Chapter 5:

Disclaimer! I own nothing, everything belongs to Chuck Lorre, Bill Prady and everyone at Warner Brothers.

So here it is! So sorry for the wait, I know I left you on a cliffhanger in the last chapter, but this one was a toughie to write. To every one who favorited, followed, read and reviewed: I thank you with all my heart!

Now, down to business!

Sheldon slowly turned around to face the closed door. He blinked a couple of times, unable to gather his thoughts. What had just happened? He suddenly became aware of the alarming pace with which his heart was beating. He swallowed hard. Perhaps Amy never left. Maybe she was just standing outside in the hall. Maybe she wanted to take back what she said. He pulled himself together enough to open the door. Nothing. All that met him was an empty hallway. He slowly stepped outside. Before he knew it he was making his way down the stairs.

He rounded the first flat of stairs.

Nothing.

He rounded the next flat of stairs.

Nothing.

He could feel that uncomfortable feeling of fear sneaking up on him again. He doubled his pace, his nervousness increasing with every steep. He rounded the next flat of stairs.

Nothing.

He was practically running down the last flat of stairs. He looked up as he was reaching the last couple of steps, but stopped death in his track. The lobby was empty. He slowly walked down the last two steps and looked around. Nothing. His heart was pounding and he could feel an iron fist of fear envelope him. He slowly walked over and opened the front door, peeking outside. But just as he had expected, Amy wasn't to be seen anywhere. She was gone.

He swallowed hard as he closed the door and turned around. He wasn't able to think clearly, his mind was a blur of confusing and uncertainty. Why had she left like that? Surely that gave him no further opportunity to explain himself.

He frowned as another feeling emerged. Anger. How did she expect him to make amends when she wouldn't even let him give her a full explanation? How could she ask him to walk over to Kripke, his sworn nemesis, and make a fool of himself? How could she ask him to lower himself, to be ridiculed by that sad excuse of a scientist; that demeaning and useless bully. That… Well… She said it herself: that low-life.

Couldn't she see how demeaning that was? How cruel it was to ask something like that of him. His anger grew. He huffed and turned to walk up the stairs.

"Preposterous." He uttered as he reached the second floor. His resentment grew a little with each step he took. As he reached his apartment door he was in a full-blown rage.

"Absolutely preposterous." He said to himself as he swung the door open and began making his way to his bedroom. He stopped midway through the living room, as it hit him that the rest of the group were still there. They had been mumbling eagerly but they grew dead silent at the sight of him. He turned to face them, his lips pressed tightly together. They all stared at him with big eyes. He looked at each and every one of them. Raj suddenly became very interested in the bottle of water in his hand, Howard quickly pulled out his phone, Bernadette wouldn't meet his gaze as her cheeks grew red, Penny was biting her lip in a nervous matter and Leonard was fidgeting his fingers. No one said anything. Leonard was the first one to break the silence.

"So… Is everything okay?" He said hesitantly.

Sheldon looked at him and pressed his lips together more tightly.

"It's almost bedtime. If you wish to discuss my personal life any further, then feel free to do so in Penny's apartment. Now, if you'll excuse me, I am going to bed. Please show yourself out." He said in a low and somewhat accusing voice as he turned and walked towards his bedroom.

Leonard got up from his seat. "Sheldon, hold on.." He said, but Sheldon didn't respond. He quickly entered his bedroom and closed the door behind him before anyone had a chance to say anything.

He let out a deep breath and began pacing around in his room, the anger still hadn't left him. Amy was being absolutely unreasonable. She was clearly overreacting and blowing this situation out of proportions. She needed to realize that, and then he could probably forgive her for what she had said.

He pulled out his phone and dialed her number, but for some reason he hesitated to press call. What was he going to say to her?

"Hello Amy. I am ready for your apology."?

Sheldon knew that he wasn't the most skilled when it came to understanding social situations, but he knew that an approach like that probably would make Amy even more mad. And judging by the level of anger she had expressed earlier, Sheldon was absolutely sure that he didn't want to see her next level of anger.

Then what should he do? He suddenly felt very tired. With a deep sigh he sat on his bed, still looking at his phone. He pressed his lips together.

