A/N: I so did not want to get this chapter wrong so I took my time with it. You all know what is coming and I hope I do it justice for you.
I don't own it...
Sheldon did not get much sleep the night before. He was nervous. He slipped out of bed at about 6am. He decided he would get ready and let Amy sleep. At 7, he left a note for her and made his way down to breakfast. He wanted to talk to someone, but it was impossible to call California as it was only 4 in the morning there. He knew his mom was an early riser like he was. He decided to take a chance she would be awake and called her. She answered on the third ring.
"Sheldon? Is everything okay?"
"Yes, everything is fine. I just needed to call and talk to someone."
"What time is it?"
"It is about 6:15 your time. It is 7:15 in Philadelphia where we are at the moment."
"Why didn't you call us when you got to Philadelphia? Last I heard you were still in Mt. Rushmore."
"Well things have been very busy. We have done so many different things."
"Well we are going to see you in less than a week in Disney. Meemaw is really looking forward to it. Now, what is so important that you had to call so early in the morning?"
"I can't wait to see you guys too."
"So now what is the problem? Did you and Amy have a fight? Have you changed your mind about marrying her?"
"No mom, it's nothing like that. It's just I'm going to propose today and I am a bit nervous."
"I thought you were going to propose next week when we all arrived at Disney. What happened?"
"Apparently the restaurant overbooked our table. We will all be dining together now. I wanted you being there as a surprise. If she sees you before I propose she may get suspicious. She may be already as it is. Raj suggested I do it today while we are at the zoo. The zoo is kind of our place."
"Well Shelly that sounds so romantic. So why are you nervous?"
"I'm not sure how to go about it."
While Mary was talking to him, she made her way to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. Meemaw came in during the conversation.
"Who are you talking to so early in the morning?" She asked Mary.
"Sheldon called me. He is nervous about proposing to Amy."
"Mom, are you listening to me?"
"Oh sorry, Shelly, Meemaw just came into the kitchen."
"What is Meemaw doing at your house? Is she okay?"
"Of course she is okay. She came for dinner last night and then we played cards. By the time we were finished it was late so she spent the night. I am trying to talk her into moving in full time. She spends many nights here as it is. So she is absolutely fine. Would you like to speak with her?"
"Yes please."
Mary handed the phone to Meemaw.
"Good morning, moon pie. Where are you and your lady friend right now?"
"Hi Meemaw. Amy and I are in Philadelphia. She is still sleeping. I came down to breakfast so as not to disturb her."
"Well that is very kind of you. Now your mother tells me you are nervous about proposing. Are you afraid she will say no?"
"No, it's nothing like that. I thought I would have more time to prepare myself, but a crashed computer has pushed up the timeline. I will be proposing today while we are at the zoo."
"Oh that's wonderful. I thought you were doing it too close to the actual wedding. This will give her some time to prepare as well."
"What do you mean? I have everything taken care of with regards to the wedding. Penny and Bernadette are getting the dresses. Leonard is picking up the rings this weekend. And the most important part is you will all be there for the wedding."
"Yes but when she says yes and you tell her you have planned a wedding, how do you think she will react?"
"I think she will have a positive reaction."
"I think you are right if she is the girl you have told me about, however, every girl has a fantasy about her wedding and I am sure Amy is no different. You proposing today and telling her I hope after, will give her some time to get used to the idea. She may want to look for her own dress as well."
"Do you think that may happen?"
"I don't know her like you do, moon pie. But I am sure you have thought about what she likes and not just what you want."
"I have otherwise we would get married at Universal Studios with the superheroes."
Meemaw laughed. "Yes that sounds like something you would want."
"Amy loves the romance in the Disney movies. I know she owns all the fairy tales. And a couple of years ago she dressed up as Snow White when her and the girls went to Disneyland. I know Cinderella's Castle as a backdrop will be the perfect setting."
"So now what seems to be the problem? You have everything worked out. Do you have any idea where in the zoo you will propose?"
"I had an idea that I would ask when we are near the monkeys. Amy is a sucker for the monkeys."
"So why are you nervous? You have a plan and a good one at that."
"I guess I am unsure of what to say."
"Oh, moon pie, say what's in your heart. Whatever you say to her will be perfect if it is from the heart."
"I sure hope so."
"Well I know so, don't you worry. Everything will work out just fine. Now I am going to give you back to your mother. You call us tonight and tell us how it went."
"I will. Thanks, Meemaw."
"You're welcome, moon pie. I can't wait to see you next week." She handed the phone back to Mary.
"So Shelly, do you feel better now?"
"Yes mom, thank you."
"You call us later, ya hear?"
"Yes ma'am." And he heard her hang up the phone.
