I wrote this as a gift to my dear friend Geeky Blue Strawberry on her 25th birthday, but as I hold my readers so close to my heart I asked for her permission to share it with you. I hope you enjoy.

- YlvaB

Of bulbous brains and benign overlords

By YlvaBorealis

"I can't believe it's been twenty-five years" Amy said as she shut the door behind their dinner guests and turned to her lanky, now salt-and-pepper-haired, husband.

Sheldon cocked his head to the side, looking at her the same way he always did when he required her to be more specific.

"Since what? Since CERN almost annihilated the planet with their experiment on multi-dimensional travel? Since China took over from the United States as the world's leading Super Power? Since Leonard last had his nose-hair trimmed?" he shot off in rapid succession, wrinkling his nose in disgust as he spat out that last remark.

"Since the birth of our first child, silly" Amy gently enlightened him as she slipped past him, having learnt to deal with his idiosyncrasies long ago. Without looking back she knew exactly what grimace he was making as he chastised himself for not having guessed the obvious.

Sheldon, who had also learnt a few things over the years – among those not to get too upset when he committed a faux pas like this – watched her as she sat down at the dinner table and raised her hand with the palm up to tap in a travel safe-message to their children. She too had silver strands in her once mud-colored hair, and she'd recently begun using two pairs of glasses because of her advancing age: one was hanging around her neck, and the other was pushed up on top of her head. She'd refused to go to the doctor to have her eyes corrected though, in spite of Sheldon's insistence. 'It's so like her' Sheldon thought as he sat down next to her. 'My stubborn little lady'.

Amy tapped her index finger twice against her thumb to send out the message, then looked up to meet her husband's deep blue gaze with that of her forest green. 'My silly old baboo' she thought, the corners of her mouth turning upwards in a loving smile.

"Do you remember that day? When she was born?" she asked, reaching out to pet his large, slightly wrinkled hand.

"I remember every single day of my entire life" Sheldon huffed, turning over his hand to weave his fingers with hers.

"Sheldon…" Amy snickered, a mischievous twinkle at the corner of her eye.

"Ah well… alright, so I fainted and hit my head. You were well aware of my blood phobia. I did manage to cut the cord though?"

"Indeed you did" Amy agreed, still smiling.

Sheldon sighed, and looked down at their interwoven hands. When did they get so old? When did their children grow up? It seemed it had just happened and he'd been an innocent bystander, incapable of intervening. Amy had told him that was the way it should be. Parents grew old, children grew up. But he did remember. He remembered it as if it were yesterday. Her tiny hands, her dark hair… Those pathetic little meows that were supposed to pass for cries… Her mouth tightly clamped over Amy's nipple, hungrily suckling. 'That's right' he'd thought. 'You eat and grow big and strong. That's daddy's little overlord right there'. She'd looked at him out of the corner of her eye as she kept sucking milk out of Amy's swollen breast, and he'd felt something at the pit of his stomach, something thick and velvety and warm and over-powering… It made him want to pick down the moon and wrap it up and give it to her.

"My head hurt for a week after" Sheldon mumbled, avoiding looking up at his wife.

"I know it did baby."

"And you still let me name her Liv. Even though I barely kept it together while you were busy giving birth to her."

"You said that's what you wanted. She came out and that's who she was. Who am I to refute the mighty Dr. Sheldon Cooper?"

Sheldon nodded, letting go of her hand as he felt it grow sweaty. Amy laughed at him as he pulled out a napkin to wipe his palm.

"Do you think she resents me?" Sheldon asked as he finished cleaning himself, his voice gravelly.

"You're her father. She loves you. Why would she resent you?" Amy asked, knowing what he meant but refusing to acknowledge it.

Sheldon had spent all nine months of her pregnancy making up plans for the future ruler of the Milky Way and all its neighboring galaxies. With their combined intellects and his super-DNA they were sure to conceive something akin to the master Morlock from H.G. Wells' The Time Machine, her bulbous brain so bountiful it bulged out at the back of her head.

Mathematics, theoretical physics, cosmology, time travel… Oh the plans he had for her.

But Liv had been a quiet, contemplative child, who preferred staying in her room drawing and playing with her dolls. Sheldon tried but eventually had to admit defeat and accept the fact that Liv wasn't above average intelligence. As she grew older she also grew resistant: tall, beautiful, the spitting image of her father's twin sister, with a temper that matched that of Sheldon's. He had almost gone into cardiac arrest when she had announced her plans to pursue a modeling career at the tender age of sixteen.

"Because I've always allowed her to believe she wasn't what I really wanted" Sheldon mumbled, fighting the hot tears that threatened to spill over.

"Do you really believe that?" Amy whispered, moving closer to him and putting her arm around his shoulder, cradling him to her chest.

"I don't know" Sheldon confessed, letting his hand find its way around her waist. It was thicker than it had been when they were young, but it was just as familiar. He'd grown with it.

"Shhh" Amy comforted him as he began sobbing. "It's not the end of the world. She's still young. And she's living her life the best she can. You've always been there for her, even though you might not always have understood her. That's what it's like to be a parent. She knows how much you love her Sheldon, she's always known. And besides, if a successor is what you want there's always our other children" she threw in, hoping to lighten the mood.

"Yes. But she was our first" Sheldon whispered, listening to her heart beat through her sweater.

Amy sighed, pulling him tighter to her.

"Yes. She was our first."

THE END