"Amy, Sheldon has asked me to go shopping with you today; and given me very specific instructions." Meemaw said Friday morning as the two women sat drinking coffee in the kitchen.

"Oh?" Amy looked curiously at Meemaw intrigues as to what Sheldon would possibly want her to buy that needed his grandmother with her.

"He informed me you had approved his pyjamas matching idea!" Meemaw grinned "and he wants me to go with you to buy night time attire for your honeymoon."

"Oh," Amy blushed. "I actually have something to wear..." she stammered

"I told him that was likely!" Meemaw sniggered "and he said you had an agreement."

"Well yes but our agreement was we shopped together!"

"Ah! then that explains his eagerness for me to go." Meemaw laughed. "I am guessing Sheldon fled Pasadena because his emotions and reactions frightened him am I right?"

Amy nodded really wishing she was somewhere else right now.

"Well," Meemaw continued "I think Sheldon has thought about his original idea and found a way to get what he wants without having to face any embarrassing consequences."

"OK, you've lost me." Amy admitted.

"I have a list. It clearly states the plaid pyjamas he requires for 7 days. He request you get matching colours for the same days. I think he thought if he was in a shop selling female attire he might not be able to handle it."

Amy snorted "Then he will hate what I have planned for our honeymoon! OK, it is not going to happen! We had a deal and he is going to have to stick to it. Can I be excused so I can talk to him?" And at Meemaw's nod Amy returned to her room and called Sheldon.

"Amy? Is everything OK?"

"No Sheldon. I have just been informed of the shopping trip you planned for me. It is not happening! The deal was we did that together or it doesn't happen. Now I have night apparel for the duration of our honeymoon and then, when we get home, if you still want to have matching night clothes we will shop together."

"oh... its just..."

"What Sheldon?"

"Well... Amy I am having trouble even thinking about these things at the moment. I couldn't possible go into a shop full of …"

"What Sheldon? Full of underwear? What exactly are you proposing to do when we are away, keep me covered or in the dark?"

"Amy, it is thinking about what we will do that got me into this situation. I cant believe if I even think of you wearing matching pyjamas now I have to excuse myself from my mothers company and spend time alone calming down!"

Amy grinned at Sheldon's confession and taking pity on him a little said "Well I don't need to shop for the honeymoon, and when we get home things will be different it should be easier."

"OK, but if you are not shopping then what do you plan to do today?"

"Well as our friends and family all arrive today I will make the most of the quiet now before the madness begins."

73

Sheldon was getting nervous. He had sent George off to the airport to collect his friends and had checked their clothes for the service and reception, and their possible bedroom needs many times. Now he paced the floor. This time tomorrow he would be waiting for Amy to arrive at the church. He had been to visit the church this morning on his mothers insistence and seeing it bedecked in flowers made the whole thing a lot more real. He had managed to escape before the Pastor had given him a lecture on the sanctity of marriage. He had suffered enough of those over the years from his mother!

As he looked at his own suit hanging on the back of his bedroom door he smiled. He had noticed the colour theme Amy had chosen. Red and gold, was it a coincidence? The flowers he had seen were beautiful, all roses, each row of pews had a bunch of white roses at the aisle end, and in the centre of each bouquet was one red rose; until the front pews where Sheldon and his best man, or in his case best woman would sit, and that bouquet had one golden yellow rose at its centre. He would know for certain if his suspicions were correct when he was given his tie tomorrow, but the very idea she had done that for him made him love her just that little bit more.

Hearing George return and voices happily chatting on the drive Sheldon left the peace of his room and went to greet his friends.

"So we will be able to walk to the church?" Penny asked Sheldon later that day sat in his mothers living room talking about plans for the next day.

"Yes. It is not far, a 5 minute walk. Momma thought it would be nice if I walked with my friends and Amy came from Meemaw's with her mother. Meemaw lives a little further out so I have arranged for her to come by car. I think in the morning you and Bernadette will go help Amy get ready, or do whatever she needs you do. I am sure she will have things organised everything else has been amazingly well prepared." Sheldon noted pride at her achievements evident in his voice.

