I'd like to thank those who have favored and left their comment in the last chapter. I was very happy to see that you guys liked it.
I was gonna update it only on Thursday, but I finished the chapter sooner and decided to post. Hope you like it.
I've created a folder on the Pinterest with Amy's clothes, I left the link last chapter but it doesn't sems to work. If you want to check on it, my user is: flowerm227.
Chapter II
Sheldon was alone in one of the huge rooms of the house where he lived playing a sad melody on the piano. Anyone who was fortunate enough to see him playing knew that only joyful concerts were heard in that house when the boy volunteered to play.
It was the most beautiful thing to see. It was as if the music were a part of him, and nothing else mattered as his sapphire eyes focused on the instrument's keys. Whoever had seen him play before, would feel nothing less than a great sadness watching such a pitiful scene.
At least, that was exactly how Amy felt when she found him there, with a heavy expression on his face and a distant gaze, as if searching for something with the last hope left.
No one could tell how it happened, or what motivated the crime, after all during the assault no one had reacted. But George Cooper had been shot in the chest and couldn't resist.
The whole city stopped to cry and pay their respects. Everyone was absolutely devastated by the tragedy. But Mary, Sheldon, Missy and George Jr would carry forever the tragic image of that night that had begun so merrily.
The girl in the black dress standing in the doorway took a few light steps toward the young pianist who wore a black suit which he used to go to the Sunday service at his mother's insistence. When she stood behind him, she placed her right hand on his shoulder, he then stopped playing for a few moments and stepped aside, giving her space so that she could sit next to him.
She sat up and when he resumed his task she rested her head on his left shoulder, letting herself get carried away by the sound until it was over.
After the end of the last note he took a deep breath and rested his head on hers. And then in total silence they consumed themselves with their own thoughts for long moments, and Amy could feel some agitation from Sheldon at first, but soon he seemed to calm down and she wondered the best way to begin that sore conversation.
"I was worried. You said you were just going to take a breath and didn't come back." She ventured.
"I just needed to be alone, I guess." There was a hesitation in his voice, but Amy knew the reason well, so she decided to let him talk when he felt comfortable. After all, after years of cohabitation she had learned that Sheldon was made of layers and only when he felt comfortable enough did he let the layers be removed one by one.
"I know. It's why I didn't go after you before, but I could not stop worrying." She laid a hand on his right shoulder to try to comfort him.
"I'm here, aren't I? No need to worry." The emptiness in his tone was crisp, yet she knew he was not being rude, she also knew he had trouble dealing with emotions.
"I know". She snuggled closer to him for comfort. And the silence was contemplated for a few more minutes.
"Where are my mother and my siblings?" He asked.
"At my home, along with the Hofstadters and the Wilsons. Your mother thought maybe I'd better see you." She lifted her head to face him, but he just stared at the piano keys as a tear trickled down his face. Then another came and so his sapphire pools began to overflow.
"I couldn't handle the farewell, Amy." He tried to say between sobs. "It would be too much for me to have to say goodbye and see him buried." And there all the layers went dawn. They tumbled along with all the tears that flowed, releasing all the pain on his heart.
"I understand, I would feel the same if it was my father." She hugged him, trying to comfort him, and he returned, burying his face in her neck.
"I wish I was not such a coward." He murmured still sobbing.
"You're no coward, Sheldon." She slid her palm up and down serenely on his back trying to make him more comfortable.
"Of course I am, my father was killed in front of me and I was not able to do anything." It was palpable the fragility and guilt in the convicting words he uttered after leaning the side of his head on her shoulder.
"That doesn't make you a coward. The man was armed, Sheldon, maybe if you had reacted it would have been worse". Amy tried once more.
"I don't see how it could have gotten worse." He answered before squeeze the hug.
"What if you had died too? Or your mother? Or one of your siblings?" Amy tried to put some sense into his mind.
"Yeah, I think you're right, but ... anyway ... I ... I still can not settle." He pulled away from her and she noticed that the tears had stopped flowing even though his face was still wet.
