A/N: Hey, guys. This is the second to last chapter of this story. Thank you all for your awesomeness and support. Love you all, and long live the Shamy.

Amy and Sheldon were sitting in an awkward silence when Penny arrived. She let herself into Amy's and brought a bottle of wine. She stopped short when she saw Sheldon sitting there nursing a glass of Yoohoo. Penny didn't know exactly what happened, but Amy mentioned some fight between the two of them.

"Hey, Ames. Is everything okay?" Penny asked. She didn't know if she should stay or go.

Sheldon stood up and announced that he was leaving anyway. He didn't want to talk about his relationship in front of Penny.

Amy walked Sheldon to the door. She put her hand on his arm and said, "I will see you on Friday. Maybe Skype tomorrow?"

Sheldon just nodded and walked away. Amy was still worried about him, but she didn't follow because space seemed like a good thing for the time being. She loved him with all her heart, but she worried that they had been spending too much time together. She just wished she could get a read on him.

Penny poured Amy a glass of wine before she got all of the details on what happened. After hearing the story, Penny agreed that they should spend a day or two apart, but she also thought that Amy shouldn't be too hard on Sheldon. He was still trying to understand what he was doing.

Amy figured that was true enough. He had told her that before he met her, he didn't think he would want to be intimate with anyone. Amy didn't have a lot of experience either, but she had spent time thinking about being in a relationship with someone one day. Sheldon wasn't even her first kiss. If it weren't for Rajesh and Howard tricking him into going to that coffee shop and meeting her, he would probably still be alone, and it wouldn't bother him.

"I hate fighting with Sheldon," Amy finally said.

"Of course you do. You love him, but sometimes you need for things to get a little bad so that they can get a lot better. You guys will be fine again in a day or two. He'll realize that he misses his Amy," Penny assured her.

"Thanks for coming over."

"No problem, sweetie. What are besties for?"

They finished the bottle of wine and Penny went home. Amy went to bed. She lie awake for nearly an hour before she finally fell asleep. Her bed was bigger than Sheldon's and it seemed even more so without him there beside her.

The next day at work, Amy was less than focused. She was still trying to make a good impression at her dementia study, but her thoughts kept going back to Sheldon. She was starting to worry that she had been too harsh with him. She didn't like being treated like a dog who was expected to come at his beck and call, but she also missed him. Being in a relationship was a lot harder than she thought it would be, but she loved Sheldon enough that it was worth it. She just needed to find a way to make it work.

Amy was exhausted when she got home. She had stopped by the grocery store because there was nothing to cook in her kitchen. By the time she put everything away she didn't feel like cooking anymore. Amy pulled her phone out of her pocket to order a pizza when she saw that she had missed three calls from Sheldon. She'd completely forgotten that she was supposed to call him after work. He was probably frantic and about to head over, so she texted him that she forgot and was going to get on the computer now.

Amy ordered her pizza and then pulled out her computer to call Sheldon. He answered immediately.

"You said you were going to call me five minutes ago," he said as soon as he answered.

"This is what I'm talking about. My life can't perfectly conform to your schedule. I ordered dinner. Or would you rather I didn't eat all night?" Amy asked. She could feel the acid in her voice and tried to rein herself in some.

"Of course not. I apologize," he said meekly.

"Thank you," Amy said softly.

They sat quietly for a few seconds before Sheldon asked, "Are you still mad at me?"

"No. Not anymore. I just wanted you to recognize the fact that I've been trying in this relationship too. You aren't the only one who makes sacrifices."

"I understand. I talked to Leonard and he explained that you were taking an interest in my activities. I had thought you wanted to play with trains, learn to play Mystic Warlords of Ka'a, and play paintball because you thought they were fun. Not because you wanted to please me."

"They were fun, Sheldon. Just like I thought you had fun kissing me. You even gave me a hickey. Then you said yesterday that you were just doing it for me. I appreciate the effort, but I don't want you doing things you don't want to do. It takes some of the joy out of you making out with me if I know you are cringing in your head the whole time."

"I'm not. Believe me. Sometimes it's hard and then I remember that it's you and it gets easier."

That shut Amy up. It was proof of how much he cared about her that not only was he willing put his discomfort aside for her, but she actually made that discomfort dissipate.

"So, you are still okay with the physical side of our relationship?" Amy asked.

"Yes," Sheldon said.

"Good. I still won't see you until Friday because I've got a lot of work to do tomorrow. I've got three papers I've got to write. I'm going to have to work on them all night tonight and then all night tomorrow just to be able to come over on Friday."

"I understand. I find myself close to a breakthrough of my own. I'll miss you, but I'll also be able to get through some of my own work."

"Have a good night. I love you, Sheldon," Amy told him. She was glad that they had settled the confusion.

"I love you too, Amy," Sheldon said before his window went black.

Amy had a quiet dinner alone and set about typing up her reports based on her experiments. It was a quiet and lonely kind of night. She'd had a thousand of them before she met Sheldon, but it was harder now that she knew what she was missing.