No. He couldn't call her. With another sigh he placed his phone on his nightstand and got up to put on his pajamas. Perhaps a night's sleep would allow him to figure out what to do next.

Just as he pulled his pajama top over his head, he heard a knock on his bedroom door.

"Who is it?" He asked, but instead of an answer the door opened up and revealed Leonard standing in the doorway.

"Hey buddy, I thought you might be sleeping." He said in an attempt to get Sheldon to talk. Sheldon simply looked at him with a calm expression.

"Excuse me, but I don't recall allowing you to enter my room." He said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Leonard let out a sigh and stepped into the bedroom.

"Look, Sheldon. Is there anything you would like to talk about?" He said in a friendly tone of voice.

"I have no idea what you are referring to, Leonard." Sheldon responded, looking away, not wanting to meet Leonard's eyes.

"Oh really? So you are going to tell me that you and Amy didn't have a fight? That everything is just fine. And that you send everybody home in the middle of Halo-night just in order for you to sleep?" Leonard said in a disbelieving tone. Sheldon looked to the side, not responding. Leonard sighed.

"Come on, Sheldon. I mean look at you. You are wearing your Thursday pajamas on a Wednesday. Obviously something is going on." He said and pointed at Sheldon's attire.

Sheldon looked down at himself. Drat. He kept his gaze down, still not responding. Leonard watched him for a while.

"Okay, I get the message. You don't want to talk about it, fine. But just know that if you decide that you do want to talk or if you need anything… You know… I'm your best friend. I'll help you." Leonard said in a comforting voice.

Sheldon looked up and gazed behind Leonard, a look of uncertainty on his face.

"And you are sure that Penny didn't send you here just to get information from me?" He asked in a hesitant tone of voice. Leonard furrowed his brows.

"No, of course not. Look, when she did that it was because she was excited about the idea of you and Amy moving forward. But this is different. You guys had a fight. She was really worried about you, you know. She told me to do whatever it takes to make you feel better. You know Penny cares a lot about you, Sheldon." Leonard said.

Sheldon looked at him for a moment before slowly nodding his head. Leonard mimicked his movement and said.

"Now, will you promise me to seek help from me or Penny if you need it?"

Sheldon responded with another silent nod. Leonard just looked at him; with a deep sigh he said.

"Okay then. I will let you get some sleep. Goodnight, Sheldon."

"Goodnight. And Leonard?" Sheldon said as Leonard was slowly closing his bedroom door. He peeked his head back in and said. "Yeah?"

Sheldon swallowed before saying.

"Thank you."

Leonard shot him a small smile.

"You are welcome, Sheldon. Anytime."

And with that he closed the door. Sheldon slowly turned to face his closet, taking out the correct set of pajamas. After he changed he made his way to his bed, now feeling even more tired than he had done just minutes before. He took one last look on his phone. He hated to disrupt his established routines. But it would seem that he had no choice. He let out a deep breath before placing his head on his pillow, staring into the darkness of his room.

Amy pulled up to her apartment building and killed the engine. She sat like that for a while, not moving and staring out the window as the twilight settled over the city. She felt like time was moving along in slow motion. Had it really only been half an hour since she left Sheldon at Penny's apartment? Since she uttered those paradigm shifting words?

She bit her lip. Had she acted rashly? She closed her eyes and thought back on her argument with Sheldon. She saw him standing there, his arms crossed and a proud look on his face. She remembered his flickering eyes and shifty expression. She had offered him a simple solution: tell Kripke the truth. Had he contented? No, he had denied to ever doing such a thing. Amy furrowed her brows and huffed. He had made it very clear. His pride was more important to him than she was. He would rather throw her under the bus and jeopardize her professional reputation, than admit that he was wrong. And he had done it without even blinking. And then he had the audacity to state that his lie in no way affected her! Amy opened her eyes, her anger was now all fired up. No, she had definitely made the right decision. She was not putting up with this stubbornness anymore. If he couldn't do such a simple thing as admitting that he was wrong, then what was the point really? Amy grabbed her purse and stepped out of her car, making her way to her apartment.

