Sheldon returned home after a day of shopping to find all of his friends waiting in the living room.

"He's here now. Sorry to bother you," Leonard, who was on his phone, murmured before hanging up. "Where have you been?!"

"Shopping. Why?"

"I came home and you were gone. Why haven't you been answering your phone?"

"I must've left it on my dresser. Oh well, sorry for worrying you."

Nodding to each of them, he headed to his room. There he emptied his purchases onto the bed and pulled Ripley from his pocket. According to the vet, she was a week old and dehydrated. She wriggled a bit before lying flat with her legs spread out. He chuckled and stroked her ear with his fingertip. A tiny purr of bliss vibrated from her chest, making him even happier. A buzzing came from his dresser, alerting him of his phone.

"Oh yeah…"

Sheldon grabbed it off the dresser and glanced at the screen. There were six missed calls and 12 text messages. The calls were all from his friends, as were 10 of the texts. However, there were two from Lily. The first was from an hour prior and it read: "I'm sorry for running off. Can we get dinner? We need to talk." The second one, received 30 seconds ago, read: "I guess not. Okay, I won't bug you anymore. Goodbye." Panicking, he hit the call button. It picked up on the second ring.

"Hey! I'm glad you called," that angelic voice he had come to love sang on the other side.

"Of course I did. Does the offer still stand?"

"Yeah, sure! Anywhere specific?"

"Is Golden Dragon okay?"

"Okay. Meet there in an hour?"

"Sounds good to me."

"Okay then, bye."

"Bye," The line went dead and he whispered, "I love you."

Sheldon glanced down at his clothes. They were clean, as always, but he felt like wearing something nicer for Lily. After fifteen minutes of stressing out, he called in Penny for help. She helped him pick out a checkered short sleeve button down and brown slacks. With a Superman shirt underneath of course. Penny fawned over him like a mother sending her son to prom.

"It is really not a big deal."

"I know, but you look so handsome."

She turned to leave and he caught her shoulder.

"Wait! One more thing," He picked up Ripley, "Can you please watch her? She should be asleep until I return. If she wakes up though, you just need to feed her a bottle."

"Of course! It's so precious!"

"It's a girl and yes, so I expect that you will treat her as such."

"How would I make her a bottle though?"

"I already have one prepared. Just feed her, then pat her back with one of your manly fingers."

She rolled her eyes and delicately took the kitten from him. Sheldon smiled, feeling particularly happy today.

"Thank you Penny."

The blond gawked, then beamed all the way to the living room. By the time he was done getting ready, 45 minutes had passed.

"Better early than late."

After bidding farewell to everyone, including Ripley, he left for his date with an angel. He entered the restaurant on time and got a table. Lily arrived a few minutes later and sit across from him, sagging against the seat. Even with dark circles under her eyes, she looked like an angel. A waiter took their orders and hurried off, leaving them alone to speak.

"Good evening, Lily."

"Good evening, Sheldon. How are you?"

"I am well. And yourself?"

"I've been… I've been better. Thank you for coming to see me on such short notice."

"It is no problem at all. Is everything alright?"

She sighed softly, taking a sip from her water glass. Then she looked at him seriously.

"Sheldon, we need to address the elephant in the room. I'm sorry for running away. It's just… she struck a nerve and I needed time to collect myself."

"It's perfectly understandable. What Amy said was unforgivable and you had every right to be offended."

"Oh, I wasn't offended. I was… frightened."

"How so?"

Well," She played with her fingers nervously, "It was what she asked, about what makes me so special. And I have had my quandaries as well about that. What does make me so special that you chose me?"

Sheldon sat back for a moment to think about the proper response. Then he smiled slyly.

"You."

"Huh?"

"You make you special. You aren't fake to me. You are a real person. In a personal sense, of course. It's obvious that you are real physically since we haven't perfected andr-"

His rambling was silenced with a kiss. One that had been on his mind since she walked out the previous night. He kissed her back eagerly, only breaking it when the waiter coughed in annoyance. They blushed, thanking him for the food before digging in. Neither of them looked up the entire time they ate. The sound of chopsticks clicking was the only thing that filled the awkward silence between them. Unable to bear it any longer, Sheldon set his utensils down.

"Lily, are you free next week?"

"I believe so. Why?"

"I would like to take you somewhere. Do you mind long distance travel?"

"That depends where…"

"Texas. Houston specifically. Would you mind coming with me to visit my family?"

"Oh Sheldon, I'd be honored! A-are you sure you want me to?"

"I'm positive. I want to introduce you to my meemaw."

Her eyes sparkled with unshed tears of what he assumed to be joy and he smiled softly. Even on the verge of crying, she was gorgeous. He was really lucky to have caught the eye of such a wonderful woman. The finished eating and, after an amazing goodnight kiss, went their separate ways. The physicist arrived home to find his friends watching Ripley sleep. Sighing, he scooped her up and retired to his room. After placing her in her box, he changed into his pajamas and checked his messages. There was one from Lily.

Thank you for the wonderful night. I love you.

He read it twice to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him. Then he froze with all the thoughts rushing around at once. Should he play it cool? Should he pour his heart out? There were so many possible ways that this could turn out. Taking a deep breath, he took the simplest route.

You're welcome. I love you too.

Collapsing against his bed, he let all of the lost rest from the past week wash over at once and quickly fell asleep.

-Five Days Later-

"Left here."

It was now the day of departure and Leonard was driving Sheldon to pick up Lily on the way to the train station. They pulled into the parking lot of a humble apartment complex and he sent text. She exited the building holding a purple duffle bag, which he quickly got out to help her tuck into the trunk. After a chaste kiss, they got in the car and were once again headed off toward the train station. A little while later, they were on the train in neighboring seats.

"Wake me up when we get there, okay?" She mumbled, resting her head on his shoulder.

Sheldon nodded, smiling down at her. She closed her eyes and he noticed for the first time that her eyelashes brushed her cheeks. He also noticed that her lips formed a perfect kissing shape when relaxed. Hoping it wouldn't wake her, he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. Lily didn't awaken, so he smiled secretively and stared out the window. Buildings passed by as they left the city behind in anticipation of the trip that was ahead.

Please don't hate me. I've just had horrible writers block and ran out of ideas! ~TLR