Chapter 14

Author's Note: Quick shoutout to the following readers for their support with my last chapter: green-ninja05, redhead59901, AlHc924, and to the guest readers and new readers of this story. Thank you! Enjoy Chapter 14.

Howard went to Leonard and Raj who were already seated at their table. He noticed one person's absence. "Hey, where's Sheldon?"

"I don't know. I checked the office and he wasn't there. Neither was Amy," Leonard replied.

Howard had a feeling he knew the reason why. He shared the piece of gossip he heard around the halls. "Did you hear the news? Amy's lab is finished."

Leonard and Raj immediately understood the situation.

"Oh. Sheldon must be so devastated. I'll text Amy." Leonard brought out his phone.

(text message) Hey, Amy. We heard you're moving out of the office. Is Sheldon with you? (sent)

After a few minutes, he got a reply.

"Uh oh."

"Why?"

"Turns out, Sheldon and Amy aren't friends anymore."

Howard and Raj stopped eating their food midway and comically gasped at the same time. "What!? Why not?"

"I don't know. She didn't say..." Leonard double-checked Amy's reply to his message.

Raj frowned. "Poor, Shamy. They really went to boom-boom because of Kripke."

Leonard and Howard gave each other a look. What is he talking about?

Leonard spoke up. "Wait, what about Kripke?"

Oh, I must be the only one who knew about Sheldon's plan. Raj then proceeded to tell the guys everything that happened.

Sheldon chose not to eat lunch at the cafeteria and went straight to his room in the university basement. He couldn't put his finger on what he was feeling. All he knew was that he needed to get away from everything and clear his head. It was all too much.

He tried distracting himself by trying to beat his high score in hacky-sack but it was impossible. He couldn't even manage to score at least ten points.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight… Drats. I'm never going to get to forty-three again."

Sheldon suddenly remembered that conversation he and Amy had in her car. It was the first time he really opened up to someone. He recalled how he asked her if they could be friends before he got out of the car, and how he told himself he never wanted to let her go.

He laughed at himself. "Heh. How could I be so foolish? Allowing myself to be associated with that woman in the first place. Well, good riddance! She is nothing but a mere distraction. Not even Kolinahr could work against a vixen like her. She and Kripke can just ponfo miran for all I care."

He tried again. "One, two, three, four… Rats." He kept trying just to try and stop thinking about Amy.

Sheldon went back to the office to find Amy's things nowhere to be found.

He noticed that her desk was still there. Oh, right. the university lent her that desk. She doesn't need it anymore.

Sheldon stared at the table for a few minutes until he heard the door open. He turned to see who was there, hoping it was Amy. Sadly, it wasn't.

"We're sorry to disturb you, Sir. We're just here to retrieve that desk back."

Before they could approach it, Sheldon instinctively stopped them. "Hold it. Uh, there's no need to. I intend to keep it here."

The two men shared a confused look. One of them shrugged and replied. "Okay, then. Have a good day, Sir."

"It's Dr., but thank you."

They just nodded and left the room.

Sheldon realized what he just did. Why did I do that? I have no need for two desks! He placed his hands on his head. He was starting to lose his mind.

After Leonard took him home, Sheldon continued on with his schedule and planned to do the laundry. He noticed Penny was already there. She looked angry.

"Hey! Leonard told me everything. Why'd you break up with Amy?"

"A breakup would imply she was my girlfriend. She was a girl who was my friend who is now a girl who is not my friend."

Wow. That's like the worst country song ever. Ugh. I still don't believe she enjoyed that date with Kripke. Poor, Sheldon. "So, how are you doing?

"Regarding what?"

"Amy."

"I don't follow."

"Well, breakups, or whatever the hell this is, can be tough."

"Penny, I assure you, I'm fine. My relationship with Amy was purely intellectual. There were no emotional bonds, the severing of which would cause me any discomfort. The relationship simply outlived its utility, and I'm continuing on with my life as before."

