A/N: This is a short story in 4 parts that I will publish over the course of this week. The events of the story take place roughly one month after Sheldon returns from his train trip but that's as specific as I'm going to be (my regular readers know the drill). This story deals with some heavy emotions, and some of you might feel there are some very quick turns, but as this story is already finished you can all rest assured that you will find out how this ends. As always: thank you for reading and long live the Shamy!

- YlvaB

A turn of events

By YlvaBorealis

In four days Amy Farrah Fowler would be turning thirty-five.

She had actually forgotten about it: things had been busy at work lately and she had never been much for birthdays anyway, and her boyfriend Sheldon Cooper wasn't terribly fond of celebrations and only bought her gifts out of obligation, so there it was.

She tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear to keep it out of her eyes as she picked up a dirty plate from the sink to wash it. Behind her she could hear Sheldon bustling about, most likely putting the left-overs from dinner into containers for them to bring for lunch to work tomorrow. That was their date night routine: whoever hosted dinner provided the other with a lunch box for the following work day, which had resulted in Sheldon having all of Amy's pink containers at his place and Amy having Sheldon's transparent ones at her apartment. The exchange had taken place over the course of several months, which could possibly account for the lack of complaint on Sheldon's part: he resented change, fought it off with blood and teeth and high-pitched screams, and to his obsessive compulsive mind something as trivial as a plastic container that didn't fit with the rest of his utensils was as painful as a massive migraine. But this routine he had accepted, come to embrace even, perhaps not consciously but definitely voluntarily, and this had brought Amy hope that he would one day accept other changes.

She put away the last of the dishes and washed her hands, drying them with a towel that she should probably have changed for a fresh one several days ago. Sheldon would scold her if he knew that she lied about doing the laundry every Saturday. She sighed at this thought as she turned around, watching her boyfriend who had just finished putting away the left-overs and was now occupied with his smartphone. He hadn't changed much during the five years they had been together: he had possibly gained a pound or two, and his skin was not quite as smooth as it had been that day they had first met at that coffee shop, but other than that he looked the same. Tall, thin, neatly cropped dark hair, khaki pants, and double-layered t-shirts. He let her touch him now: something that would have been unthinkable in the beginning of their relationship. Slowly he had let her into his personal space, allowed her to gently peel off that protective layer he used to shield himself off from the rest of the world.

She leaned back against the counter as she kept looking at him, rubbing her belly, wishing that fluttering she felt wasn't the result of worry and sleepless nights. The sudden realization that next Monday was her birthday just made her stomach ache even worse, and she swallowed hard as she tried not to hyperventilate. Sheldon seemed completely engulfed by whatever he was doing, his fingers moving rapidly over the touchscreen. Amy closed her eyes for a second, debating whether she should make some tea, or invite him over to the couch to watch the news before he got on the bus home to the apartment he shared with his roommate Leonard. Slowly she opened her eyes again, revealing forest-green irises behind dark-rimmed glasses, and let out a deep sigh. Balling her fists she made her way over to the dinner table, taking a seat oppose her boyfriend whose eyes never left the screen. He was a theoretical physicist, she was a neurobiologist. They were rational, intelligent adults. They both had doctorates for crying out loud, surely they must be able to figure this out together. 'It will all be okay' Amy told herself as she licked her trembling bottom lip and clasped her hands in her lap. 'We will work it out.'

"Sheldon" she croaked, clearing her throat to try to get his attention.

"Hmm?" Sheldon replied, his thumb still moving over the touch screen on his phone.

"Sheldon… could you please put that away? I need to talk to you" Amy tried again, the knot at the pit of her stomach tightening as the lanky physicist failed to meet her request.

"It's alright Amy, I excel at multi-tasking. This brain can handle browsing e-bay for rare comic books and say 'yes', 'no', and 'interesting' to whatever sound is coming out of your mouth at the same time" Sheldon assured her, oblivious of his girlfriend's growing discomfort.

Amy nodded in defeat, a lump forming in her throat as she once again closed her eyes, and she dug her nails into her thighs as she tried to calm down her breathing. It would be okay. It had to be okay.

"Ithinkweshouldbreakup" she let out in rapid succession, her green eyes still tightly closed as if looking at him would render her unable to utter these fatal words.

He looked up then, his thumb frozen mid-movement and his blue eyes wide with surprise and disbelief.

"What?" he said, his mouth slightly agape.

Amy pried her eyes open, forcing herself to look at him. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest and she had to muster up every bit of will-power she had to keep her body from trembling.

"I think we should break up" she repeated, her voice thin and laced with sorrow. She couldn't believe she had said it. It had been a fleeting thought for so long, a silent question that she'd asked herself only in the darkest of hours, a consideration that had never treaded serious grounds. And now it had suddenly been uttered out loud.

