Amy sat at The Cheesecake Factory, waiting for Penny and Bernadette to join her for dinner after work. She hated that she had arrived first because the waitress kept trying to make small talk whenever she passed the table and Amy was not feeling up to small talk with a stranger. Relief washed over her as the two blondes approached the table. "I'm so glad you're finally here. The waitress is really chatty; she didn't seem to notice that I'm not feeling very chatty tonight," Amy explained as the women sat opposite her.
"We can leave and go back to your apartment now if you don't want to be here," Bernadette offered.
Shaking her head, Amy stopped them from leaving the restaurant. "No, it's been forever since we've been out for dinner, just the three of us. I want to be here with you. I just don't feel like talking to the waitress all night."
The group perused the menu and placed their orders before anyone spoke again. "How was work, Amy?" Penny asked
"It was good. My grad students were a little scared of me so it was pretty quiet. They hadn't done anything while I was home the beginning of the week, so I kinda went off on them. It felt so good to yell at them yesterday. I had lunch with the guys like always. If you think they're ridiculous when we get take out, you should see them during lunch. Anything new going on at work for you guys?"
Bernadette took a sip of her wine before answering, "I've seen the guys during lunch and I don't know how you manage spending your lunch hour with them. I've been working on a new drug. It hasn't been giving us the results we were looking for, so we might have to rebrand it for something else. Inflamanex is doing really well, so Penny is being moved to head another sales team."
"That's great, Penny!" Amy exclaimed. "It takes quite a while for you to get everything set up with a new sales team, doesn't it? How's that going to work when you have the baby?"
"It's an existing sales team. The person currently heading it is transferring to another location, so they asked me to take over the team. It should be a smooth transition for me. The team will be without an official lead while I'm on my maternity leave, but since it's a well-established group, they should be fine for a few months without me. That's part of why I'm being moved. Since Inflamanex is fairly new, they didn't want to leave the team without a lead. I was a little upset about being moved, but also excited that they trust me to take over another team."
Across town, the guys were finishing their take out and debating what video game to play that night. "What do you want to play, Sheldon? You've been unusually quiet all night," Howard asked.
"I don't know. I really don't feel like playing tonight," Sheldon moped on the end of the couch.
Raj and Leonard set down their controllers and Howard abandoned the stack of games he had been sorting through as they all turned to look at Sheldon. "What's going on, buddy? You've been doing so well all week. I know you've had some rough moments, but I haven't seen you this out of it in years," Leonard worried about his friend.
"I know Amy will understand if I need to take some time like she did earlier this week, but I don't think I can. I feel like if I do, I'll just give her one more thing to worry about and I don't want to do that," by now Sheldon was starting to cry.
Raj was the next one to speak, "Do you want to talk about everything that's happened in the past week or do you want to go home?"
"I can't go home. The girls are coming over for the rest of their girls' night after they have dinner. Amy's been looking forward to it all day. I can't make her cancel that."
"Like you said, Amy will understand if you need some time to yourself. Bernie and Penny will understand as well. I can call Bernie and tell them to have girls' night at our place if you want," Howard suggested.
Leonard made a cup of tea for Sheldon and handed it to him, "Your bed is still in your old room. You could lie down for a little while if you want. That would let the girls still go back to your apartment, but give you some time alone. The guys and I will play video games and you can join us whenever you're feeling up to it, but it's fine if you don't feel up to it all tonight."
Sheldon looked at his friends as he made his decision, "Thanks, guys. Come get me if it looks like Howard might actually win." He set the cup of tea on the coffee table and made his way down the hallway to his old bedroom.
The guys sat quietly for a few minutes before anyone spoke, finally Leonard said something, "I texted Penny and asked her to have Amy come over when they get back from dinner. I think Sheldon needs her right now."