A/N: standard disclaimer. All science in this story is complete BS.

To my Reviewers:

Lonny J:Thank you. I hope you enjoy this journey into crazy town.

Guest: Thank you. I'm glad you've enjoyed it so far.

ani77: Thank you for your comments. I promise this is not a Sheldon/Bernadette story. All cannon relationships stay and spoiler alert, no matter what crap I put Sheldon and Amy through in this story they will be Shamy in the end.

Chapter 3

Amy grabbed her purse from the passenger side seat and exited her car. Tonight was date night with Sheldon and the two of them had decided to stay in instead of going out. It was decided earlier in the week that they would meet at Sheldon's apartment and that he would cook the meal. She was looking forward to it. Though he didn't do it often, Sheldon was unsurprisingly a great cook. It's a constant request by the group for Sheldon to cook but he always refuses, saying it's not in the schedule.

Amy was different though. He cooked for her at least once a month. If not a whole meal than something like bread or cookies. It made the others jealous she knew, as they've told her, but she just smiles and enjoys the jealousy of her friends, never experiencing it before. It made her heart flutter at knowing that she was an exception to a lot with Sheldon. It might as well say "*Amy" on everything that governs his life. She knew how hard change was for her boyfriend, and while they crawled at a snail's pace, she was patient and understood and his efforts did not go unnoticed by her.

Amy trumped up the four flights of stairs at an even pace thinking about how strong her legs have become since knowing Sheldon. Between spending time with him, the group, or Penny she had gone up and down these stairs so many times she's lost count. 'No wonder Sheldon's semi fit for an indoor cat.' She thought. She would be lying if she said she wasn't a bit self conscious about her appearance. Compared to Penny and Bernadette she was positively plain, though she felt more beautiful than she ever did as they tried to help her. However she liked how she looked for the most part, and was comfortable in the clothes she chose to wear. But still next to those two she couldn't help feeling inadequate.

Those insecurities didn't last long however. Though Amy was jealous of all the romance the other three males lavished upon their wives or girlfriend in Rajesh's case, Amy was happy with Sheldon because he gave her what she felt the others felt was lacking in their relationship, and that was respect. Sheldon loved Amy and respected her as a person and not just a sexual being that he must constantly please to continue having sex with. While she would love to do that, she realized short after they had gotten back together, that she preferred Sheldon just how he was and that having his respect was an honor as he doesn't give it easily.

And in any event it's not like he was out and about ogling other people or commenting how she should look more like or be like anyone but herself. In fact it was the opposite. He didn't like when she tried to be more like Penny or Bernadette.

Finally she reached the fourth floor and paused for a moment to get her heart rate down a little before standing in front of apartment 4A. She ran her hand over her hair to smooth down any strays and she dusted imaginary lint from herself making sure she was presentable before she raised her fist and knocked on the door, taking a deep breath as she waited eagerly for Sheldon to answer.

In no time at all the door was open and there stood her 6'2 boyfriend wearing khaki pants she didn't know he owned and a blue buttoned down shirt with the top two buttons undone.

"Hoo." She involuntarily said, clearing her throat to cover it.

"Amy. Welcome. Please come in." He said politely moving out of the way. Amy stepped into the room and took a deep breath inhaling the wonderful aroma from the food. "Would you like something to drink?" He asked her.

"Yes, that would be lovely." She replied. Amy followed him to the kitchen area, eyes wide as she saw the place settings at the far end of the island. There was even a lit candle between the place settings and a tulip on one of the plates. "Sheldon...What is this?" She asked curiously.

Sheldon turned towards her again carrying a bottle of white wine. "I Googled some facts about wine and what food that would taste good with it."

"You did? But you don't like alcohol." She pointed out, watching him easily pull the cork out amazed.

"Don't be too impressed." He said to her wide eyes, pouring her a glass of white wine. "Penny came over and opened the bottle for me not too long ago."

"Okay, but it still doesn't explain why you're serving it." She said as she took the glass from Sheldon. "Again, you do not like alcohol and you do not like it when I drink it."

