Apartment 4A, 2311 N. Los Robles Avenue:

Amy was walking from the couch towards the door with Sheldon accompanying her. She smiled up to him: "I had a wonderful date night and greatly enjoyed the harp concert, Glière is one of my all-time favorites."

As she was already near the door, Sheldon stepped a bit closer to get it for her: "I know. And you're welcome. My music choice, however, was not completely altruistic as likewise, I take much pleasure watching you listening to it."

Baffled by his statement, she managed to reply: "Well, thank you again also for this delicious dinner."

"Amy. You of all people should know by now that I excel at so many things..." he stated in his matter-of-fact tone which some may find annoying and others cute as a button.

'That line just never gets old for him, does it?' Amy thought, and her gaze involuntarily flickered down to his lips until she became aware of it and looked down shyly. Just as she wondered whether she should remind him of the proper ending of date nights, he took the last step towards her, gently put his hands on both sides of her hips, and with a small smile at the corner of his lips moved his head towards her. Amy sighed and tilted her head upwards to meet him halfway, closing her eyes. Finally their lips met, slowly moving against each other. Gathering all her courage and trying to be a bit bolder around him, Amy leaned in to his touch, and as he didn't pull back, she even slid her arms up his back. Her touch sent shivers down Sheldon's spine, and as if he had just waited for some signal from her, somehow one of his hands took on a life of its own and found the back of her head, caressing her silky hair and holding her. His touch in return made her break out in goose bumps, and a low hum escaped her.

Afraid that she had overindulged herself and scared him away, she started to draw back, but Sheldon was having none of this. He needed to hear that hum again, of course just to ensure his Vulcan hearing had not tricked him. He now held her head softly, but firmly in both hands and gazed at her intently, as if seeking permission. As her eyes fluttered close, he kissed her again and ever so slightly started to suck on her lower lip. A low moan was heard, and it took a second for Sheldon to realize that it came from him. But any cognitive function he may have had to be embarrassed was driven away at this point by hearing her answering hum and the incredible feeling of holding her body pressed against him. The moan and the feeling of him sucking on her lip took Amy by surprise, her cheeks were hot from his touch and her belly made somersaults.

Gasping for breath, her lips parted, and that was all the invitation Sheldon needed. He licked her lower lip with the tip of his tongue, and as if on its own accord her tongue darted out to meet his, and Amy groaned at the sensation. Sheldon was overwhelmed with a sudden heat and desire at this new sensation and the sounds she was making. Their tongues entwined, first gently probing, then swirling around each other. Amy's knees became weak and instinctively she held on to his buttocks to not melt into a puddle on the floor. As he felt her hands on his bottom and her soft breasts pressed against his chest, he had to get even closer to her and, acting only on instinct, he grinded into her against the door, eliciting another moan from her.

At this moment, the door opened and Penny tried to come in, bumping Amy into him with the door leaf. Nearly losing their equilibrium, they first instinctively grabbed each other even tighter, then broke apart with a start, nearly jumping away from each other in embarrassment. "Holy crap on a cracker!" Penny's eyes were as large as saucers at this unexpected view. "Who are you and what have you done with Sheldon?" she cried.

"And hello to you too, Penny. In which universe does one enter each other's apartments without knocking? And people say I lack social manners..." Sheldon tried to say in his usual haughty derision tone, but his slightly shaking voice and his heavy-lidded eyes gave him away. He was also glad that Amy was standing between him and Penny, thus shielding an even more embarrassing situation from her view.

Amy quickly tried to explain with flushed cheeks: "Hi, Penny, we uhm... we were just ending our date night with the new... uhm requirements stated in our latest revision of the relationship agreement."

Penny was impressed: "Wow. I never thought I would say this in a context with Sheldon, but that was really hot!"

Sheldon chimed in, seemingly having restored some of his cognital functions: "Like you said, Penny, it is always good to keep the spark of bureaucracy alive. Good night, Amy Farrah Fowler!" and he smiled at her.

"Good night to you too, Sheldon." With weak legs, Amy turned happily away and through the door, aware of Sheldon's gaze upon her.

Penny went after her: "Hey Ames wait, do you have a minute? Actually I've been wanting to ask you something."

Amy looked at her happily: "Sure, Penny, let's go over to your place. Wow, date night and unscheduled girl's night on the same day, can it even get better?"