Penny rolled her eyes. She wasn't believing him at all. "Well, okay... Good for you.

Sheldon finished placing his clothes in the washing machine and prepared to leave. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to buy a pussycat." He smiled, leaving Penny with a worried look.

Oh no. Not the cats. This can't be good.

For the next few days, the gang was really concerned about Sheldon and Amy. Sheldon adopted 25 cats to keep him company at the apartment. They'd each take turns with him at work.

"Sheldon, must you bring one of them to work every day?"

"Yes. Having them around helps me concentrate."

Once they arrived at Caltech. Leonard parked the car and turned to Sheldon. "Okay, we need to talk."

"About what?"

"Cats, Sheldon. You're clearly upset about Amy being gone, and you're trying to replace her with a bunch of cats."

Sheldon interrupted. "Clowder."

"What?"

"A group of cats is a clowder. Or a glaring."

Leonard rolled his eyes. "Okay, yeah, fine."

Sheldon added. "It's the kind of thing you ought to know now that we have one."

Leonard tried acting like he cared. "Terrific. My point is you need to face up to what you're feeling with this breakup."

Why does everyone keep saying it was a breakup? Sheldon tilted his head. "It wasn't a breakup. A breakup would imply that Amy was my girlfriend."

You're clearly acting like she is. "Fine. Live with cats. But next time, don't bring them to work. My allergies have been acting up just having them near me in the car each time."

"Aww... I guess you're the last one to accompany me to work, Zazzles." Sheldon stroked his cat in comfort.

The girls tried to visit Amy at her apartment. With Sheldon going bat crap crazy, they wanted to check in with Amy as well. About to knock on her door, they both heard her singing in agony along with her harp playing.

Amy: (sings) Everybody hurts... Sometimes, everybody cries...

"Okay, we gotta get in there and help her."

Penny knocked on the door. After a few seconds, Amy opened it, her eyes were puffy and she was sniffling.

"Penny? Bernadette? What are you two doing here?"

"Well, you didn't respond to any of our calls and texts. We wanted to see how you were doing," Bernadette replied.

"I think I just want to be alone." Amy went back to her couch, grabbing a bunch of tissues.

Penny and Bernadette couldn't help but feel bad for Amy. They wanted to know all the details from her so that they could better understand the situation.

"Come on, wouldn't you wanna talk about it? And after, maybe we could go out for drinks." Penny suggested while Bernadette nodded her head.

"I guess that's okay. Am I going to drink my troubles away at a parking lot?"

"Parking lot?" Bernadette asked, she and Penny sharing a confused look. That's not what they had in mind.

"Yeah... Parking lots are where all the cool kids hang out. Not that they ever invited me..." Amy looked down and sighed.

"Alright then. We can go and drink beer at a parking lot nearby. Then, will you tell us what happened between you and Sheldon?" Penny placed an arm around Amy.

"I suppose."

The girls drove to the nearest convenience store and bought some beer. Then, they parked their car and got out, sitting on the wheel stops beside the car.

The three started talking.

"So, what's troubling you, Ames?" Penny took a swig of her beer.

Amy sighed. "It doesn't matter. Nothing matters."

"We know it's about Sheldon," Bernadette remarked.

Amy snorted in derision. "You heard about it from Leonard huh?"

Penny: Yeah. We also heard about you and Kripke. Now, spill. How was the date?

Amy: I enjoyed it a lot. Barry was really nice.

Bernadette: We heard you kissed him. How did it make you feel?

Amy: Uh... It was satisfactory.

Penny: Now, I don't believe you for a second. I think you were just trying to make Sheldon jealous. You're not really attracted to Kripke, are you?

Amy: Y-Yes I am!

Penny: What attracted you to Kripke then?

Amy: Well... He's funny, he has good hair, did I tell you he's nice?

Penny & Bernadette: Amy.

Amy: Fine. Barry helped me try and assess whether or not Sheldon was jealous. We pretended to have a great time, and we never actually kissed.

