The Lip Contact Initiation

Amy Farrah Fowler reclined on her couch, a well-worn copy of Pride and Prejudice at hand and a tall glass of Yoohoo ready on the coffee table. Before she could turn to her page, an unexpected but thoroughly familiar knock interrupted her.

Knock, knock, knock, "Amy."
Knock, knock, knock, "Amy."
Knock, knock, knock, "Amy."

She set aside her book and opened the door. "Hello Sheldon," she greeted, the question clear in her voice.

"Good evening Amy." Sheldon Lee Cooper followed her inside, closing the door behind him. "I hope I didn't come at an inconvenient time. I know our Relationship Agreement states that visits require prior notice, except in cases of emergency. However informing you of my visit would defeat my purpose. Which is to surprise you."

"This is certainly a surprise," she remarked, picking up the glass of Yoohoo and offering it to him. "I haven't touched this glass yet, I'll pour myself another one—"

"Maybe later," he said quickly. She raised an eyebrow and slowly returned the beverage on the table. He was fidgeting, alternately meeting her eyes and dropping them just as quickly. "I haven't gotten to the surprise yet."

"Which is..?" She peered up at him.

He bit his lip, hesitated, then announced: "I have been invited to CERN to give a lecture to students in a special program, and though they will all likely turn out to be labradoodles, I'll get to see the Large Hadron Collider."

"Sheldon, that's wonderful news!" She instinctively ran to him with her arms open, but remembering herself, pulled them back and clasped her hands under her chin, grinning.

He held up a hand to signal that he had more to say. "As I'm allowed to bring a guest, this will be a trip for two people."

Amy unconsciously dug her nails into her hands as she clasped them tighter, waiting on bated breath.

"Previously, because of the Roommate Agreement, I would've been required to bring Leonard. But he has already gone to see the Large Hadron Collider with the intent to violate the clause relating to the same supercollider." He met her gaze, a tentative, almost timid look in his blue eyes. "Thus, the privilege now falls to you, my girlfriend."

"Really?" She couldn't help but squeal. A trip for two with Sheldon! And in a snowy, foreign country… how romantic.

"Yes," he said. "I assume that you will be accompanying me?"

"Yes!" She exclaimed. "Of course, I would love to go with you."

"Of course," he nodded. "No doubt your interest in Switzerland has been heightened by our experiences filming 'Fun with Flags.' After all, the flag of Switzerland is one of the two square sovereign-state flags."

"The other one being Vatican City's," she piped up.

"Indeed." He smiled. "While there, we can also visit Microcosm, to honor their futile attempts to explain to the common mind the marvels of Physics."

"My online acquaintance Christian works in the University of Geneva; I can finally observe his group's experiments in addiction and dopamine system."

"Christian?" Sheldon frowned.

"He's the long-distance boyfriend of my colleague, they met at a conference," she explained.

"I see." He relaxed, his face softening into a dreamy expression. "And we can take the train across the city."

"While there, we might as well visit the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, it houses works by Rembrandt, Cézanne, and Rodin."

"I can see the cultural value in that," Sheldon admitted, "Although my distaste for artists and their prevalent dependence of alcohol, tobacco, and non-prescribed medication remains."

"I trust we're not going skiing?" Amy asked. "I have no desire to slide down a mountain slope with nothing but thin slabs of wood and poles between me and the possibility of a concussion, broken bones, or even death."

"Good Lord, no!" He cried. "We're definitely not participating in such a dangerous and pointless activity. Although we can adopt the skiers practice of sitting before a toasty fire with our hands wrapped around mugs of hot beverages."

"And we must eat cheese fondue."

"Naturally, that's a non-optional activity for a trip to Switzerland. Which would have been very ill-advised to attempt if I was going with Leonard instead."

She giggled. "I'm glad to be going with you too."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"And as for other foods, it would be customary for me to give you a present of an unusually large box of Swiss chocolates. Seeing as, that is, while we're there—it would be the fourteenth day of the second month of the year," he finished in a rush.

Amy blinked. "You mean… the trip would fall on February 14th. Valentine's Day."

"Yes. And while I once opined that it would be more appropriate to celebrate St. Valentine's Day witnessing a brutal murder, this trip presents an opportunity for us to celebrate the holiday by incorporating a few of the more traditional elements, therefore it's only logical to do so," he said, sounding almost defensive.

"I agree."

"You do?"

"Yes. This celebration involves an opportunity for each of us to accomplish something related to our respective fields while allowing us to learn something related to each other's studies. We'll also be engaging in our other interests, immersing ourselves in a foreign culture, and the inclusion of the traditional trappings of Valentine's Day appeals to my girlish side." She winked at him playfully. "It would be the perfect Valentine's Day celebration."

He parted his lips as if to say something, but his face steadily came closer as he grabbed her by the shoulders and—

He kissed her.

Her eyes widened and she waited for him to jump back and run away; she dared not move for fear of startling him. But when he tilted her head back to deepen the kiss, her eyes fluttered shut. Her mouth was tingling with the flavor of his mouthwash. His hands slid up her neck to cradle her face between them, and she melted against him.

After an indeterminate number of heartbeats, he suddenly sprang away from her, cringing. "I'm sorry! I let myself be overcome by an emotional outburst and forced myself on you."

She held up her hands placatingly, saying: "Sheldon…"

He clutched his head in his hands, pacing back and forth. "I have violated our Relationship Agreement…"

"Sheldon, it's okay. I want you to…" She watched him run to the kitchen, flinging open cabinet doors and drawers. "What are you doing?"

