This is the story about what followed after Sheldon and Amy's first sleepover in the blanket fort. I will update it every Friday for the upcoming couple of weeks. The story is set during season 8 which means that nothing that takes place in season 9 will affect the outcome of the story. This is meant to be lighthearted and fun and I hope you will appreciate my return to comedy/romance - it's been a while, I admit!

I would like to dedicate this story to April in Paris, for always being a source of inspiration and an avid supporter - I'm your biggest fan! I would also like to dedicate this to Geeky Blue Strawberry, for being the most wonderful friend and partner in crime I could never have imagined finding. I love you.

And finally I would like to dedicate this story to Simon Doonan, whose search for the Beautiful People taught me that just because a story is sad, it doesn't mean it can't be hilarious.

- YlvaBorealis

The Adolescence Repossession

By YlvaBorealis

The asteroid that marked the end of the Mesozoic era and killed off 75 % of all species on Earth hit prehistoric Mexico with the force of over 100 million atomic bombs, leading to the extinction of all non-avian dinosaurs and leaving the planet barren for millions of years. There were flames and ashes, starvation and misery, and after the heat came a long cold atomic winter that hit the final nail in the coffin for the dinosaurs' reign as the scaly (or feathery, the scientists are currently engaged in some sort of paleobiological nerd war over this) lords of Planet Earth.

It was truly a disaster. It was not, however, what happened when Sheldon Cooper and Amy Farrah Fowler had their first sleepover.

Well, not from lack of worry on Dr. Cooper's part, that was for sure. Christmas lights and bedsheets, what had he been thinking? They might as well have spent the night in a furnace, what with the giant fire hazard that was their improvised blanket fort. Amy had fallen asleep right away of course, that was only to be expected – she was a woman after all. She'd been snoring – snoring! – while he had cursed his birth and his sex and all that stupid protector-of-the-pride nonsense that naturalists and society shoved down the throats of innocent enlightened scientists like himself. She slept –presumably because she knew he was there to protect her… sort of - and he worried about being burned alive and instant death from the bacterial infection he was sure to catch from sleeping on the floor, all while she slept away knowing she wasn't the one who was expected to jump up with a spear in her hand should someone try to rob the apartment.

He did eventually fall asleep out of sheer exhaustion, and when he woke up he was struck with the horrible realization that his girlfriend now knew that he drooled while sleeping. The planet hadn't been destroyed however, which was a considerably brighter outcome than the one he had imagined during the nearly five years they had been together, and so he reached the conclusion that their first night together had been successful.

So successful in fact that he had asked her if she wanted to do it again.

"Will we be sleeping in the same bed this time?" Amy asked him then, her green eyes sparkling and her hands hopefully clasped, and he looked at her as if she were insane.

"Don't be ridiculous Amy, we've only had one sleepover and that was a big enough step already" he lectured, continuing to explain that they'd arrange for her to sleep on the couch like she had in the fort.

"Can't blame a girl for trying" Amy mumbled, a hint of a smile at the corner of her mouth as she raised the mug to her lips to take a sip of her chamomile tea.

He pulled out a document then – a list of activities and conditions.

"What's this?" Amy asked, eyeing the paper sheet suspiciously. "I don't need to sign a contract Sheldon, I agreed our sleepover would be G-rated the last time I spent the night, and I'll agree to it now, no need for formalities…"

"It's not that Amy, although I do feel the need to inform you that the G-rating will be applied to this sleepover as well (Amy rolled her eyes at that, muttering that it's what she'd just said), but this is of greater importance" Sheldon replied, handing her the document and smiling smugly to himself as she pushed her dark-rimmed glasses up on the bridge of her nose, her eyes moving from side to side as she carefully read its content.

"You want us to have… playdates?" she asked at last, raising her eyebrow in doubt and handing the neatly structured paper sheet back to him.

"Not playdates Amy, my lord, are you absolutely certain you graduated from Harvard with a PhD in neurobiology? I do believe literacy is required to study advanced science" Sheldon snorted, snatching the document from her all whilst looking slightly offended.

