Duncan Residence.
Nighttime.
"Welcome, welcome! You must be Heather!"
Adam's mom greeted warmly.
"Yes, Mrs. Duncan," Heather replied, a bit nervous.
"Oh, just call me Amy," she said, eyeing Heather up and down, noticing her stunning figure. Amy turned to Adam with a look that clearly said, "So this is your type, huh? No wonder you weren't interested in Juno."
"Heather, your eyes are gorgeous."
"Thank you," Heather responded shyly, smiling.
"Oh, Juno!"
"Hi, Amy," Juno greeted as she hugged Amy.
Adam's dad, Bob, who had been hurried home by Amy, stood to the side, smiling kindly.
Adam's little sister, Charlie, tilted her head, her tiny hand covering her mouth as she curiously observed Heather.
"You must be Charlie," Heather said as she bent down to speak to the adorable little girl.
Charlie's eyes sparkled. She stretched out her arms, signaling for a hug.
Heather was momentarily surprised but quickly beamed and picked Charlie up.
"Big sister, you're so pretty," Charlie whispered, wrapping her arms around Heather's neck. She leaned in close and asked, "Are you Adam's girlfriend?"
"Well, Charlie, you're pretty too," Heather answered affectionately, drawing closer to Charlie with both her actions and words.
"Then can you keep him in line?" Charlie whispered mischievously.
"Huh?" Heather was surprised. "What's he done?"
"I want more pretty gifts, but he keeps forgetting," Charlie said, a cunning smile on her face. "But I bet you can help me with that, right?"
"Of course," Heather replied, laughing.
Dinner was lively, and Heather and Juno were having a great time.
This was mostly thanks to Amy, who kept bringing up embarrassing stories from Adam's childhood.
To be fair, most of them were about PJ, Adam's former naive self, but Adam had no choice but to take the fall.
Feeling slightly embarrassed, Adam could only smile along, occasionally shooting annoyed glances at his dad, Bob, who was laughing just as heartily.
You're laughing too? If you hadn't been so careless with me as a kid, none of this would've happened!
But Bob only gave Adam an apologetic look before continuing to laugh, even louder and happier than the others.
Adam was slightly irritated.
After Dinner
Amy chatted with Heather and Juno for quite a while longer before reluctantly letting them leave, urging Adam to see them home safely.
In America, everyone knows the importance of safety—because it really isn't all that safe.
At Karen's House
"Your mom is so nice," Heather said, clearly envious. "Your dad is so kind, and your little sister Charlie is just adorable."
"Don't be jealous," Juno teased. "You might get the chance to join the family someday."
Adam shot Juno a glare.
For now, the temporary boyfriend-girlfriend status was as far as he was willing to go. Who knew what might happen after four years of medical school and seven years of residency?
He didn't want Heather to get the wrong idea.
Juno rolled her eyes, mocking him. "Staying the night or not?"
"No!" Adam understood her implication and refused firmly.
"Then go home," Juno said, easily seeing through his bluff.
"Uh... I'll head back later," Adam said, pulling Heather inside. "I need to discuss something with Heather first."
Juno smiled, saying nothing more.
Half an Hour Later
Knock, knock!
Adam and Heather were in the middle of an important conversation when the door was suddenly pounded on.
From outside, Juno's teasing voice called, "Done talking yet? We're closing the door and going to bed!"
"Almost! Give me another half-hour!" Adam grumbled.
Knock, knock!
Knock, knock!
Knock, knock!
Juno kept banging on the door.
"Alright, I give up! I'm sorry, okay?" Adam yelled, exasperated.
A light chuckle came from outside before Juno walked away.
"Wow, women are really good at this sort of thing," Adam muttered before resuming his conversation with Heather.
He suddenly remembered an episode where Sheldon tried to train Penny using positive reinforcement, rewarding her with chocolates whenever she did something he considered praiseworthy.
It worked well, but Leonard caught on and stopped Sheldon from continuing his "evil experiment" on his girlfriend.
After that, Penny taught Sheldon a lesson using a traditional female tactic—one far more effective than any positive reinforcement method.
Juno's approach was a variation of that tactic, leaving Adam with no way to counter it.
Of course, no method is invincible.
This particular approach would be useless against someone like Sheldon, who was completely immune to it.
In another timeline, Amy Farrah Fowler, desperate for companionship, spent over five years slowly "training" Sheldon, who was basically a child in an adult's body.
Even after they officially started dating, there were still countless challenges to overcome because Sheldon never saw the point of wasting time and energy on romance.
If it weren't for Amy's patience and expertise in conditioning (she was a neurobiologist who regularly trained monkeys), she would have never succeeded.
From this perspective, Amy truly was Sheldon's perfect match.
Even though Paige was intellectually more compatible with Sheldon and had known him 20 years earlier, she would never have stood a chance against Amy.
After all, Paige was just as proud and competitive as Sheldon, and she took pleasure in outsmarting him at every turn.
In another timeline, although Sheldon never met the grown-up Paige, there were still women who tried to steal him from Amy.
One particularly determined graduate student admired Sheldon so much that she tried to take over his life completely, controlling his schedule to maximize his research productivity.
Although Sheldon did achieve a significant breakthrough, he eventually kicked her out, tired of her micromanagement.
Even after earning her PhD, she continued to pursue Sheldon, going so far as to kiss him despite knowing about Amy.
But when Amy met her, she was surprisingly grateful because that kiss had prompted Sheldon to propose, leading to their engagement.
The only women who truly challenged Amy were two figures:
Marie Curie, who Sheldon admired so much that he made her his computer screensaver—but Amy wasn't worried since Marie Curie was already dead. Beverly Hofstadter, Leonard's mom.
Beverly drunkenly kissed Sheldon once but lost interest when he didn't respond.
If Beverly had pursued him, Amy would've been in serious trouble given how perfectly she and Sheldon matched.
Lost in these thoughts, Adam didn't realize how much time had passed.
Half an hour later, he still hadn't left.
And since Juno didn't come knocking again, he ended up staying the night.
(End of Chapter)