Author's Note:
I don't know if any of you noticed this, but I usually update on Tuesdays. But I'm breaking my rule today because the chapter is done and there's a book coming out tomorrow that I want to read. So consider this a Labor Day special.
This chapter, more than any of the previous ones, went through a lot of edits. I hope you all like it.
As always, thanks for your support and a special thank you to my beta reader Stark.
Oh also, I'm going to wait until the next chapter is written before I make my decision, but maybe don't be surprised if the rating gets bumped up soon.
Chapter Nine
Sheldon Cooper was not a patient man by nature, but he could force himself to be if he knew the payoff would be worth it. It was the kind of thing he reminded himself while waiting for a favorite show to come back from summer hiatus or while planning his revenge on Leonard.
But waiting for Amy would be his biggest challenge yet. He knew exactly how good they were together and he could prove it to her, if only that wasn't so ill-advised.
The curse of his eidetic memory was that he always saw her, every version of her, just about everywhere he went. The memory of his pre-accident wife superimposed over the current moment all the time, inviting comparisons. Amy in her kitchen serving him spaghetti with little pieces of cut-up hotdogs, trying to increase his affections for her. Amy in their kitchen with her broken leg serving him spaghetti with little pieces of cut-up hotdogs, not realizing the significance. The affection she had wanted now there but missing an outlet.
At some point she would remember and there would be a merging of the two, or at least that's what Sheldon hoped.
Amy on her couch, drunk and leaning in for a kiss she was sure to forget in the morning. Amy on their couch, sober and leaning in for a kiss to try to remember . . .
She had waited for him once, and so he would wait for her. Forever, if he really had to. There was no one else but her, and that was true from the moment he wrote the first Relationship Agreement. He intended to do this with no one else.
Yes, he could be patient.
But he sure hoped he wouldn't have to be too patient.
"I'm sorry, Sheldon," Amy said as they returned to their apartment the next night. "I wouldn't have asked Howard about going to space if I'd known he would dominate the conversation for the rest of the night."
"Yes, well, I suppose it's not your fault," Sheldon told her. He headed to the kitchen to prepare them each a cup of tea before bed. "Honestly, I'm surprised he held back for as long as he did. He'll take any excuse to tell that story."
It was the first time the whole group had gotten together for dinner since Amy's first day back from the hospital, and Sheldon had been nervous about it. He didn't want anything to upset Amy and potentially push back her recovery. Even though things had been going fine the past few days, he found that he still couldn't completely vanquish the worry from his mind. It sat there in the background all the time, to the point that he had actually called Beverly to discuss it while he was at work one day. She encouraged him to take steps to move past it, and that's what he was trying to do. Thankfully, everything went well this time.
Well, except for having to hear Howard's space story for the umpteenth time.
"Still, sorry you were bored."
"That's alright."
Amy approached him and tentatively wrapped her arms around him in a hug.
"What's this for?" he asked. He felt her shrug without letting go of him.
"Tonight was nice," she spoke into his chest. "It felt almost normal."
He returned her embrace and brought his head down to rest on top of hers, unable to resist pressing a kiss into her hair. Thinking back over the evening, she was right. Somewhere along the way, between bites of Thai food and eye-rolling over Wolowitz's ramblings, he did briefly forget the unusual turn his life took.
Amy pulled back from him a little and looked up into his eyes, then down at his lips, then back up into his eyes, so he knew the kiss was coming before she rose up to meet his mouth. Somehow he still felt like he was caught off guard. Then again, she always had that effect on him. He thought he knew everything there was to know, but then she would give him something new to discover. His grip on her tightened but he let her set the pace. It was her experiment, after all. The kiss stayed sweet and gentle, but she showed no signs of stopping.
They might have stood there all night, if the whistling kettle hadn't startled them. Amy backed away from him, blushing, and he found it hard to tear his eyes away from her to finish making their tea.
And he realized again, for another brief moment it did feel almost normal.
A few days later, Sheldon ushered Amy into a restaurant for their reinstated Date Night. It was the same one Koothrappali recommended for their anniversary several years prior. Though he didn't want to admit it, Wolowitz did kind of have a point that day in the cafeteria. If there was one good thing about his wife's memory loss, it was that he got a free do-over on some of his less-than-stellar past romantic moments.
