A/N: Thank you so much again for all your reviews and follows! Many thanks again to Hazelra7 and ShAmy4eva for beta-reading!
Apt. 4B, 2311 Los Robles Avenue, Pasadena, May 26th 2015, 8:30 p.m.
Raj and the ladies were having an impromptu girls' night at Penny's apartment to celebrate Penny's spontaneous wedding trip to Vegas. Penny had returned earlier that day and wanted to discuss the recent developments between Amy and Sheldon.
"And then we agreed that he would tell me every time he had an Amy-related feeling," Amy finished explaining and took a sip of her wine.
"Ames, that's brilliant! Why didn't we think of that before now," Penny exclaimed.
"I thought so, too… that is, until I received 72 text messages from Sheldon today! I got hardly any real work done, but I was tired anyway after that emotional turmoil last night… oh wait, make that 73," Amy added as she was interrupted by the beeping of her cell phone again.
"Well, he never seems to do anything in half measures," Penny said. "Hey, what did he write? Was it something romantic?" She asked when she saw Amy begin to smile.
"Amy. I heard you in the hallway. It makes me happy to know you're so near, but at the same time sad that Penny deprives me of your company. I'm looking forward to seeing you later." Amy read the text message to the others.
"Aww, isn't that sweet," Raj chimed in.
"But enough of that for now," Amy grinned. "I can't believe you guys finally got married!"
"Yeah. Leonard nearly ruined it, but he has apologized so many times now for that drunken kiss, I could not remain angry with him. I know it was unlike him, but still I made it clear if that ever happened again, we're done," Penny explained earnestly. "And he had booked the most romantic suite for us… wait, I'll show you the pictures," she said, getting her phone.
"Well he was drunk," Amy stated. "It must have been like that time when his mom kissed Sheldon," she pondered.
"What?" both Raj and Bernadette exclaimed at the same time.
"Yes, she was drunk and they never talked of it again. Sheldon told me he gargled with mouthwash for ten minutes afterwards. To be honest, it is one of the things that gave me some hope when we started to kiss because he never had that reaction with me, and now recently he has actually surprised me by initiating kisses and even leaning in for more," Amy explained, a dazed smile on her face as she remembered his spontaneous kiss the night before.
"Well, as we are talking about Sheldon," Penny begun. "Now that we're married, we need to start looking for a bigger apartment of our own. However, to help Sheldon get used to the idea, we have decided that Leonard will, till then, remain at 4A, but the number of sleepovers at my place will definitely be increasing. It may take some months before we actually find a place, but Sheldon needs to understand that this is going to happen."
"I'm sure that will give him enough time to adapt. And if your storage capacity for text messages is large enough, you can always make him talk about all his Leonard-related feelings," Amy winked at her.
Later that evening, Amy headed over to 4A to have tea with Sheldon as they usually did after girl's night. They also needed to sign the addendum to the relationship agreement stating that Sheldon had to inform Amy whenever he had a feeling that would be connected to her.
When he opened the door, he surprised her with a kiss before he let her in. It wasn't as heated as last night, instead it was short and chaste more like their previous date night kisses, but it was the gesture itself that Amy appreciated and had her nearly swooning in his arms.
She smiled at him as they went to the kitchen counter, Amy sitting down and Sheldon starting to prepare tea. "Sheldon, not that I'm complaining – quite the opposite in fact – but aren't kisses strictly constrained to date night?" She asked.
"Good that you mention it," Sheldon said as he went to his desk. As he opened the drawer, he halted a moment as he saw the box with the ring, but unconsciously shook his head and closed it quickly, returning with a pile of papers. "When you made me talk about my feelings, I realized that my thoughts had strayed 27 times today to our kiss last night and that it made me happy," he started.
"Yup, I got the messages," Amy grinned, patting on her cell phone for emphasis.
"And that's why I thought as we're about to sign alterations to the relationship agreement anyway," and with that last word he looked to her lips again, "we might as well loosen the regulations relating to the kissing schedule," and he handed her the papers.
Sheldon watched her attentively, trying to gauge her reactions as she scanned through the document. Amy's jaw dropped as her eyes came to rest on the kissing regulations. "Uhm… so basically what you're saying is that we could indulge in kissing every time the whimsy strikes us?" She slowly asked in wonder.
"Whoa, whoa, wait, read the fine print please… here, it says if we're not in public or in a crowd," Sheldon hastened to correct, "With 'public' meaning everything outside our apartments and 'crowd' defined as any gathering of people containing more than the two of us."
"Oh, I can definitely live with that," Amy said while she continued to read. One word jumped out at her. "Uhm… here you refer to kissing as foreplay, just as you did in your letter," she said, seeing him nod earnestly. "I know that you always choose your words wisely, but I am wondering what exactly you had in mind with this?"
