Hello, again. I'm sorry it took so long to update this, but this chapter was one that I struggled a lot with. I'm still not 100% pleased with it, but after taking some time away from it I came back and realized I didn't hate it as much as I thought I did, so I'm going to forge ahead and publish before I change my mind again.

This was a prompt from tumblr user shamy-shamy. Enjoy!

Original publish date: July 21st, 2015

Amy was endlessly pacing the length of her boyfriend's apartment, her low muttering punctuated with the occasional deep breath a clear indication of agitation. Add the frequent flexing of her fingers, near constant smoothing of her clothes or hair, and expression that looked like a mouse staring down the preying eyes of a cat, and it would be an impossibility to miss all the signs. Unless, of course, you were the aforementioned boyfriend.

Thankfully, Leonard was not the aforementioned boyfriend, so he picked up on the cues instantly. "Amy, are you alright?"

For the first time since she arrived, Amy stopped all movement to whirl around and give him a glare that could make plants wither in seconds. "Yes, Leonard. My boyfriend's mother, who's explicitly expressed her disapproval of both our relationship and myself, will be here in less than twenty minutes to accept or condemn me. I'm just peachy."

Leonard winced at her tone, appearing almost afraid to contradict her as he mumbled, "Mary doesn't disapprove of you…"

"She called me unique," Amy rebutted, disgust in having to even say the word evident on her face. "You went to grade school, Leonard. You know what that really means."

He couldn't fault her logic, but he had more pressing thoughts on his mind. "Well, would you mind toning it down a bit? Your nervousness is making me more nervous." He slumped down further into his seat on the couch. "If that's even possible."

It was only then that Amy took notice of Leonard's own fidgeting hands, trembling ever so slightly, and was reminded of who else was en route to Pasadena. "When will your mom be here?"

"Within the hour. She insisted on taking a cab instead of me driving her because she didn't want 'to encourage my ever-growing desperation for approval by feeding the dragon. Or in my case, small, asthmatic lizard.'"

Before Amy could express sympathy for her friend, a voice sprang up from the kitchen. "Stop being so melodramatic, Leonard," Sheldon chastised as he prepared his and Amy's afternoon tea. "And why bother making a fuss, anyway? You know that your mother will be disappointed in you no matter your accomplishments."

Oddly enough, his words did little to comfort his friend.

Sheldon then exited the kitchen, a mug in each hand as he handed one to his girlfriend. "And you, Amy. You need to calm down, too. Worst case scenario is that my mother will hate you so bitterly and unreasonably it will eventually drive the two of us apart."

"How is that supposed to make me feel better?" Amy nearly shrieked.

"It's not. That's why it's called 'worst case scenario,'" he explained matter-of-factly. Upon seeing her less-than-impressed look to him, he raised his free hand defensively. "I'm just being honest."

"Well that kind of honesty is not what she needs right now," Leonard said with a pointed glare. Then he rose from his chair to approach Amy, who had resumed pacing, and firmly gripped her shoulders to stop her. "Listen to me, Amy. Mary doesn't hate you. She likes you. She wants you two together."

"How are you so sure?" She asked, eyes downcast.

Leonard hesitated, eyes never quite meeting her own. "I just do. Trust me on this."

He shifted lower so he could catch her gaze and shoot her a comforting smile, grinning in victory at the sight of Amy's mouth twitching ever so slightly upward. But it quickly dropped at the first sound of voices wafting up from the stairwell, one of which with a distinctive Texas twang. "Oh god, she's here!" Both hands rose to grab fistfuls of hair, tugging on them almost painfully. "Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh GOD!"

Sheldon regarded his girlfriend carefully, and for the first time that day there was true concern etched in his features. But before he could act on it, the door swung open to reveal none other than Mary Cooper herself, with Penny trailing behind.

Sheldon stood immediately, positively beaming at the sight of his mother. "Hello, Mom,"

"Hi, sweetie," Mary practically cooed back as she opened her arms to him, and Sheldon entered the embrace with no hesitation. There were so few people who had that effect on him: his Meemaw, Leonard, and, on occasion, when she was lucky, herself.