"Neither do I, but some things do not ask permission to happen." She pulled the handkerchief out of the pocket of his jacket and began to wipe his face as he seemed to reflect on her words.
He just looked down without knowing what else to say. The loss was still very recent and the boy very attached to his father. She straightened her posture and lifted her hand toward his chin, making him stare at her.
"Sheldon, your father may not be here among us any more, but there is a place where no one can ever take him out." She lowered her arm and rested her hand open tenderly on the place his heart would be located "here" she said in a sigh and looked into his eyes. Almost like a reflection, he put his hand over hers and held it tight.
He leaned down a little and placed a quick kiss on Amy's cheek, who melted because of the unexpected attitude. When he pulled away, he said, "I think you're right. You're always right."
The girl smiled shyly and he returned, then he placed his arm around her and asked.
"Sing to me? I like to hear you singing."
"And what should I sing?"
"Sing what your heart asks for."
Amy placed her hands on the keys of the piano and as soon as the first notes were played her voice followed in a synchronized rhythm intoning the first verses of the song. After the end of the melody, another succeeded and then others and the notion of time was completely lost.
A few hours after nightfall, Mary appeared to tell Amy that her parents were worried and asked Junior to accompany her home. The girl then got up, and the two frides promised to see each other the next day. She passed by Mary and wished her good night. And with that she left.
Mary sat down next to her son and hugged him, he returned the hug and the comfort they found in each other was transcendental.
"I don't really know what I'd do to you if I didn't have Amy to help me understand how you feel." She confessed.
"I don't know what I would do without her, either." He smiled and Mary was finally able to smile on that dark and sad day. But something even more unexpected happened that night and the mother felt betrayed by her ears when the son spoke again. "I love you, mom".
"I love you too, son." She sighed.
"I wish I could have told daddy the same thing before he died." Sadness and regret were evident in his tone of voice and Mary's heart was broken in pieces.
"He knew it, dear". She said.
XXX
A week had passed since that fateful day. The atmosphere was still sad and mourning in the Coopers mansion. Missy and George just left the room for their meals, and Sheldon did not even for that. After the third day and all the imaginable and unimaginable attempts to get him out of there, Mary thought it best to call the one person she knew had powers and influences on her son.
Mary called Amy for lunch and asked the girl to try to get him out of his room. The girl was willing to help, and after a long forty-minute attempt, Sheldon came out holding Amy's hand, with a swollen, red face typical of who had been crying.
After that day, he left the house in the morning and only came at dinner time. He would most likely be with Amy in the library discussing physics or just reading other books to distract himself. But that didn't really matter, what mattered was that the boy's expression and behavior were much better and Mary thanked God for it.
And thanked Amy too.
On the afternoon of that seventh day, she was sitting sipping her tea when the bell rang. As she opened the door, she turned pale in front of the men in a gray suit, a black hat, and a paste of the same color in one hand. The expression he carried was not as pitiful as all the other's people she had opened the door for the last seven days. It was impossible to say what that expression carried, but it certainly didn't announce good news.
"Good afternoon, Mrs. Cooper." The stern-faced man said.
"Mr. Kripke, how can I help you?" She asked sharply.
"I have serious issues to discuss with you and your eldest son about your deceased husband's business." Mary's heart squeezed at the same moment, indicating a bad feeling.
"Oh, of course, please come in." She said as she opened the door and gave him passage into the room.
"Excuse me". He said as he entered and followed her into the living room. "George Jr is there?" He questioned
"Yes, I'm going to call him, please, sit down and make yourself confortable". And with that she went up the stairs leaving him alone.
Her real desire was to send him out, yet she knew that something very serious should be happening. Owen Kripke would not dare show up after everything he'd done, would he?
The mere presence of that man brought the prelude that something very bad would happen. And the Cooper matriarch knew this from experience. She had known him since her youth and did not keep a single good memory that could prove otherwise.
For many years she and her husband avoided him as much as they could. Until Katherine, a childhood friend of Mary decided to marry him.
