The Star Trek Stimulation
by phantagrae

Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Sheldon & Amy 
Disclaimer: The characters and universe of this story do not
belong to me. I just like to play with them. 
Feedback: Yes, please. phantagrae@earthlink.net

Written for the Big Bang Theory Fan Site's Halloween
Challenge. Thanks to my super-fast super-good beta FoxPhile!
One shot.

Summary: Sheldon and Amy attend a Halloween Party.


10

"Sheldon," Amy began, bringing two cups of tea from the
kitchen to the coffee table, "we need to start thinking about our
couples costumes for Rajesh's Halloween party."

"I agree," Sheldon replied, taking his cup from Amy and
sipping for a moment. "We don't want another fiasco like
Raggedy C3PO."

"Well," Amy remarked, "we did use your idea last year, even
after your stupid donut comment." She looked pointedly at him
over the rim of her cup as she took a sip.

Sheldon looked away for a moment then looked up sheepishly.

"So," he said at last, "do you have a suggestion?"

"I do," she replied eagerly, putting her cup on the table and
turning more fully toward him. "How about something
from...Star Trek?"

Sheldon sat up straight, blinking wide-eyed at Amy.

"Did you say Star Trek?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes!" Amy smiled expectantly, her fingers tangling nervously
on her lap.

"Amy!" Sheldon exclaimed breathlessly, also putting his cup
down. "You know I love Star Trek..."

"I know!" she enthused, barely able to sit still at the sight of his
pleasure.

"Wait," Sheldon said, his brow suddenly furrowing with
suspicion. "Which characters are you proposing we dress up
as?"

Amy took a deep breath and took a moment to nervously
smooth her skirt.

"Well, I think you could dress up as Doctor Spock..."

"MISTER Spock!" Sheldon corrected, holding up a warning
finger.

"Sorry. MISTER Spock," Amy continued. "And maybe I could
dress as Nurse Chapel." She leaned forward, holding her
breath, anticipating his answer.

Sheldon thought through the idea, looking into the distance as
he pictured the characters from the TV show, then turned to
study Amy for a moment. At last, he nodded and picked up his
tea, taking a long drink before he replied.

"I think that would be a good choice."

Amy released her breath with an audible sigh, hiding her urge
to giggle by also returning to her tea.

****

Amy knocked on the door of apartment 4A and slowly poked
her head in.

"Sheldon, are you ready? It's time to go," she said as she
stepped into the living room.

Sheldon came into the living room from the back of the
apartment, holding a towel to one ear.

"Amy, can you help me?" he asked, holding an object out to
her. "I can't get this ear to stay on!"

She took the latex ear and turned it over in her hand.

He scrubbed vigorously at his left ear with the towel.

"I took a shower and used Leonard's hair gel to make my hair
more Spock-like, but now the glue for the ear won't stick."

He sat glumly in his desk chair and handed the towel to Amy.

She hesitated for a moment, then began to wipe his ear and
along his hairline with the towel. As she reached past him to
get the prosthetic make-up glue from his desk, she was very
aware that her bosom was pressed against his shoulder and his
face was turned toward her. Was he looking down her dress?

As she read the instructions on the glue, Sheldon looked up at
her. He knew how to use the glue, but rather than telling her
how to do it, he simply watched her, inhaling the scent of her
shower gel and shampoo, trying to keep his eyes from
wandering along the low-plunging neckline of her costume. He
looked down toward the floor, but the short hem of her
costume was in his line of sight and he couldn't help studying
her legs clad in black tights.

"Okay, I think I might need a little alcohol to clean up any
residue from the hair gel off of your ear," Amy said. "I'll be
right back."

Sheldon watched her walk toward the bathroom. Her hair was
pulled up, her Star Trek tri-corder, slung across her body,
bounced on her hip with every stride. He took a deep breath
and released it. Perhaps it was fitting that he was dressed as
Mister Spock. At this rate he was going to have to practice
Kolinahr before the night was through.