Sheldon was feeling a bit better after talking to his mom and meemaw. He got breakfast for them and took it back up to the room. Amy was just waking up when he came inside.
"You're up early." She said to him.
"Yeah, I couldn't sleep so I got up and got ready. I went down and got us breakfast. I am not sure what you put in your coffee so I brought up cream and sugars. I also got you a waffle and some bacon since that seems to be all you have eaten this week."
"That's so sweet. Thank you. Now why couldn't you sleep?"
"I was just thinking about some things."
"Anything you want to talk about?"
"Not now, maybe later though."
"You know you can talk to me about anything right? So I am here when you need me."
"I know and I want to talk to you about this but not now. I just want to go to the zoo. We can talk later. I promise."
"Okay."
"While I was downstairs, I asked at the front desk for a recommendation as to where to get sandwiches. The guy told me there is a Wawa up the street that sells them made to order. He says they have something called 'Hoagie Fest' and they have a special hoagie each week that is featured. That sounds like the place to go."
"Then let me go and get ready and then we can be on the road. We will stop and get sandwiches on our way. I shouldn't be more than 20 minutes." She made her way into the bathroom to get ready.
While she was in the shower, Sheldon made sure he had the ring ready. He had been carrying it in his wallet much like Leonard had with Penny's. He was doing it for a different reason though. He didn't want her to find it in the room. He took it out and put it back in the box. He wanted to make sure everything was done exactly right.
Amy was ready to leave 20 minutes later. They stopped at Wawa and picked up sandwiches, chips and drinks for lunch. They were on their way to the zoo by 9:15. Traffic was lighter than it had been the night they went to the mall so they made it to the zoo relatively quickly. They arrived before 10am. Sheldon showed his pass for the Los Angeles Zoo and received their tickets for half price. It was nice that the zoos did that with each other. They picked up a map and made their way inside.
"Where would you like to start?" He asked her.
"Why don't we just start here at the beginning and make our way to the back of the zoo. They have a balloon that flies up and we can look around the whole place."
"Yes but it says that it is not operational since they had so many storms in the winter."
"Oh that is a shame. I think that would have been fun to do."
"It was never operational anyway." A woman with her two kids said to them. "It hardly ever went up anyway. Something about it needing to be hot and humid with no winds at all to be able to launch."
"Oh thank you." Amy said to her. "So Sheldon, where are the monkeys."
"It looks like there are some smaller ones right up front here and larger ones in the middle of the zoo. Shall we get started?"
"Absolutely."
He took her hand and they began walking around. They saw the small primates and then the reptiles. They got quite a show at the Galapagos turtles. It seemed two of them were in a mating mood. They had the woman that had told them about the balloon take their picture in front of the large elephant statue.
"There used to be elephants here but they sold them to the Pittsburgh zoo. There wasn't enough space to keep them here." She told them.
"We have Asian elephants at our home zoo and koalas." Sheldon told her.
"Are you from San Diego? I was at that zoo when I was 15. I loved the koalas."
"No we are from Pasadena. We go to the Los Angeles Zoo, although we have been to the San Diego Zoo." Amy answered her.
"What brings you to Philadelphia?" The woman asked.
"Just a vacation. We have traveled across the country by train. We decided to come here because my girlfriend has never really traveled anywhere along the east coast, except for Boston where she went to school."
"By train, wow my husband would love to do that. He hates flying. Well welcome to Philadelphia. I hope you enjoy your stay. I actually don't live here either, but I grew up about 30 miles from here. Now I live in Lancaster which is about 70 miles west. My kids and I love to come to the zoo here." She saw that Sheldon was looking a bit annoyed. "I'm sorry, I am interrupting your day and I see my son is getting anxious to go to the reptile house. Well enjoy your stay. If you have time while you are here, I highly recommend a trip to Amish country in Lancaster. If you like beautiful sights, it is the place to go. Sorry to have taken up your time."
"Yes thank you." Amy said politely. Sheldon just rolled his eyes. Amy saw him and laughed. "Be nice, she was being polite. This is supposed to be the City of Brotherly Love after all."
"Yes well I hope they all aren't like that."
They went to the Big Cats display and were disappointed because many of them were sleeping or unable to be seen because they were resting in the shade. They decided they would stop back later and see if they were awake. They made their way to some tables so they could have their lunch. While they were eating, Amy looked at the map.
"It looks like the large primates are just over there." She said and indicated a building behind them. "Can we go there next?"
"Anywhere you want, my dear."
"My dear?"
"Well you have always wanted me to give you a pet name." He said to her. "I'm trying something out."
"Well okay then."
"Let's just hope when we get to the larger primates they are awake."
