One of the stories that I promised you (and myself) to write as the series is ending. Can't wait for the new ep!

The Newfangled Bedstead Promulgation

It was tough to adjust to a living arrangement that you're not prepared for. Whether it was a sudden loss of a loved or an unexpected addition to the family, it's an uphill battle of getting used to and compromising. Usually, the adjustment period takes days or, on a rather disrupted status quo, takes months and even years to cope with.

Five weeks seemed like an acceptable adjustment window for a mid-thirties couple to get accustomed to living with each other. Sure, they've shared a bed and did the deed while in it. But that was once. Every opportunity to share a bed was either overlooked or one party wasn't willing to, not up until now.

The five-week trial period was about to end in less than a week and they've been adjusting very well with the help of a systematic approach that has been flawlessly adhered by everyone. It turned out that Amy's apartment has been up and running for almost two weeks, and she didn't even care to inform him. He was not enraged, not at all. He was more like disheartened by the white lie and by the remaining days.

The incident brought him a surge of realizations. He's now quite accustomed to compromising–only with Amy, that is. Amy was the only one who never took advantage of his vulnerability and so was he. Sheldon understood Amy from an intellectual level to a much complex spiritual degree and so was he. All that encompasses a decision that he'll either take on or bury and will never be discussed again.

"So, it's going to be official?" Amy, at first, hesitated due to the intensity of her revelation but she eventually felt relieved when Sheldon assured her–more like all of their friends–earlier that he's not repulsed by the idea of them living together for good.

"As soon as I finish the draft of our Cohabitation Agreement," he assured, setting down an eggplant on the side of the couch before pulling off his blue-gray windbreaker by the sleeve.

Before entering their apartment, he was still concerned about the impact of this decision for him and for Amy. But once he saw Amy ascending up the stairs, looking so domestic with their grocery bag, for their shared home, he couldn't think of any place he'd be. The cherry on top was him sparking up the conversation about Buridan's donkey and her contending with him about the authenticity of the philosophy's origin. Honestly, that stirred up his feelings. She even provided him an eggplant in case he starves! What a gal!

"And when will it be?" she asked sheepishly with a hint of excitement escaping through her smirk, all the while running her fingers on the countertop instinctively.

"Come back in an hour. I'll be finished by then."

"Just call me, okay? I'll nap for a while," she maintained her somber expression, gracefully entering their shared bedroom. For a second, Sheldon thought she purposely swayed her hips like she'd done a few time to get in her way.

A ring accompanied by a concerning vibration disturbed Amy's light slumber. It was anomalous to receive a call in the early afternoon, let alone on a Sunday early afternoon. Her guesses were her mother and father, the girls, or Mary–who's scheduled to call her, instead of Sheldon, every Sunday morning after church to catch up with Sheldon without actually Sheldon excessively talk about himself.

She reached for her phone situated on Sheldon's pillow and scrunched her brow as his name displayed as the caller. "Didn't expect you to be this literal," answering his call.

"You told me to call you!"

"Not from when I'm just literally fifty feet away from you," she sighed and pushed her body by the elbow. "Okay, okay. I'm coming," she dropped the call and sauntered out of the room, welcomed by Sheldon hunched in the bar stool, in front of his laptop.

"Oh, good! You're here." Having woken up by him with a start, she was supposed to reply derisively but opted not to because of his demeanor. He seemed very deliberate with everything that he drafted; she would not want to be the one to rain on his parade.

"This is the initial draft for our Cohabitation Agreement," he said as he handed, Amy his iPad. "feel free to peruse it and inform me about any subtopic you'd want to amend," he started with an agenda in mind. He has amended almost all of what's in their Relationship Agreement to meet all the new policies in their new agreement. He can't deny the fact that he tweaked the rules in order to veer more toward Amy's penchant.

It took Amy minutes to finish their agreement cover to cover. Along the way, she pursed her lips and nodded in agreement on some parts; others, she frowned her forehead, backing up the tablet as though what was written was appalling. But nonetheless, there was no major upheaval, that if it happened, will probably let him question if he was really doing the right thing to move in together.

"So?" he asked, tilting his head and raising his brows in anticipation.

