AN: One more short chapter from Amy's viewpoint before the big re-union steps up a gear...

"Who the heck is Eric?" Susan stopped at Amy's car and leant back against the driver's door, preventing Amy from getting inside. "Not until you tell me what happened on the train."

"Come on Susan, you'll be late meeting Daniel and Sheldon's promised to Skype me at seven." Amy sighed as Susan's face grew even more determined. "Okay, but it will have to be a condensed version…Eric was a fellow enthusiast that Sheldon met on the train…and subsequently spent the entire evening with instead of me. Happy now? Can I go home?"

"Park it, sister! Condensed version, yes…completely abridged, not acceptable. Start again from when you got on the train, who is this Eric and how did Sheldon end up spending a romantic Valentine's dinner with a complete stranger?"

"Okay, you asked for it…"

"What do you think, Sheldon?" Amy asked, watching Sheldon's face closely for any signs that would reveal his innermost feelings. She felt her heart go pitter patter as he turned around and beamed a full on smile at her.

"It's magnificent. This is going to be the best Valentine's Day ever."

"I'm so glad you like it." Amy smiled as Sheldon continued to walk through the dining car, he looked over his shoulder at his girlfriend.

"I'm prepared to say I love it, as soon as I confirm there are no hobos aboard." Sheldon smiled again and Amy felt that she had at last managed to get an emotional response from her otherwise robotic boyfriend, rather like the android Data from his favourite Star Trek franchise.

"Do you have any questions?" Their waiter asked as he finished reciting the menu to the table.

"I do." Sheldon raised his hand eagerly. "Does this train car have the original link-and-pin coupler or the Miller Hook and platform?"

"I meant about the food, sir." Just as Sheldon was about to ask the same question again only phrased slightly differently, the man seated behind them chipped in.

"Fun fact; it's neither. They actually use the AAR type 'E' coupler. If you listen carefully when the locomotive disconnects, you'll hear the characteristic click, whoosh, thunk of the knuckle."

"Get out of town!" Sheldon playfully slapped the stranger on the arm, overwhelmed by the excitement of meeting a fellow enthusiast.

"Fun fact; I'm gonna jump off this train." Howard muttered to Bernadette as he took a large swallow of wine from his glass.

"Fun fact; I might join you." Responded Amy from the opposite side of the table, she and Howard clinked glasses in a toast as they listened to more railway talk from Sheldon and the other guy. By the time the first course was ready to be served, Sheldon had abandoned his own table to join Eric at his.

"Do another one, do another one!" Sheldon begged as Eric mimicked yet another train sound. "My God, it's like there's a train in your mouth."

"See if you guys can guess this one…Bang! Splat! Thud!" Amy mimicked holding a gun to her forehead and pulling the trigger, before resting her head on the table. "I should have guessed this was a bad idea from the very beginning. Why do I even try?"

"I'm gonna fix this right now." Bernadette said as she lay her napkin on the table and started to rise from her seat.

"Okay. Just make it look like an accident." Howard patted her hand, recognising the gleam of battle in his wife's eyes. Bernadette stalked over to where Sheldon was deep in conversation with Eric and stood tapping her foot, waiting for either man to notice her.

"Excuse me. You are at Valentine's dinner with your girlfriend. Now get back over there and be with her!" Bernadette snapped at Sheldon and he backed away from the fury in her voice.

"You're right," Sheldon nodded, seeing that he was in the wrong. "That was insensitive of me." He rose from his seat and turned to face Eric. "I have to go back to my table now. You should join us."

"All right."

"Great, now there's two of 'em." Bernadette sighed as she watched as Eric pulled a spare chair up to the table set for an intimate dinner for four.

Through the starter and the salad, Eric and Sheldon kept up their conversation completely ignoring the rest of the table.

"Amy, what are the odds we run into this guy?" Sheldon turned to ask as the waiter came back with yet another bottle of wine after seeing Howard's frantic signal.

"Better than you think." The waiter murmured as he started pouring the liquid into Amy's glass; when she tapped on the edge of the bottle he smiled faintly as he filled her glass almost to the brim.

"You know, if you ask nicely, they'll let you visit the engine room." Eric pointed out to Sheldon, who started bouncing in his seat like an over excited puppy being offered a bone.

"I never want this day to end." Sheldon said as he turned in his seat to face Amy, who managed to summon up a small smile to appease him.

"It's feeling like it never will." She replied drolly, taking a large swallow of her wine, as she turned back it was to see Sheldon disappearing down the corridor toward the engine room, Eric at his heels.

"You okay?" Howard asked Amy quietly as he caught her looking over her shoulder in hopes of Sheldon returning before the train reached Napa.

"Why?" Amy replied sarcastically as she took another large gulp of her wine. "Because my boyfriend is off playing choo choo with some weirdo?"

