"So do you have any idea where we are going to find George Jr.?" Penny asks as they all pile into Mary's SUV.
"Knowing him he will be sulking at his favorite bar, telling anyone who will listen, what a bitch his sister is." Missy sighs.
"Missy I just don't understand why you hauled off and hit your brother." Mary says looking in the rear view mirror at her.
"You should have heard him Mama! He was being so rude to Amy and Penny and then he said that Shelly should have never been born! "Missy exclaims.
"Mama, we do not hit our friends." Ayden says solemnly.
"I know honey, Mama did a bad thing." Missy tells him brushing the dark hair off his forehead and kissing him.
"Georgie takes after your father. He doesn't handle his emotions well. Instead of being sad and crying about Memaw he chooses act like… cover Ayden's ears honey." Missy does so as Mary adds. "We all know that Georgie is, excuse my French ladies, an asshole. That is a trait of all the Copper men, I am surprised Sheldon is acting as well as he is. We all remember how he reacted when Daddy died."
"What did he do when his father died?" Amy asks Mary from the passenger seat curious.
"Oh Sugar! It was awful! Shelly was away at college when it happened, so we had to call him back home. Well from the minute he stepped off the plane he was unbearable. Told me that death was just part of life and that his father's passing did not warrant taking him away from his research and making him miss three different tests."
"Shelly holed himself up in his room and would not leave. When we finally coaxed him out, it did not take long before we were practically begging him to go back in. The singing mouse at Chuck E. Cheese shows more emotion than he did." Missy snorts.
"Well I am sure he really was upset." Penny says.
"I expect after losing his grandfather at such a young age, it was probably hard for him to lose another male role model." Amy tells them.
"Well, his father and him had, shall we say, a complicated relationship. You see George Sr., may god rest his soul, thought that boys should behave in a certain way. So he was always trying to force Sheldon into doing what he thought boys his age should be doing. However, as you know, Shelly has never been too fond of anyone telling him how to do anything, so it led to a lot of butting heads and hurt feelings on both sides."
"Wasn't his father proud of having a prodigy as a son? People as highly intelligent as Sheldon are extremely rare." Amy says.
"George was proud, I mean we all were, but sometimes living with Shelly could be…"Mary begins
"A huge pain in the A. S. S." Missy finishes spelling out ass.
"What's an ass? Why did you spell it Mama?" Ayden asks.
"It's a donkey sweet pea." Mary tells him and he seems mollified.
"Oh my god! He is like really smart. Is he like uncle Sheldon smart?" Penny asks her impressed.
"We have not gotten him tested or anything yet, but he does seem to be taking after his Uncle Shelly".
"My Uncle is a genie." He tells Penny.
"No Uncle Shelly is a genius and so are you." Amy tells him and he giggles.
"Were you just trying to make her feel better before she died when you told her you were going to marry Amy?" Leonard asks still dumbfounded by the revelation.
"I had no idea that she was sick, and even if I had known I would never feed her false hopes like that." Sheldon says annoyed.
"Then why tell her that?" Leonard asks.
"Why tell her that? Leonard are you asking a serious question?"
"If you have no plans of marrying Amy, then why would you tell your grandmother that you did?"
"Whoever said I had no plans of marrying Amy?"
"Well this is the first I've have heard of it." Leonard says exasperated.
"There is a reason for that. If I had told you, even in the strictest confidence, then you would have told Penny. Then Penny would have told everyone, even people not included in our group. Within a span of a day I would not be able to go anywhere without answering queries about my upcoming nuptials. Do you know who Memaw told?"
"No."
"No one. That woman literally took my secret to her grave. That was not easy for her either. She always told my mother everything and my mom has no clue."
"Sheldon this is crazy, you can't marry Amy."
"Why not, do you not think we are well suited to one another?"
"No, I think that you are perfectly suited for each other, it's just that…" Leonard pauses struggling to form his thoughts
"It's just that… what…" Sheldon challenges angrily.
"Sheldon I know you love Amy."
"Yes I do, and she loves me back."
"No one is arguing that, but how are you going to consummate a marriage?"
"Are you saying that due to our perceived lack of intimacy you think that our prospects of sustaining a marriage are low?" Sheldon says hurt.
