The Double Girlfriend Dissent

VII. The Effusive Climax

Penny climbed the stairs of the apartment building. Amy plodded behind her, as if weighed down by her overnight bag, uncharacteristically quiet; she was usually so excited about their sleepovers, but not tonight. She was probably turning over and over in her head what her boyfriend's mother told her a couple of days ago. Like Penny herself was doing.

"Is that what you really want?"

"What is the most important thing to you at this point?"

She reached the fourth floor and she nodded resolutely to herself. She had to talk to Leonard.

And Leonard was standing with Sheldon before their apartment, looking at her with a determined expression as his roommate was unlocking the door. Slowly and steadily, he walked towards her.

She had to talk to Leonard, but maybe not today.

She made a dash for her apartment, but he caught her by the wrist and pulled her inside apartment 4A; Sheldon pressed against the doorframe and out of the way as they stalked by him. "Leonard!" she yelled, failing to inject any venom in her voice.

"Penny…?" Amy called, following them inside.

"Sheldon," Leonard muttered, waving his hand.

At his best friend's gesture, Sheldon closed the door and leaned against it. "… Amy." His girlfriend whirled around and yelped when she found him blocking the only exit, hugging her duffel bag as if it was a safety blanket.

"My mother has been contacting me everyday, asking what you've been doing and if I had conceded to your strike yet," Leonard told Penny. "She has never shown this much interest in my affairs. Did you start scheming with her for this? Am I some sort of experiment now?"

He was calm and there wasn't a touch of anger in his face and voice. He was resigned and… hurt. Penny winced. "No, I didn't—Howard called Beverly and she talked to me and told me… stuff. I didn't ask her, she told me those things on her own." Of course, the fair thing to do would've been to tell Beverly not to do so. She glanced away guiltily, and caught sight of her 'bestie.'

Amy was backing away from Sheldon, taking one small step for his every long-legged stride. Her gaze darted around, obviously intimidated by his focused stare. She bumped her legs against the coffee table, dropped her bag in surprise, and attempted to side-step away, but his hand shot out and grasped one of hers. She shrank back, wide-eyed and breathtaken, and he deliberately curled the fingers of her limp hand around his.

"How can you do that to me, Amy?" He asked, more needy than accusing. "While it's physically possible for me to go through a day without hearing your voice or seeing your face, I… don't want to."

She blinked and looked up at him. "Meaning… you missed me?"

He shrugged. "In the simplest terms, yes, though that concept is inadequate to describe my feelings for the past several days. I never want to experience that again."

Missing, feelings, and handholding? Penny frowned and turned back to Leonard, but he was watching his best friend and his best friend's girlfriend with that curious furrowing of his bushy eyebrows.

A smile bloomed on Amy's face. "I more than missed you too."

Suddenly, Amy—no, both Amy and Sheldon—closed the gap between them and kissed. Jaws dropping slack, Penny and Leonard exchanged awed looks and gawked at them. The soft pressing of lips lasted for but one Mississippi, but when they drew apart by a breath, they looked into each other's eyes. The air felt chilled and charged, as if by an impending thunder storm.

Then Sheldon wrapped his arms around her waist as Amy flung her arms around his neck and their lips met in a passionately searing, far-more-than-a-friendly-greeting, exchange-of-saliva-inclusive kiss. When Sheldon fell backwards on the couch, with Amy on top of him, it became obvious that they had either forgotten or were completely disregarding the fact that Leonard and Penny were still in the living room. Sheldon flipped their positions so he was pinning Amy to the couch, and tossed her glasses away with a careless flick of his wrist before kissing his way from her temple to her jaw and down her neck.

Leonard gulped, both horrified and entranced. "Are we watching this?"

"No," Penny said, grabbing his hand and dragging him with her as she fled the apartment. Slamming the door of Apartment 4A and leaning against it, they were silent for a few tense seconds.

"Well," Leonard grunted. "That was interesting." He started heading for the stairs, his hand slipping from hers—

She had to talk to Leonard, but maybe not today.

No.

She had to talk to him, right now.

"Wait!" she cried, tightening her grip on his hand and tugging him back. He turned around, his face full of questions. "This whole thing is stupid. I'm stupid."

"No, you're not…" he trailed off when she raised an eyebrow at him. "Yeah, you are sometimes, but so am I."

