Hey! Sorry for my delay, I had a really hard and busy day, but the last chapter is finally here. It's just a silly short one. Enjoy it!
Please, read my notes below. Thank you!
Oh, and this chapter has a big reference to one of my fav authors as well, let me know if you catch it! More info below!
Monday evening, Penny, Bernadette, Howard, Leonard, and Raj gathered at 4A. They were used to not having Amy around when they had dinner together since she broke up with Sheldon. But his absence was something out of the ordinary.
After sitting down together and starting to eat their usual Sheldon-approved takeaway, the group engaged in conversation about the next day's work at Caltech, plans for next week, and various other topics. But Penny wanted desperately to know if the guys had talked to Sheldon or Amy over the weekend. She hadn't had time to ask Leonard yet.
"Listen, Amy disappeared on Saturday, and we haven't had any contact with her since then," Penny informed everyone. "We were in her apartment, and she suddenly left."
"Yeah," Bernadette added, "she didn't text us back." She grabbed her phone to double-check her notifications. Nothing new was on the screen. "We haven't had any news from her."
"She left you in her apartment?" Raj asked. "She didn't say where she was going?"
"It was when you gave her Sheldon's notebook." Penny looked at Bernadette, still trying to understand what happened to prompt Amy to leave so suddenly. "But she didn't even read it. She just left!"
Penny looked at Leonard, who had his hand on his chin and his eyebrows furrowed in thought. "What about Sheldon? Did he say anything strange?"
"Would we notice the difference?" Howard asked, smirking, clearly joking.
Bernadette glared at her husband "Howie!"
"Just asking!" Howard put his hands up in defense.
Leonard shook his head. "Sheldon also disappeared on Saturday." Penny's eyes opened in surprise. That was new information. Leonard looked at her with a side smirk. "On Sunday, though, he arrived home and asked me to drive him to Amy's. That was the last time I saw him."
"To Amy's?" "Do you think they're together again?" "Maybe they talked?" Everyone was talking at the same time.
"Did he go to work today?" Bernadette asked the guys.
"We think so, but we didn't see him all day. He didn't eat with us." Howard said, shrugging.
"Maybe they were together?" Raj chirped with a dreamy look in his eyes. "Do you think they reconciled?"
"I don't know," Bernadette said sadly, "Amy was so down, it made me sad to see her so affected by their breakup."
"Sheldon too. We were so worried, especially last week," Penny said, looking at Leonard, who was nodding in agreement.
"We thought we were losing him." He told his friends. A sad atmosphere took over the gang for a moment. Everyone had been worried about Sheldon. Even Howard didn't make a joke. He had been concerned for him too. Everyone knew both Sheldon and Amy weren't doing very well these last months, but they also knew Amy had more chances to get over their relationship and continue her life. But Sheldon…he could get really self-destructive in stressful situations.
Suddenly, they heard footsteps coming, familiar voices and giggles. The front door swung open, and a jovial Sheldon entered the apartment, hands joined with a smiling Amy behind him.
Sheldon let go of Amy's hand for a moment to close the door and stepped to her side again. Amy had halted, biting her lower lip, as all the gang's eyes landed on them.
"Hi," she said, shyly waving her hand.
"Amy!" Penny and Bernadette shouted happily. They stood up to hug her friend, with Raj tagging along with them.
Sheldon just nodded to Leonard and Howard, who returned his salutation.
"I'm sorry I didn't text you back," Amy said to her friends, who were already interrogating her with her looks. She glanced briefly at Sheldon. "We were...busy."
"Busy?" Bernadette raised her eyebrows, intrigued.
"All good, you two?" Leonard asked from his chair.
Amy played with her hands nervously. She shared a brief gaze with Sheldon. He raised his eyebrows slightly, signaling for her to answer their friend's question.
"All good." She said, looking back at the group. "I missed you all."
"And we missed you too!" Penny exclaimed, happy to see them happy again. "I'm so glad you guys got back together."
"Actually…" Sheldon started to say, raising one of his fingers prepared to lecture their friends about their relationship status with Amy.
"OMG!" Raj shouted, cutting off whatever Sheldon was about to say, "Is that…an engagement ring?!" He put his hands on his face, in an exaggerated manner while looking at Amy's hand.
"Wait!" "What?!" "Huh!?" Their friends shouted in bewilderment.
"I was about to tell you that." Sheldon glared at Raj for ruining the news. He sighed. "Amy is my fiancée."
"Ahhh!" "Congratulations!" "Ohh!" There was an explosion of joy among all the gang. Amy blushed profusely and gladly welcomed the hugs of her friends.
