Amy

After turning down his proposal and leaving Sheldon's apartment, Amy had returned to Penny's. She hadn't even knocked, but just walked straight in. The conversation between Penny, Bernadette, and Leonard stopped immediately. Amy knew her two friends had been filling Leonard in on the situation. All three of them looked at her apprehensively.

"Amy, how'd it go?" asked Bernadette cautiously.

"Splendidly. I answered his proposal with a resounding no. He actually claimed confusion regarding my anger." She gave an exasperated sigh.

Penny got up and walked over to give Amy a side hug and asked "How are you doing?"

Amy shrugged. She was still too angry to process everything. She wasn't even sure what exactly she was so angry about. Sheldon's proposal? The fact that she was in love with a man who thought of her as little more than roommate material?

"Why don't you come over here and sit down. Leonard get up."

Leonard hopped up immediately. "Yeah, you know…maybe I'd better get going anyways…leave you girls to discuss this on your own."

Penny looked over at him. "Yeah, how about you go talk to that crazy roommate of yours; see if you can talk some sense into him."

"Yeah…" Leonard came over to give Penny a quick kiss before leaving. "Thankfully he won't be my roommate for much longer." Penny smiled at him as he walked out the door.

Amy watched the exchange between Leonard and Penny and suddenly found the wind gone from her sails. She was a little jealous of their easy going relationship. As a rule she enjoyed the unique relationship she had with Sheldon, but there were times she found herself wishing her boyfriend treated her the way Leonard treated Penny. She had had to fight for every move forward in the relationship…save marriage apparently.

She leaned back on the couch and sighed. This evening had been too much. It was supposed to have been a simple dinner to celebrate a milestone in her and Sheldon's relationship and had instead consisted of a ridiculous excuse for a proposal, an internal admission of love, anger, and yelling. Now that it was all over, all she felt was sad. How and why did this get so complicated?

Penny came over and sat next to Amy, who was sitting in the middle of the couch, and put her arm around her. Bernadette was sitting on her other side, rubbing Amy's arm. Neither one spoke for a few minutes, for which Amy was grateful. This was the largest argument she had had with Sheldon and so the experience was entirely new to her. She was grateful to have two friends to help her figure out what to do next.

Penny was the first one to break the silence. "So…do you want to talk about what happened?"

Amy shrugged. "There's not much to tell. He was baffled about why I was angry. I told him it wasn't very romantic to be considered an alternative to Leonard and then I told him no. And then I walked, or more precisely, stomped over here."

"How are you feeling?" asked Bernadette.

Amy shrugged again. "I don't know."

"But you're still angry right?"

Amy shrugged again. "Yeah, I suppose."

Penny frowned, confused. "You suppose?"

Amy shrugged a third time. "I haven't really had time to process everything. This evening has been quite the whirlwind. I have received a shock and have been running through the entire gamut of emotions throughout the course of the night. I believe what I'm experiencing now is what's called 'coming down from a high'. I just feel sad. If it were happening to anyone else, I would have pulled out my electrodes by now to monitor their brainwave activity."

Penny squeezed Amy in a semi-hug. "How about some ice cream and Kalua?"

Amy gave Penny a small smile. "Yes, that would be nice."

Penny hopped up. "Coming right up!"

Bernadette turned to Amy and gave her an encouraging smile. "I'm sure you'll work through this. Howie and I have fights all the time."

Amy frowned at Bernadette. "Really?"

Bernadette nodded. "Oh sure. We disagree on a lot of stuff. And sometimes we yell, but eventually it blows over. One of us says we're sorry and we move on. I'm sure that's what'll happen here. Sheldon will realize he was being silly and apologize."

Amy raised her eyebrows. "Sheldon will realize he was being silly?" She gave Bernadette a skeptical look.

Penny piped up from the kitchen. "Yeah Bernadette…I'm not so sure about that. I've known Sheldon for over six years and I don't think I've ever heard him admit to being wrong."

"But didn't he apologize to Amy for the way he acted in her lab?"

Amy and Penny both thought about it for a minute. Amy nodded. "True…he did."

"Well, see? There's hope. Maybe Leonard will convince him and Sheldon will apologize before the night's up!"

Penny walked over and handed Amy her ice cream. "Maybe you're right Bernadette."

