Sheldon spent the next week and a half moping around the apartment, ignoring his friends except for Penny. Leonard had been through Sheldon's moods before, never because of a girl, but he had seen Sheldon act like this in the past. The last straw was when he brought home half a dozen cats. Leonard had no choice but to call Mary Cooper.
"When you said he broke up with a girl, you meant an actual girl? Not something you kids whipped up in the lab?" Mary asked, entering her son's apartment.
"No, she's real," answered Leonard, leading Mary towards Sheldon's bedroom.
Growing concerned, Mary questioned, "Did they sin?"
"No, it's not like that. I don't know what it's like. You should know that Raj, Howard, and I may have had something to do with him not talking to her or us."
"What did you boys do to my baby?" Mary stopped in her tracks, forcing Leonard to turn around.
Leonard paused, thinking of the best way to explain the situation. "Raj and Howard found Amy on an online dating site, but didn't show him her entire profile. They'd been talking for four months, so we all thought he knew."
"Knew what? Quit tiptoeing around whatever is going on and spit it out."
"They didn't show him her profile because he would have seen that she has a kid," started Leonard. "They talked all summer and he never mentioned it, so we thought he knew, but didn't care since he never saw her. Penny convinced him to ask Amy out on a real date. That's when he learned about her son. Amy left him at the restaurant; she was upset that he thought she'd been talking about a dog for months. He came home, furious with us for not telling him. We figured he'd ignore us for a few days; then he started bringing home the cats. We didn't know what else to do."
Shaking her head as she continued down the hallway to her son's room, "Give me some time. I'll get this all sorted out."
Mary finally convinced her son to leave his bedroom for dinner, promising she'd make him spaghetti with cut-up hot dogs. "What are they doing here?" He asked, seeing the three men gathered around the coffee table, waiting for a home-cooked meal.
"I heard what happened with you and your friends. If you can't trust these men to be truthful with you, they don't deserve to have you as a friend. Since Leonard is no longer your friend, you shouldn't continue living with him. I will help you look for a new apartment. We'll keep your current routines in mind, sticking close to the bus routes that travel near your regular locations of work, the grocery store, and the comic book store."
Setting his plate on the coffee table, Sheldon scoffed. "I'm not moving mother. I have lived in this apartment for over five years. Yes, the guys lied to me, but I don't think this is worth ending our friendship over. I would need more bus pants to return to taking the bus all the time."
The guys were stunned. Five minutes with his mother and Sheldon was slowly returning to his old self. Leonard decided to test the waters, "So, what are you going to do with all those cats, Sheldon? We can't keep them. I can barely breathe with them in the apartment."
"I'll have them gone by tomorrow afternoon."
Penny groaned, opening the door, after being awoken by Sheldon's signature knocking, punctuated with her name, two days after he got rid of the cats. "Sheldon. I'm sure you know what time it is. Why are you knocking on my door so early?"
"Good morning, Penny," smiled Sheldon. "I need your advice on Amy. I'd ask the guys, but they've caused me enough problems with her. You're a woman. I need a woman's perspective."
"Sure, I guess," she stood back to allow Sheldon to enter her apartment. "I heard your mother came and said you shouldn't be friends with them anymore. I also heard you got rid of the cats."
Nodding to confirm what Penny heard, Sheldon replied, "That she did. It was surprisingly easy to get rid of the cats, especially when I offered twenty dollars to anyone interested in taking them off my hands."
"What can I do for you at nine o'clock on a Saturday morning?" Penny poured herself a cup of coffee and settled on the couch.
'You've lost friends before. Is it normal to miss the person you are no longer friends with?"
Frowning, Penny reached over and placed her hand on Sheldon's knee. "Oh, sweetie. Are you missing Amy? It's normal to miss someone after a breakup."
"You can't break up with someone you weren't in a relationship with. Amy was my friend who is a girl, but she was not my girlfriend."
'Yes, you can miss someone who is no longer a part of your life, even if they were just a friend. Is there a reason you haven't tried calling or texting her? It's been almost two weeks since your date," pointed out Penny.
Sheldon stared at his phone in his hand. "I can't call her. I don't know what I would say if she even answered. She seemed pretty upset when she left the restaurant."
"Even if she doesn't answer, leave a message that you'd like to explain what happened that you didn't know about her son. Suggest that you meet for coffee or something, she knows the guys set you up on the dating site, right?" Penny's question was answered with a small nod. "Tell her that they never let you see her dating profile and they didn't tell you everything that was in it. She seemed to like you; she might give you another chance since it wasn't really your fault. I know you don't like kids, but ask her about her son. She'll think it's nice that you're showing an interest."
Sheldon was hesitant to call Amy after how their date ended, but he knew Penny was right. Relationships were the only thing he trusted that she knew more about than he did. He also knew if he were to try reaching out to Amy again, it would be best to call her, rather than texting her. She would know it was him if he called and not one of his friends trying to set them up by lying again.
Feigning a headache so the guys weren't too suspicious of his decision to skip new coming book night, Sheldon had the privacy he wanted to make the phone call he was both dreading and looking forward to. Scrolling through his contacts list, he selected Amy Farrah Fowler from the screen in his hand and held his breath as he lifted the phone to his ear.
After a few rings, Amy answered. "Hello, Amy. I hope you don't mind that I'm calling you?"
"I don't mind. You actually have really good timing. I just put Max to bed and was fixing myself a cup of tea before going over some research I brought home with me. What can I do for you this evening?" She questioned.
"I would like to apologize for what happened at dinner two weeks ago. I talked to Penny about our situation and she suggested I reach out to explain what happened that I didn't know about your son," explained Sheldon. "I very much enjoyed our daily interactions over the summer and found I have missed hearing from you since dinner."
Amy sat on her couch with her cup of tea. "I've missed our daily interactions, as well. I'm all ears if you'd like to explain."
"Actually," Sheldon hesitated, "Would you be interested in meeting again? I think this conversation might be easier in person. I can be available any time that works for you. I know your schedule might be tighter than mine given you have to take childcare into consideration."
"That's very kind of you, Sheldon. Do you mind if I check on a few things and get back to you with a time that works well for me?"
Sheldon smiled to himself, "That's quite alright. I look forward to hearing from you. Good night, Dr. Fowler."
"Good night, Dr. Cooper," replied Amy.
Author's note- Thank you so much for all the reviews. Again, you all are asking questions that I've already got answered in coming chapters and I can't wait to read your reactions to the answers to those questions. I had a guest review on the last chapter that I wanted to respond to, but couldn't because it was left as a guest review. To my guest reviewer- you questioned not having a chapter with the coffee shop scene or Shamy interacting between matching on the dating site & their first date in this chapter- there will be time jumps throughout this story. We didn't see everything on the show, but things were mentioned & referenced as time went on, that will happen in this story, too. The first two chapters were background to explain Amy's situation to help answer a lot of the questions I knew I'd be getting about Amy in this story, so Sheldon and Amy didn't interact in those chapters. They will interact plenty in the coming chapters. You asked if/how Sheldon and Amy are different in this story from on the show- you'll have to keep reading to see what's different from in the show ;)