They attended the wedding and after that the two best friends never spoke again. A few months later Mary and George were married, and she soon got pregnant. To everyone's surprise, two months later Katherine announced her own pregnancy as well. And a few years later when Mary discovered that she was pregnant for the second time, it did not take long, and so did her former friend.
But Katherine was not lucky and died giving birth to a girl.
Years had passed since then, and everyone felt that everything was in order, when to the shock of Mary and George, the three children born the same day arrived telling that a much older boy called Barry kripke and his younger sister Ramona were chasing Sheldon and Amy inside the school. And the mother obviously feared for her son and his friend. Was the story bound to repeat itself?
Not knowing the answer to her question, she decided to wait and see how things would go. A few weeks later the children arrived announcing that they had made other friends. The Hofstadter brothers were the children of a professor at the Institute, and the Wilson sisters were the delegates' daughters who had studied with George and Larry during their youth. Since then, little had been heard about the siblings upseting them again. And Mary thought she would never have to deal with that miserable man again.
Until now.
She called her son and together they went downstairs. Even though he was the eldest, Junior did not even know the least detail about the past, and his mother thought it might be best to leave it that way.
"Mr. Kripke." The boy said holding out his hand and Owen Kripke stood up to the greeting, holding the boy's hand tightly.
"Mr. Cooper, I'm sorry for your loss." The disguised tone did not go past Mary, but Junior did not seem to notice.
"Thank you". So the three of them sat down so that mother and son stood facing the man. "Did my mother say you have serious business with us?"
"Yes, unfortunately!". Mary watched closely the expressions and tone the man had uttered each sentence, and her stomach twisted every time he opened his mouth.
"Is it serious?" The boy asked worriedly.
"I'd like to say the opposite, but I'm afraid it will." He was there to torture Mary, and she knew it.
"What happened?". She asked in agony in a desperate attempt to end the suspense.
"Well, Mrs. Cooper, I do not know if your late husband used to talk about his, business with you?" He had noticed her expression, and was delighting himself internally with his despair. That was certainly making him very comfortable.
"No, we didn't have that habit." She admitted still uncertain of the course of that conversation.
"Mr. Cooper?" He turned to the boy.
"Well, I was about to start working with him as an apprentice. Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to discuss such matters with him." The boy's sadness was a treat for the man.
"I see, I'd like to say once again that I'm sorry."
"Mr. Kripke, you're worrying me. Is there something we should know?" She questioned uneasily.
"Well, I'll get right to the point." He said before taking a deep breath.
"Well, go on." She demanded.
"A few years ago, the Institute was going through a period of crisis, it seems to me that they needed to do a very important experiment and yet there was no money, Dr Cooper then got a loan." He paused for a long time, adding to Mary's torture.
"What do YouTube mean?" George asked.
"Unfortunately, the experiment went awry, Dr. Cooper was unable to repay the loan on time and the debt increased. He had to mortgage some properties, and signed a document pledging some other goods he owned." Mary felt her legs weaken instantly.
"I'm not liking this conversation." She folded her arms and tried to remain calm.
"Believe me, it's not easy for me either." Cynic, she thought, but other words came out of her mouth.
"I believe". The sarcasm went unnoticed by her son, but not by Kripke.
"He then had to take a very high loan from my bank ... and the deadline for payment ... ends next week." He said slowly, absorbing the impact each word had on the widow who was now staring at him in disbelief.
"What the value?". The boy asked, and the man opened the folder by pulling out some documents and held them out in Mary's direction.
She hesitated for a moment as the papers hung in the air. Slowly she caught them and glanced over the document, the moment she located the value of the loan she almost had a heart attack. "Oh my God, I do not know if we can afford that." She exclaimed more to herself than to the man.
"Have you talked to your accountant yet?" The cynical arching on his eyebrows showed that he already knew the answer.
"We were waiting for the mourning to pass before we checked on this issue." The widow said visibly irritated by his lack of consideration.
"I understand". Kripke said.
"What happens if we can not pay the debt?" Junior asked, evidencing the concern in his voice.
"I don't want to do that, Mr. Cooper, but I'll have to take the assets that were given as warranty, but it will still not cover the debt." The coldness in his voice was frightening.