As Sheldon closed the door, he just thought: 'I surely hope so! - Wait, where did this thought come from? - Oh my, some Kolinahr might be really helpful right now...'

Apartment 4B:

Penny and Amy enter Penny's place, Penny is really exited: "All right now, Ames, spill the beans!"

"Wait, is Leonard not with you?"

"No, he just started a nightshift at this x-ray free-electron laser thingy, that's actually why I wanted to talk to you, but don't digress now!"

"It's so cute when you try to use scientific vocabulary, but I'm impressed, you got this one right!" Amy smiled at her bestie.

"So your turn to impress me now! What have you done to Sheldon?"

"I don't know, it was just a really nice evening, he cooked for me, we were just relaxed and happy, and I didn't even have to remind him that we agreed to end date nights with a kiss now..." Involuntarily her hand came up to touch her lips. "And then I tried to heed your advice and be more forthcoming, and then just one thing led to another, and hoo..."

"So it was a real kiss?" Penny was quite sure, but wanted to hear it from Amy.

"What do you mean? All our kisses are real... well except those from the zone..."

"I mean with tongue?" Penny clarified.

"Hoo, yes! And the best thing, he sort of started it! It seemed that he just needed some encouraging to stop holding back..."

"Wow, I didn't know he had it in him, I mean, come on, this is Sheldon we're talking about!"

"Right, and now you've got me worried. Because now he will have time to analyze it and find reasons why this change is bad, he might even break up with me, oh what have I done?" Amy started to panic and pace around.

"Relax, Amy. The way he looked, I'm sure he liked it... a lot!" Penny winked. "Don't you remember our secret talk about him 'working on it', you know? He's really trying for you. You may not realize it, but you do have a huge influence on him."

Amy relaxed a bit. "Perhaps you're right. I'm just so afraid he will become distant again. But since his train journey, he really has become more affectionate, and I like it a lot... But what was it you originally wanted to talk about?" All this was still so new to Amy that she felt safer for now to change the subject and first try to process everything that happened today on her own.

"Well, Leonard has some testing time tonight to set up his experiment or whatever, but next month there will be two weeks of beamtime again, and I had this talk with him about not letting Sheldon run his life, but he hasn't told Sheldon yet, and he won't be able to drive him to work, and I know you don't want to have to drive him, so I was thinking, couldn't you convince him of trying to drive by himself again?"

"Actually I wondered about it, too. He once told me about your drive to the hospital, and he might just need some more practicing. And it would be nice to have him come over to my apartment without his bus pants or someone else driving him..."

"Thanks Ames, you're the best!"

"Oh, how could I ever deny you a wish, my gorgeous bestie! Good night!"

"Good night, have a safe ride home - and sweet dreams!"

Department of motor vehicles:

Some days later, Sheldon and Amy entered the department of motor vehicles to prolong his learner's permit. Amy had been surprised that she hadn't needed more convincing, perhaps he really liked the idea of becoming more independent, or he just didn't want to repeat the experience of having to sleep in his office.

However, while they were waiting, Sheldon whined: "How much of my precious time has already been wasted in this queue..."

"You have spent much more time in other queues trying to watch previously unreleased approximately five to ten seconds of space movie footage."

"Why do you hate me?" He just had to hear the answer again, and Amy gave it gladly:

"I don't hate you, I love you."

"Well, you call it love, but it has a lot of waiting in it."

"You don't say." Amy muttered.

Whether the sarcasm was lost on him as usually, Amy could not tell, as it finally was their turn in the queue, and Sheldon handed his application to the DMV lady. She reeled off: "Take this to the testing area, put your name at the top, sign the bottom, answer the questions, bring it back, next!"

Amy already started to turn away, but Sheldon replied: "Excuse me, but I have serious concerns about these questions. Only six years, one month and 5 days ago, I have been to this department. Afterwards I filed in a suggestion for improvement, however, despite my further inquiry I haven't received any reply yet, and now I find that you are still using car lengths as a unit of length, and, even worse, the tachometer gauge as a distance measuring device, the two of them not even being subject to the same physical measurement units..."

The DMV lady interrupted him with an exasperated look: "Oh dear, I do remember you! Here's your prolonged learner's permit. Please go away."

Sheldon wanted to complain further, but Amy took his hand and pulled him away: "Let's go, seems to me you aced it again!"

