Author's notes: This chapter is getting angstier. Sometimes it was even repulsive just to write those things down. You've been warned. ;-)

Thanks a lot for the lovely reviews, I can't believe what a fantastic feedback I had on this story!

I own nothing.

Chapter 2 - The dinner disturbance

Amy reluctantly placed the books back on their shelves and followed Sheldon and Penny downstairs. She wondered why Sheldon hasn't waited for her when suddenly she saw Penny slipping on a step and he grabbed her from the back, preventing her to fall.

"Good Lord, woman, how much have you drunk already?"

"Thank you, Superman!" She giggled, trying to be stable again on her feet. "What a strong grasp! Amy, you lucky girl!"

"Well... err... thanks, Bestie. Why don't you take my hand and I help you go down the stairs?"

"Ohhhhh Guess what!" Penny turned to them with a 'great discovery' look. "If he's Superman, you've got to be Lois Lane! She's kinda hot, ya know!" She blinked an eye to Amy, who blushed a little and looked back at Sheldon, who was shaking his head in derision.

The three of them arrived safely on the ground floor and Penny released Amy's hand and staggered until the dining room, where she found Beverly sat already by the big round table with Michael and his wife.

"Where's Leonard?"

"He's still in the kitchen with the one he liked to call his Mommy Deena."

Amy and Sheldon took a sit by the table.

"I think Beverly is also drunk." Sheldon whispered in her ear.

"Oh, you can bet that."

"I can't believe you've spent all those years recovering from cancer! Why haven't you called me, Deena?"

She turned from the counter to look at him with sad eyes. "Well, I assumed that you were taking care of your career, and you were so far away, I wouldn't want you to cross the country because of me."

"Are you kidding? I would have come to help you. My mother just told me you took a license from work, but she didn't mention the reason, as usual." Leonard took her hand and brought her for a hug.

"Leonard, my daughter took care of me as well as she could, and I'm so glad to be recovered, I don't want to think about it anymore."

"Yeah, sure, life goes on, and you're back at work!" He grinned, trying to cheer the mood of the conversation up. "When I marry Penny I want you to be at the wedding, I will send you the invitations and the airplane tickets."

"Sure, dear, I would love to be present at your wedding." She patted his shoulder, as she turned back to the counter to pick up the kitchen hardware.

Leonard leaned on the island propped on his elbows, observing her work. She was so efficient, so precise, her movements were almost robotic. She concluded the whole dinner preparation and turned to him. "Now go back to the dining room, I'll be right there to start serving the food."

"Oh, balls. Penny, are you still drinking?" Leonard arrived in the room and sat by her side, removing the glass from her hand.

"Leonard." Beverly turned to her son. "Your best accomplishment in life was to find this great girl here, you should definitely marry her."

"Are the two of you drunk!? Good God!" That was when he noticed his younger brother and his wife sitting across from him. "Oh, Mike, I haven't seen you were here!"

"It doesn't surprise me, you've always been absentminded."

"Good to see you too, brother."

Ignoring his brother's ironic statement, he turned to Penny. "So, my mother told me you were a waitress. Does that pay enough for a living or are you planning on taking advantage of my brother's income?"

"Excuse meeeee?"

"Don't talk to Penny like that! You don't know anything about her life." Leonard started to stand up from the chair, when Penny held him by his arm.

"Michael, I don't think she needs now to take advantage from Leonard. I learned today that she's making good money in sales at a pharmacy company." Beverly stated, turning up another glass of alcohol.

"Oh, well, anyway, it's not like Leonard makes a fortune as a physicist, but good to hear he's not as dumb as I thought."

"Thank you, Mike, that's very kind of you... as possible. Won't you introduce us to your wife?"

"Well, Janet has already been introduced while you were out, apparently helping to prepare dinner. Mother, is Deena lacking efficiency?"

"Not that I have noticed."

"Excuse me, I'll start serving dinner now." Deena announced, cleaning her throat."Michael, what a pleasant surprise to see you in this house again." Deena stared at him and turned back to the cart where she brought the food containers. He nodded, as if he hasn't said anything wrong before.

"That's none of your business, but the truth is I was in the kitchen to be with the only nurturing figure in this house."

"Leonard, your constant necessity for affection and companion might reflect a lacking in your present relationship."

"Wha-wha-what? Nooo!"

Beverly pulled her glasses up a bit, turning to Penny. "I understand, I also didn't feel the need of affection in my previous relationship with their father."

"Oh no, no, no. I guarantee here that there's enough... romance being given to your son! Tell her, Leonard!"

He sank his face down on his hands, trying to think clearly for a while. He rubbed his face with both hands, lifting his head again. "I would REALLY appreciate if my personal life was not brought up to the table as a topic to be analyzed. Thank you."

Deena placed a plate with the meal in front of him, giving him a quick encouraging tap on his back. He returned a sad smile to her.

