A/N: Thanks so much for all the reviews. So many of you want the mothers to conspire to bring them back. I am not sure that will happen but they may conspire to get them married or something. Or maybe they won't get along. Sorry, the ideas are coming to me as I type this. I am working on getting Mary and Sandy to meet but it may be a few chapters yet. This one will deal with the elephant in the room, living arrangements. It also has some of my ideas of a back story to each. I know we don't know what has happened to Amy's father in the show but for my story he is very much alive and living with her mom. I mention their relationship here.

As always I own nothing. Thank Chuck, Bill and Steve for the story I get to work with.

"When she gets something on her mind she doesn't let it go. I just don't want her to come in between us."

"Amy, I love you. I won't let her come in between us."

"I love you too." She kissed him gently.

They decided to wait until that evening to finish what they had started. Amy's mother calling had killed the mood. Amy was still upset and worried that she would somehow figure out where Sheldon lived and go over to his place to find out the truth. The two of them tried to call Leonard but he wasn't answering his phone.

Amy knew they had to talk about the elephant in the room. She had mentioned them living together and while they had briefly discussed it before they left, now it seemed to be a source of gossip for their mothers. Mary Cooper had asked her straight up about it and her mother wanted to know if they were sleeping together because she fell for the 'I love you'. She had to bring it up to him.

"Sheldon, we need to have a discussion."

"About what?" He asked her curiously

"About the fight we had before you left for the comic book store."

"Oh that, I already told you I was wrong about it, so why do we have to mention it again?"

"Because your mom asked me what you were about to say about me when you stopped yourself. Because my mom thinks I am making a mistake if I sleep with you. Because we really need to have a true discussion about it in the first place."

"But you didn't tell my mom anything and I interrupted before she could grill you anymore. I think she understood I meant it when I told her to stay out of our business."

"My mom won't let it go though. I told her we had some issues to work out. She will try and find out what they were. If she can find a kink in our happiness she will use it. She didn't get a good impression of you the first time she met you, and you haven't been around to prove yourself since. We already discussed this and I am not angry about it. It is just the truth. If she feels there is a way to come between us, she will try and use it."

"But I already told you I won't let that happen."

"I won't either but she will persist. How will you feel if when we go to meet my parents, there is another man sitting there waiting to be introduced to me as a potential boyfriend that she approves as a match? She never trusted that website we used. She knew I was only humoring her by going out on dates. I would meet one guy a year give him that speech I gave you and they would leave."

"What speech?"

"The one that included this line, 'all forms of physical contact up to and including coitus are off the table'. I had no desire whatsoever to be in a relationship. I was happy. That was until I met you. I couldn't believe I found someone so similarly matched to me than you. That website found you for me and when I gave you the talk, you didn't run. You bought me a drink. We talked for hours. And then we exchanged phone numbers. I wasn't sure what happened but I knew you had to be in my life. When I told my mom I thought I found a guy I could have an intelligent conversation and that didn't run away at first glance she didn't believe me. I think I had had 5 second dates in all the time she was trying to get me to date. Dad thought she was being pushy. Of course, I am his little girl so no man will ever be good enough."

"What? You don't think your dad will approve of me?"

"No not at all. I have told him all about you. He was the one who originally suggested I introduce you as my boyfriend."

"Did you tell him the truth?"

"I told him we were really good friends and I thought that maybe someday we could be more, but I was content with what we had then. He seemed okay with that. He isn't like my mom when it comes to my love life. I am sure he would be fine if I never got married. But mom wants grandkids and for me to be 'taken care of'."

"Grandkids?"

"Now don't freak out, all moms want them, even your mom. She has one now so she probably won't be pushing us in that direction. My mom is old fashioned. She thinks that I need a man to take care of me. It doesn't matter if I have a good job or anything but it makes no sense, when I was in high school she wanted me to stay away from guys. She even signed my yearbook, 'Self-respect and a hymen are better than friends and fun. Love, Mom'."

"So what do you think changed?"

