A/N: Happy Easter everybody! This is a little holiday ficlet for you all, dedicated to my sweet friend Geeky Blue Strawberries. I hope you guys like it!

-YlvaB

There is such a thing as 'cute overload'

By YlvaBorealis

It was Good Friday so Sheldon had been notified he wasn't to be let in at the University.

Apparently one was supposed to be grateful for the opportunity to stay home from work and overindulge on food and sweets and alcoholic beverages. In his childhood home one had also been expected to recognize the death and resurrection of a young Jewish carpenter, which (according to his mother at least) included reading lengthy passages from the Holy Bible out loud at the dinner table, only to be dragged to church to sit through even lengthier readings of that same Bible. He never understood what difference it made if his mother read it or if the local priest did.

But that had been in Texas and this was California: a state wherein Good Friday was treated as any normal Friday and therefore all of Sheldon's favorite TV-shows were on.

'It seems every cloud really does have a silver lining' Sheldon Cooper mused as he made himself comfortable in his spot on the living room couch, the coffee table loaded with popcorn and Red Vines and cans of Diet Coke. 'Although I fail to see how one could possibly check every cloud to determine whether or not they're lined with silver' he added under his breath, getting caught up in working out how long it would take to investigate the matter. After a while he deemed it impossible to calculate as one had to assume that all clouds remained static which of course wasn't realistic. Clouds disappeared, everybody knew that. He decided to return his attention to his show, enjoying the fact that Penny and Leonard had travelled to Nebraska over the weekend to spend Easter with Penny's family.

Just as he had gotten all nice and comfy someone knocked on the door.

"What the lone star state…." Sheldon muttered, groaning as he got up from the couch, realizing that even though he still looked young there were signs indicating he was growing older. Shoving that thought as far back into his head as he possibly could he dragged himself to the front door, prepared to give whoever was behind it a piece of his mind.

"How many times do I have to tell you I do not have a minute to talk about Christ our lord and sav-" Sheldon bellowed at the small, dark haired woman in front of him, only to cut his words in half as he realized she wasn't a missionary. Sensible footwear, glasses, conservative clothing… well, she could have fooled him.

"Amy" he croaked as the smile on his girlfriend's face faded, "What are you doing here?"

Amy Farrah Fowler eyed her boyfriend up and down, from his brown leather shoes to his khaki pants, to his double t-shirts (one baseball, one short-sleeved with a vintage Batman print) to his dark hair and pale blue eyes. What had she expected? A Passover Miracle? That he'd greet her with a smile and a kiss and a 'oh sweetheart, you should have called first, but do come in, please'?

"You failed to inform me of your plans for the weekend, despite the fact that I sent you a written invitation to spend it with me 14 days ago. I have texted you 4 times since, requesting your opinion on the matter, but yet again you failed to reply. I decided to take matters into my own hands and pay you a surprise visit… and no, I don't care that you don't like surprises" Amy deadpanned, shoving a paper bag into Sheldon's arms, knocking the wind out of him.

"Ouufff… But Amy, you know how I feel about holidays and celebrations and surprises…" the tall lanky man whined as he followed this petite thunderstorm into his apartment.

"And I just said I don't care" Amy retorted as she dumped her jacket and purse on his work chair.

"Well, this isn't exactly turning out to be a nice surprise" Sheldon muttered as he placed the paper bag on the kitchen island, bending over to inspect its content.

Amy joined him behind the counter, snatching the bag from him in order to unpack it. He shot her an offended look, plunking down on one of the bar stools to sulk by himself as Amy unloaded one curious item after the other.

"I just hate it when you ignore me like that Sheldon" Amy sighed, wishing for the millionth time that he wouldn't treat spending time with her as an obligation.

"I'm not ignoring you, I'm ignoring the holidays. There's a difference" Sheldon corrected her, regarding the objects she had lined up on the counter. Eggs, paint brushes, onions, tin foil, food coloring…

"We're painting eggs?" he continued, resisting the urge to groan out loud. If he hadn't been cranky before…

"Yes, I thought it would be fun!" Amy replied, trying to smile at him. She'd been very excited at the store this morning, picking out all kinds of paint and glitter and stickers for her boyfriend, hoping he'd enjoy the opportunity to do something creative.

