Sheldon and his friends bought Amy dinner after they heard about her rough week. Well, Sheldon's friends offered to pay for her dinner and they strong armed Sheldon into participating. It was delivered to the apartment where three more people dropped by for a communal dinner that seemed to be a regular occurrence. Amy only caught the name of the tiny blonde on her right. Bernadette was also a biologist, so Amy spoke to her more comfortably than the rest of the group.
They were kind and friendly, and Amy wished that she had found them on her own. She couldn't just steal Sheldon's friend group, but she did want to. How was it fair that he had a family that loved him and this nice group of friends? Though, she did get a friend request from both Bernadette and the Indian guy, Rajesh, by the end of the night. And not a one of them judged her for going to Texas with Sheldon.
"Can I get you anything else for the night?" Sheldon asked his guest after the people who did not live there left. It was bedtime, but Sheldon thought he should check on Amy once more before he went to bed. He didn't have a lot of guests, but he was good at looking after them when he did.
"I'm okay. Thanks for letting me stay here," Amy assured him. She fluffed her pillow and settled in.
"No problem. Oh, and here is your driver's license back," Sheldon told her as he handed it back.
"Why do you have this?"
"I made a copy in case you try to rob us tonight and make off with our valuables," Sheldon explained.
"You really don't know anything about boundaries, do you? Also, did you think I could just sneak out with your TV in the middle of the night?"
"Maybe not the TV, but you could steal that Aquaman statue. It's currently worth $453. Though forget I said that."
"Wow." Amy was a little impressed that the toy could be worth so much. All the same, she wasn't planning on stealing anything from Sheldon and his friends. They had shown her more kindness than she had known in a long time.
"Goodnight, Dr. Fowler," Sheldon wished his new friend. Then he went in to go to sleep.
A few hours later, Sheldon woke to the sound of the television running in the living room. He could barely hear it if he strained, so he assumed that was not what woke him. Then he noticed his full bladder and realized that must be what it was.
After Sheldon finished urinating and washing his hands, he left the bathroom. When he saw that an informerical was playing, he assumed that Dr. Fowler had fallen asleep to the TV. He went over to turn it off when she jumped and put her hand to her chest.
"Dr. Cooper, you scared me."
"Sorry. I thought you were asleep."
"I can't sleep," Amy confessed. She hadn't thought it would be a problem. She hadn't really slept in nearly a week. Still, she was never comfortable in new places. Even if she did feel safer and more comfortable here than in her car.
Sheldon thought about going back to bed, but instead, he sat down on the couch next to Amy. He looked at the blender being advertised on the television and wondered if it was as fabulous as claimed. He assumed not. Things were rarely as fabulous as the claims. It was like all of those girls his mom insisted were perfect for him. No one was perfect for him. Perfect didn't exist.
"What do you usually do for Thanksgiving?" Sheldon asked Amy conversationally. He didn't mind getting to know her a little if only to make this ruse work.
"I usually go home for it, but my parents booked a cruise for the week. I think my mother is hoping that I'll make my own family if I'm shown how lonely it is on my own or something. She's disappointed that I enjoy work more than a social life."
"My mother is very much the same," Sheldon told her.
They sat together comparing parents and sharing funny Thanksgiving stories and then personal histories until Sheldon felt her head hit his shoulder. She had nodded off while he told a particularly long story about the year that his meemaw brought two boyfriends to Thanksgiving dinner. Sheldon carefully pushed Amy so that she was lying down on the couch. He even lifted her feet up on the other end of the couch. He checked his watch, and it was nearly four. He had to be up in a couple hours for his flight, so he went back to bed.
Amy woke up to Leonard getting himself breakfast. She sat up suddenly and looked around for her glasses. They were on the coffee table. She didn't remember taking them off. The last thing she remembered was Dr. Cooper telling a story. It wasn't boring, but his calming tones helped her finally fall asleep after a few bad nights. She hoped he wasn't offended that she had fallen asleep on him.
"Good morning. You'll need to wait until 6:45 to go to the bathroom or you can go across the hall," Leonard explained.
"You have a bathroom schedule? Also, you use the neighbor's bathroom?"
"The bathroom schedule belongs to your new boyfriend, and the apartment across the hall is Penny's." It was clear to Leonard that Amy had no idea what she was getting herself into, but she seemed sweet. He almost offered to just let her stay there while Sheldon was gone.
"Oh." Amy supposed that made a bit more sense. She thought that Penny lived here with the guys. Amy gathered together her clean clothes and went across the hall. She knocked, and Penny answered the door after a moment. It was clear that she wasn't a morning person, and Amy assumed that she had woken her.
"Leonard said I could use your bathroom," Amy started. She was going to explain about bathroom schedule, but Penny just nodded and waved her in like she wasn't surprised at all. Perhaps she wasn't. She had known Sheldon much longer than Amy had.