"So… I don't have any serious concerns," she said and immediately Sheldon's face lightened up, "however, I have a few questions about the cooking situation."

"Oh, I know you wouldn't approve of me asking you to cook dinner every weeknight," he sighed solemnly, opening up another document on his laptop entitled 'Revisions', "so I devised a strategic plan to suffice both of our needs."

"Monday evening, we pick-up Thai food. Tuesday and Thursday, let's have our date nights since everybody's got their own life and don't want to dine with us anymore (In actuality, no one's really shooed Sheldon away. It's just that five nights a week dinner and almost every single day for 15 years, they got to see Sheldon's face; it was just enough.)," Sheldon scrunched his nose before continuing, "At least in one of those date nights, we'll stay home and I'll cook for you but I can be flexible if you'd want to cook."

"No! Cook for me!" she enthusiastically said which came out like a squeak.

"Alright," he eyed her unsurely. "On Fridays, dinner at 4A and we'll play video games and you girls do your own thing."

"Girl's night on a Friday," she pointed out as Sheldon started to type the revisions. "Got it."

"Can you please cook for me on Saturday and Sunday?" he pleaded and softly looked at her.

Of course, I can't say no to that face, she thought as Sheldon started caressing her hand.

"Okay, okay!" she surrendered. "How about breakfast?" she asked. She'll certainly asked for it. Dinners are enough. Add breakfast as her responsibility, too? That would be energy consuming.

"It's alright. I'll do breakfast. Oatmeal and cereals and pancakes are much easier compared to cooking a full-sized meal for two. However, if you'd prefer a different meal, let's say bacon and egg muffins, or maybe a freshly baked croissant, you have to give me 24-hour notice so I can prepare for it. And, uh, requests for baked goods as breakfast are only valid on the weekends… keep that in mind."

"It looks like we all agree to the revisions," she announced and started to turn off the tablet but was halted.

"Wait! I still have some things that I forgot to include in the agreement," he stammered and started to type on his laptop. "Furniture."

"Furniture?"

"Yes, furniture," he glanced at her before continuing. "I noticed that a few of Penny's pieces of furniture are visibly worn out. That sofa—"

"Which is hideous looking," Amy butted in.

"Yes, you noticed that too. As I was saying, she had that when she moved in. And I have no idea if it was brand new or secondhand at that time, but what I know is it's worned out badly that it can't support my behind for a very long time without it being uncomfortable for me."

"Yeah, me too," she concurred, peering at the love seat and recalled, one time, her lower back sore from napping on it for just an hour and a half. Their bedroom was only few steps away but who could blame her for having a headache so bad that striding the remaining steps would mean unconsciousness for her.

"Despite my eagerness to have that couch changed, let's talk about the tweepadock in the room."

"Ooh, the tweepadock in the room?"

"Not in this room—" he sighed and pointed at their bedroom door, "—that room. A young elephant so enormous it can't even fit in our bed!"

"Oh, I see… It's the bed?" Amy favorably asked. They knew from the get-go that it was the bed. It has to go.

"It really has to go," Sheldon said as though reading Amy's thoughts.

"It does."

"I can't sleep in that mattress anymore without imagining how many men Penny has bed in there." Sheldon made a disgusted look, furrowing his brows and scrunching his nose.

"I'm surprised you didn't notice it up until now."

"I did! Oh, Amy, I try to placate myself deliberating about it," he raised his voice to emphasize his point. "But it just slips off my mind when… I realized that you'll there with me, in bed, sharing the experience together." The last phrases came in a whisper.

"Me too," Amy replied. "I enjoy sleeping with you."

"I should hope so. In 5-6 days, we'll have a different bed, and there'll be no deep seated bodily fluid of Penny or any of his lovers, for that matter," Sheldon declared with just. "I have an idea! We should get my old bed from their apartment!" he said cheerfully as though his scheme was the most effective of all.

"Um, I thought we were gonna go on a different route," she said in confusion. "A brand new bed, bigger than our previous one," she suggested.

"Come to think of it, we can barge in there and retrieve my bed; i'll be comfortable, you'll be comfortable, and there's no sign of Penny."

