Secrets And Cover Ups
Chapter One
The Box In The Closet
It was a night like any other at Penny, Bernadette, and Amy's favorite place to hang out and chill, so many other nights. This time though, they were able to get away from their homes, without the guys wanting to come with them. They're at the local roller rink, and Amy keeps looking distracted, like she's somewhere else, instead of at that skating rink.
"Okay, spill it." Penny tells her.
"Huh?" Amy asks.
"You were a million miles away. Did you even hear what Penny asked you?" Bernadette says, while taking a drink of her diet coke. The truth was, no she hadn't heard a word, but instead she tells them she heard it all.
"Okay. What was said then?" Penny asks.
"Something about ferrets?" Amy says in a questionable manner.
"No. Ames, what's going on honey? You can tell us anything. Did you and Sheldon get into a fight? You two have only been married for three months. You're not pregnant are ya?" Penny says, and Amy just shakes her head no.
"It's nothing like that. He keeps asking me about kids and everything, and I'm just not ready for that yet. It's okay. This will blow over in time." Amy replies, and before the conversation goes any farther, she straps up her roller blades, and takes off for the rink, hoping they will let it go.
"She's hiding something. I just wish I knew what it is." Bernadette says, while checking the time.
"Yeah. Whatever it is, it's gonna be hell getting her to open up about it. We just have to respect her privacy and feelings and not pry. As hard as that is for us, we have to. So don't look at me that way." Penny tells her, and she caught the "Oh who cares, we'll pry anyway." look that Bernadette always gives.
The next night, Amy is sure that Sheldon's gonna be in the shower for awhile, and she gets in the closet, unlocks her secret box, pulls out a white candle, lights it, and puts it in the window. She makes sure that the key to her box, is hidden well in her pocket and she makes her way over to the window.
"Chloe. I don't know where you are out there. I wish things could have been different. Maybe if the circumstances had been different than what they were, I could have kept you. Please don't hate your Grandparents for that cause it's hard to think about and I've slowly been able to get past it. Happy Birthday sweetheart. I love you and miss you. You're ten today, and I hope you have the best birthday. I have to go. Talk to you next year." Amy says, like so many times before. She heard the shower shut off, and she blows out the candle, and gathers everything up, and when she takes them back to the box in the closet, Sheldon gets in the bedroom about the time she's closing the lid, locking the latch, and hiding the box under a blanket.
"What's going on sweetie?" Sheldon asks.
"Nothing. I was just looking for something. No big deal." Amy replies, and he starts smelling the air.
"Was there something lit in here?" Sheldon asks.
"Not that I know of." Amy tells him.
"No, really. I smell something. Like, a candle being lit." Sheldon says, and he's really starting to get under Amy's skin.
"Sheldon. I don't feel like talking about this with you right now. Yes, I had a candle lit. I was praying. That's all you need to know, and that's all I'm gonna tell you. Please, don't make me talk no more about it." Amy begs, and she's almost crying.
"You know that, I'm here if you need me right?" Sheldon asks.
"Yes. I know that. Thanks. I'm gonna grab some cheerios, then get a shower, and go to bed. Love you." Amy replies, and she gets up from the floor, gives him a quick kiss, and goes into the kitchen, where it takes her almost 5 minutes just to find her soy milk. She still couldn't get Sheldon to change his eating habits, but he does at least support her in being Vegan.
The next morning, everyone's at the university working on their projects, and Sheldon seems to be distant now.
"What's with you today man? Trouble at home?" Howard asks.
"I'm not really sure." Sheldon replies.
"You're not really sure when you live there? That sounds strange." Leonard says, while he writes down something.
"Well. I went into the bedroom last night after getting a shower, and Amy was messing in the closet with some kind of box. She made me promise to never mess with it. Plus, she had lit a candle for praying. That's what she said anyway. Who lights candles when they're praying? Doesn't make any sense to me." Sheldon sort of explains, catching their attention.
"Maybe, it's some form of Wicca, and she just doesn't want you to know about it?" Raj suggests.
"Wicca? Oh please Raj. She's Jewish, not Wiccan. No, it's something more than that. The reason I say it's more than that is, she's done this before. We've lived together for three years now, and every year, on the 10th of October, she lights a candle, puts it in the window, and prays, as she calls it. She always does it when I'm not in the room." Sheldon tells them.
"Think something may have happened to her years ago or something?" Howard asks.
"Hmm. I don't know. But whatever it is, I'm worried about her." Sheldon replies.
"May just be best to leave her alone about it. I mean, think about it. We've all known her long enough to know that if she wants us to know anything, she'll tell us. As long as whatever she's doing, isn't breaking the law, or hurting anyone, herself included, I'd just leave it alone. Let her come to you and tell you if she chooses." Leonard tells him. About that time, Amy shows up in their lab.
"Hey. Just thought you all might wanna head to lunch now. Everyone's headed that way, and usually, you four are already in the cafeteria." Amy says, and she looks as if nothing has ever happened. They put everything away and head toward the cafeteria, when Sheldon brings up the box again.
"Hon, what were you really doing last night? I don't mean to pry, I'm just worried about you is all." Sheldon says.
"I told you last night, I was praying. If I choose to tell you anything about the box, or why I do what I do every year, that's my business. You have things you don't tell me, and I respect that. Please, leave me alone about this." Amy replies. All Sheldon, or any of them can do, is simply back off and leave her to whatever it is she does, and just hope that she'll be okay.
Chapter Two
Nightmares And Sleepwalking
It's been three months since Sheldon found out about the box, and although he's left Amy alone about it, he still worries. He's not said anymore about it, and things seem to be back to normal. Then, after a regular girls night, things take an unexpected turn. It's around 2:00 in the morning, and Amy starts twisting and turning in bed, and it wakes Sheldon up. He lies there, just listening to the strange things his wife's saying, and as he's trying to make sense of it, all of a sudden she says, "Dad, I can't and won't do that."
