Chapter 17
Sheldon walked over to the door. "What do you mean it's locked?" He started rattling the door knob. He looked at Amy alarmed. "Use your phone to call Leonard. He'll get us out of here."
Amy raised her hands up. "Do I look like I have my phone? It's in my purse…" she paused. "Which I left hanging on my chair. Where's your phone? You are the one with pockets."
"It's on the table…." Sheldon bit his lip. "Dammit" he muttered.
Amy looked at Sheldon irritated. "Well, you are adept at breaking into my apartment. Can't you pick the lock or something and get us out?"
"With what Amy? These facecloths and hand towels? I had tools when I picked your lock. You know you have a bad habit of forgetting your purse everywhere" Sheldon muttered. He started pacing around the small room. "Oh God…I feel claustrophobic in here." He glanced at his watch.
Amy glared at Sheldon. "Oh I'm sorry. Am I keeping you from your meeting with Maria?" she hissed angrily.
Sheldon stopped in his tracks and stared at Amy. "Actually yes, you are Amy. If you hadn't run off like a crazy person, we wouldn't be in this situation."
Amy stood up to him angrily. "A crazy person! Excuse me for being upset that my boyfriend is meeting up with another woman. To start a new beginning? Are you just trying to punish me?"
Sheldon glared at her. "Wow…is that really what you think of me?" He crossed his arms across his chest and continued staring at her. "Let me remind you, that it was you that kissed someone else. I never did, nor would I do such a thing" he said angrily. He started pacing through the rows of bed sheets and towels. "I've been doing everything in my power to erase the image I have in my head of you kissing another man…no, not just another man…Kripke of all people. I have to work with this man everyday. I tried to focus on our happy times, how I feel when I am with you. I'm trying to be more expressive about how I feel. I leave the room for a minute, and you two immediately are together again. Do you know how hard this is for me? To see you two together? Have you ever thought about that?" Sheldon sputtered.
"So what is this? Is this an eye for an eye? You go out and seek out another woman to make me feel what you felt? " Amy said wearily. "That's not how love works."
"You are right….that is not how love works at all" Sheldon said coldly. He took a fitted sheet off of the shelf and started to refold it. "People never fold these correctly..." he muttered. Sheldon finished refolding the sheet properly and then looked over at Amy sadly. "You really don't think much of me do you?"
Amy wiped a tear from her eye. "I don't know what to think anymore. I just keep hearing different things that don't make any sense. Like you punching Barry. The pranks you pulled at his office. That you have some scheme dreamed up to humiliate him in front of everyone tonight. Texting a strange woman and telling me nothing about her. You are not exactly behaving like someone who has nothing to hide right now."
Sheldon walked right up to her and looked her in the eye. "For a scientist, you make too many assumptions. You don't know everything do you? Maria, isn't who you think."
Barry glanced nervously at Amy's table. Amy and Sheldon had been gone for over twenty minutes, and his presentation was due to go up any minute now. Did she manage to talk to Sheldon? He didn't see either of them talk to the presentation coordinator after Sheldon went up. Did she talk to Sheldon, and that was why he went up there. Or was it the opposite? What was going to flash on the screen? The worst was flashing before his eyes in his mind…strippers, drunken nights out, call girls. Omg…he was going to be humiliated. He looked out at the crowd. There were table after table filled with the who's who of the physics world. Barry wiped the sweat off his forehead, his stomach was churning. This was going to a disaster, he just knew it.
A small woman with light blue eyes entered the room. She looked across the room for table twelve, until she finally saw it. There were two empty chairs and a group of people that appeared to be laughing uncontrollably. She quickly walked up the side of the room and then over to table twelve.
"Excuse me? I'm looking for Dr. Sheldon Cooper?" she asked softly.
"Cooooppaaaaah!" Raj exclaimed loudly. The whole table started laughing.
"Hey where is Sheldon?" Leonard asked.
"I don't know. Him and Amy ran off like half an hour ago. Maybe he told her the mother of all math jokes, and they ran off to have sex in a closet" Howard laughed.
"Oh Howard, you know that Sheldon probably has a coitus agreement that says they are only allowed to have to have sex in pre-approved places and time. Ha! Like those two would be having coitus..." Penny joked.