"That's not entirely true. I dislike how you try to keep up with Penny. I dislike drunkenness." He told her. He pulled out the chair from the table in front of the plate with a tulip and Amy sat down and picked up the flower giving it a sniff. Its sweet scent wafted into her nose making her smile.

"I don't mind not having it Sheldon. I don't need liquor to have a nice time." She told him.

Sheldon just gave her another smile as he poured himself some water and went back to the stove. "My sister convinced me that a little for a meal or special occasion would be alright."

"Oh?" She said with a piqued interest., "You speak to your sister about us?" Sheldon turned from the stove with a curious look.

"Of course I do. She's my sister." He said simply, as if it should be common knowledge..

"I know, it's just, you don't really mention her much. I didn't know how often you spoke or how close you were or anything." She told him, taking another sip of the wine. She could tell from the taste that it was not that cheap everyday wine she normally drank at Penny's. Sheldon spent some dough on this one.

Sheldon turned around and leaned against the counter by the stove with his arms crossed and an easy smile she didn't normally see on him. "We talk often."

"Often?"

"Yes, as in frequently." He answered.

"Oh. It's nice that you're close to your siblings. I don't have any so I'm unfamiliar really in the sibling paradigm." She said shyly. She wondered what it was he said to his sister but she was afraid to ask. You wouldn't know it from how he acts and talks but her boyfriend was a private person, rarely giving out any real information.

"Well I'm close to my sister but I rarely speak to my brother." He told her somberly.

"But you speak to your sister, you said her name was Missy?"

"Well she's my twin. And she's been very helpful, like my outfit?" He said as he turned in a circle causing Amy to laugh.

"I was going to ask you about that. You're not wearing your normal date night clothes. But you look really good Sheldon." She said sincerely

"Thank you. Missy sent me a bunch of clothes last month with a detailed chart on what goes with what." He said gratefully. "She's a genius in her own way." With that he turned back to the stove.

Amy spent the next few minutes watching Sheldon expertly finish making dinner and putting them in nice dishes with a pleasant patterned design to place on the table. She loved watching him in this capacity. She loved watching him in any capacity but when she watched him cooking for her it made her feel loved and dream of future domestic bliss.

Once everything was on the table Sheldon dished out a plate for her, giving too much as always. Sometimes she thought Sheldon purposely was trying to fatten her up more. She looked down at her plate with a chicken breast sliced over a bed of pasta.

"It's Pasta Florentine." Sheldon told her to finally sitting down. You mentioned it once a few months ago wanting to try it. A shiver went down her spine and her ovaries kicked as she smiled at him. She loved his memory and how it retains all sorts of things.

"These are beautiful dishes. I've never seen them before." She said taking a bite. It tasted so good she couldn't stop her eyes from going into her head and moaning a little inappropriately.

"They're new. I just bought them the other day at Pottery Barn. The geometric pattern caught my eyes and then Bernadette-"

"Bernadette?" Amy asked, confused how her friend's name just came up.

"Yes. She asked me to go to the Pottery Barn. She wanted to look for stuff for the nursery. But the dishes caught my eyes and I had mentioned how-"

"Wait, let's go back to Bernadette. What day was this?" She asked, putting her fork down.

Sheldon stared at her for a few moments, brows furrowed with a look of confusion. He opened his mouth a couple times to say something before stopping. "I don't understand." He said simply. "It was Tuesday."

Amy racked her brain thinking back to Tuesday. She had to work late in the lab because one of the monkeys had bitten someone. "Weren't you supposed to be at that reception?" She asked him. "For that physicist? You were very excited about meeting him."

Sheldon broke eye contact with her and stared down at his plate. Amy felt bad for fixating on why Bernadette factored in and why he wasn't where she thought he would be. She decided to drop it for now and wished Penny hadn't cancelled girls night so she could ask Bernadette herself that night.

"I'm sorry Sheldon. You were talking about the dishes?" She promoted him and continued eating.

