When do these little scenes take place? I don't know. Somewhere in the middle of the episode? Somewhere in an alternate universe? I guess the best answer is whenever you like.

Episode 10: The Property Division Collision

"How about this one? It looks just like your old one," Amy said, waving toward the brown leather love seat.

"Hmmm," Sheldon said next to her, pursing his lips. "Maybe."

But at least he moved to sit on it, which hadn't been the case most of the day. Slowly lowering himself onto the cushion, he tested his full weight with a little wiggle of his bottom that Amy found adorable. After a pause, he repeated the action, which caused Amy's spirits to lift in hope.

This was something they'd agreed on, buying a new love seat for their new apartment together. A symbolic gesture of the joining of their lives. Sheldon would have preferred a full-size sofa because of his height - Amy knew he really wanted one he was leaving behind - but it wouldn't fit. Amy would have preferred her old love seat, but even she admitted that it was in poor condition and the cushions were starting to sag. And Sheldon had already stated his opinion that Penny's love seat only matched the dumpsters behind their building.

"Here," he patted the cushion next to him, "come join me. I can't properly visualize it without your presence."

Blushing, Amy scurried over to take the seat before he changed his mind. This was the first time he'd asked her to sit, so perhaps, finally!, this sofa was the one.

"Hmmm," Sheldon said again, lifting his fingers up to his temples and closing his eyes.

"Are you mind melding with it?" Amy asked.

"No, I'm adjusting my virtual reality goggles to include you." He didn't open his eyes.

"You're not wearing virtual reality goggles."

"I'm wearing the best pair possible, and they're powered by my imagination."

Amy rolled her eyes and smiled at the same time. It was a common occurrence when sitting by Sheldon's side.

"I'm just not sure. Something's not right," he finally said, opening his eyes.

"Sheldon!" Amy flopped her hands on her lap. "But we've been shopping all day! There aren't any more sofas to see!" The day had been long and frustrating. Amy was tired and annoyed and hungry. She didn't have the energy to spend another minute looking for a love seat that would meet Sheldon's exacting and seemingly ever-changing standards.

"I think you should curl up in your spot, like you do when we watch television in the evenings," Sheldon turned to her and said.

Amy looked at him for a second and then sighed. "Okay, fine. Anything to make a decision by dinner time."

She lifted her legs and tucked them in at her side, looking down to smooth her skirt.

"Ooouuufff!" She let out a surprised cry, her eyebrows raising as she suddenly felt Sheldon's arm around her, pulling her toward him. He only stopped when her cheek was resting against his tee shirt. "What are you doing?"

"Shhh," he whispered. "I don't want any one to see us."

"Why?" she whispered back.

"Because this." And then she felt a soft kiss on the top of her head as Sheldon ran his hand along her back.

"Sheldon?"

"Now it's right. Yes, this is the one."

Smiling, Amy tucked herself in closer to Sheldon's chest, snuggling with him right there in the middle of the furniture store.

Amy didn't like the love seat. He could tell. He watched her watching it, in her furtive way, hiding her glances, forcing her silence. She thought he didn't notice.

It was perfect in the store, for a brief while, holding her, cuddling, whispering, a strangely euphoric sensation that they were doing something naughty. But, after the salesperson broke the spell, Amy got down to business, the first order of which involved measuring the length of the love seat with the tape measure she'd brought along.

She frowned deeply. "Two inches too long."

Sheldon's heart plummeted in disappointment that sounded just like the zzzzzz-whaack! of the tape measuring recoiling, something that he normally hated and caused him to jump even when he was expecting it. He licked his lips, annoyed the salesperson was still standing there, hovering over what was clearly a private conversation. "I guess we'll keep looking."

Amy shook her head and looked back up at him. She looked tired. "No. It's not that it won't fit, it's just that it's two inches longer than our optimal length based on the room's dimensions. But two inches isn't very much. Especially when you love it so much."

Having decreed two inches wasn't too long, Amy began a fierce negotiation on price and other details, impressing Sheldon with her skills. Or not, he shrugged in the store; she'd been successfully negotiating with him for years. She made a point of asking about their return policy and made sure the 30-day-guarantee was clearly in writing before signing on the bottom line.

Perhaps because he was so concerned about what happened to the returned furniture, maybe panicking a little before he was able to obtain an addendum that stated their love seat would be brand new (Sheldon shuddered to think what other people could have been doing on his sofa while it was in their house for twenty-nine days), that he missed the point of her question.

Now he watched her, the way she turned sideways to walk past it as though there wasn't enough room, the ways she constantly rearranged herself and even put a blanket on her seat "to keep from sliding" on the new leather, and he understood that question had been the first clue she didn't like the love seat. She thought it was too large, too slippery, and he recalled she once told him that she found leather cold.

