'So how are things going between you and Sheldon?' Penny asked, cream soaking into her skin and lying in a fluffy white dressing gown alongside Amy, who had conceded to have her nails done.

'Yeah, is he making up for it?' asked Bernadette, on the opposite side.

'Actually, it's going pretty well,' Amy replied, staring down at her unusually polished nails. 'He's brought me lunch nearly every day this week – did you know he can bake sourdough bread?'

'No!' laughed Penny. 'Who'd have thought it – they use that kitchen less than I do!'

'That sounds great!' Emily said then, hot stones arranged down her back. 'You know Raj loves to cook!'

'OK, it's a step in the right direction,' Bernadette conceded, under her own face mask.

'And he texts, emails, Skypes and calls me every day…it's like when we first met.'

'OK,' Penny agreed. 'Keep doing what you're doing! I can't believe it's working so well when you don't even have to deny him sex!'

'I'm denying any kind of physical affection!' Amy countered. 'Like I say, it's like when we first met.'

'Ooh,' Bernadette said then. 'That's good! You play that card!'

'Really? You two haven't…' Emily was somewhat taken aback.

'No – complicated story, but I'd rather not go into it now. Suffice it to say, if this experiment does work out, I hope we'll be able to come to it in due course.'

The girls were quiet for a moment, and then Penny spoke again. 'So, Ames, you're still good with being Maid of Honour?'

'Like you have to ask, Bestie!' Amy replied with a welcome burst of her usual enthusiasm. 'How do you feel about a string quartet playing 'The Way You Look Tonight'?'

The wedding plans continued over the next couple of weeks, and Amy threw herself into them , keenly assisted by Raj, who had somehow taken on the role of honorary bridesmaid, and one evening after watching Planet Earth, Amy put a suggestion to Sheldon.

'Sheldon, you recall me mentioning my new project concerning subconscious brain activity?'

'Yes, of course.' He remembered, and remembered to ask, 'And how's it going?'

'Very well.' She noticed, and was impressed. This was progress. 'Actually, I believe you can help with it.'

'Me? How? I don't think I can consider Biology…'

'I wasn't suggesting that you do. I would like you to consider being my test subject.'

Sheldon looked slightly nervous. Unbidden visions of Amy slicing up brains came to mind. 'What would I have to do?'

'My hypothesis rests on the proposal that the subconscious mind produces certain brain activity that, in a conscious state, influences our decisions and aspirations. I believe you investigated this link in a rudimentary fashion some time ago, when you instructed Alex to go through recordings made while you slept?'

'Yes, I thought they would provide some insight into the project needed to secure my Nobel nomination.' He felt inexplicably hot suddenly, in spite of the carefully maintained temperature. Was it normal that listening to smart Amy in professional mode was so enticing?

She caught the look in his eyes, and took a slightly shaky breath before carrying on, and could have sworn she saw his glance flash downwards as her chest moved.

'They may yet, or they may shed light on your current career predicament. As such, I require your sleep to be monitored, and further recordings made, in order to correlate ECG and brain wave activity and any verbalisations of your subconscious that may be noted.'

'Do I have to wear those things on my head?' Sheldon asked, in an attempt to keep his mind on normal concerns.

'Yes, and I also require a live feed to be set up in your bedroom direct to my laptop. In normal circumstances, test subjects sleep at UCLA, but I consider that such disruption to your routine, especially in light of recent events, would prejudice the results.' It was getting quite hard to stay professional now, as all she could think of was that she would be watching him sleeping. The few times she'd seen it before, he'd looked so sweet – like a little boy – but he wasn't. Too early, Fowler, she told herself sharply. You can't give in that easily!

'A camera in my room? Who else will see it?'

'Initially just me, then I'll review the footage with you, and with your consent, other members of my team.'

'Well, I don't know about that…that's like having people in my room…' Sheldon began, and then remembered 'Project Amy', and after a moment, agreed. 'All right.'

'Good – do you know anyone who knows how to fix up a camera?'

'Yes, Wolowitz did a couple of years back in the hall in an attempt to catch Leonard and Penny engaged in pre-coital activity.'

Amy felt her pulse suddenly kick up a gear. That shouldn't have been a sexy comment, but it was. Why had he found it necessary to tell her that?

'Really?' She was thrown slightly. 'OK, then I'll email him the details and we can get it set up!' she finished, suddenly aware that perhaps she ought to go before she broke Sheldon's probation all on her own.

'OK, but there's no way he's being left alone in my room!' It was a concern, but somehow not the most pressing one right now, and as she left, Sheldon was both disappointed and relieved. He'd seen the glow that raced up her neck just then and remembered when he'd seen it before. It struck him that these next few months could be a long time…

'You haven't even thought about a colour scheme?' asked Raj incredulously, as he paused The Chamber of Secrets DVD in shock. The guys had met at his apartment that week for the second instalment in his Harry Potter marathon, and Leonard had been subjected to a barrage of wedding questioning throughout.

'Raj, please, can we just watch the movie? We've got plenty of time to work out all that stuff!'

'Really? And how do you expect me to coordinate the wedding favours with the bridesmaids' dresses?'

'C'mon, this is like being back with the girls!' said Howard, exasperated. 'We had to go through all the dresses on some website with my mother last night…please no.'

