Prompt: What if Amy hadn't been so peaceable with Ramona in 11x1

Amy set her jaw so tight she was sure it was going to snap from the pressure. Walking across the cafeteria towards the woman who tried to steal Sheldon from her brought back all the anger she suppressed during her time in New Jersey. The audacity of that infernal woman! What had Ramona been thinking anyway? She should have known better than to think Sheldon was the type of man who would betray his long time girlfriend like that.

As she approached the table, Amy was at war with herself. What was she going to do? A part of her wanted to slap Ramona silly, but another part of her just wanted answers. No matter what, she had to decide; she was running out of time to come up with a game plan.

"Dr. Nowitzki?" Amy called as she came to a stop in front of Ramona.

The woman was looked startled by Amy's presence. "Oh, Dr. Fowler… hello," Ramona stuttered, setting her phone down onto the food tray in front of her.

Amy stood silent for a moment. "Do you mind if I sit?" she asked, gesturing to the empty chair in front of Ramona. The blonde nodded hesitantly. Amy had no idea what she was going to say to this woman as she sat across from her. Had Sheldon been any other man – a weaker man – he would have probably fallen for Ramona's trap. Amy was grateful that he wasn't, but she was extremely upset that Ramona had put his fidelity to the test like that. As was Sheldon, for that matter.

Resting her hands in front of her, Amy broke the awkward silence with one word, "why?"

Ramona's brow furrowed. "Excuse me?"

"Why did you kiss him? Why pursue him even though you knew he was in a relationship?" Amy kept her voice low so as to not be heard by those around her. She so desperately wanted to raise her voice, yell at this woman. After all, she had been waiting for months to do so. But she could feel Sheldon and the rest of his friends staring at her back, watching her every move.

"Look," Ramona put her hands up almost in surrender. "I'm sorry I kissed him; it was a spur of the moment decision… I wasn't thinking."

Amy set her jaw tight. She wasn't exactly happy with that answer. "What exactly were you hoping to achieve? That Sheldon would suddenly realize he had feelings for you?"

The blond stuttered for a moment. "I mean, yeah. I've admired him ever since grad school; I felt something between us eight years ago. I thought maybe we could make it work…romantically."

Amy's urge to slap this woman grew exponentially. "And even though you knew he was unavailable, you tried to lure him in anyway. What is wrong with you?" Amy's voice was rising now, ever so slightly.

"Dr. Fowler, Sheldon is a fine physical specimen, surely you know that. I thought it only made sense that he…" Ramona paused and eyed Amy up and down.

"What?" Amy challenged.

"Be with someone who was in the same league as him in the looks department." Despite her calm demeanor up until that point, Ramona was smug now. Too smug.

Amy's anger blazed, her eyes flared with rage. Ramona didn't think Amy was good enough for Sheldon, physically. A part of her simply wanted to run away, avoid the inevitable hurt this woman was going to cause. But her rage overpowered and squandered any thought of retreat.

Without thinking, without using her superior reasoning, Amy just acted on instinct. It happened so fast, she barely registered what she had done. Ramona held her cheek, and her mouth was agape with shock. Amy had slapped her. And looking into the offended eyes of Ramona, she couldn't help but smirk.

In retrospect, it should have been no surprise that the other woman would retaliate. It was like all of those fights Amy had witnessed in high school. One moment everything was calm; the next, two people were going at it, rolling around on the floor. There was the distant sound of gasps and screams from onlookers in the cafeteria, but Amy paid them no mind.

Both Ramona and Amy had landed solid punches, and Amy was honestly surprised the former Olympic swimmer hadn't knocked her out. So much for an "athlete". Still. Amy didn't know how much longer she could do this for; she needed to quickly turn the tide. She threw another punch, this time with her left hand, her non-dominant hand. The force of the impact knocked Ramona back, but that wasn't all. MeeMaw's ring had cut her cheek as well, leaving an angry red streak in its wake.

