"You're late, Doctor Cooper."

"Yes, I'm aware of that. No need to state the obvious, Doctor Fowler," Sheldon replied as he entered her lab which was also her office.

Sheldon Cooper did not expect that he would be collaborating with someone from the neurobiology department someday. He always preferred to work alone. That was why when President Siebert asked him to collaborate with the neurobiology department, he did not welcome the idea. What the neurobiology department needed from him was beyond him, they worked with icky squishy stuff. He was too valuable. However, President Siebert insisted him to at least listen to the presentation from the neurobiology department. He told him that they needed the best person from the physics department and Sheldon was undoubtedly the best choice. Despite Sheldon's suspicion that President Siebert was manipulating him, he could not help but agree with his statement and accepted the invitation to listen to the presentation first.

He was surprised at first to find that there was only one person when he opened the presentation room's door. He expected a party from neurobiology department would be there, it should be an honor to give a presentation to Dr. Sheldon Cooper, B.S., M.S., M.A., Ph.D., Sc.D. after all. Instead, a small woman with dark hair and glasses stood up straight in front of the room with a power point of presentation ready behind her.

"Good afternoon. You're Doctor Sheldon Cooper, I'm Doctor Amy Farrah Fowler," the woman greeted him. She did not offer her hand to shake his and Sheldon tremendously appreciated her for that.

"Hello, Doctor Amy Farrah Fowler. Are you the neurobiologist who will give the presentation to me?"

"Yes, I am. Please, be seated," she replied shortly.

"And you're going to do the presentation alone?" Sheldon said skeptically.

"Yes. Is that a problem for you?"

"Oh, no. Please, entertain me," Sheldon said mockingly before taking his seat.

The woman ignored his demeaning tone and started her presentation.

For the next hour, Sheldon found himself mesmerized by the woman in front of her.

She explained about how she had an idea to conduct some experiments to show that the signal to move a muscle occurs before someone knew they even decided to move it, that she was trying to figure out to the nanometer and the attosecond, precisely where and when an event of awareness takes place, that she wanted to study the time lag between intent and awareness, and that it applied to the measurement problem in quantum mechanics. She had prepared a thorough and elaborate presentation Sheldon did not even had any question for her. He did not expect to be blown away with the presentation from someone from the neurobiology department, yet he did.

"Wow!" Sheldon managed to squeak.

"I know," the woman replied, nodding knowingly.

"Well, what do you know? Here I was, waiting to be bored with biology, and instead you tickle my intellectual fancy," Sheldon said enthusiastically. "Which, unlike my body, is an okay place to tickle," he added.

The woman frowned at his later remark but did not say anything.

Sheldon considered her proposal. If the experiments succeeded, it would be a breakthrough not only for neurobiology but also physics. Her idea was brilliant and plausible, she also had prepared everything. Sheldon was sold.

"So, what do you say, Doctor Cooper?" the woman broke the silence.

Sheldon smiled. "Well, Doctor Fowler, get ready to prepare your ship because I'm on board."

They had been working together for a couple weeks now. Every day after lunch, Sheldon would come to her office to work on their project. Amy decided that they should call it their project on the first day. She reasoned that even though it was her idea, they were going to work on it together so it was only logical. Sheldon agreed immediately, knowing if it were his idea, he probably would call it his project all the time and insisted other people to do the same. But noticing that she was doing it for science not her ego, made him respected her more.

It was not like he never heard of her before—she was a quite well-known neurobiologist. He had read her study that disproved love at first sight and laughed at the irony that he loved that study the moment he read it. He recognized her when she introduced herself, he was even a little excited to meet her and ready to praise on her works if only he did not need to keep his appearance in front of her, something that he would never admit to her.

Sheldon found himself enjoyed working along with her. She was brilliant. She could keep up with him, even in physics, she did not know everything but she knew enough to cover the basis of physics. She did not talk when they were working, yet when they had a discussion, Sheldon felt like they could talk for hours. She also understood his jokes and she made good ones too. It usually took time for Sheldon to enjoy someone's company but they hit it off instantly. They never talked outside her lab. However, he often could not wait to tell her when he read some interesting articles or thought of some amusing puns or jokes. Sheldon pondered about inviting her to lunch a couple times but afraid it would sound unprofessional.

However, Sheldon's mind was elsewhere that day. He could not stop thinking back to his conversation with her mother earlier.

"Why so glum?"

Amy's voice brought him back to reality. He considered not telling her anything but there was something about her eyes that was full of concern and looked sincere. Sheldon opened his mouth and instead of lying by saying that everything was okay, he told her everything like water pouring after the tap had been turned open. Amy listened attentively and did not interrupt him until he finished.

"You know you can just meet her and tell your mother later that she doesn't meet your standard," Amy suggested.

"You don't know my mother. The moment I agree to meet the woman, she will be busy planning my wedding," Sheldon replied coldly. "Besides, I don't want to make a bad precedent. If I agree this time, she would think it is okay to send flyers of me all over the town and have all the maidens lined up to meet me."

Amy chuckled. "Sounds like my mother."

"Your mother tries to set you up also?"

"She has tried a few times in the past but it never worked. In the end, I just made a deal with her to date once a year in exchange for her silence on the matter, as well as the occasional use of her George Foreman Grill that seals in the flavor without the fat," Amy said. "Although, she never gives up and always calls me the next day after the date asking me how they went."

Sheldon had an uncomfortable and inexplicable feeling in his stomach of imagining Amy went on dates with other men. "And, how the dates went?"

"Tedious," Amy replied simply.

Sheldon was surprised to find himself felt relieved upon hearing her reply. He cleared his throat to shake the feeling. "So, as someone who is experience on this matter, do you have any suggestion?" he asked. "Other than agree to meet the woman, of course," he added.

"Hmm, well, there is something else you can try."

"What is it?"

"Tell her that you already have a girlfriend."


I think at this point you can guess the idea of this story. It's a cliché idea and it's going to be a one hell of a cliché story. So, buckle up.

And thank you for reading.