"Lord Jesus, what shall we do?" She exclaimed covering her face with her hands and desperation running through her veins, along with the pain and anger of that man sitting only a few feet away.
"I am sorry to have to give such bad news after this tragedy, but unfortunately there is nothing I can do. I talked to my partners about the debt being forgiven, but they are irreducible."
"Have you documented what the goods he gave as warranty?" The boy asked.
"Of course it's all in those papers that I gave you, I suggest contacting your accountant soon, Mrs. Cooper." Kripke stood up indicating there was nothing more to be said.
"I'll. Thank you for coming up here and let us know." She said without looking at him, and the son got up too, but Mary made no move.
"Believe me, I'm not happy to have to deliver the bad news." False, she thought. This man was a pit of cynicism, and every word out of his mouth carried the weight of the evil he had in his heart.
"Well, we'll call the accountant and try to work this out as best we can. Have a good afternoon, Mr. Kripke." Junior said and held out his hand and the two men were pleased.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Cooper."
"I'll walk you to the door." The boy said indicating the exit.
Kripke put his hat back on. The look of visible concern on the widow's face left him entranced and he smiled inside as he made his way to the exit.
The new widow was consuming herself inside. Of all the people he was certainly the last of whom she would like to hear such bad news. But the question now was, what the hell was she going to do to pay off the debt?
XXX
Mary did not sleep that night. She asked the eldest son not to tell the twins anything until a solution was arranged and they could stay in peace.
She knew Larry would not hesitate to help, but it was not fair for him to handle a mistake that was not his. No, she would have to do it herself.
And so she did.
A telegram the next day and an answer a few hours later and everything was settled. Her only uncertainty was how his little genius would react to that solution. She could expect anything, her little boy was a Pandora's box and could not deal with feelings
She gathered her children into the living room and cautiously gave them the news. They all sat still as she waited for an answer. None came. She kept talking and trying to justify herself and still nothing. When tears began to stream down her face, she felt arms around her and went into a state of stupor when she realized that those arms were Sheldon's.
After a few moments and a lot of sobs, he told her that everything would be all right, and that he would be there to support her whatever happened. But he had a condition, and after listening carefully the mother agreed.
She'd arranged dinner at the Fowler's that night, and she'd decided it would be the best time to break the news.
"I do not understand! George never told me anything about putting the goods as warranty." Larry exclaimed, puzzled as he paced the living room where everyone was gathered.
"Believe me, we're as surprised as you are." Mary assured him.
"But why would he do that? He told me that he had settled everything. I didn't realize that the institute's debt was so Big". He kept walking nervously and his wife was more and more certain that he would make a hole in the ground
"Well, George was the one who took care of the financial part along with the accountant, maybe he thought he could repay the debt and did not want to worry." Mrs. Fowler said worried about her husband's uneasiness.
"I do not know, I still find it very strange. George always shared the problems, if there was something wrong he would have said it." Larry said as he continued to walk with one hand on his chin.
"Unfortunately, he did not say, and here we are with this huge debt." Mary exposed.
"Mary, do not worry." Larry said as he sat on the arm of the couch and waved his hand. "I can sell some of my assets. We'll help you." He tried to smile but the look on the widow's face told him that she had already arranged a solution but that he would not be comfortable with it.
"No, Larry, George created this situation, it's not fair that you pay for it now." That statement served to confirm his hypothesis.
"But he did it for the good of the Institute. What is not fair is that I do nothing to help you." He did not know what she had in mind, but would do anything in his power to make her change her mind.
"Junior and I intend to sell the house. If you are willing to buy it will be of great help." Was it just that? But of course he would help.
"Of course, Mary, I'll do everything in my power to help you and the kids." Larry assured her.
"You don't know how much it comforts me to hear that." She sighed in relief.
"I'll buy it and put it in the name of your children, so you can continue to live in it without the slightest problem." He said believing that was all.
"No need, Larry." He frowned. And they all looked at her. Everyone but Amy. She turned her attention to Sheldon who was sitting between his two siblings on the other couch. She was trying to decipher his behavior. The boy was far away, and the sadness in his gaze was palpable.
