A/N: Now let's start with the seminar... and Hazelra7, thank you so much again for beta-reading!
On Friday morning three weeks later, Amy and Sheldon were sitting on opposite sides of the seminar room. Both of them pretended to be working on their laptops, waiting for the course to begin and taking care to not seem familiar with each other. Only six other people were in the room, luckily they all seemed to be from other departments and no one recognized them.
Amy's skype messenger window popped open. She smiled as she read Sheldon's text: 'It hasn't even started yet, and I'm already bored…'
She gave him a quick glance, but he didn't pay her any attention. She typed back, 'Well, what would you prefer to do right now?'
'Oh, I've got ideas all day long. You don't even want to get me started on you, little lady…'
'Interesting. Now you assume to know what I want. Care to elaborate?'
'I know all too well what you want. I'd have to lead you to a secluded area first…'
The seminar instructor entered, interrupting their little chat. She was an elderly lady in her fifties, with light brown hair, slightly wavy, reaching down to her chin, but tagged behind her ears. According to her sparkling eyes framed by laugh lines and the open smile she gave them, she seemed to like her job or just life in general. She was about Amy's size, but of a more sturdy stature. She entered with a resolute walk and greeted them with a deep, pleasant voice. "Hello, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Marion, and I'll be your coach for today. You won't be needing any technical utilities here," with that she glanced at their laptops, and everyone put them back into their bags. "I will only require your voice and body," she winked at them.
"Oh boy, here we go," Sheldon mumbled.
"Is there a problem… Sheldon?" She glanced at his name plate. "I hope it's ok for all of you to be calling each other by your first names? It will ease our communication and help becoming more familiar with one another."
"My name is the least of my problems. I'm just not a fan of any unnecessary physical contact," Sheldon explained.
"Oh, don't you worry, no one will be touching you. It's all about your speech and body language. We want to strengthen your self-confidence using your emotions and giving you courage to just take a chance. Now for starters, I'd like to get to know each of you a bit better. But I won't bore you with having to introduce yourself like in some self-help group. You will do interviews instead."
She looked into the round. "Pick a person across from you and try to think of at least three questions, ask them and pay attention to the answers, and afterwards everyone will present their partner to the group. I'll give you twenty minutes to prepare, and then we'll do the presentations. As it is quite a large room and we only have four pairs, let's move the tables to a corner each so that you won't be disturbing each other."
Sheldon smiled and came over to Amy. This didn't start so bad after all… After having moved to 'their' corner, Amy took one of the file cards lying on each table and started to think. She knew of course how to present Sheldon, but it would be fun to ask him some unusual questions.
Sheldon was just looking at her fingers while she started to write down her questions.
After a short time, Amy became irritated by his gaze upon her. "Aren't you gonna write anything?" She whispered. The other pairings were also starting to talk to each other in muffled voices.
"Don't worry, it's all in my head," Sheldon pointed with his finger at his forehead. In a lower voice he added, "And I'm not going to put that on paper… besides, I love watching your fingers."
"Al… right… it makes me wonder what kind of questions you're thinking of." Amy fidgeted around in her seat, unsure of where he would be going with this.
"Then let's find out. Do you want me to start?" Sheldon wiggled his eyebrows at her.
"Okay…" she said, still holding her pen.
"Speaking about fingers… Do you think about me while you're pleasuring yourself?"
Amy's pen fell down in her surprise and rolled off the table. Sheldon smirked in an un-gentlemanly manner while the others looked up from what they were doing to Amy crawling under the table to retrieve her pen. Sheldon started to enjoy the seminar, especially as he was just getting a full view of her posterior while she was bending down.
"That's awfully personal, Sheldon!" she hissed when she came up again with a red head.
"It is, isn't it? That's the beauty of it! After all, you dragged me here. And... well, we do that now."
"But whoa, whoa, wait, how do you come to the assumption that I do that at all?" Amy tried to sound indignant while still keeping her voice down.
"Oh please, with all that patience for me, you had to relieve some stress at some point. It's only logical." Sheldon explained as if it had been obvious for the entire world to see.