"Yeah those big cats were a disappointment. But we can always go back later. How about those turtles? They were quite randy don't you think?"
"We've never seen anything like that at home." He answered her. "The noises coming from them was quite funny I must admit."
"It was quite a show."
"Indeed it was. Are you about ready, my dear?" He was trying to remain calm because he knew he wanted to propose at this location but he wasn't sure he would make it.
"Sure, let's go."
He took her hand again, but he was really nervous. His hands were shaking slightly. Unfortunately for him this did not go unnoticed by Amy.
"Is everything okay? You seem nervous about something." She asked him
"What would I have to be nervous about?"
"I can't imagine, but your hands are sweating and shaking."
"Well I…" At this point he was beginning to stutter.
"Sheldon, what's wrong? You're scaring me." She was worried. She had no idea what could possibly be wrong with him. He had seemed so calm just before they left from lunch. Maybe there was something wrong with his sandwich. They had stopped walking and they were right outside the building which held the monkeys Amy had been waiting all day to see.
Sheldon took a deep breath. He heard his meemaw's word in his head Say what's in your heart.
"Sheldon?" She looked very concerned. "Did you eat something bad? You look a bit green."
Okay here goes nothing. He thought to himself.
"Amy, sit down here for a minute." He indicated a bench right outside the building.
"Don't you want to go inside?" She knew there was something wrong but she wasn't sure what it was.
"We will, I just need to talk to you about something first."
"Is this about what you were thinking about this morning? Listen, whatever it is, it can wait. I don't need to know now. I don't want you to feel pushed to tell me."
"It is about that and much more."
"Are you sure it can't wait until we are back at the hotel room?"
"No, I need to do this now." He took a deep breath. "I want to talk to you about the journey we are on right now."
"Okay."
"I started on this journey to 'find myself', as some would say, with you for a few reasons. I needed to decided on my career. I am almost at a conclusion for that. I had to think about whether I could deal without the comic book store. I guess I can live with the big store across town if Stuart never reopens." Amy laughed at this but he continued. "And most importantly, I had to figure out the ramifications of Leonard moving out of the apartment. He has been my roommate for 10 years. It took a long time for me to get used to him. And there are still some things I will never understand. I have been thinking long and hard about what my living situation will be when we get back. You know I brought you along as a test to see what living with you would be like."
"Is this really the time for this discussion?"
"I believe it is as I have made a decision. I wanted to tell you at a place that was special to us both."
"So you picked the zoo."
"Yes, but if you also notice I chose a place that you also enjoy very much."
"The primate house."
"Of course, this is your favorite place when we go to the zoo at home. I thought what better place than this to tell you I have made up my mind. So now if you will promise not to interrupt me, I will finish what I was about to say and we can go inside and see those fun monkeys you love so much."
"Okay I promise." She told him.
"These last few weeks with you have been the best ever. Living with you is so much easier than living with Leonard. You anticipate my every move. You know when I need space and I know when you do as well. You understand my routines. It has been almost perfect. I have decided that I want to live with you when we get back to Pasadena."
"You do, oh Sheldon."
"Now I am not finished."
"Sorry."
"I also have been thinking long and hard about how are mothers will feel about this news. Actually I was thinking more of my mother than yours."
"Sheldon, do we really have to worry about that now?"
"What did I say about interrupting?"
"Sorry, go on." She wasn't sure why this was so important to discuss now but she would let him have his say.
"Thank you. Now as I was saying our mothers have given us the privacy we have asked, but I know my mom. She will not be happy with me if I live with you prior to marriage. Now I know what you are thinking, we are grown adults and we can make this decision ourselves. But as much as I hate to admit this, I agree with her. I don't know, call me old fashion, or maybe I really do want to do what is right in her eyes. Or worse yet, maybe the religion actually rubbed off on me a bit."
"What are you saying Sheldon?" She interrupted him again.
This time he didn't say anything but answered by getting down on one knee and pulling the ring out of his pocket. They had drawn a bit of a crowd around them.
"I'm saying, I love you and I can't think about spending another day without you in my life. Amy, will you marry me?"
Amy was shocked. She hadn't expected him to propose. Tears started forming in her eyes. She couldn't get the words out so she just nodded her head.
"Is that a yes?" He was unsure.
"Yes, yes, yes. I will marry you. She answered. The crowd around them applauded.
He didn't care that they were in public, he pulled her up and kissed her.
Okay reviews are welcome. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. The journey is not over. We still have the wedding. I am having some issues thinking of the perfect way of having it. But I have some other chapters to go in the meantime. I hope you liked the interaction with a local. I kind of wanted to put myself in the story since they were in my hometown.