Chapter 3

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

As she floated down the halls, Amy's thoughts kept returning to Dr. Sheldon Cooper. She had never spoken so easily with another person. It had been a few years since she had become friends with the three guys who seemed to have startled Sheldon with their exuberance, but even as good of friends as they had become, she was still guarded. At first, she had been robotic with the guys, even off-putting. However, it was Raj who had helped her warm to the group.

Leonard had gone with her to a wedding once, and Raj and Howard had taken her roller skating, but both occasions had only cemented her notion that NONE of these men would be anything more than friends and just reinforced her conviction that dating was for lesser minds. She had spent the wedding getting Leonard out of his moody funk because his relationship with Leslie Winkle had gone in the crapper and his bemoaning the fact that no woman would love him. It had been a dreary evening. The roller skating rink was a bust due to her brittle ankles. Luckily she had been able to keep her mother at bay with the wedding date as her yearly obligation.

When the guys had found out about her yearly dating duty, they decided to try and help her out. They had convinced her to go out with them one night, and after a trip to the comic book store last weekend, Stuart Bloom had asked her for a date. She been up front with Stuart telling him that she would only being going out with him to meet her yearly obligation, but he still agreed. Amy was thrilled to have this year's duty over and done with earlier than usual.

She picked at her leftover lunch. She hadn't had time to eat it since she had spent two hours talking to Sheldon. Amy had had to avoid her intern's barrage of questions about her "date." Eddy was becoming extremely annoying pestering her about everything about Sheldon Cooper, so she had sent him on an errand to UCLA just to get some peace. There was no way she would ever consider dating Sheldon. However, if they could become friends, she would finally have a person she could relate to on an intellectual level.

As the first afternoon volunteer for her study was not yet due, Amy sat in her lab chair, day-dreaming over an electro wired star fish. She hadn't noticed, but she had had the star fish's pleasure centers on fire for a full five minutes before her three amigos came bouncing into her lab fishing for intel on the elusive Sheldon Cooper.

They didn't give her time to catch a breath before they rattled off one question after another, almost as bad as teenage girls at a slumber party: "Come on, Amy! How did you meet him?" "Are you going to see him again?" "Is there love in the air?" "Are you still going out with Stuart?" "Can you get him to read my paper?" The last one was Leonard. He had been itching to get a math genius to help with his idea, and he knew that there was no better one on staff than Sheldon Cooper.

Amy shut the whole thing down in one shouted word, "ENOUGH!" She took a breath and said calmly, "Look. I just met him today and he is not too comfortable in large groups of people, okay? Caltech wants to get rid of him so he has a lot of pressure on him right now. He needs help and friends, not taunts, Ok Howard!"

Howard was offended, "Hey, why you singling me out? I haven't said a word!"

"Cause I know you and you will!" Amy changed her tone to begging, "Please don't scare him off! He's the first person I've ever felt truly comfortable talking to who could possibly understand an intelligent word."

Leonard rolled his eyes, "Is he as arrogant as you?"

"More so!"

"Oh crap." The group all said at once.

Amy took a deep breath, "He could be a good friend. I just don't want to ruin it."

"Okay…"All three guys looked at each other and then back at Amy's pleading eyes, "Okay Amy. We will be nice for your sake. Hey, maybe he can come to dinner with us or something? But no talking about female things." Leonard gave her a disgusted look.

Raj agreed, "Yeah, and no mention about my cultural dietary restrictions or describing your dissections when we order steak, okay?"

"Or making fun of me for not having my doctorate... Okay Amy?" Howard pouted.

Amy smiled and thought back to the first few dinners with the guys. Uncomfortable with a side of queasy is what was on the menu those nights. Amy had now eased off and tried to have some kind of filter when speaking to the guys. She was hoping that they would do the same for her.

Amy let out a fatalistic sigh, "I promise to be good, but I don't know if he would like joining us for dinner."

Howard cut her off with a wave of his hand, "Sure he would! He'd love us! We are a fun group of guys!"

Raj smiled, "Let's just grab him tonight and say, let's bounce, bitches!"

Amy shook her head violently, "Oh, no don't do that! He is not one to just bounce around…" Amy got cut off by Sheldon bouncing in the room.

"Amy! It worked! They were… oh… hello…" Sheldon's smile dropped and he looked away from the group, his head bent toward the floor.

Amy jumped off her chair and ran to him, "What happened? What did they say?" Amy grabbed his hand for brief moment before she realized her intimate action. She snapped her hand away but bent her head to meet his downturned eyes. Sheldon rubbed the hand she had touched and exhaled.

Taking a deep breath, he said, "You were right, they were going to let me go. But I told them what you said and they were backed into a corner. However, I do have to work on campus for the next 90 days as probation. I also have to show some new research potential."