When she finally opened her apartment door she made a beeline for the couch and tossed herself in the nearest seat. She leaned her had back and let out a deep sigh. She felt spend. Absolutely exhausted. She could sense sleep sneaking up on her as she sat there, unable to think a coherent thought. It was all a blur. Her thoughts refused to order themselves. She grabbed her phone and looked at it. Nothing. She opened it and looked Sheldon's number up under her contacts. Should she call him? And say what? She had already said everything there was to say, she had already made it clear to him what he had to do. It was all on him now; she couldn't do anything more. Except waiting. She cursed internally. That was something she hadn't thought through: the waiting. She looked at her clock.

9.15pm. She still had to wait 47 hours and 45 minutes. She let out another sigh, but this time it was a sigh of frustration. It had only been 45 minutes and she already felt impatient. She really wanted to scream. And bash something. But all she could do was just to stay right where she was, on the couch, not moving one bit.

She didn't know how long she stayed there. Could have been an hour, could have been a week. But she finally managed to pull herself of the couch and slowly make her way to her bedroom. After she pulled her nightgown over her head, she made her way over to her bed, taking a seat. She reached for her phone on her night stand. Still nothing. Her heart suddenly felt a little heavier. Normally Sheldon would write her a good night-text before going to bed. He stated that is was a way for them to make sure that the other was home and safe, a security check of sorts. Amy didn't know what to call it, but she knew that the missing text made her feel sad. She inhaled slowly and put her phone back on her nightstand and crawled under her covers. A long and restless night was ahead of her.

Sheldon slowly opened his eyes and looked at his alarm clock. It would go of in exactly two minutes. He kept staring at it until the familiar sound broke the silence. He quickly turned it off and sat up, still feeling tired. Sleep had eluded him for the most of the night. He had attributed his lack of sleep to the fact that his routine had been disrupted when he hadn't written his scheduled good night-text to Amy, like he was now used to doing before he went to sleep. He took a look at his phone. Still nothing. He noticed an increasing feeling of concern rising. He had originally proposed a mandatory good night-text be sent from both parties as a way of making sure that they were both indeed home and safe every night, ever since he heard those rumors about a bobcat being spotted in Amy's neighborhood. They had quickly adopted the idea into their daily schedule, and Sheldon sending a text before going to bed and Amy responding had become their nightly routine. Leonard had made a snide comment about how silly it was, that Sheldon should just admit that he just wanted to talk to Amy before he went to bed and Penny had found it, to use her own words, "adorable". He didn't care what they said, it was simply a safety precaution.

And looking at his phone with no new message from Amy worried him. He furrowed his brows and pondered. Amy had always responded to his good night-texts, which meant that she had been safe every night. So statistically there should be no reason that last night should be any different. Then why was he still worried? Well, she had been very mad when she left last night. And someone that emotional should really not be operating heavy machinery.

Now he remembered why he was feeling so uneasy. It was all because of the events of last night. When she had left so abruptly after threatening, no promising, to leave him if he didn't gave in to her demands. Her absolutely unfair and downright humiliating demands. Sheldon noticed the now familiar feelings of anger and frustration appearing. He put the phone back and got up to get ready for the day.

After brushing his teeth and shaving he now found himself back in his room putting on his clothes. As he pulled his flash t-shirt over his undershirt he felt worried again. He looked at his phone on his nightstand and sighing he picked it up. He pressed his lips tightly together as he made up his mind. He opened a new message and addressed it to Amy. It was simply a safety precaution.

When he made his way to the kitchen he found Leonard standing in his morning robe pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Good morning, Sheldon." Leonard said, way to gleefully. Sheldon furrowed his brows at him.

"Good morning, Leonard." He responded as he took the cereal containing the highest amount of fiber down from the top of the refrigerator.

"Did you sleep well? How are you feeling?" Leonard continued, seemingly very interested in the process of stirring his coffee. Sheldon's brows furrowed even more as he now realized the objective behind that question. He didn't respond for a while as he prepared his cereal.

Leonard watched him closely. He knew Sheldon and this silence meant that he wasn't refusing to talk about last night. So there was hope. He decided to give him some time.

Sheldon turned to place the milk back in the refrigerator.

"Actually I didn't. For some reason sleep eluded me last night." He said as he slowly closed the refrigerator.

Sheldon was talking. That was good. Leonard cleared his throat and said. "I see. Well, that does make sense."

