"Mother…please, it's time for us to stop with these silly little set ups. Yes, I know we had an agreement but I'm getting tired of being the one that is the only person that turns up. No, this one's late as well…uh-huh, four thirty and it's now…four forty, okay I'll call you this evening…bye." Doctor Amy Farrah Fowler snapped her phone shut and started to gather up the newspaper that she had been reading whilst waiting for her blind date to arrive. She looked up as the door to the coffee shop was suddenly pulled open and a tall, lean gentleman stepped inside, calling out to someone over his shoulder.

"I told you to continue straight on Los Robles and not take the shortcut…we're now approximately six minutes late and you know how much I despise being thrown off schedule."

"Cool your jets a little, we're only a little late…" A shorter man wearing skin tight jeans and a polo shirt followed the first man into the shop and they were followed by a third, a quieter man with lightly caramel coloured skin. All three men hovered by the display of coffee machines and glanced around the nearly empty tables.

"A little late? How on earth can six minutes be described as being a little late? That's like saying the world is only a little round or…"

"Someone being described as only a little bit dead. Did you know that it would have only taken six minutes for the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs to create an extinction level event?" A low feminine voice coming from the lone occupant of the table area had Sheldon whirling around in surprise.

"Really, six minutes?"

"Yes, and we all know how things changed in that short space of time." The owner of the voice turned out to be a bespectacled brunette who was sitting at a table in the corner, folding her newspaper into neat thirds.

"Fascinating." Sheldon crossed over to the brunette and pulled up a chair. "Tell me, what are your thoughts on what species might have survived the catastrophe?"

"Well, we know for a fact that the asteroid hit land mass…we've seen evidence of the craters left behind, I've often thought that the ocean creatures would have had the best chance of survival. We've seen through evolution that animals living in the sea might have had legs at some stage and it makes sense that over time they would have adapted to their new environment." The woman suddenly stopped talking and pressed a hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry, my work sometimes gets the better of me…I'm a neurobiologist and I tend to forget that not everyone sees the world in the same way that I do."

"Oh, don't apologise! It's very refreshing to meet someone that is so honest in their opinion." The man waved Amy's apology away and held out a hand. "Hello, my name is Doctor Sheldon Lee Cooper and it's a pleasure to meet you." Amy leant forward to accept his proffered hand, and introduced herself.

"Hello, I'm Doctor Amy Farrah Fowler and I think we were supposed to meet for coffee today."

"You're here from the dating site? Really?" Sheldon propped his chin in his raised hand and quirked his eyebrow up in Amy's direction. She nodded and gave him a sheepish grin.

"Yes, my Mother bribed me into joining the site in a fruitful wish to see me pair bonded with a like- minded individual. I informed her today that this was to be the last time though…my previous encounters have not turned out so well; actually you were the only one that I've actually managed to hold a sensible conversation with and that was before we had even been introduced!" Sheldon frowned a little at the thought of this dazzling creature meeting up with other men, and shook his head slightly to clear it of the strange idea…surely he couldn't be feeling jealousy?

"Doctor Cooper? Are you well?" Amy's concerned voice broke through Sheldon's daze and he blinked rapidly in her direction, before nodding slightly.

"Thank you, I am quite well. May I purchase you a refreshment?"

"Um, perhaps a cup of herbal tea? I had a tepid water before you arrived, but I think I can risk the tea here."

"Which flavour would you like? I believe they have a particularly lovely blend of white ginger here that is quite revitalising." Sheldon rose from the table and Amy nodded her agreement. "Very well." Amy watched as he placed the order at the counter and then turned to murmur something to the two gentlemen that had accompanied him into the coffee shop. The shorter of the two men checked his wristwatch and then gestured to a table outside. Sheldon amended his order to include two large cappuccino's and handed them over, before picking up the tea cups and carrying them back over to the table. "I have to confess that I was blackmailed into coming here today as well. My friends threatened me by hiding a dirty sock in my apartment and refused to tell me where it was hidden until I agreed to meet with you." Sheldon shuddered as he remembered Raj pulling the sock out from where he had hidden it under the cushion of Leonard's armchair and Amy smiled faintly in response.

"I share your aversion to soiled hosiery…It must have been horrendous, I trust you carried out a thorough decontamination of your apartment afterwards?"

"Oh, indeed. I sprayed the whole place with disinfectant and then washed the armchair covers in Purell." Sheldon smiled in satisfaction and Amy returned his enthusiasm with a small smile.

"I saw from your profile that you are a physicist over at Caltech…in what specialism?"