"Why not?". The girl asked after a few minutes of silence.
"I called my parents this week. It's all settled, my dear." She tried to soften her tone as if trying to comfort her and she didn't like it at all.
"What do you mean, Aunt Mary?" The girl's hint of desperation left them all alarmed. Mary then tried the best way to break the news, even though she knew Amy's heart would break into a thousand pieces anyway.
"I do not want you to get upset with me," her tone was gentle and careful, and that served to distress Amy even more, "but we are going to move to Texas as soon as I can work this out. We're going to live with my parents, honey. "
Amy looked from Mary to Sheldon, but the boy was bowed, not having the courage to stare at her and to see in her eyes the pain, which ran through tears on her face. "What, but why?"
"Amy, my love, I won't be able to stay here, I'll have to sell everything we still own. My father has business there, farms and some other ventures. Junior Will learn with the grandfather what he didn't have time to learn with his father". She knew that no argument she used would lessen the tension of the girl who was now crying without ceasing.
"But I can teach him. I have some business too." Larry tried to say.
"I know, Larry, but it's not fair, you have two daughters, you owe it to them, and besides, we do not want to be a burden because of George." She said.
"I have enough business to share between them and your children and there would still be money left." Amy watched the conversation closely. Her heart clenched in her chest each time they opened their mouths.
"Larry, please do not insist, I've made my decision." Mary said firmly.
"All right, Mary, I will respect your will, but you know you can count on me." He gave up after seeing that the decision was made and there was nothing else he could do.
"How's everything okay?" The girl screamed, scaring everyone in the room, including her sister who played absentmindedly on the coffee table.
"Amy ..." Her mother tried to berate her but she just ignored her and continued.
"It's not okay, you just go, and God knows when you'll be back." She stood up and raised her hands roughly to her forehead pacing exactly the way her father was doing a few minutes ago.
Mary got up and reached the girl, lowering her arms against her body and holding them tenderly, trying to calm her down. And just when Amy looked at her, she continued, "Honey, we know how much you and Sheldon are attached to each other, but we've talked, and Sheldon and I have made a deal." A wisp of hope shone in the emerald eyes that had once been so desperate.
"What os it?". She asked visibly calmer, and Mary gently wiped away the tears that insisted on falling.
"Well, for this to work out I need Larry to agree." She turned her gaze to him.
"I'm listening". And he nodded. Before moving on, Mary sat down and pulled Amy to sit beside her, wrapping one arm around her.
"Sheldon?" The mother nodded so that her son would explain what would happen.
"Well, we all know that I am the only one of the three children who cares about learning and science more than anything else." He leaned forward looking at Amy and then at Larry.
"Yes, we do." Mrs. Fowler said encouraging him to continue.
"Well, I want to come back when I'm eighteen, so I can complete my studies and work at the institute. If that's all right for you, Uncle Larry." No one had ever seen Sheldon so serious about anything.
"So you'll be gone for almost five years?" Amy questioned and Mary felt the girl tense again under her embrace.
Mother and son exchanged glances and a brief silence settled. The widow just sighed trying to gain courage, "Yes, dear, that's the best I can do, that's the only thing I can not take away from him."
"It's not just from him that you're taking, it's from me too!" She cried uncontrollably at the end of the sentence and buried her face in her hands sobbing. "You can not leave, and if something goes wrong and you never come back?" She tried to say with the trace of voice.
"Amy, my dear, please calm down." Mary hugged her tightly.
What only Missy and George noticed at that moment was that Sheldon was crying too. Silently. Feeling the same pain Amy was feeling. The siblings, who were sitting on either side of him, placed their hands on the hands of the brother resting on his lap.
"Sheldon will come back and have all my support to continue his studies. It is his right, his father gave blood and sweat to found the Institute, nothing more just that he is entitled to." Larry said trying to calm his still crying daughter.
"Thank you, Larry." Mary said without releasing the girl in her arms.
"You can not go away, you can not leave us." Amy exclaimed raising her face and watching Sheldon cry too.
