This is my first attempt at fanfiction. I'm very nervous about publishing this. Spoiler warning for 8.24.

It has been 26 days since Sheldon Cooper had last spoken to one Amy Farrah Fowler, twenty-six anxiety filled days and sleepless, gorn filled nights. It also happens to be date night, the first such night since Amy asked for a break from their relationship. But tonight, Sheldon has a plan.

Having finished his arduous hygiene routine, Sheldon gives himself the once over in the mirror before exiting the bathroom. Making a beeline for his desk, he is thankful that, for the moment, he has the apartment to himself.

Taking a moment to collect his thoughts, Sheldon opens his desk drawer and removes the small Gollum figurine that he had placed in there 26 nights before. Sitting it upon its rightful place on his desk, Sheldon proceeds to shut the drawer, but stops suddenly, when he sees a small black box, which contains an even smaller piece of perfectly stacked carbon atoms that, in the 46 minutes that it took to purchase said carbon atoms in the form of an engagement ring, drained his bank account of 3,000 dollars.

"A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind. This one, a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away… to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. …Hmm? On what he was doing. I will prove to Amy that my mind is on the future and in my hypothetical future, she plays a key and vital role." Stealing his resolve, Sheldon shuts the drawer and powers on his laptop for yet another, thus far futile, attempt at contacting Amy. Connecting to Skype, he hesitates just briefly before pressing the button to place a call to Amy.

"Please pick up. Please pick up", Sheldon chants to himself as the seconds tick away like hours. To his astonishment, a forlorn Amy suddenly appears on his screen. Sheldon tries and fails to contain his koala face.

"Good evening, Amy. It's date night. Why are you not in date night attire?"

"Sheldon, we're on a break. I need some time to assess our relationship."

"You haven't given proper notification per the relationship agreement!"

"Good night Sheldon."

"Amy, wait!"

To his astonishment, Amy is still connected when a few seconds later he blunts out, "You know when I said I knew little about love? That wasn't true. I know a lot about love. I've seen it, years upon years of it,. I've seen it with Meemaw and Pop Pop, with Leonard and Penny, with Howard and Bernadette... All those couples — all those emotions… I believed myself to be above such emotions. But when I see the way that we love … you could search to the furthest reaches of the universe and never find anything more beautiful. So yes, I know that love is unconditional. But I also know that it can be unpredictable, unexpected, uncontrollable, unbearable, and strangely easy to lose, and… what I'm trying to say, Amy, is… I love you. I never imagined I'd know it for myself. My heart… it feels like my chest can barely contain it. Like it's trying to escape because it doesn't belong to me any more. It belongs to you."

As Sheldon stares at the screen, he swears that he can see the moment that the slightest crack appears in Amy's battle shields. Not sure what it means, Sheldon continues, "It's been pointed out to me that asking for time traditionally means time and space apart from the other person. Amy, do you need space from me?"

In the barest of whispers, which Sheldon wouldn't have heard save his Vulcan hearing, Amy says, "just time."

Before Amy can change her mind, Sheldon launches into his plan. "Then I propose that we suspended the relationship agreement. During this suspension period, we will go on a series of ten dates, culminating in a relationship summit, whereupon we evaluate the status of our relationship. Does this seem reasonable?"

In one word, Sheldon's world is righted, the anxiety is lifted and he can breath again. The most beautiful word in the English language, "yes."