Sheldon and Amy just watched the whole interaction quietly. He gripped her hand under the table, squeezing it a bit every time he felt uncomfortable for Leonard. Amy responded the same way. After Deena served everyone, she returned to the kitchen, and what was only heard for a while were the noises of cutlery and glass. Amy decided to try something to break the uncomfortable silence.

"So, Beverly, you have a lovely collection in your library. I wish you would allow me to borrow a few titles, if it won't be a problem, of course."

"Of course, just let me know which ones you need so I can make a note in my library catalogue informing the date you will be returning them and fill in the forms. I don't need to mention that I expect them to be returned in the same condition you found them."

"Don't worry about that, I guarantee to you I will be the most careful with them."

"Oh yes, Beverly, Amy is the most careful person besides me that I know!" He smiled, touching her hand lightly, and she grinned at him in return.

"If you can ensure that I will leave out the lending form with the fine charging clause for non-returned material."

Sheldon widened his eyes at how strict she was with her library rules. "I... I can guarantee that, of course." Amy felt so embarrassed that she lowered her head and continued to eat.

When the time for dessert arrived both Penny and Beverly had already sobered up a little, and Michael was talking about frivolities of his work in the law academic career.

"The mayor congratulated me in person for the remarkable article on the improvements on the efficiency of the littering service and the new law restrictions in New York."

"Yes, the impact of his text was noticed in a UN congress about littering in big cities." Janet complemented.

"Congratulations, Michael, it's great to see our job receiving recognition." Amy observed.

"Well, I couldn't expect any less, my work has an international awareness."

"Amy's work is also being recognized internationally." Sheldon added, always proud of his girlfriend's achievements.

"Interesting. But at this level in her career shouldn't she have her own library, not depending on borrowing other people's books?"

"Excuse me? Are you saying that just because I don't own a huge library my work lacks relevance?"

"As far as I concern the size of one's private library cannot be used to precise how successful someone's career is. If so I would purchase all the books of an area and already be considered an expert, which would be surely inaccurate." Sheldon observed, getting noticeably annoyed by Michael's acid comments.

"I see, but don't you agree it's a natural consequence of success?"

"It might be, but not necessarily. Amy has a fantastic library to support her work in Caltech, she doesn't need to keep a huge private library on her own tiny apartment!"

"I completely agree with Sheldon, as long as I can be supported by a university structure I don't need to invest in a library on my own."

As conversation started to heat up, Leonard tried to cool things down a little. He didn't want to spend Christmas' Eve watching a fight.

"So mother, what made you build a Christmas Tree in your living room? I thought you considered them unnecessary knick-knack."

"It was Deena's idea, she pointed out that as I was having guests at Christmas, even though I don't believe in deities, it would be the right social convention to have one. Of course she hadn't used these words."

"I like them, make the environment cheerful and it's never bad to have good spirits in the house." Penny has always liked Christmas. "By the way, Leonard and I have a card for you!" She picked in her purse and took out a red envelope with golden ornaments.

Beverly removed the card from the envelope and read "Happy Jolly Christmas" in the cover, and when she opened an annoying 8-bit Christmas-y melody started playing. "Lovely." She read the handwritten message and closed the card as soon as possible, calling Deena.

"Please, put this... card together with the other frivolities over there. And keep it closed, please."

"Well, if you excuse us, Janet and I are leaving. Thank you for the pleasant dinner."

"Aren't you staying until midnight?" Penny asked.

"I don't understand, why would we stay here until so late?"

"Err... Because it's Christmas' Eve?"

"We're definitely not religious, we were here for a dinner, that's all." Janet added.

"Oh, alright."

The couple stood up and walked to the front door, after the farewell rituals.

"If you also excuse me, I will retire to my bedroom. I hope you find your accommodations appropriate."

"Well, concerning that, I must observe that I was surprized that the guest rooms only have double beds."

"I don't understand your surprise. All my siblings are married - or engaged, in Leonard's case - so it never occurred to me the need of having single beds."

"Sheldon, why didn't you tell me anything about that?" She looked at him, puzzled.

Sheldon avoided confronting Amy, instead he just continued. "The problem is not the bed itself. The thing is that Amy and I are not..."

"Are you having sexual issues? Does she happen to be 'cold in bed'? Or are you suffering from erectile dysfunction? That might occur even in people at young age."

"Whaaaat?" No!" Sheldon tried to explain, and both him and Amy blushed heavily.

Leonard tried to intervene, but only made things worse. "Mother, it's just that they are not used to that, sex is not really their thing."

"Excuse me, but my sex life is not a public topic to be discussed!" Amy yelled and ran out to the front door.

"Now that is the typical kind of behaviour of sexually frustrated females-."

"Stop it!" Sheldon interrupted her in the middle of her train of thought. "Amy and I have our own and special relationship in which we both deal with our limitations." He was breathing heavily, his ears red and his fists closed tight. "It was very rude of you to insult my woman in her face. No one insults my woman." He turned around and left behind Amy. When he arrived at the front door she was nowhere to be found. He tried to reach her on the phone, but it went straight to voicemail.

"Dear Lord, Amy, where have you gone?"