Have decided to skip over the rest of the trip as it is just work and not that interesting and I want to progress as I have lots of plans ahead and want to get to them sooner rather than later!

It was the final evening of their work trip, it had been a good trip and Sheldon and Amy had just returned from having dinner in hotel restaurant and Amy wanted to give her anniversary gifts to Sheldon, they were in the living room area of the hotel suite they had and were lounging on the sofa cuddling

The hotel they were booked into was set out like an apartment complex and their suite was overlooking Lake Geneva

"Sheldon I know you don't like fuss, so what I have got you to celebrate 4 years together is just a couple of silly little things just for fun" said Amy as she handed over two packages, which Sheldon immediately unwrapped and started smiling at the first one

"A love voucher book?" asked Sheldon leafing through the booklet and getting excited at some of the voucher possibilities which included an erotic section of Master and Servant, Sheldon intended to take that one up very soon

"Well I got the idea from you with your Cooper Coupons and I thought it would be fun, there are a few other things in there that we can do and there are no expiration dates" replied Amy

"Well I think it's a great idea" said Sheldon opening the 2nd gift which was a leather cufflink box. "This is lovely too, Amy thank you very much" said Sheldon kissing her to which Amy responded by wrapping her arms around Sheldon and kissing him back harder

"I am glad you like them" replied Amy smiling at her husband

"I do however have one more thing for you" said Sheldon as he went to his suitcase and brought out a package, Amy unwrapped it and found a signed portrait of Santiago Ramon y Cajal

"Sheldon you really know your scientists don't you!"

"I take an interest in what you do Amy and I may have derided your field of work in the past but that was wrong"

"I'm glad you see it that way! Replied Amy snuggling into Sheldon and kissing him again

"Come on lets sit outside for a while and admire the view, we have to be up early tomorrow and it is going to be a long day of travelling, but at least its at an end now" sighed Sheldon as they walked out onto the balcony

"You know Sheldon if you really don't want to do this again next year, just tell Siebert, you have done fantastically well the last couple of weeks and I'm sure he would see sense" replied Amy taking a sip of champagne

"Yes you might be right, we have a meeting with him on Wednesday morning to talk things over, I think he knows my reluctance so perhaps he would do well to recruit somebody else willing to travel so much"

After another hour sitting outside chatting, it started to get too cold so they went back inside and packed their things ready to go in the morning.

Back home

Sheldon had already let Leonard know they would be arriving at LAX at 7pm Monday evening and he would be picking them up, Leonard had also brought Daisy along to surprise them, she had coped well without her owners.

Leonard was waiting in the short stay car park when he saw them leave the building and quickly got out the car to help with the enormous amounts of luggage they had, as they approached the car, Daisy was going mad with happiness at seeing Amy and was trying to get out of the car through the open back window

"Oh Daisy" smiled Amy as she left the luggage to the men and got in the car and played with Daisy

"Has she been ok Leonard? Asked Amy as Leonard and Sheldon got into the car and Leonard started the car and they soon were on the way back to Pasadena

"Yes she's been absolutely fine, Raj also said she was not a problem when he had her last weekend" replied Leonard

"Thank you for picking us up, we are both exhausted from travelling and will probably go to bed when we get in, sorry to be unsociable" said Sheldon

"Sheldon that's ok, its not unsociable at all, I told everybody to come over at the weekend when you are both more settled back in at home and you will see the boys at work anyway, I will be staying at Penny's tonight so you will have the apartment to yourselves"

"Oh, how's that going anyway? Asked Amy

"Really well, we are still having one night a week together and I like the way its going, there is no pressure from either of us but we have made plans for the future and Penny even took my mother to a spa hotel for a massage in New York, which apparently my mother quite liked"

"Good I am glad for you both, its fortunate how things turned out for everything to be better, but at least you are both in a good place now" said Amy. Daisy had settled down and was now sleeping across the seat with her head in Amy's lap

Pretty soon they had arrived back home and Penny was also waiting at the entrance of the building to help with any luggage, though the three of them seemed to be just fine so she took Daisy instead and they all piled into the lift to their floor

"I ordered Pizza for you both and it's on the kitchen counter waiting for you, did Leonard tell you he's staying with me tonight? Asked Penny

"Yes he did and thank you for ordering Pizza Penny, that was very nice of you"

"No problem, I know that travelling can be tiring and wanted to help, anyway, welcome back" said Penny hugging Amy and Sheldon together

"Ok guys we will leave you to it" said Leonard as he and Penny went to 4b

"You know Sheldon we are not working tomorrow perhaps we could do have a little house search on the internet?

