On a cold, gray, cloudless day, Amy walks barefoot in the surf. The navy blue zip up sweater jacket does little to protect against the strong wind chilling her to the bone. She's crying, the silent tears falling from her eyes, but a microcosm of the infinite drops of water that make up the ocean as her tears wash out to sea. Looking up towards the smattering of houses on the cliff, she keeps looking expectantly for someone. The roaring of the ocean waves and the cawing of the seagulls circling above draw her attention back to her present path and she keeps walking, occasionally stopping to look at the seashells, but finding only broken chunks of sand dollars in the muddy brown sand.
Stopping at a piece of large driftwood that had washed ashore with the last winter storm, Amy leans against it and looks out into the water. Off in the distance, she sees something reflecting in the sun light. A person? It's far too frigid to be swimming in the Pacific ocean, today of all days especially, and with the riptide warning in effect, that person is particularly stupid, Amy decides. Still, she can't take her eyes off this object. There is an ethereal glow coming from it, almost blinding her as she calculates that it is about 20 yards out in the water. Deciding she wants to see what it is, Amy approaches the surf once again, allowing just her ankles to become submerged in the water.
The object has come closer now, and Amy realizes it is indeed a person. The slender blonde, which she immediately recognizes as Ramona, is a mermaid. The reflection Amy had been seeing is from flecks of gold sewn into the delicately weaved green kelp bikini top.
"Hannibal ad portas!" Ramona calls out. Not waiting for an answer from Amy, her tail forcefully slaps the water as she swims away.
The force of the tide sweeps Amy's feet out from underneath her, drawing her out into the ocean and further and further away from the shoreline. Looking back, she sees Sheldon building a sandcastle further up on the beach. How had she not seen him? He uses a stick to write, "Shamy" in the sand. The tide slowly laps at it, washing it away, until it is but a memory.
Startling awake suddenly, Sheldon feels momentarily disoriented before realizing he fell asleep in the Uber on the way to LAX.
"Ya okay, buddy?" The driver wonders as he takes a long swig of Moutain Dew from a bottle he sets between his legs.
"Yes, bad dream. Are you our return ride as well?" Sheldon asks.
"Yep," the driver confirms before belching loudly and reaching into a bag of Dorito chips in the passenger seat.
A mermaid? It's amazing what the mind will conjure up when under duress, Sheldon thinks to himself as he looks out the window attempting to regain his bearings. Not that he believes in such hokum, but Missy was very much into dream interpretation when they were teenagers. Home from university for the summer, and bored out of his skull, having been banned from any of that, 'fancy science stuff,' for the summer by his mother, Sheldon picked up one of Missy's books and began reading. He recalls that mermaids are a particularly bad omen. Dreaming of a mermaid means that a current project or ambition will fail to bear fruit and would be better left abandoned. Mermaids represent deception, often of your own making. Scoffing, Sheldon thinks, "even my subconscious mind is turning against me."
Getting out of the cab as they arrive at LAX, Sheldon makes his way inside to await Amy's arrival.
Amy is utterly exhausted by the time she makes her way off the plane and through the arrivals terminal to find Sheldon waiting for her at baggage claim. Luckily, LAX is not too busy at this time of night... or rather, early morning, and she's able to get to Sheldon relatively easily. He surprises her by giving her a long hug and kissing her cheek as he takes her carry on bag from her.
"I don't have checked baggage," Amy informs him as they walk by the carousel and out to the Uber car.
Climbing into the back seat, Sheldon places Amy's small bag on the floor by his feet and then reaches to hold Amy's hand as they make their way back to their home.
"You look exhausted," Sheldon comments as they climb the last of the stairs and he opens the door to 4B.
"I am," Amy reluctantly admits as she flops down on the couch and kicks off her shoes.
"Why don't you go shower while I warm up dinner for you?" Sheldon suggests as he makes his way to the fridge and pulls out the last tray of the chicken enchiladas Amy made for him before her departure.
"Don't bother warming that up, Sheldon. I don't want to eat much before going right to bed," Amy explains as she joins him in the kitchen and begins pulling out the items to make herself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
"Is something wrong?" Sheldon quietly asks as he embraces Amy from behind and wraps his arms around her waist, lightly swaying back and forth with her.
"No," she quickly reassures, turning her head to smile at him. "Well... yes, actually. You're expecting coitus tonight..."
