A/N: Once again thanks for all the amazing reviews. You all motivate me to write more. This chapter is pure Shamy fluff. Enjoy!
And again, thanks to Chuck, Bill and Steve for giving me a story to build on, I don't own the characters they created but I like to take them out to play.
Chapter 4:
They woke up early the next morning and after both showering and getting dressed, they headed down to breakfast. Sheldon had been very thorough in finding a hotel that served breakfast.
"So after our bus tour today, what are the plans?" Amy asked him.
"I was thinking we could call our friends tonight when we get back and then move on."
"Any ideas of where we are headed next?" She was curious.
"How about Denver and the Rocky Mountains?"
"Why there?"
"I've always wanted to go to the Rockies and ride a train through there. The only tour I can find though is in Canada, but I am hoping once we get there we may be able to find a day trip through some of the scenic spots. It was just a thought. I already looked up train tickets to get to Colorado. We would leave tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 and arrive on Saturday afternoon There is a lengthy layover in Williams."
"Wow that is going to be a long train ride. What do you want to see in Denver?"
"Well there is a zoo, and a nature and science museum. We could go and find the flaws there, like we do at home."
"Well then I guess Colorado is our next destination." She agreed.
"If you want to go somewhere else we can."
"Sheldon, I came with you on this trip. It is your decision. I will go wherever you want to go. You know that."
He smiled at her. Then he leaned over and gave her a kiss.
"Have I thanked you enough for coming with me?"
"A few times but you can thank me like that anytime you like."
He kissed her again.
"Let's get going so we can get that tour bus early."
The two left the hotel and headed back over to the visitor center where they purchased the tickets for the bus tour. Sheldon then saw there was a tour where they could take a vintage train ride through Arizona. It didn't offer any views of the Grand Canyon but it sounded like so much fun. They made reservations for later in the day.
The bus tour stopped at many beautiful locations along the Canyon. Amy took the opportunity to take pictures. She made Sheldon pose and then she would pose. They even had a few pictures taken of the two of them together. It was a wonderful tour. Amy posted a few of the pictures on Facebook, not thinking about the fact it would give away their location.
In one of the pictures, Amy was sitting on Sheldon's lap. She hadn't really thought about it when she posted it but about 15 minutes after it was posted she got a text from Penny.
You two look awfully cozy together. I hope you are having a great time!
"Damn." She said after she read the text.
"What?" He asked her
"I just got a text from Penny. I wasn't thinking when I posted the pictures of us on Facebook." She showed him the text.
"Which picture did you post?" He didn't seem angry just concerned.
She showed him. He just blushed.
"Well we do look cozy, as she puts it, in that picture. I'm not concerned. Leonard and she have had way cozier poses than we have. And I have been witness to some of them." He shuddered as he thought of them.
"I am impressed. I thought you would be more upset that our friends would see such a display from us."
"I came on this trip to 'find myself' as they say. I have to adapt to the changes. I brought you along for support and company. You are my girlfriend. Just because it has taken us a bit longer than 'normal' couples to get to a place where we feel comfortable touching, does not mean I should be embarrassed about it." He then leaned in and gave her a kiss.
"Well I must say, I certainly like this new side of Sheldon. A bit more laid back, but still the brilliant man I met."
"Why thank you." He smiled at her. They walked back to the bus and boarded for the last leg of the journey.
They boarded a van later in the day that took them an hour up to Williams, Az. From there, they were treated to a real Arizona gunfight. They then boarded the train and were entertained all the way back to the canyon by musicians, and entertainers. The scenery was beautiful. When they looked out they were overwhelmed by the beauty of the open space. This tour was made for Sheldon being the train enthusiast that he was.
"I wonder if Eric has ever been on this train tour before." Sheldon said to Amy. Eric was the man they had met on Valentine's Day. They had kept in touch via email ever since.
"I'm sure he has since is all he does is ride trains. But maybe you should ask him next time you email him."
"I will be sure to do that and if he hasn't, I will tell him how great it is."