"You will come here to walk with me to church leaving Amy to spend a few minutes with her mother. After the wedding Amy and I will go to the reception in the car, but again momma arranged for the reception to be within walking distance to save people having to drive."

"I'm impressed!" Leonard nodded. "Are you excited?" He looked at Sheldon curiously. He had expected to arrive to a gibbering wreck, yet Sheldon calmly related the plans for the following day as if planning one of his well documented road trips.

"I am anxious things go according to plan. I am anxious that I will be required to give a speech and large numbers of people will be watching me. But," and Sheldon knew his cheeks were red as he admitted "I am excited about seeing Amy."

"Ahhhhh!" chorused Bernadette Penny and Raj together. Leonard just grinned and patted Sheldon's shoulder, while Howard widened his eyes in bemusement.

73

She had barely slept. Her mother had arrived late the previous evening and they had sat talking to Meemaw for quite a while before Meemaw left to drive to Mary's. After saying her goodbyes to Amy's mother she called Amy to walk outside with her.

"Amy, I have a little gift for you. I want you to open it tomorrow, at some point when you have time alone. Its a thank you. A thank you for loving my Moonpie." And handing the carefully wrapped parcel to Amy, Meemaw kissed her cheek and left.

Now Amy lay in her bed staring at the gift. It was 6 am and she had plenty of time before Penny and Bernadette were due to arrive. Reaching for the present she sat up and carefully peeled back the paper to reveal a silver photo frame. As Amy took in the picture before her she gasped tears forming instantly, then smiled as she stared at him. Her ideal man! Meemaw had had the photo of Sheldon in that canteen in Heidelberg enlarged and framed for her. Grinning she sent Meemaw a text.

Thank you! A memory so precious which I will treasure. He really is my ideal man. A x

Setting the photo next to her Amy picked up her journal.

I'm getting married today! Mother is here, my friends are here, but most importantly the man of my dreams will be waiting for me! I hope Sheldon is looking forward to this as much as me. I cant wait to see Penny and Bernie. Mother has a lovely gold suit especially for the occasion, I had told her the colour of Sheldon's tie and she had the suit made. She is even going to wear a hat! Mary will be impressed. It is weird to think that this time tomorrow I will be a married woman and have spent the night with my husband. I am trying not to think of that too much though. I want to enjoy the day first.

Putting her journal carefully into the bag she would be taking away with her, Amy got up and went to make some coffee. She knew it would be a long day so making the coffee she then set about making some breakfast too. As she was pouring the milk onto her cereal her phone shook and looking she saw it was a text, not a reply from Meemaw but a message from Sheldon.

Good morning Amy. I hope you slept well. I admit my sleep pattern was disrupted slightly as I kept thinking about today. It was nice having everyone here last night to keep my mind busy, but when I lay in bed all I could think of was today, seeing you and knowing all those days of waiting and counting were drawing to a close. I will see you soon S xx

Reading the message several times as she ate Amy grinned.

Morning Sheldon! I too woke several times. I am so excited to see you today. You should recognise me, I'll be the one in white! Axx

Then she messaged Penny.

OK bestie I am up and excited! Hurry up and get here, I need news on how Sheldon is doing, and I want to get married!

By the time Amy had showered and dressed into her sweatpants and t shirt she was delighted to see Penny and Bernadette arriving, driven by a grinning Missy.

"Hey!" She waved.

"Hey honey, I hope you don't mind my joining you girls but it was getting a bit frantic at momma's. Sheldon has just shown the others their outfits for the reception." At her words Penny and Bernadette began chuckling again.

"Oh Amy their faces! I am so glad we got to witness it. Have you seen them?"

"No, but Sheldon sent me a picture. He said denim dungarees and work shirts were quite fitting as he would need them working on his team! and also that it would stop any silly stereotypes that may arise if left to their own devices."

Penny snorted. "Howard tried his on and when we left was trying to persuade Mary to tighten the pants!"

Amy grinned. "How was Sheldon?"

"Oh he was fine. I think he had been looking forward to that to be honest. But he is doing great. He is so excited to see you. He even said as much last night it was so sweet. Meemaw is keeping him busy. Did you know he helped with the cake?"

