"Good morning Amy" said Leonard and Penny together.
When she opened the door, and saw both Leonard and Penny standing there, she was starting to panic.
Just before she had gotten into the shower, she had read Penny's note on her kitchen counter, and shortly after that also the text message she had send.
At that moment she had decided that it would be best to keep everything that had happened last night a secret from both of her friends. That way she would not have to endure a lot of questions about it, and having to share every little detail with Penny and Bernadette. It would also prevent Sheldon from having to endure plenty of jokes about it, most likely from Howard.
But the most important reason why she had chosen not to tell anyone about it, is because it would give her and Sheldon a chance to continue the exploration of this part of the relationship, which of course was new to both of them.
However, now that plan was no longer possible. How could she stop both Penny and Leonard from finding out that Sheldon had spent the night in her apartment, which of course would lead to eventually all other events that had happened?
If it had only had been Leonard who was standing at the front door of her apartment, she might have been able to convince him to keep it a secret, even from Penny. But since her best friend was also here, telling the truth was not going to result in keeping this a secret for long.
Then, out of nowhere, an idea appeared in her head. It was going to be tricky, and it would require some lying from both her and Sheldon.
Amy herself had never been able to tell a lie good enough to get away with it, and Sheldon was probably even worse at it. This plan was most likely to fail right away, but she had to give it a shot.
There was simply too much at stake.
But for now she shouldn't worry about how Sheldon would react, she first had to successfully set the plan in motion. If it failed within the next few minutes, she wouldn't have to worry about her boyfriend's abilities to keep the rest of their social group from finding out.
Both Leonard and Penny had only been in the living room of her apartment, they had never seen the rest of the apartment as of yet. This was hopefully going to work to her advantage.
Penny had spent the night here a few years ago, when she had been upset after sleeping with Raj, and although she had initially planned on sleeping in the trundle bed, eventually she had decided to sleep on the couch instead.
"Hello" Amy said, forcing a smile on her face.
"What are you two doing here?"
"We are looking for Sheldon. We haven't seen him since last night" Leonard said, still standing outside Amy's apartment.
"Don't worry, Sheldon is here. But you have to be quiet, he's still asleep" Amy said, seeing the relief and amazement appearing on both of Penny's and Leonard's face.
"Wait, what?" Penny said loudly, immediately realizing she failed Amy's request.
"He slept here? In your apartment?" she continued on, now speaking softer.
"No, he is still sleeping here. So you can't stay to long, but at least you two don't have to worry about him" Amy said.
"But come on in for a minute" she continued, stepping aside, so both of them could enter her apartment.
After Penny and Leonard had walked inside, Amy closed the door without making any sound, as she did not want to wake Sheldon up.
"Do you two want anything to drink?" Amy asked.
"I could use some coffee" Penny said.
"Yeah, I would like some as well" Leonard told her.
When Amy had gone to the kitchen, to start working on the drinks, Penny and Leonard gave each other a look they both understood without saying a word. They both wondered what was going on.
They weren't really surprised that Sheldon had come here, but why would he spent the night here?
He had never done that before, and soon they both started wondering what had happened here last night, after Penny had left.
When Amy had finished both cups of coffee, she walked back to the couch where her two friends were sitting next to each other.
She placed both cups in front of them, and then she sat down on the free chair, grabbing her own glass of water, which she had poured for herself before Penny and Leonard had arrived.
After a few minutes of silence between the three of them, during which they had only been drinking the beverages before them, Penny could no longer keep her questions from escaping her mouth.
"When did Sheldon get here, I didn't run into him when I left?" she asked.
"He arrived a few hours after you left, so it's not that strange that you missed running into him" Amy answered honestly.
"I actually was already asleep at that time, after I had taken that bath you recommended to me. Thank you for that suggestion by the way, it really helped to calm me down."
"You're welcome" was all Penny could say in response, still having lots of questions looking for an answer.
"So what happened after he arrived, tell us everything Amy" Penny went on.
"Penny!" this time it was Leonard that spoke up, looking directly at his girlfriend.
"Stop being so curious. Can't you just let Amy tell us what happened" he said.
"And if you don't want to tell us what happened last night Amy, that's all right too."
"We don't need to know everything that happened between you" Leonard said, afraid he was about to find out every little detail from Amy.