With Ramona's brief second of defenselessness, Amy seized the opportunity to take the upper hand. Much like Penny had tackled Sheldon that one time they had game night, Amy was on top of Ramona in a heartbeat. The odds were now in her favor.

All Amy could see was red as she landed three more punches. It was overkill, she knew that, but this woman had tried to take the most important thing away from her. She wasn't going to let her off easily.

Suddenly, there were hands under her arms, and they pulled her off of Ramona. Who groaned as Amy was pulled off of her.

"Amy, stop," Sheldon said once he had steadied her on her feet.

Looking down, Amy watched Howard and Raj lift Ramona off the ground. Her nose was bleeding, as was her cheek, that a black eye was starting to form. Amy was too proud of herself, given that she had done that to her.

Everyone in the cafeteria had gathered around to watch the commotion. And everyone continued to stare as all the parties involved stood around awkwardly.

"What is going on here?!" President Sibert bellowed, cutting through the crowd to the inner circle. "Dr. Fowler, Dr. Nowitzki, what is the meaning of this?!"

Amy and Ramona glared at each other. "Oh, nothing much," Ramona laughed sarcastically. "Just Dr. Fowler assaulted me."

President Sibert looked at Amy with questioning eyes, demanding an answer. And she wasted no time. "You kissed my fiancé!"

There was a collective gasp as all eyes turned to Ramona. "Game over, bitch," Amy thought to herself with a sly smirk.

But it appeared that the blonde wasn't done. "He should be glad I did. At least now he knows what a real kiss feels like," Ramona insulted.

Amy lurched forward, ready to attack again, but Sheldon held her back by a hand on her chest. He pulled her against him and leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Don't. She's not worth it."

Sibert stood between the two parties with both arms extended outwards. "Alright, look, I don't know exactly what happened to lead up to this, but it better not happen again," he warned. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Sir," both Ramona and Amy mumbled.

"Good." Sibert nodded sharply. "I'll let you off with a warning this time, but if it happens again, you will have to answer to HR." He paused a moment to make sure everyone understood him.

"I expected better from both of you," Sibert said before turning on his heels and walking away.

Amy dipped her head; the shame of what she'd done had caught up with her. She didn't have violent outbursts often, but when she did, she felt terrible about them. But this went above and beyond anything she had ever done before. And she felt bad. Even if Ramona did kind of deserve it.

Raj had led Ramona away before any more words could be exchanged between her and Amy.

And just as the guilt and embarrassment were catching up with her, so was the pain. Her hand throbbed, her head throbbed, every fiber of her being throbbed. Amy reached up to touch her face, only to find her glasses were missing. Apparently, they had been knocked off and broken in the scramble. Leonard stood in front of her with an outstretched arm, her broken spectacles in hand. Sheldon reached around her shoulder and took them from him before she could. She could assess the damage later.

"Come on," Sheldon spoke quietly, taking her hand and leading her out of the cafeteria. All the bystanders had mostly dispersed and carried on about their day, but Amy could still hear the mumbling and snide comments they were making from their tables.

Sheldon wasn't taking her to the nurse's office as Amy initially thought he was. Instead, they winded their way through the corridors and hallways to his office.

"What are we doing here? Why didn't we go to the nurse's office?" Amy asked as Sheldon shut and locked the door.

Her fiancé sighed. "I'm going to clean you up a bit, and then Leonard is going to take us to urgent care," he explained, barely making eye contact with her. In fact, he turned away so quickly, Amy was beginning to wonder if he was mad at her.

She stood in the middle of his office. Her eyes wandering around the blank, emotionless workspace he had created for himself. Amy desperately needed a chair, and ultimately she ended up nearly collapsing in one in front of his desk.

Sheldon looked back at her when he heard the sound she made as she sat down. A combination of hiss and whimper. It must have sounded pathetic because he looked at her with such pity as he came to kneel in front of her. He set a couple of ice packs and a first aid kit down on his desk next to him.

Despite predominantly hitting with her right hand, Amy was cradling her left. The only one she had really gotten a solid punch with. Sheldon's eyes questioned her silently, his hands outstretched for her left. Amy complied, letting him brush his fingers over her bruised knuckles.

