As promised! Thank you for all the reviews and favorites! Here is the next chapter. I'm making sure to cover all my bases as far as what the others are going through. There isn't much Shenny in this chapter, but there will be a lot coming up. Just hammering out the details

Enjoy!

I own nothing, just borrowing. (I'm also adding a few characters of my own ;P)

Amy sat at her work computer the next day writing up her weekly reports and logging her findings. It was tedious and if she could teach her monkey Ricky to do it she would, but even he seemed uninterested.

As she absently typed she allowed her thoughts to float to her friends. Penny had never called or texted her back and she was very worried that she was still hurt by her and Bernadette's rendezvous. Hopefully if she stopped by later they could have a glass of wine together and have a long chat. There was a lot on her mind and she hoped she could count on Penny to be there. She knew Penny wasn't one to hold a grudge anyway, for instance look at all the chances she'd given Leonard.

A knock on her door startled her and she turned around. A taller man with olive skin and spectacles stood in the doorway. She felt her pulse increase slightly and tried to suppress a smile, but failed miserably.

"Hello Dr. Kumal," she said standing from her station and crossing the room.

Dr. Joshua Kumal was hired recently to replace one of the retirees in Neuroinformatics and his office was a few floors below Amy's. That didn't prevent him from coming up to find her every day at lunch time.

"Hello, Amy," he said matching her smile. "Are you ready for a meal break?" His accent was simply marvelous and she loved the nuances in his speech.

"Yes, just about," she looked back at her computer station, trying to suppress her inner dialogue about the golden shade of his eyes and the way he held his portfolio in one long fingered hand. It was nearly impossible. "I can complete my logs later, for now I'm famished. Let me just grab my things."

"Excellent," his eyes lit up and he beamed for a second before clearing his throat and composing himself. Amy turned away to grab her purse so that he didn't see her huge smile.

"Uhm, we could try the café across the street… I know you mentioned you might like to try it."

"Okay," she affirmed leading him out of the office.

While in the elevator his hand grazed hers and she felt another flutter. She quickly held her purse strap while casting him a sidelong glance.

Every day for the last week they had fallen into this pattern. They had met at the advisory meeting when he was hired so that they could discuss ongoing research and create a program for her and her team. That first Friday they had lunch together. Then every other Friday. Then every day this week. At first it was just a friendly occurrence until she began to think about him outside of work hours.

There was something lacking in her current relationship paradigm that was being fulfilled by Dr. Kumal. This thought made her feel both guilty and sad because she knew what she had to do and she wasn't looking forward to it at all. Her current state of happiness during lunch had shown her that though she and Sheldon were very compatible, there was not a 'spark'. She had to annul their relationship agreement . . . she had already completed the paperwork. She felt her throat tighten with emotion.

"Is something wrong, Amy?" Joshua asked.

"Huh – oh, no, I just realized my work load this afternoon is going to be more extensive than I originally thought."

"Well hopefully lunch can take your mind off of that," he said smiling. It was infectious and she smiled back.

Three white boards stood between the desk and office door creating a wall of figures, data and equations that kept the outside world at bay. Sheldon stood leaning against his desk, holding a half empty water bottle and staring at the boards but not really seeing them.

There was a list in his mind of problems he had to deal with.

One. He had a migraine that was resurfacing past the pain killers he'd taken earlier.

Two. There was an email from the board saying he could not change fields of study on his computer.

Three. Though he had attempted ever known tactic he possessed to repress negative things his senses were being assaulted by images of blonde tresses, green eyes and the smell of femininity.

Four. Someone was knocking on the door.

Sheldon watched as Leonard entered trying to push between two of the white boards. He didn't move to help, just avoided meeting his roommate's eyes.

Five. He was experiencing guilt.

"Hey, I didn't see you at lunch," Leonard said once he was free.

"I am not feeling well at the moment," he answered trying to remain stoic.

"Well, I wanted to talk to you about something important."

"Now isn't a good time, Leonard."

Leonard looked at the boards and back to Sheldon, "I'm sorry, but this can't wait. Sheldon, I am here to give you advanced notice of my termination of our roommate agreement under Emergency Termination Clause 4."

Sheldon felt his gut plummet. Oh God, he knows, he thought terrified. Then he remembered what ETC 4 actually was.