As Amy returned to the living room, she sized up her lanky
boyfriend, still handsome in her eyes, even while dressed like a
silly sci-fi character. She knew he was happy and she knew that
her medical officer's costume made him happy. Why and how
happy were extra credit questions that she didn't really care
about just now. She was simply happy to see him happy.

She used a cotton ball to wipe his ear. There was something so
pleasing about holding and touching his ear. It was soft and
clean and she could swear it was heating up even as she
handled it. Once she'd dabbed the ear dry again, she spread the
glue along the tip of his ear, pressing the pointed latex ear in
place. She held onto it for a full minute, per the glue's
instructions, before she finally released it.

"Um..." she began, pressing her lips together. "How's the other
ear?"

Sheldon inhaled a shuddering breath as he reached up to touch
his right ear.

"May...maybe you should...check this one, too," he breathed.

She rotated the chair, turning him clockwise to pull his right
ear into reach. She felt along his ear and the latex prosthetic as
he tensed under her touch.

"Maybe I should add a dab of glue just here," she whispered,
turning to grab the tube.

Sheldon was too busy trying to breathe to answer her. He hadn't
thought that the feel of her fingers on such an innocuous part of
his body would affect him so. He wasn't a Ferengi, after all.
How could such a thing happen to him? It was just his ear, not
his...his... He cleared his throat as Amy finally released him.

"Are you ready now?" she replied, stepping back to catch her
breath.

He stood quickly and grabbed his tri-corder from the coffee
table. He didn't sling it over his shoulder however, but held it in
front of him until he could grab his jacket to hold there instead.

Amy pretended not to notice his actions, but simply led the way
out of the apartment.

****

Amy pulled into a parking spot in front of the storefront event
hall that Raj had rented for his "House of Horrors" party. There
was an appropriately gruesome banner hung above the
doorway, featuring monstrous faces with blood dripping from
their fangs and eyes.

"Amy," Sheldon began as he got out of the car, "why did you
choose Mister Spock and Nurse Chapel for our costumes?"

"Well, Penny made it clear that I shouldn't try to be something
she called an Orion Slave Girl..." Amy took a moment to lock
the car as she straightened her very short costume.

"Yes, that would have been a questionable choice," Sheldon
replied, adjusting his tri-corder strap.

"I know you admire Doc...er...Mister Spock and the only
female character I've really seen was Nurse Chapel, in that one
episode we watched not long ago. Since I've had this costume
for a while, I figured it was a logical choice."

"Logical?" Sheldon asked with a very Spock-like tilt of his
head.

Amy smiled at her own unintentional pun.

"Let's go inside."

Sheldon took a deep breath and stepped warily toward the door,
holding it open for Amy.

"You first," he said, eyeing the dark interior.

"Oh, it's going to be fun!" Amy said, bravely stepping over the
threshold.

They were immediately assaulted by strobe lights blinking in
the darkness, making it hard to tell where they were walking.

Sheldon reached for Amy's hand to steady himself and she
returned his grasp firmly.

Loud moans and shrieks seemed to come out of the walls,
echoing through the entryway.

Sheldon let out a whimper in spite of himself and tightened his
grip on Amy's hand.

They ran into a black curtain of rubbery tendrils which elicited
groans of disgust from both of them. Then just as they pushed
past that barrier, a glowing skeleton popped up from a coffin in
the darkness.

"AAAHHH!" Sheldon screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Sounds like Sheldon and Amy are here," Howard laughed
from beyond a hidden door. The door slid open to reveal a
colorfully lit room where their friends awaited them.

Amy patted their clasped hands with her free hand as they
moved forward. Truthfully, Sheldon's scream had startled her
own scream out of her mouth and she had to take several
calming breaths.