However, when he started to take off her ring, she pulled her hand back as a sign of protest. The ring came off anyway.

"Your hand is starting to swell," he told her. "I don't want to have the ring cut off in order to save your finger."

Of course, Amy already knew the reasoning behind *why* he had to take the ring off. But having just gotten out of a literal fight for what the ring represented, she supposed she was just feeling a little overprotective.

Sheldon grabbed one of the ice packs from his desk and held it against her hand. The cold felt amazing against the bruised flesh. He instructed her to hold the pack in place with her right hand, which she did happily. Her right needed just as much love as her left hand.

Amy felt her fiancé's eyes on her. He was studying her face very carefully, taking in everything that Ramona had done to her. But Amy didn't need to see; she could feel it. Her head was pounding with what was one of the worst headaches of her life.

Thankfully, Sheldon handled everything he did with care. He was gentle when he pressed the gauze against her split lip and when he held the other ice pack against her cheek where she had taken a pretty hard hit.

The silence was thick, heavy as Sheldon continued to kneel in front of her as he tended to her wounds. Amy thought he would be scolding her by now. But he was unusually quiet, he had been since they arrived in his office.

"Sheldon," Amy started.

He shook his head. "Shhh, it's ok, you don't need to say anything."

Amy shifted in her seat, uncomfortable with Sheldon's quick dismissal. "No, I do," she protested. "What I did today… it was an embarrassment, not only to me but to you as well. I'm sorry." Her head dipped, and she suddenly because overly interested in the blue ice pack.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Sheldon follow her eyes with his head. "Amy, I don't know what she said to you, but you appeared to be having a calm discussion before all hell broke loose. What happened?"

She shrugged, not wanting to tell him what Ramona had said about her. Sheldon wasn't buying her silence. "Amy? What did she say? Obviously, something bad enough that you felt you needed to physically retaliate."

Some of her hair had fallen in front of her face, caging her head in a protective little cocoon. In a very uncharacteristic manner, she felt Sheldon brush some of it back behind her ear. "It's ok, Amy, I'm not mad. You can tell me," he assured her, his voice soft and soothing.

Amy shook her head. "All I wanted was an answer as to why she did it. Why she tried to take you from me." The hand that had brushed back her hair was now rubbing up and down her arm, assuring her it was ok to continue. "She said she thought you two had a connection back when she was still a grad student and was hoping that you would take an interest in her… romantically. I asked why she continued to pursue you even after she found out you were in a relationship, and-"Amy stopped abruptly. What Ramona had said next irritated one of Amy's biggest insecurities concerning her relationship with Sheldon.

"What did she say?" Sheldon questioned.

With a deep breath, she replied, "she said that you should probably be with someone who is in the same league as you physically."

Sheldon opened and closed his mouth a few times, and he shook his head at the absurdity of it all. He remained silent as he rose up and sat in the chair next to her. He readjusted the ice pack against her cheek as it was jostled with his movement, but when he settled in, he stared at her intensely. "Amy, you know that's a load of malarkey, right?"

"I mean logically, yes, I do. It's just that-"Sheldon cut her off before she could continue.

"Don't. Amy, we're not even going to go there. You're beautiful to me, always have been. You're the only woman I've ever looked at twice, the only woman who has, quite literally, gotten my physical attention." Amy blushed and looked down again, but he pulled her back to him with a finger under her chin. "If I was interested in a relationship with someone that looked like Ramona, I would have… eight years ago. I don't, and I never did. Even after she came back into my life."

A smile tugged at her lips. "Thank you, Sheldon," Amy whispered.

"Ramona will never compare to you, Amy, I can promise you that." Sheldon pulled one of her hands out from the ice pack. His fingers brushed over her bruised knuckles. "Does it hurt?" He asked.

"A little," she responded. "But that's what I get for punching someone."

Sheldon grinned. "I must say, Amy, I didn't know you could throw punches like that."

"Believe me, I didn't either," Amy said, but then shook her head. "I don't know what came over me. I just got so mad, I wasn't thinking."