Leonard popped over to Amy making sure to keep some distance between himself and Sheldon, "Excuse me, I'm sorry to interrupt. Look, I know you don't know me, but I might be able to help you. I have an idea that I need some help with it. I've tried to work out the math, but it's just too much for me. If I told Gablehauser we are working on it together, you could use that for the next 90 days!"

Sheldon narrowed his eyes at Leonard, "You don't even know if I can do the math for it, although I highly doubt THAT would be an issue. More importantly I don't even know if it's a good idea!"

"Well, I KNOW you can do the math, and I know it's a good idea. Why don't I tell you about it and then you can decide?" Leonard cocked his head and raised his brows as good as any used car salesman. He was tempted to plead with clutched hands, but he thought it would be too much.

Sheldon looked at Amy and she smiled and tilted her head slightly toward Leonard. Looking back at Leonard he crossed his arms, "Okay… dazzle me."

"Well, I had this idea that…." Leonard proceeded to tell Sheldon all about the idea he had for measuring fluid space-time. Sheldon didn't say a word, just put his thumb toward his mouth and listened. When Leonard was done he opened his eyes wide like a child waiting for approval, "So… whatcha ya think? Wanna look at what I've done so far. I mean, I've worked out the 2nd variable using Dirac equation in curved space-time, but I…"

Sheldon cut him off, "No no ... Dirac is good for curved space, but you are talking about fluid space." Sheldon opened his eyes, like Leonard should get what he is saying by telekinesis, "Oh good lord, find me a white board!"

Leonard and Sheldon continued to talk as they went down the hall toward Leonard's office. Howard and Raj just looked at Amy and shook their heads.

"Leonard just stole your boyfriend!"

"He's not my boyfriend." Amy laughed, "But if he was my boyfriend, I wouldn't be upset if he was pulled away by his friends."

"You say that now. Just wait till we get him to the comic book store!"

Amy glowered at the duo and pointed to the door, "OUT!" She turned back around to work and snorted, "Comic book store! As if he would be interested in that!"

Amy didn't hear back from Sheldon for the rest of the day even though she had expected him for the second scan at 3:30pm. Finally at 4:00pm she scratched his name off the second round list, kicking herself for watching the door like a love sick teenager does the phone. She stifled her disappointment and carried on with the rest of the studies though her mind was swimming, wondering how things were going between Sheldon and Leonard. At 5:00pm, she strolled down the hall to leave for home.

Her lab was near Leonard's office and as she approached she heard a heated discussion from the room with language she hadn't heard since her father had hit his thumb with a hammer. As Amy popped her head around the door, Leonard saw her and came out to the hall, to speak with her.

"Wow, you guys are still working? That's amazing."

"You weren't kiddin about the arrogance. I mean what is so wrong with Babylon 5?!"

"What?I thought you were working!?" Amy was about to be enraged that he had spent the afternoon gossiping about some Mesopotamian history rather than her study, but Leonard eased her mind.

"Oh, we've been doing nothing but that. He's an ass about Sci Fi, but I have to say… he's amazing. He worked out most of the math in like 2 hours. He's hardly spoken to me in the last hour other than to cuss me out, but I think he's in the zone."

Amy relaxed, "Oh good, I thought he blew me off for no reason. This is good for him."

"Yeah for me too. We had a few heated arguments early on, but there is no denying he is brilliant. Arrogant, full of himself, completely lacking any social graces and with a mouth like a sailor, but brilliant. I say we keep him!" Leonard gave Amy a beaming smile. Amy was so relieved that the time with Leonard hadn't turned into a battle, she knew how tedious he could be.

"Yes, you can keep him!" Amy smiled and shook her head, "Well, you kids have fun. I'm off to dinner. I'm starving."

Sheldon popped his head out the door, "Dinner? Who are ya going to dinner with?" He had that strange feeling brewing in his gut again at the thought of her going to dinner with someone and though he realized that his possessiveness of her was out of place he could not control it.

Amy tried to stifle her smile, but it was for naught. Quietly she said, "I usually eat alone on Mondays. For some reason, I've a craving Thai food… I'm going to pick up some to go."

Sheldon swallowed the saliva forming in his mouth at the mention of food and sucked in his lip. He had just realized that he hadn't eaten all day. He had spent the lunch time talking to Amy, he vaguely remembered Leonard offering to get him something to eat, but he had been too far in the zone to answer. It was the first time he had worked this well in months, maybe even years. However, at that moment, his stomach was growling so loud Amy could hear it.

"You were so busy working you didn't eat, huh?"

Sheldon smiled, but then it dropped as he remembered something else: Her study, and he missed it. He walked over to Amy and grabbed her hand, "Amy your study… I'm so sorry."

Amy pulled her hand away, but gave a half smile, "I know… you were excited about the new idea."

