Mary beamed at Sheldon as he sat eating dinner and absentmindedly hummed to himself. Penny stared at him quizzically. She leaned over to Leonard and whispered, "He hasn't gone cuckoo, has he- you know, in a different way?"

"No," Leonard said mid-swallow. "Amy's been playing music for him every day this week, and he really likes it. Like, a lot."

"Huh," Penny said.

There came a knock on the door. "Oh yeah, I invited Raj and Howard," Leonard said, and he got up to open the door.

Sheldon looked ready to scurry out of the living room, but Amy, who was sitting next to him on the couch, patted his knee and sad, "Sheldon, they aren't dangerous. They won't say anything mean and they never have. Don't leave this time, okay?"

Sheldon still looked poised to flee the scene, but he ever so slowly relaxed back into the couch. He didn't resume his humming.

Howard swaggered in, and a silent Raj followed close behind. They promptly sat in their usual spots, Howard on the couch and Raj on the floor. Amy raised her eyebrows at Sheldon ominously.
Sheldon said, with some force, "Hi, Howard and RJ."

Sheldon had taken to calling Raj RJ. He, for some reason, had some trouble with pronouncing the simple, one-syllable name. Leonard handed both Raj and Howard plates of food and sat back down. They dug right in.

After a few minutes of eating and realizing that Sheldon hadn't left yet, Howard said, "Wow Sheldon, I haven't eaten dinner with you in a while." Sheldon nodded tersely.

"He's getting a good grip on conversation and people in general, so he feels more compelled to hang around less familiar friends," Amy said.

"Did I tell you he's learnin' how to read?" Mary cooed. "And really fast, too. We only started a couple a days ago and he can already read all the way through 'Frisky Little Puppy'. Learnin' all quick like he did when he started readin' the first time."

Raj snorted loudly, and stretched up to whisper in Howard's ear. "I know, frisky," Howard whispered, chuckling. Penny glared at them.

"It's called 'Poky Little Puppy', Mrs. Cooper, though the book does focus on the puppy's frisky personality," Amy said. This time, both Howard and Raj both covered their faces, shoulders shuddering from silent laughter. Amy looked over at them with contempt and continued, "Sheldon's learning has already proved to be quite rapid, but this has been the most impressive thing he's done in recovery so far."

"Farrah told me to sing what I read," Sheldon said. "And it's a lot easier for me that way. Isn't that weird?"

"Amy." Mary corrected.

"Farrah sounds better," Sheldon said. "Amy is hard to remember."

"How is the name 'Amy' hard to remember?" Penny asked.

"I dunno, it just IS." Sheldon retorted. Amy could tell his temper was beginning to rise. She quietly said to him, "Hey, if you finish your dinner right now, we'll go straight to your room and we'll listen to all of the Chopin you want."

Sheldon smiled. "Alright," he said, immediately forgetting his anger. He spooned three mouthfuls of casserole into his mouth in rapid succession.

"What do you think about Thai food tomorrow?" Leonard said. "You're a wonderful cook, Mrs. Cooper, but man, it's been months since I've had anything exotic. I've been craving chicken satay and spring rolls for a while."

"Of course you can bring home some Thai. I wouldn't mind takin' a break from cookin' for a day," Mary said.

They all focused on their food for a few minutes, until Sheldon's fork clattered onto his plate and he loudly said, "Done!" Everyone looked up, a little startled. "May I be excused?" he asked his mother.

"You most certainly can," said Mrs. Cooper sweetly.

Sheldon straightened up and bounded to the hallway. "Come on, Farrah!" Amy looked apologetically at her friends, scraped the last bit of food off of her plate, popped it in her mouth, and then carried both hers and Sheldon's plates to the kitchen.

"Sheldon, can you type Chopin?"
"Spell it?"
"C-H-O-P-I-N. Can you remember that?"
"Yeah."
Sheldon stared at the laptop's computer until he recognized the C, and jabbed it. "You don't have to press so hard," Amy said.
"Oh. What's the next letter again?"
"H."
Sheldon found the H, and then with a little more speed the O, saw the P next to it. Then he pressed the 1, which Amy corrected for him, and finally the N. "Now what do I press?"
"Enter. Do you know what that word looks like?"
"Does it start with an... I?"
"An E."
"Okay. So. E... N... T... R..."
"E-N-T-E-R," Amy said, "all on one button."
Sheldon found it and pressed it. A new webpage flashed before them.
"Click on the first picture," Amy encouraged.

Sheldon clicked on the YouTube homepage icon. "No, not that one," Amy sighed kindly, and reached over to press the back button and then click on the first thumbnail.

As soon as the sound of Chopin's Nocturne No.2 began to fill the room, Amy picked up the laptop, and they both sat back against Sheldon's headboard. Amy increased the volume, and began browsing through Scientific American's website as Sheldon lay in content silence.

A few minutes later Sheldon piped up. "You know, I've read about Chopin before." Amy looked at him with interest. "Do you remember anything?" she asked.

Sheldon immediately began, "Frederic Chopin was a Polish composer. He grew up in a very musical family and he composed his first piece at age seven. Throughout his life of just thirty-nine years, he has composed several piano sonatas, nocturnes, waltzes, and etudes that have altered musical history through his unique fingering techniques and display of emotions in his pieces. Some of his most famous pieces include the Funeral March and Nocturne Opus 9 Number 2..."

Amy stared at him with astonishment as he recited an extensive biography of the composer.

Sheldon finished, looking shocked at the sudden wave of information he'd just recounted.

"Sheldon, that was very good." Amy said excitedly. Do you remember reading about anything else?"

"Uh, yeah. Mozart! I related to him. 'Cause he was a prodigy too, and sometimes he got real tired and grew up not knowin' how to deal with a lot of things. I remember readin' a book about him and promisin' myself that I wouldn't let people make me do things that I didn't want to. And that I was never gonna have a hard time takin' care of myself."

His description already had much less formal edge than the previous one. Amy was no less amazed, however. She was about to ask him to describe how he was remembering things when Sheldon suddenly said "Farrah? I want a piano."

Amy was slightly confused by the sudden change of subject, but she didn't skip a beat. "A piano would be too big to put in this apartment. It'd also be too loud."

"Oh, well, never mind then."

"But they have electronic pianos, and you can carry those around. Would you like to go shopping tomorrow to find one?"

Sheldon's face lit up magnificently. "I sure would!"

The next day, after Sheldon had chosen a keyboard from Best Buy and he and Amy brought it home, Sheldon requested that they take it out of the box immediately.

Amy held on to the piano as Sheldon held the box. Amy slid the brand new keyboard out, and then set it on the floor with a hollow clunk.

Sheldon rushed past her, immediately sat down on the floor in front of it, and began striking at the keys. He faltered when he realized there was no sound. And then, with the air that he'd just had a Eureka moment, he stood up, unraveled the cord and plugged it in, and then sat down and triumphantly pressed the "on" button.

He drew his notes back to the keys and started playing wildly, as vigorously and inaccurately as a three-year-old child.

Soon he grew bored with the lack of musical structure, found a note he liked, and pressed it a few times redundantly.

Amy watched as his finger creeped down to another note. It was sour, so he tried again until it sounded appropriate, and then another note, and he continued the process until he had plunked out a familiar tune. Amy was trying to remember where she had heard it from when suddenly Mary was behind her. "Is that Soft Kitty, Shelly?"

Sheldon stopped playing and looked up at his his mother. "Yes, mother." he said happily, and turned back to the keyboard.

A/N: All I can say is I would really appreciate some constructive, harsh criticism. I'm lacking confidence again xD (I realize that sounds a little contradictory).