Chapter 2

Thanks again to ShAmy4evr for being the most wonderful Beta EVER!

The next test went much better for Sheldon and his amygdala was ablaze, pleasing Amy no end. At the conclusion of the session, he was madder than hornet and ready to punch someone, but his anger was forgotten when Amy agreed to a get a beverage with him on a coffee break. She really needed a cup of tea, and if he was buying, who was she to refuse. She said she'd meet him in the cafeteria in 20 minutes, and as Sheldon left the lab with a grin, Eddy bounced over to Amy the minute the door closed.

"SOO Dr. Fowler. Not bad. Ya gotta a date AND your results. No wonder you're a brain doctor, you siren!"

Amy shook her head, "It's not a date! It's just a cup of coffee, well…I told him Lemon tea, but still, it's not a date! In fact it's the least he could do for ruining my favorite sweater and almost messing up my test! NOW MOVE!" Amy pushed back Eddy and went to find her purse. She could have sworn she had some lip gloss and a compact somewhere hidden in the bottom.

"Geez! Touchy! Maybe you watched the video too!" Eddy yelled back to her. He added, "Anyway take off that lab coat, and don't put on too much of that red gloss, sweetheart. It makes your skin look beige! Pasty is not a good look for catching a man!"

"HUSH UP EDDY!"

Sheldon returned to the cafeteria with a feeling of awe. How could be contend with the fact that he had just met this fantasy woman? She was living, breathing, walking around and exciting him like no other. The details were uncanny: Her hair, her stunning eyes, and sharp mind. Yes, Sheldon had to admit, his perfect mind could have made the last evening up. Sheldon did have an active fantasy life after all living alone for so long, but this was reality and now he just wanted to get to know her. He couldn't expect more.

He purchased a lemon tea and a second coffee for himself. Even though the thin paper cups were almost burning his hands, he held on to them as he stood with his back against the wall next to the soda machine, eyeing the crowd as they moved in and out of the cafeteria and waiting for an open seat.

Amy arrived about five minutes later. She didn't see him when she first entered, and for some reason he had become too nervous to call out to her. He saw her look around the tables eagerly and then her shoulders shrugged and she did an about face toward the door. That is when she saw him holding two beverages. She stood up straight and marched over to him with a beaming smile. Sheldon unconsciously returned a smile as bright as hers.

"Hello Dr. Cooper."

"Hello." Sheldon continued to smile for a moment and then held out the tea with a straight arm. "Here."

"Oh, thank you." Sheldon looked down and noticed that she was still wearing her flowered blouse, but it had a few dark spots where she had tried to clean it. He also noticed she had applied lip gloss, a nice peach color that made her skin glow.

"Um, would you like to sit or do you need to go somewhere?" Amy looked down and played with the cover of her tea. Sheldon had been smart enough to put a lid on it this time around.

Sheldon looked at his watch, "Um… I do have a meeting with Gablehauser." He shifted his weight back and forth.

"Oh, I see, well, thank you for the…" Amy started to turn away, but Sheldon touched her shoulder gently and added quickly:

"But it's not till two o'clock." He stepped closer to her by an inch, though that did not seem to be close enough. He wanted to get closer.

"Oh really?" Amy looked up at him again, "Well…Um. Do you want to sit?"

"Yes. I think I need to." Sheldon's knees were about to give out. Every nerve in his body was on edge, telling him to run, to get away and go back to his room, where it was safe, before he screwed this up. She might be the woman of his dreams, but the reality was a whole different matter. However every time he looked into her kind eyes, he felt a brief moment of such calm that it was enough to keep him steady.

"Are you experiencing some distress?" Amy cocked her head to the side looking concerned. "It wasn't my test was it?"

"Ah, no. I'm used to being pissed off." He tried to pull back his words, and not speak so vulgar around her, but her smile said he was okay. "Um… I really did pay attention."

"Good. I checked the results and thank you. I appreciate that you tried to correct the error. I want to try and get these primary results for a grant I am writing."

"Oh, I'm good at beggin' for money. Need some help?" Sheldon sat up with an eager grin.

Amy smiled but shook her head, "It's for Neuroscience, I doubt you'd understand."

Sheldon glared at her over the coffee he sipped and said flatly, "Try me."

Amy proceeded to explain the greater implications of her study and how it could lead to an exploration of the neural connections between emotions and intelligence. Amy went into painstaking detail, and to her delight, Sheldon was able to keep up. Sheldon asked all the right questions, gave appropriate advice and much to her surprise, even some suggestions she had not considered. It took about 20 minutes, but Amy was already impressed, a rare phenomenon for her. She had to admit, he was a highly intelligent individual. Very much so.

