Amy

Planning a wedding was not at all the dream Amy had expected it to be. In truth, it was more akin to a nightmare. There were moments when she seriously considered Sheldon's suggestion that they simply go to the courthouse to get married. After spending night after night flipping through magazines, doing internet research, and going from store to store in search of such mundane things as ribbon, seals for invitations, and the dag blasted unity candle, Amy was feeling quite jaded.

And the worst part was how she treated poor Sheldon. To his credit, he had never suggested calling off the wedding entirely. In fact, after her first few illogical explosions, he had said very little to contradict her…at least "very little" when compared to his usual opinionated self. By other standards, she supposed he still said quite a bit. But still, it seemed no matter how hard she tried to remain calm and treat her fiancé with respect, she always ended up becoming upset and storming off.

Wedding planning did strange things to people. It was almost as if their roles had reversed. Sheldon was now the calm one of the pair of them, frequently talking her down from fits of rage over a caterer's perceived incapability to perform simple tasks exactly as she wanted them. It used to be Amy who had reasoned logically with Sheldon, not the other way around…

Amy sighed, eliciting a look from both Penny and Bernadette, both of whom were helping Amy tie little, (quickly becoming "annoying") pink bows on the over one hundred wedding favor bags.

"Are you ok, Amy?" asked Penny.

Amy looked up from her mess of a bow. "Yeah, I'm ok."

Bernadette frowned. "Are you sure? You don't seem ok."

"Yeah," said Penny. "Lately you haven't seemed very happy…you're not having second thoughts about marrying Sheldon are you?" She turned to Bernadette and said in a lower voice, "Not that I'd blame her…"

Amy's eyes widened. "Oh no. It's nothing like that. I'm still very much in love with Sheldon. In fact, I think I love him more now than I did when he proposed two and a half months ago."

"Well, then what's up?" Penny asked, a curious look on her face.

Amy sighed again. "I guess I just wish I were married already. Planning a wedding isn't nearly as much fun as I thought it would be."

Bernadette reached out and patted Amy's shoulder. "Oh, Amy, I understand that. Planning a wedding is a big undertaking, and you two only gave yourselves three months to do it. But the wedding is only a week away. You're in the home stretch."

Amy started to panic. Only a week away? There was still so much to do! She had to make all the confirmation calls, to the caterers, the florist, the train museum (where the reception was to be held). Then she still had to go in for her final fitting for her dress. And finish tying these ridiculous pink bows on the wedding favors. And on top of everything else, she hadn't spent time with Sheldon in ages. In fact, it had probably been since their engagement, that they had spent any time together than didn't involve wedding planning.

Before Amy could stop herself, she felt her shoulders sag, and she started to cry.

This was ridiculous! Since when had she become such an emotional mess?

Both Penny and Bernadette dropped their wedding favors and came over to put an arm around her.

"Sweetie! What's wrong? Why are you crying?" Penny asked, rubbing her hand down Amy's arm.

"I'm sorry," Amy sniffed. "I know it sounds completely illogical, but I miss Sheldon."

Bernadette spoke up. "That doesn't sound illogical at all. You two have been doing nothing but wedding planning for awhile now. When was the last time the two of you went on a real date? Or just hung out together without talking about the wedding?"

Amy thought for a moment, still sniffing. "I don't remember. Maybe a couple days after our engagement?"

Penny and Bernadette stared. "You mean the two of you haven't spent any time together in two and a half months?"

Amy shook her head. "There hasn't been any time! Between both of us having full time jobs, and attempting to plan a wedding, we just had to give up things like hanging out." Amy felt more tears coming, and took a big breath, attempting to ward them off. She was being completely unreasonable. There was no time for hysterics like this. There were bows to be tied on wedding favors. And what would Sheldon say, if he saw her here, crying because she missed him, when she had seen him every day of their engagement?

She took a deep breath and started to tie a bow on the wedding favor in her hand. "It's fine. It's only a week left."

Penny and Bernadette were silent for a moment, before Penny grabbed the favor out of Amy's hand and pulled her up.

"Come on," Penny said. "It's a Saturday afternoon, and you and Sheldon are going to spend some quality time together."

"We can't," Amy protested. "There's no time. There's too much to do!"

Bernadette shook her head. "Tell us what you need done and we'll do it. I can continue tying bows on these favors, and Penny can help with whatever else you have. You need a break, Amy. You don't want to have a nervous breakdown before you get to the altar, do you?"

Amy looked between her two friends, undecided. It was a very tempting offer…

She started to open her mouth to say no, but Penny interrupted her. "We're not taking no for an answer."

"But Sheldon and the guys are getting their tuxedos," Amy said, still not convinced.

"They finished ten minutes ago," Penny said, grabbing out her phone, and showing Amy the text from Leonard.