"Oooh Oooh…I have a math joke. If I tell it, Emily, will you get all hot and bothered?" Raj slurred.
"Only if it's really funny" Emily said mischievously.
"Ok…here it is. Sex is like fractions. It's improper to for the larger one to be on top." A dead silence went across the table. They all looked at each other.
"That's what she said!" Bernie yelled out. The table cheered and they all took their shots. The small woman's eyes went large as she watched the scene before her.
"Uuuummm….is it ok if I sit and wait for Dr. Cooper here?" she asked.
Penny pulled out Amy's chair and patted it. "Only if you join in on our game". The womans face went pale and she started shaking her head no. "Oh that's ok…more for us." Penny smiled. "Feel free to sit here. I'm sure Sheldon will be back any minute. What's your name by the way?"
The woman smiled at Penny. "My name is Maria."
"Who is Maria then?" Amy questioned.
Sheldon sighed at Amy and turned himself back towards the shelf of fitted sheets. He pulled out three more fitted sheets and started refolding them. He looked up at Amy. "What's the point in telling you? You've already decided that I'm this terrible person." Sheldon said.
Amy groaned in frustration. The room seemed hot, and it felt like it was getting hotter by the minute. She looked up at Sheldon who was folding the sheets with great concentration. He was acting cagey, and he was probably acting cagey because he had something to hide. She knew she was right, and he was just trying to hide it. The colours in the room seemed brighter, more vivid. Was this the effect of the alcohol? She stared at Sheldon as he was methodically folding the sheets, and could feel her frustration rising. He was the one keeping secrets. He was the one was lashing out immaturely. He was the one kept her at arm's reach all these years. He was the one that wouldn't push his own damn comfort zone. And now he was standing there calmly folding sheets, ignoring her. She could feel the anger welling up to the point where she couldn't keep it in anymore. "You know…I really hate you sometimes" she said coldly.
Sheldon's eyes went wide as he put down the sheet and stared at her. His face flushed red with anger. "What!? You hate me? No, I really hate YOU sometimes Amy Farrah Fowler!" he snapped back.
"I hate all your stupid rules and regulations about absolutely everything!" Amy yelled as she stood by the door and faced him at the shelf.
"I hate that you are too timid to say how you really feel, go along with everything, and then get mad later!" Sheldon responded his blue eyes blazing bright.
"I hate how you never told me how you really felt about me, and showed me in any way shape or form!" Amy stepped one step closer to Sheldon angrily.
"I hate how you try to manipulate me to behave how you think I ought to" Sheldon stepped one step closer to Amy, his face flushing more red.
"I hate what a condescending know it all you are!" Amy sputtered.
"I hate how you take zero interest in my hobbies!" Sheldon responded.
"I hate your stupid comic book shirts. Dress like a grown up!" Amy said as she poked his blue shirt. "Are you wearing one of your dumb t-shirts under this shirt?"
Sheldon ripped off his suit jacket and tie and tossed it onto shelf.. He pulled open his collar and showed her his collarbone. "No! See! No stupid t-shirt. I hate your stupid cardigans. You are not a Matryoshka Doll!"
"Fine!" Amy said angrily back. She ripped off her lilac cardigan and threw it on top of Sheldon's suit jacket and tie. "I hate how you talk down to Howard!"
"I hate how you do whatever Penny says. It's like you're afraid to be your own person."
"Well, I hate tea!"
"I hate your stupid harp!"
"I hate Star Wars! It's so contrived and childish!" Amy snapped. Sheldon gasped at her comment.
"I hate Chaucer! He's nothing but a medieval peddler of erotica!"
"Well I hate Koalas!"
Sheldon stopped dead in his tracks. "Really Amy? Nobody is going to believe that…it's impossible to hate koalas." Sheldon and Amy were now face to face, both of their faces flushed red with anger.
"I hate how I never measure up. I finally have a boyfriend, and I still don't measure up" Amy said with her voice cracking.