And yet she said nothing. Sheldon would have expected her to sigh and purse her lips and then, not much later, furrow her brow as she started with "You know what, Sheldon . . ." Then they would argue in the fashion to which they were accustomed, Sheldon bringing up valid points about the density of the foam and the depth of the cushions and the distance from the door while Amy shot back a lot of nonsense before he gave in and agreed to her course of action.

But, instead, she was silent on the topic, letting him in stew in the new brown leather. He didn't like it one bit. Looking around their newly crowded apartment, he realized he saw mostly his things. Or random things left behind by Penny. Amy was giving up so much for this, to live with him, here, where he felt most comfortable. There simply wasn't enough room for all their furniture, for all their collectibles, for both their computers . . . It occurred to him that the estrangement from her belongs was yet another act of love for him.

As was, almost certainly, her silence on the leather love seat.

Sheldon reached his hand out and gently brushed her hair away from her face until Amy looked up from her book.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Thank you," he said.

"For what?"

Waving his hand around, Sheldon replied, "For all of this. Moving here, to this smaller apartment with me. I know it was a big sacrifice."

"Not so big to me," Amy said softly.

Moved by her, her statement, her gentle smile, her eyes full of love, Sheldon leaned over to plant a soft kiss on her lips. Her didn't pull all the way from her, and she took that an invitation to return the kiss.

It happened as it so often did, the angling closer, the deepening of kisses, the soft whispers of palms against clothing first and then bare skin as barriers were peeled away.

Just after he'd accepted her presence on his lap, her readied state apparent as it touched his, Sheldon's mind cleared for a second. "Wait! We have to go to the bedroom. We can't get anything on this sofa."

Amy, her voice deep and husky, hissed into his ear, "We'll do it like this. Keep your legs together."

"Wait," he said said firmly, grasping her about the waist as she raised up to take him in. Taking his free hand, he trailed down her bottom and found the center of her, squeezing her tightly with his left arm, pinning her against his chest, as he pleasured her with his right hand.

"Please, Sheldon," she moaned into the top of his head. He leaned forward to catch her breast in his mouth and listened to her breath come ever faster.

"Please, please," she begged again into his hair.

"Come for me," he ordered hoarsely. He wasn't sure how Amy would take commends, but his plan was to pleasure her, and then, in her blissful post-orgasmic state, take her to the bedroom to complete their pleasure, thus avoiding any risk of bodily fluids on the new love seat.

"No -" she barely managed to pant, trying to lower herself now, her torso almost fighting his strong arm, "- please - I - need you. Please, Sheldon."

Her begging somewhere between pain and mewling, Sheldon didn't have the heart to deny her desires any more. Especially as they aligned so perfectly with his own. He relaxed his arm and allowed Amy to lower herself onto him, moaning himself as she took him in.

"Thank you," she murmured into his chest, as she started to shift on him, back and forth and back and forth. He lolled his head back, holding softly onto Amy's waist -

Swwwwccccchhh! There was some sort of assault on his auditory canals and Sheldon's eyes popped open when Amy stopped moving.

"Mmm, sorry," Amy said, grabbing his shoulders and inching her legs forward. Her undulations started again and he reached forward for her face, leaning in to kiss her -

Swwwwccccchhh!

"What is that?" Sheldon asked as everything stopped again.

"I'm sorry, my knees keep sliding off this cushion."

"Oh." Sheldon glanced his right. "Here, lay down on your blanket."

Normally loathe to break the action by changing positions, Sheldon saw this could be the solution his concerns. Her afghan would provide the protection the leather needed. Amy scrambled off of him and she laid down, her head landing on the armrest. Sheldon smiled at her nudity, her body open before him, and he turned and shifted to lower himself into her.

Oh, this was good. It was little tight, and he was having trouble moving as much as he'd like, but Amy beneath him, her breath ramping up again, no fears about any warranties, his body proceeding closer and closer -

CCCRRRAAASSSHHH!

His heart jumped to his throat and Sheldon pulled away from her, almost falling sideways off the sofa. "WHAT WAS THAT?!" He turned swiftly to see if they had forgotten to lock the door and if Leonard or Penny had just come barging in.

"It's the lamp."Amy sat up and pointed to the white lamp that was formerly in her bedroom, now resting sideways on the floor, its shade crooked and jutting out at a funny angle. "Did you kick the table with your feet?"

Catching his breath, Sheldon nodded. "I guess so. I don't think there's room here for an end table. We'll have to put the lamp in the bedroom." He turned back to Amy. "Can you scoot up a little?"

Amy shifted upwards and laid down again, but then sat up with a shake of her head. "It hurts my neck with my head hanging off the edge like that. Here." Suddenly she rolled over, arranging herself on all four limbs. "How about this this?"

