Penny and Leonard entered the comic book store and the party was in full swing. Howard immediately came over to them. He was dressed in all black with boots, a mask and a sword.

"Wow! Amy, Sheldon, You guys look great" he joked.

"Shut up Howard" snarled Penny.

"As you wish" he said in character as Wesley from The Princess Bride.

"Well, this what you get when you go non-traditional for Halloween" complained Penny.

The real Sheldon and Amy walked in right behind them. Amy was wearing her coat. They looked around at all the party guests. They saw Bernadette dressed in a flowing long gown with her hair in long waves as Princess Buttercup to Howard's Wesley. They saw Denise and Stuart as Little Red Riding Hood and The Wolf. There were members of the Justice League, Marvel characters, fairy tale characters and several scary costumes too.

"Shall I hang up your coat?" Sheldon offered Amy. Amy gulped but nodded and removed her coat.

As Sheldon left, Howard looked at Amy and just stared and stared and stared.

Amy didn't notice though because she was too busy taking in all of the costumes. Everyone looked amazing, she thought. And there were some pretty outrageous costumes. She immediately felt better. No one will notice her simple black dress and heels, she thought.

Finally, Leonard cleared his throat bringing Howard out of his daze.

"Um, you look very nice Amy" he said finally.

"Thank you Howard" she replied.

Penny and Leonard left to go join the party as Raj came over to Howard and Amy. He was wearing a large light brown afro styled wig and fake beard and a button up blue shirt with jeans. He asked with a slight swagger "Howard, who's your friend?"

"What friend?" Howard asked confused.

"This one" Raj said "the beautiful one…wha?" he said as he turned to look closer at Amy.

"It's me Rajesh" Amy said. "I'm dressed as Penny remember."

Raj is stunned. "No, Amy?" "Wow, you look…just wow!"

Amy smiled. "Thank you. Who are you supposed to be?"

"Oh, I'm Bob Ross," Raj says. "You know the painter."

"How is that part of a couple?" she asked.

"See, here is my painting." He holds out a painting he was carrying of a landscape scene. It was actually very pretty.

"Um, okay." Amy said. "Well, I'm going to go find Sheldon."

"It has happy little trees, see" Raj called after her but Amy kept on walking.

"I don't think that was the only wood that was happy around here when you first saw Amy" Howard teased when Amy was out of earshot.

"Hey, to be fair, I didn't recognize her. I mean, if I had known Amy could look like that then maybe I would have tried to…no, even then no" Raj said.


As the night continued, Sheldon was standing with Leonard by the food table. There were several comic book store regulars that came over and laughed saying they liked their costumes. Some party guests who did not know them stopped and asked who they were dressed as but most just gave them a curious stare as they passed by them.

They had been there for less than an hour but in that small time frame Amy had been fully established as the "Belle of the Ball" as the old saying goes. The girls could not stop gushing about how gorgeous Amy looked in her costume and every Tom, Dick and Harry in this place could not stop staring at his wife. A few of them had even approached her and starting talking to her. Unbelievable! If this was supposed to be a "come as a couple" theme party, there were an awful lot of single men here, Sheldon frowned.

"Hey Buddy, you okay?" asked Leonard.

"I see what you mean Leonard about keeping an eye on Amy tonight" Sheldon said.

"Well, don't think too much about it. Amy can handle herself with a bunch of comic book store losers" Leonard said trying to make Sheldon feel better even though he was insulting them both with that statement.

Sheldon did not feel any better as he saw a brawny man dressed like Thor approach Amy. Wow, if he were not so jealous right now, he would be very impressed with the man's costume. He looked just like the Norse God. In addition, he must have been a comedian too because whatever he had just said to Amy made her smile and laugh.

"Perhaps, but I had better stick close to her tonight" Sheldon said as he made his way from the table over to Amy.

Howard approached Leonard as Sheldon was leaving.

"Where's he going?" he asked.

"Oh, to do something stupid and immature" Leonard said.

"Like what?" Howard asked.

"I'm not sure yet but it's still early" said Leonard.


When Sheldon reached Amy and Thor he stopped and inserted himself into their conversation. "Amy what is so funny?" he asked as he simultaneously put his arm around her waist in a rare public display of affection.

"Oh, Sheldon, this is Steve. He is a marine biologist I met at Princeton when I was there last summer. He is in town this weekend visiting Caltech. Isn't it a small world?" she exclaimed.

"Dr. Stephen Turken" Thor said as he held out his hand to Sheldon. "It's such a pleasure to meet you. Amy told me all about you when we worked together last summer."

"Dr. Sheldon Cooper" Sheldon said automatically as he shook the other man's hand.

"Steve is thinking about a possible move to come work for us. We would be so honored to have someone of his caliber working for our department" Amy gushed.

"I didn't even recognize Amy tonight" Steve said. "You are a lucky man Sheldon. Who knew what Amy had been hiding under her lab coat" he chuckled.

Amy giggled like a school girl.

Sheldon did not make a sound. Awkward silence followed.

"Um, I'm actually here visiting my son" Steve continued. "He lives here with his mother." "Hey Will, come over here for a second" he called out to a tall teenage boy. The boy was dressed as Loki.

"Will is a senior this year and going to studying physics at Caltech next fall. Will, this is Dr. Sheldon Cooper, the famous theoretical physicist." The boy smiled and held out his hand. "Wow" he said. "Great to meet you. I'm a big fan of your work". Again, Sheldon automatically shook his hand but did not say anything. Sheldon just stood there. Eventually, the boy's smile faded and he moved away. Awkward silence continued.

"Um, Steve let me introduce you to Bert" Amy interjected as she gestured to the large gentleman dressed as Fred Flintstone. "He is a geologist at Caltech and actually won the MacArthur Fellowship last year. I'm sure he would love to hear about your latest research on coral reefs.

"Nice to meet you Dr. Cooper" Steve said as Amy took him by the arm leading him away. She turned her head and sent a quick glare at Sheldon to let him know she was not happy with his behavior just now.


Sheldon just stood there. He was stunned. I do not understand, he thought. I distinctly remember telling Amy before she left for Princeton to call me if she found herself working with a male scientist that looked like Thor. Why did she never tell me about him? Why does he know all about me but I have never heard about him? And why was she so excited that he might be moving here?