Author's Note: Here's another Shamy oneshot because I just can't get enough of these two. :)
Disclaimer: The Big Bang Theory © Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady
The low, steady beeping sound of a heart monitor gradually drew Amy out of her restless sleep. She blinked wearily as she opened her eyes to a blindingly white ceiling. She squinted, adjusting her eyes to the light, her breathing soft and uneven as she began to slowly regain consciousness.
She looked to her right, where the monitor was beeping, a black screen with lime green numbers keeping track of her heart rate and blood pressure. Her eyes widened at the sight of it, and she sucked in a sharp breath, realizing suddenly that she was not at all in her apartment.
She felt the urge to sit up then, but she found herself unable to move. Somehow, she felt physically restrained, as though there were some invisible heavy weight resting on top of her body, making it impossible for her to even lift her arms. In fact, her entire upper body felt numb.
Finally, she looked down, and her eyes bulged when she saw a thin white blanket covering her body. Her right arm lay across her stomach, outside of the blanket, and it was there that she saw a plastic wristband snapped across her wrist, with her name Farrah, Amy written in light, scratchy black ink across a label.
A hospital bracelet?
"Oh, finally, you're awake."
Amy gasped softly, her eyebrows raising as she looked up to see none other than her boyfriend, Sheldon Cooper, entering the room and walking right over to her. Amy swallowed, feeling that her throat was dry. She wasn't so much surprised to see him as she was to see what he was holding. It was a bouquet of flowers, consisting of carnations, roses, daises and several other types of flowers, ranging in colors from orange and yellow to fuchsia and lavender.
Amy's lips parted, and she listened with a slight panicking fear to her own raspy voice as she hesitantly spoke.
"Sheldon? What's going on?"
Sheldon stopped when he reached the side of her bed, forcing Amy to crane her neck slightly to get a better look at him. He set the bouquet down on a table beside the bed.
"I'll tell you what's going on," Sheldon began, already sounding exasperated. He folded his arms over his chest. "I've been here for approximately…" He paused to look at his watch. "…three and a half hours, the majority of which time I spent in the germ-ridden waiting room because the receptionist at the front desk wouldn't let me see you, despite the fact that I'd thoroughly explained to her that I was your boyfriend and needed to see you immediately to make sure that you were all right. I even brought the original copy of the Relationship Agreement with me to show her legal proof, but she stubbornly insisted that I had to wait until you were—"
"No, Sheldon," Amy finally interrupted, trying her best to speak loudly over him, but she found herself severely lacking in strength and could barely talk higher than a whisper. "I meant what am I doing here?"
"You don't remember?" Sheldon asked, sounding genuinely surprised all of a sudden, which truthfully scared Amy, because she really didn't remember. She watched as Sheldon unfolded his arms, only to clasp his hands behind his back, bowing his head a little, preparing himself for another rant. "Well then, since you don't recall, allow me to briefly summarize last night's events for you. It was Thursday night, the third Thursday of the month, our scheduled date night. We had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, and, as per usual, Penny took forever to serve us our—"
"No, of course I remember all of that, Sheldon," Amy said, growing slightly annoyed then. "I just don't understand how I ended up here. The last thing I remember was dropping you off at your apartment and proceeding to drive to my own apartment. I remember being stopped at a red light when, out of nowhere, a car sped past and collided right into…"
Amy trailed off, her eyes widening, as Sheldon began slowly nodding his head.
"Yes, well, naturally, being that you're now my emergency contact, and myself, yours, I was contacted fairly quickly, though, in all honesty, not as quickly as I would've preferred," Sheldon admitted. "Thankfully, though, it turns out that you didn't suffer any serious head trauma or severe bodily injuries, aside from some bruises and quite a bit of blood loss."
Hearing that, Amy felt her heart stop. She was frightened to think that all of this had occurred without her knowledge.
"However," Sheldon continued, "as you can imagine, your car was totaled, and your insurance will most likely increase a great deal due to the accident, but I'm sure that, since the accident was not at all your fault but rather the fault of some careless buffoon, you will receive a well-deserved compensation for this whole mess sooner rather than later."
Amy slowly lowered her eyes from Sheldon to take in all of this information. She suddenly felt dizzy, possibly from the fact that she was currently here in the hospital, or perhaps the fact that she'd now have to deal with the repercussions of the car accident and search for a temporary way to get around, or maybe it was the thought of picturing Sheldon in a panic-stricken state as he had to deal with his fear of hospitals to come visit her.
Although, that last one didn't exactly stress her out. On the contrary, it sort of made her feel a bit…warm inside. Sheldon Cooper, her typically emotionally distant boyfriend, actually worrying about her. The thought seemed almost impossible, yet it had to be true, for he was here now, wasn't he?
And he'd brought her flowers, she suddenly remembered.
"Sheldon," Amy said, deliberately speaking soft so as not to strain her voice. "Are…are those flowers over there for me?"
Sheldon furrowed his eyebrows for a moment, before turning to the neglected flowers resting on the table.
"Oh," he said in realization, picking them up and staring down at them. "Right. These flowers. Yes, of course these are for you."
As he extended them towards her, Amy felt her heart swoon inside her chest, a smile simultaneously spreading across her face. She gently took them from him and held them up to her nose, inhaling their sweet-smelling aroma, her smile only growing wider as she pulled them away and looked up at him.