"That's no excuse. Please tell me I can do it tomorrow." He put his hands behind his back and bowed his head.

"Well… it's the last one this week. I have only one opening tomorrow… I don't know..." Amy looked away, but Sheldon followed her face so he could see her eyes.

Sheldon ignored her first rejection. He reached out and grabbed both her hands, "Please. I should have been there. I… messed up. I have to fix this. Tell me how?"

"Well, you can be at the lab tomorrow at 9:00 am. NO EXCUSES!" Amy smirked, and added, "Oh and you can buy dinner tonight."

Sheldon slumped against the wall, "Phew. I thought I had to buy a diamond hair piece or something."

"What? Diamonds? No! Just Thai food!" Amy's muddled face looked at Leonard for answers but she only received a shrug.

Amy asked, "Leonard you in too? I'll go pick it up for you guys and bring it back."

"Oh, Amy that's too much to ask." Leonard stopped for a nano second, then added, "But can you get those chicken stick things with peanut sauce? Oh and Pad Thai." Leonard was starving too and the offer to have dinner delivered and paid for was too much to pass up. Sheldon said nothing he just looked down as he pulled out his wallet and handed Amy a fifty.

"Sheldon… What can I get you?"

"I… um.. well." Sheldon was not used to anyone doing favors for him neither was he used to eating in front of anyone.

"It's okay. I don't mind. Caltech is almost empty, we can eat in the cafeteria. It's no problem Sheldon." She smiled and bowed her head to meet his eyes.

"Thank you Amy. Um. Mee Krob and Chicken Satay. That is the chicken dish that Leonard just bumbled the description of."

Amy snickered and nodded toward unsuspecting Leonard, "Yes, he is not very thorough."

Sheldon snorted and let out a chuckle, "Yeah, I'm finding that out." He tilted his head toward the white board he had been working on for the last hour.

Leonard held his hands out, "HEY, I'm standing right here!"

Sheldon looked confused, "Of course you are." Sheldon gave a derisive snort and went back in to the room. Leonard looked at Amy and put up his hands like he was going to strangle Sheldon.

Amy shook her head, "Now Now. That's the price of genius."

Leonard grimaced, "Well, it's damn expensive!"

About an hour later, the trio sat around a cafeteria table eating the take out that Amy had picked up. Leonard was a simple observer to the other two's conversation, which was an exercise in restraint to stop yawning. Never had Leonard been more bored, or so completely confused. He knew Amy was smart, but seeing her with Sheldon took her conversation to whole different level.

Sheldon and Amy rattled off about every subject under the sun, and some above it. They designed a game that in Leonard's opinion was stupid and just made stuff up. He could see Sheldon becoming more comfortable with eye contact with him as the conversation and the night rolled on. The vestment of Sheldon's hermit lifestyle was wearing thin and holding a conversation was becoming comfortable, at least with Amy. Finally, Leonard left the two alone to go home and get some sleep. It was 10pm before Amy realized that Leonard had gone and that they were alone.

"Oh my Sheldon! I'm sorry. I took you from your work and it's very late." Amy stood up to grab her purse. Sheldon stood up at the same time.

"If it wasn't for you, I would be unemployed now. While Leonard and I were working, Gablehauser came by. He was impressed with the work and as long as it shows promise, he will keep me on the staff without becoming working professor. No classroom for me."

"I guess that is as good a reason as any to miss my study." Amy sipped the last of her drink to hide her disappointment and walked to throw it in the trash, but Sheldon stopped her by touching her arm for a brief moment.

"No… it's not. It won't happen again, Amy. I don't want to let you down. Ever." Sheldon stared at her with stone-like resolve.

Amy was taken aback by his adamant response. "Okay… It's good you will be happy tomorrow."

"I'm happy today too." Sheldon smiled and stared at her lips still glistening with last drops of Thai Iced tea. He shook off his stare and said, "I guess I should thank your friend Leonard as well."

"He could be your friend too."

Sheldon smiled, "I got a sneaking suspicion you could be right."

Amy giggled at his Texan expression, "Well, Leonard is a pleasant fellow. Little moody, but he just needs to quit looking for love in all the wrong places." Amy smiled then dropped it. "Or at all."

Sheldon let out a short chuckle, "Well, it's not every day you bump into your soulmate…" He looked at Amy, but quickly cleared his throat and said, "Not that one should believe in that mumbo jumbo."

"Certainly not." Amy added, looking overly interested in the dregs of her Thai Iced tea, then she finally tossed it.

Sheldon wanted to change to the subject, "Um… Gablehauser is talking to HR about getting me an office." Sheldon chewed on his lip, "I have to come here every day."

Amy couldn't help herself, she blurted out "Good!" She said quickly, "Um…maybe you can be on time for my study, then..." Amy glared at him, but with a coy grin, "No excuses this time, since I will probably see you every day."

