HOLY MOLEY. This chapter just kept getting longer and longer. There really wasn't a natural cut-off place to split it into two chapters, so it took me ages to edit it.

Oh well! Hope you like the wordiness. haha

Last chapter, everyone! It's been a pleasure! :o)

The Festivity Infusion Process
Chapter Six: The Midnight Deferment

Amy fell to the floor with a thud.

"Dangit! I'll never get the hang of this." She glared down at her yellow heels with disgust. "How is it that other women can walk so easily in these?"

She grabbed hold of the back of her couch to push herself up to a wobbly standing position, and then hesitantly let go.

It was well after midnight. She couldn't bear to stay at Raj's New Year's Eve party any longer, so she'd taken the earliest opportunity to leave once the last of the confetti had fallen. She refused to continue to be disappointed about the fact that Sheldon hadn't made an appearance at the party to sweep her off her feet - the same feet that were now squeezed uncomfortably into size eight heels - and she was determined to at least start the year off on a forward-thinking note.

May as well begin with the easiest thing to improve, she had rationalized when she got home. However, mastering a feminine walk in pumps was proving to be more difficult than she originally thought.

She attempted another awkward catwalk strut across her living room… arms rigidly out to her sides.

Knock Knock Knock
"Amy?"

"Ah!" Startled, she tumbled over again, landing square on her bottom, her nightgown and robe twisting together into a tangled mess.

Knock Knock Knock
"Amy, are you okay?"

"Just a second!" She called, pushing herself to her feet once again and straightening out her clothes.

Knock Knock Knock
"Amy, are you hurt?" Sheldon asked through the door.

"I'm coming!" She tied her robe together and shuffled back across the room in her heels. She made an uncoordinated lunge onto the door, and pulled it open to face her boyfriend.

There he stood, in his jacket and light blue Superman t-shirt; his hands clinging tightly to the strap of the messenger bag across his chest. Sheldon's eyes darted quickly to her shoes. He made a confused expression, but returned his gaze to hers without questioning her choice of footwear.

"Hello," he said, shifting his bag a little. Amy noticed that his hair was only slightly damp. Since he didn't have an umbrella, she assumed that the heavy rain from earlier in the evening had dissipated to a mere light drizzle.

"Hello, Sheldon," she replied. "Happy New Year."

He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Yes. Likewise."

They stared at each other in silence a moment more.

"What are you doing here?" Amy finally asked.

"Oh... jumping right to the point! I see," Sheldon said, clearing his throat. "Well, I suppose it is best to just rip off the metaphorical band-aid in situations like this."

Amy relaxed against the doorknob, preparing herself for an earful of her boyfriend's nonsense.

"I heard about your dalliance with Stuart tonight," he said.

Amy heaved a frustrated sigh and rolled her eyes. Is that what this is all about?

"Yes," He noted her exasperated response, and nodded in agreement. "You know, I never really thought there was any truth to the saying 'ignorance is bliss'. Well… I was wrong. Leonard made sure to inform me of all the reasons I should be concerned about this."

Dangit, Leonard. You blabbermouth.

"Sheldon…" She started to explain, but he held up a hand to stop her.

"Don't worry. I've never been an unreasonable man."

Amy crossed her arms and gave him a disbelieving look, but he didn't acknowledge it.

"I'm not upset," Sheldon continued. "Not at you."

"Well, you shouldn't be upset with Stuart either," Amy argued. "It was just a friendly peck on the cheek. It's what people do at New Year's Eve parties."

"I'm not upset with Stuart."

"Oh." Amy wrinkled her forehead. "So… who are you upset with, then?"

"I have no one to blame but myself, Amy," Sheldon revealed, with an air of self-importance. "It's what I get for being such a trusting boyfriend, who gives his girlfriend the freedom and space she should want."

He was obviously attempting to glean sympathy from her, but Amy wasn't buying his act. She rolled her eyes and leaned against the doorframe. "I think your over-dramatizing it a little, Sheldon."

"No, no... I spoke with my mother, and she pointed out that she taught me better." He looked down at the floor, in mock shame; clearly more for show than a legitimate apology. "I should have been there with you tonight. You shouldn't have had to spend the evening with an individual like Stuart, because 'we Texans treat our women-folk with more respect than that'."

"Stuart's not so bad," Amy said with a slight smile. "He's really very sweet."

He met her eyes again and 'tsked' slightly at her. "Oh Amy. He's not here. No need to keep up the charade."

She frowned at him.

"Anyway," Sheldon carried on, ignoring the criticizing expression on her face. "I thought I should allow you the opportunity to spend New Year's Eve with someone more your speed. Someone worthy of your intellectual attention."