"Oh, I am certain. As certain as I am of the fact that there is no manipulation of the brain in theoretical physics. I'd be very careful if I were you. Your field hasn't given anyone bovine spongiform encephalopathy now, has it?" Amy pressed out through gritted teeth, her tight grip around her tea mug threatening to crush the porcelain.

Sheldon stared at her in disbelief, his mouth slightly ajar.

"Is that a threat?"

"Let's just say you'd be wise to take it as a warning."

"…Anyway..." he let out slowly, trying to steer back focus to the document, "I'm not suggesting playdates. I'm merely proposing we engage in… childlike fun. Like we did last."

Amy seemed to be contemplating this for a while, motioning for him to hand the document back to her. He did so and she read it again, slowly and meticulously, tucking her long dark hair behind her ear while she mouthed the words silently to herself. Finally she looked up, the shimmer in her eyes telling him she was pleased.

"This is so romantic!" she exhaled, her voice trembling as she lovingly pressed the paper to her heart.

"Ah, here we go…" Sheldon groaned, rolling his eyes at his girlfriend who jumped off her stool and skipped her way around the counter with her arms wide open. He tilted his head slightly as she embraced him, leaning into the soft kiss she pressed against his cheek.

"You just shaved this morning, didn't you?" Amy mumbled as the tip of her nose replaced her lips, pulling in the scent of his after shave.

"I sent you a copy of my bathroom schedule the very same day we met, and I haven't changed it since" Sheldon replied as he patted the back of her hand, returning to his document as she padded over to her stool once again. He cleared his throat, and began reading out loud in a magisterial fashion.

"As stated by this document, I propose we alter our schedule to include Sleepover Night, which henceforth will refer to all Friday nights between the hours of 6 p.m. and 9.a.m. the following Saturday morning. Activities may be suggested by either party, i.e. The Boyfriend and The Girlfriend, and the decision to engage in the suggested activity must be unilateral. A list of possible activities is included in the appendix-"

"You want us to do everything we didn't get to do when we were kids" Amy interrupted him, her tone dreamy as she sighed contently to herself.

Sheldon put the paper sheet down, somewhat miffed that she wouldn't let him finish.

"I would have explained it to you had you not interrupted me, but yes, I want us to recreate the experiences we were robbed off when we were young. I enjoyed building the blanket fort, as I presume you did?"

"Very much so" Amy purred, smiling coyly as her boyfriend's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. She found the sound of his nervous gulp oddly satisfying, as if she'd just found the password to a secret gateway.

"I… Uhm… So I thought we could… do more stuff like that" Sheldon finished weakly, handing the document over for her to sign.

The following Friday Sheldon found himself cleaning the entire apartment much like his roommate Leonard never did, baking chocolate chip cookies (Amy had insisted) and going through his DVD-collection, all while tending to a batch of laundry he'd hastily thrown into the washing machine in the basement since he'd decided on a last minute visit to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to pick up a set of floral bed sheets for his girlfriend. Leonard might have been irritated as he drove him but Sheldon couldn't be sure since much of what came out of the other physicist's mouth sounded like 'wah wah whine, uaaah' to him and so how was Sheldon to tell if "I don't want to drive you to the store Sheldon" really meant that Leonard didn't want to?

Once the sheets were dry he folded them, placing them by the far end of the couch just in case Amy had gotten into her head that he could be persuaded into letting her sleep in his bed. He wasn't exactly sure on what kind of disaster might befall them should he allow her to, but judging from the amount of times Leonard had been thrown out of his girlfriend Penny's apartment wearing nothing but his underwear, it had to be unpleasant. Even worse, Amy might expect them to have SEX (for some reason he always pictured that word as being spelled out with capital letters), and if they had SEX then she might expect them to do it all the time, and Sheldon wasn't at all sure where he stood on this SEX-business but he told himself that it wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

The rich smell of the chocolate chip cookies wafted through the apartment as he put the final hand to his preparations, wincing slightly as someone knocked on the door. Glancing at his wrist watch he realized it had to be Amy, and he smiled as he made his way over to open the door.

