A/N: Many thanks to Hazelra7 for beta-reading my scribbling, I am so grateful for that! This might entail spoilers for the upcoming taping, but most likely I just misinterpreted a picture from the forums...

Apartment 4A, 2311 N. Los Robles Avenue

Sheldon and Amy were seated on the couch facing each other with only their tea mugs and giddy excitement between them.

"Okay, let's make a test run for our application video, collect some ideas," Sheldon bounced in his spot.

"Color me intrigued, Dr. Cooper! We should start with how exceedingly smart we are," Amy holding a note pad replied equally thrilled. "But perhaps we ought to leave out the STD this time, you don't want them to get the wrong ideas..."

"Alright, Dr. Fowler. What do you propose?" Sheldon asked.

Amy pondered and took a sip of her tea, "Well, primarily we're scientists, so we could start with pushing the boundaries of human knowledge forward. And with a combined IQ of nearly 400, who is better suited than us for this task? As we have a working knowledge of the entire universe and everything it contains, we will be able to solve any problems that come along our way. And among our social circle, we have the best and most stable relationship, which is of crucial importance during such a long journey in a confined space."

Sheldon seemed to be mesmerized by her lips while she was talking, especially when she came to that confined space part... better not go there, or should he? In a slightly deeper tone than usual he said, "I know you're just stating facts, but I love it when you talk like that."

Amy looked at him quizzically. "You're serious?"

"I would never be joking about my love for you," Sheldon stated matter-of-factly.

"I'm glad." Amy looked at him with a soft smile. Then she said flirtatiously, "I'm feeling the urge to hug you again... and one, and two..." she counted like Sheldon had done last year when she had explained her Valentine's train trip idea to him.

But before she could come up with three, Sheldon had gathered her in his arms and nuzzled his nose in her soft hair. Ever since he had smelled the fragrance of her hair just minutes ago in the hallway, he had been thinking about how to repeat that experience. Despite having brought up the hug herself, Amy hadn't seen that coming, but soon relaxed in his embrace and wrapped her arms around him, too, the note pad dropping on the couch, forgotten.

After a few seconds of holding her close to him, she could hear his low voice next to her ear. "Being in... closed quarters, cleanliness is important... and our hygiene is impeccable. I smell like nothing..." He tried to continue with his application text, but was distracted by her proximity.

"Actually, with all that baby powder..." Amy started.

"It's talcum," he interrupted with a smile, still nuzzled in her hair.

"Whatever. You smell like a sexy toddler. We shouldn't mention that in the video, though."

"And you smell like peppermint tonight... I wonder if you taste like it, too..." His voice had dropped an octave, and his hands were drawing small circles on her back. He was facing her now, his face just inches away from hers, and had the same look in his eyes as he had after their train kiss: no teasing, no haughty derision, just awe... and love.

Amy looked up at him in wonder, and before he could chicken out, he took the opportunity to touch her lips with his own. When she didn't pull away, he became a bit bolder and softly nibbled on her bottom lip. She really did taste like the peppermint tea she had been drinking.

Amy was taken by surprise first, but quickly gathered her senses and kissed him back eagerly. When her tongue darted out to take a quick lick of his bottom lip, he felt a bolt of electricity run through his whole body. Afraid he might like it too much, he pulled back.

Amy's cheeks were flushed and she felt out of breath. When she opened her eyes again to look at him, his eyes were hooded and his breathing had quickened as well.

Amy was the first to gather her speech. "Wow. Uhm... that's another thing we probably shouldn't be doing in the video."

"At least not in the video for the Mars application," Sheldon deadpanned as his gaze still lingered on her lips.

Amy couldn't stop wondering tonight. "Oh-kay... I take this as an example of your whacky sense of humor." She suddenly felt a bit nervous thinking about finding out if he was really serious about that statement.

To get back on safer ground, she tried to continue with business. "Uhm... I've been thinking, since counterfactuals seem to be too advanced for anyone but us, how about starting a new internet show during the seven-month trip to both entertain and teach our fellow voyagers, like 'Fun on Mars'?"

"Oh, that would be interesting!" Sheldon was getting antsy seated next to her as he thought about the journey again. "Just imagine my pie joke in the significantly lower gravity of Mars, or even floating around in zero gravity during the trip before it hits someone," he continued, jumping up and down a little in his spot.

"Actually, concerning that pie, I understand that all nourishment resources must be extremely valuable on such a long trip... It would be a pity to waste it... do you still have some of it left, by the way?"

"I do." Sheldon got up to get the rest of the pie from the fridge. "Are you hungry?" He asked coming back.

"You mean for food?" Amy grinned mischievously.

"What else could I possible mean?" Sheldon wondered innocently.

"Never mind." Amy had made up a plan and was back in business mode. "In preparation for the application and the journey itself, it might be helpful to simulate the constrained environmental conditions."

"Alright, how do you propose to do this, and where does the pie come in?" Sheldon asked.

"We'll come to that later. First, remember when you told me I made it to your fort?" Amy smiled, thinking of that moment over a year ago when she was embarrassed for him having misread a table and he found that to be the most romantic thing he had ever heard.

"Of course. This brain does not forget," he said pointing to his head.

"Then let's do it!" She clapped her hands together, eager to start.

"You want to build a fort with me?" Sheldon was already looking intrigued.

"I was thinking more along the lines of uhm... future sleeping quarters on Mars. Solely for research purposes. We could built it right here around your spot." Amy knew she had him then, this was his favorite place in the world.

After some discussion on how to proceed best, they gathered some blankets and towels and spanned three ropes across the room as a support structure. Soon they had created a rather cozy den on the couch.

Sheldon climbed in first. "We still have to figure out how to knock here... Would you like to join me?" He asked, sticking his head out of the blankets.