"Sheldon, that was incredibly thoughtful of you."
Again, Sheldon furrowed his eyebrows.
"Me? Oh, goodness, no. Don't be absurd, Amy. I wasn't the one who bought you those flowers."
And just like that, Amy's smile crumbled.
"What?" she said, not even bothering to mask her utter disappointment, not that Sheldon would've caught on, anyway. "Well, if you didn't, then…"
"Penny and Bernadette. And Leonard," Sheldon said. "They all insisted that it was mandatory social protocol to bring somebody flowers while they're in the hospital, especially being that you're my girlfriend and in a dire situation."
Amy looked down at the flowers again, but now, not even the fluorescent colors could bring the smile back to her face.
"Personally, I don't understand how flowers are supposed to make someone who's sick or injured feel any better," Sheldon said. "If you ask me, there seems to be a negative correlation between flowers and a person who's sick and suffering in the hospital."
It was now Amy's turn to furrow her eyebrows.
"In other words, it seems to imply that the person receiving the flowers, regardless of how serious their illness or injury is, only deserves a temporary bout of happiness provided by said flowers which are, when it all comes down to it, a complete waste of money, given that they'll wilt and die after a mere week or so. In actuality, a person who's sick and dying themselves doesn't need flowers to remind them of that. In order to feel better, they of course need medicine and treatment, but they also need practical things that will provide them with comfort and warmth."
It was at that moment that Amy slowly began to suspect that Sheldon actually had some sort of genuine point for saying all of this, and she perked up a little bit as he went on with his elaborate rant.
"Which is why, as you may or may not have noticed, Amy, I've taken the liberty of bringing you a fresh pair of socks to wear. My emergency white cotton socks, to be precise."
Stunned by this, Amy looked down at her feet to see for herself that she was, indeed, wearing a pair of soft, clean white socks. Sheldon's socks. She'd never thought in her wildest dreams that she'd ever be wearing an article of clothing belonging to her boyfriend.
Well, on second thought, that wasn't necessarily true. She had, in fact, dreamt about wearing his clothes before, though it wasn't his socks, but rather one of his precious superhero themed t-shirts as she cuddled with him in his bed after an oh-so-satisfying night of passionate love-making.
But this was definitely a start. Quite a wonderful start, too.
"Sheldon…" Amy said, her heart swelling once more as she looked up at him. She could feel tears inexplicably stinging her eyes, and she only smiled harder, feeling overwhelmed with sudden happiness. She subconsciously squeezed the bounded stems of flowers in her hand, the clear plastic covering around them crinkling against her palm.
Sheldon looked to be somewhat frightened by her abrupt change in emotion, as his eyes widened a bit, and he'd even dropped his arms to his sides, looking uncomfortable and rather uncertain about how he himself should react. Amy briefly looked down at her feet again, tapping her heels together, as though she were wearing Dorothy's ruby red slippers.
"Thank you," she whispered at last.
Sheldon's expression gradually softened as he nodded his head.
"Yes, well," he said, clearing his throat as he looked down and clasped his hands behind his back again. He was beginning to get embarrassed; Amy could tell. "You're welcome."
She watched as Sheldon fidgeted for a few moments as he continued staring down at the ground. Finally, though, he glanced up, catching Amy's gaze, and though he still looked a little uncomfortable, he didn't look away from her.
"Do you, um…need anything else?" Sheldon asked, and hearing his soft, hospitable tone only made Amy smile even more. "Perhaps a warm beverage or something to eat?"
"Actually, yes, I could go for a warm cup of chamomile tea," she said.
"All right," Sheldon said with another nod. "I'll be back shortly."
He turned and began to walk away from her then, but just as he was about to leave the room, he paused, hesitating for a moment. Finally, he seemed to make a decision, and he turned around to face Amy again.
"Amy?" Sheldon said, his voice suddenly timid, and hearing him say her name like that took Amy by such surprise that she felt her heartbeat quicken.
"Yes, Sheldon?" she asked gently, matching his soft tone.
He silently strolled back over to her, and when he reached her again, he stopped and stared down at her for what felt like a very long moment. His blue eyes were wide now, as though they were searching her. She stared up at him, suddenly feeling nervous.
And then, she watched in utter amazement as her normally distant boyfriend leaned down towards her in one quick swoop and, with the most delicate amount of pressure, pressed those wonderfully thin beckoning lips of his against her forehead.
Amy immediately inhaled a quiet breath and felt her eyes drift shut as she reveled in the feeling of Sheldon's warm mouth gently pressing against her skin. She released the breath she'd just drawn in by sighing softly, feeling her heartbeat accelerate with a rush of blood to her cheeks.
As Sheldon slowly pulled back from her, she allowed her eyes to flutter back open to see his beautiful blue eyes staring down at her with a powerful amount of emotion.
"Please don't scare me like that ever again," he said in a voice that was far too soft and genuine to be even remotely condescending.
She felt his hand enclose against her own, which she realized then must have gone limp at some point while he was kissing her forehead, for she was no longer holding the flowers. They instead simply rested on top of her stomach. She felt Sheldon's thumb stroke the back of her hand, and she breathed out in a relaxed sigh as another smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.
"I won't, Sheldon. I promise," she said, wholeheartedly intending to keep her word.