He complied and to her surprise did not release her hand while they left. Happy about this unexpected display of affection in a public space, Amy looked up at him and smiled: "I just love it when you prove your points!"

Sheldon looked at her fondly: "Just wait until I get back to air traffic safety, I have some great ideas for the next letter of complaint, third time's the charm, you will be off this no-fly list in no time!"

Amy replied in a low voice: "Don't worry, there's no hurry, I also take much pleasure in train rides with you."

Sheldon bit his lower lip and muttered: "Why does everything always have to be about sex with you?"

Amy slightly blushed but decided to better not further continue with this topic. She was actually glad that he still behaved normally, i.e. Sheldon-normally, after their recent date-night kiss. They hadn't mentioned it, but he hadn't run away, that counted a lot for her.

Amy's car outside 2311 N. Los Robles Avenue:

It was Sunday afternoon, not too much traffic on the roads. Sheldon was sitting in the driver's seat with Amy next to him. All the preparations were done, in the correct order he had first adjusted his seat, then adjusted both side mirrors so that a portion of the door handle was visible in the lower corner. But he suddenly was not so sure any more about wanting to learn to drive.

"Amy. Do you really still think this is necessary? I have a perfect theoretical understanding of everything there is to know about driving. And I have done this before, on Wolowitz's simulator and even in reality."

'Ok, out with the bag of neurological tricks', Amy thought, and tried to explain: "You should know, when our memory is replete with successes and victories, difficult tasks do not fill us with apprehension or fear. Rather, the subconscious brain sends out a message saying, 'You have succeeded at his before, you can do this', which offers a great comfort in times of distress. This applies to every aspect of life, so the more you try, the easier it gets..."

However, her thoughts were wandering around now: 'No, don't think about those thin beckoning lips, oh no now you're looking at them, has he noticed? Think of something else, how to get this motor running... oh no bad example too...'

Only then she became aware of his intense gaze, and she averted her eyes down to the pedals: "Uhm... alright. How about you put your left foot on the coupling and start the motor, and then we'll see where we get."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, let's not descend into anarchy! We need a plan where to go, consider the safest route, and calculate the mean mileage and gas stations strategically positioned along the way..."

"Sheldon, the tank is full, all safety equipment is fully functional. How about, the journey is the reward?" Amy proposed.

"Oh please Amy. I feared that I had to expect such hippy-dippy malarkey from you..."

"Well, then, you could also get your bongos and we'll go wherever the music takes us," Amy shot back.

"How about, if you play your cards right, I'll drive you past the lot where the buses park at night." Just as the words left his mouth, he wondered why he said that at all, but too late to take it back now.

Amy looked at him with a strange expression, but frankly, most facial cues were strange to him. "I would like that," she finally answered.

"Good... So I will start the ignition here..." he tried to focus on the task at hand. "Yes! The motor is running, steady and smoothly", he proudly announced.

"Aaalright, and how exactly did you kill it now?" Amy asked cautiously to not distress him as the sound died down again.

"Uhm. One should not move one's feet around in joy of having succeeded?" he asked sheepishly.

"You've got it! Now try again, this time leave your left foot on the coupling." Amy encouraged. This time it worked.

"Now we engage the first gear..." Amy instructed and put her hand on top of his on the gear shift. Sheldon winced as if an electrical charge has run through him, the engine was stalled again and Amy quickly removed her hand.

"I'm sorry Sheldon!" she said in a defeated voice, cursing herself for reaching out to him without a warning.

"It's ok. You just... took me by surprise; I wasn't prepared for your touch. Let's try again."

"Ok, third time's the charm!" she smiled, glad that he wanted to continue, however, not quite sure what he meant with trying again.

He got the car running again and looked over to Amy with a lopsided grin.

'Is he trying to encourage me to take his hand again? Well, what do I have to lose...' Amy thought and with her hand on top of his they engaged the first gear. "Well, that wasn't so bad." Amy smiled to him.

"No, it wasn't..." – 'Can't you just focus one time on the task at hand instead of her hand?' he chastised himself. "Let's see, what's next... checking the traffic in the side mirror and activating the blinker... done! Now slowly applying the accelerator and releasing the coupling. Nailed it! We're on the road!"

"Sheldon, I'm proud of you! Now try to turn in the second gear..."

A short time later, after some internal struggling, Amy managed to ask: "Uhm... you are aware that the old lady with the walking frame just overtook us on the sidewalk?"

