Bernadette and Howard's house looked just as she remembered it. Cassie and Felix were unsure about meeting the other children, as they did not usually do well interacting with others, but since it was either play with Howard and Bernadette's children or be bored by the adults, they settled on playing monopoly with the other children.

"Mummy, this board is wrong," Cassie said when she first looked at the setup, her face scrunched up in confusion.

Amy glanced at it. "It's just fine. Why don't you play?"

"It's not right. Where is Mayfair? What is Park Place?"

Amy looked more carefully at the board. "It's a little different, but you should play."

"The money isn't right," Felix said as he looked at it.

Halley, who as the oldest appointed herself the banker, pouted. "I counted it right," she defended herself.

"I only have one fifty and one twenty. You counted wrong."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Cassie, Felix, relax. If you don't want to play, then you can join the adults."

Her threat seemed to work, as Cassie and Felix stopped arguing that the game was wrong.

It had been too long since Amy last saw her friends, she thought. Raj and Emily broke up, but she already knew that via their Skype conversations. While she regularly spoke with Bernadette and Penny, Amy realized she had not actually said a word to Howard in years, not since before she moved to London.

"How long are you visiting for?" Bernadette asked and took a sip of her wine.

"Two weeks," Dave answered.

"Oh. We'll have to do this again before you leave," Bernadette said. Amy and Dave both agreed. It was odd, sitting by them all again. Or all of the group but one.

"So, Stuart, are you still living here?" Amy asked conversationally. She should know that type of thing, but over time, she became more out of the loop being so far away from everything. Last she heard Bernadette and Howard managed to get Stuart out of their house, but he was apparently living there again, a benefit to them both, she surmised, as it was Stuart and Raj, not Howard, cooking dinner.

"Yeah. I babysit now," Stuart said.

"That's nice," Amy said, unsure where else to go.

"Are you seeing anyone else, Raj?"

"No. I'm going to die alone," Raj whined. That was familiar, and in the familiarity there was comfort.

The rest of the evening was pleasant but Amy was getting tired by the end. Was it just her or was dinner with the gang more tiring than it used to be? Rather than relax and enjoy the company of her friends as she used to do, she felt a need to keep up the conversation, catching up on events she had not been a part of or known about. She missed out on their numerous inside jokes and references to activities that she wasn't a part of anymore. In turn, as she spoke about their life, she said some phrases and words that made them look twice at her. She referenced places they did not know of, and she found herself constantly having to explain what had become, to her, a part of everyday life. Perhaps her exhaustion was also a sign that she was older, the company no longer exhilarating but tiring.

They ended the evening with Raj inviting everyone over in two days, an invitation Amy and Dave eagerly accepted. She would only have a short time to see her friends before they left, and even if it was tiring she wanted to make the most of it. Besides, Cassie and Felix seemed to have befriended Howard and Bernadette's children, their initial whining over Monopoly notwithstanding, and she and Dave were beginning to run out of ways to keep them entertained.

The next night was set aside for girls night, just her, Penny, and Bernadette.

"It's been awhile since it's been just the three of us," Bernadette commented.

Amy took a sip of her margarita. "It has," she agreed. In fact, it had been a long time since she'd had a girls night, with or without Penny and Bernadette. She would have to make a note to do them more frequently given how much she remembered liking them.

"To us," Penny proclaimed and raised her glass of wine, prompting the three to cheers and drink. "It hasn't been the same since you left, Amy."

That brought a broad smile to her face. Of course things were different after she left. She worked hard ingratiating and easing her way into Penny and Bernadette's close-knit friendship. Her abrupt departure would have shifted the dynamics she worked so hard to cultivate.

"I've missed you too," Amy said.

Three full bottles of wine later, Penny said, "Will you be moving back?"

"Yeah, Amy, please say you're moving back."

Although she already felt light headed, Amy took another sip of margarita to fortify herself. "I don't think we are. Our careers and our house are there. Cassie and Felix are comfortable at their school. We talked about moving back but honestly, we're settled where we are and we don't want to disrupt the kids."

"So that's it. You're not coming back?"

"No," Amy said. She and Dave were content in their decision to stay in the house in London. To keep their jobs there and to allow the twins to go about their normal, familiar life. They were happy where they were and she did not want to disturb that.

"But we miss you," Bernadette said.

"And I miss you to. But Dave and I talked about it and we think it's best for our family that we stay there."

She felt a strange tinge of what? Satisfaction? Contentment? The last time she had a drink at girls night was before she was pregnant with the twins. While she did not need the influence of alcohol to bluntly say whatever was on her mind, it did make her feel different. More passive. She was pleased that she had a family to call her own, something she once thought she did not want and later on despaired of never having. Yet somehow everything worked itself out for the best.

