A/N: Many thanks for the reviews. Believe me, I was probably just as shocked as you that Amy and Sheldon had so little to say to each other. I had every intention of having them say more, but Sheldon has a tendency to be stubborn (as can Amy) and fought me the whole way. I learned in my first fic that it's simpler just to let him win, and try again later. Have no fear though, Sheldon may have won the battle, but I shall win the war! ;)
Amy awoke, momentarily disoriented. She looked around, and then remembered that she was in a hotel room in Geneva. She squinted at the clock, noting that she appeared to have slept the better part of eleven hours.
She reached over to grab her glasses, putting them on as she sat up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. She sat there for a moment, blinking as she recalled the strange events of the evening prior. She had been so tired that she almost wondered if it had been a dream. But unfortunately, she was sure that it had been real. She did not think even her subconscious could come up with such an unlikely scenario.
However, when Sheldon had shaken her awake she really had wondered if she had been dreaming. Without her glasses, his face had been blurry and he had left before she had a chance to fully realize what had happened. But then she had felt the elevator moving and had realized that she was still sitting on the floor.
She had quickly gathered her clothes, throwing them in her suitcase and zipping it up in a hurry as the elevator doors had opened to her floor. She had stumbled out, lugging her bags behind her as she had searched for her room. She had nearly considered skipping brushing her teeth, given how tired she had been, but had managed to convince herself that it was necessary, especially given that it had been over twenty-four hours since she had last brushed. Then she had quickly thrown on her pajamas and nearly collapsed into the bed.
Amy shook her head slightly and stood up. She had best prepare for the day. She was not presenting for two more days, but there were several lectures that she had been looking forward to seeing.
Amy gathered her clothes and started for the bathroom, eager to shake off the prior evening and begin enjoying her time in Geneva.
Sheldon sat eating his breakfast, at a café a short walk from his current hotel, with his laptop open on the right side of the table. He took a bite of toast and marmalade, opening his web browser and typing "hotels in Geneva, Switzerland" in the search engine. The results were too many for him to go through, so he refined his search to his current street. He was hoping to find an acceptable hotel located close enough to his current hotel that he would not have to find new restaurants to eat at. There appeared to be several hotels to choose from.
He clicked on the first one, noting from the pictures that it appeared clean, although he knew that pictures could be deceiving. The building seemed to be even older than his current hotel's building, however. He wrote down the name of the hotel, its location, and made a note to remind himself to ask if the elevators had been upgraded.
Sheldon had taken the stairs this morning, for two reasons. One, he was not willing to get back into the death trap that had nearly killed him the evening prior. And two, he was taking no chances of running into…her again.
He took another bite of his toast and washed it down with some hot chocolate. He noted with some annoyance that the café was busier than usual this morning. A couple in the table adjacent to him were having what sounded like a heated debate in French, and the people just behind him were speaking very loudly in German. One of the reasons he had chosen this particular establishment to eat at, besides the barista's ability to make the hot chocolate to his exact specifications, was due to its usually quiet atmosphere.
Sheldon sighed and returned to his search, writing down the names of all possibilities and his questions on his notepad, while simultaneously eating his toast and drinking his hot chocolate.
As he finished his last sip of hot chocolate, Sheldon looked at the time, noting that if he did not leave soon, he would miss his tram. He quickly packed away his lap top and then headed out the door.
Amy arrived at the University of Geneva, making note of the charming buildings. If she recalled, the university had been in existence since the mid 1500's. She looked at her map of the campus, finding where she was currently located, and then locating where she needed to be for the lecture series.
She made her way across the campus, head down, lost in her thoughts. She had not run into Sheldon this morning, although she supposed that was not much of a surprise. She suspected he would have to leave fairly early if he was taking a tram to work. But what was currently puzzling her was her inability to decide whether or not she was relieved or disappointed.
Amy had been the one to sever all contact with Sheldon, because she had believed it would make the transition easier. She had been heartbroken and had not believed she would be strong enough to resist Sheldon's constant attempts to get in contact with her otherwise. She had even spent nearly the entire first week at her mother's house, assuming that Sheldon would attempt to find her at her apartment when she refused to respond to his communications.
