Hi and welcome to my first Big Bang Theory multichapter story! (Almost in time for the premiere of season 12, which was awesome by the way, right? ;))
I want to thank all of you for reviewing to my first two oneshots and hope you'll enjoy this story, too! :) It's taking place sometime in the second half of season 11.
Chapter 1:
It started like it always did for them.
There was something she was excited about and he dismissed it with barely even a sentence. Preferably using his fairly new skill of sarcasm. It wasn't yet a fight, simply a disagreement, smoldering over the course of the day just waiting to boil over.
She tried to find new ways to approach the topic, to make him see the advantages. Sometimes he had to admit that she had some valid points, but more often it was his stubbornness which eventually turned it into a fight.
"Sheldon, you're being impossible about this!" Amy stressed finally.
"I'm impossible?" Sheldon shot back. "What's truly impossible is rather your crazy notion to have an outdoor wedding."
"What's so crazy about it?"
Sheldon rolled his eyes. "Do I really need to repeat myself?" he turned away from the mirror where he had groomed his hair impeccably straight during their on-going conversation. "There is wind, dirt, the possibility of wild birds, bees, butterflies and other uncontrollable insects. Strangers could drop into our ceremony with no walls to keep them at bay. It could be raining. Leonard could have an asthma attack. Penny would definitely fall off the cliff due to too much wine consumption and most importantly… I don't want to."
In a huff, Amy stood up from the closed toilet seat where she had been sitting to put on her new orthopedic shoes that she bought to at least be closer to her fiancé's eye level. "Okay, first of all, we could close up the premises so no one could just "drop in". Leonard's asthma can be triggered by a lot of things and not specifically by too much fresh air of all things. I already gave up on the cliff wedding due to your fear of heights and if we refrained from doing anything you simply don't want to do then we probably wouldn't even be getting married!"
She rushed out of the tiny bathroom, Sheldon right on her heels. They continued to move around each other in perfect correspondency as they were getting ready for dinner. It was Thursday night – date night – and this time they were meeting up with Leonard and Penny.
"That's not true and you know it." Sheldon reminded his agitated bride-to-be. "I was the one who proposed. Have you forgotten?"
"Well, at this point I'm wondering if you just go through with this because your need for closure wouldn't allow anything else or if you really doing it out of love."
Sheldon gasped, staring at her reflection in the full-length mirror as she put on her cardigan. "Amy! What an outrageous assumption!"
She sighed, turning around. "I'm sorry. I'm angry, and also a little desperate, to be honest. I'm running out of arguments here. You do realize that I already made so many compromises in your favor that it's starting to feel as if it's your wedding and not ours anymore?"
"Strongly disagreeing." Sheldon said. "I made a lot of compromises, too. I consented to a first dance, to not make our wedding party dress up as members of the Starfleet and I'm forgoing vows in Klingon even though no other language can possibly be more romantic. Need I say more?"
"No." Amy grumbled.
"So you agree to a safe, indoor wedding?"
"Only as long as you make a sensible suggestion for a location that we can both agree on."
Sheldon groaned. "I made plenty of suggestions. How is it my fault that you're impossible to please?"
"And we're back to square one." Amy remarked. "You're impossible to please, too."
Silence settled over them as they came to a halt in their preparations. Standing directly in front of each other, they took in the others appearance. Amy reached up to smooth the collar of Sheldon's dress shirt. Sheldon removed and then reapplied Amy's hair clip to tame a strand that had loosened.
They were perfectly in time. They were dressed flawlessly. And, without the underlying tension of this fight, they also would have had matching smiles.
Though, their frowns were matching, too.
Sheldon cocked his head to the side, wondering. "Amy, how come we're astonishingly similar to each other and at the same time the way we view certain things couldn't be any more different?"
Amy curled her lip in thought of a good answer. "I guess that's what makes love so complicated sometimes… but we're standing above those disagreements… right?"
"Right." Sheldon replied after a second of hesitation.
Amy checked her watch. "It's time to go over to Leonard and Penny to see if they're ready."
Sheldon snorted in contempt. "They're probably not even dressed yet. Unlike us, they are unable to be punctual. I wouldn't be surprised if they have forgotten about our date night altogether."
They made their way through their shared apartment in 4B. Amy grabbed her purse and turned to Sheldon again before exiting out the door. "Hey, uhm, could we try not to let on about the stress we're having with our wedding plans? After we bragged so much about how perfectly conformable we are with every decision this will certainly offer them opportunities for snide comments and I really don't want to talk about the wedding for once. I just want to have a nice time with my friends."
Sheldon nodded curtly and held the door for her. "Very well." They knocked at 4A. "Who is sick of the wedding now?" he added arrogantly just before Penny opened the door with a broad smile, giving Amy no chance to reply.