"That may be, but obviously she doesn't have to worry about all these pedals down here and those horrible car accident statistics."

"Well, Sheldon, as I thought this topic may arise, here's a fun fact for you: the leading causes of death in the U.S. are, in this order, heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic lower respiratory diseases, and accidental injury. So you should be quite safe here with me."

"Unless you're planning to give me another heart attack. ...Oh, oh, red light coming up in the distance, release accelerator..."

"Actually, at the current speed we're going, the lights will be green again by the time we get there."

Sheldon snorted and slowly applied the brake, not coming to a full stop yet. "Amy. Time dilatation you are indicating can only be observed when you are approaching the speed of light, and frankly we're not even remotely there yet. However, I was under the impression that you liked spending time with me."

"I do. Very much so... Whoa, eyes on the road Sheldon, squirrel ahead!" – 'He is indeed distracted easily... could it really be me?', Amy thought, not daring to hope so, but still trying to suppress a smile.

Suddenly in panic, he accidently first hit the accelerator before stepping on the break, making the car jump and halt abruptly, killing the engine again as the squirrel merrily jumped onto a tree near the road and the traffic lights turned green again, accompanied by some horn blowing behind him.

"My apologies, student driver!" he shouted backwards, this time successfully starting the engine again already at the second try.

Having passed the traffic lights he felt a bit safer again. "Amy, here is some other interesting factoid about driving: Did you know that the average person spends two weeks of their entire life waiting at red lights? What a relief that I am far above average!"

Some time later, they really made it to the lot where the buses park at night. Amy once told Sheldon she loved the place, it was quiet and one had a nice view across the town from there. Actually, it was rather romantic, too much so for Sheldon's liking, dangerous territory, thus he always had objected to go there.

"Whoa, that was a wild ride!" Sheldon was quite proud of himself, they made it to the place in one piece, and both of them were still alive. Very much so, judging from the rosy glow on Amy's cheeks. Amy was still not sure what had ridden him to choose this place as their destination for his first ride with her.

"Well, let's have a short break then, shall we?" Amy asked. "I like this place, it's quiet, especially on weekends, and not many other people care to come here. Look, that's a beautiful view of the sky today. See that cloud over there? Looks like that Yoda face..." – 'Just stop babbling, your boyfriend only took you to one of your favorite places where you're all alone... not helping at all here, are we? And since when do I talk about these Star War Trek things?' Amy chastised herself.

But Sheldon's answer surprised her: "I've never stopped to look at clouds before. Or rainbows. You know, I can tell you exactly why one appears in the sky, but considering its beauty has always been out of the question."

"Oh, Sheldon..."

"That actually was from Spock."

"Wait, isn't that the Kolinahr guy?" – 'That doesn't make sense, and why do I know this anyway?' Amy pondered again.

"He was under the influence of spores, drugged so to speak." Sheldon thought: 'Just like I am feeling around you all the time... Why did I bring this up? I knew this place was dangerous!'

"And what happened then?" Amy was really curious now to where this conversation had turned.

"He was rescued by Kirk." – 'Of course she would ask. No getting out of it now.'

"Oh."

'Did she sound disappointed? No, don't be!', Sheldon thought. "But he told him that for the first time in his life he was happy."

'So this is what it's about...', Amy thought and smiled at him warmly. "You make me happy, too."

He just had to look at this smile. She was so beautiful. Unknowingly, he licked his upper lip gazing at her. That little movement always drove Amy crazy, how she wished she could touch those lips again...

Sheldon seemed to have done some thinking of his own: "Ehm... I was just wondering, as we obviously had set up an appointment for today's driving lesson, that technically, this could be defined as a date..."

'Is he going with this where I hope he is? No, that can't be...' Amy thought hopefully.

"...And as we stopped driving, this would then count as an intermediate end of the date." He couldn't take his eyes away from her lips, which had formed a small 'o' during his elaboration.

'Yes!' was her only thought. - "I just love the way your mind works, Sheldon."

And so their heads leaned together and their lips finally met again. Just before her eyes closed, Amy could again see that small lopsided smile she loved so much. They made up for the awkwardness of their confined space with enthusiasm and commitment. Feeling even bolder than during their last kiss, Amy leaned into him as far as possible with their separate seats and tentatively let her tongue briefly lick his lower lip. And she nearly couldn't believe her luck again, but he parted his lips and let his tongue dart out to entwine with hers. They both moaned at the sensation, and seemed to be turned on even more by hearing the effect they had on each other.