"Yes well, they uh...caught my eyes and I bought them." He told her, taking a drink of his water. "I had mentioned I wanted to get a nice set for date nights."

Amy arched her brow at that, confused how Sheldon wanted to do that. It was not something he normally did, or cared for on any other day. She didn't understand what was going on with her boyfriend. She was well aware how self centered he could be, and unaware of trivial things around him but he had been making a larger effort since they got back together almost 5 months ago. And for the most part she really enjoyed the extra attention, but this past week had been really odd in regards to Bernadette and Sheldon. The two rarely spoke to each other and suddenly they're becoming best friends?

"Ok Sheldon, seriously what gives? This has been a wonderful romantic evening and while it's something I have dreamed of for years I never actually expected it." She said directly.

"I just wanted to do something nice for you." He said simply.

"Why?" She asked simply. She watched Sheldon frown and she yet again felt bad. She was ruining date night. He had gone to all this trouble, cooking a meal that was delicious that she wanted to try, he bought new dishes, he even had a bottle of wine ready for her. And all she could do was question it. Like she's been questioning him about a lot of things lately.

They were quiet for a few minutes, the tension between them felt awkward and wrong. Normally they cause this feeling for other people, but not for each other. "Am I such a bad boyfriend that my doing something nice for you alarms you?" He asked softly, looking down at his plate as he pushed the food around with his fork.

Amy reached over and placed her hand on top of his, causing him to look at her. "No Sheldon. You're a good boyfriend. I'm sorry." She told him sincerely.

Lets just say it and get it out of the way. Sheldon is a weird duck. He's easily the smartest person she had ever met, and Berneddete has met a lot of smart people while going to school and working in a pharmaceutical lab. Sometimes though she forgot how intelligent he actually is though while she watches him sit on the floor in overalls and a blue conductor's hat and play with the train set he placed in the living room that afternoon. Apparently his MeMaw sent him a new train set.

The group of friends were gathered together as they did almost every Friday night for Chinese and vintage games. She normally didn't mind coming over as once the meal was consumed and the controllers popped out she, Amy, and Penny would duck out to Penny's apartment for a weekly girls night.

However her current predicament prevented her from partaking the best part of girl's night and in solidarity (so they say) the two of them would also not be partaking. It was a nice gesture but Bernadette could smell the red wine that Penny had put in a coffee mug. If Benedette was honest, she and Amy have been discussing an intervention for their friend. If she can't go a few hours in the evening without wine while she spends time with her friends then maybe there's a bigger problem that needs attention.

But that wasn't what was on her mind at the moment. No, her mind was trying to tell her body to relax while she glared at her husband sitting next to her on the couch with Raj on his other side. Raj decided being on the floor was too close to play his game and thus took the couch seat. Her husband didn't even bother offering his and Leonard was watching in the big white chair as his friends battled it out on the super Nintendo.

That left one comfortable seat left and while she knew she should just yell at the boys for one of them to get up, she chose not to. And so it was that 20 minutes ago, Bernadette sat her pregnant tiny body into Sheldon's Spot.

A hush had gone over the room as eyes turned to her widely. It was then they started to get off their asses but she firmly stated her pregnant body was comfortable and she was not moving for the moment. This was all exchanged in soft whispers as the sound of the train rounding the track hopefully masked their words from one Sheldon Cooper and his Vulcan hearing. The boys sat down and continued playing, albeit more soberly while the girls hovered watching the train set, ready to jump in if Sheldon got out of control.

She took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment. She could fully understand now why Sheldon claimed this spot. It was perfect. Perfect airflow, perfect lighting, perfect position for TV and conversation. It really wasn't fair.

The sound of the train being turned off forced her eyes open as she felt her heart beat a little faster. Now was the time to see how badly Sheldon will react to her being in his spot.

Amy handed Penny her soda as she approached Sheldon as he stood from the floor. "Don't you want to play with your train some more? It's only 730." She said, purposely standing so his back was to the group.

"I do, but it's a cool night and I want some hot chocolate." He told her and stepped over his train tracks carefully and headed towards the kitchen.