"Maybe you don't, but I sure as hell want to know!" Penny replied, starting to talk louder again.
"Shhh, please lower your voice" Amy asked once again.
"Sorry Amy, I know I am being too curious about you two. I just want to know that both of you are all right?" Penny responded, speaking softly once more.
"We are all right" Amy said.
"After he showed up last night, we had a long talk about everything that happened between us."
"Not just what happened the last week, we also talked about something that had been bothering Sheldon for a long time about our relationship" she continued on.
Penny and Leonard were now looking at each other, trying to figure out if the other one knew what Amy was referring too.
After a few seconds it became clear to both them that neither knew what Amy had mend by that.
"What do you mean by that Amy?" Leonard now asked, as he too wanted to know what this was all about.
"Sheldon was bothered by something? What was it?"
This time Penny stepped in, not because she didn't want to know the answer, but because she was getting a little angry with Leonard.
"Look who is being too curious now" she said.
"I am sorry Penny, I shouldn't have said that to you, I know you mean well" Leonard replied.
Both Leonard and Penny were now looking at Amy, still waiting for her to answer Leonard's question.
"Well, I am not going to tell you both any details, but let's just say it explained his behavior over the last few months to me. And that is all that matters now."
"Sheldon and I talked things out. It was emotional for both of us, and Sheldon had a hard time finding the right words to express himself. But he did eventually" Amy said, hoping this would satisfy both of her friends.
"Glad to hear that Amy. I was worried when I noticed Sheldon wasn't at home this morning, but I am happy to hear that you two talked things out" Leonard said, after hearing Amy's confession.
"Let's go Penny" he said, already standing up from the couch.
"Go? I am not done asking Amy about the rest of the night" she said.
"Why did Sheldon sleep here, why didn't he go home after you finished talking?"
"Or he could have at least let Leonard know he wasn't going to be home this morning" Penny went on, ignoring Leonard.
Amy was now starting to get worried. Everything was going so well up until this moment.
But now came the most important part, she had to explain why Sheldon was still here, sleeping not far from where they all were sitting.
She was forcing herself to calm down, taking a few long breaths, but not so long that they could arouse suspicion from Leonard, but especially Penny.
After taking a sip of her water, she began the most important part of the cover story, it all came down to this.
"When we had talked about everything that happened between us, and what had bothered both Sheldon and myself, it was already very late" Amy said.
"We both were still very emotional, I was in no state to drive him home. And there were no longer any buses running anymore, so he had to sleep here."
"Not that I would have let him take a bus home anyway, he too was far too distracted to do that safely" Amy continued.
"He is sleeping in the guestroom right now. I checked on him right before you two got here, and he was still sleeping" she said.
"As I said, I had already slept for a few hours, so I was already up when you two got here, just not for very long. It had been a long day for me too."
She was very proud of herself when she had heard her tell this story. She had not hesitated once, and to her it sounded very honest, knowing full well that it was only partly true.
Now she could only wait how Penny would react, she was no longer worried about Leonard's response, since he already told both of them he wanted to leave.
She noticed Penny was staring at nothing in particular, as if she was trying to process all the information she had received just now. And that was exactly what she was doing at this very moment.
"Guess it makes sense" Penny finally said, after a few more seconds of silence.
"I still am so sorry for everything that happened between you two last week. I have been such a terrible friend, especially to you Amy" she said.
"Will you please stop apologizing for that already? We talked about it, and I have already forgiven you." Amy responded, seeing that her best friend was struggling with her emotions.
"I know it didn't work as intended in the first place, but in the end it worked."
"Sheldon and I are closer now then we have ever been, and that is for some part thanks to both of you. The road has been a bumpy one, but it got us where we are now" Amy went on.
"Th…thank you Amy, you are truly an amazing person, I am glad you are part of my life" Penny responded, slowly sobbing while holding on to Leonard for support.
"We'll leave now, so you and Sheldon can have the rest of the day to yourself" she said.
"I appreciate your concern for Sheldon, you two mean more to him then he probably ever is capable of telling you" Amy responded, now also feeling the tears start to well up again in her eyes.
But just as both Penny and Leonard reached for the door, a fourth voice was filling the room.
"Good morning everyone, what are you doing here?"
When Penny, Leonard and Amy turned to the source of the voice, they saw him standing there.
Sheldon was up, still only wearing his shirt and boxers.