"What does she mean?" Sheldon whispers to himself.
"Please Mom, talk him out of it. I want to keep her." Amy says, and Sheldon thinks she's talking about a kitten or puppy that her parents made her get rid of. Then, without him having any warning of it, she gets up, still asleep, and takes off toward the kitchen, saying, "I'm coming. Hang on."
"What in the hell is going on with her?" Sheldon asks himself again. He quietly gets up, and follows a few steps behind her, knowing how dangerous it is to wake up a person who's sleepwalking. She gets to the kitchen, and he sticks his head around the corner, to see her trying to find a baby bottle.
"I know I put it right over here. Where did it go?" Amy says, still asleep. While she's looking, Sheldon makes sure he's hidden well enough out of sight, and he slams his hand against the wall, to snap Amy awake. It does the trick and he hears her asking, "How did I get in the kitchen?" He quickly makes his way back into the bedroom, and pretends to be asleep. He is beyond confused, but tries to piece everything together, and when Amy returns to the bedroom, he closes his eyes, and makes it look like he knows nothing about her strange behavior.
Things go on like that for about a week, and when they come to a head, Amy starts talking in her sleep again. She has a nightmare that's so violent and scary, that Sheldon takes a risk, and lightly shakes her by her shoulders to wake her up. She wakes up, bawling her eyes out, and saying, "Please don't make me give up my baby. Chloe! No. You can't have her, let me keep her please. Dad, how could you?"
"Amy. Wake up. Amy!" Sheldon says, almost hollering at her. She looks up at him with tears in her eyes, then sits straight up, grabs onto him, and just cries even more.
"Oh Sheldon. It was awful. My parents made me give up my baby when I was sixteen. I should have never kept this from you. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Forgive me, please." Amy cries out, and by this point, she's crying so hard that she's shaking. Sheldon just holds her, and rocks her back and forth, and he even cries with her. He does everything he can think of to calm her down then he tells her, "I understand what the box is all about now. You've got a little girl named Chloe, and you had to give her up when she was born. Oh God honey, is there anything I can do for you?"
"I'd love to be able to find her. I don't even know who has her now. I do know that, the people who adopted her, kept her name as Chloe. Her name when she was born was, Chloe Lynn Fowler. I'm pretty sure though that whoever has her now, changed her middle and last name. Do you hate me now?" Amy tells him.
"Oh honey, of course not. I stand beside you in whatever you choose to do. If you want to find her, I'll help you. I'm not as great with computers or internet search as Howard is so, we'll have to have his help. Are you okay with everyone knowing?" Sheldon replies, and Amy only responds with, "I don't care who knows, just as long as I find her."
Sheldon and Amy called in to work later that morning and said they had some personal things they had to take care of, so it being Friday, neither of their bosses had any trouble with it. They've both been on their computers for at least two hours, searching through birth records, adoption records, and just as Sheldon says that he's getting really close, Amy tells him that maybe it's no use, and she's ready to give up.
"You can't mean that. We have looked into every file we've came across, and we're just about through all of these. There's no way that you can possibly be thinking about walking away and being done with this search." Sheldon says, and Amy just hangs her head and replies with, "What happens if we find her and she doesn't want to see me or talk to me? What then Sheldon?"
"You can't think about that right now. What's done is done, it was not your fault as to why you had to give her up, and in time, she will see that. I am about ready to take a break though. I'll call Wolowitz and see if he can't come over and crack a few codes." Sheldon tells her. Amy just falls backwards in the reclining chair, sighs, and says, "This is going to be harder than I thought."
Later on that afternoon, Howard took off for a couple hours from work, starting on his lunch break, to go over and see what he could do in trying to find Chloe for them. He's only been looking for about thirty minutes when he says, "Hey guys. We've got something. It says here that ten years ago on October 10th, of 2006, a young woman who decided to keep her name silent, gave up her baby, which was a girl. She was born in San Deigo, and was adopted a couple days later by Maxwell and Jamie Parsons, both of San Deigo. This has got to be her. But, let's not get our hopes up too high yet."
"Are you kidding Howard? My hopes are already through the roof. I'm on cloud 20 with anticipation now." Amy says, and she's already smiling like a cat in a bird house.
"We have to do things all legal like. You realize that right?" Howard informs her.
"You're right. You're absolutely right. What to do? What to do? Oh! You have a cousin that's a lawyer right?" Amy replies.
"Yes. I do have a cousin who's a lawyer. Where are you going with this?" Howard says, and Sheldon just says, "I can already tell you what she's planning to do. She wants to hire your cousin to go in and take Chloe from the Parsons' home, and bring her here. That's exactly what she's planning to do."
"Sheldon! I was robbed of ever getting to know her. My parents made me give her up. I didn't want to do it, and it's not like I stood there after three whole days of labor, and just handed her right to them. You bet your ass, that I want to go and get her. She belongs here with me, not them!" Amy kind of hollers, while storming off to the bedroom, and slamming the door behind her. Sheldon tries to go after her and Howard tells him, "I wouldn't do that brother. Trust me, you don't want to bother her right now. Bernie gets like that from time to time, and I learned after the first time of going after her, to just let her be." When Howard tells Sheldon to just leave her alone for awhile, they then, hear Amy screaming through her gritted teeth, and she slides her back down the wall, wraps her arms around her bent legs, and just cries and cries.
Chapter Three
The Truth Comes Out
A few days later, Amy's working in the lab and Bert comes in to ask her again for the tenth time that week, about another rock he found, and if she thinks it's pretty or not.
"Bert. As I've told you over and over again, I'm not trying to sound mean or rude but, I've got a lot on my mind right now, and rocks are not one of the things on my mind. I don't care about what colors they may be, or the size, or the shape. Please, now's not the time. I'm sorry, okay." Amy tells him. At first, he seems hurt, but then realizes she's not usually this mean. In fact, she's not a mean person at all.