"I agree, it will be nice to have our own space, though I will miss Leonard enormously"

"We will have a healthy budget as well and as we are not in a chain we will have more choice probably"

"Yes now let's dump this stuff in our room and eat this pizza, my tummy is rumbling like crazy" said Sheldon

Wednesday

Sheldon and Amy arrived at the meeting with President Siebert and were waiting for him to arrive when Dr Carter appeared in the room

"Dr Carter I wasn't expecting you to be here" said Amy in surprise

"Yes I know but there have been some changes and plans for the future and its only fitting that I be here"

"How do you mean?" asked Amy curiously

"I will let President Siebert tell you" replied Dr Carter as Siebert strolled into the room and greeted everybody

"Now then, I trust you had a good trip? We again have had excellent feedback"

"Yes it was very good" replied Amy looking to Sheldon to say something but he was staying silent on the matter

"Good now what I am about to tell you is in the strictest confidence, there have been a few meetings recently and we have decided to have a proper full and functioning Neurobiology department here at Caltech, Dr Carter has been persuaded to move Universities once we are set up and Amy we would like you to continue the same position you had at UCLA here"

"Oh wow, really? Asked Amy

"Yes and it was down to your donor Faisal, he has donated a large sum of money to help get everything set up and if you wish to take the position you can bring your own staff with you from UCLA and you will be getting more money" replied Dr Carter

"Sheldon what do you think? Asked Amy

"Amy I think it's a great idea, you should accept the position and that also means when we are looking for a house it can be close by" replied Sheldon

"President Siebert how soon would you like me here? I have to give three months notice to UCLA"

"Well we are hoping that we will be ready in time for the new academic year in October, it would probably be best to give your 3 month notice from now, we are currently building a small unit that is specifically designed for your department, also we would like you to continue teaching if that's ok?2 asked Siebert

"Oh that's more than ok" said Amy excitedly

"One other thing President Siebert, I don't want to go on these trips anymore, they are draining and I don't enjoy doing them, perhaps it would be wise to recruit somebody to do it" said Sheldon

"Dr Cooper the plans for that are in place, I know how reluctant you were to do it and I am grateful that you did, we will be advertising soon, it was also why we gave you some extra holiday time"

"Really, you're not just saying that? Asked Sheldon dubiously

"Yes really, now if there is anything else? Asked Siebert

Sheldon and Amy shook their heads

"Ok then you are free to go" said Siebert

"Amy I will see you back at UCLA, we can talk more and if you could also talk to your study staff and see if they would be interested in joining us here that would be helpful, there will be pay rises for anybody that does" said Dr Carter

Amy nodded to Dr Carter and she and Sheldon quickly walked to car park

"Sheldon this so exciting, I can't think straight" said Amy

"I for one am glad you are going to be close by and congratulations" said Sheldon cuddling her

"Thank you, I think this gives cause to have a spontaneous celebration tonight! Said Amy

"You don't think UCLA will try and stop you leaving? Asked Sheldon

"I don't know but I have been there for all of my working life so it will be a wrench to leave, but this is an exciting opportunity and I am not going to turn it down" replied Amy unlocking her car

"This also means we can change our house search area too, though yesterday gave me some ideas about the style of house I would like" said Sheldon

"Yes I agree, Sheldon I would love to stay and chat but I really have to go, we can talk about it more later" said Amy reluctantly