Why did she always make him end up saying things like that? She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Leonard."

"You are?" he echoed.

"I'm sorry for everything," she stressed, hoping he'd understand. After a few moments, he nodded and she knew that he knew exactly what she meant. "Do you want to come in for a glass of wine?"

"Sure, sure…"

She led the way to her apartment, only releasing his hand so he can sit on the couch and she can prepare two glasses of wine. He accepted the glass with a 'thank you,' and she sat beside him, inching closer so their knees touched.

"Leonard," she sighed. "I started this fight over the Roommate Agreement. But really, the Roommate Agreement happened way before any of our relationships and that's just how you and your roommate roll, so I should've respected that."

"No Penny, you were right, it was insensitive of us to discuss you girls as if you were just objects within the clauses of our agreement, you're both far too important for that." He smiled widely. Tears welled in her eyes, but she couldn't help grinning back at him. "Our relationship is between the two of us, and for anything that will affect our relationship, I should be discussing with you. And that's what I'll do," he promised.

"And I... I'll try not to have a freak out every time your crazy bestie does his thing," she chuckled, then added: "Oh, and I won't tell my own crazy bestie to freak out on him either."

"Oh good," Leonard exhaled and wiped at his forehead with exaggerated relief. "Because my crazy bestie is thisclose to going supervillain on our asses." He sobered up and said. "Thank you, for understanding and for putting up with him."

She nudged his knee. "You know what I talked about with Beverly?"

"What?" he asked, nervously adjusting his glasses.

"She did tell me how to mess with you," she admitted. "But she also asked me what I really wanted. And what was most important to me. The truth is, your agreement with Sheldon doesn't really matter to me. You matter to me." She kissed him lightly on the lips. "My dad was right, you are a keeper. And for you, I'll even put up with two Sheldons."

He gaped. "Really now, two Sheldons?"

"Hang on, let me think about that," she pinched her nose bridge in mock concentration. "Hmm… yes."

"Wow," Leonard breathed.

She stuck out her tongue playfully. "In the short time before the world ends because of having two Sheldons, anyway."

"That being not the case, thank you Jesus, as his mother would say," Leonard quipped.

They clinked their glasses and took a drink.

"Leonard?"

"Yes?"

"I love you," she said.

"I know," he answered solemnly.

She rolled her eyes. "I can't believe I'm in love with a guy who quotes Star Wars."

"I believe I quoted 'Empire Strikes Back,'" he corrected smugly.

She threw her arm around his neck and pulled him close for a kiss, giggling against his lips.

Amy set the platters of pancakes and bacon on the counter and took a seat, watching across the table as Sheldon took two pieces each on his plate. "Thank you, Amy."

She stifled her surprise and replied: "You're welcome." While preparing breakfast, she had actually noticed that the timetable on the fridge said it was cereal day today, and yet Sheldon had been sitting silently and hadn't bothered to correct her error.

She was halfway done with her meal when she noticed that he had barely touched his. "Sheldon?" At her voice, he looked up from twirling his fork. "Would you like some cereal instead?"

"No… no…" he murmured.

She stood up but before she could walk away, he reached over the counter and held her hand. "But your apartment's timetable says—"

"You're my girlfriend, not my roommate," he declared. She sat down and Sheldon started eating, but he didn't release her hand.

"You're really going to eat with one hand?" she teased. She was sure he heard her over the clinking of his fork on the plate; he didn't respond but he blushed until his ears were positively red.

After a slow, one-handed breakfast, they did the dishes, each 'accidental' brushing of fingers and bumping of shoulders inciting more blushes. Then they gathered their bags and headed out of the apartment. The door swung open to reveal Leonard, his hand poised to knock, and Penny standing beside him.

The two couples stared at each other, fidgeting uncomfortably, and in Leonard and Penny's case, their mouths hung open when they saw Amy. She decided to break the ice. "Hello, bestie."

Penny jumped a little. "Hey, Ames. Hey, Sheldon."

He nodded at her, then at his roommate. "Good morning, Penny. Good morning, Leonard."

Leonard pushed his glasses up his nose, his hand shaking. "Hi, Sheldon. Hi, Amy."

"Hello, Leonard." she greeted.

There was more silent shifting from foot to foot. Then Leonard burst into excited questioning: "Isn't this a violation of the Female Companion Rider to the Roommate Agreement?"