"Amy, I don't need unfertilized chicken ova to 'have fun' with you. We could have just watched a movie" Sheldon protested, massaging his temple as he tried to figure out a way to get out of this silly activity, but he knew he'd burned his chances by ignoring her texts and e-mails.

The petite brunette couldn't resist smiling to herself, unable to stay mad with her boyfriend for long. In the midst of all his complaining he was still her sweet babboo. She knew she could be a little hard on him sometimes: he often told her he enjoyed her company more than anyone else's, and to be fair she was aware he didn't care much for the holidays. It was hardly a secret. But then again, nothing was a secret when it came to Sheldon Cooper. He tended to be very vocal about his feelings.

"Quit sulking now Sheldon, let's have some fun. I thought we might make eggs both for consumption and for decorating. Go get me a saucepan will you?" she cooed, watching the lanky man as he reluctantly got off the bar stool, digging around in the cupboards for the requested saucepan.

"Didn't you do this as a child?" Amy asked as he handed the item to her, watching him furrow his eyebrows as he once again placed his sweet rear end on the bar stool.

"Oh yes… Egg hunts, Easter bunnies, painting, decorating… "Sheldon mumbled as he began peeling the onions and wrapping eggs in tin foil, "and endless… endless readings of Bible passages thrown into the mix just to spark things up."

"I'm sorry" Amy sympathized as she filled up two cups with water for them to wash their paint brushes in.

Sheldon shrugged in response, having finished making his egg-and-onion peel packages, putting the saucepan on the stove and cranking up the heat.

"They should be done in 15 minutes" he informed his girlfriend as he sat down next to her, curiously watching her as she poked two holes in one of the eggs, putting one of the ends against her lips.

"Uuuuuuugh" Sheldon groaned as Amy began blowing out the egg white and yolk into a small plastic bowl, gagging as the slimy mass slowly snaked its way out of the shell, like one big giant…

"Sheldon, do NOT say it" Amy warned him, slightly out of breath, shooting daggers at her cloyed boyfriend who couldn't contain his disgust.

"But it's so icky, Amy…" Sheldon whimpered, looking away as he clasped his hand over his mouth. If she thought he'd eat whatever she planned to make from that mangled blob she had another thing coming.

"What if I make one for you so you don't have to?" the bespectacled brunette offered, knowing he was sensitive. She really did feel bad for him. All she wanted was to have some fun with her boyfriend, that was all.

Sheldon regarded her quietly. Maybe he'd been a little difficult today. He had enjoyed painting eggs as a child and so far Amy hadn't really forced him to celebrate Easter, she just wanted to do something creative together.

"Alright…" he mumbled, earning him a grin from his girlfriend, who promised him he could look away as she blew out the contents of a second egg into the plastic bowl.

"Here" she said, handing it over to him. "Do whatever you want with it. I brought paint, glitter, stickers…"

"Thanks but no thanks Amy. I'd like to consider myself a purist" Sheldon declined, reaching for one of the brushes.

"So… just paint then?" Amy let out, unsure just what Sheldon meant by 'purist'.

He looked up at her, a blank expression on his face.

"Yes. Just paint".

"Alright then. I think I'll dip mine in glitter" Amy told him, coating her egg with a layer of purple paint, feeling herself relax as she noticed Sheldon getting into the task.

Once he'd been given an assignment Sheldon devoted himself to it fully. He carefully stroked the brush along the fibers of the egg, choosing a light blue for the base coat. The egg, which had looked unappealingly organic just a few minutes ago began looking more and more artificial. He regarded his girlfriend out of the corner of his eye, finding himself happy to have her here with him. There was something so comforting about her presence, about her taking charge. The strength of her mind never ceased to baffle him, and excite him. When others made him do things he sulked and protested: when she made him try new things he found himself giving in, even liking it. After a lot of negotiating of course. But still.

