This wait was long over due. I'm sorry. This is the final chapter but there will be an epilogue. Enjoy!
It had been weeks since the pregnancy scare, and Sheldon couldn't seem to stop thinking about if it was reality. He knew he'd be a good father and Amy a mother, but he always brought himself back to thinking about when they had first met and believed if and when they conceived it would be through a petri-dish without bodily fluids involved.
Now, here they were, 4 years later and having sex on a regular basis. Okay, way more than a regular basis. In fact, Amy was in the bathroom showering after their morning roll in the hay right now. They had come quite far since that first date (with Penny). He could laugh about it now and also kill himself for letting them move so slowly. But Amy was patient for the most part. She didn't leave him to find someone else to satisfy her and when he finally started kissing her, she only enjoyed it and took what she could.
Well, now it was Amy's turn to have everything she wanted. He knew she wanted marriage and a family and surprisingly, he was ready to give her at least one of those. He knew he was going to spend his life with her so why wait? Wow, that's romantic.
He shook his head and pulled back the covers to grab his briefs from the floor and slip them over his rear. He was going to need help planning this. What he was going to do, he wasn't sure, but he knew he needed the one person who knew Amy the best besides him.
Penny.
Knock knock knock "Penny."
Knock knock knock "Penny."
Knock knock knock "Penny."
He waited anxiously for her to open her door and when she did, the scowl on her face told him it was not yet 11:00am.
"What do you want Sheldon? It's not even ten yet."
"I know and I apologize for not letting you get your ten hours of sleep." He rolled his eyes to himself. "But I need your help with Amy."
"Oh God, what did you do now?"
"Nothing ill. I just, well." He looked behind him to make sure Amy wasn't coming out before he disregarded it and showed himself inside, pushing Penny aside.
"Sheldon, what the hell?"
"I want to propose marriage to Amy."
"Oh my God, Sheldon!"
He cringed at her shriek and soon found his arms forced to the sides of his body as she trapped him in a hug. "That's amazing! What made you come to this decision?"
"If you could let me go, I could breathe and then I could speak."
"Oh!" She quickly released him and clasped her hands together in excitement.
"I just felt that after 4 years and now that we're intimate it's the right time. Plus, I don't like sleeping without her."
That last part was hard to hear and Penny raised her brow to get him to repeat it. "Come again?"
"I don't like sleeping without her, okay?"
"Oh, Sheldon. That is SO sweet!"
"I need your help picking out a ring."
"Me? I'd be honored! Are we leaving now? Let me just get my shoes o-"
"No, no. Amy's still here."
"You dawg," she grinned and he rolled his eyes.
"Yes, I'm a dog, she's a vixen. Can we get back to business?"
"I'm sorry," she grinned and he could tell she was having a hard time controlling herself. "When did you want to go?"
"Well, Amy has to go to the lab for a couple hours this afternoon, so I figured when she leaves for that."
"Great! Just come over and we'll go."
"I must say, since Leonard got you a new car, I don't fear driving with you so much."
Penny turned around once she reached her counter and couldn't decide if she should smile or not. "Well, thank you. I think. What time is Amy leaving?"
"Within the hour. She's showering now."
"All right, well just come over once your woman has left," she smirked.
Rolling his eyes for the second time that morning he made his way to the door. "And Penny?"
"Yes, Sheldon?"
"Tell Amy any of this and I'll make sure you never use our wifi again."
She saluted him properly. "Ey ey Captain Cooper."
Walking back into the apartment and shutting the door, he heard the water shut off. He knocked on the bathrooom door.
"Amy? Will you be long?"
"No, I'm almost done."
He decided to go get changed while he waited for her to come out.
After changing, he walked back out to see Amy grabbing her files.
"Heading out now?"
"Yeah," she sighed. "I should only be a couple hours and then I'm all yours," she grinned as she walked up to him to kiss him goodbye.
He smiled into the kiss and found himself placing his hands on her waist to keep her still and prolong it until he realized she needed to leave so he could go ring shopping. Pulling back he mimicked her smile before he watched her walk out the door and down the stairs.