"You must be swimming in research grants!" Amy beamed at Sheldon, but he dropped his smile in an instant.

"Well… not really. Lately, the funds have… let's just say gone elsewhere." Sheldon sat back and played with coffee cup.

"Oh dear. Sorry to hear that. Is that what your meeting is about with Gablehauser?"

Sheldon could not resist, it was as if the dam had broken and he just opened up to her. He told her about the meeting with Gablehauser, and what he planned to say. After a few expletives, and an analogy to a dung beetle, Amy had heard enough to know this man would be fired within the day. She listened to it all calmly without interruption and finally offered her advice.

Amy smiled and said, "If I may be so bold, I am not sure that is the right approach to your meeting."

"Well, they need to know they can't push me around! I won't kowtow to them or their stupid deadlines."

Amy drew in a breath for strength and said flatly, "It seems the university will either let you go or give you an ultimatum. However, the lack of notice is what is disturbing to me. I mean, one cryptic email, and they are going to drop a bomb like that on you. According to university policy, if you have been on staff as a professor, you need 90 days for any changes in status."

"See, they're bat crap crazy, I tell ya! Their policy is irrelevant. I'm not a professor, I'm purely research!"

"Ah, yes, but you forget, you told me that you were a professor when you first came here. They did not change your status, they merely allowed you to do research. What does your paycheck say, researcher or professor?"

"Professor. They nev'r changed it. "

Amy smirked and raised her tea cup, "You got em, pal. Academic bureaucratic inefficacy at its finest." She winked at him and pulled her paper cup in to take a sip. "Hoist them by their own petard, with less cussing and dung beetles I might add and you will be fine!"

Sheldon sat back in his chair, and smiled. If he had not run into this woman, he might have been unemployed by the end of the day. Now he had some leeway, but he still worried that the 90 days probation was not going to be enough to improve his results, or get more grants. "Thank you, Amy. If they give me the 90 days, it will give me time to adjust to being unemployed, but I still have…"

Amy cut him off, "Why would you be unemployed? You just need to put that face of yours to your stellar reputation you told me about." Amy stared his eyes a little longer than normally warranted.

"My face? What would that do?"

Amy sipped her tea to hide her smirk, "Plenty." She looked up from her cup, "You need to tell them you'll work on campus."

"Oh no, I can't do that. No.. no.. no.." Sheldon pulled back and held his arm around his chest. The room had been filling up slowing with the lunch crowd, but they had been too engrossed in conversation to notice. By the time Sheldon looked up from his conversation with Amy, the room was near full. He looked around the room at the hordes of people and shifted nervously in his seat. He hadn't been in this large of a crowd in years. His throat was closing up as if he was breathing through a straw. More than once he had to dab the sweat off his head, and watching Amy's test on anger earlier had not helped his condescension for the plebs of science.

Amy tilted her head and with a sympathetic smile said, "You have a fear of crowds, Enochlophobia, don't you?"

"I don't think it's THAT bad, but I really don't like people." Sheldon looked around the room with a face akin to a sour puss.

Amy curled up a side grin and reminded him, "Well, I'm people."

"No… not just people, you're Amy!" Sheldon smiled and took a large drink off his coffee.

Amy squinted while she tried to decipher his words, "Well, that's not always been a help either since I have been told its rather a plain name."

Sheldon shook his head, "I've heard WONDERFUL things about all sorts of women named, Amy." He leaned over the table and gave her a dreamy smile.

"Well, those Amys probably weren't like me. Anyway, I have to tell you, I am not over fond of crowds either. How long have you been working at home, more than ten years you said?"

Sheldon continued his smile with a nod, indicating his wish for her to continue, "Let me just say, I've been alone for my whole life. There's an empty false comfort in it. You know what to expect, there are no surprises. You think it takes away the fear they won't hurt you, but it only masks it."

Sheldon bit his lip at her quick diagnosis of a problem that has plagued him since he was young, "That's it, I think." She was as remarkable as the others had said.

Amy gave a kind smile, "Now, I'm not saying jump in there and go all kumbaya with everyone. But if you spend those three months, becoming acclimated to being around people, it would be better for your career and it might actually be better for you as a person. Although, I know nothing about you, so you may want to take what I say with a grain of salt." Amy smiled and sipped her tea. She didn't know anything about this man seated across from her, but she had never had been so drawn to a person. He was a strange mix of vulnerability and strength that she found intriguing.