That's why there was no regret whatsoever. She was happy. Really happy. Being back made her feel nostalgic and a small part of her wanted to stay and have her old life with her friends back, but another part of her knew it was best to go home. California was no longer her home, yet she still felt torn between the two places. She belonged in both but she also belonged nowhere. It was a strange thought.

That would be the ethanol talking. In the morning she would be better, would no longer feel as if she was being pulled in two directions, each force equally strong and leaving her stuck in place, not moving either way but feeling more and more stressed.

"Good girls night?" Dave asked when she and Penny caught their cab back to the house.

Penny dragged Leonard to their bedroom, leaving Amy and Dave alone. "I guess," she sighed, still feeling disconcerted by the earlier questions about her plans for the future.

Chaos struck the next morning when there were no Cheerios for breakfast. Amy made an emergency run to the grocery store, taking Leonard's list as well. Once she was back, the Cheerios crisis averted, Dave pulled her aside.

They sat out on the back patio. Penny and Leonard were at work, Cassie and Felix kept entertained as Cassie played physics teacher and Felix the student. Amy knew it would not be long before Felix found them, upset at his sister for bossing him around most likely, but for now they had a moment of peace. She savored the abundant sunlight outside. It was a part of California she forgot she missed.

"Amy, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about," Dave started.

"This doesn't sound good," she commented. She could not have anticipated just how not good their conversation would shortly before.

"It's something your dad said to me the other day," Dave started.

Amy signed. "Ignore whatever my dad told you. It's for the best."

Amy was well acquainted with her parent's ability to manipulate. Dave, while he had met them before, was not as used to the dynamic and needed help handling it properly. Distance from her parents was one of the best arguments for staying in London as far as she was concerned, and it was that way for a reason.

"I tried but I can't." Dave fell silent and Amy waited patiently. "You still love Dr Cooper."

"I love you more." It was the truth and it came easily. What she and Sheldon used to have was nothing compared to the depth of her relationship with Dave. It was comfortable and they fit together. They had children. It couldn't get any more committed than that.

"You were upset when you heard he isn't here."

"We were friends for a long time before we were in a relationship, Dave. If he's in Texas something is wrong with him, and I was a bit worried but it isn't my business how he's doing anymore. I promise."

"Your dad seemed to think you'd be better off with him."

"That's not true!" Amy protested instantly. She felt a wave of anger towards her father. It was one thing for her mother to ambush her about her choice of husband; she put up with that type of nagging and general disappointment in her life choices her entire life and knew how to deal with it; it was an entirely different matter for her father to attack her husband.

"Don't listen to my dad. He was out of line and I'll tell him that. Just put it out of your mind," she begged.

Dave sighed. "I'm not sure I can," Dave finally admitted.

Amy was frozen. What did he mean by that?

"Dave, I love you. I married you. No matter what my parents think I chose you."

"Parents?" Dave picked up on the one part of her statement Amy regretted saying.

"My mother had a talk with me as well. Evidently, she and my dad share the same opinion. But it doesn't matter what they think."

"But what if it's true?" Dave asked. He sounded hurt. She'd heard him hurt before, most recently after his mother passed away, but this was a different type of hurt. It was almost as if he was defeated.

"What if what's true?"

"That you would be better off with Dr Cooper. Both your parents seem to think so."

He was blowing her parents' nonsense out of proportions.

"I don't think that; and that's all that should matter to you."

"I don't want to loose you." There she was getting angry that Dave was drawn into her parents' manipulations and all along she should have realized the problem. She was a neurobiologist. She knew how the brain worked, how past experiences shaped future perceptions.

"I'm not Sherry," Amy said quietly.

Dave turned to her, a bit stunned. "What are you talking about?"

Sherry was his ex-wife. The one that ran away with the French chef. "I'm not Sherry. I'd never cheat on you and I'm not going to run away. No matter what my parents think I'm with you now. 'Till death do us part' and all that."

"Amy?"

"Yes?"

"I'm an idiot," Dave said.

Amy smiled at him, her previous anger fading away. "You are," she agreed, "but you're my idiot. Come on, let's go check and make sure Felix and Cassie haven't murdered each other yet." She grabbed Dave's hand and stood up from her chair. He followed, easily towering over her.

"I'm sure they're fine," Dave tried to sooth her, and deep down she knew he was right, but at that moment she needed a break from the heavy conversation.

"I'm sure they are too but it doesn't hurt to check."

"Amy," Dave said and stopped Amy's forward momentum. Amy turned around to face him, turning her head upwards until she could see his expression.

"Dave," she said in return.

"I love you."

"I love you too."