"Hey, this isn't like you. What's going on? I don't mean to pry but, you can always talk to me if need be." Bert replies.
"I know Bert. Thank You. Look, if you could do a favor for me and cover for me the rest of the day, that'd be great. I just can't focus on my work right now." Amy says when one of her monkies from a new experiment starts in on her.
"No problem. What are friends for anyway right?" Bert replies.
"Right." She says, and when the monkey starts trying to unlock his cage, she hollers at him, "I told you if you do that one more time, you're gonna be monkey stew! Now knock it off." She leaves the lab with Bert just about dying laughing at the way she argues with the monkies, and somehow, they still love her.
Amy drove over to Leonard and Penny's house, and when she knocks on the door, Penny answers, and can see she clearly needs to talk.
"Are you doing okay? You're out of the lab pretty early." Penny, who has not heard of anything from the past few days, says.
"Not exactly. I'm surprised that Howard and Bernadette haven't said anything to you and Leonard about anything." Amy tells her.
"No. They've not said a word. Did something happen? Is everything okay at home? You know that whatever bad may or may not be happening, we have your back sweetie. Oh, I'll be right back." Penny replies, as she makes her way to the back bedroom. Not long after she and Leonard were married, they knew something was missing from their lives, and they were blessed by the coming of their first baby. They had a girl and named her Courtney. Penny comes back into the living room and says, "Courtney, lookie who it is. It's Auntie Amy. Say hi." Penny has her little arm in her hand, making her wave at Amy, and they sit down to talk for awhile.
"I'd ask to hold her but, with what's happened, she'd be too much of a memory for me." Amy starts to explain.
"Too much of a memory? Ames, what happened? Did you lose a baby at one time or something?" Penny asks.
"Pretty much, yeah. Here it is. You may as well know cause, I'm gonna need as much help as I can get. When I was fifteen, I had my first relationship. It was forbidden by both my parents. I was rebellious anyway, and we concieved a child. When I had her at sixteen, they made me give her up. Each year on October 10th, I light a candle, sit it in the window, and talk to her. Sheldon found my box that I keep everything in, and he started asking me about it. I told him that it was nothing, and he didn't need to worry about it, or me. Apparently I started sleep walking and having nightmare after nightmare. I'm guessing that one night while I was having another nightmare that, I started crying and pleading with my parents in my sleep, and it woke Sheldon up. I was pretty well in a spot where I had to tell him exactly what happened, and what the box in the closet was all about. Penny, I have a ten year old out there somewhere, named Chloe Lynn, and I don't know where she is, who adopted her, or if I'll ever get to see her again, and God knows I want so desperately, to be reunited with her. Just to be able to explain to her what happened and that if given the chance, I would have kept her." Amy says, explaining everything in full detail, and Penny's heart just breaks for her.
"I'll help you in any way that I can. I promise." Penny replies.
"Yeah, I will too. I'm so sorry honey." Leonard says, who was standing in the hall and heard everything.
"Thank You both. Ya know what? I think I will hold Courtney for a few minutes. Come here you little monkey. Oh my, you're growing like a weed." Amy tells them, while also talking to Courtney who is only four months old. Penny hands Courtney to Amy and while she's holding her and talking to her, Penny goes in the hall to talk to Leonard for a few minutes.
"This is bad honey. This is really, really bad." Penny tells him.
"I know. I can't even begin to imagine the heartache she's got to be feeling. If that would have happened with us and Courtney, I'd literally kill my Mother. What do we do?" Leonard replies.
"Oh God babe, I wish I knew. Just be here for her the best we can. It's all any of us can do." Penny says when Amy gets up with Courtney, and walks around with her, and then takes her back to her Mama.
"What's wrong?" Leonard asks.
"She keeps turning her head toward my chest. I think she may be hungry." Amy tells them and Penny takes her, and goes over to the couch to feed her.
"She just ate a little while ago. I figured she's be alright for awhile. Oh well, that's how it is I suppose." Penny says.
"Now, how long again did you say you were in labor with her?" Amy asks, while getting a water from the fridge.
"Roughly, eight to ten hours. She came pretty quick. If it hurts to talk about it, just tell me and I'll stop. How long was you in labor with Chloe?" Penny tells her.
"Three days. They kept wanting to use unnatural ways of getting her to come, and I refused them all. I told them that my body knew what to do already, and when it was time for her to come. So, I went rounds with my Mother who was trying to talk some "sense" into me, and I told her that she was already making me do something I didn't want to do, and she needed to back off. I was basically on my own of having her with no assistance until the final push." Amy explains, to which Leonard can only say "Ouch. I'm glad us men don't have to do that."
"Wimp." Amy and Penny say together. Amy looks at her watch and sees that Sheldon should be home anytime so she excuses herself, hugs the both of them, and kisses Courtney on her head, then she goes out to her car, and makes her way back home.
Chapter Four
Chances Are
It's been three months since everyone was informed about Amy and her little girl that she was forced to give up, and just an ordinary day at Cal Tech, they're having lunch when President Siebert comes up to them.
"Hey folks. I have some interesting news for you all." He tells them, making them stop their conversation.
"What's up Mr. Siebert?" Amy asks him.
"We have a new, very young, lab student coming in this afternoon. She's only ten years old, and she's from San Diego. She'll be here in about twenty minutes. She's going to be working in Neuroscience with you Doctor Cooper. Mrs. Cooper, not you Sheldon." President Siebert says.
"Yeah, I got that when you said Neuroscience. This place is getting over run with child geniuses. It's crazy." Sheldon replies, and Amy only rolls her eyes and asks, "Is there anything I need to do before she gets here?"
"Make sure everything's in order in your lab because her parents said they've just about had it with her. She will talk them half to death about science, math, history, english lit, and they lose interest almost right away. They're not getting rid of her, they're just not coming back to get her until the end of the year." Mr. Siebert explains. Amy takes one last bite or two of her salad, wipes her mouth with her napkin, then gets up, goes to kiss Sheldon, and she tells him, "I'll see you at home honey. I gotta get everything squared away. Love you."