Sheldon's voice got very quiet. "I hate that you couldn't have one ounce of faith in me, that I could do the right thing. I hate that Barry's lips ever touched yours. I hate that he took our first real kiss away from us. I hate how beautiful you are, it distracts me constantly. I hate how smart you are, because I constantly need to know what you think. I hate how thoughtful you are, cause it makes me feel like a selfish jerk. I hate that with everything that happened with Kripke, that I still can't hate you. I want to hate you, but I can't. I don't even hate you a little bit. Not really, at all…" his voice cracked and his eyes started to go red. He walked up to the wall and slid slowly so he was sitting on the floor. He was holding his head between his hands.
Amy kneeled in front of him. Tears started flowing down her face. The depth that he was hurting was becoming apparent to her. "I'm so sorry Sheldon. I'm so sorry for hurting you. I'm sorry for turning to Barry instead of coming to you when I was unhappy." She grabbed his hand and put it against her heart. "My heart belongs to you, and the memory of our kiss on Sunday is the one that is burned into my heart. The one that I treasure. Sheldon, it's always been you. Only you."
They sat there for a moments. Sheldon's hand over Amy's heart. She gently placed her hands on his. They stared into each others eyes, Sheldon could feel her heart beating rapidly. "Amy?" Sheldon started.
"Yes" she whispered softly.
"I'm sorry too. I'm sorry for not treating you the way you deserved to be treated. It's not you that doesn't measure up, it's me. I feel like I've failed you in so many ways…" Sheldon started.
"Ssshhhh" Amy said as she put her fingers across his lips. "I think we are both done apologizing now." She leaned over and embraced him. He put his arms around her tightly and held her close for endless minutes. She could feel the hurt start to fade away. They were coming back to the truth. They were simply just Sheldon and Amy who loved each other. That was their truth.
Amy slowly ran her fingers over the cut under Sheldon's eye. She smiled. "I hate how hot you look with this bruise under your eye" She gave the cut a light kiss. Sheldon stared into her green eyes and gave her a shy smile.
"I hate how far away you are from me." Sheldon whispered. Amy smiled because she was kneeling right in front of him. Sheldon pulled her in closer so that she was straddling his lap on the floor. He gently stroked her face and then brought her in for a kiss. His lips lightly grazed hers. She responded by gently kissing him back. He ran his fingers through her hair and pulled her in for a deep kiss. She responded with passion, and soon they were back in the place that they had reached on Sunday. The desire the hunger was bubbling up in both of them.
Amy broke the kiss and put her forehead against Sheldon's. They both were panting from the vigour of their kiss. "I hate this blue shirt of yours….I hate it so much" she whispered in his ear. She looked into his blue eyes and then started undoing the buttons of his shirt. He watched her intently as she slowly slipped the shirt off his body. She took her hand and slowly ran it down his chest.
Sheldon pulled Amy back in and started kissing her again. Their kissing became more heated and passionate as she ran her fingers through his short brown hair. He nuzzled in towards her ear. "I hate your dress Amy….white is not your colour." He bit her earlobe and sucked it gently.
"Well white is my colour…in the traditional sense" she whispered as Sheldon kissed down her neck.
"Not for long…" he growled into her ear. Sheldon reached behind her and slowly pulled down the zipper of her dress. They both stood up. He slowly slipped the dress off her shoulders to reveal a knee length satin slip. His eyes went dark as he gazed at Amy.
Amy crossed her arms across her chest, her face flushed with embarrassment. "I…I…Nobody has ever seen me this exposed before.." she stuttered nervously.
"I didn't think you could look more breathtaking that I had imagined, but I was wrong." He whispered. He lightly stroked his hand down her shaking arm as he gazed at Amy. "Amy…you know you are beautiful don't you?"
"Well, I never felt – " Amy started softly.
"Well, let me assure you, that you are." Sheldon backed her up towards the wall pinned her against it. The started kissing again passionately, and then he started lightly sucking her neck, all while running his hands down her waist and along her backside.
"Amy?" Sheldon panted.
"Oh God Sheldon…Yes" she moaned.
"Did I ever tell you how much I hate this slip?"
Barry fidgeted around in his seat. Amy and Sheldon were still not at their table, and now there was a woman sitting there. He watched as the MC took the stage to introduce him.