Penny: So, let me get this straight. If you're trying to make Sheldon jealous, does that mean you-

Amy interrupted her. Whew... This beer's getting pretty strong. "Yes. I'm attracted to Sheldon."

Both Penny and Bernadette squealed at her admission. Now that's what we're talking about!

Amy continued with a dreamy look on her face. "He's handsome, he's lanky, he's brilliant. His skin has that pale, waxy quality…"

"Well, he sickly is the new sexy." Penny quipped

"Yeah…" Both Amy and Bernadette nodded.

Penny teased Amy. "You lied to us, Amy... You told us you only saw Sheldon as a friend."

"That was before... When I realized it, I didn't want to scare him off just because I found him cute at times. Okay, maybe all the time. But still! We'll never become more than that. He'd never agree to it."

Bernadette whispered to Penny's ear. "Should we tell her about that night?"

Penny finally agreed. If Sheldon was too afraid of mentioning that night to Amy, then leave it to them. Operation Shamy lives on!

"W-What? I kissed him?"

Penny and Bernadette told Amy everything that happened between her and Sheldon that night.

"What happened after the kiss?"

"Well, you ran to the bathroom and started throwing up for hours. We took that as a sign that you hated the kiss, and we told Sheldon to leave."

Oh. "How did Sheldon react?"

"Here's the interesting part. When you kissed him, he kissed you back."

"Yeah. He even said this... Fascinating." Penny tried her best to mimic Sheldon. Bernadette giggled while Amy took her time to process everything.

"He found it fascinating? Why didn't he say anything?"

"That's the thing. We thought he told you, but here we are now." Penny and Bernadette were pacing themselves on the alcohol. They remembered they were the ones who had to take Amy safely home.

"That's great. Sheldon may or may not have feelings for me because of a kiss I can't even remember." Amy said sarcastically.

"But he liked it."

"That's the point! He liked the kiss but not enough to tell me about it." Amy was pissed. She started downing her beer.

"Woah there, careful. You wouldn't want to repeat that night, don't you Ames?"

"Does it matter? Scared I might kiss Sheldon again? Well, don't worry! I'll forget about it and he'll pretend it never happened."

We shouldn't have told her. Penny and Bernadette thought.

Bernadette noticed Amy bringing out her phone. "Amy, what are you doing?"

"Calling, Sheldon."

Penny and Bernadette tried to stop her but it was already on voicemail.

"You knew about the kiss but never told me? Wasn't I good enough for you, Dr. Cooper? I mean, what would it take for you to admit that you like me? Why don't you come here, buy a bottle of hooch, take me to a motel and have your way with me?"

Before things could get worse, Penny snatched Amy's phone away from her. "Hey! I wasn't done talking!"

"Let's take you home, Amy." Bernadette and Penny took Amy by their shoulders and brought her to the backseat of the car.

"Ooh. Both of you just found second base." Amy giggled. Both of them rolled their eyes as Penny drove them back to Amy's apartment.

"Did that voicemail send? Don't tell me she sent it to Sheldon's cellphone." Penny asked.

Bernadette scanned Amy's phone. "No. Luckily, she sent it to their telephone line. You'll have to delete it there, Penny."

"Fine, I will. Let's just hope Sheldon and Leonard are already asleep once I get back."

Amy interjected. Her voice was already slurred. "Give me back my phone. I have a lot more to say-"

Bernadette shushed Amy up and made sure that she didn't faint or throw up again before they arrived at her apartment.

They helped her get settled on her bed and left.

"What are we going to do? Things are turning for the worst." Bernadette asked.

"I have an idea. Check my bag and look for my wallet. There's a piece of paper there I need you to find. It's the key to saving Shamy."

Bernadette found the piece of paper and read it. "What's this?"

"Sheldon's kryptonite. That's his mother's phone number. You should call her right now."

"Okay."