"Love you too baby. Good luck breaking in the new girl." Sheldon says in a jokingly manner.
"You know it!" Amy calls back to him with a smile on her face.
Amy's just about done cleaning up and getting everything organized when she hears a small voice, very similiar to her own, saying, "Excuse me Doctor Cooper? I'm not late am I?"
"No. Not at all. I'll be right with you. I just have to clean a couple more," Amy replies, and when she turns around, she's face to face with a girl who is identical to her. She was trying to say that she needed to clean a couple more beakers, but the sight of the little girl standing in front of her, stopped her in her tracks.
"What's the matter Doctor Cooper? Are you sick? Are you okay?" The girl asks, while putting her hand to Amy's forehead.
"N, no. I'm fine, thanks for asking. What is your name?" Amy says, trying to keep it together so she doesn't freak her out.
"Chloe. I'm from San Diego. Where are you from?" Chloe asks.
"San Diego. Same as you." Amy tells her and then she clears her throat. She walks over to a small desk and asks, "Do you have your paper work with you and all filled out? We're at work after all. Let me see what all you brought with you today." Chloe takes a seat and hands everything to Amy. When she looks at it, the paper shows that she's not lying about where she's from, and Amy keeps thinking, "This isn't the same Chloe you were forced to give up. Just calm down and quit letting your mind run away with you." Just then, Amy sees the birthdate. October 10th, 2007. She almost cries but instead, tells Chloe, "I'll be right back. Make yourself at home." She takes off down the hall and thinks to herself, "Yes. Make yourself at home Chloe Lynn. Mama's got you back, and you're never leaving me again. Amy went all the way down the hall where no one could hear her, and she calls Sheldon. She tells him that she needs him to come to the lab right away, and that she has a surprise for him.
"Amy, what's going on sweetheart? You sound as if you could cry any time." Sheldon tells her.
"She's here. Chloe's here in the lab. She's my new student. I checked all of her paper work Sheldon. The birthdate is a spot on match, she's from San Diego, she is identical to me, and everything. Just please, come down to the lab and see for yourself." Amy begs him. He finally gives in and says, "I'm on my way. Amy goes back into the lab where Chloe is waiting for her.
"Oh, hi Doctor Cooper! I was just playing with the rubick's cube. I hope that's okay. Get everything taken care of?" Chloe says.
"Yep. We're good to go. And the rubick's cube, it's yours. My husband gave that to me to fiddle with when I took breaks from my research." Amy tells her.
"Oh, well. Here, I can't take that from you. Your husband gave it to you, it should stay on your desk." Chloe replies.
"Honey, I insist. Please. It's yours. Now, let's get to work. I've been doing yet another addiction study with monkies. The first ones I ever did was with them being addicted to nicotine. The second one, was with them being addicted to cocaine. These here, are addicted to painkillers. You know like, loritabs and such?" Amy tells her.
"Oh, how cool. Okay, what can I do?" Chloe asks. Amy puts her to work on taking notes and writing things down for awhile, and then before they know it, their time's just about up for the day.
"Hey, you needed me for a second honey?" Sheldon asks, when he finally gets down to the lab.
"Yeah. I wanted you to meet Chloe. Chloe, this is my husband, Sheldon. Sheldon, Chloe Parsons." Amy replies, playing it cool with her last name.
"Nice to meet you. Do you have somewhere to stay while you're here?" Sheldon tells her.
"Not really, no. My parents said that since I'm staying here throughout the school year, I'm to stay at the university somewhere." Chloe explains.
"Nope. That is unacceptable to us. We insist, that you come to our place. Worry not. We have an extra room that you are more than welcome to." Amy tells her.
"Are you sure? I don't wanna put anyone out. I can arrange something here with President Siebert." Chloe tries to argue.
"Nonsense kiddo. You're coming home with us. What would you like for supper tonight? Amy and I are both vegans so, what are you in the mood for?" Sheldon says.
"Sounds good to me. My parents got so aggravated because I never wanted any kind of meat or dairy, and I figure that my birth Mother had to be vegan because I am too." Chloe replies.
"Your birth Mother? You're adopted?" Amy asks.
"Yep. I found that out when I was 6 and had to have my appendix out. They wanted to do lab work and such in the event of an emergency. Know the best part Doctor Cooper?" Chloe tells her.
"No. What's that?" Amy asks, and they all work together on cleaning up everything and making sure the monkies are fed.
"When I asked my adoptive Mom about who my birth Mother was, she said that she was some troubled sixteen year old and who had to give me up, but didn't want to, and that she lives and works, somewhere here in Pasadena. I'm so close to finding her and finding out all I can about her. Cool huh?" Chloe replies.
"Very cool indeed. Chloe, I have to ask you something." Sheldon says, while cleaning out one of the cages.
"Yes. Go ahead." Chloe tells him.
"If you ever do find your birth Mother, would you ever want to live with her?" Sheldon asks, and Amy's breath catches.
"In a minute. My adoptive parents, I mean, I love them and all but, my whole life, I've been trying to do what makes them happy and they still can't show any interest at all, in my dreams or intelligence, what so ever. It sucks." Chloe replies, and all of a sudden, Amy says, "Well. I think we better be getting out of here. We have to get home, get us something to eat, and prepare for tomorrow. What do you guys think?"
"Mrs. Cooper, tomorrow's Saturday. We don't have to be here tomorrow right?" Chloe says, sort of confused.
"Yeah. I'm due to help a friend of mine tomorrow though, and I thought you might like to go." Amy tells her, as she turns the lights off in the room and they all head out to the car.
The next morning, Chloe's still in bed when Amy's knocking on her bedroom door to wake her up.
"Hey sleepy head. Time to get going. You get to meet Penny and Leonard today, and their baby, Courtney." Amy tells her.
