"How long have they been like that?" Penny whispers to the guys as she comes up the stairs and finds Sheldon and Amy still in their embrace.
"15 minutes, plus however long before we came upstairs," Leonard whispers.
"Have they kissed?" Penny wonders as she turns sideways to pass by Raj and sits on the 4th step by Leonard.
"Surprisingly, no " Howard confirms.
"Dude, I'm starving. How long do we just sit here?" Raj wonders.
"You give them as much time as they need. We only interrupt if they start to kiss," Penny demands.
Sheldon's Vulcan hearing picks up the conversation taking place just a few feet away. He's been fighting the urge to kiss Amy. If he turns his head 3 inches, 3 minuscule inches, he can taste her sweet lips once again. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, trying to get that very dangerous idea out of his mind.
3 inches. 3 tiny inches is all she needs to turn her head in order to kiss him. Amy swallows hard around the lump permanently lodged in her throat and picks a focal point in the apartment, quickly settling on the whiteboard with an equation Leonard scribbled out. She and Sheldon call Leonard's writing Godzilla penmanship, most of the time barely legible. Focal point found, she is surprised to feel her hand rubbing the soft cotton of Sheldon's black melting rubric's cube t-shirt, one of her favorites. She hears him take a deep breath through his mouth, slowly exhaling as he rubs her back in return.
"Move! Pregnant Lady needs to pee!" Bernadette warns as she comes up the stairs, putting an end to the reunion.
Sheldon and Amy jump apart like two opposite ends of a magnet repelling each other and each keeps their eyes downcast, feeling guilty for their reaction as Sheldon opened the door.
"I'll um... I'll go to my apartment so I don't interrupt your evening," Sheldon decides.
"I want you to stay... please? We can save the heavy conversation for when we're alone but, I came to see my friends... and that includes you, Sheldon," she points out.
"Okay. Can I get just a few minutes alone with you, please? There's something I need to discuss with you," he requests.
"Sure," Amy agrees. "Let's go to your old bedroom so we can talk."
They make their way to Sheldon's bedroom as the gang follows them in. As Raj reaches the island, Sheldon turns around and gives him his sternest look, pointing towards the beige chair in the living room.
Leading Amy, Sheldon takes a deep breath as he opens the door and they step inside, shutting and locking it behind them.
"It's been ages since I've set foot in here," Amy sadly comments as she stands by the door. "So, um... what's on your mind?"
"First, I want to apologize for immediately hugging you when I opened the door. Given the current paradigm of our relationship, I realize that was inappropriate."
Wow, she wasn't expecting that from him.
"Sheldon, we hugged for 23 continuous minutes. If I didn't want it too, it would've ended after a few seconds. You have nothing to apologize for."
"Thank you," he whispers, "Um... the main thing I wanted to tell you is that my only goal for this meeting on Saturday is to help you be at peace with the end of our relationship and find closure so you can begin to heal and move on. There's no ulterior motive."
"I... I honestly don't know what to say to that," Amy admits. "There's something you need to know as well. You pocket dialed me a few weeks ago..."
"I was in counseling. Why didn't you hang up?" he wonders.
"Because I'm curious, Sheldon. I don't understand why you did this and I desperately need to understand why! Why did you choose to have an affair, why did you choose to hurt me like that, deliberately and intentionally... why... did you propose to me, knowing what you had done?! Why, Sheldon? Why?" she questions before choking on a sob and swatting at the tears. "Damn it. I swore I wasn't going to cry in front of you."
"Do you really want to get into this right now, with everyone just a few feet away?" Sheldon questions as he pulls a packet of kleenex from his pocket and hands it to Amy.
"No, of course not," she agrees before taking a steadying breath to calm herself. "We need ground rules. All forms of physical contact..."
"Up to and including coitus are off the table. Where have I heard that before?" Sheldon teases, making Amy smile. "I also want it stipulated that we cannot refuse to answer any questions, even if there are tears or outbursts of anger. We need complete and total honesty about everything, a come-to-Jesus talk as my mother would call it."
"Agreed," Amy replies. "That being said, this needs to be a private conversation, Sheldon. Neither of us is permitted to share any details with our friends."
"Seconded. The pizza is probably ice cold by now. Amy... thank you for agreeing to talk with me. It's good to see you," he whispers.
"It's nice to see you too, Sheldon," she replies before opening the bedroom door.
Sheldon stays behind for a few minutes, taking deep breaths, inhaling and exhaling through his mouth to calm himself. So far, it's going much better than expected. Still, he knows they've barely scratched the surface and it's going to get much more difficult for both of them. Feeling calm enough to exit the bedroom, Sheldon finds the gals at the island, already cracking open the bottle of wine as they warm the pizzas in the oven. It feels just like any other pizza night, and Sheldon feels himself relax as he watches Amy gesturing wildly as she talks. With all the noise from the guys talking and Halley crying as Howard tries to feed her, Sheldon can't hear what Amy's saying, frustrating him as he sees her nod and wipe at her eyes.
"You alright?" Leonard quietly asks Sheldon as he sits in "Amy's" spot on the couch.
"Yes," Sheldon reassures. "I hate seeing her cry."
