THE LEAVENING ENTHRALLMENT

Summary: What made Amy connect the dots, when Howard and Raj cued her in about being the object of a tall, clumsy nerd's infatuation? Her experience with another tall, clumsy nerd. One-shot.

A/N: This little plot bunny just wouldn't leave me alone ever since I read the taping report for The Occupation Recalibration. So I thought I'd let it run free.

"He brought you a pretty rock…" Raj chimes in, with a knowing smirk.

Amy can't believe he too is in support of Howard's ridiculous theory that Burt, the awkward geologist, has a crush on her. As if bringing her rocks is any indication of romantic interest!

"So?" She tries, once again, to rebuff their insinuations, searching her memory and extremely limited experience with the opposite sex to come up with a logical explanation. "He does that everyd…"

"I have to admit," Amy took a sip of her fennel tea and inhaled the aroma as she swallowed. "Herbal infusions do make tepid water much more enjoyable."

Sheldon looked at her with a self-congratulatory smirk. "You're welcome."

The oven timer went off, and he spun around on the kitchen stool, slipping on a pair of oven mitts. A moment later, he deposited a fresh loaf of bread on a wooden board in front of Amy.

"My apologies. I know sourdough bread isn't customary accompaniment for afternoon tea, but I've been trying to perfect my recipe for a while and I would appreciate your opinion."

Amy studied the loaf in between them. "I wasn't aware that you could bake."

Sheldon shrugged. "I rarely do. My time is too valuable to bake for no reason."

He grabbed a bread knife and swiftly cut half of the loaf into slices, gesturing for Amy to take one. She broke one of the slices in half and gave it a tentative bite. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Mmmm, this is delicious! The crust is crunchy and you struck a perfect balance with the acidity." Amy ripped another bite of bread with her teeth and closed her eyes in bliss as she chewed.

When she opened her eyes again, she found Sheldon staring at her.

She felt her neck suddenly warm up, an inexplicable reaction that spread to her cheeks and lasted long after he got up from his stool to take their mugs to the sink.

Amy swirled the hot liquid around in her mug. Having never experienced hangovers before in her life, she was not sure whether it was to be expected that the pounding in her head would transfer to her heart.

"It occurred to me…" she started, the pounding increasing by the minute. "That we never established which point we wish to restore our relationship from."

Sheldon stopped blowing on his own tea, taken aback by her statement. "Oh!" He paused. "We didn't, did we?"

"We did not." She looked down at her lap. "I can't help but feel that the situation is currently undefin–"

Amy was startled when Sheldon suddenly rose from his spot and made a beeline for the kitchen island. "Hold on! I forgot about our snacks."

He walked back with a proud smile, carrying a plate displaying a meticulous arrangement of fluffy, sweet smelling slices of bread. "Banana bread."

"You baked again!" Amy exclaimed excitedly, immediately reaching out for the plate.

He nodded. "Since you appreciated my baking last time, I went with sweet this time. It complements afternoon tea better."

Silence fell between them as Amy helped herself to a slice. She devoured it quickly.

"Once again, delicious." She wiped a crumb from the corner of her mouth with her thumb and looked at Sheldon again. "What were we saying again?"

Sheldon shrugged and took a slice for himself. "I don't recall…"

The familiar succession of triple knocks, followed by her name, broke Amy's concentration. She raised her eyes from the microscope to look at the door.

"Sheldon? I wasn't expecting you." She greeted the physicist, as he stepped into her lab. "What brings you here?"

Sheldon nodded in greeting. "Are you busy?"

"Well, yes…" she gestured at the microscope in front of her.

"Oh. That's unfortunate."

Despite his apparently apologetic tone, Sheldon took two quick strides towards her lab counter. Sliding the strap off his shoulder, he started rummaging inside his messenger bag. "I thought I'd bring you a token of appreciation for talking Penny into removing that infested chair."

"Right. The chair." Amy took off her latex gloves and made her way towards him, a fake smile plastered on her face. She fought hard not to scratch the itch on her tushy that the memory of that chair elicited in her. "That I got her to remove. Sure…"

After a few more seconds of rummaging, Sheldon presented her with a rectangular loaf, wrapped in cling film. "Here."

Amy eyed the gift with curiosity. "More bread?"

"Zucchini bread."

"You came all the way over to UCLA, unscheduled and unannounced, to bring me zucchini bread?"

Sheldon huffed. "I went through the trouble of baking this bread. Surely you do not expect me to let it go to waste just because you don't want to take a break from tinkering around with your brain slices?"

"Well, no… I…"

"Then take the bread." Sheldon shoved it more forcefully towards her.

Amy took it from him, this time with a genuine smile. "Thank you, Sheldon."

"You're welcome."

He slung his bag back over his shoulder, turned on his heel. A second later he was gone.

Amy rubbed her tummy over her labcoat and stretched, lunch filling her stomach and starting to make her drowsy. "So… To what do I owe this wonderful olive bread? It might be one of your best ones yet."

Sheldon shrugged. "No reason…"

She raised her eyebrow at him. "No reason?"

He shook his head. "Yes. No reason." Leaning over the styrofoam containers and water bottles on the lab counter, Sheldon ripped off another piece of bread and stuffed it in his mouth.

He stared straight ahead. "So… Um. I heard you and Leonard had a pleasant time at the wedding on Friday?"

The first thing Amy became aware of was the lancinating pain in her head.

The second was the smell of freshly baked bread in her nostrils.

She opened her eyes, squinting at the bright light shining from her desk lamp and groaned. With a shaky arm, she propped herself up from her fetal position on her couch.

She peered over the back of the couch to make out Sheldon's blurry shape in the dim light of her kitchen as he bent over, peering into her oven.

"Sheldon?" She groped around for her glasses. "What… what happened?"

Sheldon jumped at the sound of her voice, and straightened up to look at her. "Oh, you finally came to."

"Are you… baking?" she frowned in confusion.

"Bread will help with the inevitable nausea you will experience shortly. I found some walnuts in your cupboard and some whole flour."

He handed her a steaming mug, and stood by the couch, arms folded across his chest. "Really, Amy? Getting drunk in a liquor store parking lot? I don't think it's behavior becoming of a respected scientist."

Amy felt a wave of nausea mixed with shame hit her at that very moment, and she placed her free hand on her abdomen, head spinning lightly. "Well, that was embarrassing…" She looked up at him, sheepishly. "But thanks for looking after me."

Sheldon waved a hand at her, shrugging. "It's fine. You're my..." he broke eye contact, and picked at a piece of lint on his pant leg "… friend."

"Drink your tea. Bread will be ready shortly." With one last tight-lipped smile at her, he turned and walked back to the kitchen.

"So, he does that everyd…"

As the dots connect and realization dawns on her, Amy looks at Raj and Howard, the two nodding eagerly, and the rebuttal quickly dies on her tongue in favor of another exclamation.

"…Ohhhh!"

A/N: I honestly don't know what it is with me and flashbacks. I swear I will write a normal story one day. I swear. Until then…