"Yes Doctor Cooper." Chloe replies, still in a groggy state.
"When we're not at the university, you may call me Amy. See ya in the kitchen." Amy says. Amy's having her coffee and honey nut cheerios with Sheldon when Chloe comes out of the bedroom and she's wearing a blue jean skirt over black panty hoes, and a red shirt. With her glasses on, and black shoes, Sheldon drops his spoon in his cereal bowl and says, "Oh my gosh, it's a tiny Amy."
When they get over to Leonard and Penny's, they get inside and Penny instantly says, "Are you really freaking kidding me here? The girl looks straight up like you Amy. I wonder if she's not the same Chloe you were forced to give up."
"Amy? What is she talking about?" Chloe asks. Amy just hangs her head for a minute, then sits Chloe down so they can talk.
Chapter Five
The DNA Test
Chloe and Amy talked for about twenty minutes and they're both in tears by the time their done talking.
"I'll be honest with you. When I first met you yesterday, I was saying in my head that I wish you was my Mom because we share the same interests, you're excited to have me around, and I already felt so much calmer with you, than I do at home. So, what do we do now? You know that they won't go for any DNA testing no matter how we decide to tell them that we want to do one." Chloe tells her.
"You let me worry about that okay. Wouldn't they want you to be happy? Don't they care about you at all?" Amy asks.
"Let me put it this way. They were going to leave me at Cal Tech with nowhere to sleep except the lab or wherever I could find to sleep. They didn't send me with any money. They looked at me as being weird because I wasn't into working in diners like they do. So I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say, no. They don't really care about me. I want to do this but, I don't wanna get you in trouble with anyone especially the police. We could run a DNA test right in the lab, but that's not the legal way. Simply because, I'm only ten." Chloe explains.
"Call your adoptive parents and put them on speaker phone. Please." Penny tells her. Chloe gets Amy's phone and dials the number, and she gets her adoptive Dad.
"Hey Dad. I have a question for you." Chloe says.
"Go ahead and ask. Not sure if I can answer it. You're way smarter than we are honey." He replies.
"Okay. Remember when I had that lab work done at the hospital when I had my appendix out, and it came back that I'm adopted?" Chloe asks him.
"Yes sweetheart, I remember. Where are you going with this?" Dale asks her.
"Well the short of it is this. I secretly done some research online one night and found out that my birth Mother lives here in Pasadena. I'm willing to bet you money Dad that Amy Cooper is my birth Mother. I want your permission to have a DNA test done." Chloe tells him.
"What are you expecting to do if it comes out that she is your Mother? What then Chloe?" Dale asks again.
"Live with her. You and Mom make me feel like I'm not understood or really wanted there. I mean come on, think about it. You guys brought me here yesterday, dropped me off at Cal Tech, with no money to my name, or anything. What was I supposed to do? Stay at the university with nowhere to sleep just because the two of you couldn't handle having a child as intelligent as I am? That makes perfect sense. I don't mean to hurt either one of you, and I do love you but please, try to understand. I need to know where I belong." Chloe tells him. He thinks about it for about thirty seconds, and there's a long awkward silence, followed by, "Okay. You have my permission."
Later that day, everyone is at the lab, while Amy tests her DNA against Chloe's. Penny and Leonard are there with Courtney, who sleeps most of the time. Howard and Bernadette are there with Halley, and then Rajesh is there with Emily, who had decided to give him another chance.
"Chloe. Do you trust me enough yet to do this?" Amy asks.
"Yes. I do." Chloe replies, and then she sees Amy pull two butterfly needles from her desk, along with the tourniquet, the cotton balls, the tape, and the tubes.
"Okay. Here we go. I'm not gonna stick ya unless I have a good spot okay. Now let me just feel around real quick first." Amy tells her. Chloe just nods her head and then says, "Wait Mama! I need to drink some water first. That always helps in case the body is a little dehydrated."
"You said Mama." Sheldon says.
"Why not? If this turns out that she's my Mom, what else am I gonna call her? Amy? Oh go on, just do it." Chloe replies, laughing at first, then getting serious, but dreading being stuck. Amy puts the tourniquet on her, has her to make a fist, then she feels around and finds the perfect vein.
"This is a good one, but a really sensitive area. For that, I'm sorry." Amy tells her, and then she sticks her, making her kind of cry out a little bit.
"Don't move honey." Raj says, with his hand on her shoulder.
"I'm trying not to Mr. Rajesh." Chloe replies, and then Amy's done with her, and she says, "There. That wasn't too bad was it?" She sees the look on Chloe's face and then says, "Okay. It was bad."
"Your turn honey." Sheldon says, and Amy sits next to Chloe so Sheldon can get her done. Everyone knew that Amy and Sheldon knew how to do blood draws since Sheldon had to do it to her once before when she was getting aroused, just being around Penny's ex, Zach. Sheldon gets the perfect spot and then all they can do is just wait for Amy to run the test.
"What do we do if this doesn't turn out well? I'll have to go back home at the end of the school year. I wanna get to know you. Not only you Amy, but all of you." Chloe says, and she almost cries. Halley and Chloe play war with a deck of cards, Penny has to feed Courtney again, Amy and Bernadette are waiting for the machine to finish doing what it needs to do to, and Emily goes with the guys down the hall to discuss yet another guidance system. When there's maybe five minutes left until the results are done, Chloe gets up, goes over to the window, and gets to her knees, and prays.
"Dear God. You know how hard this has been on me ever since I found out about being adopted. I want for you to know that if Amy is my real Mama, I will not go in search of my biological Grandmother, and go off on her. I also want you to know that, I will always be grateful for the Parsons, and what they did for me. However, if Amy is my Mama, I will be the best Daughter that she could ever ask, hope, or pray for. Amen." Chloe says in her prayer. She stands back up, and just continues to look out the window. When she turns back around to face everyone, Amy's headed her direction, and she has a serious look on her face.