"Well, to be fair…they're both weirdo's." Howard replied, running his fingers down the stem of his glass and narrowly missed being kicked in the shin by his wife for his indelicate remark.

"I don't know what made me think tonight would be any different." Amy sighed heavily as she swirled the dark ruby liquid in her crystal glass.

"Just the fact that you got him up here still says a lot." Bernadette remarked, trying to cheer her friend up a little. "To be honest, I bet Howie 200 bucks it wasn't gonna happen."

"Yeah, gonna collect my big ass Lego R2D2 as soon as we get home." Howard rubbed his hands together gleefully at the thought of getting his hands on his new toy.

"See? It's not just Sheldon. They're all idiots." All Howard could do was shrug in agreement; he knew that Bernadette was the biggest influence in his life and he was thankful every day for whatever deity had brought her into his life. Amy looked over at the couple gazing lovingly into each other's eyes and pushed back from the table; only to find Sheldon and Eric had returned and were blocking her escape path.

"Amy, guess what? The conductor said as soon as he gets off work he can come back to the bed-and-breakfast and play his banjo for us." Sheldon beamed his smile over at Amy, and that was the straw that broke the camel's back.

"Sheldon, I need to speak to you in private. Right now!" Amy got to her feet, throwing her napkin over her barely touched meal.

"There's a car with a glass roof. Want to go look at the stars?" Howard whispered to Bernadette and she gently ran a hand through his sideburns.

"Oh, that sounds so romantic!"

"Give it a rest!" Amy snapped at the lovey dovey couple and they got the hint to make their quick getaway. "Why are you still here?" Amy asked Eric, who was standing in between herself and Sheldon.

"Excuse me? I think you're being a little rude." Sheldon looked at his girlfriend in utter amazement, who was this creature that had suddenly appeared from the being that once housed a small, timid scientist?

"I'm being rude? You've been rude to me this entire evening."

"How is that possible? I've hardly spoken to you since we got on the train…" Sheldon's voice trailed off as he realised exactly what he had just said. "What is your problem?"

"It's Valentine's Day. We're supposed to be having a romantic weekend." Neither one of them were aware of Eric sidling away as he sensed the friction rising between the couple.

"Oh, really? Because I remember you saying that this trip was going to be something we could both enjoy. Did you mean that or were you just trying to trick me?"

"Fine, it's true. I deserve romance, and I didn't know how else to make it happen." Amy went to leave the dining cart only to find Sheldon holding onto her arm to keep her in place.

"You want romance? I'll give you romance…" Sheldon reached over to pick up his as yet untouched glass of wine and took a hefty swallow. "Wine…mmm…urgh! Grape juice that burns…" He held her firmly in place as he stared directly at her. "Now we gaze deeply into each other's eyes…ha! You blinked, I win!"

"Sheldon…" Amy protested as Sheldon continued to make a mockery out of everything that she held as her deepest heart's desire.

"Let's see. What's next? Kissing's romantic." He suddenly leant over and pressed his lips firmly against Amy's; intending it only to be a quick peck…long seconds passed and Sheldon found himself savouring the feel of her soft lips underneath his own. He found himself stepping closer until he was pressed up against her soft body, and his hand moved down to grasp her hip holding her firmly against him. Sheldon finally tore his mouth away when the need for air overtook him.

"That was nice…" Amy spoke softly and Sheldon blinked and nodded in response.

"Good." His voice sounded huskier than usual and he wasn't quite sure what to do next. "Um…the conductor said if I come back to the engine room, he'd show me how to bring the train through a crossing."

"Okay, have fun." Amy nodded and took a step away from Sheldon and was surprised when he took a step closer instead of moving away.

"Do you want to come with me?" Sheldon couldn't keep his eyes away from Amy, he felt an instinctive need to remain in close contact and smiled happily when she nodded in response. He held out his hand in invitation and felt her smaller hand curl around his fingers as they turned to walk towards the engine room.

"Hey guys, wait up!" Eric's familiar tone followed them through the train car and he was right behind them all the way; somehow though it didn't seem to matter quite as much as it did before.

"Holy cow! He actually kissed you in the middle of a train car? You're not kidding me are you?" Susan's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as she realised that Amy was indeed telling the truth. "I need to get tickets on that thing next year; if it can make the mighty Dr. Cooper fall at your feet, imagine what it could do to a normal person. Daniel is gonna have the best Valentine's ever next year!" Susan looked down at her watch and freaked when she saw it had gone six. "I'd better get home, before he starts to think that I've changed my mind. See you Monday?"

"Not Monday, I've booked a couple of days off as Sheldon is due home then and I want to spend a little time catching up with him." Amy checked that she had her phone and purse before she climbed into her car and started the engine. They waved goodbye as the security barrier rose up to let them out of the secure car park; Amy turning left toward Glendale and Susan right toward downtown Pasadena.

Amy switched on the radio and started humming along to the music as she drove along thinking about Sheldon all the way home.