By then Mary had moved on to Leonard, who held onto her like she was something rare and precious. It seemed that no one could get enough of her, and Amy could see why. The woman radiated warmth and love.

Deciding to give her some space to catch up with the two boys, Amy began discreetly moving into the kitchen, hoping to be just background noise for as long as possible. But Mary was having none of that.

"And there she is!" Mary exclaimed, freezing Amy in place halfway to her destination. "The young lady who stole my baby's heart like a thief in the night." Ignoring the dramatic eye roll from Sheldon, she plowed forward. "Come 'ere, darlin'."

And before Amy could protest she was enfolded in one of the most comforting embraces she'd ever experienced. Mary smelled of lavender, evergreen trees, and just a hint of her son's talcum powder. It was enchanting. "Hi, Mary."

"Hi, darlin'. Now let me look at you." Mary pulled back just enough to give her the once-over that only a mother could manage. Amy swallowed at her scrutinizing gaze, feeling as though she could uncover all her deepest, innermost secrets with barely a glance. "My, my, you've changed quite a bit since I last saw you."

Amy's brow furrowed. "I know it's been a while, but I really haven't changed that much. I'm still the same height and weight, I still dress the same, I've let my hair grow out a bit but even so-"

"That's not what I'm talkin' bout, dearie," Mary rebutted firmly, continuing to survey her son's girlfriend like a fresh plot of land. "It's all in your eyes, your expression. You're like a new woman."

"Please Mother, don't fill my girlfriend's head with that kind of nonsense," Sheldon said as he approached the two to stand at Amy's side. "She hasn't changed in the least."

"But Shellybean, you've seen this girl every day for a number o' years. She's been changin' before your eyes without you even realizin' it." Mary moved away from Amy and back to the doorway to collect her bags. "Now I know firsthand how opposed you are to change, so don't you fret, she's still your Amy underneath. Just as unique as ever."

Amy closed her eyes.

x

Amy had excused herself and gone home soon after, despite missing the opportunity to meet the elder Dr. Hofstadter and compare neuroscience notes (though judging by the texts Penny had sent her later detailing the showdown between their boyfriends' mothers, it seemed that she had really dodged a bullet there). The following day was Leonard and Sheldon's ceremony, and Amy had knocked on the door to 4A in her best dress only to be opened up by Mary.

"Hello, dear." The greeting seemed warm enough at face-value, but now Amy knew better. "Shelly's still getting ready in his room, but come on in and make yourself comfy."

Amy nodded her thanks and entered, finding Leonard already suited up and in his usual spot in the armchair. "Hi, Amy," he said, throwing a reassuring smile her way.

A lead weight she hadn't realized had been lodged in the pit of her stomach since Mary opened the door suddenly lifted at the sight of her friend, grateful that she wouldn't have to face her mother-in-law-but-not-really-her-mother-in-law alone. "Hello, Leonard. Is Beverly on her way here?"

Thus appeared the frown that Amy's found only settles on Leonard's face at the mention of his mother. "No, she's meeting us at the university. Even after everything yesterday she's still deciding to spend as little amount of time with me as what's socially acceptable."

"Now, now, Leonard, old habits die hard," Mary chastised as she exited the kitchen to deliver Leonard's tea. "Give it some time and I'm sure those maternal instincts will be finally showing through."

"I'm pretty sure the people who engineered my mother bred any maternal instincts she had out of her, but I appreciate the thought," he answered, casually flipping through his speech notes.

As Mary returned to her spot in the kitchen, Amy took a deep breath and slowly released it through her mouth. This was it. Now was the time to prove to Mary that she really was the suitable choice for her little boy.

Slowly she rose to her feet, taking a small item from her purse as she went. Then after making a pronounced show of dropping the item onto the ground, Amy silently called upon every acting god in potential existence, every word of advice gleaned in passing from her bestie (the closest thing to an acting goddess on this earth, she figured), and every bit of lucrative experience gained from her work on Fun with Flags before speaking. "Oh no. It appears that I have dropped my wooden cross, a most precious gift from my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ."