"Good evening Sheldon" his girlfriend greeted him, smiling back at him as she adjusted the strap on her overnight bag.

"Good evening Amy" Sheldon replied, eyeing her where she stood. There was nothing unfamiliar there: she was on the short side, conservatively dressed in sensible footwear and a denim skirt, her hair long and dark and her blouse floral, much like the bed sheets he'd bought her. She looked just the same as she always did, as did he: tall, neatly cropped dark hair, khaki pants and double-layered shirts, his eyes blue much like the Superman tee he wore.

"I brought equipment" Amy revealed, a cheeky grin at the corner of her mouth as she made her way past him into the apartment, causing Sheldon to turn around with a somewhat worried look on his face.

"Equipment?" he repeated, his hands trembling as he closed the door, watching his girlfriend in horror as she dumped her bag on the couch and took a seat in her usual spot next to his.

"Yes, since you told me how much you enjoy preparedness and that I could choose the first activity, I thought I should bring the necessary tools. Come sit next to me?" Amy went on, grabbing her bag and placing it in her lap to open the zipper.

"T-Tools?" Sheldon stuttered as he tentatively made his way over to the couch, seemingly unable to utter anything but one word at a time. He slowly sat down next to her, regarding the petite neurobiologist suspiciously as she began unpacking her bag, picking out a collection of items whose apparent connection to each other was entirely lost on him. Potatoes, a sewing kit, alcohol wipes, and something that appeared to be a golden earring?

"What is all of this Amy?" the lanky man asked, feeling more and more sure that whatever the answer was it was bound to be something awful.

"Well, we agreed that the sleepovers would include activities we didn't get to engage in when we were young, and I always wanted to get together with a friend and have chocolate chip cookies and watch movies and get my ears pierced without my mother's permission" Amy explained as she helped herself to one of said cookies from the plate Sheldon had put on the coffee table a few minutes before her arrival.

Sheldon gasped, his gaze darting to the items lined up neatly in front of him. Not a sewing kit – needles. She wanted him to drive a needle through her earlobes.

"I can't do that Amy, you know I'm… I… It's going to bleed" he protested as the color drained from his boyish features.

"It's not going to bleed that much" Amy chuckled, shaking her head at her neurotic boyfriend.

"You say that just so I'll agree to it. You can't make me" Sheldon said, crossing his arms over his chest to emphasize his statement. There would be no bloodshed in his house, not as long as he was alive and standing. Well currently he was sitting down but still. No blood.

"But Sheldon, you said-"

"I said I wanted us to engage in childlike fun, not perform basic surgery! Oh, this is what I get for dating a biologist" Sheldon complained dramatically, his hand shooting to the place on his chest were pearls would have been hanging had he worn them. Amy rolled her eyes at him, sensing that their roles were somewhat reversed in this.

"Neurobiologist" she corrected him, grabbing the sewing kit to pick out one of the needles, "and it's not even gonna hurt. You can look away if you want to?"

She held out the needle in front of him, tapping it gently with the tip of her finger to demonstrate how tiny and insignificant it was. Sheldon looked at it as if it were something used to decapitate kings in the 13th century.

"No. I refuse" the lanky man stated firmly, letting her know it was final. The decision had to be unilateral, it said so in their contract and she had signed it so she couldn't make him. Could she?

Amy nodded slowly as she realized they might have to change their plans for the evening. She wasn't about to force Sheldon to do something he didn't consent to: Sleepover Night was supposed to be about having fun after all, and she'd known it had been a long shot to ask him to pierce her ears. Suddenly she had an idea, something that might allow for a little postponed teenage rebellion after all.

"What if… I pierce your ear?" she asked, preparing herself for the ramble that was sure to follow.

"What if you… Have you lost your mind? What comes next, smoking and drinking and-and-and… tattoos? I have a reputation to think of Amy, not to mention the risk of infection and my chances of dying and-"

"A tiny little earring is not gonna give you any street cred Sheldon, I wouldn't worry about your reputation" Amy soothed him, patting his arm gently, "and as you said, I'm a biologist, I'll take all the necessary precautions to minimize the risk of infection. You can trust me."

