Amy collected her thoughts. She walked up the last few steps to her apartment, thinking about how hard it was trying to forget about Sheldon when even the man she was meeting for a cup of coffee kept on reminding her of him – or, as in Dave's case, kept on asking for an autograph. She hadn't imagined it was goign to be this hard to spend at least a couple of huors forgetting about the chaos that was her love life. All of her friends, of cousre, were Sheldon's friends as well – they had been his friends first, actually. Amy mused for a second whether it was worth trying to find a new set of friends, but discarded that thought instantly. No way was she apt enough to acquire anyone like that by herself.

She cursed for mother for making her "date". Amy could've lived a happy life, ignorant to the joy a loving relationship could bring. What did that revelation do for her? Here she was, alone again, looking forward to the company of George, basically her pet monkey.

Reaching the landing, Amy stopped short in her tracks. There he was, the reason to all of her suffering. Dr. Sheldon Cooper. Pacing in front of her apartment as if he had a right to. Amy wondered briefly how he had gotten here. She didn't see his public transport pants anywhere. But that wasn't her business anymore, so she let go of that thought. She was annoyed, though. She was tired, she wanted to get into her apartment, change into a set of frumpy pjs, empty out the ice cream drawer in her freezer and wallow in some self pity with George. Was that too much to ask?

"Amy," Sheldon greeted curtly, catching sight of her.

"Sheldon," Amy responded.

She continued her way to her apartment door. 'I'm not going to stop this time,' she thought to herself. 'He's not going to get to me again.' But Sheldon had stopped his pacing, blocking the entrance to her apartment. Amy sighed exasperatedly. "Sheldon, move please. I've had a long day."

"So did I, waiting for you here."

"No one asked you to! Move aside!"

"I would – and I will in an instant – but I'm here on a serious matter."

Amy closed her eyes and counted to three. She knew there was no use in fighting with him if he had his head set on anything. Best to let him talk and ignore him. Maybe she'd still have the time to watch some little praerie reruns with her hairy cohabitant. So she didn't say anything, just waited it out.

Sheldon cleared his throat, pulling out a thick stack of papers from his backpack. Amy recognized those papers at once. "I've come here due to a breech of contract on your part. As you well know since you signed it here – and here – and here with your initials," Sheldon started, ignoring Amy's glare, or more likely oblivious to it, "the termination of the relationship can only be carried out if notice has been given three days prior or in case of the assimiliation of this planet by a feracious alien lifeform – in which case no notice is necessary. No other exceptions are valid. Therefore our relationship is technically still intact."

"Our relationship isn't 'intact' just because of a technicality that you made up. I did in fact give you a 'heads up' of more than three days. You decided to ignore it." Amy sighed, strengthening her resolve. "Now, please, Sheldon, let me pass."

"I will do no such thing until you concede to my-"

"Your what? Your point of view? Sheldon, that ship has sailed!" Amy was almost yelling now, and heck, she didn't care about her nosy neighbors right now. "Heaven knows I've been working hard to meet your point of view but I've reached my limits, knowing that here isn't going to be that happy ending that I wand and deserve – yes, I deserve!" she snapped, when Sheldon opened his mouth to cut in. She didn't care, in this moment, for all the love she still had for Sheldon, she didn't care what he wanted. She needed to be thinking about herself for once. "And if you can't or won't give that to me, maybe someone else will!" Something like jealousy flashed in Sheldon's eyes and it made Amy only angrier. How dare he be jealous of something that he wasn't willing to share himself?

Amy reached for the relationship agreement and ripped it in two. And because it felt so good, she did it again and again, until there was nothing left but shreds. 'How fitting,' she thought, watching the pieces glide through her fingers onto the floor.

Sheldon appeared taken aback, working his jaw. "Well," he said, "that's not exactly how I had planned it but it'll do."

"I'm glad I could be of assistance," Amy said sarcastically, fighting against the pain rising in her chest. That's what he was here for after all, then. To attend to the unfinished business of their still 'intact' relationship.

She tried to push past him, knowing only one thing: she wanted to be inside the sanctuary of her apartment before the tears started falling. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw a flash of white. Once more Sheldon produced a stack of finely printed documents out of his backpack. He held them out in fornt of Amy, the most serious expression on his face, effectively blocking her entrance door.

"I set up a new proposal," he said quietly, "to replace the old agreement." His gaze was more intense and focused than Amy ever remembered seeing, except maybe that one time when they rewatched Indiane Jones together after she had pointed out more logical plot issues.

Unwillingly, her gaze flickered down, scanning the first page of that seemingly innocent sheet of paper. It was pure white, full of neatly typed script, definitely using the phrasing of one Dr. Sheldon Cooper.

And it started with "spousal agreement".