Disclaimer: I own nothing of The Big Bang Theory or the characters I'm writing about. Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady are the geniuses responsible for the greatness of TBBT and The Shamy. This work is intended only as an homage to our favorite couple, whatever their current relationship status.
The guys were in 4A having a rousing round of Punchout on Vintage Video Game Night while the ladies enjoyed Girls' Night across the hall. Sheldon's keen ears heard Amy's voice in the hall as Penny opened her door. He wasn't playing anyway at the moment and took the opportunity to slip over to the door and catch her before she descended the stairs.
"Good evening Amy," he said pleasantly. "I hope you enjoyed your hen party? You didn't have too much wine to be driving yourself home, did you?"
"Good evening to you too, Sheldon," she replied smiling with only the barest hint of exasperation. "And no, I only had one glass of wine hours ago. If chocolate could intoxicate I might have to worry about driving home, but as far as alcohol goes, I'm good."
"Ok, good then." They stood smiling at each other a moment. Sheldon looked down at his shuffling feet, uncharacteristically nervous. "Um, Amy, if you're available I'd like to come to your apartment on the afternoon of the 23rd to give you your Christmas gift."
Amy was surprised for multiple reasons. He had bought her a Christmas gift? Sheldon hated giving and receiving gifts, and in the past had been none too fond of Christmas itself. Sure, he would give gifts when obligated, but he was bringing this up himself. And why would he have to come to her apartment to give it to her?
"Uh, I think that's fine," Amy started, "But why the 23rd at my apartment? Penny said everyone is getting together at your place on Christmas eve." Did he not want her to come over?
"Yes," Sheldon confirmed, "but I had to schedule delivery of your gift and they were most unwilling to do it on the 24th for some reason," he rolled his eyes. Amy tried not to snicker. Yes, for some reason. Oh, Sheldon. "Besides, I suppose I don't know how the delivery men would get it up here, nor how we would get it back to your apartment if they did."
Amy agreed to the 23rd, intrigued. What in the world did that mean?
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Sheldon arrived the afternoon of Dec 23rd looking dashingly handsome in what Amy figured she would always think of as Date Night clothes. Not that she got Date Nights anymore, she reminded herself, heart aching. She welcomed him into her apartment where she offered him strawberry Quik, which he happily accepted. Instead of sitting on the couch like she had thought he would, Sheldon wandered over to her Christmas tree and began looking at the ornaments. He noticed a number of small red and white patterned hearts amongst the decorations. "Are these from Norway?" he asked.
"Yes," she said, smiling, "I bought them there when I did my semester abroad."
Amy had thought briefly about not even putting up a tree this year. She hadn't really felt like celebrating when she had pulled out her box of decorations the week after Thanksgiving. It had only served to remind her how giddy she had been to decorate for her Victorian Xmas party last year, and what a beautiful night that was. Now everything was different, of course. She and Sheldon were "just friends" now, after all, however that was supposed to work. But after shutting the lid on that particular pity party she had briefly indulged in, she reminded herself that was still better than not having him in her life at all, and she had gone and bought a small tree. Alone. At the same lot they had gone to together the year before, trying to avoid looking at the infamous mistletoe.
But now that he was standing in her apartment, admiring that tree, she was glad she had. He had never asked about her decorations before, and she was enjoying sharing them with him. He had just asked her about an antique-looking silver star that had actually belonged to her grandmother when there was a series of quick raps on the door. Amy opened it to find two delivery men with a hand truck and an enormous wooden crate like something out of a movie. She had to sign a slip of paper, then they wheeled the crate inside and stood it up in front of her couch. Sheldon tipped the men and let them out while Amy stood staring at the crate, mouth agape.
"Sheldon, this crate is bigger than I am! What on earth is it?"
"Why don't you open it and find out?" he asked, smiling a strange little smile, then crossing the room to his messenger bag where he retrieved a small crowbar.
The two of them worked together to open the crate, following the instructions printed on it. It really is like something out of a movie, Amy mused again. Sheldon finally pulled the lid off to expose a ton of shredded packing material. "Go on," Sheldon motioned to her, crossing to her kitchen and returning with a trash bag. Amy began pulling out the packing material while Sheldon bagged it all up neatly. Of course, she smiled. Under all the shredded material was something very large wrapped in layers and layers of bubble wrap. Amy leaned close to try to ascertain what was inside. She suddenly spied something that caused her to gasp and step back quickly, eyes zeroing in on Sheldon.
"You didn't!" She managed to croak out.
Sheldon only offered her a sheepish smile.