"All her friends daughters started getting married and had children. She was jealous. I was too busy furthering my education to worry about men. She then made me promise to go out once a year. I figured it wouldn't hurt. So I signed up for that ridiculous website. Some of the guys on there were crazy. I met one guy who wanted me to move to New Mexico and follow his band. He kept sending me creepy emails. I wished I had never contacted him in the first place. I was just looking for a bit of a bad boy for a change of pace. I never thought I would meet a lunatic. And another always wanted to know what I was wearing. He got so creepy I changed my email address. Then I met you."

"Well I am glad I didn't creep you out. I thought the whole thing was complete hokum. I hadn't expected anything. I was expecting someone desperately seeking a man to copulate with so I went in with no expectations. Besides I had been blackmailed. Just like you, I never was going to be in a relationship. My friends had those and they made them stupid in my mind. They would forget all about the things that were important in life. My goals had never changed. I want a Nobel Prize, I don't hide that. You have that aspiration as well so that is what makes us so similar. Our jobs mean something. I love talking to you about mine. I may never seem interested in what you say about your job, but I love your enthusiasm when you talk about it. I hear every word you say. I fell in love with your mind before I ever even looked at you as more than a friend."

"I fell in love with your mind first as well."

"So with our brilliant minds we should be able to get around our mothers. Don't you think?"

"I suppose you are right. But like I said my mother can be persistent."

"When we go to your parents' house if there is another man there, we will deal with it then. Until then let's not worry about it at all."

"Okay. But now what about your mother? She will find out about our fight. She is staying with Leonard. She will probably get it out of Penny. She can't keep a secret to save her life. Maybe we should just tell her."

"She will not find out from us. I don't want her to have a bad impression of you before she really gets to know you. She already thinks we are 'sinning' which is beyond ridiculous. She was doing the same thing in April when I caught her. How can she be such a hypocrite? And I have been with you way longer than she was with that Ron guy. I will never get that picture out of my head. Even after she introduced me to him, all I could think about was what I saw them doing."

"What do you think she will do if she finds out I want to live with you?"

"She will insist we get married first. I have no doubt about that. And I am not sure why. George has lived with many women before he settled down with his 1st wife and then he still couldn't make it work. The 2nd wife was better but he couldn't make that last either. This time he is living with the woman first before deciding whether to marry for the 3rd time. Missy lived with her husband for 5 years before they got married and mom didn't get as bent out of shape about that as she did with me. I just don't understand why there is such a double standard when it comes to me. Missy and I are the same age so it's not like I am the baby of the family and she needs to protect me. I just think it is because I left so young. She has always been worried about me. She is always the one that is called in when I have a big issue. When I got fired from the university 7 years ago, Leonard called her to get me out of the apartment. She helped me get my job back. When we had our disagreement a few years ago, Leonard called her after I bought the cats; she came to my rescue again. She got you back into my life. Granted she used her 'reverse psychology' to make it happen but it was easier to argue with her than agree. She also thinks I can't hear. I heard her tell Leonard she liked you and wanted me to be happy. If she said she didn't like you then she knew I would go right after you to make her angry. It was always the way she got me to do things I hated. She would tell me it wasn't worth it for me to do and of course then I would do what exactly what she didn't want me to do."

"So your mother does like me?"

"Amy, you are all she talks about when I call her. She wants to know when I will marry you. She loves you. That is what is so mind baffling about what she is doing now. If she wants us to get married so badly why wouldn't she be happy we are working our issues out first."

"Have you thought about us getting married?"

"How can I not? I have seen our friends get married and engaged. Of course the thought crossed my mind. Why do you think I put all the stuff in our relationship agreement about the future? I have always thought you would be in my life."

"So why have you been so opposed to us living together?" She decided now was as good a time as any to get the answers she wanted so badly to know.

"It scares me. Last year when you gave me all the reasons that you would be the perfect roommate, I couldn't refute any of it. You were right. You would make the perfect roommate. But I wasn't ready for that level of commitment. So when Penny said she wasn't ready for Leonard to move in, I found my way out. Yes it was the coward's way out. I admitted it to you. The evidence was there."

"But what about the other day?"

"Your timing was terrible. How could you think that I would want to hear again the notion of us living together? I was angry. You tried to nullify me with a children's drink. You talked about the fact I hated living with Leonard. I don't hate living with him. He is my best friend. Yes he can be trying at times, but that doesn't change the fact that he has always been there for me. So when he suggested he and Penny may want to live without me, I got scared. I came to you because I thought you would understand. You sounded as if you did and then you brought up us living together again. You had said it earlier in the year as well. Do you remember?"