Next to her she could hear her husband let out the breath he was holding only to suck in another to repeat the same action. Bernadette rolled her eyes at him.

"Oh Bernadette, would you like some?" Sheldon said, turning to her.

"Uh...what?" She asked dumbly, not sure she heard him correctly.

"I'm making hot chocolate, would you like some? Or perhaps some tea?"

Sheldon was looking directly at her with a smile on her face. Not a single trace of a facial tick. "Oh, hot chocolate would be nice. Do you have little marshmallows?" She asked him and he scoffed at her.

"Of course I do. What's hot chocolate without them? Just chocolate that's hot is what." And with that he turned away and back to the kitchen.

All around her the guys were freaking out confused. Amy stood by the trains with her hand across her chest and her mouth opened wide. Penny was getting a towel to clean up the wine she spilled when she almost dropped the mug.

Everyone went back to attempting that nothing was wrong as Sheldon turned away from the stove and headed over to Bernadette. "Here you are. You have 9 little marshmallows, and I know we just finished eating but you should try some of these cookies." He said placing a small plate of them on the arm of the chair. "They're sugar free and low carb so your glucose won't spike. I'm sure the last thing you want is pregnant diabetes which is caused by your body not making enough insulin."

"Thank you Sheldon."

"You're welcome."

And with that he turned to grab his own hot chocolate and get back to his trains. The rest of the evening still felt slightly off as the guys continued to play. There was confusion all around so thick she could probably chop it up and make sushi with it, which she can't eat of course being pregnant. She did get a kick at how badly they were playing.

Around 830 Howard stood up and stretched, his bones cracking, grossing out Bernadette and causing her to be jealous as she couldn't do that anymore. "Ready to go home my love?" He said to her with a smile.

"Yes, I'm so ready to just conk out and never wake up."

"Don't worry dear, I'll kiss you and you'll wake up again. But I'll be nice and give you a good 12-15 hours of sleep first."

"What if that doesn't wake me?" She asked, rolling her eyes again though enjoying how loving and sweet her husband could be.

"Well we're married so I can still have sex with you right?"

And then he has to ruin it by opening his mouth more than needed. She swatted his leg and attempted to get up, expecting Howard to help. Instead he walked away to grab his coat leaving Bernadette still sitting in Sheldon's spot about to explode and just kill him. Wow these hormones make you bipolar.

"Howard!" A sharp bark and clap of hands sounded loudly around the room startling everyone. Sheldon stepped up next to the couch and bent, placing an arm behind her and grabbing her arm to help her stand. "Your wife is 6 months pregnant. Normal movement is restricted for her. You should help her get up or she could hurt herself or the baby. Honestly Howard. She already had sex with you, hasn't she been punished enough?"

And with that Bernadette was up on her feet again, feeling slightly dizzy. She held onto Sheldon for a moment until the vertigo went away. When she realized her hand was on him she tried to play it like nothing was out of the ordinary to avoid having him freak out.

"Are you alright to get home? You can always sleep here if you're tired. Going down four flights of stairs will be exhausting."

"No, I'm fine Sheldon. Thank you for your help and the hot chocolate. And those cookies were amazing. You could hardly tell they weren't real." She smiled up at him, her head tipping far back to look up to him. She wondered how Leonard didn't have neck problems living with Sheldon.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it. We'll see you later." And with one last smile Bernadette grabbed her purse and wobbled through the door.

Sheldon turned from the door once it was closed and knelt down to start packing up the railroad. Behind him Penny, Amy, and Leonard stared at him waiting for some sort of explanation that they realized wasn't coming. They watched as he carefully wrapped each track gently and placed them in their crate while humming to himself. Wait..humming?"

"Okay what gives Sheldon?" Amy demanded after a few minutes of watching him. Sheldon stood up in front of her, cocking his head slightly to the side in confusion.

"What gives what?" He asked

"Bernadette?" She prompted.

"What about Bernadette?" If it wasn't Sheldon she would believe he was being purposely obtuse which annoyed her even more.

