It was a very different Sheldon Cooper that opened his apartment door to his friends a few weeks later; ever since he and Amy had met at the coffee shop he had taken to dead bolting the door to the apartment to prevent anyone from walking straight inside as was their normal habit. Leonard had taken to spending more of his time over the hallway in Penny's apartment, leaving Sheldon free to entertain Amy in the lounge, the bathroom and once even up against the kitchen counter.

'Good evening…don't just stand in the doorway gawking, come on inside!' Sheldon smiled widely as he waved his friends across the threshold and one by one they stepped into the living room and immediately noticed the few softer touches of a woman's hand around the room. Instead of the scratchy beige throw tossed over the back of the leather couch, there was now a beautifully crafted patchwork quilt, and the rug had been switched out to something a little less geometric in design, the replacement was a soft terracotta shade which blended beautifully with the natural wood furnishings of the floor to ceiling bookcases behind the couch.

As Penny and Leonard headed for their usual seat in the large stuffed armchair, Penny noticed that there was another quilt folded over the back and ran her fingers over the softly worn material. 'That's lovely Sheldon, wherever did you pick that up from?'

'Oh, Amy made that one and the one on the back of the couch; she said the apartment needed a little softening up. She replaced the drapes as well.' Sheldon continued smiling warmly as he gestured over to the windows with an elegant wave of his hand, and the gang looked over to see that the plain blue drapes had been removed and replaced with soft cream voile panels and each window was edged with wooden shutters that folded across the openings for added privacy.

'I made dinner this evening, I hope that's alright with everyone?' Amy's quiet voice coming from the hallway had everyone whirling around in surprise; her footsteps along the wooden flooring had been so slight that no one had heard her approach. 'I know you were probably all looking forward to your takeout…'

'Are you kidding me?' Howard blurted out as he ran across the living room to snag the large office chair before Raj or Stuart could sit down. 'I'll take a home cooked meal over takeout any day of the week.'

'I'll eat anything,' Stuart raised his hand slightly, his face colouring a little. 'My usual diet is something out of a can that I've warmed up on my hotplate.' He shuffled over to sit in Leonard's desk chair and looked a little self-conscious about being invited over to join the others unexpectedly. Amy crossed over and tugged Stuart to his feet, pulling him to one side to hold a whispered conversation. Penny saw that Sheldon rose up from the couch and walked over to the whispering pair and soon his low tones joined Amy's as they both talked quietly with Stuart. Amy's arm had crept around Sheldon's waist as they spoke and Penny narrowed her eyes at the way Sheldon seemed to lean into her touch.

'Oh my God!' Penny nearly burst Leonard's eardrum with her shrill squeal of excitement and everyone's eyes turned to the blonde as she practically vibrated in excitement. 'The two of them totally did it!'

'Sorry, what?' Howard tilted his head to the side as he tried to decipher Penny's strange behaviour, as Raj's mouth fell open as he followed Penny's line of sight and saw how closely Sheldon and Amy were standing.

'How did we miss it?' The astrophysicist muttered as he turned to Leonard; the other scientist was sitting calmly in the armchair and pretended to be completely absorbed in watching a bird pecking away at the windowsill. 'You knew!' Raj exclaimed, jabbing a finger toward Leonard. 'You knew, and you didn't think to tell us!'

'Sheldon's my closest friend and I respected his privacy. I mean, come on guys…we were burgled once and he still didn't use the dead bolt unless we were heading off to bed…He meets a woman that he's dreamt of his whole life and suddenly he's using the dead bolt; it really wasn't that hard to figure out…and besides he hasn't needed me to drive him to work for the last three weeks so it's just another reason to like Amy even more.'

'I guess the cat's well and truly out of the bag now, darlin'…' Sheldon murmured lovingly as he wrapped his arm around Amy's waist and rubbed his chin across the top of her hair. 'Do you want to tell them or shall I?'

'You tell them, Doc…it is your apartment after all.' Amy replied back, giving Sheldon that special smile that brightened her whole face and made her eyes sparkle.

'Nuh-huh…' Sheldon tightened his grip a little and shook his head, 'Our apartment, or don't you remember that little scrap of paper we both signed?' Both of them sighed wistfully at the events of the past few days and their hands clasped together loosely as they linked their fingers together. Sheldon raised his head and linked gazes with Leonard, giving his former roommate a slight nod of his head. Leonard winked back imperceptibly and nudged Penny aside so that he could get up out of the armchair and head toward the fridge, where he rummaged around on the lower shelf before pulling out two chilled bottles of champagne; setting them on the counter and popping the corks silently. Amy had already lined up a tray of glasses, and now Leonard poured the fizzy liquid into the waiting crystal and picked up the first two as he handed them across to Sheldon and Amy.