"Yes he said, have you seen it?"

"No but Mary showed us a picture. Why he insists on take out every night is a mystery if he can cook like that." Penny pondered.

As the girls chatted Amy poured coffee and brought out the cakes and pastries Meemaw had left.

Amy's mother joined the girls and after introductions Amy said "OK, now I know we have plenty of time but can we start getting ready? I want to see everyone dressed up."

Grinning at her childlike enthusiasm Penny nodded. "Actually we need to get ready first so we can then sort you out before going back to Mary's, did you know we are walking to church?"

"What? No! Why?"

"Well you and your mom are going in the car from here; but Bernie and I are going back to Mary's and we will walk from there. In pairs Sheldon said. Me and Leonard, Bernie and Howard, Missy and George, Raj and Mary, then Sheldon and Meemaw!"

Amy's eyes widened. Mary had not told her this part of the plan so presumably this had some of Sheldon's influence. "It sounds nice, that you will be there waiting for him. I will miss it." She frowned.

"We will take pictures and video don't worry." Penny reassured her, "but come on lets get ready then we can call the guys and see if they have got their ties yet. I wonder if Sheldon figured out why you chose the colours?"

"Well he did say he liked the flowers when I spoke to him yesterday after he had visited the church but he didn't comment on the colours so I don't know if he noticed."

"I think he did." Bernie said. "As I was leaving he said something about his 'bride to be' being more understanding than I had been. When I asked him why he began spouting some Klingon rubbish which caused Howie to gasp and glare at both Sheldon and I. I think he worked it out and told them in Klingon of his suspicions."

Amy grinned. "Sorry Bernie."

"Oh I don't mind." Bernie laughed.

Missy began doing Amy's hair as Penny and Bernie got changed. Amy hadn't wanted to have anything different done to her hair, her only concession being the diamond and silver hair barrettes placed into carefully straightened hair falling behind the precious tiara Sheldon had given her.

"I don't want to look different." she explained. "Sheldon is marrying me. The me he met in that coffee shop."

Penny hugged her friend, "you will look beautiful."

"I will be a princess, marrying my prince charming!"

Soon their make up on, hair done, the girls began to get dressed. Mrs Fowler had been largely quiet listening to the girls chatter and watching their preparations. Now as Bernie and Penny came out in their bright red dresses she smiled, Missy whistled and Amy nodded.

"Amy its your turn, you need to get your dress on!" Penny prompted.

Amy looked over at her mother, "Bestie, I think, if you don't mind I will wait. Wait until it is just me and my mom."

"That's fine Amy." Penny smiled, "we will get the full affect then when you arrive."

Grateful for their understanding Amy hugged her friends. "Before you go OK lets see how the guys are doing." and grabbing her phone she rang Sheldon.

"Amy? Should I be talking to you? Is it allowed?"

"Yes Sheldon its fine! How are things there?"

"Amazing! Oh Amy thank you! I have my tie on!"

"Bernie said you had worked it out. I thought you would."

"I guessed when I saw the flowers; this just confirmed it! Momma said we look the part and has been taking pictures all morning. Well in between bouts of tears. I thought she would be happy but..."

"Sheldon I am sure they are happy tears!" Amy laughed. "Is your mother wearing gold?"

"No red. She said your mother was wearing gold."

"She knew? Amy glanced at her mother who was smiling shyly at the faces now staring at her. "I hadn't realised." Amy said more to her mom than Sheldon.

"No me either." Sheldon replied, "Amy when are Missy and the others coming back here?"

"They are ready now, I will send them over."

"OK. I will see you soon." Sheldon said quietly she could hear the emotion in his voice, knew he wanted to say more but like her was probably in a room full of people.

"See you soon." she smiled and putting down her phone she said "OK you need to go. Sheldon is waiting." As she waved her friends goodbye Amy turned to her mother.

"You never said! How long have you and Mary been in contact?"

"A while. She invited me to stay here of course and we got chatting. We realised how much we had in common, both of us so happy in the news of your wedding."

"Surprised you mean!" Amy grinned. "Come on lets finish getting me ready."

