After enjoying a meal of cheeseburgers and lemonade, the couple stepped outside so Sheldon could call Leonard for a ride home.
"Hello Leonard. I need you to give Amy and me a ride home…we're at the Cheesecake Factory…it's date night…Penny brought us…but Leonard…I don't care if you are all at the comic book store…we're not…Leonard?...Hello?" He removed his phone from his ear and looked at it with confusion.
"What is it?" Amy asked
"He hung up on me," Sheldon complained. "That was a little uncalled for."
"What do you propose we do? Call a cab?"
Sheldon wrinkled his nose. "Taxi cabs, in my opinion, are like buses. They're dirty and unpleasant."
"We could walk to the comic book store and meet Leonard there. It isn't too far away."
"It's a little dark out, don't you think?"
"Sheldon, don't worry. And really, what other choice do we have?"
"Hmm…alright," he said reluctantly. "Let's start walking."
Sheldon slipped his phone into his bag. He and Amy walked side by side down the sidewalk. They were having a nice time walking, talking, and window shopping. Their nice time, however, was interrupted all too suddenly as they passed an alley just a few blocks from the comic book store.
"Stop right there, you two," a gruff voice said.
Sheldon and Amy froze. They slowly turned around to find a tall, dirty looking man behind them. "What do you want?" Sheldon asked.
"I just wanna see how cooperative you are," the man teased.
Amy looked at Sheldon with confusion and fear on her face. He instinctively grabbed her hand and held it as tight as he could. "Go away," Sheldon commanded. He turned and started to walk away, still hanging on to Amy's hand. All of a sudden, Amy gasped. He turned around to see the man with a switchblade in his hand, pointing it at his girlfriend. Sheldon jumped and pulled Amy close to him.
"You're not going anywhere, punk," threatened the man. All of a sudden, three other men strolled out of the darkness. Two of the men went behind the frightened couple. The other one joined the first man in front of them. "Now, step away from the girl," the man told Sheldon.
"Why? What do you want with her?" Sheldon sounded angry.
"It's none of your business," one of the man's goons said.
"Sheldon!" Amy whispered in a panicked tone. She was so frightened, she was practically in tears.
Sheldon wrapped his arms around Amy and held her as close as he possibly could. Seeing the terror in her eyes and hearing it in her voice made his protective nature towards her overcome his whole mind. He wanted nothing more than to keep her safe and to comfort her. "It'll be okay, Amy. I promise," he whispered in her ear. Then, he looked up at the men surrounding them. "I won't let you hurt her. I refuse to let her go."
The first man sneered at Sheldon. He and his goons inched closer to them. "Then we're going to have a problem." He stared at Sheldon for the longest time and tightened his grip on the switchblade in his hand.
Tears started to stream down Amy's face as the terror in her built up. Sheldon started to panic. Adrenaline filled his body. He knew he had to get Amy out of there. He had to step up and be a hero. He buried his face in Amy's hair and tightened his hold on her. He quickly whispered in her ear, "When I tell you to run, you must run. Do you understand?" She nodded. "I love you, Amy." She started crying harder as a response to what he'd just said. With a deep breath Sheldon summoned up all of the courage in his heart, whispered to her "run!" and then pushed her off to the side far enough to give her the chance to escape.