Amy wasn't so sure. She had spent a lot of time with Sheldon; she may not have known him as long as Penny, but she understood how his mind worked. This wasn't just admitting that he had acted like an ass. This was a more public humiliation…all of their friends would know that she had rejected him. He wasn't likely to admit fault easily; he was too stubborn for that.

Amy frowned. "I'm not going to speak to him until he apologizes."

Penny raised her eyebrows. "Wow. Ok. Good for you."

Bernadette had a worried look on her face. "But what if he won't apologize?"

Amy again shrugged. "Then I won't speak to him."

"That seems a little harsh. You'd really end your relationship if he doesn't apologize?"

Penny gave a nervous laugh. "Oh Bernadette…I don't think it'll come to that. Amy just needs some time to process and cool down. And Sheldon needs some time to realize that what he did was stupid. Amy doesn't want to end the relationship, do you Ames?"

Amy looked at Penny and gave a slight frown. "No, of course not…but if he doesn't realize he was, as you say, stupid, then I don't really know where we would go from here."

Penny laughed nervously again. "Well…why don't you just start with a few days of the silent treatment? I'm sure that'll bring him around…"

Amy looked between her friends. "I don't understand. Why are you so worried? You were the ones who convinced me to get angry and say no."

Bernadette cleared her throat. "Well…we didn't want you to say yes to marrying Sheldon, but we didn't want this to be a relationship ender."

Amy processed that. "Well, it doesn't have to be." She frowned. "That's up to Sheldon."

She saw Penny and Bernadette exchange looks. She didn't understand what was happening. They were the once who convinced her that Sheldon had insulted her and that she needed to get angry. And yet, here they were, not an hour later, telling her not to stay angry at him. Which was it?

"Well…" She put down her bowl and got up. "It's been a very exhausting evening. I think I'd like to go home now and get some sleep."

Penny walked her to the door. "Amy…" Amy turned back around to look at her. "…let me know if you need to talk. Go home and get some sleep. You might feel better in the morning."

Amy didn't quite understand what sleep would have to do with feeling better about the situation, but she nodded. "Thank you Penny." She looked over at Bernadette. "And thank you Bernadette. Thanks for helping me avoid a life altering error."

"You're welcome sweetie."

Amy turned and walked out the door.

Amy lay in bed that night, unable to fall asleep. She kept repeating the events of the night in her head. She still was unable to process it all. She had been sitting at the dinner table thinking about the events following Sheldon's first kiss and then she was being proposed to. And then she had realized she was in love and had gotten angry. This was much more emotion than she was used to handling. She wasn't sure she liked it.

She wondered if she had made the correct decision when she said she wouldn't talk to Sheldon until he apologized. What if he never apologized. Did she really want to find herself with a broken relationship just when she realized she was in love?

But no. It was the correct decision. A year ago Amy might have been ok with a comparison to Leonard, but after a year in a proper pair bonded relationship she had hoped that Sheldon had come to view her as more than a friendly companion. They had, after all, spent a significant portion of their time in some form of physical contact, be it cuddling, hand holding, or occasionally kissing. Certainly that wasn't the kind of thing Sheldon engaged in with Leonard.

She also still didn't know how to process the fact that she was in love. Part of her wanted to talk with someone about it, but another, larger, part wanted to keep the information to herself. It made her feel naked to think about admitting it out loud to anyone, and induced panic to think of admitting it to Sheldon. After thinking about it, she realized that perhaps the best course of action would be to keep the information to herself, at least until she was more comfortable with the idea.

After coming to concrete decisions regarding both Sheldon and this new admission, she found herself finally growing tired. Perhaps now she would be able to fall asleep.

Amy made the decision to throw herself into her work and not think about Sheldon. She had also decided that only an apology in person would do. As such she started deleting his emails and texts without reading them. She had even started staying away from Twitter and Facebook.

In all, the next few days were some of her most productive at work. She found herself going in to work early and staying late to avoid being alone in her apartment. She found that she enjoyed having something else to think about besides her problems.

After a few days Penny called and tried to get Amy to go see Sheldon. She said that he had become a recluse and she was worried about him. But Amy reiterated her plan to wait until Sheldon came to her to apologize. And it had only been three days after all; he can't have gone too far off the proverbial deep end.

On day five, Amy received a call from a number she didn't recognize. She thought quickly about not answering, but she wondered who it could be, so she decided to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Why hello there! Is this Amy Farrah Fowler?"

"Yes. May I ask who is speaking?"