"Are you trying to get into my space pants?" Amy joked and followed him with the pie.

Sheldon looked at her seriously. "We're living here, have you already forgotten? Thus, we should know everything about our space pants already."

"Oh..." Amy was stunned by his remark and the casual tone in which he had delivered it, just like it would be obvious what living together entailed.

They were facing each other on the couch, sheltered in their little sanctuary of blankets around them.

"Well, you mentioned not wanting to waste the pie?" Sheldon asked, curious what she had in mind.

"Yes," Amy collected herself from his space pants reply and his deep blue eyes still gazing at her. "As I said, resources will be strictly limited. So if anyone took the effort of preparing a pie, what do you think should be done with it?"

"It should be eaten," Sheldon answered.

"Exactly. And if... accidentally... pieces of the pie ended up where they didn't belong..." While she was talking, Amy gathered all her courage, dipped a finger in the pie and smeared a bit to the corner of her mouth.

Sheldon's jaw literally dropped. "They should be brought to their... original designation."

Amy was thrilled that he hadn't run for the hills yet. "Obviously," she agreed. In a low voice she continued, "Uhm... life in a colony would be strongly dependent on people helping each other, don't you agree?"

"I do." Sheldon gulped. He couldn't tear his eyes away from her mouth.

"Care to help me? I seem to have gotten a bit... dirty."

A flashback of Amy removing raspberry jelly from the corner of his mouth sprung to his mind. Sheldon remembered saying, "An action they both regretted to this day..." He wondered now as he looked at her tempting mouth, were that really his thoughts so long ago? Now he just wanted to taste that pie on her. With their eyes locked, he slowly took her hand and moved it to his mouth. His tongue darted out and swiveled around her finger, and then he sucked on it lightly.

Amy's eyes fluttered close at the sensation, and then all too soon her finger was released again and she heard his hoarse voice. "Amy. Please, look at me... I need all the facial cues I can get..."

When her eyes opened again, he was mesmerized by how dark they looked. "That was nice," she affirmed in a rough voice.

"Good... because there's more to clean up," he answered, and suddenly he was swiping up the pie from the corner of her mouth with his tongue. Instinctively Amy turned her head to the side, and their lips met, his tongue finally seeking entrance which she gladly granted.

Sheldon was positively thrilled how much he liked kissing Amy in such an intimate way. He briefly thought about germs, then about Amy's hygiene standards matching his own, and finally just concentrated on the sweet mixture of pie and Amy taste and the glorious feeling of her tongue sending sparks through his body, especially to a place further below... then he found out that he didn't care right now and stopped thinking.

Amy wondered if she had already turned into a pile of goo. She had always hoped, but not really believed to experience such passion from her boyfriend. Soon their tongues were swirling around each other, and Sheldon's hands were gently cupping her cheeks while Amy held on to his arms. When his thumbs started stroking her cheeks, he heard a soft moan emanating from her which only spurred him further on.

He pulled her even closer to him so that she was practically straddling him, his hands stroking her back and moving further down to the small of her back, and suddenly she could feel just how much he seemed to be enjoying this. Hoo boy, this was getting better by the minute... His movements stopped, however, as he felt caught in the act and didn't know how to proceed. This was not supposed to happen for a Homo Novus, but why did it feel so right then...

"It's ok... you have the same effect on me," she soothed and reluctantly moved her hips a bit backwards, away from his alluring arousal, so that he would not feel embarrassed further. Her mouth was trailing small kisses down his neck to his ear, though, while one of her hands had moved upwards, sliding through his short-cropped hair. "Don't worry, we'll take it agonizingly slow as always," she whispered in his ear, but then couldn't constrain herself from sucking the sensual spot behind his earlobe.

Sheldon groaned at this sensory overload from feeling her lips there, smelling her fragrance and having her soft body molded around him. He involuntarily bucked his hips into her while he firmly grabbed her bottom to pull her close again and nuzzled his nose into her hair, needing to inhale her scent again. He couldn't think straight anymore, and his hands had found their way to her back beneath her cardigan and other layers of clothing on their own accord.

Amy couldn't help to moan again. She was already overwhelmed by feeling his hands on her bare skin that sent goose bumps travelling down her spine, and even more so by feeling his arousal pressed into her again, setting her core on fire.

Neither of them had heard the apartment door opening and Leonard coming in. "What on earth is going on here?" He exclaimed, completely perplexed. He then heard some shuffling as Amy quickly retreated to her place on the couch.

Then Sheldon's head popped out of the blanket curtain, and he seemed a bit out of breath as he spoke. "Wrong. I'll give you a hint. The correct phrase would be: What on Mars is going on here."

Considering Leonard's still blank expression, he continued: "And as you'll never guess it anyway, Amy and I decided to apply together for the Mars mission. We are currently investigating the effects of Martian living arrangements in confined space."

Leonard just continued to look at Sheldon's disheveled hair and flushed cheeks. Then he said dryly, "Well, based on current observations I'd say the experiment was a success."

"We shouldn't jump to hasty conclusions. The preliminary results look promising, but we need more data," Sheldon replied nonchalantly.

"You dawg..." Leonard grinned.

Amy's head came out beneath another blanket. "Hi Leonard. You might be pleased to hear that we put the pie to better use this time."

"Uhm... I think I'll be heading back to Penny's now. Have fun, I guess..."

"Thank you," Amy replied, both of their heads quickly disappearing under the blankets again.

A/N: After the recent episode I wondered how they would get their joint application going, especially with that recent fort picture from the forums in mind... then I saw Kelli's post with the great idea to get a little creative with the pie instead of throwing it in Leonard's face! I didn't get to the actual video recording though... hope you'll like it anyway;-) Reviews might help me figuring it out... just saying:-)