The parameters set forth in this agreement may be terminated if a party is elected for any lucrative job prospect that arises outside of a 50 mile radius if it will benefit said party's career and the scientific community substantially. Written AND verbal notice must be given; rent for the following month must be paid in full.

Sheldon had written that clause with himself in mind of course, but now it seemed that Leonard possessed a need to employ it.

Six. His roommate was moving out.

"What is the job opportunity?"

"I've been selected for the Jenkins Project at MIT."

Sheldon raised a brow. "Massachusetts?"

"Yea, I had been contemplating whether or not to accept the offer and I came to a decision last night after discussing the prospect with Alex. She thinks it's a good opportunity."

"Alex? My former assistant Alex?" Sheldon had not really spoken to his former assistant and he recalled that at some point she'd caused a rift in Leonard's relationship. "What about Penny?" Her name caused an unexpected feeling which was odd because it had been going through his mind all day. "Wouldn't this alter your relationship paradigm?"

"I actually wanted to tell you about that too . . ." Leonard had an awkward smile on his face as he reached into his pocket for his wallet. He pulled out a small item and Sheldon's vision blurred, his mind blocking out the offensive item and what it meant. "I'm taking Penny with me. I'm going to ask her to marry me."

Those words required a positive response. In their current social paradigm, Sheldon should feel happy for his friend and all his success. He should offer congratulations and say something akin to, "it's about time buddy!" But all he could feel was an emotion that he usually only felt in regards to his work whenever he learned about a competitor's discovery in scientific journals.

Seven. He was feeling nauseous and kept experiencing strange reactions. Sidebar: schedule medical evaluation.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" Leonard asked.

"Mazel tov." He said circling his desk and taking a seat in front of his computer. "Would you please have your written notice by this evening? I would draft it for you, but I'm a bit busy so I'll accept whatever creative way you decide to word the document instead of carefully penning one myself."

"You're taking this surprisingly well... Aren't you upset that I'm leaving?" There was annoyance in Leonard's voice.

"I am very upset."

"Well, thanks Sheldon. I'll keep in touch and of course I'll let you know what the details are for the wedd-"

"I have to continue working Leonard, I'm sorry." Sheldon hoped Leonard didn't detect the snap in his voice.

"Okay… Oh, one last thing, they've allowed me to take the rest of the day off so I asked Amy to give you a ride home."

Eight. He was culpable for an act against his significant other and would have to face the consequences of his actions via Karma. If you believe in that hokum, he amended.

"Thank you, now, if you'll just lock the door on your way out."

Leonard gave his roommate one last look before exiting the office. Sheldon heard the definitive click letting him know he was once again safe from the outside world. He took more medicine for his headache and leaned his head in his hands.

He took great care in his life to avoid risks. It was so that he could avoid feeling the way he did now. In fact, he had spent a great deal of his life avoiding social interaction because of situations exactly like this. He acknowledged that a person needed amiable relationships to maintain levels of dopamine, endorphin, oxytocin, and serotonin. Last night, he let his primal urges get the better of him and decided to take more care to avoid situations like that. 'Anything can happen Thursdays' would be permanently banned.

Then it hit him. Regardless off his feelings there wouldn't be 'anything can happen Thursdays'. Leonard was on his way to their apartment right now to propose to Penny. They would both leave to Boston. Sheldon was quite used to the idea of Leonard leaving for months at a time and his schedule did not suffer much, but for the last few years there had been a companion he could count on.

He tried his best to remind himself that his friends had been together for years.

Really, though, it never worked out and they were always bickering, he argued.

This event was inevitable and had been a long time coming.

Didn't Leonard just turn Penny's proposal down? And vice versa only a while before!

Leonard was very in love with Penny.

He doesn't appreciate her curiosity or her merits, but instead focuses on physical attributes and sexual gratification.

Penny could no longer be with someone who wasn't intelligent and without Leonard …

Sheldon's mind returned to the previous night. Having a terrible dinner, but enjoying the company. Lying next to Penny on the roof. The kiss. His stomach ached and he dismissed it as being a result of him skipping lunch.

Unbidden the words of the faux-clairvoyant repeated themselves, there is more than one way to satisfy a hunger.

Nine. Inexplicably, illogically and unfathomably he was experiencing an emotion that he had worked to suppress and it was all Penny's fault.