"Welcome to the House of Horrors!" Raj intoned into a
microphone, which deepened and distorted his voice. He and
Emily were dressed as ragged zombies with ghoulish wounds
affixed to their faces. They were standing near the doorway and
Emily raised her hands like claws as if she were trying to grab
Sheldon's throat.

Sheldon quickly moved away from her, pushing Amy along
with him.

Amy realized his distress and led him toward the refreshments
table.

"Would you like some punch, Sheldon?" she asked, extricating
her right hand from his still tight, clammy grip.

Sheldon swallowed and gulped air for a moment before he
replied, "As long as it's not alcoholic." He eyed the punchbowl
with suspicion.

"I'll check," Amy said, serving a cup and tasting it. She winced
a little and shook her head. "Well, would you like a bottle of
water or soda? I think there are some Diet Cokes over there."

Sheldon considered his options for a moment as he looked
around the room. The expected Halloween decorations
festooned the walls and tables, the various attendees wore
costumes both amusing and creepy. One of the guys from the
comic book store had an axe seemingly protruding from his
skull.

Sheldon looked away quickly. His heart was still pounding
from coming through the entrance and he could feel himself
getting wound up. One part of his mind knew it was foolish to
be frightened by costumes and decorations, but some images
still bothered him. He wanted to be able to enjoy the party and
Amy's company.

"No," Sheldon said at last, taking a calming breath. "I think I
want punch."

"Are you sure?" she asked, tentatively picking up a fresh cup to
fill for him.

"Yes, I'm a little rattled," he replied. He wiped his sweaty
palms along his pant legs. "Maybe it will help me calm down."

"Okay," she conceded. "But I think you should make yourself a
plate of food. You don't want to drink on an empty stomach."

He nodded and started picking items for his plate.

Soon they were seated at a table with their food and drinks. The
crowd was made up of their group of friends and several of
Stuart's comic book store clientele. Apart from the scary
beginning, the rest of the party was rather simple - music, food,
people in costumes both scary and funny.

Sheldon was getting a little bored. He wasn't close to any of
Stuart's customers and the music was annoying him. He wasn't
even getting much enjoyment out of being dressed as his
favorite Star Trek character. Leonard and Penny, dressed as the
Mad Hatter and Alice in Wonderland, had disappeared
somewhere - probably having coitus - and Emily had come
over to talk to Amy, so for the moment he had no one to talk to.
Sheldon couldn't look at Emily's zombified face without getting
nauseated. Or maybe it was the punch. Despite his attempt to
fill his stomach, he knew the alcohol was affecting him.

Raj came over and asked Emily to dance with him. The music
was slow and what Sheldon assumed was romantic. All the
couples were pairing up on the dance floor. Even Leonard and
Penny had reappeared.

"Sheldon," Amy began, touching his arm. "Would you like to
dance?"

Sheldon was caught off-guard and didn't quite know what to
say. He looked around the room as if the sound of the music
would somehow help him answer, but when he finally looked
back at Amy and saw her smiling face, he relented.

"Okay," he said simply, letting her lead him to the floor. This
slow, almost motionless movement didn't match up to any of
the dances he had learned in cotillion, but he watched the
others and followed their example.

He stepped up close to Amy and let her put her arms around his
body and up his back while he put his arms around her waist.
As she nestled against his chest, he tensed up a bit, but then
forced himself to relax into the moment. He could smell her
shampoo, as her head was right beneath his chin. He bent his
head forward and inhaled deeply, then let his cheek fall against
the top of her head. Her arms tightened around him for a
moment and he let himself enjoy it.

They swayed gently on the dance floor, not really listening to
the music, since neither of them recognized the song. Sheldon
was becoming more and more entranced by the feeling of her
body next to his, the familiar scent of her hair soothing him. He
had forgotten that he was supposed to be the emotionally
restrained Vulcan science officer. He'd forgotten he was
wearing pointy ears. But he was becoming all too aware that
his hands were very close to her bottom.

All too soon the music ended and another up-tempo song
began. Someone let out a whoop, and several others joined in
the excitement.