"Did you know that the tradition of painting chicken eggs predates that of the Christian holiday of Easter?" Sheldon told Amy, dipping his paint brush in the cup to clean it.

"I was aware of that. The egg is widely considered to be a fertility symbol" Amy replied, carefully rolling her egg in pink glitter.

"Yes. The chicken and the egg represent the circle of life, and abundance. In many countries old pagan traditions are recognized as well as newer, Christian ones. For example in parts of Scandinavia, Holy Thursday is widely considered to be the day when witches and trolls gather to dance around a bonfire with the Devil" Sheldon continued, carefully dipping his paint brush in gold, slowly tracing it over the now-blue egg shell.

"Really?" Amy exhaled, putting her egg and brush down for a second to take the saucepan off the stove, opening the tin foil packages to reveal red eggs, the foil having created beautiful, flaming streaks across the brittle shell.

"Mhm" Sheldon hummed as she once again joined him, putting the finishing touches to her somewhat flamboyant Easter egg.

"I'm done now! Wanna see?" she giggled, admiring her work, hoping he'd like it.

"Do I have a choice?" Sheldon snorted, still occupied with his own egg.

"Well, if you're gonna be like that…"

"Fiiiiiiiiine. Show me" the lanky physicist groaned, rolling his eyes at his giddy girlfriend.

Amy smiled smugly, looking down at her tiny piece of art, holding it out to him as were it made of gold.

"It's a present" she clarified, still smiling.

Sheldon accepted the purple, glittery little item, careful only to pinch it between his thumb and index finger as to not disrupt her paint work.

He turned it around, lifting his eyebrow at the golden dots and heart stickers that she had lovingly attached to it. Then there was the writing. The letters were big, curly, feminine, and slightly smudged, poking his eyes like needles.

"Sweet Babboo heart Little Lady" Sheldon read out loud, slowly, as if he'd just learned his ABC's.

"Do you like it?" Amy asked, amused at his befuddlement.

Sheldon didn't reply, too busy staring at the egg to pay attention to her. It wasn't the declaration of love: this wasn't the first time she'd said it, and he'd said it back, and it was all good… It was just… just…

"I don't want to paint anymore" he mumbled, getting up from his seat and making his way over to the couch, egg still in hand as he reached for the remote control to browse between TV-channels.

Amy's mouth was agape. What just happened? Why was he angry? It was just a silly little Easter egg: it looked like something she'd made in school some 30 years ago.

"Sheldon, what…?" she began, not sure if she should comfort him or yell at him. What had gotten into him?

Sighing as she thought for the umpteenth time that day that this had been a really bad idea she absent-mindedly reached over the counter to grab Sheldon's blue egg, noticing how much care he'd put into painting it. While hers looked like something a third-grader might have made, his looked like something you'd pay good money for at the store. Curiously enough he'd written something on his egg as well. She pushed up her glasses, moving closer to make out the tiny letters. Oh… her sweet, sweet babboo.

"Sheldon heart Amy" she mumbled to herself, feeling her heart swell as she read it over and over again to herself. Oh that pompous, grumpy, silly old fool.

Unable to refrain from grinning Amy made her way over to the couch, taking a seat next to her cranky boyfriend, who was busy ignoring her.

Leaning her head against his shoulder she felt the weight of his head against the top of hers, his breath tickling her scalp as she nestled into him.

"Do you want to watch re-runs of Firefly now?" Amy asked as she twisted the blue egg in her hands, enjoying the heat emanating from Sheldon's body.

"If it's not too much to ask" Sheldon replied, looking down at the purple glittery egg she had given him.

"Should I go get the DVD?" his girlfriend offered, burrowing her head into his shoulder.

"It's okay, I have it on demand" the tall lanky man mumbled, slipping his arm around her waist as he put away the egg and the remote, glad she wouldn't be getting up for a while. He rather enjoyed having her curled up against him.

THE END