Author's Note: The fossil that I'm digging up here kind of frightened me a little, but I'm going with it goddammit.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sheldon had just finished putting on his pajamas when Amy walked into the room. The look of confusion she had on her face morphed into a smirk when she saw the new furniture arrangement.

"I just spoke to Meemaw," she said airily. "At first I thought that her excitement during our conversation could be due to the crafting classes we're planning to drop into at the country club tomorrow. But then, she made a couple of innuendo laden comments when I asked her why my suitcase wasn't in the closet anymore."

Sheldon sighed and nodded. "Well, the old gall is bursting full of whimsy, and now, I suspect, Penny's incessant gossip. Remind me to remove Meemaw and Missy from her contacts list when we get home."

"Don't forget about your mother."

Amy patted him on the cheek on her way to the closet to retrieve her toothbrush and nightgown.

"Penny knows better than to mention anything to her." Sheldon frowned when Amy didn't reply. "Does she?"

Amy shrugged on her way out the door. "All the evidence so far points her not knowing about my birthday present, but I'm not willing to assume that she doesn't if Meemaw knows."

XXX

When Amy got back from the bathroom Sheldon was sitting up in the bed with an irritated look on his face.

"Maybe Penny didn't say anything about your birthday, and Meemaw is just teasing us."

Amy chuckled as she climbed into bed and fished one of his hands out of his crossed arms position and intertwined their fingers.

"Of course she is."

Sheldon nodded in agreement. "If my family had known about last December, I'm pretty sure that Mother would be hounding me about a particular issue, and they would not be making comments about bedroom activities that they only suspect are happening."

"What issue would that be?"

Sheldon wriggled nervously and his right eye twitched. "Telling you now could ruin certain things."

Amy let her hand slip out of his and tried in vain to keep her expression as neutral as possible.

"What on earth could it possibly ruin?" Sheldon didn't answer, so she pressed on, her voice wavering as she did so. "After last summer, I thought that it would be clear to you that keeping secrets from me and bottling up your emotions does us more harm than good. I'm happy with where we are now and I thought that you were too. If what you're not telling me has the potential of affecting that then I want you to tell me, whether you think that it'll ruin something or not."

"But social convention dictates..."

"Social convention, shmocial convention!"

Sheldon started a little at the volume of her voice. For a few moments they sat there in silence, Amy trying to calm down, and Sheldon wracking his big bulbous brain for a way to get everything back on track. With a resigned sigh he got out of bed and went to the closet to start digging in his suitcase.

"If you're going to make me do this now everyone else might as well witness it," he said. "Go gather them into the living room please."

XXX

Missy and John were on the couch making out when Amy led Mary and Meemaw into the room. They didn't seem to notice that they weren't alone anymore till Mary nudged them to move over so she could sit down. John had the decency to look sheepish, but Missy glared at the three intruders as she readjusted her bra.

"What's all the fuss about sugar?" Meemaw asked when she was done snickering.

Amy threw her arms out with and exasperated huff and said, "beats me."

A throat cleared at the entrance to the hallway and everyone turned to see Sheldon standing stiff and straight, a small, dark object clutched in one of his fists. With a determined stride he moved further into the room and positioned himself so that he was standing directly cross from the couch where everyone was gathered. After a few moments of everybody staring at him he wriggled in his spot before he moved again. Taking hold of Amy by the wrist, he pulled her over so that she stood stiffly beside him.

"To finish our earlier discussion Amy," Sheldon said with his eyes fixated on the ceiling fan above the couch. "Social convention dictates that a certain question is to be asked in a surprising manner, preferably during a romantic outing or in the company of friends or family."

"What?" Amy asked as she stared up at his poker face with bewilderment.

On the couch Missy let out a squeal and slapped her husband's shoulder, and Mary and Meemaw were clutching each others hands and leaning forward with anticipation.

Sheldon plowed on, seemingly unfazed. "My reasoning for believing that my family is teasing us and that they only suspect that we've engaged in intercourse goes thusly." He held up the small object so that it was obvious to everyone that is was a ring box. "If Penny was indeed able to spread her gossip bubble much farther than our original meme theory experiment had shown, than Mother would be hounding me about this. She knows that I am in possession of my great grandmother's wedding ring, and that I intend to give it to you."

"How...how long have you had it?" Amy whispered. Her eyes had become wide and her breathing took on a fast, erratic pace.

He wriggled again and glanced at her before looking back at the ceiling fan. "Not important, but what is, is that now that you know about this Schrodinger's box has been forcibly pried open, the only thing to do now is to examine the contents."

Sheldon staggered when Amy pulled him down by the collar of his pajamas and kissed him. At first he flailed in an effort to keep his balance, but once he was sure that they weren't going to end up in a heap on the floor he clutched her tightly to his body. Three times, one kiss ended and another began in rapid succession after their first initial contact, then Sheldon pulled away with a wonder-filled look in his eyes.

"Should I take this to mean that the cat is alive?"

Amy nodded vigorously then darted to the front door and snatched her purse off the hook it was resting on. She jogged over to the hallway leading to the bedrooms and stood in the entrance.

"Aren't you coming Sheldon?" she asked breathlessly.

"Oh...Uh...Of course," he replied, as if being startled out of day dream.

"What the freak just happened?" Missy asked once they were gone.

John shrugged and Meemaw busted out in giddy laughter.

"If that means what I think it does, then The Lord has answered my prayers," Mary said in an awestruck voice.