Straight after work Amy headed over to Penny's apartment. After Sheldon had left last night, Amy had texted Penny and she had only seen the text in the morning. She had called Amy about fifty times but she had been at work so she hadn't been able to answer her phone. They had set a date via text message and now Amy was on her way. She had to admit that it felt good to be covered in her cardigan and skirt again.

Amy went up to the fourth floor and wanted to knock on Penny's door but just when she raised her hand, the door flew open and Penny pulled her best friend in. Amy let go a high-pitched scream. She was highly confused as she suddenly found herself draped on her best friend's couch with a glass of wine in front of her.

"So, tell me everything!"

Amy was overwhelmed for a moment, then she turned to her best friend and smiled. "So after we were in my apartment, Sheldon got a drink and then asked me if I still wanted to dance, well, basically he just took my iPod and looked for a song and then he came over and we danced and… then we kissed."

"And?" Penny sat there with wide open eyes.

"What and… nothing and. We danced until the song was over and he took the bus home…"

"Oh"

Penny seemed disappointed and Amy couldn't believe it. She had just told her best friend that her seemingly asexual boyfriend had kissed her and that in a way that had almost let her hit the ceiling and all she got was an 'Oh'?

"I mean…" Penny started to explain. "With your outfit he actually should have taken you right on the kitchen table…"

"Penny. We're talking about Sheldon."

"Yeah, right" Penny rolled her eyes and took a big sip of wine. Then she smiled. "But hey, I am really happy for you. A huge step for the Shamy!"

Amy smiled and drifted off to her thoughts again. She should have been deadly tired because she hadn't slept half the night, continuously touching her lips as if the kiss would have sat right there, waiting for her to actually try to feel it also on her fingers. But Amy was more awake than ever… and she wanted to see Sheldon. Kind of. She was afraid it would get awkward.

"Hey, you know what? One of those penguins from your university called me today and told me that Jody was taken to hospital last night…" Penny grinned.

Amy's jaw dropped.

"Well" Penny shrugged innocently. "I may or may not have broken her nose. A little."

Amy couldn't help but grin. She was totally against physical abuse but this gave her a great deal of satisfaction.

A knock on Penny's door and someone opening it, made the girls turn around. It was Leonard, peeking in and smiling insecurely. "Hello girls. Penny, you actually said you'd come over for pasta."

"Oh! Right… uhm…"

"Well, there is enough for you, too, Amy"

"I don't know…"

"Oh, come on!" Penny got up and went towards the door. Amy followed her. The moment of seeing Sheldon again had come quicker than she had thought.

It smelt heavenly, when they entered Sheldon's and Leonard's apartment. Even though Amy was pretty nervous, that smell made her hungry.

Sheldon was sitting by his desk, typing around furiously on the keyboard of his laptop. He didn't even raise his head when the door closed.

"Hey Sheldon, special guest – just for you!" Leonard smiled and headed over to the kitchen.

Sheldon looked up for a moment, looked back at the screen and looked up again.

"Hello Shelly. Is everything okay?" Penny smiled knowingly and wandered over to her boyfriend.

Sheldon didn't even pay attention to her. He just stared at Amy. She didn't know what to do. What was this look? Was it regretting or happy or longing or angry or…

He mouthed a silent "Hi" and smiled and in that moment Amy knew everything was going to be okay. He didn't regret it and neither did she. They hadn't made a mistake, they had made a step forward in their relationship.

"Amy, how hungry are you? I made tons of spagettis!" Leonard asked from the kitchen.

"Oh come on, just put something in" Penny shoved her boyfriend away. "I put the pasta, you put the sauce. And hurry up before everything gets cold!"

Amy grinned and then looked back at Sheldon. He hadn't taken his look off of her for a single second.

"Look what I did!"

The young neurobiologist went over to her boyfriend, stopped next to his chair and bent down to look at the screen.

Her incredible smell almost robbed Sheldon all of his senses. He swallowed hard.