'What's going on?' Penny narrowed her eyes at the way that Sheldon casually accepted the glass from his roommate before turning to Leonard. 'Leonard?'

'Just take a glass, it will become clear in a minute.' Leonard murmured as he held out the tray to the others; waiting until everyone had a glass in their hand before clearing his throat. 'I took an unexpected day off from the university on Monday when I received a rather garbled call from Sheldon's older brother, George. He told me to meet him at the courthouse at noon as I quote 'Shelly's gone and got himself into a bit of a pickle'. I immediately assumed that Sheldon had got himself locked up after breaking one of his celebrity restraining orders again.' Leonard paused as the guys started chuckling and then continued. 'Imagine my surprise when instead of being taken into the holding cells, George steered me toward the judge's chambers instead. It was there that I witnessed a truly special event, and one that created a memory that I will treasure forever. Guys, please raise your glasses to Doctor and Doctor Sheldon Cooper.' Leonard raised his glass and gently tapped it to the side of first Sheldon's and then Amy's glass. 'Congratulations, I love you guys.'

'Thank you, Leonard…for everything.' Amy whispered, her voice a little husky with emotion as she recalled the utter joy on Leonard's face as he had walked through the door to see Sheldon and Amy standing with their arms wrapped around each other as they waited for the judge to join them. Leonard had immediately rushed over to fling his arms around Sheldon and for once the other man had accepted his embrace and even went so far as to return it with a slight squeeze.

'Sheldon, Amy…I wish you many, many years of happiness together; you deserve it, and thanks again for letting me use your apartment until your lease runs out.' Stuart grinned over at Amy and raised his glass. 'Cheers.'

'I can't believe it…' Penny exclaimed as she rose up from the chair and pointed her finger at Sheldon. 'How could you just run off and get married without saying a word to any of us? Do we mean that little to you?'

'Penny, we just wanted a quiet ceremony without any fancy frills or fuss…I called my mother and explained the whole thing, she understood why neither of us wanted a big hoohah…George flew out for the ceremony and we stayed in a little hotel near the airport for a few nights until he went back yesterday. Can't you just be happy for us?' Sheldon looked so miserable at the thought of upsetting one of his best friends and Penny immediately felt ashamed. She thrust her glass in Leonard's direction and stepped up in front of Sheldon and Amy; pulling them both into her scented embrace.

'Of course I'm happy for you both, you whackadoodle. It doesn't mean that I can't be made at you for not having a nice reception afterwards though.' Penny leant up to brush a soft kiss against Sheldon's cheek and then did the same for Amy, tucking a strand of the brunette's hair behind her ear. 'I would have loved to play dress up with you, Amy…we could have gone dress shopping; had a spa day, the full treatment.' Penny sounded as though she was a schoolgirl denied a treat and Sheldon let out a breathy chuckle as he tugged his wife out of Penny's clutches and hid her behind his lanky frame.

'My wife is perfect to me in every sense and doesn't need to have a ton of makeup to make me want her however, if Amy wants to join you in a day of womanly fun then who am I to say no?' There was a snort from behind Sheldon and he chuckled lightly as Amy came around to stand behind him and shook her head at Penny as she wrinkled her nose up at the thought of traipsing around town behind the blonde.

Raj sighed wistfully at Sheldon's statement and walked over to clasp his hands in front of his face as he lowered his head. 'Shadi Mubarak.' Raj raised his head and laid his hand over Sheldon and Amy's clasped fingers. 'May Parvati bless your union and keep you together always.'

'Thank you, Rajesh.' Amy blinked back a tear at the way Raj bowed his head over their linked hands, and murmured a few lines from the traditional Hindu ceremony, before he walked quickly away, wiping his eyes surreptitiously. Finally, Howard made his way over to the couple and raised his glass.

'I never would have thought that it would be Sheldon that was the first of us to give up his bachelor hood; but looking at the two of you know, I can see why he did it without regret. I have never seen him look so happy before and that's all because of you Amy…' Howard raised his right hand and spread his fingers slightly. 'Life long and prosper.'

Sheldon and Amy both raised their hands and returned Howard's gesture with the proper salute.

'To Sheldon and Amy.' Howard raised his glass, and everyone followed suit.

'Sheldon and Amy.'

AN: So there you have it; it's taken a long time for me to be able to write these characters again after suffering a loss in my personal life which has made it hard for me to write anything that's fluffy and sweet for a long time. I thank each and every one of you for sticking with me to the very end and can only apologise for leaving the story hanging for so long. Thank you again xx