"Trust you to lead me down the path of tramp stamps and the involuntary ingestion of controlled substances" Sheldon muttered and reached for one of the cookies, taking angry bites as his eyes shot daggers at his girlfriend.

"Ah, peer pressure. Did you ever imagine it would happen to you? I feel like the popular girl in high school now" Amy sighed happily as she lovingly stroked the needle she was still holding. Sheldon gulped as he once again regarded the sharp end, cursing internally for not being more specific when drawing up the contract.

"Mama warned me to stay away from girls like you."

"Too late country boy, I have a legally binding Relationship Agreement that says you belong to me. Now what do you say, should we get this show on the road?"

"Fiiiiine. But the earring comes off at precisely 9 a.m. tomorrow morning" Sheldon reluctantly agreed, feeling the sweat build up on his forehead as he rose from the couch.

"We don't have to do it right in this instant Sheldon, we can watch a movie and have some more cookies first" Amy said, thinking she might have taken it a little too far. This was only their second sleepover ever after all and she wouldn't want to scare him off.

"No, if I'm going to die I prefer to go out like Ned Stark: honorably, at the hands of a bloodthirsty sociopath" the lanky man replied as he made his way to the bathroom, ignoring the indignant "Hey!" that Amy called out behind him.

Sheldon opened the door to the bathroom, staring at the toilet which seemed to be mocking him from where it stood all screwed up against the wall and the tile floor. "Come at me boy" it seemed to be saying, "place that pristine little scientist rear on the lid, I dare you. I'll be stained with your blood before night falls, and the Iron Throne shall be mine."

"Oh Jesus" Sheldon whimpered, turning around to tell Amy that he wanted out, only to have the wind knocked out of him as he slammed into her. It would have been a good idea to check if was standing behind him first.

"Oufff" Amy groaned as she held her hands out to protect the gear she'd brought with her, "watch your step!"

"I'm sorry" Sheldon panted, struggling to get air down his lungs, "I didn't see you. I've changed my mind, I want to have cookies first."

"Don't be silly Sheldon, it's better if we get this over with so we can crawl up on the couch and watch TV all night without you thinking and worrying about it. I'll watch anything you want?" Amy cooed, cocking her head to the side sweetly.

Sheldon sighed out loud in defeat.

"Star Wars?" he let out hopefully, knowing Amy absolutely detested these movies.

"Even the one with the stupid dog-eared frog if you wish" she promised, and motioned with her head for him to take a seat. Sheldon nodded and gingerly sat down on the cold porcelain, looking down to snort derisively at it, just for good measure.

Amy couldn't resist letting out a tiny squeal as she made her way around him to put down her tools on the bathroom drawer, handing over an ice cube to Sheldon who hesitated for just one heartbeat before accepting it. "Put that to your earlobe" Amy instructed as she began disinfecting one of the needles. Sheldon did as he was told, swallowing hard as he tried to relax. "I've looked it up and according to the research I've done this should be enough to numb your earlobe so it won't hurt so much when I drive the needle through it" the petite brunette continued as she cut one of the potatoes in half with a knife she'd brought with her.

"Please don't talk about it" Sheldon begged her as he closed his eyes and recited prime numbers to keep his compulsions in check. "Besides, there's numbing cream in the cabinet, why don't you just use that?"

"But that's not how the girls in my school did it" Amy protested, biting her bottom lip somewhat unassertively. "I want it to be authentic."

"Very well" Sheldon relented, ignoring the pain in his fingers as he pressed the cube harder against his sensitive flesh, "Proceed with the operation."

"It's not an operation Sheldon, it's just a little prick" Amy giggled as she was reminded of the times she'd had to come with Sheldon and hold his hand for moral support during flu shots and dental procedures.

"Ah, tomato to-maw-toe" Sheldon muttered, his eyes still firmly closed. Suddenly he felt her stroking the pointy tip of his ear with her index finger, and he looked up only to find her gazing lovingly at him with those forest green eyes of hers.