I would like to introduce Dr. Barry Kripke, a lead particle physicist at Caltech. His research in B Meson Decay, has been ground breaking. We are privileged to hear him speak tonight on this subject, and a number of experiments that his research has initiated at the CERN lab near Geneva. Please give a warm welcome to Dr. Kripke.
Barry walked to the podium as the crowd clapped. On the podium was a laser pointer, and remote to advance the PowerPoint presentation. His heart was racing as he stared at the remote. What was going to flash on the screen? He hesitantly picked up the remote. He could feel sweat start to gather around his collar. He cleared his throat, but it still felt dry and parched. With all the courage he could muster, he grabbed the remote and clicked forward . His first slide appeared on the screen just as he had created it earlier, with no alterations. He let out a big sigh. Hopefully there were not surprises further in the presentation.
"Thank-you for the opportunity to speak with you this evening…" Barry began.
Table twelve was a drunken mess. The table was littered with shot glasses and four bottles of Jägermeister. Leonard looked up keenly as Barry took the stage. "Sssshh!" Leonard hissed. "I want to hear Barry's presentation."
"Why?" Penny asked. "Too bad we don't have tomatoes.."
"Well first because his research is really cool actually. And second, because I'm curious as hell on what Sheldon has planned." Leonard looked over at the woman who was sitting at their table in Amy's seat. He whispered to Penny. "Who is that?"
"I don't know who she is…her name is Maria…she was looking for Sheldon. I don't know where him and Amy went. They've been gone for a long time now." They stared at Maria, as her eyes were glued to the stage. She had her hands clasped to her chest, and they were lightly shaking.
Leonard turned his attention back to Barry's presentation. He leaned over to Penny. "I don't know what Sheldon planned, but Barry's presentation is going really well. He's done some pretty spectacular research."
"Oh who knows with Sheldon. He probably changed a comma to a semi colon and thinks he's an evil genius or something."
Barry wrapped up his presentation, and took a number of questions from the audience. It had gone really well, and his presentation did not seem altered in any way. Barry walked off the stage and over to the side of the room and breathed a sigh of relief. A woman with deep dark blue eyes stared at him as he leaned against wall. She smiled to herself . "Good Job Barry" she whispered as she watched him from across the room.
"Mmmmmm" Sheldon moaned as Amy kissed up his neck. "Why did we wait so long to do this" Amy grinned at him, and put a soft kiss on his lips. They both looked completely disheveled. Amy was just wearing her short satin slip that she had underneath her dress, Sheldon reduced to his boxer briefs. Sheldons hair was sticking up every which way, and his lips were slightly red from Amy's lipstick.
Amy straddled him as he lay on their makeshift towel bed that Sheldon had created using a whole shelf of towels and sheets. She lightly traced his lips with her finger. "For somebody that is not fond of sports, you are very good at baseball."
"Baseball?" Sheldon said with a questioning look.
"Oh you know…first base, second base, third base…." She smiled at him as she continued running her finger along his lips.
"Oh! Those bases. You know I am a quick learner." He grinned at her "Well we haven't crossed home plate yet …You know I don't like to leave things unfinished" he whispered in her ear. He started pulling Amy down so that she was laying on the bed underneath him.
"Sheldon, I don't want our first time to be on the floor of a linen closet. Someone could walk in on us at any moment." Amy said.
Sheldon looked at the door thoughtfully. "I guess I agree. This is not the optimal location for sure. We will need to find our perfect origin for lovemaking….but I'm pretty sure our 0,0,0,0 is in my bed " He looked at Amy and grinned. "You did not seem too worried about our location though when we were crossing second base….third base?"
"Sheldon! I should have never explained all the bases to you! " Amy laughed as her face went red.
He nuzzled into her neck and started kissing her. "Second base was so nice….third base was even better." He started sucking on her neck, his hands traveling up the bodice of her slip.
"Ok we better stop, or you'll be looking to slide in for a homerun." Amy laughed. They lay there for a while just holding each other, listening to each other's heart beat.
"Sheldon?"
"Yes?" he answered in a soft whisper.
"I don't want to bring up a bad topic. But, I wanted to ask you about a few things you said tonight. You said that I had no faith in you. You also never told me who Maria is. I know now she is not another woman to you, and I'm so sorry for ever suggesting that. "
Sheldon took a big breath. "Yes, I think I owe you an explanation. I don't come off great in this story, but I was quite upset. I don't want you to be disappointed in me. " He bit his lip and looked at her.