"Amy!" Her mother said trying to keep the girl quiet.
"It is not possible that I am the only one who is seeing what is happening."
If he was so sure it would be only five years, why was he crying? The confusion in her head was too much at that moment. She felt small, lost and deceived. It was simply too much. She disengaged herself from Mary's embrace and with that she ran upstairs, locked herself in her bedroom and wept for hours until she fell asleep.
XXX
Lying on her back in her bed and exhausted by the tears that had been pouring down for hours, Amy stared at the ceiling. The light from the moon and stars permeated the glass of the porch door and reflected on her face, causing the emeralds in his eyes to glow vigorously like freshly cut jewels.
Though her breathing and the serene way she was at that moment indicated peace, her heart was a war zone. Her mind wandered through scenarios that looked more like nightmares. Fear and insecurity filled her with apprehension.
What would she do without her friend? What if he forgot her? What if he was not the same again when he returned?
She would surely die if any of these things happened. She was sure of that. And she would never forgive him if he let any of these things happen.
The noise from the balcony door went unnoticed, such was the confusion in the head of the girl who had just discovered love and was already being deprived of it.
But the noise coming from the outside persisted and the tone increased steadily and insistently. When Amy curiously looked away to see what the commotion was about, the reason for her unease was on the other side of the wooden and glass frame, staring with the most piercing eyes she had ever seen. But she did not move to attend him, and he insisted.
Knock, Knock, Knock "Amy".
Knock, Knock, Knock "Amy".
Knock, Knock, Knock "Amy".
Seeing that he would not stop until he was attended to, she slipped out of the bed already dressed in her pajamas and and with barefoot and reached the porch door, turning the key sharply in the lock. The click of the doorknob indicated that the door was unlocked and Amy just turned her back and took a few steps until she stopped at the foot of the bed. Sheldon came in and closed the door behind him again before following her into the room.
"What you want?" She questioned it bluntly.
"I could not sleep". The boy replied.
"It's past midnight, you should be in your house. Where did you ever see yourself leaving home at a time like this?" Amy scolded him as coldly as she could.
"Amy, please don't treat me like that." He walked the short distance to her and raised his hands to touch her shoulders, but gave up in the middle of the way.
"And how do you want me to treat you?" She turned to face him and continued "knowing that you agreed to leave and leave me?" She spared no accusations.
"You know it's not being easy for me either." He responded defensively.
"Apart from the fact that you spent two weeks at your grandparents' house, we never spent more than three days away from each other, Sheldon." The affliction weighed on every word the girl uttered.
"I know. I hated that trip." The memory made the boy's eyes flutter.
"And yet you're willing to go and spend five years away." She raised her hands in front of him, trying to emphasize the point.
"Amy, that was the best deal I got from my mother." He folded his arms. "You know it's not up to me."
"I know, it's ...". She stopped looking sideways, trying to get the courage that seemed to be hidden in the pictures on the wall or on some of the furniture.
"Is that?". He asked after a long time.
"Sheldon, I like you." She admitted after looking him in the eye again, but then regretted it when she saw the look of surprise on his face. Had not it been clear that she had feelings for him after the kiss they had given in the library a few weeks ago? She looked for the best way to fix the situation before he said anything. "You're my best friend. I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too." He said opening his arms and extending them in front of him. She promptly accepted the invitation to hug. "You've been my best friend since I was born, Amy, and besides, it's not like you're going to be alone, you have your sister, Penny and Bernadette, and even Leonard and Howard." She disengaged herself from the embrace and lay back on the bed, leaving half of her legs out. He followed her and lay down in the same position, reaching with his right hand reaching to her left. They intertwined their fingers and squeezed hard.
"I love my sister, but she's still very young. Penny and Bernadette were taken by the hormones and can only talk about girlish things. And Howard and Leonard will probably prefer to befriend other boys and do things only boys can do, which obviously excludes me. " She exclaimed with a heavy, irritated sigh.
"Hey, you know it's not true, they like you and they will not leave you alone, I'll make them promise me that." He said looking into her eyes.