"Thank you for doing this" she mumbled, pinching the elfin tip slightly before she returned to disinfect the needle one last time. Sheldon didn't know what to reply, choosing to return to closing his eyes, feeling strangely flushed all of a sudden.

"Why is this so important to you?" he asked as he waited for his earlobe to go numb, hearing her bustling about in the background.

"I don't know…" Amy replied slowly, thinking back to a time when boy bands and grunge rock had been the hottest thing and she'd been the last to know about it, "it was just something that all the girls did when I was young. I always wanted to have someone to do all these things with, you know, talking on the phone all night, having them over and paint our nails and flip through glossy magazines… I actually talked my mother into getting me this pink telephone for my 13th birthday with my very own phone number but no one ever called. It just stood there in my room for years until I moved out for college" she confessed, leaving out the part where she'd eventually pulled out the cord because her classmates wouldn't stop prank calling her.

"No one ever asked for me either. The calls were always for George and Missy" Sheldon admitted, he too leaving out information. Like the part where the calls had been for him, and all the things that had been whispered into his ear, things he still didn't like thinking about but that popped up in his head sometimes when he was sad and lonely.

"But we're friends now right?" Amy whispered, swallowing a lump that had formed in her throat.

"Of course we are" Sheldon assured her, thinking it hardly needed to be said out loud. Of course they were friends. Best friends. Even better friends than he and Leonard.

"Good. Because now I'm going to drive a needle through your earlobe" Amy informed him, her voice changing back to the chipper tweet from before they'd stepped into the territory of childhood trauma, and Sheldon cringed as she once again mentioned the unmentionable.

"Oh God here it comes" the tall man whimpered, bracing himself for the pain and misery that was sure to come. Infection, and pus, and death, oh my!

"It's gonna be fine, just relax. Now take away the ice cube and put the potato behind your ear" his girlfriend instructed, lighting a match to heat up the tip of the needle.

"Our Nobel laureate, which art dissolved into atoms, Einstein be thy name" Sheldon prayed, his body trembling as Amy grabbed his earlobe and pressed it against the potato, "thy theory of relativity come, thy will be done, in Earth as it is in the space-time contin-UUUMOOOOOUUW!" he howled as the hot metal went through his pink (well now it was red after being frozen numb) flesh and hit the root crop with a sizzling crunch.

"You LIED to me!" he cried out, standing up and slapping his hand over his ear desperately as he felt the sting already spreading up through the shell-shaped appendage, "You said it wouldn't hurt and you LIED TO ME AND-and-and…" he continued, his outburst morphing into a breathy stutter as he noticed the tiny red drop that fell towards the white porcelain lid beneath him. It appeared to be falling in slow motion, and he regarded it curiously as it fell closer, closer still, until it hit the toilet lid with a microscopic splash. Red against white. His blood, staining the toilet, just as it had promised. "Dear Lord, the Iron Throne" Sheldon croaked as his eyes rolled back into his head and his body fell into a heap on the tile floor.

"You lied to me" Sheldon muttered indignantly a couple of hours later as the end credits to A New Hope rolled over the flat screen, flinching as he attempted to rub the swollen earlobe from which a golden ring now hung almost proudly. "Cockily" had been Sheldon's word of choice as he'd looked himself in the mirror once Amy had helped him up from the floor. "It knows I've allowed it to violate my body."

"Think of it as a battle scar Sheldon" Amy had chirped as she led him into the living room to tuck him in under the afghan.

"Hmmmph" he'd snorted, grabbing a cookie and motioning for her to set up the DVD.

And now it was time to go to bed and she'd changed into her pajamas during her assigned bathroom break, as had he, and his ear was warm and she hadn't apologized.

"I hope you'll be comfortable on the couch" Sheldon said stoically as he stood up to retreat to his room, "I'm sorry I can't offer you Leonard's room but he didn't specify whether he would spend the night at Penny's or here and thus I'm not authorized to allow you entry into his living quarters."

"I'd prefer sleeping in your room… But I'll be fine here" Amy assured him as she finished draping the floral bed sheets over the dark brown leather. "Thank you for these" she let out softly, gesturing with her hand over the apple-scented fabric. It was just like Sheldon to wash them for her. She'd wrap her entire body in those fresh sheets and the scent would engulf her and she'd dream of apple-trees and blossoms all night.