"Sheldon, you-did-not! Oh my goodness, oh my goodness..." Amy looked as though she might pass out. She took two stumbling steps to the couch and sank heavily onto it. "You got me a real skeleton?"
Sheldon merely nodded, his smile bright. He didn't trust himself to speak. She loves it. I'm so glad she loves it. I knew she would love it. He felt the prickle of tears behind his eyes and blinked hard.
"Sheldon..." It came out as a sigh. Amy's voice was like a caress, and his chest tightened to hear it. She gave him a soul-searing gaze, her own eyes full of tears. "Sheldon, I - I can't accept this. It's too much, and - and we're not even..." she trailed off, drawing in a deep breath through her nose and looking at her lap, fighting to keep the tears from falling.
"Well, I certainly can't return it," Sheldon began. "And if you're worried about the reciprocal value of the gift, don't be. I didn't have to pay for it."
"What?" Amy's surprise helped her rein in her emotions. "What do you mean? How did you get it?"
He came and sat down next to her on the couch. Too far away. "UCLA has been after me for some time to come give a lecture there. Dr. Gablehauser and President Siebert both thought it was a great idea to build cross-institutional unity or some such nonsense, so I've had to fight them off about it for some time. I merely contacted the UCLA Physics department and told them I would acquiesce to their request, but my stipulation was that they agree to provide me with a human skeleton from the Cadaver Lab as recompense." Sheldon shrugged his shoulders.
Amy's heartbeat quickened as she heard his explanation. "Sheldon, you hate giving lectures, you hate new places, you hate crowded rooms...and you're and giving a lecture there for this? For me?"
"Six, actually," he mumbled, looking down.
"What?" Amy asked, still gaping at him.
Sheldon cleared his throat and met her eyes. "Their bargain back to me after hearing my request was that I give six lectures there, on a variety of topics, targeted to their faculty, graduate students and - " he wrinkled his nose in distaste " - undergrads."
"Oh Sheldon..." Amy sighed again, eyes soft and so full of love he could scarcely bear to hold her gaze. "Thank you..." she managed, her voice strangled. They sat looking at one another for another moment, neither moving, before Sheldon stood up abruptly. "I'll help you get this unwrapped and set up before I go." His voice was nonchalant, but his knees felt unsteady as he made his way to the crate.
Unwrapping the skeleton turned out to be quite a chore, actually. It was quite heavy and they took turns holding onto it while the other gingerly unrolled sheet after sheet of bubble wrap snaked around each bit of it in every conceivable direction, being careful to not pull on any joints as they did so. It was nearly an hour before they had finished and both were tired from the exertion, and from dragging the wooden crate out into the hallway, as the delivery men were to return to haul it away that night.
They moved the skeleton and its stand into its final position in the corner of Amy's living room and her grin at seeing it there could have lit up half of Pasadena, Sheldon thought. He found himself staring at her profile as she gazed at it fondly, rocking slightly on the balls of her feet out of excitement. She's so lovely. He thought about all the time he had wasted not just looking at her like this, appreciating what was right beside him, and now he found himself all too often sneaking glances. He sighed internally. I had better get going. "Well, goodnight. I'm glad you like it so much." He said, turning to head for the door.
"Wait," Amy's voice came out too sharp as she quickly crossed to where he stood, hand on her doorknob. "Wait," she said again, much softer. She looked up and met his eyes before sliding her arms around his waist and laying her head on his chest. "Thank you Sheldon. Thank you so much." She wanted to say more; thank you didn't seem to be enough, but she was lost in him. The smell of talc, the familiar sound of his heartbeat beneath her ear, his long arms which had come up seemingly automatically to wrap around her back as she had stepped into him. It was all too much.
You're welcome. It was what Sheldon wanted to say, what he had in fact intended to say. But when he opened his mouth no sound came out. Instead as he opened his mouth to speak, his throat closed. He swallowed hard and took a deep breath, his nostrils instantly filling with the familiar and delicious scent of her hair, her soap, her. It was the first time in six months that he had held her and it felt so right. Yes, he thought, held was the right word, as this went on far longer than a simple hug had any business doing. Sheldon allowed himself to rest his chin on her head and close his eyes for the merest of moments, steadying his breathing. Then he reached his arms around behind his back, taking her hands and gently guiding them back down to her own sides. "Merry Christmas, Amy Farrah Fowler," he whispered, placing a light kiss on her forehead and slipping out the door before she could respond.
Author's Note: Did anyone guess what Sheldon's gift to Amy was before she realized it?