As a result, aside from the one brief time in which they had crossed paths in the comic book store, Amy had not seen nor heard from Sheldon in over seven months. To have suddenly found herself in his presence with no way of escaping had been…strange. She couldn't say that she enjoyed the experience; it had been, for all intents and purposes, a living nightmare. And yet, she had found herself almost hoping to run into him again this morning.
It was puzzling.
Amy looked up, realizing she had not been paying attention to where she was going. She looked around, then down at her map, trying to figure out how far off she was from her desired destination. She looked at her watch and realized she would miss the start of the lecture if she didn't hurry. She quickly figured out which direction to head, noting with relief that she wasn't as far off as she thought, and began walking brusquely towards the building.
During the nearly two hour lunch break between lectures, Amy found her way to one of the campus eateries. She was generally unfamiliar with the food typically found in Switzerland, and was unhappy to note that the menu was in French. Luckily the person at the cash register spoke English. Amy requested a sandwich, hoping it was something edible.
As she sat eating, happy to discover that her sandwich was made with deli meat and cheese, she thought of her friends back in Pasadena. She really wanted to call Penny on Skype, but it was still in the very early morning hours in California, and Amy knew how Penny was about her sleep. She supposed she would simply have to settle for sending an email.
After finishing her meal, Amy grabbed out her laptop and typed out a quick email to her both Penny and Bernadette.
Hello from Geneva,
You will be happy to note that I arrived safely, although my arrival in Geneva was not without its strange moments. As luck (or more appropriately, un-luck) would have it, I appear to be staying in the same hotel as Sheldon. We were stuck in an elevator together for nearly two hours. Fortunately very little talking occurred as Sheldon passed out and/or refused to speak, and I spent at least one of the two hours asleep on the floor, having not had a chance to sleep since waking up in Pasadena. Today's lectures have been very interesting. I hope things are going well with you.
I shall email again later,
Amy
Amy reread the email and, satisfied with it, sent it.
She looked at her watch, noting that there was still nearly an hour and a half until the next lecture. She looked around, trying to decide what to do in the interim. Perhaps the library. This was a university after all. She was interested in seeing which books were available in the Neurobiology section. Perhaps there was one she hadn't read. Amy quickly put away her laptop and headed in the direction of the university's library.
Penny groaned as she heard her phone ding, alerting her to an email. She really needed to remember to turn off the email alerts on her phone.
She groggily reached over to grab her phone, opening the email so that her phone wouldn't keep giving her the alert. She started to shut off her phone when the name "Sheldon" popped out at her half opened eye.
Penny rubbed her eyes, looking to see who the email was from and saw it was from Amy. She threw her head back on the pillow, annoyed when she realized she wouldn't be going back to sleep. It was so early! And she had to work the dinner shift.
Penny brought the phone up close to her face, using her hand to shield the light so that she wouldn't wake up Leonard, who was still asleep beside her. When she got to the part where Amy said she was in the same hotel as Sheldon and had gotten stuck in an elevator with him, Penny forgot about Leonard, gasping and jumping out of bed.
Leonard woke up, groggily saying, "Penny? What's wrong?"
Penny quickly grabbed her robe, saying, "Nothing, Sweetie. Go back to sleep."
She walked out into the living room and grabbed her lap top, turning it on, tapping her fingers impatiently on her legs while she waited. How was it even possible for Amy and Sheldon to end up in the same hotel?
Penny her fingers on the bridge of her nose. Amy was probably going to relapse now…and she'd been doing so good since Stuart had broken up with her. And, oh god, she didn't even want to think about what Sheldon would be like. They had only heard from him once, and only because Leonard had made him promise that he would let them know when he had gotten to Geneva safely. It had been a very short email. "I'm in Geneva. I arrived safely."
Once the computer was on, Penny opened up her email and hit reply to Amy's email.
SKYPE ME AS SOON AS YOU GET THIS.
Penny hit send and then sat back to wait. With any luck, Amy would call immediately. She had just sent the email like not even ten minutes ago.
Amy walked out of the last lecture of the day, positively inspired. It had been a very interesting lecture indeed, and had actually given rise to several ideas in Amy's head for further research. She nearly had a skip in her step as she walked back towards the tram stop she had arrived at.
