"Hello Amy" said a voice in the doorway.

It was Sheldon.

Amy jumped up from the couch. Her son was always a tricky one!

"Hi Sheldon" she said.

"Thank you for agreeing to talk with me" he said closing the door behind him.

"Of course" she said watching him. He looked tired. Like he also hadn't been sleeping well.

"I apologize for telling the children about our situation. I know you did not want them to know but Elliot caught me by surprise in a moment of weakness" he said.

"No, no" Amy said. "You were right to tell them. I shouldn't have kept something like this from them".

"Oh" Sheldon said. He was surprised that Amy agreed with his decision. He was also surprised by her appearance. She looked really tired. Maybe she was not able to sleep either. And she appeared thinner. Too thin. He was worried.

"Amy, how have you been?" he asked "Are you okay? Sleeping okay, eating properly, shoes fitting well?"

"Sheldon" Amy cut him off. "I'm okay. Are you okay?" she asked hesitantly.

"Actually, no I am not okay" he answered. "I am miserable."

"Amy, I miss you" Sheldon whispered.

"I miss you too Sheldon" Amy whispered back.

"Please come home sweetheart'" Sheldon pleaded.

Amy was taken aback for a moment hearing him call her the term of endearment. She had missed those times when Sheldon showed his softer side to only her.

"Sheldon you don't want me to come home" Amy finally said still in a whisper. "You sent me" she stopped and closed her eyes "The Separation Agreement" she finished.

"No!" he yelled and came closer to her.

Amy opened her eyes startled by his outburst.

"I acted rashly. I was" this time Sheldon stopped and closed his eyes "hurt" he said.

"Hurt?" Amy questioned. "How were you hurt?"

Amy wondered if Sheldon would tell her the same things he had told Penny last night and maybe she could get to the bottom of his accusation about her being with another man.

"Amy, you kicked me out in the middle of the night. You would not talk to me or let me see you or Marie. I finally had to track you down and then I saw…" Sheldon paused "it does not matter. I am sorry I sent you that document. It was a mistake. I do not want to separate. Please Amy, I love you. Please come home" he pleaded again.

Amy sighed. She was sorry her actions had hurt Sheldon but she could not forget it was his secretive behavior that started this fight.

"What about Ramona?" she asked sternly.

"Amy, it was a mistake for me not to tell you about her" he admitted "but please know I do not have any romantic feelings for Dr. Nowitzki at all. I never have and I never will. Our relationship, if you even want to call it that, is strictly professional. I only followed her work over the years to keep her from surpassing mine. Regardless, I have no hesitation in cutting off all communication with her forever. None whatsoever" he said with conviction.

"I have not spoken to or seen her since I ran out of that hotel bar to come after you" he finished.

Amy stood there and just stared at Sheldon.

While she still did not like the fact he had kept his contact with Ramona a secret, she wanted to believe him. She knew he kept tabs on anyone he saw as a threat to his work. That would include a well-accomplished theoretical physicist like Nowitski. Even so, he did say he would cut off communication with her although it might come at a high cost for him professionally.

More importantly, he said he was not interested in her romantically and he didn't go to her that night after Amy had kicked him out of their hotel room. And when it came right down to it, in all their years together, he had never shown romantic interest in anyone but Amy.

Ultimately, it was her choice to believe him or not and...she did. In fact, if she really thought about it, she had always believed deep down, he would never hurt her that way.

Amy exhaled a long breath of relief but as ecstatic as she was that Sheldon had not cheated on her, she still needed to ask one more question.

"Sheldon. Why did you really send that agreement to me if it wasn't about you wanting to be free to pursue Ramona?" she questioned.

"Pursue Ramona? Ugh, Amy. Never" he said.

"Answer the question Sheldon" Amy insisted.

"I" Sheldon started pacing around the room. He was scared. He was afraid if he told her he knew about her and Dave then she might just give up, sign The Separation Agreement and move to England. However, this was Amy. He could not lie to her.

"Sheldon?" Amy prompted again.

"I saw you in England with Dave Gibbs. The man you dated before we got back together" he said in a rush as he stopped moving.

Amy began to say something but Sheldon interrupted her.

"It does not matter Amy. I do not care what you did, well I care, but it does not matter. I was the one that drove you into the arms of another man. I just want my wife back. I cannot live without you Amy. Please" he looked at her hopefully.

Oh, Amy thought. He was in England. He came after me even though I told him not to come. He thinks I betrayed him but he is willing to take me back anyway. He...he loves me so much, she realized.

"Sheldon, I am not sure what you saw" she began "but I wasn't in the arms of another man. Well, not in the way you mean. Dave moved back to England. He is Marie's professor at Oxford and we ran into each other for the first time since you and I got back together.

We did go for dinner and sight-seeing one night as friends where he picked me up and dropped me off at my hotel but nothing happened between us in England" she said.