Amy involuntarily sniffed, a remnant of her recent crying stint. She really did want to spend some wedding free time with Sheldon…but her face felt sticky, and she wasn't even sure if she had showered this morning. She had been so distracted by all the tasks she had to accomplish. And that's not to mention, what felt like, the mountain of tasks still to be done. Could she really ask her friends to do all that for her?

Penny grabbed Amy's hand and dragged her out the door. "Come on, Sweetie, we'll wait for them at your place." She continued pulling Amy across the hall, back to her and Sheldon's apartment. But Penny didn't stop in the living room, dragging Amy towards the bathroom.

Amy frowned. "Why are you taking me into the bathroom?"

"You'll feel better if you take a nice warm shower. It's what I like to do when I get upset. It'll help you relax. Then you and Sheldon can have a nice day together, and Bernadette, the guys, and I will take care of all your wedding stuff. You won't have to worry about a thing."

"But I don't have any clothes in here, I need to stop at my bedroom," Amy said.

"Don't worry about it, I'll get you some clothes," Penny said. "Just let me know when you've hopped in the shower and I'll set them inside the door."

"But…" Amy began.

"No buts," said Penny. She pointed to the shower, "In there. Now."

After Penny left, shutting the door behind her, Amy looked at herself in the mirror. She had never been particularly vain about her looks, but even she had to admit she looked a mess. Her eyes were red and puffy, her face looked blotchy, and her hair, normally fairly sleek, was a tangled mess. Maybe Penny was right. At the very least, she could take a shower.

She turned on the water to a fairly hot temperature, and stepped under the spray. It felt fantastic. Normally she was not one to spend an unnecessary amount of time in the shower, but for the moment, all she could do was stand under the hot spray, letting the water run over her face and shoulder, taking some of her tension with it. Eventually she came to, realizing that Sheldon would be back shortly, and proceeded to follow her normal routine for washing her hair and body.

It was when she turned off the water that she realized she had never heard Penny come in. She peeked her head out of the shower curtain and saw that there was indeed a set of clothes waiting for her. She stepped out, dried off, and pulled on the clothes Penny had left.

Leave it to her bestie to find the only sundress in Amy's closet. At least Penny had remembered to bring a cardigan, as well. After slipping on the dress and cardigan, Amy looked at herself in the mirror. She didn't look half bad. Her hair was still wet, but at least her face was no longer splotchy, her eyes were much less puffy, and her dress actually looked pretty nice on her. It was a green dress her mother had bought her once, to wear on a date. Amy had never worn it, mostly out of rebellion. It wasn't too tight, but it did cinch in nicely at her waist, and fell to her knees. Surprisingly she felt relatively comfortable in it. She brushed her hair, putting in her usual clip, to keep her hair out of her face. She decided to let it air dry.

When she walked out into the living room, it was to find Sheldon in his spot, all alone. Most illogically, Amy suddenly felt shy.

Sheldon looked over at her, and blinked twice, in quick succession. This, she had learned, meant that he was pleased with her current appearance. She smiled at him.

He smiled at her in return.

"Where is everyone?" she asked.

"They were all quite forcefully shoved out the door, by Penny."

"Oh," said Amy, still feeling uncharacteristically shy. She stood at the top of the step, clasping her hands in front of her.

Sheldon stood up, walking over to her. Even with the added height that the step gave her, she still had to look up at him.

"I'm given to understand, from Penny, that we are to spend a day together, outside of our apartment, and that the subject of wedding plans is to be kept off the table," he said.

"Yes," Amy replied.

He looked at her a moment. "What would you like to do first?"

Amy shrugged her shoulders. "It doesn't matter."

Sheldon stood looking at her. She looked at him in return.

As she stared, she noticed a change in his eyes. She had never seen him look at her like that before. She felt her breath catch.

"How about a trip to the zoo," Sheldon said, startling her slightly.

Amy blinked a couple of times, and nodded. "That sounds delightful. It's been a long time since we last went."

Sheldon held out his arm, and she hooked her hand through. As they walked out the door, Amy saw Penny looking out through the cracked door, and smiled at her.

Their trip to the zoo was absolutely delightful. At first they hadn't talked much, merely walking slowly, arm in arm, Amy clasping both hands on Sheldon's arm, and laying her head against his shoulder.

It was at the koala habitat, as they sat on a bench, holding hands, that Sheldon looked down at her, and said, "I realize this is a completely illogical statement, given that I see you multiple times every day, but…I've missed spending time with you."

Amy looked up at him, momentarily overwhelmed that he should be feeling exactly the same illogical feeling that she had been feeling. After a few moments, she smiled, and said, "Me too."

A/N: Thank you for reading. Also, I apologize if the "feel" of this fic doesn't quite match The Relationship Evolution. It was difficult to return to that frame of mind after being away from it for so long, but I've tried my best to recall the place they were at towards the end of that fic. With that in mind, please click the review button and send me your thoughts. :)