Sheldon and Amy awoke from their trance and pulled apart,
Amy taking a moment to smooth her hair.

She had been indulging in pressing her cheek against his chest,
relishing the feel of his arms holding her against his body. But
now the spell had been broken and as the others bounced and
ground their way through the new song, she looked up at
Sheldon and offered a shrug.

He bent forward and whispered in her ear.

"Let's get some air," he said, pointing toward the rear door. He
was not about to walk through that entrance again. He took her
hand and led her toward the back, pushing the door open and
holding it for her.

The door led to a dimly lit service hallway for all the
storefronts and Sheldon was mortified to recognize Howard
and Bernadette, dressed as a court jester and a bosomy
medieval wench, respectively, engaged in a heavy make-out
session up against one wall. He quickly led Amy toward
another door which led them into a large storage room.

"Sheldon, what are we doing in here?" she asked, looking
around at the metal shelves and cleaning supplies.

"I don't know," Sheldon admitted wrapping his arms around his
chest as he surveyed the room. "I just had to get out of that
room for a while." He nervously began fiddling with the
tri-corder still hanging from his shoulder. He held it up, a little
toward Amy, and turned it on. It played a recorded sound like
the special effect used on Star Trek and he pretended to use the
device to scan Amy's vital signs.

"Hmm..." he intoned in his best Spock voice. "Heart rate
elevated, temperature elevated, alcohol in the bloodstream...
Your readings are a little irregular, Nurse Chapel."

Amy quirked an eyebrow at him and raised her own device.
She turned it on and moved it from his head down along his
torso, stopping just at his waist. "I'm getting similar readings on
you, Mister Spock," she said. "Perhaps you need to report to
sickbay."

Sheldon looked at her, a smile playing along his lips. "I'm not
experiencing Pon Farr, I assure you," he said, lowering his
tri-corder. "My human half has been...affected...by tonight's
activities."

"Your human half..." Amy began.

Before she could continue, Sheldon stepped forward and,
putting his hands on her hips, pressed his lips against hers.

Amy reached up to hold his shoulders and returned the kiss,
stepping closer to his body. She could feel heat radiating off of
him and she closed the gap altogether. Only then was she aware
of something pressing against her hip. Between kissing him and
feeling his body, she couldn't breathe and she broke the kiss
and looked for somewhere to sit down.

"Amy," Sheldon croaked, wiping his mouth and catching his
breath. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Sheldon," she replied in a shaky voice. She sat down
on an unopened plastic bucket of floor wax. "I just need to
catch my breath." She looked up at him and offered him a
quick smile, then found her eyes trailing down his body. She
tore her gaze away as she realized what she was doing.

He adjusted his tri-corder to hang in front rather than at his
side.

"Maybe we should get back to the party," he whispered.

"Maybe we should wait a minute before we do that," she
replied, adjusting her short skirt. She had to admit to a certain
stirring in her own nether regions.

"Agreed," Sheldon replied, finding his own bucket to sit on. He
pressed his lips together, then licked them, tasting the punch
and chocolate cookies Amy had been eating.

"So, have you enjoyed the party, Sheldon," Amy asked, trying
to fill the tight silence between them.

He gulped air and nodded. "Indeed," was all he could manage
at first. After a moment, he continued. "You make a very nice
Nurse Chapel."

"And you are a very handsome Mister Spock," Amy replied.

"Amy," Sheldon admonished, "Mister Spock's most admirable
aspect was not his appearance, but rather his brilliant mind and
his ability to rise above the influence of his human emotions."

Amy quirked an eyebrow at him. "I thought your human
emotions were...taking over...a few minutes ago."

Sheldon blushed furiously and studied his knees for a moment.

"Um," he began, glancing up before lowering his eyes again.
"You know, Amy, there was an episode of Star Trek where
Spock and Nurse Chapel shared consciousness in...in Nurse
Chapel's...body."