Sheldon pressed his lips tightly together as he took his bowl of cereal and went to sit on his spot.

"How does it make sense?" He asked after sitting down. Leonard furrowed his brows and sighed as he made his way over to his seat.

"Come on, Sheldon. You know damn well why it makes sense. You had a fight with your girlfriend, and even though you haven't told anyone how it went down, it's pretty obvious that it wasn't pretty and that it didn't end well. So why don't you just admit it?" He said, taking a big gulp of coffee.

Sheldon eyed him for a moment as he swallowed his mouthful of cereal.

"Fine. I did have a fight with Amy, and as it will seem, she is now not talking to me." He finally said looking down at his bowl.

Leonard nodded. "She told you that she wouldn't talk to you?" He asked, taking another sip of his coffee.

Sheldon pondered for a moment. "No, not exactly. I deduced that by myself since I wrote her a text message and she failed to respond." He said in a dark voice, bringing another spoonful of cereal to his mouth.

"Well, how long is it since you send the text?" Leonard asked. Sheldon glanced at his watch.

"24 minutes." He said. Leonard sighed. "Look, Sheldon. Just give her some time, you can't really expect her to answer right away." He said in a comforting manner.

"Of course I can, Leonard. Amy always answers my text within 4-9 minutes, without exception. So the only logical explanation is that she is currently not talking to me." Sheldon explained and placed his empty bowl on the coffee table. Leonard pondered for a moment.

"Well, what about that other time you couldn't reach her?" Leonard asked.

"That was different. At that point she was sad and wanted to be alone. Now she is mad at me." Sheldon said in an exhausted tone.

"Okay, well this is actually sort of the same situation." Leonard said, causing Sheldon to look at him in confusion. "Amy is obviously mad at you, but at the same time she doesn't want to be mad at you because you're her boyfriend and she cares about you, and the whole situation is making her really sad." Leonard explained, but Sheldon's confused look remained the same. He sighed and said. "I mean, you know how it is. This whole situation is also making you sad. And Amy feels the same way."

Sheldon looked at Leonard for another minute before saying.

"Let's assume that it is indeed true that my argument with Amy has left us both angry and upset. How is not talking to me going to solve anything?"

Leonard opened his mouth and closed it again as he furrowed his brows.

"Well, what did she say last night?" He asked, trying to understand the whole situation.

This time it was Sheldon's turn to open and close his mouth without saying anything. He just looked at his empty bowl. Why couldn't he just tell Leonard what Amy had said last night? He looked back up at Leonard who was just sitting there in his robe with that characteristic worried look on his face. He hesitated for another moment. No, he just couldn't do it.

"You have to get dressed or else we are going to be late." Sheldon finally said, getting up to place his bowl in the sink.

Leonard sighed heavily and opened his mouth. "Sheldon…" But he was interrupted by someone knocking on the door. He looked one last time at Sheldon standing in the kitchen with his back to him before slowly getting up to open the door.

"Good morning, honey." Penny said and kissed Leonard before stepping into the apartment. "Good morning." He mumbled.

"Good morning, Sheldon." Penny said in the same high pitch voice that Leonard had used earlier. Sheldon sighed and turned around.

"Good morning, Penny. To answer your very predictable questions: Yes, I did have a fight with Amy last night and now she isn't talking to me. Happy?" He said quickly and crossed his arms over his chest.

Penny just looked at him with wide eyes, not saying anything for a while.

"Well… I… I actually wasn't going to ask you about the fight. I promised you that I wouldn't pry on you and Amy. No more questions, remember?" She said hesitantly, still shocked over Sheldon's outburst. Sheldon looked at her in mild surprise as his cheeks grew red. Penny cleared her throat.

"I just wanted to ask you if you had heard anything from Amy? I texted her yesterday but she didn't answer. But since the two of you apparently aren't talking I bet you haven't had any luck talking to her either?" She explained. Sheldon looked at her with a frown.

"What do you mean she didn't answer?" Sheldon asked with alarm in his voice.

"Well, I texted her to ask if she was alright since she left so suddenly yesterday, but she hasn't answered me yet." Penny said, getting nervous herself.