"She sat in your spot and you offered her hot chocolate." She exclaimed. "If it were anyone else you would have demanded we move, but instead you just give her tea and crumpets."

"Honestly Amy." He said with a tired sigh. "I didn't offer her tea and crumpets. It was hot chocolate and no sugar cookies. Pregnant diabetes is no joke." He turned back around and continued packing up his toys.

"You didn't offer anyone else some." She pushed, causing Sheldon to roll his eyes.

"Honestly Amy what is going on with you. You all can move around, Bernadette should be resting as much as possible." He started irritably. "I don't understand. You tell me over and over again to be more polite and the moment I am you question my every move."

Amy looked over to Leonard and Penny who both shrugged and indicated with their heads tilting to keep going. Getting no help from her friends she walked around Sheldon to stand in front of him as she tried getting his attention once again. He ignored her for a few minutes until he gently smacked her ankle to get her to move aside as she was blocking part of the track.

She waited patiently for him to finish, knowing she wouldn't have his full attention until everything was back in order. She thought of what she should say as sometimes speaking to Sheldon and getting a straight answer was like cryptography. If you ask the right questions you get a faster answer. Ask the wrong one and you have to decrypt what his intended response probably meant.

Once the trains were safely in their boxes and back inside his room she once again attempted to interrogate her boyfriend over his behavior regarding Bernadette. She didn't know why she was upset over it, she just knew that she was.

"Would you like some tea Amy?" He simply asked, ignoring the question of why he didn't get mad at Bernadette again.

"No Sheldon, I want an answer." She exclaimed again, exasperated.

Sheldon gave a tired sigh as he turned to put the kettle on. "I don't know what you want me to say Amy. It's my spot, I can allow anyone I want to sit in it can't I?"

"Yes you can but the point I'm trying to make is that you don't." She said, "And more to the point you offered Bernadette refreshments while ignoring the rest of us."

"Is that what this is really about? I didn't offer you refreshments? I'll be sure to do that in the future then." He answered, reaching up in the cabinet to grab two mugs for tea.

"No, that's not what this is about."

"Let me try." Penny butted in, stepping up to the kitchen island. "What Amy is trying to ask is why did you let Bernadette sit in your spot?"

Amy nodded her head in agreement, watching Sheldon's face for any tics that could give away any information she can get. However his expression stayed neutral as he poured the hot water.

"Oh, well Howard, Raj, and Leonard were being selfish people and not giving up their seats to the pregnant woman." He answered simply. "And I really don't see why you're all making a fuss over it. Bernadette is my friend, she's pregnant, I was just being polite. Something you all point out frequently that I need to work on."

"Yes but I'm your girlfriend and you never let me sit in your spot."

"Yes, well, once you're pregnant we'll see how it goes." He responded simply grabbing his tea and heading to sit in said spot with the others following him.

"You'd have to have sex first Sheldon, she can't magically get pregnant herself." Penny smirked. Sheldon glared at his roommate's wife as he sat down.

"More to the point, since when was Bernadette your friend?" Leonard ask confused

Amy sat down in her spot, the middle cushion of the couch by Sheldon and awaited his answer. She was curious about that as well as she knew that Bernadette wasn't exactly fond of Sheldon. She believed him to be a bad boyfriend and friend in general and has, on more than one occasion, suggested to Amy that if she wanted to look around a bit no one would blame her.

Bernadette was wrong on that front. Amy would blame herself.

"What do you mean? We've been friends since she started her attachment to Howard." Sheldon explained.

"No, she's here because she's with Howard and friends with Penny and Amy." Leonard explained in that patient condescending tone he used explicitly with Sheldon. It grated on Amy sometimes. Yes her boyfriend was frequently condescending himself however it wasn't done purposely like Leonard.

"Are you saying you aren't her friend?"

"I would categorize us more as close acquaintances than friends." Leonard said. "And you're not even really friends with Howard. You've said so yourself that he's a fond acquaintance."

"Oh? Since we're defining roles in my life, what would you categorize Raj and Penny?" Sheldon asked bitingly.