Penny went back to bed while Amy used her bathroom to shower and change. Then Amy tried to leave quietly, but received a wave from Penny on the way out. Amy liked Penny a great deal. In another life they might be best friends. Even if that other life was just a fantasy where the sweet blonde woman wanted to be friends with Amy.
When Amy walked back across the hall, she knocked, and was greeted by Dr. Cooper. He ushered her inside and helped her get some breakfast. Amy wanted to ask about the bathroom schedule, but she kept her questions to herself. It wasn't really any of her business. They weren't lovers. They weren't even actually friends.
After breakfast, Leonard drove the pair to the airport. Amy's anxiety was reaching a breaking point. How had she talked herself into this? Still, she steeled herself, and walked into the airport with Dr. Cooper. He got them checked into their flights. Then he assured her that he would be waiting for her on the other side of the trip before taking off for his own flight. Amy pulled a book out of her suitcase to read until her own flight took off later.
After Sheldon settled in on his plane, there was an announcement that the flight had been overbooked. If anyone was willing to move to the next flight—Dr. Fowler's flight—they would be upgraded to first class and given a one hundred dollar credit for a later flight and another fifty dollars to use for food in the airport. Sheldon felt his hand raising before he even registered what he was doing.
He was helped off the plane and led back into the airport. From there, Sheldon went to go find Dr. Fowler. She jumped when he sat next to her, and he thought she must startle very easily. This was the second time he scared her without meaning to in less than twenty-four hours.
"Did you miss your flight?" she asked when she realized it was him.
"No. It was overbooked. They offered me compensation for taking the next flight, which is your flight," he explained. "Now, they gave me more money to use on food than I could spend alone even at the disproportionately higher prices here. Would you like to join me in a snack?"
"Sure," Amy agreed. Then she stood and followed Sheldon to a stand with pizza. Sheldon grabbed more food than Amy believed the skinny man could eat. Amy got a slice of cheese pizza and small salad. It came out to still be under Sheldon's allotted funds.
They found somewhere to eat together.
"Thanks for lunch," Amy said as she nodded at her food.
"I wouldn't have done it if it were not for the coupon worth more than I could eat on my own."
"Also, thanks for taking the second flight with me."
"We won't be sitting together. I've been upgraded to first class," Sheldon explained.
Still, Amy was glad to not have to wait alone and not have to worry about finding him on the other end. She smiled at him, but when he seemed more focused on eating than making conversation, she picked at her salad. She didn't understand Dr. Cooper in the slightest. He was nice and then he was mean and then he was mean about being nice. She felt like he was trying to pull her in a million directions at once.
The pair went to wait for their flight. Amy took her book back out while Sheldon played some game on his iPad. Then he pushed it at her.
"Your turn," he claimed.
"I don't know what this is," Amy confessed after she studied it for a few moments. It looked like some kind of virtual card game.
Sheldon explained that it was a computer version of a card game he liked to play with his friends. He could have chosen to play it with strangers on the internet, but instead set it up to just be on his tablet. He showed Amy how to play her hand and explained the goals.
Amy gave it a shot, but lost the round rather quickly. That made sense since Sheldon was clearly more experienced. However, Amy played the next round and the next. When Sheldon leaned closer to show her something she noticed that he smelled nice. Just clean and pleasant instead of some artificial over-sprayed scent. She grinned to herself as she took an extra sniff.
"Amy? Are you feeling ill?" Sheldon asked about the sniff. It was the first time he had called her "Amy" instead of "Dr. Fowler."
"I'm fine, Sheldon," Amy tried feeling out his given name. It fit well in her mouth, and she decided to make the change. It was only fair since they were supposed to be dating. Most people don't use their boyfriend's formal title. Though Amy thought she might call him Dr. Cooper in a flirty way if they were actually dating.
He grinned at her, and their games were getting more competitive as Amy better understood the game. She even won one round just before their flight was called. Sheldon stood to go be seated with the other first class passengers. Only, he didn't get on the plane. He spoke to an employee and gestured for Amy to come over.
"This is my girlfriend, and I was wondering if there was any chance I could give up my first class ticket so that we can sit together," Sheldon inquired.
"Sheldon, you don't need to do that," Amy protested.
"I'm not ending our game with you winning. Not going to happen," he muttered in her ear.
"We can ask," the employee said. Sheldon nodded, and they waited to see if someone sitting next to Amy would be willing to switch to first class. It wasn't a problem, so Sheldon jammed himself into the seat next to Amy Farrah Fowler so that they could continue their game. It was less comfortable than his first class seat would have been, but Sheldon didn't mind if he could keep playing with Amy.
During the flight, they casually chatted about their lives. Amy learned that Sheldon met Leonard when they were both looking for roommates, but they really kicked it off. It seemed that Sheldon was a lot cuter and sweeter than he seemed. Amy swallowed her little crush when Sheldon teased her about losing the game again. Still, the boy made the flight go by faster than it should.
