The drive to the California Science Centre hadn't taken too long; despite Sheldon droning on about the most recent article he had read in his copy of Applied Particle Physics Quarterly magazine, which, unlike the other members of their social group, Amy enjoyed listening to him talk about it.
"Do you want to play a game that Leonard and I participate in doing during our most strenuous drives to work in the morning? Surprisingly, Leonard insists that we play the game almost every morning," said Sheldon, with a questionable tone.
"Sure. How do we play?"
"OK. I'll say an element, and you say an element whose name starts with the last letter of the one I said. I also played this game with Penny once but I don't think she understood the rules. Alright, I'll start. Nitrogen" Sheldon said ecstatically.
"Alright, so N. Neon" responded Amy.
"Nickel" countered Sheldon.
"Um. Lithium."
"Molybdenum."
"Oh. Ok. Mercury."
"Oh! Very clever. How about Yttriu...Oh wow! Look, we are here!" exclaimed Sheldon.
Pulling up to the Science Centre always seemed to give him goose bumps based on the buildings sheer size, immensity and presence.
"Oh, if only you did not contain so many incorrect and misleading displays of science, you could truly be my favourite place on earth", sighed Sheldon while getting out of the car. "Well, welcome, Amy Farrah Fowler to the California Science Centre" he declared.
"I know where we are, Sheldon. I've been here many times before, even on two occasions with you".
"Yes. However, this outing has been brought to you by redeeming one of your Cooper Coupons" he retorted.
"Very true. Shall we go inside?"
As they stepped up to the counter, Sheldon pulled out his wallet and paid for the admission tickets.
"Are we splitting the cost of the tickets?" she asked.
"Gosh no. I'm paying for you Amy. Did you not read the fine print of you Cooper Coupon voucher? It said so quite clearly that I would be paying for the both of us" he stated, wiggling his eyebrows looking down to her.
"Oh, why thank you very much Sheldon."
As Sheldon and Amy made their way through the planetary exhibit, the electricity exhibit, the human anatomy exhibit and finally to the physics demonstration auditorium, Amy could see that he was starting to get a pained look on his face.
"Sheldon, is something bothering or concerning you?"
"Yes, there are a couple things that are bothering me. The first thing that is troubling me was that horribly explained schematic of the Ursa Major galaxy that we watched in the planetarium. And secondly, my bladder is about the burst despite my lack of hydration before today's excursion," Sheldon stated curtly while crossing his legs.
"Well, why don't you just go to the washroom? I can see one down that hall on the left."
"Amy, you know I don't like venturing into public restrooms."
"Fine Sheldon, just let you bladder, burst, as you put it, because our outing is not over yet. And even it was over; it's a 30 minute drive back to your apartment."
Sheldon sat on the bench, pondering, while shifting his weight from one side to another, trying to find a position that put the least amount of pressure on his bladder.
"Alright, fine. I'll go and use a public restroom. But I warn you, it takes time for me to become comfortable on an unfamiliar toilet so be prepared to wait a while" Sheldon stated.
Amy chuckled as she watched Sheldon awkwardly waddle away to washroom, locking his knees together to prevent any unwanted accidents from occurring before entering a cubicle. Sitting on a bench which was adjacent to the hallway where the washrooms were located, Amy watched in content as people walked by her; some old, some young, a few groups of children running from station to station with their tired parents standing idly by, some individuals who were walking up to dioramas, apparently here by themselves and also couples who were holding hands and admiring the displays of enlarged atoms of elements, all while kissing one another on the cheek, poking and giggling to themselves. Amy watched one particular couple who were standing in front of a display depicting a hydrogen atom, however not even looking at the exhibit, just looking deep into each other's eyes, kissing and holding onto one another. She watched them as they so casually showed public displays of affection; something that Sheldon found displeasing in both witnessing and taking part of. She closed her eyes and imagined herself and Sheldon in the place of that couple in front of the hydrogen atom; holding one another, gazing into those big blue eyes while he eyes would be piercing hers, kissing him and enjoying each other. Coming out of her thoughts and looking down to her watch, she noticed that Sheldon had been in the washroom for 15 minutes thus far. If she had been at the Science Centre with anyone else other than him, she would have begun to worry; however, when it came to public washrooms, Sheldon's stage fright was something that she was quite accustomed to. As her right foot began to fall asleep from sitting on the uncomfortable bench for quite some time, Amy decided to go over and examine some of the enlarged atoms while waiting for her boyfriend to void his bowels.