Penny, smirking devilishly, couldn't take her eyes off of Sheldon, though. He was letting Amy receive all the compliments. His chest was slightly raised in pride. But the way he was looking at Amy…Penny had a feeling that something had shifted between the couple. Something big. How did they end up being engaged otherwise? She knew there was only a way to know what happened. After everyone had congratulated the couple, she got close to Amy and whispered in her ear.
"Bestie, there's a lot you need to tell us."
Amy's blush intensified.
Bingo.
"Impromptu Girls' night!" Penny suddenly said out loud. "Amy! You are coming with us. Bernie, let's go." She grabbed Amy's arm and pulled her to the door.
"Yep, see you later." Cheerfully, the petite blonde followed along.
"But…I..." Amy walked, unconvinced. Penny wasn't letting her go, and she didn't know how to react to her bestie's determination. Amy glanced at Sheldon, who was looking at the women in astonishment. She was dying to talk to the girls, to tell them all that happened to her the last few days, but she didn't know how Sheldon would react. Penny turned and looked playfully at him. "We are kidnapping your fiancée for a few minutes. But don't worry, she'll be back in no time."
Sheldon looked back and forth between Amy and the blondes. "All right." He reluctantly agreed.
Amy tapped Penny's arm, so she could let her go. She walked towards Sheldon and raised herself on her tiptoes to give him a sweet kiss on the lips. He leaned down to help her reach him better and welcomed her kiss, prompting a surprised look of the rest of the gang.
"I'll be back in no time, have fun with the guys."
"Let's go." Penny ushered Amy out of the door, and they left for 4B, giggling and sharing knowing glances between them.
Sheldon, now alone with the guys, walked towards the fridge to get a water bottle and sat in his spot as if nothing had happened. The guys looked at him with wonder, waiting for him to say anything about what they just witnessed. Sheldon just sat down with a sigh and a hint of a smile on his face.
"Well?" Leonard was the first one to break the silence. "Would you like to tell us?"
Sheldon looked at him, surprised by his question.
"Tell you what?" He answered, genuinely confused.
Howard rolled his eyes. "You and Amy! When? Where? How? Why?"
"Oh." Sheldon finally realized what his friends wanted. "To answer your questions: On Sunday, in her apartment, on my knee, because I love her." He simply said.
"And?" Howard waved his hands, encouraging him to explain further.
"And what? Oh! She said yes." Wasn't that obvious, though, as she was wearing his engagement ring on her finger?
"Beautiful..." Raj muttered, sobbing.
"Raj!" Leonard and Howard chorused.
"What? Love always wins." Raj dried his tears, proud of his friend. "I'm so happy for you, Sheldon."
Sheldon nodded to Raj, thanking him.
"Yeah, love wins, but..." Howard was losing his patience. "You had a ring?!"
"That was what you came to get on Sunday?" Leonard was putting some pieces together.
"Tell us the whole story."
"Well…" Sheldon paused before starting. Was it worth mentioning the dating site match and anonymous conversations between them? He decided to cut to the chase. "I prepared a date for her, and a personal gift, which I gave to Howard, so he could give it to Bernadette, and she could give it to Amy, which almost didn't happen," he glared at Howard, "but we finally met and talked, and I decided to propose. We made love, and if it was up to me, we would be married already." Sheldon opened his bottle of water and drank from it, missing the shock in his friends' faces.
"No way!" "What?!" "Shut your ass!"
"What's with my ass?" Sheldon asked, confused at Raj's reaction.
"D-did you say…made love?" Leonard asked, stuttering.
The men turned to the door at that moment, as very loud screams and howls could be heard coming from 4B.
"I think that answers your question," Howard muttered to Leonard, both of them still shocked by the big news.
Sheldon turned to Leonard to answer him anyway. "Yes, I said we made love."
"Did she agree to marry you before or after you had coitus?"
"Howard!" Leonard and Raj chorused.
"Just asking, just asking!" Though he quickly added in a lower voice, "But she still could regret her decision, you know?"
"Hey, my genitals are fully functional and aesthetically pleasing!" Sheldon protested.
"Very functional we now know, huh?"
"Howard!" Leonard and Raj chorused again.
"And we didn't have coitus," Sheldon informed Howard, a little upset. "We joined our minds and bodies into one."
"Beautiful," Raj said with a thin voice.
Leonard shook his head. He was feeling happy for his friend. Even with the initial shock, he felt relieved that the couple had found a way to talk and surpass their differences. They were together again and engaged! Leonard had never doubted Sheldon had strong feelings for Amy, but he had his doubts on how far he was willing to go for her in terms of his physical phobias.
