Amy was silent all the way back to Los Robles in the car.

"Your quiet." Penny said gently. She knew tonight would have been hard for her friend, and she was glad she had taken Ben along to make it easier, but Penny could see the tension on Amy's face and knew she was unhappy.

"I thought Mary was going to get Meemaw to call Sheldon. I told her that was the only way we would find out what was really going on."

"I know. And Mary spoke to her, told her what was happening."

"And? Why did she not call?"

"She did, evidently she told Sheldon off for walking out on his mother, said good manners cost nothing, hence the dinner invite I am guessing, but she thinks Mary is fussing. Told her that Sheldon is a grown man and if he is happy we should leave him be."

Slumping back against the seat Amy said "That's it then. Ramona has won and Sheldon will not come back."

"Amy be positive, once he has this work stuff tied up Sheldon will be back." Leonard said more in hope than with any real conviction.

"So you are telling me once Sheldon has finished whatever he is working on physics will hold no more questions for him?"

"Well no but..."

"Exactly. Then though, he will have a Nobel to his name and everyone will want a piece of him. If what Ramona says is in fact true, and this new routine has changed him, then maybe it is us that is wrong. Perhaps we should be doing the same. He is not exactly fighting to keep us in his life is he!"

"You don't really mean that. I know you don't."

"No I don't, but I don't know what else to do."

"Call him. Amy perhaps he will listen if you call him. Maybe we don't need Meemaw."

"If that was true he would not have left. No I need to accept Sheldon doesn't need me any more."

As the car drew up in front of the apartment building Amy said "I know I said I would come in but I think maybe I would just like to go home now."

"No Amy. I don't want to give up on this." Penny said firmly and "I am not having you sat alone dwelling."

So an hour and 2 bottles of wine later it was Leonard who said "It was odd that Ramona knew Amy and Sheldon hadn't been in touch. She didn't answer did she when you asked how she knew."

"She probably has his phone confiscated." Penny said "don't you remember what she was like before."

"What was she like before?" Amy asked. "I know you said she was crazy but in what way?"

"She was just so controlling. No paint balling, no comic books, no kite flying at the park. He came knocking on my door in the middle of the night seeking help, then went to Penny for help too."

"But he isn't asking for help now is he. Before, did his work improve?"

"Yes. In fact it was only Ramona asking for recognition that gave Sheldon the balls to stand up to her."

"Its a shame she doesn't want her name on this prize too!" Penny said idly. "There is no way Sheldon would be willing to share a Nobel!"

Amy looked at Penny. "Say that again."

"I said Sheldon wouldn't share a Nobel."

Leonard and Amy shared a glance and Amy said "She wouldn't? Would she?"

Leonard said "I will speak to Gablehauser."

"What? What did I miss?" Penny looked confused.

Amy smiled for the first time since arriving at 4A. "Penny what if she is in fact doing exactly as she did before. She has him on his own now though, no one to rescue him. And perhaps she really does intend claiming the rewards with her name on the Nobel too."

"No! Leonard you need to stop her!"

"I will talk to Gablehauser, but I wonder Amy if maybe you should try talking to him, and call his Meemaw too. Maybe if you talk to her she will listen."

Nodding Amy said "I will call Sheldon first, I think you could have been onto something with what you said before Penny. I wonder If Ramona is in fact monitoring his calls."

"Lets test it. We will call him. Lets see if she reacts."

73

The following evening everyone gathered in 4A to discuss the theory that in fact Ramona was exactly how she had been before, and she was not only fooling Sheldon but all of them.

"She could be tracking his cell." Howard said, "it is not exactly hard to do."

"Can we find out, or stop her?"

"Maybe..." Howard hesitated. "What are the chances of getting hold of his phone?"

"I don't know, it is not as if we see him regularly. I was thinking we could see what we could find out ourselves then get Gablehauser involved too. He will know if Sheldon is likely to get a form from the committee. If he is then we can tell Gablehauser our theory. He wont want that woman's name on Sheldon's prize any more than Sheldon will."

"Sheldon mentioned Ramona already had a Nobel, maybe we should look into how exactly she got that too!"

Satisfied that maybe they would get some answers they sat quietly as Amy made the first contact.

"Sheldon? Hi its Amy. I just wanted to say I'm sorry if my taking Ben the other night upset you or your mother. It was nice to see her again."

Sheldon was quiet causing Amy to say "Sheldon? Are you there?"

"Yes, sorry I was just not expecting to hear from you."

"I know. If you are busy I can go."

"No!" Sheldon said a little too quickly Amy thought. "No, I am glad you called. I wanted to say sorry too. It is hard when the others are there to talk. Amy I didn't mean for what we had to end as it did. The things I said, had planned for us, I meant them." He said quietly.

Amy closed her eyes. God she had missed him. "I know Sheldon. But I am pleased for you. Pleased it is working."

"Thank you Amy."

"OK, well I will let you go work, maybe though we could meet up, even if it is just a bit before you meet the others, so we can talk?"

Sheldon said a very quiet "Maybe." Causing Amy to slump in defeat; then saying a quick goodbye she disconnected before she let her heart speak and she begged him to come back. Amy placed the phone on the seat next to her and looked at Howard. "No clicking, no background noise. Nothing."

Howard shrugged. "Well the fact you asked to meet should be enough to draw a reaction if she is listening; she wont want that."

73

There was no reaction though. Feeling despondent Amy withdrew further away from the group over the following days. Staying longer at the lab meant her work was progressing but her mood and social life were not.