Leonard's head shot up, a stunned look written across his face- clearly in awe of her impressive acting chops- and from the corner of her eye she saw Mary glance over as well. "Come again, dear?"

"Oh, nothing. It is just that this blessed artifact never leaves my side, as I am constantly in need of calling upon it to pray and… stuff." Amy bent down to retrieve the small item, with an exaggerated wink to Leonard as she rose up again. "I cannot risk dirtying the sacred name of the deity whom I worship oh so fervently. I'll leave that job up to the whores and other such lowlifes of the world."

Leonard choked on his tea.

As Mary hurried to check on him, Amy was quick to assist with a sign of the cross over her small asthmatic friend. "God bless you, Leonard."

The man in question recovered from his coughing fit just enough to stare up at her in disbelief as Mary calmly rubbed his back, looking upon the scene with a face that Amy couldn't place if her life depended on it. Which, as far as she was concerned, it did.

But she didn't get much chance to analyze the collected data when a sudden cry rang throughout the room, so thunderous and so despairing that the walls seemed to shake in sympathy.

"I CAN'T DO THIS!"

All three occupants of the living room froze any movement, save for each head swiveling as one towards the hall leading to the back rooms. For an eternal few seconds the stupor remained until Leonard finally broke it by jumping to his feet.

"You know what, I'm just gonna make sure Penny's ready to go," he said as he made a beeline for 4B before either woman in his company could protest. "See you at the ceremony, bye!"

No sooner had the door shut behind Leonard than the sound of rapidly pounding feet approached, and Sheldon emerged from the hall. He looked like he had just walked through a hurricane; no shoes, hair in disarray, tie swaying undone from around his neck, and a near feral look in his eyes that seemed to tell that he had seen far too much in his thirty-five years on this earth.

"Shelly? What's the matter, baby?" Mary tried stepping closer to him, but Sheldon drew back just as quickly.

"They want me to make a speech. A speech! And deliver it myself, in front of the whole university and then some. I took this job so I wouldn't have to deal with people like this; just me and my whiteboards, not having to cater to the common man. It's beneath me! There's going to be so many people there, all staring at me…" then he dissolved into full hysterics.

Mary looked ready to try again, probably to take him into her arms and coax him to distraction with one of his toy trains, but Amy beat her to it. In three confident strides she was right in front of him, hands instinctively reaching to hold his face, but then she thought better of it and they fluttered down to grasp his shoulders instead. "Sheldon, look at me."

At this point he was nearly hyperventilating but he still complied, his eyes boring into hers in a silently desperate plea for her help. Amy gathered every spare bit of strength she had before continuing. "I need you to settle your breathing. Breathe with me, Sheldon. In, out. In, out."

It took some time, but eventually Sheldon was inhaling and exhaling at the proper rate.

Amy smiled at him in reward, hoping to convey how proud she was of him in those few simple shifts in facial muscles. "I know you're nervous. I know you don't like to put yourself in situations that force you to practice your people skills-"

"But I don't have people skills!" Sheldon near shouted, taking Amy aback enough for her to step away from him. He rarely yelled, and even more rarely admitted his own faults. "I won't be able to know if they're laughing with me or at me. If I can't read people the way that others can, how will I know if they're chuckling at my opening joke or rolling their eyes at my arrogance? For all I know, I could be gifting the world with my academic insights or making a complete fool of myself!"

He didn't say the word 'again', but Amy heard it nonetheless.

"Okay Sheldon, listen to me carefully," Amy commanded, eyes never leaving his as she raised her arms once again to hold his own. "First off, if the joke you're referring to is the one on Lavoisier's oxygen theory of combustion, then you have nothing to worry about, it's comedy gold. And secondly… just because you did a few stupid things under the influence last time, doesn't mean it invalidates your intelligence."

"I know that. And I've made precautions to avoid Penny the whole evening for that very reason. It's just…" he took a deep breath. "Even though the odds of this being an even bigger disaster than the Chancellor's Award night is 98,522,000 to one, I think I'd be more ashamed of anything going wrong tonight than I am of that entire youtube video."