"I get where you're coming from," she said sympathetically, which got a nod from Sheldon, "but don't you want a larger bed, where we can have the space that we wanted."

"I do, but a king sized bed won't fit in there," he reasoned out, glancing at their bedroom door.

"A king can't, but a queen or a double XL can."

"A queen?"

"Yes. Your old bed is a full-sized bed so as Penny's. I noticed how your ankles dangle from the foot of our bed when your resting straight," she started. "That seems painful when it does that."

"It does… at times," he agreed.

"So that's it. We agree to buy a new bed?" she asked, raising her eyebrows and waited for his response.

"Yes. In the weekend," he replied and started to add it on the new revision.

"Amy, what are your thoughts," he whispered, his back against the headboard, his tablet cradled in his hands.

Amy groaned and lazily opened her eyes. "I want to sleep."

"I know, but I'm looking for mattresses and I was hoping to get your opinion."

Amy pushed her body up and laid her head on his broad shoulder, staring at the screen that was illuminating the room.

"I thought we're going bed shopping on Sunday."

"That's for the bed frame and other accessories. This—" he showed his opened tabs, "—is for the mattress. I know what you're thinking: 'Sheldon, why don't we just get it in the store.' We can't; people have been rubbing their filthy bodies in those and who knows how long it's been displayed there," he explained thoroughly.

"But those are just displays; they'll provide us a new one once we've decided."

"How can I try those mattresses without contacting my body on those displays?! I'd prefer to do it online," he said. "Look at this; they have a 100-night trial. If we don't like it, we'll send them back," Sheldon showed a tab with a guaranteed trial and warranty.

"Plus, they'll cover the shipping."

"Okay, okay. I surrender. You're the mattress master. Entice me, sir," she yielded, giving him a kiss on the cheek and proceeded to sleep.

"Alright, for the bed frame," Amy said as she led on an aisle brimming with bed frames. Designs spanning from traditional with canopies to industrial-style metal frame leaning on the futuristic vibe, the emporium has it all.

"What size did you get?" she leaned back to Sheldon.

"I've been thinking about the full XL and queen debacle. Both have perfect length for my stature, however, the width is what we're considering here. I took the liberty of measuring the width appropriate for our room size," he said.

"And, the conclusion?"

"Would you like a queen-sized bed?"

"I guess so," Amy answered hesitantly.

"Good, because that's what I got. I've managed to let Leonard say home so he has to received the package," Sheldon assured.

"Ooh, so it's not too big for our room?" she asked. Of course, she's worried. What if they've miscalculated the dimensions? It's laborious to go back and have it changed.

"We'll have your bedside table move against the wall and mine a little bit closer to the door. Although, it'll stop the door from opening fully. But, I don't mind it at all; we can still fit," he explained thoroughly, leaving Amy awestruck.

"You really are a genius," she said. "Come on, let's find our bedstead."

"I'd prefer something that doesn't have a footboard," he suggested.

"Yeah. Me too. Similar to posters and canopies, It does the illusion that our room is smaller, which is already small."

"I've always wanted murphy bed," Sheldon said as he approached the nearest one.

"I'm intrigued by it, too. But it takes a lot of work to have it propped up and then back down again," she explained as she approached one. "This one has built-in cabinets in them. It means that we'll have to replace our bedside tables."

"I supposed tall cabinets as bedside table replacement are not the way to go?"

"I don't think so."

"A storage bed?" Sheldon suggested some more.

"Hmm, what will we use the storage for?"

"Shoes, my comic books—"

"Toys," Amy interjected, examining the drawers.

"Toys?"

"Your toys."

"They're not toys; they're action figures and collectibles," Sheldon insisted, huffed, and crossed his arms on his chest.

"Okay… collectibles. We're still gonna move your things from Leonard's," Amy assured.

"I know," Sheldon realized that he still has a lot of his belongings left in 4A, "I should take care of that, shouldn't I?"

"There's plenty of time to move. We'll take it slow."

Their final plan was to go for the storage bed–made with matte finished wood and complete with under the bed drawers for their belongings–until Sheldon eagerly demanded to have an upholstered headboard.

