Sheldon waited patiently for Amy to answer his Skype call, listening to the dial tone.

When she finally picked up, the image of her face filled the screen.

"Good morning Amy; happy birthday!" He smiled.

Amy grinned broadly. "Thank you."

"Have you had a good morning so far?" Sheldon asked.

"It's been quite nice so far," Amy began. "My mother showed up and took me for breakfast, and gave me a beautiful watch, and the mailman delivered some birthday cards from relatives."

Sheldon nodded politely. "What are you doing tonight?"

"Nothing." Amy's face fell. "I was hoping Penny and Bernadette would come out for a drink with me, seeing as it's a Saturday, and you were asked to work the weekend."

"Yes, I'm sorry about that. But I will see you tomorrow." Sheldon said, swallowing.

They chatted a little while longer, and as they ended their Skype conversation, Sheldon got to his feet and hurried over to Penny's apartment.

Knock, knock, knock!

"Penny!"

Knock, knock, knock!

"Penny!"

Knock, knock, knock!

"Penny!"

"Hello Sheldon." Penny greeted, opening her door. "What's up?"

"I came to ask for your assistance on a matter of romantic gestures."

Penny frowned at Sheldon, shocked by his statement.

"I'm sorry, what?" She asked.

"Which part is tripping you up?" Sheldon asked.

"The fact that you of all people, came to ask me about romantic gestures."

Sheldon gave Penny a withering look.

"As you may already know, it's Amy's birthday…" He began.

"Yeah I know. Bernadette and I were going to take Amy for drinks tonight as a surprise, and give her the gifts we bought." Penny replied.

"Oh…Does she know about this plan?"

Penny frowned. "No…That's why it was going to be a surprise, funnily enough!"

"Oh. Alright then." Sheldon looked downcast.

"Did you want to surprise Amy then?" Penny cocked her head, questioningly.

"Well yes, that's what I came to talk to you about."

"Oh, okay well come on in."

Penny opened the door wider to let her neighbour into her apartment.

"Hmm, it's surprisingly clean in here." Sheldon commented.

Penny sighed. "Sheldon, if you want my help, may I suggest that you don't criticize my cleanliness?"

"Of course you can suggest it, but that doesn't mean I won't…"

"SHELDON!"

"Sorry."

Penny rolled her eyes. "Okay, so you want to surprise Amy with a romantic gesture, right?"

"Right."

"Do you have any ideas on what you wanna do?"

Sheldon thought hard for a minute. "Well, I wanted to surprise her with a take out at her apartment. I would take her for a meal, but if I'm to buy her an expensive gift, then I don't think my budget will stretch that far." He said.

"Okay, that's good! I mean, you don't have to buy her an expensive gift. It's the thought that counts." Penny nodded, sitting on the arm of her couch.

"But I'm her boyfriend; I thought the protocol was for the boyfriend to spend a lot of money on their girlfriend on her birthday?" Sheldon frowned.

"It's not protocol; it's just a thoughtful gesture."

"Oh. Well I'd like to make a thoughtful gesture." Sheldon concluded.

"That's great, Sheldon! I think you're getting the hang of this whole boyfriend-girlfriend thing!" Penny grinned.

"Thank you!" Sheldon smiled in return. "Could you come and help me choose a suitable gift for Amy?"

Penny looked at the clock in her kitchen. "Sure, just give me ten minutes and I'll drive you to the mall."

"Thank you." Sheldon answered as Penny hurried into her room to change.

Sheldon gingerly sat on the couch, waiting.

..

Ten minutes passed, and Penny emerged from her room, ready to leave.

She grabbed her purse and keys from the drawer unit by her door, and led Sheldon outside, locking her door and descending the stairs.

"So what do you plan on buying Amy?" Penny asked.

"I don't know, that's why I needed your help." Sheldon shrugged.

Penny unlocked her car and started the ignition, as Sheldon sat in the passenger seat.

As they drove to Glendale Galleria, Sheldon panicked. "What if Amy is out and sees us?"

"She won't be. Just relax." Penny replied.

Arriving at the mall, the two friends scanned the shops.

"Hmm…How about we go into the bath place, and get her a gift basket like you got me for Christmas one year?" Penny suggested.

"I thought the social convention was that the gift needed to be meaningful if it's coming from a boyfriend?" Sheldon asked.

"Well, it can be meaningful if you know what her favourite scent is?"

Sheldon thought hard again. "Hmm…Well, she did get pretty excited when I bathed her whilst she had the flu."

Penny raised her eyebrows. "I heard."

"And we used Lavender." Sheldon scanned the gift baskets until he found a light purple wrapped basket with bubble bath, body wash and body lotions with a purple loofah mitt.

"How much money do you have to spend?" Penny asked.

"Do you remember those un-cashed cheques I had in the drawer?"

"Yes…"

"They're now cashed."

Penny's eyes widened. "Wow! Okay, um…So just the gift basket?"

Sheldon looked at Penny like she was insane. "Of course not. I want to get her a few gifts."

"Hold on, I thought you said your budget wouldn't stretch as far as taking her to dinner?" Penny asked.

"It won't…Once I'm done buying her presents!" Sheldon answered, heading to the cashier to pay.

Penny just stared in surprise.