"Okay, I won't argue with that… and it's kind of hot to hear you using logic for this…." Amy admitted.
"I'm glad we've both come to the conclusion that I'm right. But you haven't answered the question yet." Sheldon was persistent, boring into her eyes.
Amy sighed and tried hard to hold his gaze. "Sheldon, it's always been you in my thoughts… since that drunken kiss I gave you and pretended not to remember," she confessed, her voice now barely to hear.
"Good," he smiled at her.
"Good that I've been thinking about you or that I did remember that kiss after all?"
"Yes," he confirmed, nodding his head to both questions.
"But wait… you said earlier that it was logical… Are you implying that even Homo Novus engages in such activities?" Amy leered at him now, not too lady-like herself.
"Why do you think I need to shower twice a day?" Sheldon leaned over to her so that no one could overhear his whisper. "Ever since I ran you that bath, your luscious body has been tempting me... first only shortly during my waking hours, but then you started to invade my dreams as well. I tried Kolinahr and cold showers at first, oh boy I tried," and he looked longingly at her lips. "But I didn't have all day long for this… I needed a faster way to… get rid of it…" Sheldon looked down at his lap automatically. "So we're back to logic now," he finished, proud of his own brilliance again.
"Wow… I had no idea…" Amy was baffled. If she had only known earlier… but they were in a good place now, and it was well worth the wait.
"I should hope so. Even Leonard never suspected anything. But we should continue with your questions, or we'll never get this finished, and you know how I feel about that."
"Okay, you asked for it. What were you thinking of when I wanted to know earlier what you would like to do now?" Amy started with her first question.
"I really don't think we should talk about that here." Now it was Sheldon's time to fidget around.
"Oh, really? Well, you started it. And just for your information: This is me pointing out the hypocrisy of it, because it can't be any more personal or embarrassing than your question," Amy quipped.
"Oh yes, it can," he objected.
"Okay then, humor me," Amy challenged.
"Humor has nothing to do with it. But since you've asked..." He just looked at her as if she was good enough to eat, licking his lips. His intense stare made her blush, but she couldn't avert her eyes from his. He tore his gaze away from her shortly to check that no one was observing them, but all the others were busy with their interviews.
Relieved, he moved closer to her and spoke again, his voice so low it was barely a whisper. "I want you so much... I can't take it sometimes... and now that I know what it feels like... it's even worse. I feel so greedy... I just want these people to be gone, so I could have my way with you... right here on this table, preferably..."
He gulped, not daring to touch her in the seminar room full of strangers, especially as they were pretending to not know each other. "Please don't ask me for details... it's hard enough as it is already to know I'll be around you all day long... what has become of me?"
"Hoo," Amy uttered involuntarily, covering her mouth with her hand.
"You don't say," he answered, enchanted by the way her fingers were slightly moving on her lips, imagining his own fingers there instead… or other body parts.
"Uhm… we'll come back to that later," Amy said, placing her hands to rest on her customary spot on her knees. "Would you like to ask your second question?"
"What's your favorite position?" Sheldon asked quickly.
"Do you have any non-sex-related questions?" Amy started to wonder what had become of her formerly stoic boyfriend during the last month – not that she minded, of course...
"I do, but I'm still thinking about your previous one," he admitted.
"Oh dear, I've created a monster…" Amy exhaled.
"Don't flatter yourself. It's been there all along. It's just not afraid anymore to come out," he grinned at her smugly.
"I'm glad I got what I wished for," Amy smiled. Then she locked her eyes with him, challenging him. "Me on top," she answered finally, longing to touch him, but keeping her hands on her knees. Why had it become so difficult lately to keep her hands to herself? But she didn't seem to be the only one having this problem when she recalled the increase of his casual touches during the last weeks. "How about you?"
"Hmm…" he started, imagining the possibilities. "Pinning you against the wall in the shower," he finally decided. Then he whispered very quietly, "I think we need to change the subject now… it might get embarrassing if I had to stand up now…" he finished sheepishly.