"You have to call her." Sheldon said, now feeling really anxious. Penny shook her head. "Sweetie, don't you think it would be best if you called her?" She said in a soothing voice.

Sheldon shook his head vigorously. "No, she won't pick it up, she isn't speaking to me. Penny, you have to call her. I texted her to this morning and she didn't respond to me either, but I figured it was due to our disagreement. There is no reason for her to not answer you, something could be wrong." He said, looking at her with pleading eyes.

"Okay, now you're making me nervous." She said in a shaking voice as she dialed Amy's number and held the phone up to her ear. No answer. She dialed again. Still no answer. Finally, the third time someone picked up.

"Hey, Ames." Penny said in a relieved tone of voice, nodding her head furiously in Sheldon's direction. "What's up? Well, I just got worried since you didn't answer my text?" She looked at Sheldon who took a step towards her. "Oh, and why you didn't answer Sheldon's text?" She quickly added. She grew silent as frown appeared on her face. "Oh… Okay. But everything's fine then? Well okay… Yeah sure. Okay, bye."

Penny hung up the phone and looked at Sheldon who returned her look with anticipating eyes.

"Well, the good news is that she's alive. Everything is fine." Penny said, causing Sheldon to relax a little. He cleared his throat.

"And the bad news?" He asked hesitantly.

"She is definitely mad at you. She said that you knew exactly what to do if you wanted her to talk to you. And she asked me to remind you: 37 hours and 15 minutes left, whatever the hell that means." Penny said with a confused look on her face.

Sheldon's face hardened as he slowly nodded. He turned to his desk and began packing his bag.

"Sheldon, sweetie, are you okay?" Penny asked in a small voice after a moment.

"I am fine." Sheldon responded, never looking up from his packing. Penny got the message and turned to Leonard.

"Okay, well… I'll see you tonight?" She said before kissing him. Leonard nodded silently as he watched her leave the apartment, shooting one last worried glance in the direction of Sheldon before closing the door.

Leonard turned to look at Sheldon who was now done packing, standing there with both hands on his chair looking straight ahead. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again. He had no idea what to say to Sheldon at this point, so he slowly walked over and quickly placed a hand on Sheldon's shoulder before making his way to his bedroom to get ready for work.

Amy hung up the phone with Penny and let out a sigh. She stared at her phone for a while before opening her inbox to reread the message Sheldon had sent her earlier that morning.

Hello, Amy. This is simply the mandatory text I send every night. If everything is fine, then please answer in the affirmative.

Sheldon.

She furrowed her brows as she finished reading. Well, everything is not fine! This was nothing like any of the good night-text she had received from Sheldon. It was cold and distant. She let out another sigh. "Well, I guess I brought that on myself." She mumbled under her breath. Cold and distant was after all the approach she was using at this point. She kept staring at the message, almost bulging under when she read it for at least the tenth time. She already pressed respond, but she just sat there, her fingers hovering over her phone, not typing anything. She thought back on her conversation with Penny only moments ago. He knew exactly what to do. She was not going to give him an easy way out, and she knew that if she gave in and talked to him, he would probably talk his way out of the whole situation. No, it was going to be difficult, but she was not going to give in. If he thought a simple text could ease her anger and make her talk to him he was indeed wrong. Amy was jolted out of her thoughts as her kettle shrieked behind her. She took one last look at the text message before closing her phone and getting up to make herself a cup of tea.

For the remainders of that morning texts kept ticking in from Sheldon. But none of them contained any evidence that he had told Kripke the truth or that he had any intention of doing so.

I assume that you are not talking to me? Is that assumption correct?

Not answering a text is very rude. Especially when I am asking a simple yes or no question.

This is preposterous. Surely you can at least act civilized?

Amy, you are acting very childish. Please quit this waste of time and simply answer my text.

I would like to remind you that I am being the bigger person here, since I am the one who is willing to engage in a conversation like a grown up.

I fail to see how we are ever going to reach a compromise when you refuse to communicate with me?

Amy stared at that last text as she felt anger and frustration build up inside her.

"A compromise?!" She said out loud, before realizing that she was actually at work. She was the only one in the lab, but she took a quick look around just to be sure that no one had heard her.