On her way to the stop Amy realized that she wasn't quite ready to head back to the hotel. Perhaps she would see more sights. She stopped and looked up, the mountains in the distance catching her eye. Or perhaps she could go sit by a fire and drink hot cocoa at one of the ski resorts. She smiled at the thought. There were still a few hours of daylight left, so perhaps she would be able to watch the reckless skiers as well.
She stopped the nearest person walking by her and asked which ski resort was the best and how to get there. The student only spoke rudimentary English, but eventually Amy was able to make out the name of the resort and the best mode of transportation to get there.
When she arrived at the ski resort, she walked up the slightly icy stairs into the ski lodge. It was definitely much colder up in the mountains that it was down in the city below. Having only brought a light jacket with her, Amy was sufficiently chilled by the time she walked through the door.
She looked around, uneasily noting that there seemed to be nothing but couples inside. She walked over and ordered a hot chocolate, taking it to a seat close to both the fire and a window where she could see the tiny people coming down the mountainside.
Amy marveled at the fact that anyone would find the idea of strapping wooden slats to your feet and gliding down a mountain at breakneck speeds appealing. Death by skiing was certainly not unheard of, let alone the numerous cases of people fracturing their tibia, fibula, or femur bones. But from her current vantage point, it at least appeared that everyone seemed to be having fun.
Without her realizing it, Amy's mind turned to Sheldon. She had always admired his practicality. It had been one of the reasons she had become attracted to him in the first place. She now found it ironic that his practicality was, in part, responsible for their current status as ex-boyfriend/girlfriend.
Amy's eyes wandered from the picturesque mountainside and around the room. Several couples were sitting close to each other, gazing in the eyes of their partner and/or sharing hot cups of cocoa. Amy sighed and looked down at her loan cup of cocoa and the empty seat across from her.
Suddenly, she was overcome with the desire to return to her hotel. She no longer wanted to be sitting there, surrounded by couples and watching people be recklessly ski down a mountain. She took a last drink of her cocoa and got up to head back to the hotel.
Sheldon sat fuming on his tram ride home. As he was not the one paying for his hotel in Geneva, he had gone to the person in charge and had made his formal request for a change of hotels. The answer he had received in response to his request had been very dissatisfying, and he had made sure his dissatisfaction was known.
Sheldon had been told that, due to the amount of paperwork needed, and the supposed "lack of immediacy" in the nature of his request, it would take no less than two weeks before he would be able to find a new hotel. He had explained that he would need to move sooner, and that two weeks was a completely unacceptable time frame, but the person of obviously lower intelligence would not be moved to classify his request as urgent. Apparently, he had not found Sheldon's reason that his ex-girlfriend was staying in the same hotel a cause for alarm.
Sheldon had been in the midst of arguing his case when the head of the team Sheldon was working with had come in and had informed him that, should he wish to remain on the project, he need to desist with his "temper tantrum".
Sheldon scoffed to himself. He never threw "temper tantrums". He had been perfectly within his right to be upset at the frustrating bureaucracy which would keep him in a hotel likely longer than the entirety of…her stay.
He got off at his stop and walked quickly to the hotel, still angry and holding a hand to his chest. He walked to the stairs and stomped up to his floor. He walked into his room, flicking on the light and throwing his messenger bag in the corner.
He began pacing, too angry to sit down. How could he be expected to stay in the same hotel as…her? It was simply unacceptable!
Approximately three minutes into his pacing, Sheldon noticed a blinking light on his hotel telephone. He frowned. He had never received a message. Who would be calling?
Sheldon walked over, picked up the phone, and pushed the button to listen to the message.
"Bonjour, this is Lara, a nurse from ze Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève," he heard in heavily accented English. "We 'ave a Mademoiselle Fowler 'oo 'as been in an accident and 'as listed a Doctor Sheldon Cooper as 'er emergency contact. Please give us a call back at-"
Sheldon threw down the phone, clutching the front of his shirt with both hands, breathing heavily. He looked around the room, unsure how to handle the news he had just received…She had been in an accident. But the nurse had not specified what type of accident; had not said how badly she was hurt. Sheldon's eyes landed on his messenger bag. Without fully thinking through his decision, he grabbed the bag and ran out the door. He had to go to the hospital; he had to make sure…Amy was ok.
A/N: Don't panic.