"You're welcome. Good night Amy" Sheldon replied, turning on his heel to withdraw to his own bed. A petite hand closed over his arm though and he froze, wondering what she might want from him now. He was turned away from her so he couldn't see her but he felt her grab the side of his head to pull him down to her level. He held his breath as soft lips brushed over his aching earlobe, closing his eyes as she lingered there, her hand still clasping his arm.

"I only lied so you wouldn't be scared. I'm sorry" she whispered, and he could feel the movements of her lips against his tender flesh. It stung. And it soothed.

"It's okay" he mumbled, licking his bottom lip like he always did when he struggled to express himself. Or when Amy was close to him like this.

"Good night Sheldon" she exhaled and let go of him, returning to the couch to crawl beneath the covers. Sheldon nodded, not looking back as he made his way down the hall to his bedroom.

It wasn't like him to stay up browsing his phone. Usually he just turned off the lights and went to sleep, as scheduled. But his ear pounded and he couldn't let go off the thought that he'd caught some sort of infection, so he googled it and regretted doing so once the pictures showed up on the screen, and after that there was no way he could sleep. Sighing out loud he dumped the phone on his chest, groaning as it hit his sternum. Maybe he should have let Amy sleep in his bed: they could stay up talking and she'd read him something from the book on biology she kept in his apartment and he'd be bored and fall asleep. But she was in the living room, probably asleep already. Sighing once again he picked up the phone and browsed through his (short) list of contacts, tapping Amy's name with the tip of his index finger. One signal, two signals… Then the fumbling sound of someone picking it up.

"Sheldon? Is everything alright?" Amy asked, her voice laced with concern.

"I can't sleep" Sheldon informed her, once again rubbing his throbbing earlobe.

"You realize I'm in the other room. You could have just gone out and told me" Amy reminded him.

"But I wanted to talk on the phone. We always talk on the phone before we go to bed" Sheldon insisted, sliding down from his sitting position to rest his head against the pillow, pulling the covers up to his chest.

"You're right, I'll start over. Hey boyfriend" Amy lilted, and he imagined her twirling a curly cord around her finger.

"Hey girlfriend" he replied, as he only did when he was alone in his room where no one could hear him engage in romantic small talk. "I was wondering… If I could be the one choosing the next activity? For our next sleepover?"

"Of course. Was there something you had in mind?"

"Not at the moment no… But I'll think of something. How do you feel about Legos?"

"You're more creative than that Sheldon."

"But I like Legos?"

"The agreement was that we'd engage in activities we'd missed out on. You play with Legos every Wednesday afternoon."

"Noted."

He bit his bottom lip, listening to her steady breath at the other end of the line for a while, suddenly remembering something she'd said earlier.

"You know that pink telephone you had… the one you got for your birthday? If I had known you back then I would have called you every evening" he let out softly, thinking it was true.

"I would have liked that."

"They were stupid. Whoever they were who wouldn't befriend you."

"They were so stupid."

"Silly."

"Braindead."

"Imbeciles."

"Assholes."

"Amy!"

"I'm just saying."

He barely resisted the urge to giggle. Somewhere in between this conversation and their first date at the coffee shop five years ago there must have been some sort of hormonal transfer between them because he felt like a teenage girl every time they spoke on the phone.

"I think I'm going to sleep now. I'll meet you at 7.30 for breakfast" Sheldon informed her, stifling a yawn as he crawled deeper in beneath the covers.

"I'm tired too. How's the ear?"

"Hot and throbbing. I'll probably be dead within a week."

"We'll know next Friday then. Good night boyfriend" Amy mumbled sweetly, a hint of a laughter in her voice.

"Good night girlfriend" Sheldon mumbled back, tapping his thumb on the screen to hang up the phone. He smiled smugly to himself as he turned off the lights and put on his sleeping mask. Amy wasn't the only one who'd withheld the truth tonight.

He knew exactly what they'd do next Friday.

Thank you for reading and reviewing!