"I know. I hate it when Penny cries. I think she has a lot on her mind right now. It's not just because of you. It's the combination of missing her friends, being back in LA, you, whatever happened with her parents tonight... Amy's a strong woman, but that's a lot to deal with," Leonard explains.
"That was quite a hello. Why didn't you kiss her?" Howard wonders once he gets Halley settled with a bottle.
"I was fighting against the urge the entire time," Sheldon admits. "That being said, it would've been a mistake. I'm glad we didn't."
"Why didn't you kiss him?" Penny whispers about the same time.
"I wanted to... boy, did I want to... but it would be a mistake. As fun as it would be, and as deserving as he is after everything, I'm not going to toy with his heart at the risk of further destroying mine," Amy explains.
"You're a better person than I," Bernadette praises as she takes a sip of her blackberry infused water. "What's the latest with Dr. Dumbass?" she wonders, their nickname for Dave.
"We've been successfully avoiding each other. The airport was the first time I've seen him in 3 weeks. He immediately put his headphones in and Dr. Singh, my immediate supervisor, engaged me in conversation about a study in Belize that directly relates to some of my previous research," Amy explains.
"Dr. Singh. Indian?" Raj asks.
"Yes, Charles is from Amritsar," Amy replies.
"Ooh, Charles. Suitors are knocking on your door left and right," Bernie teases.
"There are no suitors!" Amy exclaims. "I'm pretty sure he's married, but even if he's not, I'm not interested in him... or any other guy... right now."
She catches Sheldon's eyes, seeing him biting his lip, her cue that he's using kohlinar to control some very intense emotions. A tinge of guilt overtakes her, much to her surprise. She has nothing to feel guilty about, she knows, not after everything. What is she getting herself into by agreeing to talk with Sheldon on Saturday, she wonders?
As they finish dinner, the gals come over to sit next to the guys. Amy immediately starts to head for her spot next to Sheldon as she sees Raj heading for the same cushion.
"Oh, um, go ahead," Amy offers once she realizes where Raj is heading.
"No, no, it will always be your spot when you're in Pasadena," Raj points out before taking his customary spot on the floor.
Maybe this was a bad idea, Amy realizes as she catches a whiff of Sheldon's talc. She can feel the heat radiating off of him and her fingers flex involuntarily as she fights to keep from reaching for his hand as she normally would. She feels like they're back in the beginning stages of their relationship when all she wished for was a sign of affection from Sheldon. How did she ever get through that, she wonders now?
Sheldon, for his part, is also fighting the urge to reach over and hold her hand. Her bottom is radiating heat onto his cushion, which, he's grown to love over the years. She's looking incredibly sexy in those jeans and showing more skin than he's ever seen outside of their bedroom. She looks so unlike his Amy, and yet, she looks even more beautiful somehow. They decide to do a game night and bring out Cards Against Humanity.
Penny draws the first black card and snorts as she reads, "In what's being hailed as a major breakthrough, scientists have synthesized blank in the lab."
Sheldon and Amy quickly look at each other before casting their eyes to their cards. The look doesn't go unnoticed by Penny who quickly decides, "um... let's draw again," once she realizes the significance of synthesizing something to the Shamy.
Shuffling the cards, Penny draws another, "It's 2 am in the city that never sleeps. She walks in, legs up to here... damn it, what is with these cards?!" Penny wonders, drawing another one.
"During sex... Uggggh!" Penny yells as Leonard quickly takes the black deck from her.
"It's fine, play it," Amy murmurs.
"During sex, I think about blank," Penny reads. "Channing Tatum," she teases Leonard as she looks at her cards.
"I was going to say Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson," Bernie replies, blushing, "sorry, Howie."
"It's alright, I think about Katee Sackhoff," he replies. "Next victim?"
"Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia," Leonard admits.
"Beyonce," Raj replies.
Noticing that two people have been very quiet, all eyes turn to Sheldon and Amy who are intently studying their cards, not saying a word. She could take first blood and admit she fantasized about Sheldon watching while she and Dave had wild, passionate sex, or, she can take the safer route, which is to say nothing. Amy wonders if Sheldon thought about her while he was with Ramona, or, even more likely, about Ramona while they were together the very last time. She closes her eyes as that thought enters her mind.
Sheldon notices Amy's physical reaction to the question and it angers him that they're playing this game knowing most of the questions revolve around sex.
"I'm not doing this," Sheldon decides as he lays his cards in a neat pile on the coffee table. "I'll see you all tomorrow for the conference."
"Sheldon, wait. I'm sorry, we can do something else," Penny decides, feeling guilty for upsetting him and Amy.
"It's one thing when you tease but to openly rub my affair in not just my face, but Amy's as well is incredibly cruel. I'm not going to be subjected to it for another minute and I hope Amy will feel the same way and leave as well," Sheldon replies.
He stands up and quickly leaves going into his apartment and barely locking the door when there's a knock.
"Sheldon, it's me," Amy calls out.
Opening the door, Amy takes 3 steps determined steps into Apartment 4 B. On her 3rd step, she reaches out and grasps the collar of Sheldon's t-shirt in her right hand, pulling her down to him and shocking him with a heated kiss.
