Doctor Sheldon Cooper one-handedly closed the black box in which the thin but sparkly ring sat. He As his gaze travelled over the flat that he and Leonard had shared for so long, forlorn, he felt the familiarity of it, as well as a strangeness he couldn't place. His eye then fell upon his spot and the rest of the couch. It was not too long ago that he and Amy had sat there on date night, and they had kissed. He didn't know a lot about relationships per se, but, as far as he could tell, Amy had just broken up with him.
It had taken a lot of rational thought for him to realize he wanted her to be his girlfriend, and it had taken more for him to realize he loved her... and it had taken quite a lot more for him reach the stage he felt he was at with her now: the stage where he felt that maybe the intimacy she felt she needed from him wasn't as hard or unthinkable to give. He knew that she wanted more, and that she had for years. He didn't know what he had held back all that time. He was a creature of habit, and he hated change, so maybe, unconsciously, the way he felt with Amy Farrah Fowler ── how comfortable, how undisturbed ── was a realization that he had suppressed.
He had realized that the way he felt whenever they were together was quite a 'big deal', and that that automatically meant they should move on to the next step. Once engaged, one didn't immediately have to marry, as had been proven by Leonard and Penny. Nonetheless, Sheldon Lee Cooper was a very methodical person, and he had counted on being engaged for a maximum of two years before tying the knot. He felt that this was long enough for a couple to grow to the day and not too long to give anyone, or one another ── or themselves ── any doubt at all about the sincerity of the decision they had made.
He stood. He took a few steps to the door, then turned back and made for his bedroom with the black velvet box still in his hand, then made for the door once more and made the face of a child that was about to defecate. Neither Leonard nor Penny were home, so they wouldn't be able to drive. It would take them too long to drive back from where they were, too. He could call Raj or Howard... No. Both of them would very likely be with their partners, and he knew how very long it would take them then to get to him and then to Amy's afterwards.
"Oh, Amy," Sheldon whispered in a way that resembled an actor while he was on stage. He frowned as he tried to make up his mind. He didn't really see why she felt she had to take a step back and break up with him as she re-evaluated their relationship. He hadn't had to leave her to do so, had he? He hadn't left her, and it had been a hard evaluation... and now he hadn't even managed to tell her about the conclusion. He felt a shred of anger rise within him, immediately replaced by repugnance. If he wanted to march up to her and tell her how he really felt about not getting the chance to discuss what he had concluded, he would either have to wait for someone to get back, on demand or not ── and Sheldon Cooper didn't like to wait ── or go by bus, as there was a bus stop close to his flat as well as Amy's and busses that connected them every twenty minutes.
Sheldon's hand tightened on the velvet jewelry box, and he made for his bedroom, to get the things necessary for a safe and as germ-free as possible trip by bus that would get him to Amy's faster than any other realistic option. Amy was being a fool, and he would make sure she knew this as well and inform her that he wasn't as slow as she thought.