Prompt (suggested by creep-moon): Amy is worried and scared because just when she crosses her lab door she realizes the ring is not on her finger.

Amy reached her laboratory, still humming some song of which she couldn't remember the title. To be honest, she didn't know the words either; the tune somehow had reached her and just sounded cheerful enough to match her mood.

She recalled from some silly romance novel, something about how when you think it can't get any better, it actually can. This was exactly her case. She and Sheldon were already in a pretty good place when she had been asked to join the research team at none other than Princeton. Shortly after, he had proposed. Well, it had taken a while to completely figure out things, but in the end she was now his fiancée, and ever since she had returned, she was more and more under the impression of actually living a dream.

Amy glowed (and blushed, too) thinking back to the way he had woken her up that very morning.

Adding a new 'first' in a list that kept growing, this time Sheldon had surprised her with some morning love. As she entered her lab and put away her purse and coat, her mind lost for a moment in the memory of the sleepy kisses and the tender lovemaking.

Still smiling, she proceeded to wear her lab coat and tie her hair to start her work - hoping she would have managed to stay focused long enough for that. She was ready to wash her hands when she noticed her engagement ring was missing.

"No, no, no, no, no…"

She immediately looked around the sink and then on the counters around it. Had it slipped maybe? She got down on her knees and tried to look around over the floor.

"No, no, no…," she cried again. Crawling around the laboratory, she desperately forced herself to remember when she last saw the ring on her finger.

Unfortunately, she couldn't think to any specific moment when she was sure of still having it. In the car, she had been too busy playing a few rounds of Food, Friend, Fight over zoo animals. Back home, they had barely had breakfast and prepared in a hurry because of their pleasant lingering in bed.

"Ouch! I get it, it's not here," Amy snapped bumping in one of the counters.

She stood and went to her purse. Maybe she had already taken it off and she forgot? She knew she was still too young to suffer memory impairment, but lately she had also been pretty absent-minded, so it was worth a try.

She gave up only when the entire contents of the bag were scattered on the table. She fell on the closest chair and began to feel tears in her eyes. Stupid Amy! Her brain growled at herself. That ring was probably the most precious object she even owned. How long had she dreamed to receive it from Sheldon? Her knees still trembled a bit every time she thought of the moment he had showed at her door showing it and finally asking for her hand. And she just couldn't think of how much it would hurt Sheldon knowing that she had lost it...

She took a deep breath and wiped away her tears. She would find it. She had to. Determined, she got up and quickly recollected her belongings into her purse, took her phone, and went to the door. No matter if she needed to sift through every inch of the campus, of her car, or their home, she would find it.

ii.

"Gentlemen."

"I thought you would have dinner with Amy today," Howard greeted Sheldon as he sat at the guys' table.

"We needed to cancel. She has some backlog at the lab," Sheldon explained.

Leonard chuckled. "Yeah, I heard you were late this morning."

Sheldon stared at him disapprovingly. Howard quickly swallowed his food. "Please, if we are about to have another episode of Sheldon hits puberty just tell me so I can leave."

"Wait a moment," Raj interrupted them. "If Amy is still in her lab, who is the person right there who's taking a sandwich?"

Everyone turned to the serving food area, and Leonard raised his hand to draw her attention. "Amy!," He called her. "Join us!"

On her side, Amy gulped. She evidently had done her calculations wrong, as she was been noticed by the people she had been avoiding the whole lunch break. Hoping to not panic right away, she slipped her bare left hand in her cardigan pocket and slowly approached the table.

"Hello, Sheldon," She attempted a small smile. "Hello, guys."

Sheldon promptly stood and retrieved a chair for her. "I'm glad you managed to leave the lab at last," he said.

Carefully avoiding to meet his gaze, Amy sat and set down her sandwich on the napkin Leonard had prepared for it. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I didn't intend to sit at all, only to grab something to eat back in my lab," she apologized to Sheldon.

"Amy, what's wrong with your hand?" Leonard asked.

She desperately tried to play dumb. "My hand? What are you talking about?"

"You have been keeping you left hand in your pocket even since you took the sandwich."

"Oh yes, my hand. The hand in my pocket. My hand!" Her plan to not panic was already derailing. She frantically tried to think to a good excuse.

"Have you hurt it?" Howard providentially asked her.

Amy's relief in having been offered a handhold unfortunately resulted evident as she almost shouted "Yes!" The four men and a few other people around the cafeteria looked at her surprised.

"Uh, I'm sorry. Yeah, one of the research monkeys bit me."

Leonard looked at her perplexed. "I thought you didn't work with monkeys no- Ouch!" Had Amy just kicked him?!

She indeed had, he understood from the glare she was throwing at him.

"I… I was at the monkeys cages to collect some results from a colleague. Do you mind if I eat now? I'm sorry, but I am really in a hurry," To better underline the concept, she immediately took a bite of her sandwich.

