A/N: Thank you so very much for all the reviews. I know that ending was mean of me, but anyone who's read my other fic, knows I enjoy a good cliff hanger. But since you guys were awesome and reviewed so quickly and awesomely, I am rewarding you with a new chapter a day later. I'll be fairly busy this week so I didn't want to leave you hanging for too long. Anyway, please enjoy. :)

Chapter 10

Sheldon opened the door to the apartment and stood blinking at the person on the other side. Amy Farrah Fowler looked exactly as he remembered her. She still had on a sweater over a button down shirt, tucked into a plaid skirt, with tights, and Mary Jane shoes; she still had straight, brown hair, held back by a single barrette; she still had green eyes behind black, framed glasses.

They both smiled at the same time. Sheldon's stomach problem reached maximum intensity before completely dissipating.

"Welcome Amy Farrah Fowler. It is so nice to see you again."

Amy nodded once. "It is nice to see you again as well, Sheldon Cooper."

Sheldon stood aside and gestured for Amy to come inside. She grabbed her overnight bag and walked into the apartment.

"Amy," Sheldon began to gesture to each of his friends, "this is Rajesh, Howard, Leonard, and Penny. Everyone, this is Amy Farrah Fowler."

Amy nodded once and said, "Hello."

Everyone said, "Hello," in return.

Sheldon gestured to Amy's overnight bag. "Would you like me to show you to the room you will be occupying this evening?"

Amy nodded. "Please."

"Allow me," Sheldon said, taking Amy's bag from her hand and smiling at her. She smiled in return.

"Oh!" Sheldon gave Amy an apologetic look. "Where are my manners? May I offer you a beverage? Or, since I know that traveling can be difficult on the digestive system, a bowel regulating yogurt?"

Amy looked thoughtful for a moment. "While the yogurt is tempting, I believe I would rather have a tepid water, please."

Sheldon nodded. "Of course." He set down her bag and walked into the kitchen. "It's a good thing I had the foresight to remove some water bottles from the refrigerator. I was unsure at what temperature you currently enjoyed your water, and thought it was probably best to prepare for all eventualities."

Amy nodded. "Shrewd."

"Would you prefer the bottle or a glass?"

Amy thought for a moment. "I believe the bottle will be fine."

Sheldon smiled again and brought the bottle to Amy. "Here you go."

He picked her bag back up and started walking towards the hallway. He glanced over at his friends, all of whom were staring silently at him and Amy.

As he was about to round the corner in the hallway, he heard Penny whisper to Leonard, "Have you ever seen Sheldon smile at a girl like that?"

Leonard replied, "I've never seen Sheldon look at anyone, or anything, like that."

Sheldon rolled his eyes as he reached his room, opening the door, and indicating that Amy should enter first.

As she entered, Amy looked around and said, "This looks very similar to your bedroom back in Texas."

Sheldon nodded. "Yes. It's nice isn't it?" He set her bag on his bed and turned to her. "Would you like a tour of the features of the room now, or would you prefer to eat dinner and converse with my friends first?"

Amy shrugged. "I believe since we're already here, I'll take the tour first."

"Excellent choice. Ok, first, windows. Conventional." He walked over to the window to demonstrate. "Open. Close. Open. Close. Halfway open…or halfway closed, depending on your philosophical bend." Amy nodded.

Sheldon gestured to the shelving on his right. "Over here is my comic book collection. I know you don't usually read comic books, but feel free to browse. There is a box of disposable reading gloves over here on the night stand."

Amy nodded again. "I doubt I will partake, but I applaud the organization and care of your comic books."

Sheldon nodded back and then said, "Oh!" walking over to his closet and opening the door. "Over here are your emergency provisions. An eight day supply of food and water; a cross bow; season two of Star Trek: The Original Series on a high density flash drive."

Amy raised her eyebrows. "Interesting. You do seem very well prepared."

Sheldon also raised his eyebrows. "Of course."

"One question though."