"Well yeah." Leonard says a little sheepishly.
"I will have you know that prior to the 20th century it was considered the norm to wait until marriage to explore the intimate side of your relationship. Just because you and everyone else choose to fornicate with every willing body who will have you does not mean I am wrong." He says hotly getting up.
"If it was just that it would be one thing, but Sheldon, you can barely kiss her. If I thought for a second that Amy felt the same way and would be happy in a marriage like that I would be all for it."
"So you do not think I have what it takes to make Amy happy? I will have you know that Amy is very happy and you wonder why I do not tell you things." He says storming off back to the house banging the door behind him.
Mary drives into the parking lot of a rundown looking shopping center. There is a check cashing store and a bodega advertising calling cards. On the very end of the shopping center is a seedy looking bar. Its grimy front identifies it as Mr. Pete's, with the attractions of cold beer and pool to encourage customers inside. Parked out front is George's pick-up truck.
"So I take it that this is not the good side of town." Amy asks looking around.
"Mama! We cannot take Ayden in there! There is no telling what kind language he will pick up in this place."
"I suppose you are right, someone is going to have to wait in here with him while we go flush Georgie out."
"Georgie is going to want to talk to me as I am the one who hit him." Missy says.
"Yeah and I am the one who threatened to kick him in the balls, besides I am not the most comfortable around kids." Penny says apologetically.
"I'll stay." Amy volunteers. "I am in no rush to see George again and I like kids."
"Thank you Amy!" Missy says and turning to Ayden "Now you stay here with your Aunt Amy while Mama, Nana, and Miss Penny go get Uncle Georgie. Be good, okay sugar booger?"
Amy does not miss the distinction of herself being called Aunt. At first she had assumed it was one of those southern things, that all familiar adults were identified as aunt or uncle. Yet Penny was not Aunt Penny she was Miss Penny. Amy flushes with pride. The distinction set her mind reeling. Was she called aunt because she was staying with his uncle therefore making it easier to explain? Or did Missy and Mary know something that Amy herself had only just recently found out?
"Okay Mama." Ayden tells her as she kisses him on the forehead. The three ladies make their way into the dark bar.
"Aunt Amy?" she hears a small voice ask.
"Yes?" Amy asks hoping it has nothing to do with diapers or going to the potty. Viewing her surroundings there is really no good options to take him.
"Are you a genie too, like Uncle Shelly?"
"G-e-n-i-u-s , genius, it means someone who is exceptionally smart, and yes I am also a genius." Amy tells him turning in her seat to look at him. He really is very cute with is mop of dark hair and his bright blue eyes. It's funny to hear him say such big words and it makes her wonder if this was what Sheldon was like at this age, she also wonders if Sheldon realizes how much potential his little nephew has.
"I like you." he says decidedly
"I like you too, you're just my type. Smart, dark haired, and handsome." She tells him tickling him on his belly making him he laughs.
Leonard goes in search of Sheldon feeling bad about how he reacted to his news. He knew he should have been more supportive of his friend, it was just that the information had shocked him. He would never have guessed that this was what Sheldon had been planning. Leonard knocks tentatively on the door of Sheldon's room.
"You in there buddy."
"Yes."
"Can I come in?"
"No."
"I want to apologize. Please Sheldon."
"Fine. It's not locked. My mother took the locks off all the bedroom doors in the house when we were children." Sheldon tells him.
"Why?" Leonard asks as he enters the room.
"My brother's has to do with an incident involving a stack of magazines stolen from my father. My sister's was because of her promiscuous teenage years."
"Then why is the lock off yours."
"I once locked myself inside and played The Legend Zelda for 72 hours straight. They had to take the door off the hinges to get me out and force me to eat and shower. It was the best summer of my life." Sheldon says with a far off look in his eyes.
"I had a similar incident involving The Ocarina of Time." Leonard says sitting next to him on the bed.
"Few could resist the lure of Link and his quests."
"Sheldon listen, I am sorry for what I said out there okay?" Leonard adjusts his glasses and massages the bridge of his nose. "You just surprised me that's all. If you want to ask Amy to marry you I think that's great." Sheldon looks at him and sighs.
"Thank you, it's just that you really touched a nerve out there."