Once he was sure she was out of sight, he grabbed his his messenger back and headed across the hall. Before he could even knock, Penny opened the door, purse in hand. "Ready, Shelly?"
"Yes, but don't call me that."
"All right, all right. Come on. Let's go get a ring for your lady."
Arriving at the Jewelry store, Sheldon walked in with a surprising sense of calm. Penny, on the other hand, was running around the store looking at everything that caught her eye; Which was everything.
"Penny, concentrate. We only have an hour and a half before Amy gets back."
"Come here! I think I found the perfect one."
"All ready?"
Walking over to the glass case, Sheldon looked at the square cut, gold ring with the giant diamond in the center and the tiny diamonds all around. "That seems a bit elaborate for Amy, don't you think?"
"Elaborate? It's her engagement ring. Of course it needs to be elaborate."
"What about this one?"
Penny leaned over to look at the emerald cut silver ring. "Ehhh"
"'Ehh'? What's 'ehh' about it?"
"I just don't see Amy wearing that."
They went back and forth for the next hour until Sheldon heard his phone go off.
"Uh oh."
Penny was trying on a ring herself when she heard the lanky physicist. "What's wrong?"
"Amy finished early. She wants to grab lunch. We'll have to come back another day." Penny hesitantly took off the cushion cut ring before they made their exit. "She's going to pick me up. We have to hurry back."
They got back to the apartment complex moments to spare. As soon as Penny disappeared into the building, Amy pulled up and was surprised to see Sheldon was outside waiting.
"You never wait down here for me," she reminded him as he got into the car. She quickly smelled a woman's perfume.
"I figured you were hungry and I didn't want to make you wait."
"That was very sweet of you." She forced a smile as she pulled out of the parking lot. Why does he smell of perfume?
"Are we just going to the cheesecake Factory?"
"Yeah. Is that all right?"
"Fine with me. You know I don't like new places."
"Yes, I know, Sheldon. So what did you do while I was at work?"
"Oh Ummm, you know. Just worked on my whiteboard."
Amy noticed him nervously playing with his hands and how he wouldn't look at her.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine. Just thinking."
"About?"
"Nothing."
"You're thinking about nothing?"
"Yes, Amy. I'm thinking about nothing. Can't I think about nothing once in a while?"
She found herself getting upset over his tone and his weird attitude, but did her best to hide it. It didn't work.
"I'm sorry," he sighed. "I'm just- a little stressed."
"About work?"
"Yeah." It was as good a lie as any.
Sheldon seemed to calm down once they got seated and Amy noticed. She decided to let his temper from earlier go.
"So how'd you finish so fast?"
"I just remembered you were home waiting for me," she grinned.
He smiled nervously, hoping she would never find out where he actually was. This had to be the perfect surprise.
She noticed his forced smile, but before she could ask him what was going on, a waitress came over and took their orders.
"We'll just have our usual," Sheldon stated.
Once the waitress left, Amy turned her attention to Sheldon and studied his face. He seemed nervous and a little pale.
"Are you feeling sick?"
"What? No. Do I look sick?" he asked in a panic before he tried to see himself in his phone.
"No, I just... Never mind."
Sheldon could tell he was giving himself away. He reached his hand across the table and placed his hands over hers. "I'm glad you asked me to lunch. I know we've both been stressed with work the last couple weeks."
She squeezed his hand with a slight smile. "I just thought we could both could use a little time to not think about work."
He nodded slowly and her genuine smile gave him the overwhelming urge to kiss her, but he still wasn't that comfortable kissing in public. It would have to wait until they were alone in the car.
After the odd couple finished their lunch, Sheldon paid the bill and they exited the restaurant hand in hand. He was much more comfortable doing that in public.
"Thank you for coming to lunch with me," she grinned as they got into the car.
"You're very welcome." He finally leaned over and claimed her lips and soon felt her hand reach up and caress his cheek.
When they pulled apart their noses were still touching. "I love you," she whispered and he smiled warmly.
"I love you, too."
When they sat back in their seats, Amy put the car into reverse and drove them back to his apartment.
She could still smell the woman's perfume on him but this was Sheldon. He wouldn't cheat on her. It took him over four years to have sex with her. She couldn't see him cheating on her with another woman.