"I have the results. Bad news honey." Amy says.
"I'm not your Daughter, am I?" Chloe asks.
"The bad news is, we're going to have a busy weekend. Read these." Amy replies, and she hands them to her.
"99.99% positive? That means," Chloe starts to say, and when she looks up from the paper, Amy's smiling and she tells her, "Welcome home baby!"
"You are my Mama! Finally, I actually belong somewhere." Chloe cries out, and she jumps into Amy's arms. Sheldon stands right behind Chloe and pats her on the shoulder.
"Hey you." Sheldon says.
"Hi Daddy!" Chloe replies, while hugging him.
"Now, I'm not your biological Dad, but that doesn't matter. I'm claiming you as mine. You're a part of the woman I love, and when I married her, you came in the deal with her." Sheldon tells her, and she just clings to him and says, "Promise me, that I can stay with you guys forever."
While everyone is on their way home from the lab, without even thinking about it, Amy puts some music on in the car. Sheldon kind of gives her a look and then says, "Oh what the heck. You two have a reason to celebrate. We all do. Go ahead." She never said what she was putting in, and from the back seat, Chloe hears the song, "Coming To America" by Neil Diamond. She starts to sing along to it and Amy asks, "You like Neil Diamond too?"
"I love him Mom. He's the best." Chloe replies. They even get Sheldon in on singing along, and on the way home, Chloe's thinking that it may not go so well with her adoptive parents.
Chapter Six
Custody Battle
When Sunday comes, Sheldon is pulling into the Parsons' driveway, and they all go up to the house, together.
"You must be Amy. The same Amy that your parents, made you give Chloe up." Melissa says, while letting them in.
"Yes. It's so nice to meet you. I want to thank you both for everything you've done for her. I'm a Nueroscientist now at Cal Tech, my husband and I own our home, and although none of that probably matters to you, I was forced to give her up. I didn't want to do it, and I know that you are legally her parents, but I'd like to have her live with me. With Sheldon and I." Amy tells them.
"Well. You certainly don't waste any time in getting to the point do you? It's like this. We've taken care of her for all of these years, and she is ours. We want her to stay here with us. When she's 18, she's free to do what she wants. It was a mistake to send her to the university. Chloe, go out to their car, get whatever is yours, and then go get ready for school tomorrow. You're staying home with us where you belong." Dale replies.
"I don't want to stay here with you. I never feel appreciated or loved here. I wanna go home with my Mom and Dad." Chloe says, and she's about to cry.
"We are your Mom and Dad. When we adopted you, we became your parents. That gives us more rights to you, then them." Melissa tells her. Chloe just goes out to the car, and stands there for the longest time.
"Chloe. I promise you, that we're going to get the best lawyer and do whatever it takes, and then, you'll be able to come with us." Amy says, standing next to her. Chloe hugs her, and cries, and says, "Please don't leave me here."
"I'll never leave you for longer than I have to. You'll be back home very soon. I promise." Amy assures her.
Two weeks later, Sheldon and Amy have hired the best lawyer that money can buy, and they are all sitting down, discussing what has to be done. Their court date is set for the following Monday at 9:00 in the morning, and Amy calls Dale and Melissa.
"Hello?" Melissa says, answering her phone.
"Court Monday morning at 9:00. Pasadena Court house. Bring my Daughter with you." Amy tells her, then she hangs up so Melissa can't argue with her.
Monday morning comes, and everyone's in court. The guys and their families couldn't be there though since work went on like usual for them. Amy sees Melissa and Dale enter the court room and like they were told, they have Chloe with them.
"Mama!" Chloe cries out when she sees Amy. Dale tries to get her to stay with them, but she breaks free from him and runs to Amy.
"All rise!" The baliff calls out. The judge enters the room and he tells everyone to be seated. Then he has Amy and Chloe to come to the front of the room.
"It's my understanding that you had her at the age of 16 correct?" Judge Taylor asks.
"Yes Maam, that's correct." Amy replies.
"Why was it that you lost all rights to Chloe?" She asks her.
"I was still in high school and like a lot of teenagers, I rebelled against my parents, and everything they tried to get me to do. The guy I was dating at the time, he and I concieved Chloe when I was only fifteen. I had her at the age of sixteen, and my parents both, forced me to give her up. I didn't want to do it your honor. I feel like, I had no choice in the matter." Amy explains.
"I see. I bet no one ever told you either, that since you were forced to give her up, and the decision was not your Mother's or Father's to make, but your decision, that you could have kept her. No one ever told you that did they?" Judge Taylor asks.
"No Maam, they didn't. If I had known that, I promise you, I would have kept her. When she came to Cal Tech a couple of weeks ago, I knew in my heart just by looking at her, that she was mine. Then, when she handed me her paper work, I looked at the birthdate, and it was a spot on match. She told me she was from San Diego, same as me. Then later on, either that day or the next, she mentioned to me that she found out four years ago, that she was adopted when she had her appendix out. They ran lab work at the hospital where she had the surgery." Amy tells her, and the judge writes everything down.
"Okay. Now, how did you obtain the DNA testing?" The judge asks, and Dale says, "Oh I can tell you that one your honor. Chloe called me and said she wanted to do one there in the lab at Cal Tech because she had researched her adoption and said that she thinks Amy Cooper is her Mother. So, I agreed to it. I told her she had my permission to do so."
"Uh huh. So let me get this straight. You did a DNA test in a lab at Cal Tech University?" The judge asks, and all three of them, Amy, Sheldon, and Chloe tell her, "Yeah."
"How exactly did you do that? I'm not mad or anything, and I know even I'm getting off subject here. I'm just curious." Judge Taylor tells Amy.