Penny told Leonard that Sheldon's mother was going to come. He heard a knock on the door and opened it to find the welcoming presence of Mary Cooper.

Leonard: Hi, Mrs. Cooper. Thanks for coming."

Mary: Where is he?

Leonard: He's in his bedroom.

Mary: Now, when you said on the phone he broke up with a girl, you meant an actual girl, not something you kids whipped up in a lab?

Leonard: No, she's real.

Mary: Did they sin?

Leonard: No, no, it's not like that. It's, uh, I don't know what it's like. But there is something I should prepare you for.

Mary: Oh, relax, Leonard, I have raised that boy. I've seen him at his best, I've seen him at his worst. There's nothing he can do that'll surprise me.

Leonard: Hold on to that thought.

He knocked on Sheldon's bedroom door.

Sheldon: Come in.

Leonard and Mary entered Sheldon's room. Mary's eyes widened as she saw her son surrounded by a lot of cats.

Leonard: Surprise.

Sheldon: Mom, what an unexpected pleasure.

Mary: My, my, that's a powerful smell.

Sheldon: I'd like you to meet Oppenheimer, Frisch, Panofsky, Feynman, Weisskopf…

Mary: Yeah, I get it. You got a lot of cats and you gave 'em cute Jewish names.

Sheldon: What are you doing here?

Mary: Leonard called, and he said that you were pining for a young lady.

Sheldon: Oh, that's preposterous. I'm not pining over anyone.

Mary: Oh, lambchop, we can quibble what to call it, but I think we can both agree it's creepy.

Sheldon: I do not agree. Cats make wonderful companions. They don't betray me and show interest in another person, and this little guy here, I think you'll find to be quite zazzy.

Mary looked at Leonard. "You should have called sooner."

Penny called Amy, hoping Amy was sober enough to meet Sheldon's mom later.

Amy had a cup of ginger tea. She remembered it was a drink that helped her with her hangovers. She shook away the thought that it was a beverage Sheldon introduced to her.

"Hi, Penny. I'm so sorry about last night. I want to thank you and Bernadette for-"

"You can thank me later. You have to go to Sheldon and Leonard's apartment now."

"Wait, what? Why?"

"You might not remember but you left an embarrassing voicemail for Sheldon. I forgot to delete it and right now, I'm working my shift at the Cheesecake Factory. You need to go and delete it yourself before Sheldon hears it."

"What did I say, Penny?"

"Does that matter? You have to go now!"

Amy quickly fixed herself up and rushed to her car to drive to Los Robles.

Oh crap. I hope he hasn't listened to it yet. I'm so screwed.

Penny thanked her acting skills once again. She was actually in her own apartment. She needed to say that to get Amy to come over.

Amy ran up the stairs to 4A. She knocked on the door, hoping it was Leonard who would answer.

She was surprised to see someone else at the door.

"Why, hello there! You must be Amy. Why don't we talk for a bit, dear?" Mary smiled at her and told her to come in.

Amy awkwardly followed her in. She didn't hear the voicemail, did she?

"What do you think about my Shelly, Amy?"

"Umm..."

Amy had to put up with all of Mary's questions about her relationship with Sheldon. She felt really uncomfortable.

"You raised a good man, Mary. He's exceptional..." She looked down and bit her lip.

After they finished talking, Amy wanted to run over to the telephone, delete her message, and get the hell out of there before Sheldon saw her.

"It was nice knowing you, Mrs. Cooper. If you'll excuse me, I'll just use the telephone for a bit, and I'll get out of your hair." Mary obliged as Amy stood up and approached the telephone.

Amy tried to discreetly listen and find her voicemail. She was bewildered to find that Sheldon and Leonard's voicemail was empty. Wait a minute! There's nothing here.

Amy quickly got her phone out and texted Penny. She replied back.

It read: Oops. My bad Ames... I guess I already erased it after all LOL. Sorry, I'll make it up to you soon xoxo

Before Amy could mentally curse at Penny and leave the apartment, Mary stopped her.