Sheldon looked at his watch while standing in washroom; his uneasiness about public facilities not waning, however, he really wanted to finish up and return back to Amy and continue their tour, still having to go through the corridor on biology. After 25 minutes of anxious waiting, Sheldon stepped away from the urinal, zipping up his zipper, closing the button and buckling his belt to the third hole. Sheldon walked over to the sink and washed his hands as thoroughly as he could. Turning around and in horror, discovering that there weren't any hand towels, only blow dryers, he started waving he hands in the air and patting them gently on his burgundy pants. Opening the door with the least amount of contact to the handle, he took his hand sanitizer out of his pant pocket and squeezing a substantial amount into his hand, walked down the hallway to neighbouring hall where Amy would be waiting for him. Entering the massive room, Sheldon looked around for Amy, not noticing her at first, but finally spotting her about 100 feet away in front of an artist's rendition of the inside of a nucleus of a plant on canvas. While walking towards her, gazing briefly upon the enlarged atoms, he couldn't help but notice another man standing close to Amy. At first, Sheldon thought the man was only standing near to her, also critiquing the painting of the plant nucleus by himself, however, he noticed him glancing towards Amy and what also appeared to be him speaking with her. As he continued walking closer to Amy and this unknown male, Sheldon began to feel and hear his heartbeat in his ears, palms begin to sweat, and a sense of urgency to get to her. Drawing closer to Amy and the, as Sheldon felt, assailant, he could start to hear what they were talking about through his Vulcan hearing, being their remarks on the nucleus of a plant compared to one of an animal. Tapping on her shoulder Amy turned around and was happy to see him.
"Oh, Sheldon, perfect timing, we were just discussing this poorly executed interpretation of a plant nucleus and how it looks more to that of an animal's", Amy said.
"Who is this?" remarked the unfamiliar man.
"This is my..." Amy started to say.
"I am her boyfriend, Dr. Sheldon Lee Cooper. Who are you?" Sheldon stated sharply while promptly standing in front of Amy.
"Well, nice to meet you Dr. Sheldon Lee Cooper. I'm Neil, just a simple lover of science, talking about the contents of this painting with your beautiful girlfriend", he said while glancing at Amy up and down ever so slightly.
Sheldon was taken aback by the inappropriate remark and continued to stare daggers at the man, clenching his teeth and breathing heavily, as Amy looked up to her boyfriend, puzzled by his aggressive manner and tone.
"Alright Amy, since I'm finished using the facilities, we can continue our tour now", said Sheldon harshly.
"Fine Sheldon, lets continue", Amy said. "Well, it was nice to meet you. Our conversation on this nucleus was most enlightening. Good day, Neil."
"Nice to meet you too Amy", Neil said as Amy began to turn and walk in the other direction, gazing at her legs while tilting his head. "And you too Dr. Sheldon Lee Cooper" he said most mockingly while strolling in the opposite direction.
When the man walked away, Sheldon began to feel very hot as his hands rolled themselves into fists.
"Sheldon, are you ok? What's wrong?" Amy asked.
Sheldon looked down to the ground as Amy stepped in front of him. As he stared at the floor he couldn't help but notice how close Amy was to him because all he could see was her bare legs. He continued to stare without her noticing the whereabouts of his eyes while convincing himself to calm down by trying to imagine various equations on String Theory on his mental whiteboard; something that he did quite frequently when trying to focus his mind on something else.
"I think I'm sick. Can you take me home please?" Sheldon asked, still with his chin to his chest.
"OK, fine. But you owe me because you're cutting our Cooper Coupon day short", she said, most disappointedly.
The drive back to Sheldon and Leonard's apartment was silent. Absolutely silent. The only thing was not silent was the mind of Sheldon who kept replaying what had happened with the man named Neil.
Well Neil, how does it feel to be put on Sheldon Cooper's Top 10 Archenemy List? –he thought to himself.
As he thought to himself, he felt tightness within his chest that was making it harder to breath with each passing inhale, and an ache in the pit of his stomach. Pulling into the parking lot of the apartment building, Amy pulled into an empty spot next to a black Camry.