"Because you are worried that you will not be able to perform for Amy the way she may be expecting you too?" Leonard asks. Sheldon just stares at him blankly before answering.
"No just listen, alright?"
"I am all ears."
"Let's see where to start… do you remember what you said to me at Prom about me not having hormones?" he asks.
"Yeah, but Sheldon, I was joking. I am sorry if I hurt your feelings." Sheldon holds up a hand to stop him from talking.
"Leonard, I do have hormones. As you must assuredly know, all human beings do. I just had no interest in acting on them before. I had never found another human being I was attracted to in that way. Then I met Amy, who has systematically made me question everything. And everything I thought I knew about myself and my body has changed."
"Are you saying that you want to get physical with Amy now?"
"Leonard, I am saying that I have been physical with Amy."
"What? When?" Leonard says shocked.
"Well first last night, then this afternoon, actually on this very bed." Leonard looks down at the bed sheets grossed out.
"Sheldon this is kind of a big deal. When did you change your mind about all this?"
"Which part? About the wanting to marry her or the coitus?"
"Both actually."
"Well, I have always found Amy to be the most beautiful woman I have ever met."
"More than Penny?"
"Please Leonard, Penny may have a certain Midwestern charm but Amy… she is like a classical masters painting come to life with her regal bearing and aquiline features." Sheldon says dreamily.
"Ok Amy is very pretty. But you have known her for a long time."
"Yes and I have struggled with my impulse's for a long time. I thought I was above all the baser urges that normal people feel, then I met her and that belief has been turned on its head. When I went on my trip I was still struggling with my feelings for her. I knew then that what I felt for her was something profound and, quite frankly, it scared me. So I went on my trip hoping the distance between us would give me some perspective. But all I could think about when I was away was her. She was on my mind constantly. I knew then that my life would never be the same without her in it."
"Sheldon that is beautiful, but that was almost a year ago. Why chose now to change your mind about the physical side of your relationship?"
"My mind has been changed for a while. I've just been too scared to act on it"
"I think I understand and I am happy for you. I should be happy for you right?"
'Yes I suppose you should. I have just reached a huge milestone in my life, the sentiment is appropriate."
"So... how was it." Leonard asks playfully nudging him with his shoulder
"Leonard!" he says shocked "A gentleman does not kiss and tell."
"Oh come on, for years now you have ragged on me about my sex life! Telling me how ridiculous and gross you thought the practice was. So was it as awful as you imagined it would be?"
"No it was not awful. I suppose I can see now how one could become enthralled with the practice." He says coyly.
"You dog!" Leonard says slapping him on the shoulder.
Penny has been in a lot of seedy bars in her day but this one really takes the cake. It is dark and smoky inside with an odor of sweat and stale beer that makes her wrinkle her nose. She scans the thin crowd for Sheldon's brother, but all the patrons look the same. Big hulking red necks who look up and stare as they enter, as if they have never seen a woman before.
"There he is." Missy says and she leads the way to a booth in the back where they find George drinking a dark liquid out of a tumbler. As they approach him he stares up at them with bleary red rimmed eyes.
"Well hey there Penny! You change your mind about you and me! Come here to get your drink on?" He says hazily.
"Not on your life." Penny tells him.
"Then why are you here?"
"We're here to drag your sorry butt home so that you can sober up in time for your grandmother's funeral tomorrow." Mary says slapping her hand on the table.
"Oh shit! Sorry, I mean golly! I didn't see you there Mama." George says giggling.
"He is three sheets to the wind." Missy says disgusted "You'd think after all we went through with Daddy he would know better."
"You gonna slap me again Missy? Hey why aren't ya'll with your precious baby boy Sheldon!" he says bitterly, draining the rest of glass and signaling the waitress for another.
"Georgie there ain't no reason to be jealous of your brother. We love both of you just the same." Mary tells him putting her hand on his shoulder.
"Speak for yourself." Penny grumbles under her breath.
"Now come on let's get out of this den of inequity and get home. Missy is sorry for slapping you. All our emotions are running mighty high right now." By this time the waitress has returned with another drink which Penny grabs before George can, and knocks it back in one herself.
"You're cut off." she tells him handing a fifty to the waitress hoping that will cover his tab.
"Dang girl, you drink like a man!" he says impressed.