"Sheldon, you know I could never be with anyone else but you" she finished quietly.

This time it was Sheldon that just stared at Amy.

While he still did not like the fact she had spent time with the man she had once dated, he wanted to believe her. She had always said she could never be with anyone else and in all their years together, she had never given him any reason to doubt her.

The events he saw in England could certainly be circumstantial. Amy had adequately explained why she and Dave were together and he had not seen anything to contradict her statement.

Sheldon was a scientist. He knew to come to a plausible hypothesis one must analyze not just some of the data, but all. He had forgotten that in England when he jumped to a conclusion without gathering all of the facts.

And the most crucial fact of all was that he loved Amy and she said nothing had happened between them. He made a choice. He decided to believe her.

Suddenly, the realization that Amy had not betrayed him with another man hit him. He felt like he could finally breath again. His beautiful wife was still his, and his alone.

Sheldon crossed the room, took Amy into his arms, and then he kissed her.

Amy was shocked by Sheldon's sudden actions but too lost in the way he was kissing her to care. She kissed him back and held him tightly like she was afraid he might disappear. And then she remembered why she felt that way about him. Amy abruptly broke off the kiss and moved away from him.

"Sheldon" she said still a little breathless from their kiss. "This is isn't about Ramona or Dave. This is about us. This is about how much we've grown apart this year. How distant we've become. Honestly, these last few weeks we've been living apart haven't seemed all that different to me than when we lived together."

Amy paced around the room. She had just had an epiphany. She knew Sheldon loved her greatly, as she loved him, and she was so grateful he had remained faithful; however, their relationship had changed. Instead of thriving or growing or even remaining steadfast, it had reverted backwards.

This separation wasn't about a secret or a misunderstanding or simple jealousy. This was about how Sheldon was suddenly treating Amy and their relationship the way he used to back in the beginning. Back when he shut himself off from her and she bottled up her feelings of hurt and neglect.

Back when at any moment, Sheldon could disappear from her life whether literally on a runaway train trip or with a quick signature ending their boyfriend/girlfriend relationship agreement over a silly thing like a dining room table.

Their relationship had turned into an unhealthy one and that needed to stop.

"You've shut me out Sheldon. Again. Just like you used in the beginning. And worse, I've just stood back and let you. I thought we were past all of that. Things have been so good for so long!" she said as she continued to pace.

Sheldon just stood there and said nothing. He could not deny Amy's accusation. They had grown apart because he had shut her out like before. So much so that they had both spent the last few weeks thinking the other could have cheated on them with someone else. How could they have doubted each other's love like that? He was not sure where Amy was headed with her speech but he felt his stomach flip-flop with a profound sense of dread.

Amy stopped pacing and moved back to him and took his hands. It wasn't easy, but she knew what she had to say.

"Sheldon, I know this year has been challenging with the loss of your mom and the kids leaving. For both of us emotionally, physically" she paused.

"Well, this isn't easy to say, because I love you, but I need some time to take a step back and re-evaluate our…"

"NO!" Sheldon interrupted and moved away from her.

"Sheldon?" Amy questioned as she looked up at him. He looked...Amy couldn't find a better word to describe it other than heartbroken. Absolutely, heartbroken.

"Please" Sheldon pleaded. "I just cannot bear to hear you say it again. I cannot. Not the same thing you said to me back when you broke up with me" he said closing his eyes.

"Amy, if you truly do love me, do not say it" he whispered as he turned away from her.

Amy was stunned by his words. She remained frozen in place as she stared at him. She had forgotten her exact words from long ago but, of course, Sheldon would remember them. He remembered everything.

Amy needed to leave. She didn't want to hurt Sheldon again but if they were going to have any chance at all to repair their relationship she needed to put some space between them so she could sort out her feelings.

Somehow she found the courage to move. She gathered her coat and purse from the couch and quietly opened the door. She turned back to look at her husband. His back was still turned to her as his head hung down. He did not see the silent tears streaming down her face.

"Bye, Sheldon" she said softly and left the apartment gently closing the door behind her.

Sheldon spun around but the door was already closed. He moved slowly to sit down at his old desk still left in the apartment he had shared with Leonard decades ago. He had been in this same place before back when Amy was still his girlfriend. After five years together, Amy had believed Sheldon was still not ready to commit to her and she broke up with him.

She had been wrong.

Sheldon had already decided to ask Amy to marry him back then and had the ring to prove it. The problem was he had waited far too long to show her how important she was to him.

At the time, he had thought nothing could ever hurt him so badly, cut him so deeply, as her leaving.

He had been wrong.

Now after over a quarter of a century together, this time, he thought, her leaving might actually kill him.

A/N: So that's the scene from The Commitment Determination episode that has always stayed with me even though I wish it didn't :(