Amy stroked his arm. "You can tell me anything. Don't feel bad…I love you Sheldon, I know how upset you were."
He sighed. "Ok let me start from the beginning. When I found about the kiss, I was so angry Amy. I just wanted to kill Barry Kripke. To make him pay…to humiliate him in the worst way possible. I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do, but I thought I could at least irritate him to begin with. I went to work and broke into his office. I set up quite a few pranks in his office…the superglue, his coffeemaker, his radio, his phone, I installed a program on his computer that would keep crashing it…you know…general run of the mill stuff."
"Ok…." Amy responded.
"I spied a photo frame that was tucked beside his monitor, but hidden by a stack of papers. It was a photo of a woman and a baby. I pulled the photo out of the frame, and there was a date written on the back. I deduced by the date, and Barry's age, that that must have been a picture of him and his mother. I didn't know too much about his mother, he never really mentioned much about his family before, so I did some digging. I found out that – "
"-his mother abandoned him as a toddler." Amy said quietly.
"Yes." Sheldon said quietly. "Amy, I was so angry at this point. I didn't care…I just wanted him to suffer. It was obvious by the fact that he keeps that photo on his desk, that he can see every single day, that he still cares a lot about this woman. I was determined to find her. I wanted him to look like a failure in front of his mother." He looked at Amy worriedly. "Amy , I know this sounds really terrible of me…but please know, I changed my mind."
"I searched all the databases I could think of, and then I found her here in LA of all places. Her name was – "
"-Maria" Amy answered.
"Yes." Sheldon cleared his throat. "I phoned her, and told her I was a colleague of Barry's and that it was Barry's great wish that she see him achieve success. She was nervous, and very regretful of her past, but I convinced her that this could be a new beginning for the two of them."
"Oh Sheldon…"
"I hacked into his computer, and got his presentation. I changed all sorts of things, so that he would look a fool in front of everyone. He would be humiliated, and his mother would be there to witness it. But I couldn't do it. As mad as I was I couldn't do that to him."
"What do you mean?" Amy said puzzled. "It still looked like you were still planning something?"
"Well that night, after I changed his presentation…I just couldn't hit save. I couldn't do it. I was angry, and I hated him, but I couldn't do that to him. I changed one slide in his presentation, with a minor error, that only another particle physicist would notice. Just as my small revenge. I texted Maria, and told her not to come. That it would upset Kripke too much. She kept texting questions about Barry. I just didn't know what to do. I was upset with him, I didn't want to continue talking about him, and holding up this charade. I couldn't sleep that night thinking about it. The next morning, I opened the presentation, and removed the small error I had inserted, and copied it to the flash drive. The coordinator had the copy with the small error, but I had the perfect one on a flash drive in my pocket.
"During the dinner, Maria called me. I went out to the hall to answer her call. She still wanted to come, she wanted to see Barry, she was obsessing over seeing him because she hadn't seen him in over thirty years. When I was talking to her it all hit me. That I had everything. That I was so blessed. That I have an amazing girlfriend, a loving mom, my MeeMaw, friends that care about me. He did everything on his own. Maybe he deserved to have that moment, where he could shine in front of his mom. He could at least have that. I texted Maria back and told her to come. I gave the coordinator the copy of the presentation that was perfect with no errors. So that takes us to now."
Amy teared up. She stroked Sheldon's face. "I can't believe you found it in your heart to be kind to Barry, after everything that happened. You are right, I should have had more faith in you. You really do have a kind soul." She wiped a tear from her eye. "To be honest, if the shoe were on the other foot, the "other woman" would have been ripped apart by cocaine addled monkeys by now….I don't think I could look the other way and think of her they way you did for Barry." She turned and gave Sheldon a big hug.
"Housekeeping!" a voice called faintly down the hall.
"Oh my God! They are coming down the hall. We need to bang on the door so that they can let us out!" Amy yelled as she jumped up to find her dress.
Sheldon started banging on the door. "Help! Let us out of here!" He banged loudly on the door.