"Yes?"

"What if there is a disaster that renders all flash drives unusable?"

Sheldon looked at Amy seriously. "Well then, there's no reason to live, is there?"

Amy smiled. "I continue to find your wit, and dedication to Star Trek, amusing."

"Who's being witty? I'm quite serious, I assure you."

Amy nodded, still grinning. "Of course you are."

Sheldon blinked at Amy for a few moments, unsure how to respond. He cleared his throat. "Shall we go eat? I would imagine you are tired after driving all day. We can have dinner, and then you are free to go about your nightly ablutions and retire early."

"Thank you. That would be nice."

Sheldon started to walk out the door, before stopping and turning back around. "I nearly forgot." He walked back over to his bed and grabbed the folder resting on the pillow. "This is your welcome packet. It contains the schedule for the morning, as well as other odds and ends, such as emergency exit routes." He reached under his bed and pulled out a black backpack. "I might as well grab this now."

Amy cocked her head in question.

"It's my backup emergency kit. The exit route from the living room doesn't cross through the bedroom."

Amy nodded. "Oh, of course. I repeat my previous statement. You are very well prepared."

Sheldon shrugged. "You never know when the zombie apocalypse will hit."

He walked to the doorway, and then gestured for Amy to proceed ahead of him. As they were walking back down the hallway Sheldon heard Penny say "Shut up! Are you kidding me?" followed by a chorus of whispered shushing. As he and Amy entered the living room, Howard loudly cleared his throat, and the other three sat up straight and turned around.

Sheldon frowned. What on earth were they talking about? He pointed to Howard, who was sitting in the middle seat on the couch.

"Howard get up."

Howard frowned. "What?"

"Get up."

"Why?"

"Amy needs a place to sit."

"Ah." Howard looked at Raj. "Move."

Raj put his hand to Howard's ear and whispered something. Howard replied with, "I don't know. Sit on the floor."

Raj whispered again in Howard's ear.

"Because…we're shifting to the right."

Raj whispered, yet again, in Howard's ear.

"Just…sit on the floor!"

Raj sighed and moved to the floor, allowing Howard to move to the far right side of the couch. Sheldon gestured to Amy, who had been watching the exchange between Howard and Raj with raised eyebrows. "Please, have a seat."

"Thank you," she replied, going to sit in the middle of the couch.

Sheldon sat down next to her, in his usual spot, and grabbed the remaining two plates, handing one to Amy. They divvied up the food, Sheldon providing Amy with her email ordered entre.

After roughly thirty seconds of silent eating, Penny cleared her throat. "So Amy, Sheldon tells us you two have been friends since you were seven."

"Yes, that's correct."

"So…what was Sheldon like as a kid?"

Amy blinked, looked at Sheldon, then back at Penny. "Very much like he is now."

"No, but…what was he like?"

Amy frowned. "I'm afraid I don't understand your question. I believe I stated he is very much similar now."

Penny set down her fork and cleared her throat. "Well…like what did you guys talk about?"

"Depending on the day, our usual topics of conversation ranged from current research in the areas of biology or physics to the various action figures Sheldon collected."

Penny stared for a moment. "Oh…so when you said he was the same, you really meant, exactly the same…"

"Yes."

They all went back to eating in silence.

Raj leaned over and whispered something in Howard's ear.

"Raj would like me to ask you how your drive was Amy."

Amy looked over at Raj. "It was quite long, but otherwise satisfactory. Thank you for asking."

Raj nodded and then they all went back to eating.

After a few more minutes of silence, Penny cleared her throat again. "So Amy, what will you be studying at your new job."

Amy looked at Sheldon, and then back at Penny. "I'm not sure how to answer the question. I'm flattered that you are interested, but Sheldon has informed me that you have only one semester of community college under your belt, and so I don't believe you will be able to comprehend any answer I provide."

Penny looked at Amy for a moment, then nodded once and went back to eating. "I give up. Leonard, you're up."