"You mean when I got cocky over our non-breakup?"

"Yes."

"But I haven't mentioned it since."

"You are right but I know what you told Leonard at Christmas."

"What about Christmas?"

"I thought you were acting rather odd when you picked me up from the airport after I was in Texas, I asked Leonard if something had happened to you. He told me what you guys had discussed at the Christmas party you had. He said your life would be so much different if I wasn't in it. You thought I didn't care about you. He even told me he showed you the screen saver. He also mentioned something about how if I cared so much then you wouldn't be living alone still. I told him he was wrong and you were okay with the way things were with us. I was fooling myself."

"But that was me being selfish."

"No it wasn't. It was the truth. Most people look at our relationship and probably think we are just friends. We don't hold hands all the time. We don't kiss in front of other people. And I know how people think it is absolutely ridiculous that we haven't consummated our relationship. They don't understand it at all. Believe me I have been ridiculed on more than one occasion by my friends. The more I think about what we talked about the night of our Dungeon and Dragons adventure, the more I believe our friends think our relationship is a joke. I don't want that. I want us to have a real relationship. We may not have the kind of relationship that anyone around us have, but you have to admit we have been the most stable of our group. Even Howard and Bernadette have their troubles and they are married. He slept on the couch at Raj's house for a week when she was mad at him. They aren't perfect. But neither are we. When we have disagreements, we can't always handle them properly. Remember the fight with Wil Wheaton?"

"You mean when he called me a pain in the ass? Yeah I remember. You didn't even stick up for me. That pissed me off."

"But did anyone ever tell you what I did after I knew what I did wrong?"

"Yes, Wil did actually."

"What?"

"He called me and apologized after you went over to his house drunk to beat an apology out of him. He got my number from Leonard. I can't believe he never told you that. Why do you think I brought him over when you were dealing with the mathematical mistake you made finding the super element?"

"I thought you were just ignoring the fact that you hated him."

"We will never be the best of friends but I will try for you."

"And I appreciate that from you. This is what I mean. We may not have the most conventional relationship but we talk. I know this conversation we are having now is long overdue but you have to admit we talk about our issues. This one was just a big one that I wasn't sure I could handle. That is part of the reason I ran from you that night. I couldn't handle the fact that I thought you were right."

"What?"

"I don't have any arguments for you about us living together. We would be great roommates. But we aren't just friends and that is why I am scared. What happens if we argue? When Leonard and I have our arguments he runs to Penny's apartment. What will we do?"

"We could work them out like adults and not run away from them. I think we have great communication skills. We won't always get along. Every couple fights. It is about the communication after that makes it work and that is what is sometimes lacking with us. When we don't know how to handle things we go to our friends. This is why they are so involved in our relationship. I want you to know, buying me something won't always work. I know that is what Leonard told you when you bought my tiara."

"I got that when you slammed the door with the Star Trek DVDs. You only took them because I was telling you about them and didn't want to hear about it. You didn't watch them, did you?"

"Not right away, no. I was mad. There was no way I was going to give you the satisfaction of knowing I didn't hate them. Wil was really good in it. I can understand why you related to his character so much."

"So what are we going to do now? I invited you on this trip so we could work on our relationship by ourselves. We have been communicating extremely well. And even with our interruptions, we have been able to be more physical. I still don't know if I am ready to live with you but I am open to it and I want to let you know that. We still have 3 weeks on our trip. This is going to be a good test to see if we can get along."

"I can handle that. We can revisit this discussion in a few weeks and see if we have come up with any ideas how to handle our living arrangements."

"I agree, now I want to go to the zoo."

"Alright let's go."

He took her hand and they left the hotel to catch the bus for the zoo.

A/N: I hope I didn't make them too out of character. I think this a conversation they needed to have. I also hope you like how I made the audience understand why Amy would have called Wil who she swore she hated in to help Sheldon in his time of need. I think she would put differences aside for him but I liked this idea that he called and apologized to her as well as him since he was snockered on those awesome teas from Long Island.

Reviews help me write faster...thanks as always.