"Come on Georgie, let's go home." Missy says pulling him up. He staggers to his feet and stumbles forward. Missy and Mary help him navigate out of the bar balancing his weight between them.
"He can't drive Mama." Missy tells her.
"I can drive! I once drove from Charlotte to Knoxville worse off than this." George tells them.
"I'll drive him." Penny says.
"Gippyyap little blondie! I will let you drive me wherever you want go!" Georgie says and he digs in his pocket and tosses her the keys.
"Yeah? Well you just may change your mind about that." Penny tells him walking around the side of the truck and opening the door.
The guys are starting to get worried when the sun starts going down and no one has returned. When they see Mary's SUV pull up into the driveway followed by George's truck. As they walk out to meet them they see George springing from the passenger side of the truck and rushing into the house.
"What's wrong with him?" Leonard asks.
"I may have shown him how we drive trucks in Nebraska." Penny says mysteriously walking in after George.
"So what did you do to poor George?" Leonard asks Penny later that night as they lay on the fold out couch.
"I took him to an abandoned parking lot and did doughnuts until he blew chunks all over the side of his truck." Penny says smiling.
'Why did you do that?" Leonard asks unable to hide his smile.
"To teach him a lesson! The saying may be don't mess with Texas but I wanted to show him you shouldn't fuck with Nebraska either. Also I wanted to help in sober up for the funeral tomorrow. I was actually doing him a favor." Penny tells him.
"Speaking of doing people favors, I want to tell you something but you have to promise not to tell anyone."
"Does it have something to do with a certain physicist and a certain neurobiologist we know recently knocking boots? Or does it have to do with the ring he has been carrying around in his pocket?" Penny asks smugly.
"How did you know that? Why am I always the last person to know these things?" Leonard says incredulously.
"Come on Amy basically tweets her entire life to me, do you think she would not tell me that!" Penny tells him.
"About the ring in his pocket or the boot knocking?"
"The sex of course, I do not think she knows anything about the ring. Hold on how did you know about it?" Penny asks.
"He showed it to me, told me that he is going to ask Amy to marry him." Leonard tells her.
"Shut up!" Penny exclaims slapping him on the chest "When, how!"
"I didn't ask. Wait don't you know, you seem to be the one with all the inside intel."
"I just heard from Missy that he had been left the ring, and that everyone was hoping that it meant he wanted to marry Amy." Penny tells him. "Why did you not grill him for more information? All I have is hearsay but you had an opportunity to get the whole story."
"Honestly Penny, I was in too much shock to ask him for more details. I kept waiting for him to say bazinga and he never did."
Amy is in the bathroom brushing her teeth when she hears a tap on the door.
"Occupied." She calls through a mouth full of toothpaste. "Good grief, how did five people share this one bathroom for so long?" she grumbles to herself.
"It's me." Sheldon calls, "As long as you are not evacuating your bowels or bladder let me in." Amy opens the door and Sheldon walks in dressed in his pajamas and robe and carrying his toiletry case. He sets the case down and extracts his toothbrush from its case beginning his nightly routine. Amy does not say anything but studies his every move. It feels so intimate standing next to him brushing their teeth.
"I heard you had an interesting day." Sheldon tells her and she sees him raise his eyebrows in the mirror.
"To say the least. You know I used to lament the fact that I had no siblings but now I think that I dodged a bullet being an only child." She tells him.
"Amen to that sister." He tells her spitting out his toothpaste into the sink. Amy wraps floss around her finger thoughtfully.
"However I did get to spend some time with your nephew today. Did you know how intelligent he is? Only eighteen months old and he talks better than most ten year olds. He calls me Aunt Amy and he told me his Uncle is a genie, isn't that adorable."
"Yes, the little tyke is rather endearing for a small child. I always knew that there was the potential for greatness resting in my sister's loins. Just think what a child of our combined DNA could be like." His casual remark makes her feel tingly but she chooses to ignore it and changes the subject. Staying on this topic for too long would make it hard for her to keep what she knows to herself.
"Are you ready for tomorrow?" she asks sympathetically.
"Is anyone ever ready for it?" he sighs and he fills up a cup with mouthwash and gargles.