'Yeah, let's just watch the movie,' repeated Leonard, and Raj reluctantly started it again. Five minutes later he was struck by another thought.

'So Sheldon, how are things with Amy now?'

Sheldon didn't look up from his phone for a moment. He'd hardly let it out of his sight all evening, alternately texting and checking on average every five minutes.

'Sheldon!'

'What?' He jumped guilty, and looked at Raj.

'How are things with you and Amy?'

'Man, we should have gone on Girls' Night,' muttered Howard. 'Didn't think we'd be having one here.'

Leonard looked at him sympathetically, but then over at Sheldon. He wanted to know too.

'Fine,' Sheldon replied. 'We watched Planet Earth together, and she's asked me to participate in her latest experiment.'

'This isn't anything Star Trek related, right?' asked Leonard doubtfully. ' Cause it could be a bit soon for that.'

'No!' Sheldon replied, vehemently denying it, but not quite managing to hide a blush at the memory of it. 'She's doing research into unconscious decision making during sleep, and monitoring me to see if it helps with my career problems.'

'Oh, OK,' Leonard replied. 'That's good.'

'So, you're going to be hooked up to some machine while you're sleeping?' Raj asked. 'What, does it show your dreams or something?'

'According to Amy, brain wave activity, hormone levels and vocalisation during REM sleep can all influence unconscious thought, so yes, I will, but in my own home, thankfully. Not in the lab.'

'Wow…not sure I'd want Bernie to see all my dreams,' Howard replied, looking somewhat shifty.

'As if there'd be anything like that!' Sheldon answered indignantly, and the other guys were rather surprised that he'd both caught on to what Howard meant and was admitting to it. 'My dreams will be focused on Science, and getting back on track to the Nobel, OK?'

A couple of days later, with the camera fixed in place as required, Amy had returned to begin her experiment. It was late when she arrived, and Sheldon was ready for bed when he let her in.

'Good evening Amy,' he said, feeling surprisingly vulnerable to be with her so late, like this. He felt more vulnerable still as he contemplated taking her to his room in a matter of minutes to set the equipment up – which was ridiculous. It was an experiment, nothing else. Was it?

'Good evening Sheldon,' she replied, an involuntary blush staining her cheeks and heat burning up her neck. He looked so attractive, and staying professional could prove harder than she had expected. She had to though, those were the rules they'd agreed to, and she was here to do a job. Nothing more than that.

'So…we're gonna set this up now?' he asked, inexplicably shy and nervous all of a sudden.

'Yes.' She took a deep breath. 'I have the monitors here, so I'll need to attach them before you go to bed. Shall we proceed, Dr Cooper?'

His already elevated pulse quickened further as she used his formal title and he led her to his room. Was that in the rules? OK, two could play that game…

'I do hope this experiment produces conclusive results, Dr Fowler,' he said then, lying back against his pillows and fixing her with the most challenging look he could manage, under the circumstances. 'I'd hate to think this disruption to my routine would be wasted.'

'Well, that remains to be seen,' she replied, picking up the sensors and trying to hide a certain shake in her hands as she placed them on Sheldon's forehead, lightly brushing her fingertips across his skin and through his hair. 'Although I am one of the leading neuroscientists on the West Coast, I'm sure you would agree.'

Hearing Amy as confident as he often was made Sheldon's heart race further and a weird, hot feeling twist inside him, starting in his stomach and racing down...his breathing had quickened too, feeling her hands on him, his skin, his hair. He had to focus – this was Science! The fact that they were alone in his room at night with really very little between them was not the point…

Amy smoothed the last of the sensors down, somewhat unnecessarily stroking behind his ear in the process, and felt her own breathing shake in response.

'OK,' she managed. 'You're done. The sensors are hooked up to this laptop, which will produce a graph based on electrical impulses from your brain, and this camera,' she moved to switch it on, 'will capture any relevant comments your subconscious may make.'

She got up to leave, but not before Sheldon stopped her. 'Amy? I do hope this works.'

Turning back, she smiled gently. 'Me too.' She paused for a moment. 'Well, goodnight Sheldon. Sleep well, or as well as you can.'

'Goodnight Amy. Feels weird not to be saying that in a text.' They looked at one another shyly for a moment, and then Sheldon said, 'You know, you don't have to go…Leonard practically lives at Penny's now…you could take his room, and I might need your help if anything goes wrong in the night…'

Amy hesitated. It was tempting – very tempting. But…was it in the rules? 'Umm, Sheldon, thank you, but…not…right now. Maybe later.'

'Oh.' Sheldon looked crushed. 'OK. Next time though? Please?'

In spite of herself, Amy smiled. She couldn't resist when he said 'Please' like that, and remembered the flower incident some months ago. And maybe it wouldn't hurt if she stayed just once…but not tonight. Make him want it, a voice in her head said, that sounded much like Penny. Make him work for it.

'OK, maybe next time. Goodnight Sheldon,' she replied with a little smile.

'Goodnight Amy,' he said, catching her eye as she got up, and smiling in response. He heard her let herself out, and sighed heavily, leaning deeply into the pillows. It was three months now…he had to pass…seriously. He didn't know Amy had collapsed onto the first stair outside the apartment door and sat there for a good few minutes attempting to regulate her own emotions and hormones, before setting out into the night.