Sheldon kept staring at her, as if he hadn't understood what she had just said. His hand still clasped his phone as were it a lifeline, and his lips moved as if he were trying to formulate a sentence. But no sound came out and his blue eyes were still blank. She realized then that the thought of what she had just said had never crossed his mind.

"Why?" he asked at last, the expression on his face still that of someone who was completely lost, and in that moment Amy's heart shattered into a million pieces. She had asked herself the same question so many times this summer, rubbed her belly in a thousand figure eights to try to relieve the ache that boiled in there, threatening to spill over.

She sighed, and put her elbows on the table, burying her face in the palms of her hands for a few seconds. Her glasses dug into her eye sockets but she didn't care. They could dig into her brain and it still wouldn't matter.

"Next week I'll be thirty-five years old" she let out at last as she once again looked up at him, as if these words could explain why she had decided to do this to him. To them.

"I-I don't understand. What does your advancing age have to do with your desire to remain in this relationship or not?" Sheldon stammered, his plump bottom lip quivering as he slowly put his phone down on the table. Amy massaged her temple, desperately trying to ignore the tears that were burning behind her eyelids.

"Everything. And nothing" she mumbled, realizing she didn't make sense. She had expected him to quote the Relationship Agreement, argue with her, act rationally. She had been prepared for that. This man however, this man who looked as if he were to burst out into tears any second now… this she didn't know how to handle. This she had not expected.

"I was so sad when you left this summer" she continued, trying to keep her voice steady as she finally opened up about his sudden departure earlier that year, and the pain it had caused her. "You didn't even say goodbye. I thought… I thought maybe it was for the better. You would have time to think and calm down, and we could talk when you got back and things would change. And then… Nothing. You weren't even glad to see me."

"Amy I…" Sheldon begun, but Amy couldn't stop now. If she let him talk now she wouldn't be able to go through with this.

"No Sheldon, please just listen for once. We've been together almost five years. Next week is my thirty-fifth birthday. And the last time I mentioned us living together you ran away for forty-five days and now it's been over a month and we haven't even talked about why you left. I just… It's so difficult Sheldon. I feel like time is running away from me, from… from us. You don't want to live with me. You don't even want to discuss the possibility of living with me. You don't want to sleep with me. And I'm getting older and I don't even know if you want us to have a family. It's just stressing me out" Amy explained, the last sentence coming out more like a strained sob.

"I touch myself thinking of you and it feels so good and afterwards I'm sad because you're not there with me" she continued, and Sheldon gasped then, unable to hide his shock at her honesty.

"I want you. I want to share your bed, your home, your life… I want to carry your children and be more than your companion and confidant. We… we obviously want different things out of this relationship, and I just feel it's not fair to keep pretending that we don't" Amy finished weakly, still doubting that this was the right thing to do. But she knew that whatever the 'right thing' was, it wasn't to remain in a relationship with a man who would never see her as more than a good friend, no matter what that Relationship Agreement said.

The air was strangely thick, and the conservatively dressed, bespectacled neurobiologist was acutely aware of all the little noises around her that usually went unnoticed. The sound of Sheldon breathing. The ticking of the clock on the wall behind her. The humming of the fan over the stove. An infant crying several doors down, and its parents arguing over whose turn it was to comfort it. Life went on around them but in her apartment time seemed to be standing still.

"I left my iPad at home" Sheldon said at last, finally diverting his gaze from hers. His hand shot out to grab the phone, and he rose from his seat, leaving her with her pain and befuddlement as he made his way to the front door.

"Is that it? That's all you have to say?" Amy asked bewilderedly, having forgotten about his attempt to speak earlier. She scrunched her eyebrows, suddenly angry that he didn't protest or offer her counter-arguments or beg her not to leave him.

Sheldon, who had just picked up his messenger bag and slung it over his shoulder, turned to look at her.

"What else is left for me to say? You have informed me of your desire to terminate the relationship, and since I don't have my iPad with me we can't sort out the paper work yet, thus rendering this entire discussion moot. While the Relationship Agreement clearly states that the party wishing to break up must leave the other party a written notification 72 hours in advance, I will accept this conversation as a substitute. I'll stop by your office on Monday and we'll fill out the necessary forms" he staccato-ed, looking down at his feet.

"You're unbelievable" Amy growled, feeling more and more sure that she wanted him out of her life.

Sheldon snapped to attention at this, cocking his head slightly as he met her stare, his facial expression still blank.

"I know" he replied, opening the door and stepping out into the corridor, softly shutting it behind him as was his habit.

Amy, who was still sitting by the table, stared angrily at the door as if she was trying to set it on fire.

"That's right you jerk, walk away and never come back. I should never have agreed to go out with you in the first place" she spat out, as if he could hear her. She drew three quick breaths, and then collapsed in a heap over the table, finally releasing that cascade of tears she'd been holding in the entire evening. She howled into the crook of her elbow, howled as if she'd been stabbed right in the heart, howled as if nothing in this world would ever be good and right again.