Sheldon looked down at his empty coffee cup and thought about what she had said. The conversation he was having with her was the first time in 15 years he had spoken with someone for more than five minutes that had not resulted in his being agitated or ready to punch a chalk board. They had been talking for almost two hours and he hadn't noticed the time pass. He was just about to say something to her about seeing her outside of work, that maybe she could help him with getting used to people when three men approached the table to greet Amy.

"Hey Amy… Whatcha doing?" The short man with the tight brightly colored pants with matching turtle neck didn't look at Amy when he asked her the question. He looked at Sheldon and gave him an odd leer that matched his rather large alien belt buckle.

The caramel skinned man behind him with an East Indian accent said the same exact thing, "Yeah, Amy. Whatcha doing?"

"Hello gentlemen. I am having tea and chatting with my new friend, Dr. Sheldon Cooper." Amy smiled at Sheldon acknowledging the label "friend", Sheldon smiled back, but it dropped when the three interlopers continued to speak.

The short man with glasses gasped, and the darker skinned man let out an exclamation, "Shut your ass! Sheldon Cooper? Dude you are a legend!"

The short man with the bright pants shook his head and said loudly, "Man, you're like a ghost! No one has seen you around here in like, what... 8 to 10 years or so?" Sheldon turned away and bit his lip, not making eye contact with any of the men.

The other man wearing a hoodie with a canvass jacket stepped up to the group. He pushed back his glasses, and held out his hand, "Wow, nice to meet you! I mean your work with protons and graphene was inspired! And that one theory you had about proton decay, man… That set the world on fire!" The man still held out his hand, but Sheldon just looked at him. Amy darted her eyes between the group and Sheldon, she could sense the tension rise each second the man held out his hand.

Amy stood up and put down the man's hand, "Oh Leonard, don't fangirl so much, you'll make people nervous." Amy forced a smile, "Sheldon, This is Dr. Rajesh Koothrapali, Dr Leonard Hofstadter and Howard Wolowitz, not a doctor."

Howard glared at Amy who smiled back unaware.

Sheldon felt as if the air had been knocked out of him. He couldn't speak, he just blinked and looked away. Could it be the same men from his hallucination? In all the Sheldons stories, he was best friends with Leonard, and in some cases, a roommate. Sheldon's mind went into overdrive, desperately grasping for any explanation as to how he could have imagined them. He must have seen them before, on one of the few times he had visited Caltech, maybe his mind hadn't registered them, but his subconscious had filed away their descriptions.

Amy could see from Sheldon's face that he looked confused and distracted. Thinking it was the crowd causing him distress she stammered and said quickly, "Um… Dr. Cooper is late for meeting with Gablehauser." Amy looked down at Sheldon and moved her body to the block the group as he rose from his chair. He had yet to say a word and his eyes were the size of saucers. His head was down as he inched past the group toward the door with Amy behind him.

"Ahhh… I wondered if I could ask you about your thoughts on an idea I had about…" Leonard asked eagerly, but Sheldon was out the door before he could finish his request. "Geez…What a diva, huh?"

Raj shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know man, he didn't say a word. I think he's just shy. I know that look he had. I had it with women for years."

Howard gave the door impious leer and raised his brows suggestively, "Well, he didn't seem to mind chatting up Amy! Le Grrowl"

"Yeah, imagine that! Huh. Maybe we don't have to fix her up with Stuart or your cousin after all, Howard?"

"Good. Cousin David is a louse and I should know. Amy must know too because she kicked me for suggesting it. Besides, I think Stuart already has a date scheduled with Amy. It's her once a year thing, though I wish she would go on a real date, and not this obligation crap." Howard headed toward the counter to get a coffee with the guys trailing behind them. "Girl needs to get laid quick."

Leonard shook his head, "Oh man, Amy is adamant, no romantic entanglements. Does Stuart know this is just an appeasement date, not a real one?"

"Yeah, he said he can be a fake boy toy for one night. That it would be better than nothing. Good luck Stuart!"

Raj bloomed a huge smile, "Screw Stuart, I want this guy for our Amy! He's so handsome and did you see how he looked at her? It was magic!"

"Oh brother Raj, you are a too much of a romantic. This guy can barely talk! How can he be with Amy, you can't shut her up!"

Raj crossed his arms, "You didn't seem to mind Amy's talking when she listened to you cry all night about Leslie! She's been a good friend to us, and she deserves romance!"

Leonard had to concede, although she could be difficult, Amy was true blue. "You're right, but let her do it, or you'll get her patented Wolowitz kick." Howard instinctively covered his genitals, "Now come on, let's eat."

