Another huge thank you to everyone who is reviewing, following and favouriting this story. I am still blown away by the response and I am honestly so so grateful! Thank you so much!

This chapter is quite a long one, I wanted to cut it short but wasn't entirely sure where so just merged what would have possibly been two chapters together.

I really enjoyed writing this chapter so I hope you love reading it. Here's chapter 9. Enjoy! xx

As soon as December 1st rolled round, Amy well and truly allowed herself to get into the Christmas spirit. The holidays were without a doubt her favourite time of year, she loved the festive cheer that was in the air, how everyone's mood seemed to immediately lift as Christmas Day drew nearer and although she would never admit it she loved the cheesy Christmas music that you would automatically hear upon entering any department store.

She longed for the cosy nights in, wrapped up in her dressing gown, curled up on the sofa in front of the fire, shutting the rest of the world out as a bitter chill descended. When she thought back on previous years, Sheldon had always been by her side, that one person who she would want to be curled up with, snuggle close to until she was warm again and fighting the urge to sleep.

It was only now that she realised how lonely the holidays could be. She had been in a relationship for the past five years, being with someone, always having someone there was something that she quickly got used to. Now, that Sheldon was no longer hers, she thought she had got used to that too, but it was times like this where being single wasn't exactly amazing and the loneliness all felt, well, a little too lonely.

She was so grateful for the baby growing inside of her, her now fourteen week baby bump, a little reminder that she wouldn't be alone for much longer, that she wasn't truly alone right now. Her heart burst with love and excitement to think that this time next year her Christmas would be spent with her little son or daughter. Although, she knew that their baby would only be six months old, the years ahead filled with the innocence and magic that children brought to Christmas completely warmed her heart. She really couldn't wait.

—

"I am a little surprised he didn't ask you to join him" Penny voiced as she stood at the breakfast bar in the apartment she shared with Leonard and Sheldon and poured herself a glass of wine. She smiled to herself as she poured Amy a glass of juice, in a wine glass of course so she didn't feel too left out.

"Why would he ask me?" Amy shrugged.

With just two weeks to go until Christmas, Sheldon had finalised plans to go and stay with his family down in Texas. Amy up until a couple of hours ago had been reluctantly planning to go and stay with her parents until Penny suggested that she spend the holidays with her and Leonard. Of course, she agreed almost instantly. Spending time with two of her best friends, definitely topped being with her parents.

"Because you spend all your time together" Penny teased as she suggestively raised her eyebrows. She had been the one to watch their relationship change over the course of the last six weeks, she had witnessed how news of the baby had naturally drawn them closer to one another. She had watched their moods noticeably lift as they slowly allowed one another back into their lives, they both seemed happier, much, much happier.

"Only because of the baby" Amy tried to reason.

"If you believe that then you're nowhere near as smart as I thought" Amy was smart, incredibly smart however, incredibly naive in this department. What did Penny mean? Had Sheldon said something? Was there something that she herself had completely missed?

"Well, he isn't here now, is he?" Amy tried to argue her point however, she was in his home and Penny's reply about him walking through the door at any moment hadn't quite been the comeback Amy was expecting.

The truth was Amy was well aware of the relationship that she seemed to be building with Sheldon again. The months after the break up where they had hardly seen or spoken to one another had been hard, really hard on both of them. The experience of growing closer over these past few weeks had made Amy realise that she never wanted to go back to not seeing or speaking to him, he was and now always would be an important part of her life.

Without really giving it all that much thought, what they had now she viewed as an amicable relationship for the sake of their child. Of course there had been moments when they had both let their guards down and the emotional connection shared between them teetered on the edge of friendship and something more, she would be a fool to deny that during those moments she hadn't felt something for him but despite all of that Amy still had her doubts about pursuing a relationship with Sheldon.

Would she ever be enough? Would he ever be able to love her the way she wanted to be loved? She didn't ask for a lot, she wasn't someone that would ever be high maintenance or demanding. She didn't want him to change, not at all, she loved him for him. Amy figured that that was probably part of the problem, she had excused his behaviour and his approach to their relationship for far too long simply because she loved him, but what had he done for her?