"What are you doing?" asked Sheldon.
"Well, if you're sick, I'm your girlfriend and need to take care of you. It is stated within the Relationship Agreement in Section 4."
The walk up to 4A contained just as much silence as the car ride had had. Pulling out his keys and opening the door, Sheldon placed his keys in the bowl, tossing his bag on the couch and started to head for his bedroom with Amy in-toe. Turning around in his bedroom, he noticed Amy standing in the doorjamb.
"I'm going to lie down but first I need to get into my pajamas. Can you shut the door please?" asked Sheldon.
As Amy shut the door, she headed towards the living room couch, very perplexed by the whole situation that had occurred at the Science Centre. Hearing her name being called a few minutes later, Amy opened Sheldon's door to see him lying in bed in what she was assumed to be his Saturday Night pajamas. Awkwardly standing within a foot from the door, Amy didn't know what to do.
"What do you need or want? I can make you soup, or a grilled cheese. Or maybe you want some hot cocoa?" sweetly asked Amy.
"My chest is really hurting; however, I don't think I have a cold or the flu." Sheldon stated hesitantly. "Maybe you can put some vapour rub on my chest to see if that helps regardless", he said while propping himself up on a few pillows.
"Alright, Sheldon", Amy said, almost half-heartedly as she sat down on the edge of his bed, while suppressing the sounds of hoots and howls in her brain, being full with excitement at the thought of rubbing lotion on his chest.
Lifting up his shirt very timidly, Amy couldn't help but notice the small ripples of muscles across his chest and stomach, which she thought managed to be fairly well hidden underneath his usual attire of a t-shirt with a long sleeved shirt beneath it. Observing every detail of his torso, from his chest hair to his bellybutton to all the freckles strewn across, Amy looked upon him tenderly. Coyly smiling, Amy grazed the top of the lotion with her fingers and then placed them on Sheldon's chest, hesitantly. Slowly starting to move her hand in a counter clockwise motion, she observed him gently closing his eyes.
He couldn't tell if the vapour rub was actually helping, but the softness and gentleness of Amy's touch and smooth skin was very soothing, causing the tightness in his chest to slowly dissipate. When recalling the incident at the Science Centre, he could feel the tightness try to creep its way back to his chest; however, he tried to focus his attention to Amy and her soft touch. Opening his eyes, he looked at Amy who was looking back at him, with a small smile of contentment. Slowly closing his eyes again, Sheldon glimpsed Amy's legs, right where skirt and flesh met. Quickly closing his eyes tightly, the image of Amy's legs was still there, seemingly engrained in his memory. However, opening his eyes again, trying to get away from the flesh, there they were once more. Closing his eyes yet another time, Sheldon tried to switch his focus back to the movement of Amy's hand on his chest which seemed to help. As she continued to rub his chest, a tingling sensation shot down through his neck all the way down to his feet causing him to burst up out of his bed and bolt to the other side of the room by his closet. Looking down in every direction other than Amy's, Sheldon was upset and baffled with the feelings going through his entire body.
As she stared over to Sheldon, who was currently tightly grasping his closest doorknob while trying to hide behind his dresser, Amy looked up to his terrified and bewildered eyes which were trying to focus anywhere in the room other than on her. Amy just sat there not knowing what to say or think about the incident that just occurred.
Sheldon's chest and stomach were starting to pain him again as adrenaline was pumping itself through his system.
Run! Run as far as you can from her! - he screamed to himself in his mind, grasping and hiding behind his closet door.
"Get out, now!" he said, yelling at Amy. "Leave now and show yourself out!"
As Amy stared up to him through dismayed and hurt eyes that were starting to well up, she didn't know what to think. She only wanted to get out of his room and out of his apartment and to her own as quickly as she could. Without even responding to him to say Goodbye, Amy was out his door, rushing down the hall, through the living room and out the apartment door. Running down the 3 flights of stairs, she could hardly see through the tears that were so quickly flowing down her face. Getting into her car, she just sat there with her head in her hands, heaving almost uncontrollably.
What did I do? Did I do something wrong? Did I hurt him? –was all should could think of.
Sitting there for a few minutes, Amy tried to compose herself so she could drive herself to her empty apartment, so she could be alone and cry herself to sleep that night.