"Tell her that you already have a girlfriend."

"So, I'd perpetrating a ruse?" Sheldon asked.

"Precisely."

"Doctor Fowler! Aren't you full of brilliant ideas!" Sheldon said.

Amy waved her hand nonchalantly but Sheldon thought he saw a little blush on her face.

"I was planning to do that to my mother but I haven't met the perfect man to play pretend as my boyfriend. She knows I have high standards so I can't just use some random man otherwise she'd be suspicious," she explained. "Now, let's get back to work, shall we?"

"Very well. I apologize for causing disruption to our work with my problem," Sheldon humbly said.

Amy only nodded and they both continued to work.

Amy's idea had put Sheldon's mind on ease for the rest of the day. He even surprised the gang when he casually complimented Howard for correctly bringing his food order for dinner. Howard looked for any sign of sarcasm considering it was not the first time he ordered Sheldon's food but Sheldon just calmly enjoyed his dinner. The gang thought Sheldon acted weirder than usual and exceptionally chirpy, they looked at him in wonder but then just shrugged and let him be.

They definitely could use a nicer Sheldon Cooper.


Sheldon panicked.

No, no, no, no, he thought.

He looked back to the conversation he had with his mother earlier. Another unscheduled phone call but this time it was necessary.

"Hello, Shelly," his mother answered after the second ring.

"Good morning, Mom. I'm calling to inform you that I will be home to attend Noah's wedding next weekend. Unfortunately, I cannot accept your invitation to meet the woman you're trying to set me up with," Sheldon said to the point.

"Why not?" Mary asked not even bother to deny that she was indeed trying to set him up.

"Because I already have a girlfriend and I have no intention to betray her," he replied, grateful that her mother was not in front of her so the she could not see his face twitched.

Mary did not reply for a moment Sheldon checked his phone screen to see if the call was somehow disconnected. It was not.

"Mom, are you still there?" Sheldon asked.

"Yes, yes, I'm here," Mary finally said. "So, you have a girlfriend now?"

"Correct."

"Then you should bring her to the wedding," she simply said.

"What! I-I can't bring her to the wedding!" he stammered.

"Why not?"

"We just started dating and I don't want to overwhelm her with our family. She might freak out."

"Don't you want to introduce her to us?"

"Y-yes, of course. But, not now. Someday."

"Oh, Shelly. Why are you so shy?" Mary asked sweetly. "Is it because your girlfriend doesn't exist?" She was not asking this time, she stated it out right, knowing that his youngest son was lying.

"What? No! I assure you she is real." Sheldon's voice was raising involuntarily. "She exists and she is real. Her name is… Amy. Amy Farrah Fowler." He mentioned the first name that came to his mind. After all it was her idea, Sheldon was sure she would not mind.

"Really?"

"Y-yes. She is a neurobiologist at Caltech. And she's smart, and kind, a-and pretty."

"She sounds lovely."

"She is."

"That makes me really want to meet her more," Mary said mockingly.

Sheldon kicked himself in the head. He should not have made her sounded so wonderful, although she really was wonderful. It was not like what he said about her not true.

"She can't. She is a busy woman," he tried to dismiss the idea from her mother.

"So, first you said she can't come because you don't want to overwhelm her and now you said she can't come because she's busy. Which one is it, Shelly? Is it actually because you only made her up?"

"I told you, Amy Farrah Fowler is real! We are pair bonded. I can send you pictures," Sheldon said in panic.

"Look, Shelly. Here's the deal," Mary said in a firm tone which always causing Sheldon to shut his mouth. "You will bring your girlfriend as your plus one to the wedding or I'll invite Vanessa to be your plus one and you are going to behave nicely to her."

"Who's Vanessa?" Sheldon asked.

"Oh, that's the name of the lovely girl I want you to meet," she replied casually. "I'm expecting your confirmation this Friday so that I still have time to invite her. I'm sure if your girlfriend is that wonderful and your relationship is indeed real, you guys can make it work despite her, you know, busy schedule."

Drat, Sheldon thought. He did not know that his mother was serious this time. This was not supposed to happen. The plan was to tell her mother that he expected her not to introduce him to any woman while he was in Texas because he already had a girlfriend and he believed in monogamous relationship and she would drop the subject completely.

"Shelly?" Mary said. She waited for him to say something.

"Yes, Mother?" Sheldon only managed to respond.

"Call me this Friday. Bye," she said and ended the call without giving him the chance to say anything.

Sheldon threw his phone to the bed and groaned in frustration.

"Sheldon, are you alright?" Leonard said opening the door of Sheldon's room. "Are you sick? Why aren't you ready yet?"

"Geez, Leonard. Can't you knock? Also, can't a man have a conversation with his mother in the morning?"

"I can and he can, but it's almost time to go to work otherwise we'll be late," Leonard said.

Sheldon looked at his watch and realized the time. Leonard was already dressed to work while he was still in his pajamas. "Relax, Leonard, it's not like you are solving the mystery of the universe anyway," he said angrily as he stormed to the bathroom.

"There goes the nice Sheldon. It's been nice while it lasted," Leonard muttered to the empty room.


As Leonard parked the car, Sheldon almost fell as he hurriedly got out of the car without freeing himself from the seat belt.

"Sheldon, be careful! Why the rush anyway?" Leonard asked.

"There's an emergency."

"What's wrong?" Leonard was totally confused. Sheldon had been acted weirder since that morning. He was more confused when he saw Sheldon walking quickly but not to the direction of his building. "Sheldon, where are you going?"

"I need to see Doctor Fowler."

"The neurobiologist? Why? Is that the emergency?" Leonard remembered Sheldon had informed the gang that he started collaborating with Doctor Fowler from neurobiology department to study the time lag between intent and awareness which Leonard thought was interesting. Sheldon mentioned her names quite a lot, which if Leonard did not know him better, he would say that Sheldon had a crush on her, although he probably was just excited to start a new project.

"Please, Leonard, I don't need to tell you everything that happens in my life," Sheldon only replied without turning back as he left Leonard in the parking lot.


Sheldon stopped in front of Amy's office door out of breath. He had half run to her building from the parking lot. He composed his breath before raising his hand to knock on the door.

Knock, knock, knock. "Doctor Fowler."

Knock, knock, knock. "Doctor Fowler."

Knock, knock, knock. "Doctor Fowler."

A surprised looking Amy opened the door. "Doctor Cooper. What are you doing here? It's not our agreed schedule yet."

Sheldon stepped inside her office without waiting for her invitation to come in. "Let's stop with the chit chat and cut to the chase," he said once he was in the room. "There's something I have to tell you."

"What's that?" Amy asked frowning.

"I need you to go with me to Texas next weekend as my girlfriend."


I used the name Vanessa because I'm running out of idea. Also, thank you for reading. A review or two would be nice.