Sheldon took a deep breath and leaned backwards. Amy wanted to do it like that? Granted, there was something about her ample peach-shaped bottom right there, displayed for him, that was hypnotizing. But it wasn't very romantic, was it? Not to mention all these interruptions and changes in positions -

"Or do you just want to call it a lost cause?" Amy's voice asked, hidden behind the curve of her buttocks before it dipped down to her -

"No," Sheldon said sharply. His body ached for the release he had been so very close to and the view only managed to amplify that. Unsure of the protocol, he stood and then rearranged himself on his knees behind her. Gripping her hip in one hand, he aligned himself with her, going slowly, unsure -

"Ohhh, Sheldon . . ."

His knee slipped off the edge of the blanket and he plunged into her.

"Ow!"

"Sorry!" He pulled back. "Sorry," he mumbled again, "I slipped."

"It's okay, just go slowly."

"Can you - I just don't have much room - can you move forward like this?"

Amy's body rearranged, her hands up on the armrest, and her creamy spine flexed forward. "Like this?"

"Maybe." Sheldon found his way into her again, and tried to lean over her, to feel her skin again his. It wasn't easy, in the small space, while also trying to manage his thrusts but not kicking anything in the process. He reached out grab the back of the love seat to steady himself as he flexed forward, skimming his hand up over her hip, along her waist -

Swwwwccccchhh! He gripped tightly, too tightly, he knew, as he started to feel his knees slide backwards. "Acckk!"

"Are you okay?" Amy pulled away from him, his tight grip on her waist leaving an angry red mark there. Her action, although one of concern, only managed to loosen what little hold on both the sofa and his dignity that he had, and he collapsed, barely getting his hands down to break his little tumble before his face landed on her feet.

"Here." Amy twisted off the couch, standing completely and gently pulling his shoulder up. "I'm sorry, Sheldon, we should have tried a brand new position somewhere else first."

"No, it's fine," he pouted, sitting upright on the love seat now. Yet another thing Amy was giving up for him: spontaneity in trying new sexual positions.

He watched her reach down for some of his clothes and then he took them without comment from her outstretched arms. "It's okay. We'll just cuddle and watch a movie or something," she said.

Even though he nodded, Sheldon looked down in discomfort and tried to cover the source of it with his wad of clothes. "I have to take a shower first," he said softly, keeping his eyes from meeting hers.

Instead of replying, he saw, in his peripheral vision, Amy pulling the blanket off the sofa and spreading on it the floor before she picked up and replaced the overturned lamp. Then her upturned palm was in front of him. "Sheldon?" she said softly. "We'll finish on the floor."

"But you don't want to."

"I don't not want to." She reached for his hand and tugged on it. "Let me help you."

Even though she wasn't strong enough actually pull him anywhere, it felt like she was doing just that as he lowered himself onto the floor beside her. She leaned close and kissed him softy, before she rolled on her back, tugging his shoulders with her. Just as she reached down between them, her soft fingers grasping him and guiding him, he whispered - "Not like this. You won't -"

"Shhhhhh, let yourself go," Amy whispered in his ear just as he couldn't help but moan into her ear as she enveloped him. Maybe he paused too long, because she wrapped her legs around him and pushed on his buttocks, drawing him in even further, then relaxing before flexing again. Sheldon picked up on her rhythm, fast and smooth, and he finally got his release, an almost painful spasm of pleasure, and he cried out her name in gratitude.

Panting, he relaxed his face into her shoulder, not leaving her yet even though her legs relaxed beside him. He'd never been here before. Well, yes, physically, he'd been in the exact position many times before; but never emotionally here, feeling that something that started as joy had spiraled through disaster to settle into melancholy and guilt. He could still pleasure her, of course; once or twice their timing had been off and Sheldon had touched Amy after actual coitus was complete until she found what they both wanted her to have. But, somehow, he knew that's not what she wanted right now.

Amy kept stroking his hair and intermittently kissing his forehead as he lay there, unsure of what emotion was passing between them, even as his body softened and fell away from her. She didn't speak, and he was grateful for her silence, the only sound being their now recovered breath and the faint ticking of the Spock cuckoo clock.

It was the ticking that told him they laid there for almost ten minutes before Amy shifted beneath him and he rolled off of her, staring up the living room ceiling, his emotions still a jumble although Amy's physical presence had seemed to help straighten at least some of them. He couldn't help but smile slightly when she curled up in the crook of his arm, resting her head on his chest.

"I love you," she whispered, and Sheldon squeezed her tight. Maybe it wasn't confusing at all, maybe it was just Amy giving up something else for him because he needed it, another demonstration of her sacrifices and love. He would make certain that at least her physical sacrifice was repaid later, when he would tease her slowly and deliciously with his tongue -

"You know what, Sheldon," Amy interrupted his planning, "that love seat -"

"- it's not the one. It's got to go," Sheldon finished for her.

Thank you for your reviews!