their lives and told them how much they missed him. They were words that Amy would have never been able to say. After about an hour, everyone was ready to move on to lunch.

"Wait," Amy said. It was the first time she had spoken in nearly an hour. Everyone stopped and turned to her. Amy sat on the ground near the side of the headstone. She pulled the picture book out from her bag. Aaron had been too old for the book even when he died, but it was always his favorite. Amy stopped on the page where "Aaron" had been written messily in crayon. She ran her fingertips over it briefly before turning the page. Amy cleared her throat and started reading in a clear voice.

"In the great green room there was a telephone and a red balloon and a picture of a cow jumping over the moon..." Amy read. By the time she got to "Goodnight noises everywhere," Amy's voice was so quiet and so broken that the people around her couldn't make out the words she was reading anymore.

When Amy finally rose again, Sheldon put his arms around her. Amy knew she wasn't anywhere near healed, but she knew she was exactly where she was supposed to be. One day it would be easier, and until then she had the love of Sheldon, her parents, and her friends to pull her through.