"Oh…uh…" Leonard cleared his throat. "What made you decide to go into the field of biology, Amy?"

"Actually, I'm in a much more specialized area of biology. Neurobiology. And I entered the field because I have extreme interest in it. I believe Sheldon and I both agreed it was the best option for me when we discussed it as children." She turned to Sheldon and smiled. He returned her smile, remembering the conversation.

"Yes. As Amy had not, at the time, mastered math beyond a fifth grade level, neurobiology seemed a more appropriate option than the field of physics, for example."

Leonard frowned, looking confused. "How old were you?"

They both answered, "Seven."

Howard spoke up. "Let me get this straight. You two decided that Amy shouldn't pursuit a degree in physics because she could only comprehend math at a fifth grade level…when you were seven?"

Sheldon and Amy both looked at Howard.

"Yes," Sheldon replied.

Howard raised his eyebrows and nodded once. "Ok…just checking."

They all returned to eating in silence, yet again, this time remaining silent for the remainder of the meal.

After they finished eating, Amy stood up and turned to Sheldon.

"I believe I would like to begin getting ready for bed. I like to do some light reading before sleeping, and I'm quite tired after several days of traveling."

Sheldon nodded. "Of course." He gestured for her to head towards the hallway.

Amy turned to the rest of them and said, "Thank you for a lovely welcome. Good evening."

There was a chorus of "Good night" in return.

After Amy walked back to his room, Sheldon grabbed both her plate and his, and brought them into the kitchen, washing and putting them away. As he scrubbed he could hear feverish whispering coming from the living room, but chose to ignore it. Likely, the subject matter wouldn't be of interest to him.

As he started to walk back, he heard Penny whisper, "You have to tell him, you guys."

Sheldon frowned. "Tell me what?"

They all looked at him. Howard turned to Penny and said, "Thank you, Penny."

Penny rolled her eyes. "Just tell him."

"Tell me what?" Sheldon repeated, sitting down in his spot. "Is this about Amy?"

Howard sighed. "Ok fine. But look…when we did this, it was before you mentioned that Amy was coming to town."

Sheldon was confused. "Did what Howard?"

Howard fidgeted. "Ok…so Raj and I signed you up for a dating website."

Sheldon snorted. "Why on earth would you do that?"

Raj whispered into Howard's ear. "Yeah…that's not the point. The point is that we entered in all of your information, answered all the questions how you would answer them, and it found a match."

"Please. Even if you could answer any of the questions like I would, the algorithms used by match making sites are complete hokum."

Howard gestured to Sheldon. "That's exactly the answer we gave to the question 'How do you feel about online dating?'"

Sheldon shook his head. "Amy has been using online dating for years, and every person she's ever been matched up with has been a complete waste of her time."

Leonard and Penny both snorted.

Sheldon looked at them and frowned. "What are you two snorting at? It's true. She has been going on regular yearly dates for several years now, and absolutely none of them have turned out well. Every single one of her supposed matches has been a wastrel, not worth her time."

"I'm so happy you phrased it like that," Leonard said, chuckling. "Howard, show him his match."

Howard ran to get Leonard's laptop, but Sheldon protested. "I don't care to see who I've been matched up with, because I can guarantee you that it is going to be someone who is not worth my time. And why should I bother dating anyway? I don't need to add another person into my social paradigm. I'm quite happy with the way things are now."

Howard came back and shoved the laptop at Sheldon. "Just look at the screen, and then tell me that you still think that dating websites are all hokum."

Sheldon rolled his eyes and looked at the screen. He frowned, looking around at all his friends. They were all smirking at him. He looked back at the screen, unsure what to think of the name currently listed as the only match for him.

"What's the matter Sheldon?" Penny said. "Still think that Amy's next date is going to be a waste of her time?"

He glared at Penny, and looked at the screen. No matter how many times he looked away and/or blinked, the name on the screen remained the same: Amy Farrah Fowler.

A/N: Thank you for reading. :)