Amy's mouth formed a small 'o'. Had it just become hot in here? She frantically tried to come up with a more harmless question. "When did you realize that you loved me?" she finally asked, trying not to look at his lap, that wouldn't help at all.
"It finally hit me on the train trip… although I have known it before… I just wasn't ready to face it." His intense gaze at her had changed slightly to some kind of koala face when he remembered recognizing the feeling. Amy had indeed helped him calm down a bit again.
"I guessed so," she nodded. "What's your third question?"
"Why are you so eager to move in with me?" Sheldon asked.
"Oh, I'm not anymore. No need to worry," Amy said offhandedly.
"What does that mean?" Sheldon asked anxiously.
"Just what I said, that you shouldn't worry. I won't mention that again, I won't scare you off."
"But don't you like our sleepovers?"
"Of course I do. But I've decided to let you set the pace, that seems to work best for us," she smiled.
"But… without your constant… insistence… we wouldn't have come this far… and I kind of like it… a lot…" he stammered.
Amy tried to suppress a smile. "Sheldon, I'm getting mixed signals here. Do you want me to bring this topic up again?"
"Perhaps I do… I'll have to start looking for a new roommate sometime in the future… I'm just saying, you might want to throw your application in the pool as well," he smiled at her encouragingly.
"Alright, I'll think about it," she replied in a neutral voice, trying not to sound too excited by all the progress they made the last weeks.
But Sheldon was now actually worried she'd first have to consider it thoroughly. He had always imagined he just needed to snap his fingers if he was finally ready for this step, and she would be eagerly running at his command. This was not what he had envisioned, and he didn't like it. Or was she making fun of him? With such a serious topic, nonetheless? Again he thought how helpful this mind-reading ability would be right now…
"Which kind of brings me to my third question: Why has it always been so imperative for you that no girl was allowed in your room?" Amy interrupted his thoughts.
"Uhm… you do know what happened the first time I had you alone in my room? We practically had sex, for God's sake! It was just D&D, but oh boy did it feel real! Hadn't you noticed how long it took for me to put the dice back in place afterwards, trying to recompose myself? And that was all my idea, though I kept telling myself I wasn't ready for this."
"And here we're back to your first question… that session has been quite the inspiration for many a lonely night," Amy whispered, making his jaw drop.
Sheldon gulped, then continued, "Why didn't we talk about this earlier?"
"Because you would have denied it, run away and possibly ended our relationship because you couldn't take all that pressure I was putting on you," Amy explained, patiently as always.
"That does sound like me… but there's more…"
Marion interrupted them, "Okay, time's up. Let's present everyone to the group now."
Sheldon sighed, he hated to leave things unfinished. But on the other hand, they had talked about too much hippie-dippy stuff already, he needed time to analyze it first… Just playing that question and answer game had practically brought him to admit he wanted her to move in! So much for taking tiny steps and preserving homeostasis… Perhaps it's good to have it end right here, or next thing he knew he'd be on his knees begging her to marry him, for God's sake!
He must have been in the zone for a moment, because suddenly he was aware of Amy looking at him curiously while Marion was finishing her explanations. "... so while you are talking, remember to keep it simple, don't use too long sentences, you want to keep your audience interested and not intimidate them. And while you are being presented, I'd like you to check if it's all true or if the interviewer may have added some things that you didn't state at all. This is an important exercise as well, because we often do that and tend to imply things that aren't there. Sheldon, would you like to begin?"
"Okay," he began, gathering his senses." I'd like to present Amy Farrah Fowler. She's a brilliant neuroscientist. She can strap you on a table with electrodes on your head and dissect your brain later. She has worked with monkeys for addiction studies and is currently stimulating my… uhm minor pleasure zones in starfish," he quickly corrected himself, but no one – except Amy with eyes growing like saucers at that Freudian slip – seemed to have noticed.