"Amy!" Sheldon exclaimed. "You need to immediately see a doctor. Who knows what kind of diseases those lab monkeys carry."

She chewed as slowly as she could to gain a few extra seconds to think. "It's nothing to worry about. It's only a small bite, and the monkeys aren't infected with anything." He better not know about the measles trials…

"Are you sure you are ok?" Howard asked then. "I see you are pretty pale."

"Says the vampire," she dryly answered back.

Raj and Leonard giggled. "That's true, buddy" Leonard observed.

"Wolowitz is not completely wrong though," Sheldon pointed out. "You've been acting strange today."

She swallowed one last bite and stood. "I need to go now. I am not that hungry after all," she lied.

Finally, she dared to look at Sheldon. Every minute she felt more guilty and desperate to find the right way to tell him what happened. For a moment, she thought to admit it all right on the spot.

He smiled at her. "Okay then. See you later. Do I need to ask Leonard to bring me home?"

Amy feebly nodded. She should better leave soon, she realized, as she found herself fighting upcoming tears. "I'm sorry," she said. "I love you…"

Then she turned and rushed away.

iii.

Once she reached the fourth floor, Amy closed her eyes and took a deep breath in one last, desperate attempt to gather enough strength to open that door and face the consequences of her lack of attention and following lies.

"Hi…" Her voice barely came out her throat as she entered the apartment.

"Hello," Sheldon greeted her back from behind the kitchen island. "Dinner's almost ready. It's pretty late."

Amy stripped of her purse and coat, and moved to sit on the couch. "Please, sit. I need to tell you something."

Sheldon nodded, cleaned his hands and joined her.

Amy swallowed and forced herself to look at him. Then, words left her in a turbulent stream. "I… I really don't know how this happened. I swear I searched everywhere, I have been wandering all around Pasadena, -"

"Stop. What are you talking about?"

"I- I am so sorry," Her left hand, hidden to that moment behind her back, finally moved on the front and rested on her lap. "I know how important and precious it was for you…"

She close her eyes, waiting for his reaction. Except he didn't say or do anything. She tentatively reopened one eye, saw Sheldon remaining completely still, and resolved to open the other.

"You should be more careful with it," he said calmly.

"I know… Wait, why are you so impassive?" There was something wrong, and scary, in his reaction.

"Why should I be upset? I know exactly where the ring is."

Sheldon caught Amy's puzzled stare and explained. "In the rush, you left it on the sink when preparing for work. I noticed it and I thought it would have been a nice occasion to teach you a lesson about taking care of it. You are welcome."

"YOU WHAT?"

Amy surged and yelled again. "How could you do this to me?"

Sheldon stood to front her. "Why are you yelling at me?" He asked genuinely surprised. "I saved the ring and taught you something."

Amy clenched her fists. That was something in pure Sheldon fashion. She knew he really thought to be right. Nevertheless, she felt extremely hurt. "How could you do something so cruel to me?"

"Cruel? What are you saying? I - " Sheldon froze, and his tone changed dramatically. "You are crying."

Amy hadn't even realized some tears were falling over her face. She quickly wiped those. "Yes, Sheldon. I felt miserable this whole day thinking that I had lost it. Your family's precious belonging, the symbol of your love and promise to start a life with me. And you- you only thought to give me a lesson."

"I'm not hungry," Amy concluded. "I'm going to bed."

She turned and headed to the bedroom, when Sheldon took her hand to stop her. "Wait. Please, wait here a moment," He begged.

Amy remained where she was. Sheldon hurried to the bedroom and soon returned holding a well-known little velvet box.

When he knelt in front of her, Amy's heart skipped a beat just like the first time. "Sheldon…"

"Amy," He started resolutely "Will you marry me and forgive me for having hurt you?"

He saw her lineaments soften and almost tried a smile. She sniffed up and looked better at him. There it was, she thought, that face that always won her over. Those bright, sparkling eyes staring at her with all the world's love.

Amy sighed, and smiled for real. "Yes. I will marry you, and I may forgive you for being an idiot."

"You may?"

Amy raised her eyebrows. "Of course," he muttered. She had already, hadn't she?

She extended her hand, and Sheldon proceeded to put her precious ring back on her finger. Standing, Amy pulled him to her and kissed him. Resting her forehead on his, she whispered cheerfully, "I will marry you, you sweet idiot..."

A/N: That's a wrap! This was the last prompt, so this little adventure ends here. It has been amazing. I didn't imagine to receive such support from you all! I can't tell you how proud and happy I am realizing how people actually enjoyed these little stories of mine. Out of curiosity, how many of you realized they are set all in the same continuity? (To be fair, they weren't supposed to be this way. It's just happened along the way). Anyway, thank you all! And yes bigbangenthusiast, your statue will have diamonds too.