"Why?" Amy asked curiously.

Sheldon's crystal-eyed gaze stared deeply into hers, but he quickly grew overwhelmed and looked down to his toes. Finally, he muttered shyly, "Because you'll be there."

Amy's heart warmed, his words bringing her back to his admission on the way home from Arizona.

"Sheldon," Amy began, ducking her head to meet his wayward gaze. "Nothing you say or do tonight could ever make me ashamed of you. You did the math. You wrote the paper. You presented the theory. You did everything right that matters for the advancement of science. Tonight," she added, waving a hand dismissively. "Is only a formality. And we both know what a handsome figure you make in formal wear. In fact, our colleagues may begin questioning the validity of your well-formed posterior more than your well-formed postulate."

Sheldon laughed. But not his usual breathy, often ungenuine little chuckle, but a full and resounding laugh that seemed to split his face and let the light shine through, even with the nerves still hinting behind his eyes.

Taking this as the go-ahead, Amy's hands slid to the base of Sheldon's neck to skillfully begin fixing his tie. "So how about this: you go back to your room, finish getting ready, pick out one of the multiple speeches that I know you already have written in your head, and we'll all go to the ceremony and have a good time. Is that okay with you?"

She had finished with the tie, but still kept one hand on his shoulder as he mulled over her suggestion. "Okay. But, um… if I were to write my speech down, would you mind terribly if you, uh… if you would look it over? To make sure I don't say anything I shouldn't?"

Amy smiled, that warm feeling taking residence once again. "I'd love to."

Sheldon nodded, his eyes telling her a million things he wanted to say and do, the barely perceivable gulp telling her a million more. But all he managed was one last nod before awkwardly staggering back out of her arms, then turning tail to head back down the hall.

Amy watched him go, the soft smile on her lips contrasting the sadness in her heart. So lost was she in her own thoughts, she forgot that she still was not alone until a hand gently landed on her shoulder.

"I think we need to talk, Amy," Mary said quietly.

She led Amy into the living room and sat herself on the couch, while Amy took her usual place next to Sheldon's coveted spot. For almost a full minute they remained in total silence, Amy refusing to look at Mary even though she could feel the woman's gaze searing into her like a laser beam. When she finally could stand it no longer and turned to break the unbearable quiet and beg for her fate, she was stunned to silence by the sight of Mary Cooper, the toughest, most unmoving woman she had ever met, trying to hold back tears.

"Mrs. Cooper?" Amy goaded carefully.

With a short laugh to bring herself back, Mary quickly dabbed at her eyes. "I'm sorry, darlin'. It's just…" he voice had grown dangerously tight, and she paused long enough to get her bearings once again. "I've known Shelly all his life. I've watched him grow from an uptight little boy to an uptight little boy, but taller. I will never truly understand him, so the best I can do as his mother is love him with all I got and trust that God will provide him with whatever I can't." Though eyes still wet with tears, her smile was bright as a sunny California day. "Then lo and behold, He sent you."

She reached for Amy's hand, but the younger woman pulled back instantly. "I'm sorry, Mary, but I can't be all that for Sheldon."

"Why not, dear?"

"Because…" Amy hesitated, unsure if it was wise to share all the relationship issues eating at her mind with her boyfriend's mother, but something about the way Mary was looking at her made Amy inexplicably trust her, and everything came spilling out before she could stop herself. "Because he doesn't make the effort to make me a part of his life the way I've made him a part of mine. I feel like my life begins and ends with Sheldon, he's made such an impact on my life since I met him, but for him I'm just another time slot in his schedule. He constantly puts me down for my intellect or desire for romance, but then gets angry when I seek fulfillment in those things elsewhere. I'm the last person he talks to about any significant change in his life, like when he applied to go live on another planet without me. And then, after four years of being together, when I even so much as mention the idea of moving forward, he ups and leaves me for six weeks. I care about him so, so much, and in return I get no respect, no trust, and no commitment."