Sheldon looked at her intently and explained, "The common definition of foreplay is to kiss and touch each other in a stimulating manner to get turned on before having sex."
Amy felt a wave of heat rushing through her veins just hearing him say these words. But she still felt unsure about what he was getting at. "I know the definition, Sheldon. But I don't understand… why would you use that word?" She asked, confused by his words, and by the way he was staring at her – hungrily? Was that even possible?
It was now Sheldon's turn to be confused. "Which part of the explanation eludes you?" He asked back.
"All of it, since you find the concept of coitus ridiculous and off-putting," she answered.
"Oh yes, I did say that didn't I," he replied, understanding dawning on him. "However, that conclusion was based on an incomplete data set. This was before we started making out. New results have forced me to revise that theory. It is now only a question of when, not if, this will be happening," he finished, and licked his lips as he watched her.
"O… Okay," Amy stuttered, perplexed and thrilled by his words. He had said it so naturally as if it was clear for all the world to see. "I wasn't aware of that," she said.
"Well, now you are," he said, winking at her as he returned to the kitchen to finish the tea preparations.
'Did he just flirt with me? On purpose?' Amy thought in wonder. His recent actions were continuing to surprise her.
When he offered her a tea mug, Amy had reached the new 'declaration of emotions' section, stating that 'the boyfriend is required to inform the girlfriend of each occurrence of emotions related to the latter in situ. The means to convey that information are subject to the of the boyfriend's assessment, whereas the success of aforementioned endeavor is liable to the scrutiny of the girlfriend'.
"Can you clarify the statement 'the means to convey the information' for me please" Amy asked, gratefully accepting the tea mug.
"Oh, I put that in after our texting today which took a considerable amount of time I might add. Again, look at the fine print here," he pointed to the end of the page. "Possible means are, in alphabetic order: e-mails, personal conversations, phone calls, physical displays of affection and texting," he elaborated. "Because of retardation effects I have excluded written letters."
"Phy… physical displays of affection?" Amy repeated.
"Yes. It occurred to me that it would be… inconvenient… to break a kiss repeatedly to tell you how I feel about it, because it might ruin the mood. Instead I would prefer to express it by touches, sounds, lip movements… that is, if you agree, of course," he finished sheepishly.
"Sounds?" Amy asked.
"Mh-hm," Sheldon confirmed, unknowingly already giving an example.
"And if my scrutiny yielded that it wasn't sufficient…" Amy began.
"Then I would need to elaborate further," Sheldon finished patiently.
"Okay, alright, where do I sign?" Amy asked eagerly now, afraid that he might suddenly change his mind or she might wake up soon.
As Sheldon was finishing the final arrangements for the addenda of the relationship agreement at his computer, Amy had silently gotten up and moved towards him. She really wanted to see if he was true to his words. When he turned to look at her after having officiated the document by his notary stamp, her mouth was suddenly on his, nibbling on his lip again like she had done the day before. With him seated and her standing between his legs now, their height difference was reversed, allowing for a more interesting angle during their kiss. This time, Sheldon eagerly pried open her lips with his tongue and grabbed her bottom to pull her close to him. Amy's hands moved up through his soft strands of short-cropped hair while their tongues slowly began exploring each other. True to his promise, Sheldon began to hum in a low tone while Amy moaned softly in response. His hands were still on her, stroking her ample posterior while he kept her in place.
Suddenly Amy became aware of a hardness pressing into her abdomen, but instead of breaking the contact as he did yesterday, Sheldon pulled her even closer, deepened their kiss and began to grind into her slowly. He was making it very clear how he felt about her right now and it was a good thing that he was holding her so tightly, because Amy's legs were trembling as she felt a pool of moisture gathering in her core. It was all she could do to hang on for the ride.
They only became aware of their surroundings again when they registered Leonard clearing his throat repeatedly. Reluctantly, they broke apart, both gasping for air.
"Wow, when you spoke of foreplay you actually meant what normal people understood by it," Leonard grinned smugly as he went to his room.
Neither of them looked or responded to him. Sheldon was too busy memorizing Amy's appearance. She was a sight to behold indeed with her flushed cheeks, heavy-lidded eyes and labored breathing, and she was still clinging to his neck for support.
They slowly broke the rest of their body contact as their breaths returned to normal. "Lately, my tea has a tendency to get cold a lot whenever you're around," Amy smiled, trying to gather her composure by taking a sip of her mug. Then looking at the clock, "I think I'd better be going now," she said, "Thank you for a truly informative evening, Sheldon," she winked at him.
Sheldon walked her to the door with a slightly uncomfortable gait. As they parted he gave her a peck on the lips just as he had done when she had arrived. "You're welcome," he murmured, watching with a dazed smile as her retreating figure walked down the stairs.
The only thing Amy hadn't properly thought through was the 'in situ' part of their new arrangement which was quite common in scientific experiments and could be translated as 'as it occurs, without retardation'.