They arrived back at the Canyon just after 7pm. They were hungry and Amy had looked up places they could eat in the area. As luck would have it, there was a Cheesecake Factory nearby and they decided to eat there. Sheldon ordered his usual burger, but had to make sure to specify he wanted everything on the side. The waitress told him it would be no problem and hurried back to the kitchen. When the food arrived, Sheldon was pleased to see everything exactly the way he had ordered it.
"Penny could have learned a thing or two here about getting orders right" He commented. She didn't work at the Cheesecake Factory anymore so it didn't matter.
After dinner, they headed back to the hotel. They decided to call their friends and let them know how they were all doing. Amy had sent a text back to Penny earlier after hers and told them to expect a call on Skype that night. The two pulled the laptop out and called their friends.
Penny answered the call and got Leonard to come over to the desk.
"Hey guys, it looks like you are having a nice time on your trip." Leonard spoke first.
"Yes we are." Sheldon answered.
"So are you planning on staying in Arizona for the whole month or do you have other plans?" He asked.
"We are planning on leaving here in the next day or two. We will be heading to Colorado next. After that we haven't decided."
"Have you made any decisions about your job yet?" Penny questioned.
"I've been thinking about some options but nothing definite since we've only been gone 2 days. Also, I haven't had the chance to run the ideas by Amy yet."
"Okay well I am sure something will come to you while you are gone. We miss you guys."
"We miss you too. But I am glad we are doing this." Sheldon said. Amy just sat next to him nodding.
"Well have a good time then, buddy and call us when you can." Leonard said to him.
"We will. Goodnight." He then disconnected the call.
"That went better than planned." Amy said.
"I suppose it did. They didn't seem too upset by our absence, except to say they missed us."
"Well we have only been gone a couple of days. It is only as if you are away for a weekend right now. It will be strange in another few days. Remember last summer when Leonard was away. After a week you were really missing him."
"I was not."
"Look I'm not going to argue, but you kind of were."
"Fine, I missed him. But I don't think he will miss me as much as I did him. He has a new life to lead now he is engaged to Penny. They will probably be planning the wedding and all their living arrangements while we are away. I wonder if she has already moved into our apartment yet."
"I don't think they would do that to you."
"You always see the good in people. They were chomping at the bit to move into the bigger place before I left."
"Maybe they will find a place of their own."
"Maybe, but I don't know."
"Well let's not think about that right now and get ready for bed."
Sheldon took a shower first and Amy followed. While she was in the shower, Sheldon flipped through the TV channels. He found nothing he liked so he decided to search the internet for a suitable hotel room in Denver. He found one that met his criteria and booked it. Amy came out of the shower a few minutes later and joined him on his bed.
"What are you looking at?" She asked him
"I found us a hotel in Denver and booked us a room."
"Okay. Will we need to rent a car there?"
"From where it is located, we should be within walking distance or a quick bus ride to the zoo and museum."
"What about the Rocky Mountains?"
"Well we may need to get a car or just find public transportation that will take us there. I can search that on the train ride tomorrow."
He turned off his computer and put it away. He got back into bed and pulled Amy into a hug. He then looked at her and gave her a kiss. She responded almost immediately and the kiss turned rather passionate quickly. They soon found themselves lying down on the bed instead of sitting up the way they had started. Sheldon's hands seemed to move on their own accord and he found his finger tangled in Amy's hair. Her hands were on his neck but soon move to his back. She moaned into his mouth and he took that as an invite. Soon their tongues were dancing together. He slowly broke the kiss but instead of stopping he kissed her neck and his hands found their way down a bit further. He was unsure of what he was doing but he wanted to explore a bit more. He nibbled a bit on her ear which elicited a soft moan from her. His hands worked down to her breasts and he hesitantly put one of his hands on her. He loved how it felt and she was again moaning. He felt himself getting tighter below the waist and knew he had to stop before things got out of hand. He wasn't ready for that yet. He pulled away quickly.
"We have to stop. I'm not quite ready yet." He said quickly. He was panting and his eyes were quite dilated.
"It's okay." She said to him. "I've told you I am willing to go at your pace. I am just as inexperienced with this as you are. We don't have to do anything else tonight. But what we were doing I quite enjoyed."