Amy was still thinking all this was too good to be true and she would wake up soon entangled in rice Sheldon, but then Sheldon's hand came up ever so lightly to touch her cheek and the soft texture of her hair, sending shivers all over her body, and she stopped thinking at this point. Their tongues danced around each other more and more urgently, it just felt so good, they couldn't get enough.

Sheldon first was alerted at how fast they got to French kissing this time, but his hind brain seemed to like being in control and took over much faster than last time. He loved the texture of her skin and her soft hair and had to feel more of it. He wondered if the rest of her skin also tasted as sweet as her lips and slowly broke the kiss to trace his mouth down to her neck and started sucking lightly. It tasted differently, but oh so Amy, and he guessed he just had to take some more samples.

Amy was first disappointed when he broke the kiss, but was more than rewarded with what came next. She had never felt anything like this before and could not suppress the groan coming from deep within. "Oh my god Sheldon..."

He stopped and looked at her with dark intense eyes and tried to gather his brain functions for speech: "Uhm... what? Did I do something wrong?"

"Don't you dare to stop!" she gasped breathlessly and pulled him back into another kiss, their tongues mingling almost instantly. Sheldon had never felt so overwhelmed before, but in a good way. He was not a fan of touching at all, but strangely, from her he craved it. Not that he would admit it, it was all so new, but wonderful. 'So this is what love does', he thought. On his train journey, he had finally accepted his feelings for her as no other plausible explanation could withstand. So it was only the logical conclusion that he had to kiss her... again and again...

Her hands were not idle in the meantime, one had slipped up his torso, the other was clutching his thigh. It was all too much but not enough, he felt stronger and weaker at the same time. And he was getting more and more of a hard situation down there, but strangely did not care if she found out. He just had to feel more of her velvet skin. Like on its own will, one of his hands moved to her waist and sought entrance below all of her cursed layers of clothing, finally pulling out her blouse and touching her belly, slowly moving up in soft circles, all the while kissing her urgently.

At his touch of her bare skin, however, Amy's oxygen-deprived brain seemed to remember somewhere in her haze that she was rather self-conscious about her not so perfect body. Shortly before he found second base, she broke the kiss and reclined in her seat, panting heavily.

Sheldon was confused now. He needed her so badly - 'Oh really, now? Nice relationship of the mind you have there', a small portion of his brain nagged him, and she reciprocated for sure, and she always was the one to push him, and now what?

After having gotten his breathing under control, he gazed at her flushed face and her dilated pupils, so adorable... "Well... I'm not the best at reading facial cues, but I would say that you're a little turned on... so why did you stop?"

"Hoo... just a little? Do you have any idea that just a look of you can be enough to arouse me? And this was so much more I ever hoped for, but..."

Sheldon looked at her expectantly, but when she didn't finish, he asked: "But? Please don't play these closure games again with me. And you need to give me a cue, obviously I must have done something wrong, and I'll never figure it out on my own."

Amy was surprised by his honesty and needed to comfort him. "Sheldon, you did everything perfectly right. I just... I guess I panicked. I was overwhelmed, and I know I don't have a perfect body..."

"You're wrong. I've seen you before, and just as I told you at prom, you are beautiful. It's true that it was your mind that first intrigued me, but I fell in love with the whole package."

"Me, too", Amy smiled happily at the compliment, glad that he really saw her in such a way.

"I know." There he was, 'old' Sheldon again. "But there's more. I've tried to suppress it for a long time now, but you arouse me... a lot. So this is what happens when I don't try to rationalize it away". He finished sheepishly and shifted in his seat uneasily.

"Oh my." Amy put her hand on her lips. "So... you really did like the kiss?"

"Which one?"

"All of them."

"I do. A lot." – 'Great, now that vixen has me reduced to two-word sentences', he thought. - "Now, don't get ahead of yourself little lady. We have to put some control in it, otherwise we'd never be doing anything else. We can't be reduced to hippy dippy feelings like stupid people, it distracts me enough from work and sleep, but I'm afraid I've said too much already."

"Now you know how I felt all these years around you." Amy admitted in a low voice.

"Proposal: We drive home now, I need to make some preparations, and tomorrow evening we'll meet at my place to adapt the relationship agreement."

"I take it it's a date then?"

"You're on!"