"Theoretical particle physics…my friend Raj outside is an astrophysicist and the other man with him is my friend, Howard who is an aeronautical engineer."

"So just a Master's then, no doctorate?"

"Quite." Sheldon nodded again and shared another smile with Amy, feeling delighted that he'd met someone so completely on his own wavelength. "This really is turning out to be a most delightful afternoon."

"Yes, very pleasant." Amy agreed, sipping her tea and enjoying the company immensely. Sheldon glanced over at her again whilst she had her head bent over her cup and admired the way that the overhead light bounced off her straight and shiny hair. Good Lord, Sheldon, get a grip on yourself! He inwardly berated himself for noticing something like that and shifted slightly in his seat. Amy glanced over at him and then down at her watch.

"I really ought to be getting home soon, it's very nearly six o'clock and I tend to do my laundry on a Saturday night."

"Really? Me, too…only I do mine around eight fifteen." Sheldon smiled over at Amy again, glad that they had yet another thing in common. "Doctor Fowler, I wonder whether we might exchange phone numbers. I'd like to continue our conversation another time if that meets with your approval?"

"I'd like that. I have a note pad in my purse." Amy bent down to retrieve a small leather bound notebook from her purse and clicked her pen open. She scrawled a few lines on the page and tore it off. "There's my phone number, e-mail address and Skype details." She handed the page over to Sheldon who quickly scanned it before folding it up to slip it inside his wallet.

"Do you want mine?"

"Oh…yes, of course." Amy flushed a little, she had half expected it to be an empty promise of future communication – offered out of politeness, and had passed over her details out of the same. It appeared she was wrong, and Sheldon did want to keep in contact. Amy slid the pad over the table and Sheldon quickly wrote down his details.

"My cell, home phone, work e-mail, personal e-mail, Skype details, Twitter and Facebook account details…I really do want to converse with you again, Doctor Fowler."

"That would be nice, Doctor Cooper."

"Please, call me Sheldon."

"Amy."

"Very well…Amy…" Sheldon's voice deepened slightly as he called her by her first name and Amy felt her tummy flip over in reaction to the sound of his slight twang rolling over her name. "I'll call you soon."

"That would be nice…Sheldon." Amy rose from the table and placed her notebook back into her purse, strapping it crosswise over her chest. "It was lovely to meet you."

"And you, goodbye for now…Amy." Sheldon rose from his seat and held out his hand.

"Goodbye, Sheldon." Amy clasped his hand for a moment before slowly pulling away and twirling around to quickly leave. Sheldon stood with his hand still outstretched for a moment, watching her stride confidently along the sidewalk.

"Sheldon? Sheldon? Are you okay?" Raj's musical tone had Sheldon retracting his hand and sitting back down in his seat.

"I don't really know…" Sheldon replied quietly, rubbing a hand against his abdomen where he felt a slight ache twisting his stomach.

"How did it go?" Howard slid into Amy's abandoned seat and leant forward, eager for details.

"It was fine, she was a delight…" Sheldon didn't have words to describe just how delightful he had found Amy's companionship, he couldn't quite explain it to himself let alone to anyone else.

"Are you going to see her again?" Raj enquired softly, watching the expressions flit across Sheldon's face.

"We've exchanged contact details…so, yes probably." Sheldon revealed and checked his wallet for the page torn from Amy's book, with his eidetic memory he no longer needed the written details but for some reason it seemed important to have the physical reminder.

"That's good, she seemed to enjoy your company as much as you enjoyed hers…it will be nice for you to have someone that understands you."

"Yes, I think that Amy does understand me, I don't know how exactly; we were only sitting here for a few minutes after all."

"Sheldon, you were here for the best part of one and a half hours…Amy didn't leave until just after six." Howard leant forward and tapped his watch, Sheldon blinked hard.

"Really? It didn't seem that long at all…I'd best get back to the apartment and start my laundry."

"Okay, did Amy say why she had to rush off like that?"

"She needs to go home to attend to her laundry duties too." Sheldon smiled softly at the thought and Raj thought that he'd never seen his friend look so relaxed before. "Come on, Howard…I need to get home so that I can get my laundry finished early so that I can call Amy before it gets too late." Sheldon suddenly rose up from the table and shooed his friends out of the coffee shop and towards Howard's car.

"What have we done?" Howard muttered to Raj as they walked quickly in order to catch up with Sheldon's long strides.

"I think it could be the start of something beautiful." Raj beamed happily over at Howard, who just shook his head in bemusement; thinking that Amy must be as wacky as Sheldon if she agreed to see him again.