Amy wasn't sure at what point she was suddenly fighting to keep her own tears at bay, but before she had even realized it Mary was there with a arm around her shoulders, whispering soothing nonsense into her ear. Little by little Amy began to relax, feeling lighter than she had in months; really since the night Penny had called to casually inform her that Sheldon had left for a soul-searching journey without saying goodbye.

"I'm sorr-"

"Don't you dare apologize," Mary said almost harshly. "Sheldon may be my baby boy, but that also means I know more than anyone what a challenge he can be. There are very few who can handle him." Amy only shrugged, and Mary gazed at her before breaking out into a chuckle. "Did you know that Leonard, and Penny too after she moved in, used to call me almost every month with some sort of Sheldon issue they didn't know how to solve?"

"Really?"

"Oh yeah. Sometimes I even had to fly over here to sort things out. But it hasn't come to that in a long time." Mary glanced sidelong at her companion, a certain twinkle to her eye. "And if I recall right, the last time I had to step in was a real doozy. Something about Sheldon fighting with a young girl he was pinin' for- though of course, he didn't know that yet- and he bought a whole gaggle of kittens tryin' to replace her."

Amy laughed despite herself. "Well, what happened?"

"Oh, they managed to solve their differences with the help of a little reverse psychology, as you fancy brain scientists like to put it. The two have been inseparable ever since."

Amy's eyes widened to comic proportions as all the pieces began falling into place, but before she could comment Mary had reached over to take her hand. "Leonard hasn't called since, because he found someone with a slightly better commute who has the patience and understanding to make my baby happy."

Amy sighed, her former melancholy returning once again. "Then why does he treat me the way that he does sometimes?"

"Oh, darling." Mary turned Amy's face so they were looking at each other eye to eye. "I know you love him dearly, and believe me, he loves you right back. It seeps into his voice every time he talks about you on the phone." Mary took a deep breath. "The only reason Sheldon acts the way he does with you is because he's afraid. Plain and simple. You and I both know how dead set he is against change of any kind. He had no reason to respect others before you, no reason to trust others before you. But believe me, he most certainly does respect and trust you, he just don't know how to show it yet. As his daddy used to say-"

"You have to take your time with Sheldon." This they said together, both turning to share a knowing smile. Though doubts were still niggling at the back of Amy's mind concerning Sheldon's willingness in committing to her, to them, in that moment she felt a bond with this woman beside her stronger than even with her own mother.

"Mom! Amy! Are you ready to go?"

In came a fully composed Sheldon, but he stopped at the end of the hall to take in the sight of his mother and girlfriend, sitting and holding one another on his couch. The look on his face was unlike anything Amy had ever seen on him before: a mixture of affection, tenderness, and relief, despite his show of nonchalance over Amy meeting his mother the previous day.

"Yes Shellybean, we're as rearin' to go as a newborn foal,'' Mary declared as, with one final squeeze to Amy's arm, she rose to her feet. "Lead the way."

Sheldon and Amy met in the middle, heading for the door side by side, when Amy felt a sudden pressure on her left hand and glanced down to see that Sheldon had taken a loose grasp of it. Though their skin was barely grazing, and Sheldon staunchly refused to look at her and acknowledge what he had just done of his own will, Amy could sense the uncertainty he was looking to balance with her support, the vulnerability to balance with her strength. She faced forward again and said nothing, allowing their fragile handhold and all those unspoken words linger between them.

As for Mary, she walked behind the young couple and watched the sweet exchange in silence. There would be time for talking later (starting with how taking the Lord's name to impress your boyfriend's mother with your faux religious virtue would not score you great favors with Him); time to get to know each other, time for storytelling and questions upon questions upon questions.

Just before closing the door to 4A behind her, Mary glanced at her baby boy's desk and smiled, knowing what was tucked away in the drawer just beneath the surface of fancy gadgets and sciencey things. Just as her husband had always told her, she was going to let her Sheldon take his time, and one day proving his commitment to the love of his life by asking a certain question of his own.