Sheldon scowled down at him, but retorted: "The revised Female Companion Rider states that no prior notice is necessary when one roommate brings an overnight female companion in the event that the other roommate stepped out of the domestic premises after the hour of 9:00 PM, since that implies that the latter would be spending the night elsewhere."

"I need to remember that one," the shorter man huffed.

"Among other things," he sniffed. He and Amy started down the stairs. Leonard and Penny followed them.

"So Amy," Penny piped up. "How was your sleepover?"

Amy glanced back to give her a demure smile; Leonard choked on his guffaws and Sheldon snapped: "Shut up, Penny."

"I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to Amy," Penny sniped back.

Somewhere between the second floor and the first floor, she noticed him breathing heavily beside her. He held up her hand—she looked up at him, but he was staring straight ahead—and then pressed a small and cold object in her palm. When he withdrew, she glanced down. It was a key.

Behind them, Leonard cleared his throat.

"Before you say anything, Amy meets all the criteria under the Qualified Spare Key Bearer Clause," Sheldon said defensively.

"Sheldon…" she warned. He bit his lips. She looked over her shoulder at Penny.

The blonde only scrunched her nose. "If you lose it, you pay a fine."

When they exited the building, Sheldon continued walking with Amy. "Sheldon," Leonard called after him. "Aren't you going to work?"

"Oh, I'm escorting Amy home, like my mother told me to do so after…" he paused.

Their best friends looked at each other conspiratorially and smirked at him. "After the night before the morning after?" Penny prompted. Sheldon squared his shoulders and glared, despite his flushed cheeks.

"You don't have to," Amy said.

"But…"

She tilted her head in Leonard's direction. "Go to work. Let's talk later."

"Okay," he said, still looking doubtful. She clutched unto his shoulders and stood on her tiptoes; he held his breath but didn't move away. She kissed one cheek, then the other. Before she could let go of him, he bent down and kissed her on the lips, making her heart skip as his tongue grazed hers. He abruptly released her and she nearly reeled back, only regaining her balance when he steadied her with a firm hand on her elbow.

"I'll call you!" he yelped, running to Leonard and slapping the other guy's arm when he whistled, and went ahead to the car.

Penny made pushing motions with her thumb and called to her: "Text me the details. But, uh, not the graphic ones."

She shrugged modestly and turned to go on her way. She heard Leonard tell Penny: "She totally owned all of us in this strike thing, didn't she?"

"What can I tell you, she's gooood," Penny said.

Bernadette held out her hand. "Called it both."

Howard and Raj paid up, with no small amount of grumbling. Raj whispered in Howard's ear. Howard huffed: "I know right, how could she have known that it would be Sheldon and Penny who would fold?"

"Female intuition," she crooned, counting the bills with a satisfied smirk on her face.

Raj whispered again, and Howard nodded. "Yeah, I also have a feeling she's been messing with us this entire time."

She batted her eyelashes. "You boys are free to think whatever you want."

Author's Notes: Aaaand, it's done. I've been getting some mixed reviews throughout this fic's run, so this ending may or may not do it for some of you. I thought about extending the fic, I thought about cutting a couple of chapters (before putting them up), but this was more or less the ending I had in mind from the beginning. I always add a dose of sugar and spice that we may never get on the show, because I think that's what fanfic is for.

1) Thank you, readers. And thank you so very much, reviewers! You know how much I love you, being the needy greedy fic writer I am. I might be stomping on the plot bunnies if it weren't for your feedback. They owe you their lives.
2) I'm on the lookout for a beta—especially necessary for Big Bang Big Bang. It's easy to find someone to proofread, but of course I'd rather have a beta with extensive knowledge of the characters. And one who's a Shamy fan. ;) If anyone would like to consider this, please PM me.
3) To those who are also reading "The Star-Crossed Glitch," fret not, I decided to finish this fic first so I can focus my energies on that one. Trying to write both at the same time was starting to mess with my mind.
4) Darned hiatus! T_T But this seems like the perfect time to write fanfics actually. I'm wondering if I should write more short fics like this one, or finally get started on that long Shamy fic I've been wanting to do—the season finale is the perfect starting point for what I have in mind.
5) Thank you again. *bows* Hugs and kisses to those who aren't Sheldon-esque about germs and physical affection! =D