Amy had followed Sheldon out of the cafeteria and now found him against the wall trying to catch his breath from meeting yet another one of his fantasies. It was taking a leap of faith that not only was the Amy before him the one described in his imagined congress, but also here were three more fictions come to life.

She came up to him timidly, "I'm sorry about them. They are a great group of guys, but they get very passionate about things they are interested in."

Sheldon suddenly thought maybe there was more to this group of eager men who seemed so familiar with Amy. Sheldon had a strange feeling brewing his gut. He could feel his blood pressure rise, "Um, how do you know… them. I mean. Are you with them? Well, not all of them. One of them. I mean…"

"Well, I am with them most days."

Sheldon cleared his throat, "I mean… Like a boyfriend… or date… Or…"

Amy cut him off with a chuckle, "Those guys? No way! No, I only date because I have to and only to shut up my mother, and then that is only once a year. I don't believe in wasting one's time with romance."

"Have to?" Sheldon swallowed and felt the blood flow from his face.

"Romantic notions only create relationship imbroglios. They are a distraction from science. Besides, sex is off-putting and ridiculous. Oh dear, are you okay, you look pale?"

Just his luck, he thought. The only woman he had ever been attracted to in his life and she was akin to a nun. Sheldon bit his lower lip and tried to smile, "Oh sure sure… Fine sure. Off putting. Right. Exactly…"

Amy smiled thinking that Sheldon agreed with her philosophy. Finally, she thought, a kindred spirit.

She said, "I have known the guys for a few years now. I helped Raj out with his selective mutism when I was running a study on it. He used to have a problem speaking to women and would clam up like a monk. He couldn't say a word. The first few sessions were interesting, since he couldn't speak to me. Anyway, though he wouldn't let me use that hot needle on his brain, we got through it, but it took a while. However I can happily say he can now speak to women and make unwanted advances toward anyone he wants." Amy gave a half smile, "So yay for him. I feel sorry for the women, though."

Sheldon swallowed the lump in his throat, "Do you think you could do that for me?"

"Stick a hot needle in your brain or do you want to make unwanted advances toward women?" Amy's voice rattled a little in her throat.

"No on the needle for sure and for sure no on the women. I can already speak to you, that's all I need."

Amy drew her hair behind her ears and blushed. For some reason, the looks he gave her and his words hit her like an instant knee wobbler ray aimed at her heart. She ignored the reaction and stiffened up like a soldier ready for inspection.

Sheldon let out a sigh seeing her reaction as he replied, "No, I want to be able to be comfortable around people. Maybe you can help."

"Oh! Sure I can help with that. But you know I am not a therapist, I am a Neurobiologist. Are you sure you don't want to talk to a professional?"

"No, I just want you." Sheldon's head was down, but he raised his eyes and looked at her for moment, then looked away and sucked in his bottom lip.

Amy looked down and said softly, "Then I'm all yours."

Sheldon drew in a slow breath and tried to hide his smile by biting his lower lip.

She cleared her throat, "Um… I can show you the way to Gablehauser's office, if you need it."

Sheldon let out a sigh, "No. I'm fine. I remember the way, unless they have changed it like the hell-scape of the science department. I remember everything. I have an eidetic memory, remember?" He gave her a wink.

Amy swallowed and put her hand to her chest, "Oh that's right. That really is extraordinary, you know."

"I guess, but somethings …it'd be easier to forget." Sheldon looked at his watch and then straightened up, "Time to answer to the bureaucratic masters. Thank you again, Amy. It was a genuine pleasure meeting you today. I wonder if I, um… could I come see you after and tell you how it went? Then I can complete the happy test. Hopefully, I will be in mood for it." He had to finagle more time with her; he just needed to figure out how.

Amy let out a small smile, "I would love that, please do. I hate not knowing the end to things!"

Sheldon beamed at her, "ME too!" He quickly curbed his exuberant reaction and lowered his tone again, "Fine. Goodbye." Sheldon walked toward Gablehauser's office as Amy virtually skipped toward her lab, feeling a joy that she could not remember experiencing before. Finally, a person who didn't need a dictionary to speak to her and no pressure to date! This Sheldon Cooper seemed as pragmatic as she, and Amy was never more thrilled.

A/N: Thank you guys so much for your wonderful response to the first chapter! I really hope you like this one! So Sheldon found his Amy and his friends. Can he get over his fears and Amy's apparent disdain for dating? You will have to see! He is a crafty one, that Sheldon.