"Sure," she shrugged. "But where can I find Neil DeGrasse Tyson at this hour?" A sly grin crept across her face, and it was his turn to give her a scornful look.

"Not funny," he said. "You know I'm referring to myself."

She bit her lip to keep the smiling at bay.

"And Tyson is overrated," he added, haughtily. He pulled out his pocket watch to check the time, then slipped it quickly back into his jacket. He immediately began shifting on his feet and rubbing the sides of his pants nervously... and the humor in Amy's demeanor began to wane a little.

Something is wrong.

"Amy… may I come in?"

She peered at the clock on her microwave. It was almost two in the morning. He'd typically be in bed by now, unless there was a Lord of the Rings or Planet of the Apes marathon on television.

What's going on?

Ultimately, Amy knew that she'd never to be one to deny Sheldon entrance to her apartment, especially at such a late hour. The thought that he might want spend the night briefly entered her mind, but then flittered away just as quickly.

She studied him for a moment, before pushing the door open to grant him access. "Sure. Come in."

As soon as he cleared the door, Amy closed it and clicked the lock shut. She hesitantly twisted around to face her boyfriend, who still looked incredibly uneasy.

"Rip off the Band-aid..." he muttered, almost unintelligibly, as he paced in a circle behind her couch.

"Sheldon… ?" Amy was beginning to really worry. Was he truly that concerned about what had happened at the party?

Am I going to have to punch Leonard in the mouth? Amy really didn't want to be responsible for maiming her best friend's boyfriend, but if it was necessary in order to teach him a lesson... she just might have to do it.

She looked back at Sheldon, who had stopped pacing and had begun searching for something in his bag.

"I don't have a lot of time," he said, without looking up.

The color began draining out of Amy's face.

What is he digging for? She chewed her bottom lip, dreading that he might pull the Relationship Agreement out of his bag with the intention of voiding it right then and there.

No, surely he wouldn't do something that drastic...

"Amy, would you mind being lei'd?"

She choked back her surprise, then managed to squeak out, "Pardon?"

"I want to lei you," he said. "If you'll let me?"

Her eyebrows scrunched as close together as they could physically get, and her mouth silently hung open like a goldfish. The only sound she managed to release after several moments was an almost grunt-like "Uhhh..."

Sheldon pulled a bright pink and orange flowered garland necklace out of his bag and held it out to her.

"Here."

Amy's eyes darted between the lei and her boyfriend. She opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't. Her face instead contorted in confusion, and she leaned her head to the side like a curious puppy.

After several moments of stunned silence, she finally managed to get a question out.

"Sheldon..." Her lips curled up in a humored smile. "What makes you think I'd want to be lei'd?"

He seemed surprised by her amusement, then a knowing look came over him. "Seriously, Amy? This isn't a joke. This is symbolic. Women are supposed to like this type of drivel." He rolled his eyes at her. "Just take it."

His voice was harsh, but his movements were quite the opposite. Sheldon stepped toward her and gently placed the flowered necklace over her head. He grabbed her long hair and lifted it up so that the lei could rest underneath the dark brown locks. His fingers lightly grazed her neck as he pulled his hand away.

Amy instantly registered how close he had become, and her smile disappeared - replaced by an intense feeling of nervousness. They were mere inches away from each other. She could feel his breath. She could smell the talc coming from his chest.

"Alright." He nodded, as though he were checking things off of a mental to-do list.

Amy's baffled eyes flitted briefly to the lei on her chest, then returned to her boyfriend.

"It's only…," Sheldon glanced at her clock, "… 11:57 in Hawaii. They are about to ring in the New Year."

He looked back into her eyes, and the reality of what he was implying began to sink in. Amy swallowed anxiously.

"We missed our opportunity two hours ago," Sheldon said. "Luckily for you… And thanks to Sir Sandford Fleming and his creation of worldwide standard time zones... there are twenty-four different occasions each day that the clock officially strikes midnight. To paraphrase the saying: 'It's twelve o'clock somewhere'."

He grinned at her proudly, but she didn't return the smile. Her nerves were eating at her insides.

Surely, he's joking?

Out of the corner of her eye, Amy noticed the clock click over to 1:58, and her breath caught.

"Of course… that number's debatable. Some places have half-hour or even fifteen-minute differences between zones, so you could say there are up to forty total time zones. I guess it depends on how you look at it," He met her perplexed green eyes, then blinked. "But it occurs to me as I am saying all of this, that it's extraneous information not relevant to the purpose of my visit."

Amy couldn't help but let her eyes drift to the clock once again. It didn't have a seconds-counter, so she was flying blind. She didn't know how much time had already ticked away. It felt like an action movie where the heroes were attempting to defuse a bomb. She just knew that Sheldon would stop the process about two seconds before the explosion.