"Are you going to be okay to speak?" she asks him as she packs up her bag. She watches his throat, fascinated as his Adams apple bobs up and down as he swallows hard.
"I am going to have to be." He tells her packing up his bag in turn and opening the door waving her ahead of him.
"Just remember what I taught you the last time you had to speak in front of crowd. Pick a focal point and just focus on that the entire time you are speaking. Let the crowd melt away and just focus on that one thing. What did you say you did last time? When you accepted that award from Physics Today?" Amy asks him as they enter his bedroom.
"I told you that I imagined Spiderman was dangling from the rafters upside down on his web… Amy I lied." Sheldon adds softly.
"You lied, about what?" Amy asks concerned, a knot forming in the pit of her stomach.
"About Spiderman, I did not picture him." Sheldon says hanging his head out of shame or embarrassment Amy can't tell which.
"Well that's okay, you were still able to deliver a beautiful speech. I know I was there and I was so proud of you." Amy had really been exceptionally proud, so much so that she must have told everyone she talked to that night that he was her boyfriend. Amy puts her hand on his shoulder and he grasps it giving it a gentle squeeze.
"Do you want to know what I really did?" he asks looking up at her his voice husky.
"Sure." She says her throat going dry.
"Well I was already on the stage and I started feeling faint. I had planned on the Spiderman trick but my mind could not focus on him so I desperately searched for your face in the crowd. Out of that sea of faces I was able to find yours. We locked eyes for just a moment and then you gave me the thumbs up. I did not want to disappoint you, we had worked so hard on practicing the speech, and you had taught me all those techniques. I just knew if I failed I would see those sad eyes that you get when you are disappointed and I did not want to see sad eyed Amy. I wanted to walk off that podium and have excited sparkly eyed Amy waiting for me. So I focused on that. My prize was your eyes as it were."
"Sheldon you would not have disappointed me, I love you and I even if I had had to carry you off that stage I would have still been proud of you." Amy tells him.
"Amy before I met you I was ignorant to my failings. I went through life unaware of what a half-life I was living. Then I met you and you showed me all the areas of my life that I was lacking. Not by pointing them out or telling me that I needed to change, but by being such a shining example of what is good and right. Amy, I made a vow to myself a long time ago that I would try to be a better man for you."
"You are a good man, you do not have to change a thing for me. I love you just the way you are."
"I know, for some strange reason you love and accept me, quirks and all, the way no one else ever has. Except maybe for my Memaw which is why I think she wanted you to have this." Sheldon tells her taking something out of the pocket of his robe and sinking down to the ground to his knee.
"Sheldon…I…" Amy is speechless tears are streaming down her face.
"Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler would you do me the great honor of shifting the paradigm of our relationship by becoming my wife."
"Yes." Amy says stunned almost speechless as he takes her hand and slips the ring on.
"I am sorry if this seems sudden, but it really is not. I have been thinking about this for a long time. The urgency came when I told Leonard about it today and then as we all know it would be only a matter of time before Penny told everyone." He tells her getting off the ground and sitting on the computer chair.
"Sheldon there is something I need to tell you. Even if Penny had told me, it would not come as entirely a surprise. I found this while cleaning out your grandmother's house." Amy retrieves the letter from the drawer where she has hidden it. She hands it to him and waits for him to get angry. He takes the letter and unfolds it carefully barely glancing at it before setting it down his expression unreadable. "I am so sorry Sheldon, I should not have been prying into your personal correspondence with your Memaw."
"How long have you known about this?" he asks his voice barely above a whisper.
"I found the letter this morning and saw the date and wanted to read it. But you came up the stairs and I did not want to upset you, so I brought it back to the house .I just read it a couple hours ago, please don't be mad at me Sheldon I had no idea what would be in the letter." Amy pleads.
"Mad at you? Why would I be mad at you? You were asked to help sort and organize her house. In order to ascertain the importance of the correspondence you had to open it up and read it. You were bound by the rules of the closet organizer/ organizee contract. No I am just shocked that she kept the letters I sent her, and pleasantly surprised that this one has found its way back into my possession." He tells her giving her a crooked smile.
Thank you so much for reading and reviewing the story, reviews are always appreciated. I would like to thank Shamy4eva for helping me with this chapter. Only one chapter left till it ends.