Amy blinked at him. "What do you mean?"

"In the episode, 'Return to Tomorrow', an alien being has taken
over Spock's body, leaving his consciousness trapped in a
sphere. The alien decides he wants to keep Spock's body and
destroys the sphere. The only way to save Spock's
consciousness was to hide him within Nurse Chapel's
consciousness."

Amy's brow furrowed as she attempted to understand. "And
what does that have to do with us?"

Sheldon looked at her solemnly. "I think it would be very
intimate - having one's mind and being held within another's
mind and being..."

Amy's eyes widened. "Um...yes, I...I guess that's true," she
stammered, feeling heat rise in her cheeks.

"Do you know about the Vulcan mind meld?" Sheldon asked,
studying her face.

"No," Amy replied. She tilted her head as she wondered where
he was going with his train of thought.

"Well, Vulcans have the ability to meld their minds with
another's, to read the other person's thoughts and feelings," he
explained. "It's considered very intimate and is only done in
certain circumstances..." He stood up from his bucket and held
a hand out to Amy, helping her to stand as well.

"Intimate?" Amy whispered.

"This is how they do it..." he whispered. He stepped closer to
her and placed his fingers on her face in the Vulcan manner and
recited the ritual words, imitating what he knew from countless
viewings of several episodes.

"My mind to your mind," he murmured. "My thoughts to your
thoughts..." His voice trailed away as he studied her face up
close, looking deeply into her eyes, at the curve of her
cheekbones, the shape of her lips.

He wished the mind meld was a real thing. The thought of
mingling her mind with his was fascinating. But her lips were
also fascinating. Though he still had qualms about the kind of
intimacy he knew Amy desired, he knew what kissing her felt
like. He couldn't perform an actual mind meld, but he could
kiss her.

He dropped his hand away from her face and stood there
silently for a moment.

"Shel..." Amy breathed

Sheldon interrupted her with his mouth on her lips, his hands
slipping around her waist. He was aware of the warmth of her
lips, the curve of her waist, her hands on his back, the firm heat
of her body.

When they finally broke the kiss, Amy laid her head against his
chest, holding him tightly, trying not to cry. Though they had
been kissing goodnight at the end of their date nights, she knew
that this moment was something more, a step forward, in some
way.

They were stunned out of their reverie by a loud thump in the
hallway outside their little room.

They stepped back and looked anywhere but at each other.

Sheldon cleared his throat and spoke.

"Amy, I think we should probably get back to the party."

Amy nodded and straightened her dress, then reached up to
smooth her hair. One lock had come loose and trailed down to
her shoulder. She tried to put it back in place, but couldn't do it
without a mirror.

"Sheldon, can you help me with this?" she asked.

He frowned at her. "You want me to fix your hair?"

"Do you want people to jump to conclusions about us,
Sheldon?" she asked. "You and I disappear from the party for
several minutes, then I return with disheveled hair?"

Sheldon pressed his lips together for a moment.

"I see what you mean," he said, smoothing the tress up into one
of the clips in Amy's hair.

Sheldon put his head out the door, but the hallway was now
empty, so they walked across and slipped back into the party.

The lights were now low and another slow song was playing,
the remaining couples were again swaying slowly on the dance
floor.

Without a word, Sheldon led Amy to the dance floor and
slipped his arms around her once again, finding that although
he still didn't really care for dancing or popular music, it was a
socially acceptable excuse for him to hold his girlfriend in
public without feeling self-conscious.

He knew that it made Amy happy and her happiness was
becoming more and more important to him. He was a little
embarrassed about his self-indulgent behavior in the storage
room, but he was also happy about it.

Ironically, although he was dressed as Mister Spock, and he
loved nothing more than getting into character when wearing a
costume, he realized that it was dressing as Spock, with Amy
as Nurse Chapel, which had somehow freed him to behave in a
most un-Spock-like manner. He'd have to contemplate that
phenomenon, but not tonight.