"Leaving so soon? Why don't you come and stay for dinner? I make a mean fried chicken."

"Uh, I wouldn't want to disturb your reunion with your son. It's best I get going."

Mary approached her and held her hands. "I know about your fight with my Shelly."

"I-I'm sorry..."

"Oh, it's alright. I know how difficult that boy can be. But I'm still hoping you'd stay for dinner. If you must know, Sheldon's not doing so well right now. He misses you."

I miss him too. "He does?"

"Of course. It's my first time seeing him losing his mind over a woman. Don't ya worry and follow my lead. You'll be friends again in no time." Amy finally relented and sat on the middle of the couch. Mary went to plate their dinner.

"Shelly! Dinner's ready!" Mary called out.

"Coming!" Sheldon shouted back.

Mary told him not to bring any cats, much to his dismay.

Sheldon walked out only to find Amy on the couch beside his spot. "What is she doing here?"

"She came by and I asked her to stay for dinner," Mary replied.

Amy: Your mother thinks you might be losing your mind over me. As a neurobiologist, I was curious.

Sheldon: Well, rest assured, I am in full possession of my faculties.

"25 cats!" Leonard remarked, pretending to sneeze.

Mary: Oh, God bless you, dear. Sheldon, sit down. Let's talk.

Sheldon: All right, but you're not fooling me. Whenever you say we have to talk, it means you want me to listen.

Mary: Then stop talking.

Sheldon: Yes, ma'am.

Mary: Now, the reason I called Amy over was to find out what type of person she is. And after chatting a bit, I have to say that while she is a perfectly unique young woman, you two are definitely not suited for each other.

Amy noticed Mary wink at her and decided to go along with it. This must be her way of making us friends again...

"That's a peculiar conclusion. By any standard, Amy is more similar to me than anyone I've ever met." He glanced at Amy and realized just how much he missed her.

Mary acted disapprovingly. "Oh, I'm sorry, Shelly, I can't see it."

Is she serious? "Well, whether you see it or not is irrelevant. I can't see subatomic particles, but nevertheless, they're there."

Amy whispered to him. His spine tingled. "Excellent point."

"Well, putting aside the rocket science, it's a good thing that you two decided to end your friendship so I didn't have to end it for you."

Sheldon couldn't believe his ears. His mind suddenly became clear. He forgot why he ended his friendship with Amy in the first place.

"Amy, after consideration, I believe I may have acted rashly. I propose we resume our friendship and attempt to resolve our differences."

His mother's a genius. Amy thought to herself. She tried her best to hide her smile. "I'll agree to that only if you'll stipulate that 80% of our difficulties were caused by you."

Sheldon: I'll go as high as forty.

Amy: Sixty-five.

Sheldon: Fine.

Amy: Fine.

Sheldon: Good.

Amy: Great.

They said this exchange with a smile on their faces. They were glad to have each other back as friends.

Sheldon: Would you like to see my cats?

Amy: I would. I love cats. They're the epitome of indifference.

Sheldon: Ah, then you may find Zazzles a little cloying.

Sheldon and Amy jumped up as they went to his bedroom. Amy quickly turned and mouthed a quick "thank you" to Mary. Leonard noticed this.

Leonard: Oh. I see what you two did there.

Mary: He thinks he's such a smarty pants. He's no different from any man. You tell 'em not to do something, that's all they want to do. If I hadn't told my brother Stumpy not to clear out the wood chipper by hand, we'd still be calling him Edward. Now, don't you move. I'll bring over all the food.

Leonard: No, no, no, I can do it.

Mary: Well, isn't that sweet?

Thanks to Mrs. Cooper, everything was back to normal. Sheldon and Amy were friends again. Both of them gave all of Sheldon's cats away and started hanging out with each other more frequently.

Amy chose not to tell Sheldon that she knew about the kiss. Scared of losing him again as a friend, she completely gave up on the idea that something more could happen between them.