"Years ago when Sheldon and I weren't even dating yet, I was at a club with my two best friends, Penny and Bernadette, and Penny's ex boyfriend, named Zach, was there too. I met him and had an instant young arousal just him being there. Well, I couldn't make any sense of it, so the next day at the lab, I kept checking my vitals, thinking there was something wrong with me. Sheldon was helping me that day in the lab, and I had him to draw my blood to run a series of panels to see what could be causing that in me. So, with that being said your honor, that stuff is at my lab in case if I have to check any of my test monkies' blood for different things. I have the needles, tournaquets, and everything I need for such testing to be done. So, when we had their permission to do this, we ran our own DNA testing, and it came out to be 99.99% accurate, that I am actually her biological Mother." Amy explains, to which the judge asks, "May I see everything you brought with you today?" Amy hands her the DNA results, her PhD, a copy of her license, and a copy of her degree in Neurobiology. The judge looks over everything and says, "Most impressive. I'll be right back. Is there anyone I can call to confirm you having been forced to give her up?"
"Yes. My Mother. Kara Fowler." Amy replies. The judge goes into her chambers and when she's already closed the door, that's when Dale tells Amy, "I'm sorry it came to this. We just don't want to lose her."
"How do you think I've felt for the ten years I was without her? You can not know what it is like to carry a child inside you for nine months, and feel them grow, and kick, and move around, then be in labor for three days straight, go through all the pain, and the fear of hoping they'll be okay when they're finally here, only to have them forcefully taken away from you. Wanna talk real pain and fear that you'll lose your child? I can bury you with the facts of what it's really like." Amy tells him. They have to wait for about ten minutes for the judge to call and talk to Amy's Mom, and for her to go over everything, and make her decision. She then comes back out, and has Chloe to come up to the bench so she can talk to her for a minute.
"Yes Maam?" Chloe asks.
"Where do you want to be at? If you're intelligent enough to already be working in a lab at Cal Tech, at ten years old, then you're intelligent enough to pick where you want to be." Judge Taylor tells her.
"I'm gonna just be honest here your honor. My whole life I've been trying to gain my parents' approval of everything I do. I don't wanna grow up to work in diners like they do. I love the scientific world, I'm vegan, they get aggravated because I won't eat what they fix. I try to have a conversation with them, they act like they don't want me there. They never take an interest in anything I do. I get to Cal Tech however, and meet Mama, and instantly, she's interested in me, and where I'm from, asking what different things I like to do, and how much I know about science and biology, and just within one day of being there with her, I didn't wanna go back. I was never beaten with the Parsons' but ya know what? I wanna be with Mama and Daddy. I want to stay here with my Mom. My birth Mom. She had no choice in giving me up, and that wasn't fair. I want to get to know her. Please, let me stay with her." Chloe explains. The judge sends her back over to where she was sitting with Amy, then she gives her ruling.
"After speaking with Mrs. Fowler, and with Chloe, and hearing what they had to say, plus the things I've heard here today, I've made my decision that Chloe Lynn Parsons, is to become Chloe Lynn Cooper, or Chloe Lynn Fowler - Cooper, whichever one seeing as how her Mother was still a Fowler when she had Chloe, and that she goes home with her birth Mother. For the simple fact of the matter, her Mother was forced to give her up, plus, I've talked with Chloe and heard some things that deeply upset me as I am a Mother myself. Case closed." Judge Taylor announces, and Sheldon texts Leonard and tells him, "Chloe's ours. We get to bring her home with us."
"Hey, you guys. Sheldon just texted and said that Chloe's theirs. She's going home with them to stay. They won! Amy has her baby back where she belongs. This calls for celebration." Leonard tells everyone, and they all clock out, then go down to President Siebert's office to explain what's going on, and that they're leaving early to celebrate.
Chapter Seven
Into That Good Night
It's been almost a year since Amy and Sheldon won the custody battle, and brought Chloe home for good. In that time frame, she's made more friends at the university, than she knows what to do with. Everyone is always giving her compliments about her being the youngest one to ever work there, and while she and Amy are working on some research one day, Amy starts writing down something different than what they're working on, and Chloe keeps trying to see what it is.
"Get back. It's a surprise. You'll find out soon enough." Amy says.
"Mama, you're killing me here. Why can't I know what it is?" Chloe asks, and Amy tells her to just look forward to a surprise. Chloe finally lets it go and gets back to work for awhile, realizing they only have twenty minutes until it's lunch time.
"Okay, guess what you get to learn today." Amy tells her.
"What's that?" Chloe asks, while cleaning out filing cabinets and straightening up a little bit.
"You get to learn how to find different parts of the brain. Look at this diagram here, and then come find the pre frontal lobe, and cut it out." Amy replies.
"Mom? I'm only going on eleven. I don't think I'm quite ready for that yet. Am I?" Chloe says.
"You are my girl. What's the matter with you? Don't you have any faith in yourself? I have faith in you." Amy tells her. Chloe just kind of sighs for a second and then goes and gets the diagram. She looks at it, then pictures it in her mind, closes her eyes, and tries to point to it without looking. After she tries a couple of times, she finally gets it.
"I think I'm ready." Chloe replies. She goes over by her Mom, and Amy hands her the tools she needs. Chloe studies it really close, then begins her work.
"You two about ready for lunch?" Sheldon asks, while coming in.
"Dad! I'm about to cut on my first brain here." Chloe says.
"Yes Maam." Sheldon replies, and he stands by the door to see how she handles it.
"Concentrate and focus. Locate the pre frontal lobe." Amy says, guiding her through it.
"Okay, it's right here. Now what?" Chloe asks.
"Next, you're gonna cut no more than a quarter inch deep. After that, do the same thing on the opposite side from where your first cut is." Amy tells her. Chloe does as she was instructed and says, "Alright. It's cut on both sides."
"Know what to do next?" Amy asks.
"From there, I'm gonna want to, detach it by making another small cut underneath?" Chloe replies.
"That's it. That's all there is to it." Amy tells her. Chloe cuts underneath her original work, and slowly pulls out the pre frontal lobe, then holds onto it with the tweezers, and says, "I did it! I did it! Wow, I can't believe I did that."