"You do know you and the baby are all he talks about" Penny felt as if she needed to justify her comment and almost fight Sheldon's corner a little. He still loved Amy, always had and always will.

"Really?"

"All the time" Penny sighed rolling her eyes, almost as if she was growing sick of hearing him repeating the same things. "He's always comparing the size of the baby to a piece of fruit, the other day he told me that they could now pull faces too" Penny seemed pretty impressed by that last statement.

"I didn't know" Amy's voice was quiet. Although she had her doubts about whether Sheldon was ever made to be boyfriend material she had never once doubted his ability to be a good father, although others may pull a face at the notion, she was one of the rare few people that got to see that soft, vulnerable side of Sheldon. She knew instantly he would make an amazing father, from the way Penny was talking about him in Amy's mind he already was. "He's never mentioned any of this to me" she sounded somewhat sad and distant.

"Hey, I wouldn't read too much into that. It's just Sheldon being Sheldon, right? He's always found it hard letting people in" upon seeing Amy's reaction, Penny felt the need to justify his actions.

"Yeah but he's never been like that around me" had the breakup changed their relationship, now that she was no longer his girlfriend did he feel like he couldn't be himself. Had he really changed that much and she hadn't even noticed.

—

"You know, there's a part of me that's very glad that you're spending Christmas here in Pasadena with Leonard and Penny" Sheldon announced as he plunged his fork into his low mien, twisting the noodles around the implement.

A week had past and it was now Sheldon's last night in California before he flew out to Texas tomorrow for the holidays, the fact that he had chosen to spend his final night with Amy and not with the guys eating take out and watching Star Wars wasn't lost on Amy. The thought alone made her heart feel so full, for the first time in a long time and in his own little way he was showing her affection, putting her first or maybe it was the baby, she didn't quite know.

"Really? Why?" Amy asked, she didn't really think he cared that much or had given where she celebrated Christmas all that much thought.

"I don't know" he shrugged, Amy could tell there was more he wanted to reveal. "I guess, they'll look after you" normally she would gently and intelligently argue her point about not needing to be looked after, that she was a strong, independent woman who had been alone for the majority of her adult life. However, the softness in his tone, the vulnerability that he had suddenly let shine through, it was all enough for Amy to let the comment slide.

Everything he was doing and saying right now seemed to be working in his favour, it was almost as if all the reasons that she had broken up with him for, he was now trying to put right. It did leave Amy wondering whether Penny had had one of her little chats with him, she had always been able to get through to him, even when she herself had failed. She also knew how much Penny was championing some kind of romantic, Hollywood movie reunion.

"Well, I'm sure with all the information you've been giving Penny about the baby, she'll be well informed to take care of me" Amy smiled as she watched Sheldon's expression change to one of that of a little child that just been caught doing something they shouldn't be doing. "Don't be embarrassed about it, I think it's really sweet" she laughed lightly giving him a gentle nudge.

"You do?" he asked, looking over at her, there was something about the way her hair fell tonight, that Sheldon thought made her look extremely beautiful, maybe it was how it cascaded down her shoulder with the tiniest of waves at the end, he was sure she hasn't done anything differently but for a moment at least he felt a little lost.

"Hmmm" Amy nodded as she placed yet another sweet and sour chicken ball in her mouth. "What do you know now?" she asked through her mouthful of food as she relaxed back against the sofa. Sheldon looked at her unsure, he had been nervous to inform Amy of the little app on his phone that he used to track the baby's progress, he hadn't wanted to come across as too full on or intense, he just wanted to feel prepared in some way, this was so far out of his comfort zone. "Go on" Amy urged with a smile.

"Well, at nearly sixteen weeks the baby is about the size of an avocado. Even though the eyes are still closed they are developing sensitivity to light and they should be developing their sucking reflex. On scans sometimes you can see the baby sucking their thumb. We might be able to at the next one" Amy was smiling so wide her cheeks were starting to hurt, she never really imagined Sheldon Cooper would talk about a baby's development with so much love and excitement and yet here he was, reeling off fact after fact as if he'd been studying the development of unborn babies for the majority of his life.

