A/N: I am such a big fan of Leonard and Amy being friends. I wish that they were paired together in more episodes, so I wrote this short, multi-chapter fic. I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.

Leonard had mixed feelings about the weekend ahead. On one hand, Sheldon was visiting his family in Texas, so he would have the apartment to himself. On the other, Penny was shooting a commercial over the weekend, so he would be without his girlfriend. At least it might mean getting some work done in peace and quiet.

There was a knock at the door. Leonard opened the door and there stood Amy. "Oh. Hey, Amy. Sheldon went to visit his family this weekend. He isn't here," Leonard told her. He was surprised that she didn't already know that.

"I know. I came to speak to you," she said simply.

"Oh. Okay. Come on in. Would you like something to drink?"

"No, thank you."

Leonard got himself a bottle of water. "So, what brings you around when Sheldon isn't here?" He took a swig of his water and waited for Amy to answer.

"I'm glad that Sheldon isn't here. It's quite simple, Leonard. I need you," Amy said.

Leonard choked on his water. He coughed and sputtered for over a minute while Amy waited patiently for him to start breathing again. He pulled out his asthma inhaler and was finally able to breathe again.

"Oh, well. I have a girlfriend," Leonard told her.

"Yes, and I believe that we will have to pull her into this eventually. Unfortunately, she is busy this weekend. To be honest, I would rather have just gone to her. In the mean time, I'll have to settle on you," Amy said matter of factly.

"Settle?" Leonard said, a little offended even though he wasn't interested in what she was offering. He knew that Amy was starved for affection, but there was no way he could do it.

"Well, not settle exactly. I think Penny could do it better than you, but I'm sure you'll be able to satisfy my needs. At least better than Howard or Rajesh," Amy told him.

"I would like to think so, but I still don't think I can do what you are asking."

"Why not? You know Sheldon better than anyone. I suppose I could call his mother. She might have some suggestions for me," Amy said.

Leonard was confused. Why would she call Sheldon's mother? "Can we start over at the beginning? What exactly is it that you want me to do?"

"It is Sheldon's birthday next week. Now, I know that he doesn't like surprises or gift giving, but I really want to throw him a surprise party."

"Oh. Oh. Okay. That makes a lot more sense. I can help you with that."

"What did you think I wanted?" Amy asked. Leonard had changed his mind awfully fast, so he must have thought he wanted something completely different.

"Nothing. I was just confused. We're good," Leonard said. "Do you have any ideas for this party?"

"I was thinking small. Just you, me, Penny, Howard, Bernadette, Rajesh, and maybe Stuart. Sheldon wouldn't do well with many more people than that. I was also thinking of a Star Trek theme. After that, I'm sort of drawing a blank. That's why I came to you."

"It sounds like you've put a lot of thought into this already. Why don't we go shopping tomorrow? He probably wouldn't enjoy much beyond cake, video games, and Chinese food. It would probably be like any other Friday night."

"I agree. Thank you for your time, Leonard. I'll meet you back here at noon tomorrow."

"Sounds like a plan. I'll see you tomorrow, Amy," Leonard said as he walked her back to the door. He leaned against the door after she left feeling relieved that it was just a misunderstanding. He liked Amy enough as a friend, but he couldn't see her as more than that.

Amy arrived back at the apartment exactly at noon on Saturday. Leonard was ready to go with a list of the items he thought they would need. It included some decorations, food, and drinks. He also thought he would run his gift ideas by Amy too. She was right, Sheldon didn't like gifts, but what was a birthday without a few gifts? At least, that's what he could gather from the few birthday celebrations he had had since Penny had come into his life.

Other than his mother, these were the two people who knew Dr. Sheldon Cooper better than anyone. They knew him in different ways, so they thought that they would be able to combine their knowledge to give Sheldon a good birthday. They hoped they could pull off a party that was both a surprise and would make him happy.

They stopped at the party store first. Luckily, a new Star Trek movie had just come out, so they found a few decorations that fit in their theme. They avoided the party hats because they seemed childish, but they found some plates and cups that Sheldon might like.

Amy saw some small figures of various characters on one of the higher shelves. She knew that Sheldon would love to have those figures. He liked all kind of toys, but these seemed especially appropriate. She reached up to grab them, but they were up to high for her short stature. She looked to Leonard, but he was only about a half an inch taller than she was. Still she pointed them out to him. Leonard tried to grab them from the shelf, but he couldn't reach them either.

"We could use Sheldon right now," Amy commented.

"We're a couple of brilliant scientists. We can figure this out," Leonard said.

They looked around and Amy found a stick meant to beat a pinata into handing over its candy. They decided that she would knock the figures off of the shelf and Leonard would try to catch them. She started pushing the box off the shelf and gave it a little too much force. The box crashed in Leonard's head and then bounced into his hands.

"Oh my. Are you okay?" Amy asked as she dropped the stick and rushed over.

"I think I'm fine. Is it bleeding?" Leonard asked as he removed his hand from his forehead. There was a scratch there, but it wasn't bleeding. His head was just really red.

"No, but maybe we should get some ice on that," Amy told him as she carefully touched his wound. She expected him to pull back because that was what Sheldon would have done. Instead he patiently let her examine his head.

In addition to the figures that they worked so hard for, they ended up leaving with some streamers and life-sized cardboard standee of Chris Pine as Captain Kirk. They didn't have any Spock ones, so they settled for Kirk. Amy didn't see the difference and thought that Chris Pine was quite handsome. Leonard was worried that Sheldon would throw a fit.

Amy took Leonard to a fast food restaurant to get him some ice. He ordered a soda and held it to his forehead while she drove. He felt much better. He forgot how thoughtful Amy could be. She had changed in the years since they had first met. She was now much less robotic than Sheldon.

Amy and Leonard also went to a bakery to order a cake for Sheldon. It was chocolate with vanilla frosting and a big Star Trek logo on the top. Amy and Leonard also spent the time talking. They rarely spent time alone without Sheldon or Penny, so it seemed a little awkward in the beginning, but after a while they learned they had more in common than just Sheldon and Penny. Both of their mothers were controlling and stopped them from pursuing musical careers. Amy's longtime dream of being a professional harpist was not deemed an appropriate career by her mother, and Leonard's mother forbade him from becoming a rapper.

It was a productive day, and the pair was relatively sure that they were ready to throw a Sheldon appropriate party. Leonard volunteered to call everyone to let them know about the party the next day before Sheldon came home.

Leonard called everyone and they all agreed to come to the party. Both Howard and Stuart asked if throwing Sheldon a surprise party was the best idea, but they agreed when they heard it was Amy's idea. They knew that Sheldon would probably put up with it more when he heard it was his girlfriend's idea instead of any of theirs.

He called Penny last and filled her in on his weekend and to tell her about the party.

"You spent your weekend with Amy? That must have been interesting," Penny said when he finished telling her about it.

"It was, but I realized that she's not so bad. She's a lot better when she isn't around Sheldon. It's like when we went to that wedding."

"Amy is an acquired taste, but she is actually pretty great. Though, you better not let Sheldon hear you bring up that wedding. Didn't he hit you? And that was before they were actually going out."

Leonard laughed. "Anyway, do you think you could help me set up? Amy said she was going to pick Sheldon up from work on Friday and take him to the train store. Everyone else is going to be here by seven."

"Yeah. I can help you set up. I just hope this goes better than when I tried to throw you a surprise party. Also, I'm not taking any responsibility if this goes horribly wrong. I'm just a guest, okay?"

"We'll blame it all on Amy. It was her idea," Leonard suggested.

"Okay. Sounds like a plan," Penny said with a laugh.