"I'm not expecting anything, Amy," Sheldon quickly reassures.
"All week, it has been heavily insinuated that we'd have coitus tonight," Amy reminds him as she pulls a butter knife from the dish drainer.
"Whether coitus was heavily implied or not, our relationship agreement requires consent from both parties in order for physical contact of any kind to be permissible. I know we've been playing fast and loose with that rule, as our current embrace implies, but Amy, I will never expect or demand anything from you, nor would you ever do the same to me. If all we do this weekend is hold hands, that's enough. There are zero expectations... but if said opportunity arose..." he whispers.
"Pun intended?" Amy questions as she smirks at him.
"What pun?" Sheldon wonders before continuing his train of thought, "I'd be hard-pressed to turn down a proffer of coitus." Taking a few seconds to review his last sentence, Sheldon blushes as he adds, "so to speak."
"See, you want coitus tonight and are going to be disappointed if I reject you," Amy replies, exasperated as she removes herself from Sheldon's arms and slathers peanut butter onto a slice of wheat bread.
"I'm not disappointed in the least," Sheldon attempts to reassure. "It doesn't take an IQ of 187 to see that you're exhausted. Having you home is enough. Reaching out for you and not finding only a cold sheet in return is enough. Let's get a good night's rest and we'll see what tomorrow brings. No expectations."
"Okay," Amy whispers in reply, "Do you want a sandwich?"
"No, thank you," Sheldon politely replies as he retrieves the milk from the fridge and pours two glasses, placing one in front of Amy as she retires to the couch.
"Has Kripke discovered that it's Howard and Raj who have been pulling all of the pranks?" Amy wonders between bites.
"Yes. Yesterday, Raj and Howard discovered that Kripke left his sunroof open so they filled the car with pennies. This morning, Raj kept hearing a buzzing noise in his office while we were meeting with Colonel Williams. He opened his desk drawer to find several battery-operated sex toys," Sheldon shares, causing Amy to almost choke as she starts laughing. "How did the colonel respond?" she wonders after catching her breath.
"He said that was tame compared to the pranks he's seen in the military, and offered us some tips for revenge," Sheldon shares as Amy finishes the last of her meal.
Taking the dishes to the sink, Sheldon rinses them while Amy locks up and turns out the lights. Crawling into bed after changing into her pajamas, the last thing she feels is Sheldon rolling over to spoon with her as he whispers, "Good night, Amy. I love you."
Amy is the first to awaken the following day. Glancing at her bedside clock, she is in disbelief that it reads 1:18 pm. Sheldon is still sound asleep behind her, his arm around her waist hugging her as close as humanly possible to him. Sheldon will agree to cuddle with her, but typically, when he's ready to sleep, he'll kiss her good night before rolling away to his side of the bed. Amy thinks it's adorable and very romantic that he's spooned her all night long. As Sheldon begins to stir a few minutes later, he softly murmurs into her ear, "Marry me."
Gasping, Amy isn't sure if he's dreaming or not. She's unable to roll over to check, so as she contemplates her response, she decides that non-committal is her best option. He wants to marry me, but he could be dreaming and my hopes will be dashed in an instant as soon as he awakens. Stay cool and wait for more information.
"Amy?" Sheldon questions as he loosens his hold upon her, "are you awake?"
"Yes," she whispers in reply as she realizes he wasn't dreaming.
"Yes, you'll marry me, or yes, you're awake?" Sheldon seeks clarification as Amy rolls over to face him.
"Yes, I'm awake," Amy softly confirms. "You... you... you... want to marry me?" she stutters as she attempts to wrap her head around the spontaneity of Sheldon's proposal.
"Yes," Sheldon immediately confirms. "Tonight."
"Tonight?!" Amy screeches as she bolts upright in their bed.
"Meemaw would tan my hide if the baby is conceived out of wedlock."
"What baby?!" Amy wonders trying desperately to follow the ping ponging logic of her... boyfriend/fiance?
"The baby we're going to conceive this weekend!" Sheldon exclaims. Realizing that yelling at his bride to be is not helping his cause, Sheldon gets out of bed and retrieves his 9 fingered Nana's ring from atop his dresser. Going to Amy's side of the bed, he gets down on one knee as he opens the ring box.
"Amy Farrah Fowler, will you marry me?" Sheldon wonders.