"Amy," he started, pulling away both ice packs and setting them back on his desk. "You felt threatened by her. It's only logical that you would have some kind of knee jerk reaction."

"I know that," Amy sighed. "In the moment, it felt like a good idea, but now it's just…"

"Embarrassing?"

"Yes," Amy nodded adamantly. "Not only have I humiliated myself, now the entire university knows another woman kissed you. No one is going to forget that anytime soon."

"I think that is more damaging to Ramona than it is to us, don't you think? She's the one who kissed a taken man, not you."

He made a valid point. After Amy had shouted what Ramona had done, incriminating looks filled the cafeteria. In a way, her actions had been justified, even if they did almost land her in Mrs. Davis office.

"She kind of deserved it, didn't she," Amy smirked, wincing slightly as her cheek bone protested.

Sheldon leaned over and pressed the lightest of kisses to the angry bruise on her face. "I would be lying if I said I hadn't thought of telling Penny to do the exact same thing," he said playfully, kissing her again, this time on her forehead as he stood up.

Once again, Amy watched him move about the small space. Putting the ice packs back in the mini-fridge. Cleaning and packing up the first aid kit. He was always so methodical, always knowing exactly what he was doing.

"Sheldon?" she called him just as he turned back to her.

"Hm?"

She stood up and walked over to where he stood near the door. "Thank you," she whispered, carefully wrapping her arms around his waist and hugging him.

Sheldon chuckled. "For what? Taking care of your injuries? Because that was just me performing my duties as a good fiancé."

"No," she pulled back to look at him. "For picking me."

He smiled that smile he only gave to her. The one that told her he loved her. He took her face in his hands, carefully making sure he didn't agitate any of her injuries. "I will always pick you," he promised.

Sheldon tugged on her arms a bit, and at first, Amy assumed it was to break her hold on him, so she complied. It surprised her when he took her hands in his and brought them up to his mouth, tenderly kissing her bruised knuckles. It was so out of character for him, but Amy couldn't bring herself to care. She felt so grateful to him.

He was a man worth punching for.

It was a knock at the door that broke the couple apart. Since he had locked it before, Sheldon had to walk away to open it. It was Leonard.

"Hey, are you guys ready to go? I set up an appointment online at the urgent care clinic," Leonard asked, looking between the two of them, desperately trying to not stare at Amy's injuries.

Sheldon nodded curtly. "Yes, we're ready. Did you gather Amy's belongings like I requested?"

Leonard shook his head in confirmation then informed them he would wait for them in the car.

"You asked him to get my stuff?" Amy asked as Sheldon turned back to her.

"When the fight broke out, I knew you were going to need to be evaluated. And you know how I don't trust the nurse. I also knew you would be in no condition to drive, so I told Leonard to get your things and be ready." Sheldon explained.

"You're the best fiancé, you know that?"

Sheldon seemed pretty proud of himself. "I am aware, but I am the best at a lot of things. Surely you know that by now," He quipped.

Amy couldn't help but roll her eyes, "of course, Sheldon."

Sheldon took her hand to walk with her to Leonard's car. Being on her feet again proved no easy task, and Amy was thankful for the support he provided when she felt a little light-headed. They passed by an office, one with the door wide open. Sheldon paid it no mind and kept right on walking, but Amy had managed to make brief eye contact with the inhabitant. It was only a few seconds, but she managed to convey everything she wanted the person to know.

Inside the office, the coldhearted and angry eyes of Ramona Nowitzki glared back at Amy. But with Sheldon's fingers laced through hers, and the confidence that he would never choose someone else reinvigorated within her, Amy knew she had won. Amy Farrah Fowler, the one who had always been bullied in school and who never got the guy, had finally come out on top. And she had done so with the best possible person for her by her side.

Ramona could stare all she wanted to, but Sheldon Cooper would always be hers.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! I'm going through a lot right now and your responses make me smile on days I didn't think possible. Seriously, I cannot thank you all enough.

Stay safe everyone!