"Hi." the blonde said cheerfully. "Just in time as always, guys. Give us five more minutes and we're ready to go."
The air was thick; the tension perceptible. Leonard and Penny sat side by side at one end of the table, Sheldon and Amy across from them. The first mentioned couple exchanged a worried glance. Their weird, lovable friends hadn't spoken more than the required set phrases, shied away from eye-contact and both picked at their food with an irritating level of concentration.
"So…" Penny tentatively broke the silence. "How's the wedding coming along?"
A bit too loudly, Amy's fork clattered against the plate as she looked up and shared a quick warning glance with Sheldon. "Fine." she said sharply. "Everything is coming along just fine." Amy focused back on her salad even though she realized she didn't even like the taste of it.
"Really?" Leonard asked shyly. "Because there's nothing shameful about disagreeing in a few points. Remember, Penny and I took over a year before we could decide for a date and Howard and Bernadette's wedding didn't go exactly as planned, either."
"Yeah," Penny agreed. "The important thing is that, in the end, it's worth all the endless arguments. When the day finally comes it suddenly doesn't matter anymore if it's the big dream wedding or an impromptu ceremony in Vegas." she joked, reminiscing of her own wedding day.
Sheldon snorted haughtily, which was a cue for Amy that her fiancé was about to say something thoughtless. He spoke before she could stop him.
"Oh, sure, let's forget about the fact that we could get soaking wet or that bees might chase us down the cliff. As long as it's romantic there can be absolutely no harm." Sheldon said sarcastically.
"Stop referring to the cliff. I said I don't need to have a cliff wedding anymore." Amy growled through clenched teeth.
"So it's about the location?" Penny asked, hoping to get more information out of the couple so she could offer some advice.
"Yes, would you please support me in depicting to Amy the advantages of indoor weddings?" Sheldon requested.
Giving up on the fact that they would handle their argument discreetly, Amy shot back, "Oh, yeah, let's give him even more things to control. First the dance then the centerpieces, the cake, and now the location. Why even bother considering my wishes when Sheldon Cooper conducts the perfect wedding to marry himself. What happened to you letting me do all the details?"
"I tried to. But your ideas are the realizations of my nightmares!" Sheldon stressed. "I'm not controlling everything; you had the last word on all of those things you mentioned. All I'm asking of you is finding a safer place to hold the ceremony."
Amy and Sheldon faced each other in anger. They had stopped eating altogether, as have Leonard and Penny and the whole restaurant, because their rising voices carried over to even the most secluded part of the dining area.
"Do you have any idea how much work it is to find anything that would comply to your wishes?" Amy asked, exasperated. "It can't be near a fault line because you're afraid that an earthquake will suddenly strike, it can't be rooms with only one exit, because in case of an assault you need to be able to make a quick escape, it can't be buildings too high above ground or with too many windows so you won't be exposed to too much UV radiation, oh, and also every place that holds bad memories for you is out of the question and, given your eidetic memory, you have a lot of those!"
"Uhm, guys, you might want to keep it down." Leonard chimed in, but the furious couple didn't even acknowledge him.
"Excuse me, haven't you just pointed out that you wanted to make all those decisions?" Sheldon replied sharply.
"A little help would be nice! You know I'm also working on that project with Howard. I come home late every night and I don't know what to do first! I feel like I'm losing my head!" Amy complained.
"You know what? It certainly looks that way, because you're not making any sense." Sheldon accused. "First, you claim that I control everything, and then that you're upset that I'm not controlling enough. It's like you can't decide if you want my help or not. You need to make up your mind, woman!"
Amy wanted to reply, but found that her voice died in her throat. She felt tears pricking in the corners of her eyes and fought to keep them at bay. Sheldon's intelligent blue eyes pierced her with logic and challenge and she felt herself in no condition to win anything with him right now. "Maybe you're right." she whispered, not sure anymore if it was the fight or her salad which left a bad, bitter taste in her mouth. "Maybe I should make up my mind if this is really worth the fight."
The fiery blaze left Sheldon's eyes in an instant and his shoulders slumped.
"Oh… no, no, guys." Penny stuttered quickly. "Don't make any rash decisions right now. That's just the heat of the fight, Amy. You know you—"
"No, Penny, please. I don't want to talk about it anymore." Amy pleaded with barely held back quivering in her voice. "I've embarrassed myself enough for today." she looked down at her weird-tasting meal, too stubborn to say something about it. "Let's just eat and then go home. I need to… think things over."
Sheldon opened his mouth, but his throat suddenly felt painfully dry. Leonard caught his gaze over the table and softly shook his head. Sheldon understood that he shouldn't press further. He would have to wait until they reached the seclusion of their apartment to resolve this conflict.
Uh oh, that sounds not too good... and it will get worse! But don't worry, this is a Shamy story through and through... ;)
Please leave a review and let me know what you think!