He was unbelievable. Did he really think that this was something that they were going to negotiate about? How more obvious could she possibly have made it? Tell Kripke the truth, realize your mistake and apologize. How hard could it be? No, he was the one acting childish, and she was not going to play along to his shenanigans. "Not this time, Sheldon." She said under her breath as her anger made her hands shiver. She felt like writing him back right now and giving him a piece of her mind. She inhaled slowly, trying to calm down. Swallowing she picked up her phone and turned it off, returning to her work.

The hours ticked by as Amy tried to engulf herself in her work and not think about Sheldon, but she was finding it hard to do so, even with her phone turned off. The urge to rip of her gloves and just call him, to put him in his place, to jell at the phone increased every time her hands were not occupied.

As lunch rapidly came closer, Amy's mail inbox slowly got filled with e-mails. All from Sheldon. She let out a frustrated noise as her computer alerted her about yet another incoming e-mail and causing her to almost slice her own thumb instead of the brain specimen in front of her. She vigorously took of her gloves and tossed them aside, closing her eyes. She took a deep breathe. If she didn't calm herself she was going to lose it. Perhaps some lunch would be appropriate. She let out a long sigh as she opened her eyes and went to retrieve her lunch from her purse. Normally she would go and eat her lunch in the cafeteria, but the odds of meeting Sheldon there were enormous. He was, after all, a creature of habit. She slowly cleared a space next to her laptop and sat down to eat. Halfway through her sandwich she was interrupted by the very familiar sound of the Skype-ringtone from her laptop. When she saw Sheldon's name on the screen she almost choked on her food. She coughed vehemently as she turned her laptop towards her. As the coughs subsided she found herself staring at her laptop screen all while the ringtone kept playing in a loop. She swallowed. Should she?

No. She declined the call with determination. She had told him to do this in person, Skype was not in person. She slowly turned her attention back to her sandwich but found that she had lost all form of appetite. With a frown on her face she got up and threw the remains out and went back to her seat, just sitting there for a while. With a heavy sigh she leaned in over the table, burrowing her face in her arms. Was this day ever going to end?

Sheldon balanced the food on his tray while slowly making his way over to the table around which Howard, Raj and Leonard were already seated. He took a look around in the cafeteria. She was not there. Of course she wasn't. He furrowed his brows as he took the seat opposite to Leonard's.

"Hey buddy. Any news?" Leonard asked in a low voice. Sheldon looked at him and shook his head.

"A total of 10 text messages, 15 e-mails, 3 tweets and 1 Skype-call." Sheldon said in a dark voice, poking in his food.

"And she didn't answer any of them?" Leonard asked, although he already knew the answer. Sheldon kept looking at his food as he shook his head again.

"So I believe my assumption about her not talking to me has been proven correct?" He said as he took the first small bite of food into his mouth. Leonard sighed and furrowed his brows, unsure of what to say.

Howard looked at Sheldon with raised eyebrows. "Uuuuh, having problems in Paradise are we?" He said in a sly voice and with a big grin. Sheldon shot him an angry look and pressed his lips tightly together. Howard ignored it and leaning in closer he said.

"Was the kiss that bad? Honestly Sheldon, you can't blame her. I mean, heck, if I were a girl and you kissed me I would probably move to another state!"

Sheldon felt his anger rise. He placed his fork back on his tray and got up.

"Howard!" Said Leonard and Raj in unison. Howard looked at them and found them looking back at him with unbelieving looks.

"What?" Howard asked innocently.

Raj crossed his arms and looked at him in a judging manner. "Not cool, dude." He said in a dark voice.

Leonard rolled his eyes and looked at Sheldon.

"Come on, Sheldon. Don't mind him. Sit down, let's see if we can help you with this problem with Amy." He said in a pleading voice.

Sheldon stood beside the table, looking down at his food, not moving. Howard sighed and said.

"Okay, look, I'm sorry Sheldon. That was completely uncalled for. Maybe I can help you."

Sheldon looked up at Howard in surprise as he slowly placed his tray back down on the table.

"How on earth are you going to help me?" He said in a disbelieving tone and taking a seat. Howard let out a long breath before saying.

"Well, I have been in the exact same situation as you. Remember when Bernie found out all those things about my past that I hadn't told her?" Sheldon nodded slowly and Leonard and Raj leaned in closer.