"Well I'm your roommate's wife and Raj is Howard's mistress." Penny cut in still smirking

"I see, and Amy is?"

"I'm your girlfriend Sheldon." Amy replied gently reaching out to grasp his hand "Well, kind of anyways."

"What does that mean? Are you seeing someone else?"

"No, Sheldon, I meant, well, we aren't really the traditional model of boyfriend/girlfriend."

"I see."

"Though nobody would blame her if she was." Penny mutters softly to Leonard who chortled at her remark. Unfortunately Sheldon had also heard it and stood up abruptly heading towards the kitchen. There was a loud clatter as he dropped his mug of undrunk tea into the sink, walking away without washing it. .

"If you'll excuse me Amy but I'm suddenly not feeling well and will turn in for the night." He said politely and headed towards his room.

"Sheldon, wait!" She said, He paused in his step and then slowly turned back towards her, stoic expression on his face.

"I have nothing else to say to any of you tonight. Goodnight."

"Sheldon I don-"

"You three just insinuated that I do not have any friends, and those I consider friends are really just there because of the others. Including you Amy."

Amy took a step forward only to stop when Sheldon took a step back. "That's not what we meant, Sheldon."

"Yeah buddy, come on. We didn't mean to." Leonard joined.

"It doesn't matter if you meant to or not, it only matters that you did." And with that Sheldon turned his back on them and went into his room.

Sheldon calmly shut the door of his bedroom before leaning his back against it taking deep breaths. He felt rage and hurt surge through him and he didn't like it. He didn't like that what they said hurt so much. Sheldon knew that they didn't mean it, that they were in actuality his friends, but the insinuations they had made brought up memories, thoughts, and feelings from the past he'd rather not revisit.

'Breath Sheldon. Don't feel, don't feel. Deep breath." He muttered to himself but it didn't work. He hit the back of his head with a thud upon the bedroom floor before sliding down to the floor, arms wrapped tightly around himself as his mind forced him to remember times past of betrayal and tricks from others.

He would never say it aloud but all Sheldon ever wanted was to have a real friend. When he was younger he watched with envy as his twin played with other children their age at school on the playground or around the neighborhood where they lived. She and Georgie constantly had people over. But Sheldon never did unless it was another trick just to hurt him or get him to do something. He fell for it every time. He was so lonely even with his twin, but Missy was busy with her own life, and Sheldon was left behind.

"Breath, don't feel. Focus. Breath." He muttered to himself. "You are the master of your own emotions."

Sheldon knew something was wrong with him. He had felt it over the last year that something inside of him was breaking. Nothing in his life seemed to be going according to plan. Everything was changing and he couldn't grasp it. He felt things more deeply than before and he knew he should probably talk to someone about it but he didn't even know what was him so how could he tell someone else?

He closed his eyes, counted to twenty before turning his thoughts to Amy and a small smile crept onto his face. He loved Amy. More than she knew. Sheldon knew that he should talk to Amy, she was his girlfriend, his mate, and maybe she could help patch the cracks inside him before he completely broke but he was afraid. He had locked up his emotions long ago, refusing to feel them or show them because people would just use them against you.

Amy left him once. And it broke his heart. More than anyone actually knew. They just saw this facade but they didn't see the sleepless nights, the unfinished equations. The tears. The nights he curled himself up so tightly in a corner and just sang soft kitty to himself. He had never known such pain and he was afraid if Amy saw he was going crazy, she would leave again. She'd find someone new.

He was going to invite her over and propose to her.

But she broke his heart.

"Breath." He said one more time before forcing himself up off the floor to his dresser to get ready for bed. All the while the deep depression he felt festered.

He thought about Bernadette and the secret he told her. She had kept it so far, he knew. He would have heard by now if she didn't. It was nice to tell someone, to have them know something was wrong but she was about to be a mother and he didn't want to burden her with more of his problems.

"Keep it to yourself. Keep it inside you. Don't let it out. Don't let them see." He muttered to himself as he got into his bed.

Tomorrow was another day. .