"Still, Sheldon." She turned to face the ceiling again. "Even if they do not leave me alone, they are intelligent, but most of the time they can not understand the things I say, just you." The last sentence came out as a sigh.
"Amy, tell me, what's the real deal here?" He had already noticed that it was not just fear of being alone, or of not being able to have an intelligent conversation with someone, or even the fact that she would miss him. There was something about her behavior that was strange. It always cost her to act rationally and yet at that moment she just didn't make sense.
Amy considered the words for a moment. She did not want to look sticky or insecure, but there was no other way to say that, so she took a deep breath and gathered all the courage she had. "What if you forget me, Sheldon? What if you meet a smarter, more interesting girl and decide you do not need me anymore?"
"Oh, Amy." Sheldon laughed wryly and turned sideways, as their gazes met again, he placed a hand on her face, caressing her cheek with his thumb. "Do you think I'm not afraid of a boy with much less trouble and quirks than me show up and you forget me?"
"I like your quirks." She smiled calmly. And a tiniest bit of peace began to cease the war in his heart. "And besides," she continued, "I would have to suffer from a very serious illness or die to forget you."
"You see, I feel the same way about you." He continued to stroke her face and she closed her eyes.
"I'm going to miss you, so badly." She whispered.
"I'm going to miss you, too, but we can exchange letters, telegrams and call each other, of course as soon as I get a phone, progress has not yet reached the place where my grandparents live." She laughed genuinely and lay down on her back. Sheldon continued in the same position just watching.
"It's not going to be the same thing as having you around." She said.
"No, but until they inventing a technology capable of transmitting images in real time to facilitate communication this is the best we have." He argued.
"I hope this day comes soon."
"But I fear it is still very far from our reach."
"Perhaps, I believe it will be a technology invented only at the end of this century, but will become available only in the early twenty-first century."
"We'll have to live there to find out."
"If I write a book talking about my expectations and they're right, I'll certainly be very famous." An ambitious smile settled on her lips.
"Certainly". He laughed. "But we will still be famous together. I already see the headlines in the newspapers announcing the discoveries of the most famous couple in the scientific world." He knew he had risked it, but he would not go back.
"Couple?". She asked in surprise and turned to face him.
"Yes, I hope that as soon as I get back, we can get married." He bluntly announced his intentions.
"Are you asking me to marry you?" She raised her eyebrows.
"Yes I am". Sheldon said.
"Why, Mr. Cooper, do you call it a marriage proposal?" She pretended indignation.
"You're right, it's not right to a propose a lady this way."
He then got up from the bed, not letting go of her hand and she sat down to observe what he would do next. To Amy's astonishment he knelt on the floor in front of her and she could barely believe the scene. Looking into her eyes and with a conviction the girl had never seen in him, not even when he defended some scientific theory with the greatest vehemence, he let the words out of his mouth.
"So, Amy Farrah Fowler, will you marry me?" The world stopped at that moment and the girl's heart failed by some beating. When he came back to reality a small smirk appeared in the corner of her mouth.
"I accept, but I have one condition." She caught him off guard.
"And which one is it?". He asked suspiciously.
"When we make our first discovery and publish our first roles, my name will go first, then yours." Sheldon should have guessed.
"Look, don't I have a potential adept at the suffragist movement in front of me." He used sarcasm in his tone without even realizing it.
"That's it or not at all." She said firmly.
"There's nothing I wouldn't do for you." They both smiled genuinely at each other.
The happiness and beauty of that moment belonged only to them. No one would be able to erase such beautiful memories. No one could ever separate them, for nothing. Neither time nor distance. They were sure of that. And in that tiny fraction of time, where gazes met and exhaled love, in its simplest and platonic form, a pure love, which nothing more needed to exist, a force beyond physicality attracted them like a magnet and iron in the direction of one another, and their lips met in the middle on the way, tracing a current of electricity between the attracted bodies.
That simple kiss lasted a few seconds, but its intensity could not be described, or even measured. Not even in the wide, almost black eyes they had as they stared at each other without a word.
