"The X-Advisors..."

"The X-Advisors..." Part XIV...

"Ok..." Penny, smoothing... "Lets go see my husband..."

"You'll be ok?" Raj, to Lucy who nodded.

"You bet she will..." Bernadette smiled... "While you give Leonard a hard time, we'll be dishin' the dirt here..."

Penny led Howard, Sheldon, and Raj in following the waiting nurse to the elevators...Waving as the doors closed...

"Was Dr. Stein still there?" she asked. Raj frowned..."Yes...And I think Lucy hit the nail on the head. He didn't come about Leonard."

"You think he came to speak to me?" Sheldon, puzzled. Then a bit concerned. "About Susan?"

"Not you, I think..." Raj shook head. Howard eyeing him...

"Well..." Dr. Stein had risen from his seat... "I should be getting along, now that Dr. Hofstadter is settled."

"Thank you for coming, doctor. Sheldon appreciated it." Amy nodded.

"Before I go, Amy..." he eyed her... "Could I have a word?"

Bernadette, Lucy, glance to each...Amy, calmly. "Certainly." She rose, letting him lead her out of the ER to the patio just outside.

Bernadette and Lucy hurrying over to peer out...

"What do we do?" Lucy whispered.

"We leave it to Amy...But if she seems in distress or trouble, we take Frankenstein out." Bernadette, grimly.

"I imagine you've guessed I didn't come simply to see about Dr. Hofstadter..." Stein eyed Amy.

"Of course..." she nodded. "Your daughter asked you to speak to me. What did she ask you to say? Please give up Sheldon?" calm stare...

"No..." he shook his head. "Though I would ask you to, if she hadn't told me not to."

...

"It's really all my fault..." Stein sighed as they stood on the ER patio. "I brought them together...The year I came to Austin and I became Sheldon's adviser."

"That was the year he lost Dr. Brown, his first adviser..." Amy sighed. "He loved Dr. Brown, more than anyone but his mother and his grandparents, I think. It really hurt him."

"Yes...Cooper's never forgiven me for not being Emmet Brown...There's nothing I can do about that, though I did see a lot of myself in him and tried to help him, he wouldn't let me in." Stein sighed. "Thank God he had you though, eh?" calm stare.

I...Amy blinked...

"Like young Cooper, I also have an eidetic memory, my dear..." Stein eyed her. "I never forget a face...And was you that day in my office, pretending to be Sheldon's twin sister, telling me you were worried about him and could I please go and see if he was all right." He noted calmly.

"You were a student at Austin...And you knew him. Though he didn't know you, did he?" he eyed her. "You've been in love with him since then, at least, right?"

"No...And yes, but even longer." Amy shook her head. "I came to Austin because I knew he was there. And when I heard crazy Sheldon Cooper had locked himself in his room and wasn't coming out except to class...And I saw him, looking like...After Dr. Brown had died. I had to do something, I had to..."

"I'm glad you did..." Stein nodded. "I knew young Cooper had problems but I'd just started there and barely knew my students, mostly inherited from Emmet Brown. It saved his life, I think, poor strange boy. I never met anyone so like my own younger self...I'm just sorry I couldn't connect with him as ole Emmet did."

"There was more between your daughter and Sheldon than he's told me yet, wasn't there?" Amy eyed him.

Stein shrugged... "For him, probably not...I'm sure he's not lied to you, dear girl. He's incapable of it. But for Susan..." sad look..."You see, Amy, in a way...You're my nemesis..." he noted sadly. "The obstacle to my poor girl's hopes for happiness..." he looked away.

"He's her angel...The one pure thing in her life." Amy, calmly. "I know the feeling...And no, whatever my friends say about me...I am not noble enough to give him up."

"I didn't expect you were..." he smiled. "Not Maggie Fowler's granddaughter...No, she'd die for her love, fight for it, cherish it...Kill for it...But give it up? Never...No, the moment I saw you tonight, Amy, I knew Susan's hopes were a fantasy. Still, they've kept her going since she lost Sheldon to Physics all those years ago."

"That's why..." Amy stared. "She became a physicist to please Sheldon..."

"God knows not to please me. Not that I ever wanted her to be one. I'd've been happy for her to stay doing what she did, if she'd loved doing it." Stein smiled wanly. "Not the attitude many would say marks a good father, I suppose...But..."

"Why does Dr. Francis hate you and Susan so?" Amy looked at him. "You and he were like Sheldon and Leonard once...But he's been telling me..."

"Beware the fiendish Stein...Yes. With good reason, from his point of view." Shrug.