"I did as well." He smiled at her. "You are so patient with me. It's one of the reasons I love you so much." He hadn't meant to say it like that but it seemed the appropriate time to do so.
"Did you just say you love me?" Amy had tears in her eyes.
"Now why are you crying? I thought this would make you happy. I didn't mean to make you sad."
"Sheldon I am not sad. These are tears of joy. I never thought I would hear you say those words to me."
"Do you think I would just kiss anyone? I told you the night we played Dungeons and Dragons that I had never thought about having an intimate relationship with anyone before I met you. You changed that. I said earlier it wasn't an if it was a when. I would never think about doing things like that with someone unless I truly loved them. And Amy I truly love you."
"When did you know?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean when did you know that you loved me?"
"Oh, I think I have known for a while but it really hit me right after you started working at Caltech. We had that disagreement when I embarrassed you in front of your colleagues. Penny and Leonard told me I was wrong. It didn't matter what my side of the story was, I was wrong. I began to realize I was wrong. I came to your apartment that night and told you that I liked you quirks and all. It was then I realized that it might be more than that but I wasn't 100% sure so I waited."
"Well that night didn't end well for you anyway. I slammed the door in your face."
"You're right but I deserved it. I basically insinuated that no other man would come to your door and put up with you. I should have known better. I know you have had other guys ask you out. Stuart was the first and then most recently that goon from geology, Bert."
"How did you know about him?"
"Howard and Raj told me."
"How come you never said anything to me about it?"
"They told me you were innocent and didn't need me to come down and take care of it. They knew you had no intentions of ever going out with him so it wasn't a big deal to me. Sure I was a bit jealous but I got over it faster than with Stuart."
"So you've realized for 6 months that you love me and you are just now telling me?" She seemed a bit sad by that news.
"No, it was 6 months ago I knew I was beginning to have stronger feelings for you. I knew it was love during my video console crisis. You offered to buy me two video game consoles and an entertainment center. What kind of girl would do that for her boyfriend? A girl who wanted to make him happy. And you really did make me happy, even if in the end I didn't buy either. I knew then that I loved you."
"But you never said it."
"We have had a few issues since then and my life has been flipped around. I decided to quit string theory. You took care of me when I was drunk that night. If I had said it then, you wouldn't have believed me because I was too intoxicated."
"I would have thought it was the wine talking."
"Exactly. You got sick of me talking about my next field of study and lied to me, when would I have told you then, as I was walking away with Penny? No I was angry then. I even told Penny I was going to take you to that disgusting Asian Fusion place she dragged me to as punishment."
I would have preferred a spanking. She thought to herself.
"And then Leonard and Penny got engaged. I had thought about telling you that night before they had announced their intentions but they took over the show and so did Raj with his big announcement about him and Emily. It all threw me for a loop. All the change was crazy."
"So you've been keeping this to yourself for weeks and now you figure is a good time to tell me. Right after we engaged in the most intimate things we have done."
"I know it sounds like a line from one of those romance movies you love so much. Guy gets girl to do what he wants and declares his undying love for her hoping for more. But I promise you it is not like that. Tonight just felt right. We had such an amazing day and I have been so glad that you came with me on this trip, it was just the right time to tell you."
"Well I guess you are right about timing. Oh and in case you didn't know this, I love you too."
"What's not to love?" He said to her and then laughed.
"Hey you were funny on your own, good job." She smiled at him.
He leaned in and gave her a long kiss but nothing else. It was very sweet. In that moment, the two of them felt the love they had for each other and nothing else mattered in the world.
She curled up next to him in the bed and they just laid there for a long time. Eventually they both fell asleep in each other's arms.
A/N: I know Sheldon has gone way OOC but he is in love and finally realizing it. I hope you all don't think I did the ILYs too soon. I think this couple is deeply in love and need to declare it soon. If you don't think so I can take it.
The things they did at the Grand Canyon, actually can be done. It makes me want to go and visit there someday. Up next, Colorado and more Shamy fluff.
Reviews are welcome.