Two weeks later, it's Chloe's eleventh birthday, and her first one being able to celebrate with her Mom. She wakes up early that Wednesday morning, and goes flying into Sheldon and Amy's room, where she leaps up onto their bed, landing right on Sheldon's right leg, and on Amy's left knee.
"Morning Mom and Dad! Know what today is?" Chloe asks.
"Of course I know what today is. I was there eleven years ago." Amy replies, while rubbing her knee.
"My body." Sheldon says in pain, making Chloe laugh.
"Sorry. Now, I know that today is a work day. I was thinking we take the day off to be together. After all Mom, it's my first one being with you." Chloe tells her.
"What time is it?" Sheldon asks.
"5:30. No one at Cal Tech will be in the office for another half hour. I'll go get a shower and call them. I guess I'll just explain to President Siebert that it's her birthday and the first one we've been able to spend with her as a family." Amy says, and she sits up finally.
"Sounds good to me. I'm gonna go call Aunt Penny and see if they can make it over today." Chloe replies, and before she gets to the door, Amy points to her and says, "No, Chloe Lynn, don't you dare. Do not wake her up this early. Courtney's just a year old and they still haven't gotten her to be able to sleep through the night yet. For the sake of us all, don't you dare."
"Okay okay, yeesh! Daddy, will you fix me something to eat?" Chloe says, and Sheldon just throws the blanket back over his head, to which Amy tells him, "Look here ya lazy slug. I'm up, so are you. Come on." She pats him on his leg to get him up and he goes into the kitchen with Chloe, who starts giving her breakfast order of sausage, eggs, and hashbrowns.
"Thank God I know how to fix all of these vegan products now. Before your Mom converted me over, I'd never known how to." Sheldon tells her while she guzzles her orange juice and wants more of it.
"Chloe honey, I don't mind you drinking the orange juice cause it's good for you but, try to save some for your breakfast when it's done okay." Amy says.
It's around 5:00, and Chloe is standing there in her black skirt, red long sleeve shirt, her hair pulled back in a pony tail, and just her bare feet, and she keeps looking out the window, waiting for everyone to show up. Sheldon and Amy have already told her they were going to have a party for her birthday. They just didn't tell her how big of one, or who all was coming. She just about gives up when she sees a line of vehicles coming down the road.
"Mom! Mommy, they're here! They're here! Dad, come look." Chloe exclaims, and just to hear Chloe holler Mommy, that excitedly, melts Amy's heart. She runs outside, as is, with no shoes on and meets everyone. Usually Amy would have said something about her doing that but since they are in California, the weather's still pretty good.
"Hey chick a dee! Happy Birthday." Bernadette tells her, and when Howard gets out of the car with Halley, Howard picks her up in a hug and tells her, "I think you've grown at least three inches since last year."
"She's grown at least two inches since breakfast. You should have seen what all she had me fixing. Come on up guys." Sheldon tells them from the upstairs bedroom window. Before long, after the original crew gets there to the house, Barry Kripke shows up, as well as Stewart.
"Hi Uncle Stewart! How are you? Long time no see." Chloe says as she about squeezes him half to death. He's not big bigger built than she is.
"Not too bad. You'd know that if your folks would bring you into the store more often." Stewart tells her, and he hands her the newest editions of Batman, and one on the Renaissance Fairs of Medievel Times, full of Medievel poetry.
"Wow! Thanks Uncle Stewart. Halley, come on. Let's go read these and see what dork Batman has to stomp this time." Chloe replies, and they run off into Chloe's bedroom.
Just when the party's about over, everyone's just finishing up with their meal and Sheldon pulls out a cake from the bottom on the refrigerator that Amy had secretly made the night before from a vegan recipe.
"Everyone, it's time to sing Happy Birthday to Chloe." Sheldon announces, and Chloe says, "Oh no, Dad. You didn't. Please say, you're not going to do that and embarrass me." She's already turning red. When Amy lights the candles, and they all start singing to her, she tries to fold her arms over her head and face, and she goes to her knees in complete embarrassment, but she's loving it all.
"Hey, we could have sang like this. Happy Birthday to you, you live in a zoo. You look like a monkey, and you smell like one too." Raj says, and Chloe's only response is, "Uncle Rajesh! Very funny." They all got a good laugh out of it. Without any of them having any knowledge that she was going to do it, Amy's Mom shows up to the party.
"Mom?" Amy asks, and she puts Chloe behind her to protect her.
"Relax. Chloe, I'm so sorry that your Grand Father and I made your Mama give you up. It was wrong and not only did she miss out on getting to see you grow into the beautiful young lady you are, we missed out on that as well. I hope you can forgive me because I do love you sweetheart, and I've thought of you often. Happy Birthday honey." Kara tells her.
"I hope you don't think I hate you cause I don't. I promised God that day in the lab when Mom ran a DNA test on the both of us, that if she was really my Mom, I wasn't going to find you and seek revenge. I also promised him that I was never going to hate you, and that I'd forgive you for what happened. What's done is done. I'm back home now, where I belong and I never have to go back to the Parsons'. Thank You for coming today." Chloe says.
"You don't hate me, at all?" Kara asks.
"Of course I don't hate you. You're my Grandma. I'm just a little upset with you. That in time, will pass though. Grandma, I love you." Chloe replies, and she runs up to her and hugs her. That was all it took, was Chloe telling her all of that, for Kara to get down on her knees to be eye level to Chloe, and she just holds her Grand Daughter in her embrace, the way she should have done so many years ago. Amy goes over to them, lifts them both off the floor, and she puts her arms around them both and says, "This is the way it was supposed to happen. I love you both."
"I love you too Mommy." Chloe says.
"And I've never stopped loving the both of you." Kara tells them. Sheldon, even though he has trouble believing, looks toward Heaven and whispers, "Amen."
THE END