Sheldon was not quite sure what he was doing when his thumb reached up to her lips. So soft, so sweet, he thought. And drawn by them, the boy rested his other hand on the bed and propelled the body up to face Amy who closed his eyes at the feel of his breath so close to her. He closed the short distance, and took those lips to himself, moving slowly and gently over them.
Without breaking the contact, she leaned back slightly, supporting one of the forearms on the bed, while her other hand stroked the hair at the nape of his neck, making him shiver. He followed her, carefully leaning his body over hers and tangled his hand between her dark brown strands. As she rested her entire body on the bed, his hand resting on it moves to her waist, lightly massaging her soft skin against the thin fabric of her nightgown. She moaned softly, opening her lips slightly, thus giving way to the tongue that caressed them tenderly.
Sheldon felt his member throb in his pants and startled. What was happening to his body? He'd felt it before, but never in the presence of anyone, much less Amy. His brother had already told him that it was absolutely normal, and if one day he liked a girl, that would happen.
Reluctantly against any desire to continue, he pulled away slowly. Both breaths were heavy and he couldn't face her. But she was wide-eyed and saw the way he was cracking his chin, fighting for control.
"We can stop." She said. "I don't think any of us know what we're doing." He just shook his head and lay down next to her, still with his eyes closed, as she stared at the ceiling trying to understand what had happened, and what she had felt against her thigh.
They remained in that position for a few minutes. Only when the pulsation between his legs calmed did he remember the objects that were in his pocket.
"Well, future Mrs. Cooper ...". He said as he sat on the bed, running one leg under the other and turning in Amy's direction.
"Doctor Fowler Cooper." She corrected him by sitting in the same position, turning to him.
"Well, future Dr. Fowler Cooper, I have something for you, or rather for us!"
He slipped his hands into his pocket and, upon withdrawing, revealed a small red velvet saddlebag, and handed it to her hand. Amy undid the delicate lace and turned the bag upside down, reaching out to hold the contents.
She forgot how to breathe when she saw a pair of silver rings, each tied to a chain of the same material.
"My God, Sheldon, they're beautiful!" She exclaimed in a whisper and he smiled.
"I knew you would like it. I left them on the chain, because I thought maybe our parents would be alarmed if they saw us wearing it, so it's easier to hide." She just nodded and kept looking at the objects in her hand, until one a doubt occurred to her.
"Where did you get the money to buy them?" She asked this time looking at him.
"I had some savings and Junior helped me up to the jewelry store." His hand rested on her face to assure how real his next sentences were. "I wanted you to know that I really like you, and that my feelings are serious."
"I didn't doubt it for a second." She smiled, letting a tear roll.
He picked up the chain that had the smaller ring and lifted up to her eyes. "May I?" He asked. She nodded and turned around holding her hair to ease the task. Sheldon slipped the object around her neck and screwed it around. "Done". He said as he finished.
She turned, watching the ring now suspended by the chain around her neck. "My turn". She said and did not even expect him to turn around before he noticed that the object was already hanging from his neck.
"You are fast". Sheldon noted.
"Practice". She blinked with one eye.
"I must go, it's late. My mother has now decided to go to the rooms to check on us at night." He said.
"I think she must be worried about you after everything that has happened." Amy considered with a distant look, suddenly remembering all the events since the night of the birthday.
"Probably, but I'd better go, I think she'll be furious if she find out that the pillows in the closet are lying on my bed instead of me." She laughed as they got up. Amy followed him to the porch, opening the door and heading out.
Sheldon sat down on the balcony and swung his legs back, keeping his arms as suport. "Take care on the way down, Romeo." Amy joked.
"Please, do not force me to declare a love poem to you, my sweet Juliet." He scoffed imitating the performance of the character of the novel that not long ago he had watched in the theater.
"Stop that, Sheldon." She laughed inside but still afraid he might get hurt on the way down.
"Good dreams, Amy." He said before he walked down the steps that supported the creeper on the wall, and jumped, running quickly toward his house.
XXX
A/N: hope you don't hate me now. I'll be back soon.