Sheldon finally looked down at his watch. 11:00 p.m. Hmmm, he thought. No wonder I am getting tired. Although he was tired, thankfully he was not too terribly hungry as he had eaten the sandwich Amy left for him a few hours earlier. Well, I had better head home and try to achieve at least a minimal amount of REM sleep, he surmised. The hours he had been working lately greatly interfered with his normal sleep cycle. Not to mention all of his other normal scheduled activities.
At least Sheldon had been driving himself to work these days. Although having others drive him around still gave him a sense of importance, he could not deny the feeling of freedom he felt not having to take others schedules into consideration (although he didn't do that very often before). And he was finally able to use his official university parking spot.
Sheldon packed up his things and locked up his office. The campus was fairly quiet this time of night during a normal week but now that the students had already left for Christmas break, the place was deserted. He was able to quickly drive out of the parking lot and get home without much traffic at all. Just like he preferred.
As Sheldon anticipated, Amy was already asleep by the time he quietly entered their apartment. He quickly changed into his pajamas and quietly crawled into bed falling asleep almost instantly. When his barely audible alarm went off at 4:00 (thank you Vulcan-like hearing), he crept out of bed and hit the shower. He was dressed, full of raisin bran and out the door by 4:45. He stopped for a moment in the hallway as he triple-checked the apartment door to make sure it was locked. He wanted Amy to be safe and sound inside.
Sheldon signed inwardly. He missed his wife greatly. He missed talking with her and sharing news about their day. He missed exchanging ideas and intellectual banter with her. He missed eating dinner together and watching TV and cuddling and, yes, he missed being intimate with her. He had been forced to put his pseudo-random coitus schedule on hiatus until after he could publish this paper.
Sheldon had created the schedule as a compromise after he and Amy had discussed the issue on their honeymoon. He had explained to her at the time his belief that without a set schedule for coital activities, he might not remember to be a "good husband" to her in the bedroom. As it turned out; however, Sheldon's belief was not entirely accurate.
Sheldon found himself thinking about his need for their bedroom endeavors often and at random times while he was working. After they were married, he and Amy enjoyed the socially sanctioned freedom of making love when they wanted and now since that freedom was taken away, he seemed to crave it even more. He was constantly having to refocus on his work and reassure himself at those times that the minute, the literal minute, he was done with this paper, he would make up for lost time in that area with his beautiful wife.
But for now, it was "all work and no play" making Sheldon not only a dull boy, but a tired and sexually frustrated man. He only hoped that Amy would continue to be patient with him. Especially after he forgot her birthday this week.
Sheldon could not believe he forgot her birthday and Leonard of all people had to remind him. His friend was one of a select few individuals in which Sheldon actually cared about what they thought of him. He knew Leonard was disappointed in him for neglecting Amy.
In his defense, he did not forget. The day just snuck up on him because he was working so hard his days ran together and he hadn't realized the date. He could never forget the date of Amy's birth. It was a monumental day for them in the history of their relationship. It was the day he and Amy first engaged in coitus right after they got back together.
Back then, Sheldon could think of no better way to express to Amy how much she meant to him and how absolutely thrilled he was that they were back together. His only concern about his birthday gift to his girlfriend was him being overwhelmed by her and ruining everything. But Amy was patient with him as always and they enjoyed themselves greatly that night and every night on Amy's birthday since. Well, until her ruined their streak by missing last night. Sheldon felt awful about that.
He was so close to finishing this paper, he thought as he made his way down the stairs. He knew the theory was not perfect and maybe that was the point. His ultimate goal as a physicist was to understand everything about a complex imperfect world. His ultimate hope was that he and Amy's concept of super asymmetry would move society closer to that understanding. It was all he could hope for without some further definitive proof of their concept.
Unfortunately, Sheldon knew if their work took off after publishing then he would have to defend it. This would mean more papers, interviews and lectures around the country. Although Amy was a critical component in the initial concept, he knew a neurobiologist might not be taken seriously in his world of physics so he would most likely be presenting on his own. Amy would have to stay here for her own work anyway and he would be missing her again.
Well, they would cross that bridge when they came to it. He was determined that he would make the most of the time they had together as soon as he possibly could.
Sheldon drove to work in silence along the dark streets of Pasadena but he had a slight grin on his face. He was thinking about Amy and how they could finally be together once this paper was published. He began to craft a plan to put all of her past birthdays to shame and more than make up for this year. Sheldon's slight grin became a full-fledged smile.