The girls were in the fitting room, trying on some dresses. They were each in their own stall and they tried talking to each other through the walls.

"Hey, Amy. Are you really going to give up on you and Sheldon?"

"Yes. Wanting more could complicate our friendship. So, I'd wish for the both of you to tone it down with all the teasing."

Penny didn't like what she was hearing. They can't just give up like that after everything we've worked hard for to get them together. Kripke wasn't enough. We need to make Sheldon a thousand times jealous.

"Alright. But you know, if Sheldon would never consider dating, why can't you?"

"I'm not sure about that..."

"Why not? You're smart, you've got great friends, you're pretty..." The three went out of the fitting room with their choice of dresses.

Bernadette squealed. "Oh my God, Amy! Look at you! I didn't know you were hiding that kind of figure."

Penny added. "Same here. Amy looking sexy!" Both girls looked at Amy in awe.

Amy blushed. "Well... I guess I should try and look for other options if I can't be with..." Amy couldn't bear to face the rejection. She stopped talking and sighed.

Penny saw Amy's expression and suggested they do something fun. "Come on, let's do whatever you want to do tonight. Maybe we can find you someone to fool around with."

"Ooh, let's find Amy a hot date." Bernadette was getting excited.

"I don't think I'd want to do that..."

"Well, what would you want to do?" Penny looked at Amy expectantly.

"Yeah. We're done with the wedding plans today. Whatever you want, you name it, we're doing it." Bernadette placed a hand on her shoulder.

Amy thought about it and was always interested to try out one thing. "Basket weaving at the craft museum?"

Both girls mentally sighed. "Well, you named it."

Penny decided to continue her plan next time. Their priority now was to make Amy feel better.

After basket weaving with the girls, Amy went home to her apartment. She was just in time for her daily Skype call with Sheldon.

"Hi, Sheldon."

"Hello. How was your day with the girls?"

"It was fun. We went dress shopping and did some basket weaving at the craft museum after."

Sheldon gasped. "You went to the craft museum without me? I would've weaved a soldier's helmet from 16th century China and tell you about its history..." Sheldon pouted.

"Aww, don't be like that. I actually plan on giving you a basket I made, so you could finally give me a basket full of that sourdough bread you told me about."

His bitter feelings quickly disappeared. "You'll be in for a treat then!" He smiled at her through the screen.

"How was your day?" Amy asked.

"Oh, superb. I made a palindrome with my Alpha-Bits 'nice hat Bob Tahecin'... Ooh. And I also hit 100 Twitter followers."

"Sounds like you hit the ground running." Amy smiled.

"That's not all. My new cuticle scissors are coming in 1-2 business days. Come on, 1." He crossed his fingers. "They said they would inform me as soon as possible through our voicemail. That reminds me, I'll just check if they've already sent one."

Sheldon brought out his phone and checked his voicemail only to find something very interesting. "Amy? Did you leave me a voicemail recently?"

Amy froze. Didn't Penny delete that message?

Penny did. However, Sheldon linked the voicemail of his telephone to his cellphone to avoid any mishaps. For instance, if messages were accidentally deleted, he would still have a copy of them on his phone.

"I'm sorry I forgot to listen to this, Amy. I'll do it right now."

What the hell did I say that night? I'm done for. Amy grimaced.

End of Chapter 14.

Author's Note: That's it for this chapter. Yay! They're friends again... But oh no. Would Sheldon hear Amy's drunken voicemail? And if so, how would he react?

Also, ponfo miran means "Go to hell" in Klingon if some of you don't know.

Not my best chapter. I've been having some writer's block lately, but I hope this chapter was good enough for all of you.

Notable episodes I used: The Zazzy Substitution, The Isolation Permutation, The Shiny Trinket Maneuver, The Weekend Vortex, The 43 Peculiarity

A fav/follow/review would deeply be appreciated. Thank you so much! Until next time, Shamy fans! The next chapter will be quite a treat, so don't go anywhere ;)