"Was it good?" He asked his roommate, not for the gossip, but genuinely interested to know if Sheldon had been comfortable with his decisions.
Slightly blushing, Sheldon nodded. "It was."
"You dog!" Leonard smiled brightly and tapped Sheldon's knee, startling him.
"Raj, stop crying!" Howard handed a tissue to his friend.
"It's… it's better than a movie." He sobbed and accepted it.
Suddenly, the door swung open, and Penny entered the apartment, with Bernadette and Amy tagging along.
"Guys, it's time to go!" Penny clapped her hands happily.
"Howie! Let's go home!" Bernadette commanded her husband. "Raj, are you coming with us?" She grabbed her purse and turned to her Indian friend. "Are you crying?!"
Raj blew his nose in response.
Penny walked towards Leonard, grabbed her husband's hand, and said goodbye to Sheldon and Amy. The couple was stunned, seeing how all their friends were abruptly leaving.
"What's happening?" Amy asked Penny as Sheldon had joined her at her side near the front door, equally confused. "Where are you going?"
Penny turned to the couple, smirking.
"To watch a movie in my apartment, so you have all the time you want to..." She looked at Leonard to see if Sheldon had shared the same information with the guys that Amy told the girls just a few minutes ago.
"To do the joining thing." Leonard finished for her, understanding why Penny wanted everyone to give space to the happy couple.
They all left quickly, leaving the confused couple alone in 4A.
Amy furrowed her eyebrows and turned to look at Sheldon to see if he could clarify what Leonard had said.
"Well, since everyone thinks we are going to do it…." Sheldon said to her, scratching his head. "I don't want to disappoint them."
"Wh-what do they think we are going to do?" Amy asked, still not understanding what just happened.
"Join our minds and bodies into one." Sheldon clarified. "Or in other words… make love."
Amy looked at him with her eyes wide open. Sheldon grabbed her hand and walked her to his bedroom.
"Hoooo."
The end.
If you are here, THANKS for reading my story.
Did you get the reference of April in Paris' fanfiction "The Exhalation Combustion Investigation"? I'm sure the ones who had read her work got it immediately. Raj had to be the one noticing the ring, I couldn't do it differently! If you are not familiar with April in Paris' work, go read all her stories, they are out of this world and a gift to the Shamy fandom! She is one of the most amazing authors I've ever known, and a good friend!
And there are hints to my patrons discord friends & the show, I'm sure you know which references are.
I started this story, according to my doc, on Jun 7, 2019 (but I know it was before in one of my notes). Can't believe I'm posting the last chapter today, more than 2 years after. So many hours into this story. Of course, I wrote others (shorter ones) in between this one, but it was always in the back of my mind, waiting for me. I kept working on it, and working on it, and it felt like I wasn't going to finish! I never wrote something that long, for me it was a huge adventure. I worked on it every afternoon in my last months of pregnancy, in a desperate try to finish it. I knew if the story was unfinished, it would be impossible for me to finish it in a loooong time. I couldn't finish as I wanted, but I was SO near, that I tried to get time during the first months of my daughter's life to finish it, and correct it. It wasn't easy, it's never been! But I did it, and that was both relieving and exhilarating at the same time.
This story couldn't be possible without Fran, who knew my idea from the beginning, in a (probably too long) WhatsApp audio telling her "what if Sheldon and Amy did match again on a dating site? blah blah blah blah" and have been reading my drafts for years. Thanks for helping me not to get lost in my idea! And Mike, my beta, who did a huge effort to help me correct it super fast as soon as I had the whole story done, he always helps me a lot!
It couldn't be possible without my patrons either! Cheering me during all this time and encouraging me to keep going. Thanks for being with me and supporting my work in all ways!
And of course, thanks to you, my reader, for following my story week by week, even with my cliffhangers (evil laughs). Reading your reactions in the reviews has been a joy to read, brightening my tired days, helping me get over my sleepless nights (I'm guilty of reading some of the ff emails at 3am or 4am, and it never failed to make me smile.)
THANKS to everyone, I hope you enjoyed reading. Thanks for your reviews and love during all this journey! It's been a lot of fun.
I know this is not my last fanfiction, I have so many ideas, I have stories started in my docs, waiting for me. But as you can imagine, my time is very limited now. In two days, Ayumi will be 6 months old! And she is a hurricane already. Aside from my Mama work (which is a lot), I'm going to focus on my drawings for now, and hopefully, I will be able to work on my drafts in the future.
Until then, be happy, be safe. Hugs
Regina