Yes. That's what is going to happen. There's no way he is being serious. This is a 'Bazinga!' for sure.

Sheldon inched toward her and reached a slightly shaky hand up to the side of her head, gently tucking a bit of her hair behind her ear. His eyes moved all around her face – not focusing on any feature for more than a second – before finally resting on her mouth.

Oh my gosh. He's serious.

"You were apparently correct," he said, studying her lips. Amy could almost see the tiny gears turning behind his eyes. "It would seem that there is a difference between giving and receiving a kiss. I didn't understand that until tonight."

Amy dared not ask any questions - mostly because she was stunned, but also because she was afraid she might ruin the moment or somehow accidentally convince Sheldon to abort his mission. She raised an intrigued eyebrow instead.

"I can see I'm going to have to elaborate," he said with a sigh. "When Leonard told me that Stuart kissed you on the cheek, it didn't bother me too much; That man will kiss anything with ovaries. However you kissing him…" His eyes locked with hers. "That bothered me, little lady. I can't explain it. However, it did add some validity to your theory."

"It's odd, really," he shrugged. "Because I always believed that I had a more rationalist view of epistemology, but it turns out... empiricism has it's merits after all. I suppose some things you do simply have to experience in order to comprehend. Who would have thought it?"

"Sheldon… I'm sorry if - "

"No." He shook his head and placed a boney finger over her mouth to silence her. "I could have prevented it. My momma says that's a cross I'll just have to bear. Luckily, I wasn't there to witness it, or the image would be burned into my eidetic memory forever." He paused for a moment as a realization moved across his eyes. "Of course, if I had been there, it wouldn't have happened in the first place. Hmm... Paradox. Interesting."

Sheldon briefly pondered this new revelation, as if he were making mental notes in a journal in his mind to be reviewed at a later date. A few seconds later, he brought himself back to reality and took another look at Amy's clock.

1:59.

"At any rate," Sheldon continued, returning his attention to Amy, "I decided that we should further test your hypothesis. So... here I am."

He hesitantly let his finger drift from her lips down to the tip of her chin.

"Don't ... read too much into this." He murmured the words so quietly that Amy almost couldn't hear them. She wasn't even sure he was directing the statement at her.

"This is strictly in the name of science," he added softly, as he lifted her face toward him with a gentle nudge. He started to lower his mouth to hers, but froze a few inches from her lips. "However, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to supplement the scientific method by adding a personal note at this juncture."

He took a breath and whispered, "Happy New Year, Amy."

Sheldon closed the distance between their lips, just as the clock ticked over to 2:00.

The sensation was completely different than when she had kissed him. There was a spark… no… a bolt of tingling energy that started at her heart and surged through her body. Raj could keep his confetti and the flashing bat-signals; there were fireworks right here in her apartment. They lasted only a moment, but it was the most spectacular display Amy had ever seen. It felt as though the very cells in her body had become electrified.

Sheldon pulled away from her slowly and they stared at one another, their faces still incredibly close.

"Definitely a difference," he noted, more to himself than to her - another sentence jotted into his mental notebook.

She could only nod. Amy pushed herself onto her tiptoes to recapture his lips in hers, and he took a step back.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Kissing you?"

He shook his head. "It was my understanding that there was only one kiss at the New Year. Is that not true?"

She frowned and leaned back on her heels, but didn't answer his question.

"Besides, that brings me to the next thing I have for you."

He has something else? What else could he possibly give me?

Nothing. Nothing that could beat what just happened.

She looked down at her lei, and began fingering the individual flowers as he dug around once again in his messenger bag. She was pretty sure she had a ridiculously goofy grin on her face, but she didn't care. She brought one of her hands up to her mouth. She could still sense the warmth of his lips on hers. It was an exhilarating feeling.

"Here you go." He pulled a wrapped present from the bag on his shoulder and held it out to her.

Her eyebrows arched. "You got me a gift?"

"Well… yes. It's your Christmas gift. Sorry it's late."

"You didn't have to get me anything, Sheldon."

"Of course I did," He looked at her like she had just said the Sun was a neutron star. "It's expected at Christmas. It's a non-optional holiday obligation. Besides, you got me something."

Amy gave him a half smile, and he shook the box at her. "Here. Take it."

She relented, and pulled the gift from his hands. She moved to sit on her sofa, kicking off her yellow heels in the process - glad to finally be rid of them.

"Come sit with me," she said, patting the cushion beside her. Sheldon obliged. He dropped his bag next to the couch and settled in close to his girlfriend.