Amy smiled and handed Sheldon his pants. "Put these on, or you are going to give the maids quite an eyeful!"
"That's what she said?" Sheldon smirked. Amy rolled her eyes and laughed.
She quickly zipped up her dress , while Sheldon hopped into his pants. She continued banging on the door.
"Hello?" a voice said on the other side of the door. Sheldon was almost done buttoning up his shirt. They heard the door rattle and slowly open.
"Oh Thank God! We've been trapped in here for over an hour! I really must talk to management about these locks, and proper signage!" Sheldon exclaimed.
"Oh Good Lord! Look at this room! What did you do in here!" the maid exclaimed.
"Sorry! Gotta run!" Sheldon grabbed Amy's hand and they ran back towards the ballroom.
It is now time to present the Carl David Anderson Award for Outstanding Achievement in Physics. Carl David Anderson was a Nobel Laureate that did research at our distinguished university..
Sheldon and Amy rushed back into the ballroom, and back to their table. Sheldon grabbed a small pad of paper that was in his suit jacket, and pulled out a pen and started writing a note quickly. He folded the paper, and held it in his hands.
Bernadette looked Sheldon and Amy up and down at their rumpled clothes and messy hair. Sheldon's lips looked a little more rosy than normal, and Amy's slip was showing from under her dress. Howard leaned in towards Bernie "Hey, maybe I wasn't too far off with the sex in the closet suggestion" he said nodding at Sheldon and Amy.
"Dr. Cooper?" Maria said as she looked up at the tall physicist.
"Maria. I'm so sorry I was not here greet you. Did you make it on time to watch Barry's presentation?" Sheldon asked.
"Oh I did! It was amazing. I can't believe –"
"-Sorry to interrupt, but you may want to see this." Sheldon whispered as he pointed to the stage.
The winner of the award this year is trailblazing the way with four internationally praised publications for his work in M Theory, with the latest ground breaking paper just released the other week on light cone quantization. I have no doubt that he will join the ranks of the nobel laureates at Caltech. The winner of the Carl David Anderson Award for Outstanding Achievement in Physics is awarded to Dr. Barry Kripke.
Maria gasped as tears started running from her light blue eyes. Barry stood up to head towards the stage, when Sheldon rushed towards him. Barry stepped back quickly as Sheldon approached him. Sheldon handed him the folded piece of paper.
"Truce Kripke. Please read this after you received you award." Sheldon cleared his throat. "Congratulations on the award. It was….well deserved."
Barry looked at Sheldon suspiciously. "How do I know this isn't part of some plan to make a fool of me in front of everyone?"
"It's not." Sheldon said softly "Because…..because I love Amy." He turned around and headed back towards table twelve. He grabbed Amy's hand and they both looked up towards the stage.
Barry walked up to the stage clutching Sheldon's note. President Siebert was standing smiling with a certificate and a plaque with the award's name on it. He shook his hand of the president, received his award, and then took to the microphone to give his thanks. The crowd was clapping loudly in response, and he looked over and saw Sheldon and Amy in an embrace, both smiling at him. He closed his eyes and let the feeling wash over him. He was so successful in some aspects of his life, but other parts of his life were such a disaster. Love seemed to always elude him. While still at the podium, Barry opened the note from Sheldon with shaking hands.
Barry, tonight I'm letting go of everything that happened between us for Amy's sake. I've been blessed in my life, and have taken it for granted. I was given everything, where you struggled to get where you are today. Your mother Maria is here today, she is sitting at my table. She doesn't expect you to speak to her, but would be happy if you did. I know that she is important to you, so take heart in the fact that she got to see you achieve great success. Sheldon.
Barry dropped the paper and looked over at table twelve. There was a small woman, with light blue eyes…his eyes, crying and clapping loudly. It was his mother, she looked different, but also the same. He didn't know what to do, he was flooded with emotions; joy, pain, anger, hurt, longing. He did the only thing he could do in that moment…he gave her a small smile. He knew nothing would ever quite be the same again.
A/N: That was the longest chapter I've ever written. Sorry it was so long, I couldn't find a good place to break, and I wanted the back and forth of Sheldon and Amy's story, and Barry's story at the Dinner. I hope you enjoyed it. Only one chapter left!