Leonard didn't realise he was back immediately. The events of last night had caused all members of the group to sleep late that morning, and when Leonard found Sheldon curled up on his spot he thought he was still dreaming. When Sheldon sat up, he thought he'd seen a ghost.

'What the hell? Sheldon? What are you doing here? Do you have any idea how worried we've been?'

Sheldon explained what had happened as a dishevelled looking Penny emerged, and subjected him to similar questioning, but with more Nebraskan backwoods language.

'I have the hangover from hell for you!' she yelled. 'I thought you were going to sort stuff out!'

'I will. I just realised that…maybe it was best to stay.' And I missed Amy more than I can say, he thought, attempting to look calm, even haughty, in the face of her interrogation.

'OK, well…I hope you realise you got to apologise big time to Amy,' Penny continued, slightly calmer now.

Sheldon didn't say anything for a moment, and when he did speak, it was in a way she'd only heard once before. It was the way he'd spoken when he admitting to 'working on it' as regards getting 'physical'.

'I know. We've discussed it, and I have agreed to fulfil a probationary period as her boyfriend, which will last for the next four months.'

'So, I guess that means you got to step up, right?' Leonard supplied, just catching Penny nod in recognition.

'Yes, it does.' That simple admission on its own was evidence of a change.

'Well, just to warn you…I'd steer clear of Bernadette for a while.' They talked a while longer, about Sheldon's plans, and laid out their own plans, before he left for his room and the newly engaged couple for Leonard's. The last thought Sheldon had before sleep consumed him again was Amy. She'd looked as dishevelled as Penny, but so much more beautiful. If only he could make her happy again – make them happy again. That should have been his priority all along, and he remembered something she'd said a while back – their relationship wasn't his parents. They could save this…failure wasn't an option.

The following week was a strange one. Amy and Emily went to the exhibition, and she arrived back at UCLA ready to start on her new project, but she and Sheldon didn't actually see each other. It was the first time that had happened in nearly two years, and honestly, she missed him. It had to be done though, she kept reminding herself. It's a means to an end, she told herself, and tried her best to keep busy. The project sounded very interesting though, with a focus on brain wave activity during sleep and conscious decision making correlation. Subjects were being sought from a variety of backgrounds and invited to the University to sleep there with little detectors on their heads, filmed under the gaze of Amy and her team. Scientific curiosity, and genuine concern for her boyfriend, gradually started to mix and formulate a plan in her mind too, as she wondered if Sheldon's subconscious (which she'd always wanted to get to the bottom of) could help in unlocking any insights into his future career. In this mood of contrition, he would surely agree to participate, and hadn't Alex got some similar data on him a while back? That could be useful, but she needed this experiment to correlate it and provide the relevant brain scans and ECG results.

As for Sheldon, he found it very hard to settle at home after Leonard had left for the day – if he'd slept there at all. The best he could think of to do as regards his career was to draft an email to Stephen Hawking a week later and ask if he thought he had a possible future in Cosmology, setting out aspects of his research and education that would be advantageous in the field. Otherwise…he'd emailed Amy, texted her, and bought her the entire series of Planet Earth on Netflix, hoping she'd come round sometime and watch it with him. And now he was in the kitchen, carefully following his Meemaw's recipe for sourdough bread.

She'd certainly been surprised when she got his last message – the third that morning, she thought with a smile. Keep going, she thought to herself, although growing ever more certain that her plan was working, and took care not to appear too keen. This last message read that Sheldon intended to meet her at the University for lunch, and advised her not to buy anything from the cafeteria.

It was a long and complicated process to get from Pasadena to UCLA on public transport, but even so, Sheldon managed to arrive at her lab just after twelve, and she couldn't help but feel her heart leap to see him there, a shy, somewhat nervous smile on his face. It was such an unusual expression for him, usually well covered with confidence, or arrogance, and really quite sweet to see.

'Hello Sheldon,' she greeted him, smiling now. 'That was quite a journey from Pasadena for you.'

'Indeed it was,' he replied, glad of the chance to indulge in some ordinary complaining towards the greater Los Angeles public transportation network before getting into the real reason he was there. 'Do you know I had to take three separate buses to get here today? One of which was extremely busy and its cleanliness was a disgrace!'

'You know, now you have some time, why don't you try driving again?' Amy suggested, coming to sit alongside him.

Sheldon paused for a moment. He'd always considered such a mundane activity beneath him, (and been banned from every driving school in Galveston at 17) but considering that everything else had changed maybe she had a point…

'Well, it would be nice not to be exposed to the various airborne pathogens endemic to bus travel…' he admitted. It would be nice to see you more easily too…

'Well then. I suggest you look into it,' she replied, attempting to sound brisk and business-like, while at the same time hiding the slight blush that had risen in her cheeks when he'd smiled back and how her gaze had lingered on him a little longer than it should.

'Maybe I will,' Sheldon answered, with a flash of his usual confidence that suddenly changed as he reached into his bag to hand her a small box. 'This is for you. I remembered you liked it,' he continued, less sure of himself now. How did she do this? How did this woman manage to make him feel like he was 15 years old?

Amy took the plastic box, and smiled as she opened it. 'You've been baking? Thank you!'

'Didn't want you to put up with possible food contamination,' he managed, finding it hard to hide the heat that rushed up his neck when she caught his eye and looked away quickly.

'So you came all this way?'

'I bought Planet Earth on Netflix too – maybe we could watch it sometime?'

Amy took a bite of the bread. It really was very good, and handed him some. 'That would be nice, but not this week. I've really got to get started on this new data, and Emily's asked us out for a Spa Day.'

'Oh,' Sheldon couldn't hide his disappointment. 'Next week then? Thursday?' He looked so anxious, and she couldn't help but agree.

'OK. Next Thursday,' she smiled, keeping cool, calm and collected, while inwardly overjoyed at how she'd got him chasing her already – Penny would be proud!