Amy moved her hand over the beautifully wrapped present - certainly not Sheldon's handiwork. She suspected that Penny probably had something to do with the gift's presentation.

"Open it," Sheldon nudged her with his knees.

Amy quickly tore the paper from the plain, white box, and then popped the lid off of the top. A bound document rested on the tissue paper inside – a document she was very familiar with indeed. But what did it mean?

"What's this?"

"Well, it's the Relationship Agreement, silly," Sheldon pointed at the printed cover page. "Says so right there. Honestly, Amy, you need to be more observant."

She rolled her eyes and lifted the document from the box. She flipped through it quickly, and then looked back at Sheldon, confused.

"I don't understand."

He took the Agreement from her, and turned to a page marked with a tiny yellow Post-It. Amy skimmed it a couple of times – finally catching the part that Sheldon had changed. She read it twice before she looked back at him with widened eyes and a slowly blushing face.

"Really? You're okay with this?"

She found the room was getting hot again. Maybe I should turn the air conditioner on?

"If I wasn't, I wouldn't have written it."

"But Sheldon… this would mean…"

"I know what it means," Sheldon said. "And kissing on special occasions would be acceptable to me. Tonight proved to me that it was possible."

Amy could barely contain her joy. This meant that there could be more. More kissing. More... electricity. And she wouldn't have to wait all year, either. 'Special occasions' - it said it right there in size twelve Times New Roman font. It may as well have been chiseled into stone.

She immediately began racking her brain for the next 'special occasion' on her calendar. Surely there was something before Valentine's Day? Martin Luther King Jr. Day? Can people kiss on Martin Luther King Jr. Day? Certainly the birthday of a celebrated civil rights hero is deserving of a small display of affection?

And Groundhog Day? What about that?

Amy was positively overflowing with giddiness, but then a thought crossed her mind.

"Sheldon, you said that tonight's kiss proved that this was possible... but you already had this amendment written. What if tonight hadn't worked out?"

"Fortunately, you are dating a very intelligent man," Sheldon smiled proudly. "I had a backup gift. I would simply have given you that."

"A backup gift?"

"Yes." He reached into is bag and pulled out an identically wrapped box, about the same size as the one he had already given her.

"Oh. I see."

"It's a cardigan," Sheldon said. "Purple. You should wear more purple."

"I should?'

"Yes." He studied the box for a moment, and then held it out to her. "Actually... take it anyway. It'll save me a trip to the store."

"Thank you, Sheldon." Amy accepted the wrapped package and set it on the coffee table in front of her, then held the Relationship Agreement up and waved it a bit. "So… I guess the kiss was good enough for you to give me this, then?"

"'Good' is a term of quality," Sheldon said. "The quality of the kiss was not a determining factor in whether or not I went through with this change in the Agreement. It was more of a decision based on ability." Sheldon brought his hands into his lap, and played with the zipper on his jacket. "I told you - tonight's kiss was an experiment. I was simply... testing more than one hypothesis."

Sheldon increased his focus on his hands. "But if we were making quality assessments... I can't imagine that it would fall into the 'bad' column."

Amy's eyes began to tear up and she looked back at the revised Agreement.

"I can see you're overwhelmed," he said, handing her a box of Kleenex that had been sitting on the table nearby. "That's to be expected. But, just to make you feel better – the decision to make a unilateral change to our Agreement was not made lightly. It took a lot of thought. I've been working on this for weeks."

Amy pulled a tissue from the box and blotted her eyes. "A unilateral change? So... I don't have to sign this?"

"No, you don't. The update is already in effect - which is what allowed for our kiss tonight. I, unlike you, am not so willing to stretch the limits of our Agreement. I don't want any legal hassles."

"But… how did you know I'd agree to the change?"

"Because you're in love with me, obviously." He said it quickly and matter-of-factly, as though it was just the most simple thing to comprehend – like calculus or electromagnetism.

Amy's face turned bright red. How did he know that? I've never told him that I love him.

"Um… I… Excuse me?"

"It's easy enough to deduce," Sheldon explained. "You're always willing to help me out, even if you don't get any benefit out of it at all... and sometimes even if it puts you into an unnecessarily difficult situation. Usually, I don't even have to ask; it's like you are reading my mind."

Amy smiled at him. He really does notice the little things.

"Now, that means that you are either an imbecile…" Amy's smile morphed into a frown at this. "… who doesn't understand the concept of self-preservation. Or you were sent to me from the future to protect me and guide me toward the path that I am destined to walk for the betterment of mankind. Or… you are in love with me."

She looked at him like he had three heads, but he wasn't fazed.