"That's amazing isn't it" Amy breathed, her hands tentatively placed on her bump. "It's crazy to think all of that is going on in here" her fingers grazed over the curve of her stomach as she wondered what the little person growing inside of her would become. It was all such an overwhelming process.

"Do you know what else is a little crazy too?" Sheldon asked as he to sat back, mimicking Amy's position.

"What?" Amy asked gently as she turned her head to look at him, feeling her heart all a flutter. She wasn't sure what it was but there was something about this evening that was drawing her to him, pulling her in further than she had allowed herself to go since the break up.

"That this time next year, we'll have a six month old baby that we'll be getting ready for Christmas" he explained. "We'll actually be someone's parents" he sounded completely baffled by the notion. "Oh that reminds me" he announced excitedly, he sat forward and reached over the arm of the sofa and grabbed the small gift bag that he had position there upon arrival at Amy's apartment. "For you" he told her with a smile as he thrust the bag towards her.

Amy was a little taken aback, she hadn't been expecting the gesture at all. They hadn't even spoken about the rules this year on giving gifts, she just assumed that neither of them would be receiving gifts from the other.

"Sheldon, I...I didn't think we were..."

"Just open it" he hurried her along with its hand. "It's only something small" Amy carefully peeled off the sticky tape that held the bag shut, when she peered inside she found something wrapped up in white tissue paper. Amy had forgotten Sheldon's impeccable neatness when it came to wrapping gifts, he was never normally one to buy gifts or particularly know the right gift to buy but when it came to wrapping the item he was meticulous.

She pulled out the tissue paper and whatever it was that it encompassed. The item was of medium size yet somewhat heavier than she was expecting, she peeled away the paper to reveal a silver journal with the words 'Bump, Birthday and Beyond' written across the front in italics.

"Sheldon, what's this?" Amy gushed, as she allowed her fingers to caress the front cover before, carefully flicking through the pages.

"I thought it was quite self explanatory" Amy rolled her eyes as she continued to look through the book, crisp, white, delicate pages were boarded with various patterns, small dots and stripes, stars and diamonds. On some pages the centre was marked for a photo on others a tiny envelop was enclosed to capture their first lock of hair or their tiny hospital wristband. "You said the other day that you wanted to keep a record of the pregnancy" her silence unnerved him and he felt the need to justify his choice of purchase.

"Sheldon, I love it!" she beamed as she closed the book on her lap. "I love it, thank you, thank you so much"

"I thought you could start it off with the scan photo. Well both photos if you wanted."

"It's so perfect Sheldon, thank you" before Amy could really comprehend what she was doing, she found herself leaning forwards and gently placing a kiss to Sheldon's cheek.

—

"Nice?" Penny questioned her tone disapproving of the word. "It was just nice" she repeated Amy's words from earlier when she was quizzed about her night with Sheldon. It was hard to keep things from Penny, as soon as she had seen Amy she had questioned her on every little detail, finally getting the information she was desperate for when Amy revealed the little peck on the cheek.

"Yeah, it was" Amy nodded a smile playing at the corners of her lips. "It was just a kiss on the cheek, it was over in seconds" she tried to dismiss Penny's excitement. It was nothing that they hadn't done before, in fact, in terms of the physical intimacy shared between them, a kiss on the cheek was fairly tame.

"A kiss on the cheek a couple of years would have been huge" Penny laughed at Amy's relaxed attitude. "So what else happened?" Penny urged.

"Nothing else" Amy answered, it wasn't as if she was keeping anything from Penny this time, nothing else had happened after her lips grazed his cheek. They had simply brushed over the moment and watched a movie before Sheldon eventually left for the airport. "I promise, nothing else happened" Amy insisted.

"Okay girls, we have: It's a Wonderful Life, Home Alone or Miracle on 34th street" Leonard announced as he walked back into the living clutching the three DVD's to his chest. It was Christmas Eve and the three of them were preparing to settle down for the night with a movie and hot chocolate.

Amy shot Penny a look telling her instantly to shut down the conversation, she really didn't have anything more to discuss on the matter and although she knew Penny would probably later tell Leonard, she didn't want to relay the information again.