"He wasted the whole afternoon on this" Leonard dryly commented from behind the kitchen counter.

"I didn't waste the afternoon. I spent my time trying to re-program Minecraft with a little more Star Wars features!" Sheldon corrected him indignantly.

"I think it's nice. Good job!" Amy smiled and bent back up before looking over to her best friend and Leonard. "Can I help you?"

"Nope, we're all set. Just gather around the table."

Amy went over to the sofa and sat down in the middle of the sofa, followed by Sheldon who sunk down on his usual spot. Penny and Leonard balanced the plates over and served everyone theirs.

"Where are Howard and Bernadette?" Amy asked while they all started eating.

"Mrs. Wolowitzes house. She made her famous roast." Leonard cringed a little just at the thought of it.

"And of course Raj had to go with them. Poor guy. We should have invited him." Penny sighed and shook his head.

"He's probably drunk by now anyway" Leonard grinned and everyone laughed.

They kept eating and Penny started complaining about a customer she had had at the Cheesecake Factory today.

Amy only heard some of it because halfway through Penny's story, she realized that Sheldon's thigh touched hers. He had definitely moved towards her a little. She enjoyed the body contact and the spreading warmth.

"By the way, have you heard that my tough Nebraska girlfriend has broken the student's nose?" Leonard's tone of voice was between shock, pride and judgment.

"You did what?" Sheldon echoed. "That poor girl."

Amy wasn't sure if she should have been angry about Sheldon's misplaced sympathy for this skank or happy about the fact he had called her girl, cause if that was what he saw in her, she'd have no chance.

"She deserved it" Penny shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal.

"What did she even say to make you that angry?" Leonard eyed his girlfriend.

The two girls exchanged a short look. Penny had told Amy what Jody had said and that had made Amy even happier that her bestie had slapped her in the face.

"Just bullshit" Penny waved it off.

Leonard nodded and sighed.

It was the next day when Bernadette made her way down the big corridor of CalTech. She had had lunch with Howard and was on her way home. Short days were the best. Even though she still a lot of housework to do at home and meet with her father for coffee.

Howard had planned to spend an afternoon with Raj at the Comic Book Store so everything was alright.

Even though her husband and her father were the two favorite men in her life, Bernadette tried to not bring them together more than they had to. They kind of liked each other – somehow – but they also got fed up with each other after a while. And Bernadette was sick of standing in between.

Bernadette walked past a few offices, when something caught her attention. She stopped and quietly moved closer to the slightly opened door. This was definitely Sheldon's backside.

Bernadette's mouth hung open when she saw a big bouquet of tulips in his hands… and Jody on the other side of the desk.

She brought her ear closer to the door.

"Jody, I am terribly sorry what happened to your nose."

"Oh, don't worry, I'm gonna be fine. And it wasn't your fault."

"Right, but my friend's. I still don't know why she overreacted so much but I felt like I had to apologize for her." Sheldon handed the young woman the flowers.

"Dr. Cooper, that is so sweet of you!" Jody smiled.

She looked ridiculous with the big white band-aid right in the middle of her face. Bernadette felt her anger boil up when she realized they were standing there for a moment smiling at each other. She was pretty sure Sheldon's motives were innocent and true but she also knew that Jody was a drafty bitch.

"We should go out for coffee sometime" Jody's voice sent shudders of horror down Bernadette's spine.

She actually was a calm person that minded her own business… but she also was highly protective of her best friends.

"Oh well, sure!"

"I have time today after work… at around… 5pm?"

"That sounds alright."

"Where shall we go?" Jody still looked gorgeous, even though half her face was covered and the rest that peaked out was a little bruised. "What about the Cheesecake Factory?"

Bernadette saw Sheldon cringe. "Uhm no. There is another coffee not far from there though, maybe we should go there?"

Jody seemed confused but shrugged and nodded.

Bernadette had heard enough. She quickly walked away before any of them would see her standing there.