Sheldon continued to act strange for the next week. He had smelled like woman's perfume at least twice more and the last two nights he didn't spoon her while they slept. In fact, for the past three days when she came home from work and tried to get a little quickie in, she was turned down. He was acting awfully distant from her all week.
"Hello, Sheldon," she grinned as she walked into his apartment and placed her purse down. She walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck before kissing him softly, the smell of woman's perfume again on his clothes.
"Hello Amy." He turned back to the fridge to get something to eat and she noticed him stiffen when she ran her hands up and down his back as she kissed his neck before whispering into his ear. "Do you wanna go into the bedroom?"
"Umm no. No, thank you." He stood up with a jar of pickles in hand and set it on the counter before opening it.
She decided to ignore him, or at least ignore the awful thoughts running through her head.
Tonight she told herself she would get an answer and would stop denying what she knew.
The physicist was cheating on her.
Sheldon had arrived at Amy's apartment ready for date night in the same suit he had worn when he first kissed her on the train. What Amy didn't know was that Sheldon was going to propose to her after dinner by taking her to his apartment onto the roof.
Knocking on her door with his signature knock, he pulled at his collar and checked to make sure the ring was still inside his jacket pocket.
When Amy opened the door, his nervousness turned to confusion.
"Amy? Why are you in your pajamas? I told you seven o'clock."
Amy didn't say a word as he stepped inside and realized that he didn't smell like perfume today. Took a break today, did we?
"I'm not going."
His eyes widened as he took in his girlfriend's words. "You're- you're not going?"
"That's right. I know what's going on."
"What! How do you know? Did Penny tell you? Oh I could just strangle h-"
"It's Penny!?" Amy felt her knees go weak and she held onto the arm of the couch to steady her.
"Of course it was Penny. She knows you better than anyone except me."
"So you pick Penny for that reason?" She felt the tears pooling in her eyes.
"Why wouldn't I? I'm not using Bernadette. I wanted it to be good."
"Oh my gosh. Sheldon, I can't believe you'd do this to me! How Penny could do this to me!"
"What? I just wanted to find the perfect-"
"What? Whore? Was I not good enough? Did I not satisfy you?" He opened his mouth to ask what in God's name she was talking about, when she grabbed a Neuron magazine from her coffee table and began hitting him repeatedly as she spoke. "You're just like all the rest! I never disrespected you!"
"Amy, stop!"
"How could you cheat on me when I waited all these years for you!"
"What?!" He finally grabbed her wrists and watched as the tears ran down her cheeks as she cried. "I never cheated on you! I was going to propose tonight!"
She finally looked up and sniffed at his final words. "You what?" She watched him let go of her wrists before he hesitantly reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the small velvet box and opened it for her, showing off the princess cut diamond ring.
"Oh, Sheldon," she whispered staring at it for a few moments, before she looked up at him.
"I got you a tiara," he started softly, "so I figured the ring had to make you feel like a princess, too."
"I- I don't understand. Then why did you smell of perfume? And turn me down for sex last week?"
"I smelled of perfume because Penny was helping me find a ring. I denied you of sex because I was so worried and nervous about how you'd react that I couldn't concentrate on anything and I knew I wouldn't be able to perform. I just wanted the proposal to be perfect. I was going to take you to dinner and then take you to the roof of my apartment where Penny strung lights. It was where I first saw the dirty sock that got me to meet with you those years ago. I didn't want to do it this way, but you were acting crazy and accused me of-"
"Yes."
He looked at her with a shocked expression. "'Yes', what?"
"Yes, I'll marry you."
"Well, wait a minute. You didn't even give me a chance to propose properly."
"Oh," she grinned. "I'm sorry." She wiped the tears from her cheeks. "Go ahead."
He slowly got down on one knee before he held the box open to her. "Amy Farrah Fowler-"
"Yes." He gave her a slight glare and she giggled. "I'm sorry."
"Amy Farrah Fowler, will you-"
"Yes."
"Amy!"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry."
"Amy Farrah Fowler, will you-" He stopped making sure she wouldn't interrupt him again and he couldn't help the small smile as she eagerly waited. "Will you marry me?"
"Yes!"