"Oh I used to love miracle on 34th street when I was kid" Amy smiled at the fond memories that the movie brought her, probably the one time where for once her family and childhood felt normal. She would always watch this movie with her parents around the holidays, she couldn't wait to make cute, little holiday traditions like that with her little baby.

"Okay, miracle on 34th street it is" Leonard smiled holding up the dvd. "I'm not going to argue with a pregnant lady."

It was forty minutes into the movie when Amy started to grow restless, at sixteen weeks she was used to the odd aches and pains that accompanied pregnancy however, now there was a new sensation that she hadn't quite felt yet. It could only be described as flutters, like there was a tiny little butterfly, gently flying around inside of her. Amy gasped, sitting upright and placing her hand on her bump.

"You okay?" Penny asked quickly, whipping her head round fo face Amy.

"Yeah" Amy nodded, a smile playing on her lips. "I think I just felt the baby move"

"Oh my god, you did" Penny quickly reached across and placed her hand upon Amy bump, desperate to feel the movements Amy had just been speaking of.

"I think it's too early for you to feel anything" Amy explained. "I can feel it now" the little flutters were amazing, she had seen the baby on the scans and had heard heartbeat but now being able to feel this little person moving, it completely took all the excitement and emotions to a whole new level.

"I can't believe there is an actual person in there" Penny gushed, sounding completely amazed by the whole process. She was someone that had never struck Amy as being very maternal yet she had been so intrigued by the pregnancy and Amy knew she would be the best auntie.

After various attempts from Penny to feel the baby moving, Amy eventually retreated to Sheldon's bedroom where she would be spending the night. She hadn't made it to the end of the movie, the tiredness that came alongside pregnancy quickly descended upon her.

However, before she went to sleep, she had to call Sheldon, she had to share the news about the baby moving with him. It surprised her how calling him was her first thought, an urge that she had to act upon before she allowed herself to sleep.

—

"Oh darlin', it's you. I was scared to death when I saw that light on" Mary Cooper announced, clutching her hand to her heart as she walked out on to the porch to see Sheldon sat on the porch swing, gently rocking himself back and forth. "Baby, what are you doing out here? It's almost midnight and it's freezing" she pulled her dressing down tighter around her body and walked over to join him, gently sitting down next to him on the swing.

"Amy called"

"Is everything okay?" Mary found herself asking quickly.

"Yeah, everything's okay" he nodded. "She thinks she felt the baby move"

"Oh, she did" she gushed. "Oh darlin' that's just magical" Sheldon offered a small smile in response to his mother excitement. "And you're sad because you weren't there" she added noticing the distant expression and putting two and two together for as to why he was currently sitting outside.

"I guess a little" he shrugged. "What's it like being a parent?" he asked. Mary didn't need to question him further, she knew that impending fatherhood was weighing heavy upon him. He needed reassurance and his mother was the only person that could give it to him.

"It's the best thing in the world" she smiled fondly as she thought back on her three children. "You'll never love someone or worry about someone more in your entire life" she explained. "Even when your baby is 35, it never leaves you" she gave his thigh a gentle tap.

"You still worry?"

"All the time. You'll understand that when you're little one arrives"

"What if I can't do it mum? What if I don't know how to be a good dad?" These had been the questions he had been asking himself since the moment he had discovered Amy was pregnant, he had somehow been able to push them to the back of his mind and simply go through the motions. There was something about being home, being away from it all and almost taking a back seat that allowed him to reflect on what was to come.

"I don't really think anybody knows how to do it or what they're doing but there's something about that moment, when you first hold your little baby and then it all just falls into place. When you realise that that little person is depending on, that they need you more than anyone in the world. It just clicks" she smiled. She knew despite Sheldon's doubts, in his own unconventional way he would make a great father. "I'm going to head back to bed baby, you should get some rest too" she placed a kiss to his temple, leaving Sheldon with her words ringing around his head.

Ahh we finally got a kiss (well kind of)! I absolutely loved writing that little Shamy moment.

As always thank you so so much for reading and as always your reviews are much appreciated. I love hearing your opinions on the chapter and thoughts and idea for future chapters.

We will be finding out the gender of baby Cooper in the next chapter so if you haven't already let me know your thoughts.

Lots of love. xx