Sheldon stopped and turned to look at her. Amy was putting on her jacket and purse strap, not looking at him. When she stood still and looked up at his face, he was studying her, almost looking at her like an old photograph of someone long lost. Finally he said in thick drawl, "Why ya think I'm doin' it?"

Amy drew in a quick breath through her nose and tried to catch the lung full of air that had just been knocked out of her. Her mind worked quickly through the reasons he would want to see her. She couldn't think of any other reason than the help she had offered earlier, "So I can help you with your anxiety, right?"

Sheldon stammered and said, "Um… Oh right that too." He gave her quick smile and then followed her out the door.

It was late by the time they left and the walk to the parking structure was dark since Caltech had long since turned off the lights. She hoped Sheldon's car was parked near hers so she wouldn't be alone. She asked nervously, "Where did you park?"

"I don't drive. I got a motorcycle, but it's idle for too long. I used to ride it to the grocery store and Caltech, but since I have been working at home for over 10 years, there was no need for it and it's been in storage since, so it needs some minor repairs before I can use it. My daddy tried to teach me to drive, but after I wrecked the pickup and Junior's car, he gave up. Thank god." Sheldon grumbled the last statement through his teeth.

"Really? How do you get around?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "Well I worked at home till about 15 hours ago, and anywhere else I need to go is usually within walking distance, so there was no need."

"Oh. I see. Do you need a ride home? I could use an escort to my car."

"You'd get that anyway. There's no way I'd let you walk out here in the dark and yes, I'd like a ride home." The one thing Sheldon didn't have any more thanks to his father was the fear of getting into a fight. His father had made sure that Sheldon wasn't afraid of anything. He had made him fight his bullies and walk at night alone. Anything else that Sheldon showed any fear toward, his father beat out of him by over exposure. Sheldon had learned to control his fears, or hide them. However, the fear of getting close to people was almost ingrained in him. He never knew what people's intentions were or their motivations. Trust is torn from a child of alcoholic early in their upbringing, and Sheldon was no different. It was a feeling that he couldn't shake off so easily.

They walked silently to her car till a thought occurred to Amy.

As she climbed into the driver's side, she asked him, "How are you going to get to work every day?"

"I better get that bike fixed, or walk." Sheldon had just been thinking the same thing. He really was in no mood to walk every day to work.

Amy held onto the steering wheel with a tight grip. She wanted to offer to pick him up, but she feared it would be presumptuous on her part. "Um.. Where do you live?"

"2311 Los Robles."

"I drive near there to work every day." Amy chewed her lip giving a short glance to Sheldon as she waited for a reply.

Sheldon didn't catch the hint at the moment since he was too anxious being in a car and every other car on the road looked like disaster ready to strike. He continued to stare out the window and hold onto her car handle with a tight sweaty grip. It had been years since he was in the tight space with a combustion engine rumbling under him not under his control. Also, he was always fearful of crashes, though Amy seemed to be an excellent driver. However it wasn't until she parked outside his apartment did he peel his hand off the handle of the door. His hand pained him from his tight grip.

Sheldon released the air in his lungs, "Amy. I can't thank you enough for helping me today. I've never had someone help me like you did." Thanking someone was as strange as riding in a car. It was so unfamiliar to him.

"The pleasure was all mine. From what you have said, I know that I am probably the first person you've talked to in quite a while. That makes me feel very special." She smiled and looked away.

Sheldon gave her that look again that shot through her. "You are special Amy. You have no idea how special." Sheldon undid his seat belt and gave her another smile. He got out of the car and closed the door. Amy gripped the steering wheel again and let out a large breath. She was startled when he knocked on her window.

Amy rolled it down, "Did you forget something, Sheldon." She looked up to him and blinked a few times waiting for him to speak.

Sheldon's eyes darted around, and he looked like he was going to hyperventilate. Amy waited till he caught his breath. He asked her, "Um.. Amy. Since you are drivin' this…away…tomorrow. I haven't got that bike fixed yet.. I mean it's a fur piece to the University. I don't want to be an impose…"

Amy let him off the hook of coming out and asking, "Don't worry, Sheldon, I can pick you up. When?"

"Um… 8:30? I got an appointment with a sassy Neurobiologist at 9:00am who hates it when I'm late…" Sheldon tipped his head down and smirked at her.

Amy raised her brow and said flatly, "Better not piss her off." She finished with a smile, "See you tomorrow, Dr. Cooper."

"Good night Dr. Fowler."

Amy waited till he went to his foyer and she saw him start up the elevator before she rolled up the window and let out a large sigh.

So sorry this is late folks. The flu I gave my hubby, he gave back to me. Ugh. I wanted this earlier for you. I hope you enjoyed it.