"Occam's Razor would suggest that the simplest of any number of theories is the most likely scenario," he continued without missing a beat. "Seeing as time travel has yet to be achieved, and most modern theories would only allow us to travel back to the moment of the time traveling device's creation - thereby limiting our journeys to only future dates - that option really doesn't seem probable."

"And, as for you being an imbecile... well, we both know that isn't true. You're the only one who can hold a candle to my intelligence."

Amy bit her tongue. She didn't want to admit that her own I.Q. surpassed that of her boyfriend's. Not that his pride really needs to be spared, she thought.

"While living in such close proximity to Leonard and Penny," Sheldon continued. "I've had a firsthand look at the nature of the traditional relationship paradigm for many years. And, let me tell you, it's as if I've been inside some kind of Discovery Channel documentary. However, over time, I've deduced that being in love and being an idiot do both seem to have very similar symptoms. You, my little monkey, are not an idiot. Ipso facto, you must be in love with me. It's simple extrapolation."

Amy stared at him with a gaping mouth. She felt as though she should probably be offended. There most certainly had been a plethora of insults in that speech. But - oddly enough - she wasn't upset at all. In fact, she was turned on a little bit. Sweet Galen's ghost, his deductive reasoning is super sexy.

She fanned herself with the Agreement and repositioned her robe.

"And, because you are in love with me," Sheldon carried on, oblivious to his girlfriend's increasingly flustered state. "I knew you'd sign anything that I put in front of you... perhaps without even really reading it. People in love do silly things, Amy. I probably could have added a clause requiring you to wear your hair like Princess Leia, and you would have signed it without question."

That's closer to the truth than I'd care to admit, Amy realized. Heck, even his smugness is sexy right now.

She looked back at the Agreement in her hand. She would have to review it in more detail later to make sure he hadn't unilaterally added a required Klingon language course or something. For now, though, she was too excited to even think about anything other than the current revision.

And he was right. She did love him... so much more than he realized.

Amy wanted to ask Sheldon if he loved her, too.

She wanted to ask, but she decided that she wouldn't. She didn't have to, because she finally knew the answer. Her friends had been right all along, and tonight had proved it. After all, her boyfriend wasn't the only one in the relationship with top-notch deductive reasoning ability.

Sheldon knew that Amy would have signed anything that he put in front of her. Knowing that, he still chose to add an amendment that would allow for kissing, rather than restricting physical contact.

Looks like I'm not the only one lacking self-preservation skills, she noted with a sly smirk; And the fact that he'd made the decision to move their relationship forward on his own, made it all the more important in Amy's mind.

She didn't need a declaration of love; For now, it was enough for her simply to know.

Best not to push it, Amy decided. She could instead cross 'relationship progress' off of her New Year's resolution list and devote more attention to walking in those god-awful heels.

Sheldon was playing with his zipper again, but Amy could feel him analyzing her, waiting for some kind of response. She brought her eyes up to meet his and smiled. "Thank you, Sheldon."

He gave her a half-grin in return, then patted her knee.

"Alright, kiddo." He stood up and moved toward the door, as though they hadn't just experienced the most significant night of their relationship.

"Wait… you're leaving?"

"Of course," Sheldon said. "It's almost two thirty in the morning."

"But you could… stay here, if you'd like?" Amy offered. "I'll let you take the waterbed and I could sleep on the couch?"

Sheldon smiled warmly at her. "It's a good thing that I know you're in love with me; Otherwise I'd be worried, because that's the most idiotic thing I've ever heard." He picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder.

"Goodnight Amy." Sheldon unlocked the door and stepped into the hall. He paused a moment, before turning back around to face his girlfriend, who was reading through the updated section of the Relationship Agreement again with an elated grin.

"Happy New Year," he said.

Amy looked up at him and blushed. "Happy New Year, Sheldon."

THE END!

NOTES: I know this story was a short one overall (not this chapter, obviously... this chapter was a MONSTER). And I usually don't rush progress like I did in this chapter, but the whole thing was only intended to be a quick little holiday tale with a happy ending to leave everyone with as we start 2014. And it's also just a little bit of me hoping we eventually get a SIK down the line on the actual show (all in due time, of course... the SHAMY need to get there at their own speed, when they are ready).

:o)

I'm sorry I didn't keep as close to my deadlines as I had been hoping. Ah well, I knew that would probably happen.

I'd love to hear your final thoughts about my story as a whole! If you liked it and you haven't already checked out my other story, The Compatibility Constant, please do! I'd love to hear what you think about that one as well. I'm writing a Part Two for that one, which (hopefully) will be published within a few months. It's long.

Much love, dear readers, and HAPPY (belated) NEW YEAR!