"She didn't want to talk to me either. She didn't answer my texts, my calls, my e-mails, nothing. It was brutal." Howard continued as Sheldon now cast his look down on his tray.

"So, I know how you're feeling. It's hard, because on one side you just want everything to go back to normal and on the other hand you just have no idea how to fix the situation when the one person you want to talk to won't talk to you."

Sheldon swallowed, not looking up as silence fell over the table. No one said anything. Raj was playing with his food, Leonard was surprised by Howard's sudden deep revelations and Howard was still looking at Sheldon's stooped head. Finally Sheldon cleared his throat.

"And…. What did you do to quote unquote fix the situation?" He asked in a low voice. Howard pondered for a moment before saying.

"Well, one thing is certain: it is not going to be easy. If Amy is just half as angry and hurt as Bernie was, you are going to have to really fight your way back."

Sheldon furrowed his brows and pressed his lips together, swallowing hard, still refusing to look at Howard.

"But the most important thing is for you to realize your mistake. And then you are going to do whatever it takes for Amy to forgive you." Howard said in a stern voice, finally causing Sheldon to meet his gaze.

"But her demands are preposterous." He said in a defensive tone of voice. Howard huffed and said.

"It doesn't matter, Sheldon! Look, I don't care if she is asking you to jump of a freaking cliff, if you really care for her and want her to continue being your girlfriend, then jumping of a cliff is exactly what you are going to do! " Howard exclaimed which made Sheldon look at him with wide eyes.

"I fail to understand why jumping off a cliff for someone is going to prove anything." He said with a frown looking at the rest of the table. Howard threw his hands up in surrender, Raj looked at Sheldon in disbelief, slowly shaking his head and Leonard rubbed his forehead with his fingers, frowning. Howard opened his mouth to say something but Leonard interrupted him. Based on his expression Leonard had a feeling that Sheldon knew exactly what Howard had meant, but he was simply too proud to admit it.

"Maybe that's enough relationship talk for now. But look, Sheldon, perhaps you should consider not overfilling Amy's inbox in an attempt to make her talk to you. That might just have the opposite effect. So just, you know, give it a rest." He said in a soothing voice. Sheldon looked at him with disbelieving eyes.

"And just how am I supposed to make her talk to me if I don't contact her?" He asked, shaking his head.

"No, hold on. Leonard is right. Instead of making her more angry by constantly bombarding her with texts and e-mails, you might want to take some time and come up with the right way to apologize." Howard interjected. Sheldon simply huffed and stood up with his tray in his hands. He then turned to face all three of his friends.

"I am not apologizing for anything, I have done nothing wrong. Amy is just going to have to realize how ridiculous this situation is, take back her preposterous demands and then we might talk." He said in a determined tone of voice.

"Oh my god, get over yourself, Sheldon! I can't believe that you are going to treat Amy like that, You are so full of yourself!" Raj exclaimed pointing at Sheldon with his fork. Sheldon's cheeks grew red and his eyes grew wide. He opened his mouth to respond but no words crossed his lips. He closed his mouth again and did the only thing he could think of. He walked away, tossing his tray into the trash on his way out of the cafeteria. He walked fast with long and angry steps and he didn't slow down before he had securely closed the door to his office. He sat down behind his desk and let out a long breath. He stayed like that for a couple of moments as he tried to catch his breath. When his breathing had slowed down he reached into his pocket for his phone, a motion that over the last hours almost had become a reflex. He opened it. Nothing. No new text message, e-mail or any other incoming communication from Amy. He huffed and furrowed his brows. This lack of daily communication really bothered him more than he cared to admit. It was a constant reminder of the events and aftermath of that dreadful night. He opened a new text message and addressed it to Amy, but before he could write a single word Sheldon felt himself hesitating. He thought back on his recent conversation with Leonard, Raj and Howard. Perhaps they were right? After all, every single one of his attempts to get Amy to talk to him had failed, so it would only be logical to try a new approach. He pondered for a couple of moments. Taking a deep breathe he decided to follow their advice and seize his endless stream of text messages and e-mails. With one last look at his phone he placed it on his desk and got up to take a look at the equation on his whiteboard.