Never stopping in his frantic search, he said: "Since you have been influenced by Penny, I'm guessing that you might have some tequila here—here it is!" He unscrewed the bottle and chugged a mouthful, swirling it in his mouth before spitting it in the sink.

"Really, alcohol for disinfection…" Amy mumbled, unable to suppress a twinge of hurt even though she knew it was the way he is and he didn't mean any harm with it.

"Amy, while this has been useful tonight, I must implore you not to keep any more alcoholic beverages in your home." He dumped the rest of the contents in the sink.

She sighed and took the bottle, keeping it with the other recyclables under the sink. "This was left over from girls' night, I don't keep alcohol on a normal basis—" as she straightened up, he pushed her against the sink and kissed her again.

"Amy…" he murmured against her lips. "I… love…"

She pushed him back at arms' length and examined his bleary eyes. "… Sheldon, are you drunk?"

He stuck out his lower lip and shrugged. "I might have drunk an eensy weensy bit." He grinned widely. "But that's okay, you drink with Penny and Bernadette, I'm your boyfriend so you should drink with me too, and play the games that Leonard talks about: salt here, lemon here…" he leaned forward to take her lips again, but she ducked away, and removed the hand tickling her collarbone.

"No. You need to go home."

"But I don't want to!" He whined. "I can't change the thermostat at home, and now it's really, really, hot…" He pulled off his jacket, dropping it at his feet. He shimmied out of his outer shirt and tossed it away.

"Oh my goodness…" Amy averted her eyes from the hints of sinewy limbs and hard planes under his tighter inner shirt. She snatched her phone and called Sheldon's home phone.

Music blasted from the other side and Leonard answered: "Hello?"

"Hello, it's Amy. I think you should pick up your roommate. He accidentally drank some alcohol and now he's stripping his pants." She winced, wanting to watch him struggle with his belt but knowing she shouldn't.

"Sheldon's stripping his pants? That's where the fun starts!" Leonard laughed. "Why not play some 'baseball' with him?"

"Leonard, I'm not taking advantage of Sheldon in his moment of weakness," she said firmly.

There was a pause, and then Leonard chuckled. "Sheldon's really lucky to have you, you know that?"

"I know, and I'm really lucky to have him too. Now, please come for Sheldon."

In the background she heard Howard yell: "Break that stud in and show him who's boss!"

"Ride him hard, cowgirl!" Raj whooped.

"Ignore them," Leonard said, his voice apologetic.

"That's easy."

"I'm really sorry Amy, but Raj and Howard are more than I can handle, they had more than a couple…"

"I understand. Thank you."

After they said their goodbyes, Amy put the phone down and sighed.

His pants and belt sufficiently loosened, a bit of blue and red peeked over his waistband. Amy was shocked that she recognized his Spiderman briefs from when she inadvertently saw his wash. Sheldon drew closer and whiffed at her hair. "Vanilla."

It was going to be a long night.

Sheldon Lee Cooper opened his eyes and gaped at the unfamiliar ceiling.

"Oh dear…"

He grasped the unfamiliar sheets and looked under them. He was bare-chested, bare-armed… well, bare everything save for that one spot, since he was down to his Spiderman briefs.

"Oh dear…"

He turned to his side and was greeted with the sweet, sleeping face of Amy Farrah Fowler.

"Oh dear!" He gasped.

She stirred, rubbed at her eyes before blinking rapidly and looking at him with dark green oculars. "Sheldon?"

"Yes?" He squeaked.

She started to sit up and if he had control of his movements, he would've thrown the blanket around her—he wasn't prepared for the full sight of smooth skin he only ever saw in tiny portions when she would roll up her cuff or tug at her collar!

The blanket fell off her to reveal a plain white nightshirt. He was ready to exhale in relief but when she stood up beside the bed, the hem of her shirt didn't even fall midway the length her thighs. He gulped.

"I'm going to make breakfast," she said. "Sheldon… are you okay?"

His lungs felt ready to burst but he clamped down his mouth and nose, not daring to speak.

She shook her head and opened her closet, fetching a pair of pajamas that she pulled on. He finally expelled his breath, his relief mingled with disappointment: he had seen a trio of tiny moles in a straight line along her right inner thigh, and they reminded him of Orion's belt.

"How much do you remember?" She asked.

"I k-kissed you and accidentally drank alcohol and kissed you again and I started undressing…" he bit his lip. "Then nothing…"

"That's about it."

"What do you mean?"

"After you stripped, you basically acted like a child on a sugar high then fell asleep." She gazed into his eyes. "You'll be glad to know that nothing more happened last night."

It was only when she had left her bedroom that he sat up and glanced around. His clothes were neatly folded on a chair. He huffed and flopped back in bed, staring at the ceiling.

He couldn't determine exactly what he was feeling, but it certainly wasn't glad.

"Fascinating," he sighed.

Author's Notes: Dedicated to the awesome Shamy shippers at Fanforum, who wish to see Sheldon initiate a kiss with Amy due to an overflow of positive emotion, anticipate the return of drunk!Sheldon, wonder about how the Shamy will spend Valentine's Day, and are infinitely fascinated by Sheldon's "Fascinating." To those who haven't joined us in the Shamy threads—please do, we would be ecstatic to meet and discuss with more Shamy shippers.

I most likely won't have an actual Valentine's fic, but I hope this counts as that as well.