She knew there was a good chance Sheldon would go to the cheesecake factory that night but she couldn't face it. Sat in her office on her own, work finished but not wanting to go home; Amy logged on to her face book account. Smiling at pictures Penny had posted of Leonard in various states of drunkenness the last time she had taken him to a club Amy clicked on Sheldon's profile. Nothing new. With nothing else to do she opened twitter but again nothing. It was strange as Sheldon had taken pride in keeping his tweets regular and liked to ensure even his smallest accomplishments were broadcast.

Realising her own account had been neglected Amy wrote Still at lab. Ricky is proving to be the most reliable man in my life.

As she was about to log off she noticed her followers had gone up by 1. She, unlike Sheldon, only had a handful of followers, Penny, Bernie, Sheldon, some of the people from work and Stuart who often sent her amusing messages, she was sure just to annoy Sheldon. As she looked now she saw she did indeed have new follower. Little Moths'Surprise.

Amy blinked and held her breath as she clicked on the name, it couldn't be could it?

1 tweet. The date she noticed was after the first meal since he left.

I missed you.

That was it, no names, it could be anyone and it wasn't even linking to her. But unable to shake the gut feeling she had Amy stared at the screen for several minutes. Could she be right? Would he would message again?

73

"Sheldon you will be late, what are you doing?" Ramona called as she stood by the door keys in hand Wednesday morning.

Walking out of his room Sheldon nodded. "I am sorry. I just had an unexpected phone call."

"Who from?"

"My Meemaw. It would appear my friends have called her now. She was checking to see if I was OK."

Ramona frowned. "Why can they not see you are more than OK? Just because you no longer eat pizza and Chinese food on a regular basis they are treating it like an international crisis! Maybe it would do them good to change their routines. Maybe then if they focused on something other than what you are doing they may achieve something themselves."

"Yes, well, I assured my grandmother I was indeed fine. I told her of my plan to show Gablehauser my work today and she was satisfied."

"Good now lets go." Ramona snapped.

The car ride to Caltech was silent. Sheldon shifted his bag nervously and glanced at Ramona.

"Is something wrong? "

"Yes. Everyone thinks I am doing something terrible. I have helped you establish a working routine and enabled you to focus and produce your best work yet your friends and family have me as some sort of monster."

"They just don't understand. Meemaw will explain to mother. As for the others," Sheldon shrugged "they will understand soon enough."

"Yes when we have that Nobel in the case they will see." Ramona muttered.

73

Walking slowly down the corridor of Caltech Sheldon replayed Ramona's words over in his head. "When we have the Nobel she had said. 'We'. Was she expecting him to stay after he had won? The idea had never occurred to him, in fact the thought of it now filled him with horror. He had, he realised, been counting down the weeks not merely to submit his work to the university, but to going home.

As the morning progressed and he couldn't shake her words from his head Sheldon picked up the phone and called her.

"Sheldon? Is there a problem?"

"Yes... no... err, it was something you said this morning."

"OK?"

"What did you mean when you said we would have the Nobel in the case?"

"Just that, surely you want to display your prize? You have worked hard enough for it."

"So you just meant display it?"

"What did you think I meant?" Ramona asked carefully.

"Nothing, I just wanted to check."

"Sheldon go show Gablehauser your proposal. Call me when you are done and I will come get you. This is only the first stage. You need to stay focused!"

Listening to the dial tone in his ear, realising Ramona hung up Sheldon put his phone down. She was right he needed to stay focused. Gathering his work he made his way to the office of Eric Gablehauser and after knocking, shook hands with the man who had the potential to make his dreams come true.

73

2 hours later Sheldon returned to his office locked the door and sat at his desk. It had been a long day. He sat listening to Gablehauser telling him how proud they were of him, words he hadn't heard that often, he had nodded and tried to smile as he had been assured the tenure was his, but all the while he was hearing his Grandmothers voice.

Moonpie if you are happy then I am happy. I know this is what you have wanted for so long. I just ask one thing. I want you to think about after. After you have your prize. Who will you celebrate with? Who do you want to share this with? Because Sheldon if it isn't Ramona then you need to be very careful. You are about to loose your friends Moonpie, and even though you let on like you only have a room-mate to pay rent and 'put up' with his girlfriend I know that really they are more than that.

As for that girl of yours... well Moonpie I need to tell you if you had treated me as you have treated her I would not be waiting with welcoming arms to celebrate with you.

Sheldon shuddered. Was Meemaw right? He wanted more than anything to think not, but when had she ever been wrong. She knew him better than anyone. While his mother sought to bend him, Meemaw encouraged and nurtured. For her to call again was bad enough but as he continued to reflect on her words he knew he had been avoiding facing the very things she had presented before him.

With these thoughts and Ramona's 'we' comment earlier Sheldon knew he would not sleep quite so peacefully tonight.

73

Amy lost count of the number of times she logged onto twitter that day. Her work, which had been progressing so well, suddenly forgotten as she contemplated her earlier discovery. Was it a discovery though?

Sighing she logged off and grabbed her purse. If it was Sheldon, and it was a big if, then him setting up that account was obviously something he had done before they split up.

But the message, that was after.

And, Amy pondered, as it was on this account was that because he didn't want Ramona finding it?

As she drove home Amy let the idea go round and round in her head until arriving back in her apartment where she dropped her bag and coat and rushed to her laptop. Waiting for it to start up she made put some water on to boil then abandoning it and pouring herself a glass of wine she set her down in front of the computer. Logging on to twitter this time she set herself up with a new id. Soon 'Little Moths'Surprise' had one follower. Amy knew all she could do now was wait and see if her instinct was right.

73

A/N: Well I am stilled astounded by the number of reviews and messages and the varying opinions on this little story! Thank you everyone! Due to the sad event of having to go back to work updates may become a bit more sporadic but I hope you will stay with me.

Ali x