"Ok, drive safely, love you" said Sheldon bending down to kiss Amy

"I will, love you!" said Amy as she drove off

Sheldon went straight to Leonard's lab to tell him the news, Howard and Raj just happened to be there also and they were happy for Sheldon and for Amy and agreed to come over to 4a that evening and promised to keep quiet until the news was announced officially, once Howard and Raj had left Sheldon also informed Leonard that he and Amy would be searching for houses in the area to live

"That's ok Sheldon, Penny and I have been talking a lot recently and I reckon by the end of year, Penny and I will be living together, we are so much happier now and the time we spent apart made us realise a lot of things about each other"

"Do you want to keep the apartment?"

"No I think we will do the same as you and Amy and buy a house, it will feel more grown up and Penny and I have done a lot of growing up the past year"

"Maybe we can do what we talked about before and find somewhere close to each other, I am pretty sure the girls would be happy about that"

"I like that idea Sheldon and I will miss living with you"

"Same here" replied Sheldon

Saturday

Sheldon and Amy had looked on the internet for houses in their local area and had 3 viewings booked for that day, they had agreed that they wanted at least 4 bedrooms, as they had plans for future children and wanted lots of space, the first house they went to was only a mile away at East Ashtabula Street and it was one that Sheldon had seen and liked and was trying to persuade Amy that it was a good choice to see

They pulled up outside and Amy could see why Sheldon liked it so much, it had a gated driveway and part of the building was two storeys with another part only one level and it was painted in a creamy colour. The realtor agent was waiting for them and took them inside and straight away there was a large central wooden curved staircase which Amy liked, they went around all the rooms, it also had 3 bathrooms, the only disappointment for Amy and she pointed it was that the garden was very small and completely paved over.

"Sheldon I mostly like it but we have another one to see and I don't want to make a decision just yet" said Amy taking Sheldon's hand

"Amy that's fine, I wouldn't expect us to make such a big decision after only seeing one house and I know we are not going to agree on all the same things though"

"Well the next one I know has a pool and I think that will be fun, we can have pool parties!" said Amy "Also it has a little annexe for if we have guests"

"Where is it? Asked Sheldon

"It just happens to be on Los Robles Avenue" replied Amy as they drove off back towards their home road and parked outside a house which had double frontage and had a ranch style decking extending the width of the house

"Amy this is beautiful and look it has two garages" said Sheldon looking round the side of the house

"This one has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms" replied the realtor letting them into the house and then leaving them to walk around the house alone, the house was empty of furniture and had recently been vacated but it was clean and freshly painted with wooden floors everywhere, with a large kitchen and dining room and all the bedrooms were a large size and there was a 20 metre indoor pool with a little sauna room beside it

"Oh Sheldon I think this is perfect" said Amy excitedly

"Yes I agree but remember there may be other things, so we can put this on our maybe list" replied Sheldon

"How many people have viewed this property?" asked Amy to the realtor

"Well it only came on the market yesterday and you are the first people to see it, the good thing is that you can move in straight away, as the owners have moved already" replied the realtor

"Amy I think we need to go and see the next house and then think about it, I don't want to decide just yet" said Sheldon

"I understand" said Amy

They went to see the next house which was on North Marengo Avenue and the house was beautiful and Amy fell in love with the large open plan kitchen but she kept thinking about the other house, luckily Sheldon was being the voice of reason, they had managed to save a lot of money for a deposit and to have a small mortgage and now that Amy would be moving to Caltech she would be earning more money and that would hep, Sheldon was also financially stable

On Sunday they talked seriously about which house to buy and finally made a decision to buy the house with the pool and they put in a bid first thing Monday morning which was accepted and they would be able to move in whenever was convenient for them

"Sheldon I can't believe it, we own a house! Said Amy jumping about and hugging Sheldon

"I know and all we need to do now is tell Leonard that we are moving out, albeit not very far seeing as the apartment block and the house are within viewing distance of each other" replied Sheldon

"Everything is perfect Sheldon and this is the perfect house to raise our children in" smiled Amy

Next chapter moving in and more