The minutes ticked by, becoming hours. Sheldon was having some difficulty solving the equation but was finding it hard to concentrate with his phone just lying there on his desk almost glaring at him. He closed his eyes. This is ridiculous, he thought as he slowly reopened them. With a determined sigh he removed the lid off one of his markers and squinted his eyes at his whiteboard. "I can do this." He mumbled to himself, not sure if he meant solving the equation or the situation with Amy.

Amy took out her keys from her purse as she walked the last steps towards her apartment door. Her day had been long and tiresome and the thought of getting some sleep had rarely been this welcome. She opened her apartment door and stepped in with a sigh, tossing her bag at the couch before quickly making her way to the bathroom to wash up.

After finishing her routine she stepped into her kitchen to prepare dinner. She opened her refrigerator and looked inside. It was almost full, but at this moment she couldn't spot anything she felt like eating. With a sigh she closed it and made her way to her couch. Taking a seat she retrieved her cellphone from her purse, finally turning it on. It had remained turned off since lunch in order for her to be able to focus on her work. But even with her phone turned off she had had trouble concentrating and her day had been anything else but productive. She rubbed her temple, feeling a headache slowly emerging as her phone took its time to start. Perfect, she mumbled to herself as she entered her PIN. After yet another moment her phone was on, but something caught her attention. No new messages. No new mails. Nothing. She furrowed her brows. Given the steady stream of messages she had received before lunch she was sure that her inbox would've been flooded at this point. She swallowed and pressed on the text-message icon. Perhaps something was wrong with her phone, causing it to not alert her of new messages. No, there really was no new messages. She logged on to her Facebook. Nothing. Twitter. Nothing. E-mail. Nothing. It slowly became obvious to her that Sheldon hadn't tried to contact her since lunch.

She wanted to feel angry at that point. She wanted to feel angry at Sheldon and at his lack of action. But she couldn't. No matter how hard she tried to convince herself that his lack of attempts to communicate with her was to be expected when she didn't answer him, that it was only logical and nothing to grieve about, she couldn't help herself. The fact remained that the sight of her blank phone with no messages from Sheldon made her feel sad. She felt like crying and at the same time she felt like tossing her phone at a wall. She took a couple of deep breathes, trying to calm down. After a couple of moments she got up from her seat and headed towards the bedroom. If she had had any appetite earlier it was now all but gone. She couldn't take anymore, not today. She knew it was early for her to go to bed, it wasn't even seven yet, but all she wanted to do at this point was sleep. Sleeping meant not thinking, not thinking meant not worrying and not worrying meant not sitting on pins and needles waiting for Sheldon to realize his mistake and fix the situation.

Amy quickly changed into her nightgown, placed her glasses on her nightstand and with an exhausted sigh she tossed herself on her bed, welcoming the familiar feeling of her pillow and comforter. With another deep sigh she closed her eyes and tried to silence the many thoughts that were racing in her mind, and she soon felt sleep sneaking up on her.

Something suddenly jolted her out of her daze. Someone was knocking on her door. She quickly threw her comforter off and made her way to the living room. She felt a small hope rising inside her chest. She expected his familiar voice to say her name and knock again in that peculiar way of his. But instead a new round of knocking filled the apartment and another well-known voice said.

"Ames, I know you are in there. It's me Penny, please open the door. We need to talk."

Amy felt her small hope get crushed as she opened her door with a frown.

"Penny? What are you doing here?" She asked in confusion as Penny quickly stepped inside and turned to face her with wide eyes.

"You need to come with me." Penny said, alarm in her voice. Amy noticed a rising feeling of fear, Penny seemed very nervous. She swallowed and said.

"Why? Is Sh… Is everything all right?"

Penny shook her head, her eyes growing even wider.

"You really have to get dressed and come with me right now." She paused and stepped a little closer to Amy whose heart was now racing.

"Sheldon's mother is coming."

Did I just leave you with another cliff hanger? I can be cruel, I know, but hang in there! The next chapter is in the making. Meanwhile, feel free to leave a review, they really do fuel my writing ;)

And hold on people, this emotional Shamy-rollercoster has only just begun.

Until next time:

Live long and ship hard!