Back in Pasadena, Bernadette was in her lab looking through a microscope. She was so used to working in silence that she jumped when she heard her phone ring.

"Penny?" She asked, concerned. "Is something wrong?"

She heard Penny's sigh. "No, nothing's wrong. It's just... I bumped into Sheldon this morning."

Bernadette couldn't help it. "Ooooooh," she sang.

"What do you mean oooooooh?" Penny mimicked her.

Bernadette stifled the huge smile threatening to form on her lips. "Sorry. You bumped into Sheldon?"

"Yeah," Penny replied. "Literally. I was in Starbucks holding a cup of coffee then I turned around, hit him, and got coffee on myself."

"Oh, no." Bernadette replied. "What did he do?"

Without missing a beat, Penny replied. "He told me that he misses me."

Bernadette's eyes widened, and she fist-pumped, thankful that Penny couldn't see her. "What did you say?"

"Asked him why... he told me that casting me out of his life was a mistake." Penny replied.

Bernadette pursed her lips. "Do you think he was sincere?"

Penny was taken aback by the question. "Um, what?"

"You know how his face twitches when he lies? Did you see him twitch?" Bernadette asked eagerly.

Penny sighed. "Well..."

"He didn't!" Bernadette was practically screaming now.

On the other line, Penny heard the director telling her to get ready, and she actually thanked God for the distraction. "Um, sweetie? I'm gonna have to call you back," Penny told Bernadette.

"No problem," Bernadette replied, and they hung up.

Two of Bernadette's colleagues were about to knock on her lab's door when they heard her tiny, high-pitched voice. "Yes!"

"Your mother's right, Sheldon. You're an idiot," Amy said to Sheldon through video chat. Agreeing to stay in touch with her ex-boyfriend wasn't easy, but Amy still did it. After all, they have both moved on.

"Why do you females keep saying that?" He asked incredulously.

Amy sighed. "Oh, come on, Sheldon. You drove her away, now you're telling her that you miss her. That's stupid, Sheldon. If you really want her back, at least as a friend, you're gonna have to do a lot more than that."

Sheldon leaned back into his chair. "What's wrong with telling someone you have not seen in a year that you miss them?"

Amy glared at him. "Alright, Sheldon. Use your eidetic memory." At Sheldon's nod, she continued. "One year ago, in Sweden, you told her that without her, you're life became generally better."

"That's not what I said," he argued. "Shut up," Amy replied.

"Anyway, you hurt her that night, Sheldon. You practically told her that you didn't want her in your life anymore, so she resolved to never see you again." Amy continued.

Sheldon was stunned into silence as he remembered Penny's face that night in Sweden. "Then you see her again, and you tell her that you miss her, which is wrong because why would you miss someone you told to stay away? That's why she reacted the way she did." Amy spoke again.

Sheldon's face told Amy that he finally understood. "You're probably correct in your assumption..."

"That was not an assumption." Amy stated matter-of-factly. "Good night, Sheldon." She said and hung up.

That night, Penny found herself staring at her hotel room's ceiling, thinking about Sheldon. Bernadette was right; Sheldon's face didn't twitch throughout their whole ordeal.

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder," she said to herself. "Sheldon's heart has grown fonder for me? What the hell-that does not make any sense..." Penny let her exhaustion take over her and she slept, dreaming about the days when she was still living across Sheldon and Leonard in Apartment 4B.

AN: I just love portraying Bernadette as a fan girl!

TBBT's not mine :-)