"Well, are you saying you don't remember me? Well, I guess it has been over two years since I last saw you. This is Mary! Sheldon's mamma."

"Oh. Hello Mrs. Cooper."

"Oh now please. Call me Mary."

"Ok…Hello Mary." Amy didn't know what to say. She had a feeling she knew why Mrs. Cooper had called, but she wasn't sure what to do. "How can I help you…Mary."

"Well now, it's been brought to my attention that my little Shelly Bean and you have had a little argument and that you aren't on speaking terms."

"Yes. That's true."

"Well, what's the problem?"

Amy wasn't sure how to respond. "…Your son proposed to me."

"And that's a reason not to speak to someone?"

Amy cleared her throat. "He made it perfectly clear that the only reason he wished to marry me was because Leonard was moving out and he is too puritanical in his thinking to live with his girlfriend. He mentioned nothing about having feelings of a romantic nature."

She heard Mrs. Cooper laugh. "Oh is that all?"

Is that all? It seemed like a lot to Amy. She wasn't sure how to respond.

"Honey, that boy isn't like to admit his feelings to himself, let alone anyone else. Why I've never heard him clam up so fast as when I told him to admit he was in love with you."

"You…told him to admit he was in love with me?"

"Well yes! It's plain as day to someone who's known him since before he was knee high to a grasshopper. What other explanation can you find for his making such a rash, unintelligent, completely irrational decision?"

"…I don't know."

"Well there you go. I know that you and Sheldon have a…unique relationship, but that don't mean you're not just like everyone else."

"Actually…Mary…I think that's exactly what it means."

"Oh don't flatter yourself." She laughed. "Now here's what you're going to do. You go over there and talk to that boy. If you're waiting for him to come to you, when you won't answer any of his attempts to get a hold of you, then you'll be waiting until your hair turns blue. You ought to know by now that that boy is as stubborn as all get out."

"Mrs…Mary…I'm not sure I can just forgive him without his admitting what he did was, if you'll allow me to be blunt, stupid."

"Oh darling, of course not. Of course what he did was stupid, and I want you to make sure he knows it. But you've got to make the first move. The poor boy hasn't slept in days. Penny and Leonard have both called me, worried. I thought about coming to visit, but I thought, why waste my time if I can just talk to his little girlfriend and get her to do all the heavy lifting?"

Amy didn't know how to respond. Speaking with Sheldon's mom wasn't quite like speaking with anyone else she had encountered. She had a way of clearing things up that others left muddled. And Amy was very intrigued that Sheldon's mother believed he was in love with her.

"You're being awful quiet over there. What do you say? Can I count on you to go over and start talking to Shelly?"

Amy considered it for another moment. "Yes. I'll go speak with him…but I'm not guaranteeing that anything will be resolved. I'm still quite angry with him."

"Of course you are dear. You have every right to be. But just remember you can't expect that boy to read your mind. He may be stranger than a cat lovin' dog, but he's still a man. He wouldn't know he was in love if he had it tattooed across his forehead. Be patient with him…Oh Lordy, look at the time. I had better get going. But you go on and get over there and talk to him."

"Ok Mrs…Mary…thank you for the call."

She hung up and thought about the conversation. She wondered about Sheldon not getting any sleep for five days. She still wasn't sure she wanted to speak with him, but she had told Mrs. Cooper that she would. She decided it was better to get it over with, grabbed her purse and headed out the door.

When she arrived at the door and knocked Leonard answered.

"Hi." He looked shocked to see her.

"Hello. I'd like to speak with Sheldon."

"He's in his room." Leonard looked like he was going to say something else, but he didn't. He just motioned for her to come in and head to Sheldon's room.

When she got there, she felt her resolve weakening. She wasn't sure she could have the conversation she needed to have with Sheldon. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Go away."

"Sheldon, it's Amy."

A/N: Thank you again for reading. I'd also like to say a thank you to all you who have put my story on your Alerts and/or have Favorited. It's extremely flattering. I have bad news and good news. The bad news is that I'm finding myself in need of a break. Between real life responsibilities and my occasional (and increasing) writer's frustration, I need some time to step away and get into the correct frame of mind to continue the story. I don't want to end up bitter and start writing terribly. The good news is that I would never abandon you and will most definitely continue writing. I don't know how long that will be...most likely only a few extra days. But here's a tip. I tend to use reviews as motivators. The more reviews I receive the more motivated I am to write. No pressure. ;)