"Oh, this place is lovely," Amy said as he pulled out her chair for her and helped her sit down. "Have we been here before?"
Sheldon nodded. "We have. Do you remember?"
"No. Tell me about it?" she asked him. He raised his eyebrows in response.
"Please?" she tried. "You know I don't have an eidetic memory like you. Even if the accident never happened, you'd still remember more than me. You'd probably still have to remind me."
"I doubt that," he said. The waiter arrived and brought them water, and Sheldon waited until he left before continuing. "Besides, you already convinced me to share one memory with you. I think in the interest of reciprocity, it's your turn."
"What do you mean?"
"Tell me a memory," he repeated her words from a few nights before.
"But I haven't regained any."
"You have a year and a half to choose from, give or take. Tell me one of your favorites."
Amy's brow furrowed and Sheldon looked over the menu while she thought about it, even though he knew he was going to order the same thing he got before.
"Do you remember that night you arranged for me and Zack to meet at that bar?"
"Really? That's your choice?"
"Sure. It was sweet that you did that. Especially considering how jealous you were," Amy explained.
"I never said I was jealous."
"You never said you weren't."
"I just thought you could do better than that troglodyte."
"As I was saying," she continued with a smirk, "you really went above and beyond the call of friendship that night. It was the first time I thought maybe you and I really could be something more."
Sheldon blinked, unsure of how to respond. He mostly blocked that night out of his mind, preferring not to think about Amy wanting coitus with anyone else. It never occurred to him that it could hold some deeper significance to her.
"And just so you know, I'm really glad I didn't give into my urges that night," she said, reaching across the table and placing her hand on his.
"Me too," he said. Their eyes locked and he found himself thinking of that Spider-Man line he quoted her all those years ago. Those may not have been his own words, but that didn't mean it wasn't true. If the waiter hadn't come back right then for their order, he might have said it to her again.
"I've got the perfect movie for us to watch tonight," Sheldon said as they settled on the couch for the evening a couple nights later. He'd been working on catching her up on all the important media she missed.
"Sheldon, I really don't want to watch more Avengers," Amy said. "I think I'm okay with not remembering them."
"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that, but anyway, it's not the Avengers." He pulled out the La La Land blu-ray and handed it to her. "I think you'll like it, we've watched it many times."
"Well, alright," she said, reading the back of the case and then passing it back to him. "It does sound like a nice break from all the superheroes."
He put the disc in the player and sat back down next to her. Less than five minutes in, she tucked her legs up on the couch and cuddled into his side. Though this was allowed by their current agreement, it wasn't his preferred viewing position, as it made him focus more on her than whatever was happening on the screen. Therefore, he actually had no idea how far into the movie it was when she started pressing kisses into his neck.
It started out with just one, just a soft brush of her lips to his skin, but she had instantly found his sensitive spot. Something she probably knew without knowing. His heart skipped a beat and he became hyper-aware of her body against his. A minute later and she did it again. And again. And then along his jaw.
The movie was quickly forgotten after that. He pulled her flush against him and her hand cupped the side of his face as she pulled him into a heated kiss. It felt amazing. Her tongue swiped between his lips and he welcomed her in. When was the last time they had done this? It had been long enough that now the sensation left him lightheaded.
They didn't come up for air until the credits started rolling. Even then, they just stared at each other, panting, for countless minutes before Amy finally shifted off of him.
"Let's go to bed," she said, and he nodded, following her to their room. As they took turns getting ready, he promised himself that this was where it ended. Even though his body ached for her, they would get in the bed and go to sleep, just like every night before. She still didn't remember, so he had to control himself.
They made it less than two minutes in the bed together before they were on each other again.
Amy pulled him on top of her, their mouths fused together. Sheldon moaned low in his throat and she echoed the sound. Good lord, he had missed her. He broke the kiss to trail his lips down her neck like she had done to him earlier.
"Sheldon . . . Sheldon, please . . ."
"What?" He nuzzled the soft spot behind her ear.
"Make love to me, please. I want you to."
Her request made him come back to reality, and he groaned loudly in a confusing mix of frustration and longing. Was this right? He had just promised to control himself. But if she wanted it? His head rose so he could look her in the eyes, and the look he saw there made him swallow thickly. Her body arched under him in a clear invitation.
"Please."
His patience was running out.