Because of that, they had to wait for 2 hours to have it customized. Checking out the additional beddings way before the customization finished, they went home uncomfortable with how they're returning with nothing in hand but a few sets of queen-size beddings and no bed.

By 3 o'clock in the afternoon–two hours behind their schedule, the frames had arrived but no help from any of the people from the shop. They'd called, let Sheldon received it, and just dashed out of their building, much alike to what happened to them when Penny had just moved in. With the physical strength of an engineer, three physicists, and their better halves, the journey to four flights of stairs was smoother through the division of portions by weight, thrice the number of minds inclined to at least have a working knowledge of intermediate to advanced physics, and of course, Penny.

It took three more hours to assemble the frame from top to bottom, fix the mattress on top of the frame, and lay down the linens. It took a little longer because Penny enjoyed how the boys were struggling to figure out how to assemble the frame. In the end, she jumped in to demonstrate her woodworking prowess and reduce their labor.

Now dinner has ended, everyone, except Sheldon and Amy, escaped into their own homes–Penny and Leonard on 4A and Bernie, Howard, and Raj on to the Wolowitz's house to hang out with the kids. Amy had rinsed off the plates, disinfected the counters, and bagged some trash from dinner and from their assembly line. Tomorrow evening, she'll embark on an extensive cleaning and sanitation on their whole apartment and she's certain Sheldon will be enthusiastic enough to join her.

Entering their bedroom, listening to that creaking noise the door does sometimes, she was confused to see Sheldon, still in his day clothes, sleeping with his feet on the ground and the other half of his body across the bed. His arms up and mouth open, she didn't expect him to doze off just before 8 o'clock. He excused himself, after everyone had just left, to freshen up and proceed to bed.

Amy imagined him to have his back against the highly requested upholstered headboard, with his Sunday pajamas on, feeling cozy with their new and improved bed, and maybe reading on the latest trend about the mattress industry and thinking if what he ordered was of high quality yet doesn't break the bank. Instead, he was there, looking so peaceful… and weary but content, definitely content… with himself, with what he just achieved–he thinks that assembling the bed just proved the man in him he never thought he had, with having something to accompany him and Amy to an experience that he'll absolutely take together no matter what.

Sheldon was roused by the early daylight seeping through the curtains to his still closed but not tensed eyes. His back and limbs, weighed down by a welcomed heaviness, felt feather-like, almost sucked into a realm of pure serenity. What's nice was how his butt was sinking into it as well! Oh, I could be in here forever!

He opened his eyes and took in the room, nothing aesthetically new from his view. But he managed to look down and observed how the new sheets were caught in his and Amy's body. It wasn't a fairytale type of thing where he wakes up and feels an outburst of sentiments from being in one bed with Amy. Instead, he felt normal, ordinary. This wasn't the first time they've shared a bed nor the second one. It's a combination of subdued thoughts and relaxation.

Amy's eyes slowly opened, blinking rapidly to accustom the face in front of her.

"Morning," Amy raspy voice resounded in the room. A sigh escaped her as she snuggled her way into Sheldon's shoulder, her right arm secured across the chest.

"Good morning, Amy," he replied faintly, wrapping his arm on her.

"I had the best sleep in ages," Amy muttered.

"I felt the same. Did you change my clothes?" he asked and pulled away his face to look down at her.

"Yeah. I had to. You have sweat it out since morning," she answered. "I didn't want you to sleep in your own dirt."

"Why thank you," he gratified, and let a soft chuckle. "I don't remember you taking off my clothes."

"That's because you were snoring hard last night! I have no idea if it was from the exhausting day or because of our new mattress?"

"For sure it was the mattress," he assured it rather quickly. "We haven't even tested all the parameters! How dumb was I?" he bellowed and immediately pinned Amy by the hand.

"Since we have to work today, let's just have one test," Sheldon gazed at her invigorating eyes.

"And what test will it be?" Amy innocently asked. She doesn't want to assume–since Sheldon was a teaser–about anything that might happen.

"Let's test the durability and bounce of this bed. How much force can this bed take without us hurting ourselves? Let us find out, shall we?"