He continued, "She loves medieval literature, Chaucer is her favorite. She likes watching old French movies and Little House on the Prairie, and she plays the harp beautifully. She is here today because she felt the need to improve her soft skills for presenting her published results at conferences. Although due to her warm and patient nature she won't have any problems with that. "
"Is this all correct, Amy?"
"In general, yes. Although I never said I played beautifully, neither did I assume being brilliant. And I certainly don't remember talking about my nature," she answered modestly.
"Oh, please, you have an IQ of over 180, that's brilliant by any definition. And therefore it was only logical to deduce that when you do play the harp, it must be beautiful. The rest of your personality was easy to perceive."
"Well, thank you, Sheldon, but I'm not sure if we're here today to learn about flattery," Amy blushed.
"Oh, it can be quite effective, but you shouldn't exaggerate it," Marion explained.
"I don't do flattery, I am just stating facts," Sheldon replied.
"Alright, then let's hear what Amy has to tell about you," Marion said with a smile.
"I may present Sheldon Lee Cooper to you. According to our previous discussion, he is brilliant as well. He is a junior professor in theoretical physics, and is currently working on dark matter research. Therefore the head of his department proposed to him to come here in order to inspire his students even more. He made his first Ph.D. at the age of fourteen and has an eidetic memory. He is not fond of germs or unnecessary touching, but he loves trains, flags, koalas, comic books, science fiction… and Pride and Prejudice. He may appear a bit distant, perhaps even arrogant at first, but what most people don't recognize is his whacky sense of humor and his deep care for those few he considers his friends."
"I didn't say I liked Pride and Prejudice! And I didn't say anything about humor or caring for others!" Sheldon objected before Marion could even ask him.
"Correct," Amy replied, "But that's what I gathered from the way you were talking to me. And you said that book was a flawless masterpiece."
"Thank you for your assessment, Sheldon, but is Amy right with her assumptions?" Marion inquired.
"Well, I guess you could put it that way." He gave her a small smile, secretly pleased with her introduction, although hoping they wouldn't think of him as a hippie after mentioning that book.
After everyone had been introduced to the group, Marion wanted to start with their first exercise. "Now I want you to loosen up a little. I'd like to call this exercise 'courage for disgrace'. I will start a story, then point to one of you, and you will continue at once without thinking, and after some time give it over to someone else of your choice to continue. Any questions?"
"Loosen up? What is this, a hippie convention? And this brain does not just stop thinking!" Sheldon exclaimed, then shot a look at Amy eyeing him curiously. 'Although… there have been occasions… recently… where that vixen has managed to do just that,' he finished in his head.
"No one wants to change who you are. Our goal is just to let your personality shine through. Sometimes we are hindering ourselves from doing that. Our brain tends to overthink, and often good ideas are lost because we dismiss them as being stupid."
Marion had thought from the beginning that Sheldon might be quite a challenge today even if she hadn't been warned explicitly by Gablehouser. That had been unusual procedure, but now she started to get what he had been hinting at. But that's what made her job interesting. She smiled and tried another approach. "Ok, as a preparation, let's do something else first. I will tell you a word, and you say five words that spring to mind. Just start talking, and don't think about it."
She looked at Sheldon, "I saw you rolling your eyes. So let's start with you… Your word will be 'eyes'."
"Green. Beautiful. Glasses. Pupils. Dark. Fluttering. Eyelashes. Closed." Sheldon answered instantly, but now that he thought of it, he was terrified. They wouldn't start analyzing it now, would they? From the corner of his eyes he saw Amy's jaw had dropped, but she quickly closed it again.
However, Marion seemed to be happy. "That was very good, and even more than five words, thank you Sheldon." Thankfully she didn't dig any deeper. She thought of some other words for the rest of the group. When it was Amy's turn, she got 'table'.
"Dark. Wood. Break-up. Ridiculous. Hurt." Amy shot one word after the other.
"Well, these are… unusual associations you have with a table."
"I've always been… unusual." Amy answered evasively, not looking at Sheldon who had turned pale at her words.
A/N: Yay, my first tiny cliffhanger! Will they talk about it or ignore it? More on Wednesday, thank you for reading!