73

"Its beautiful!" Amy gasped as she watched the open top Beauford tourer pull up outside the house. The old car was white in colour and had red leather upholstery. Gold ribbons trimmed the car from windscreen to the raised emblem on the front.

"I cant believe you organised this." Amy said turning to look at her mother.

"I didn't Sheldon did. He said he couldn't find a carriage but you had to arrive in style so booked this."

Amy smiled. Together her and her mother climbed in.

"Amy, I want you to know how proud I am of you." Mrs Fowler said as she grasped Amy's hand. "When I first met Sheldon via that web link I will admit I was not impressed."

Amy grinned. "No I imagine not~!" remembering the call and the fun they had had making it.

"But I can see how much you mean to him. But not just him, your friends and his family obviously have taken you to their hearts and it makes me so happy to see how much you have grown, how settled you are. Today, well you really do look every inch the blushing bride."

"Thank you." Amy smiled squeezing her mothers hand. "I knew from the minute I saw him Sheldon was the only man for me. Today, well today is just to finalise it really. Make it official. And that you are here, my friends are here, that is something I will remember forever." Amy smiled.

"Then lets go get you married." Mrs fowler grinned.

The journey was gentle, the car taking a sedate pace before slowing a little way from the church and Amy grinned as she saw people, who she assumed were friends of the Cooper family, lining the road to see her arrive.

"I mustn't cry! I mustn't cry!" Amy muttered over and over. And half smiling, half crying, she waved and waved.

As the car pulled to a halt George appeared. Opening the car door and first helping out Mrs Fowler then Amy.

"You look beautiful! My brother is a lucky lucky man!" He smiled. He walked back to the church as Amy posed for pictures and then linking arms with her mother made her way inside.

As she entered the porch of the church she felt and heard movement as the congregation stood. She blinked as her eyes adjusted to the light in the church and her smile widened as she saw row after row of people all smiling back at her. Together gripping her mother tightly Amy began to walk. She looked at the faces smiling at her. She saw friends from work, people from Caltech who she hadn't even known had been invited, Stuart and Wil. Then as she got nearer the front members of Sheldon's family, then Howard and Leonard and Raj. Penny and Bernadette stepped forward grinning, Penny wiping tears from her eyes.

Then she saw him.

Sheldon stepped forward smiling. The smile was one she had not seen before, his hole face lit up, his eyes blue and shining focused totally on her. As she drew level and Sheldon stepped beside her he whispered "33 minutes."

As she looked at him questioningly he grinned and turned his attention to the front.

"You may now kiss you bride!"

As whoops, cheers and clapping broke out Sheldon grinned, looked at his watch, said "33 minutes exactly" making Amy laugh and throw her arms around him.

The kiss that followed was sweet and gentle and full of love. Pulling back and holding her hand tightly Sheldon bent down and whispered "I have been waiting for that!"

Amy grinned.

"You look beautiful." he smiled. "I knew you would but you really do look like a princess." He trailed his finger over the tiara. "I had thought, for a moment after giving this too you, that it was too much. But I know realise I was right all along!"

Holding hands they made their way outside. Many photos later Sheldon helped Amy climb back into the car.

"Alone!" He grinned as they pulled away. And handing a piece of paper to the driver he pulled Amy close. "I love you Amy Cooper!"

"I love you too Sheldon. I love you too." They closed the gap between them and their lips met. Gentle tender kisses that very quickly became more passionate. As Amy pulled reluctantly back she said "where are we going? I thought the reception was close."

Sheldon blushed. "It was I asked the driver to take a detour. I just needed to hold you. I didn't want an audience."

Amy smiled and putting her arms around Sheldon's neck she kissed him again. "Do you think they would miss us if we did not show up?" She grinned.

"I think my mother would kill me!" Sheldon laughed. "Come on lets get it over with then maybe we can sneak off early."

"A good plan Dr cooper! A very good plan!"

73

A/N: Ok, after a bit of a nightmare of a day I finally go this done, due to time constraints here I have split wedding and reception, so reception/wedding night will be tomorrow hopefully. I confess to only checking this once so apologies for glaring errors. I hope this doesn't disappoint. Ax