A/N: English is not my native language, so if there're any mistakes, I'm really sorry!

Star Wars Torture

Sheldon Cooper didn't do babysitting. Well, until one day when Leonard came up with a bunch of logical arguments and Penny yelled 'for God's sake, Sheldon, we've been babysitting you for years! Time to return the favor!'

He knew he could do this. They're just children. How hard could it be? They've been babysitting those girls for years as well. Except until this day he was doing it with Amy – but today she was working late and couldn't make it.

'Bored!' the five-year-old reached a verdict and sticked her tongue out.

'Well, I'm sorry, but tonight you are going to watch Star Wars,' Sheldon said uncompromisingly, looking down at the little girl, who was rolling her eyes like every three seconds. 'And get to know the great character you were named after.'

'Cool, since I was named after my granddad, can I go?' her sister asked.

Although the girls were born on the same day, it was still kind of hard to believe it. They practically had nothing in common. At least their different appearances were easily explained from the medical point of view: they were fraternal twins, not identical. Wyatt was her mom's copy with that straight blonde hair and those big green eyes, which she learned to roll perfectly by the time she was three. Apart from that she was daddy's girl. Communicating with new people? Nah, thanks, I'd rather stay in my room (although it was pretty hard too, because she was sharing it with her active and noisy sister). Wyatt had never fallen asleep listening to dad's reading of Stephen Hawking's 'George and the mysteries of the Universe' (her sister usually started to nod on page two) and was very excited to finally start school.

Leia, on the other hand, was a perfect mix of both her parents – she had her mom's facial features, but her hair was darker, and her eyes were brown. Although she had a very cunning look – not from her daddy for sure. She was outgoing, basically the life and soul of their local preschool ('yep, that silent girl with a book is my sister… please, don't ask'). Her greatest pleasure, though, were any big or small parts the teacher was giving her at the drama class, which she attended on Wednesdays and Fridays. At first mom was driving both of them there, but Wyatt escaped pretty quickly, so now Leia was the only Hofstadter there (boy, was she thrilled).

'You two are not going anywhere!' Sheldon protested, feeling a little bit panicky. 'Just sit on the couch and try to be silent for the next two hours.'

Leia and Wyatt exchanged glances. They clearly didn't have time for this nonsense. Five years was a pretty busy age: Wyatt was working on those math equations that dad'd given her, and Leia had a bunch of people she needed to call and discuss recent events at their drama class (no spoilers, but it wasn't named drama for nothing).

'Plan A?' Wyatt whispered to her sister. Leia nodded and suddenly whistled. Sheldon jumped up from his spot on the couch and pointed at her:

'First warning, young lady!'

'Just let us go, uncle Shelly,' Leia said, looking at him innocently.

'You don't call me Shelly!' Sheldon exclaimed. 'Nobody calls me that! I put on the third part of Star Wars for you, skipping the first two. Have some respect!'

'How about you let us go, and later we'll tell aunt Amy we had a great time with you?' Wyatt suggested, carefully following their plan.

'But this time I do want you to have great time with me,' Sheldon suddenly confessed, pausing the movie. Leia and Wyatt exchanged looks again, but this time both were really surprised.

'Why? You always try to skip babysitting us,' Leia crossed her arms.

'And usually pretend Halley and Mike don't exist,' Wyatt added.

'That's true,' Sheldon agreed. 'But aunt Amy and I finally decided we're ready to procreate. So, I want to see what it's like. Of course, with our child it's gonna be different, he's going to have much higher IQ…'

'You can't be 100% sure about this,' Wyatt noticed.

'He's going to be extremely smart. It's simple genetics,' Sheldon said condescendingly.

'You can't even know if it's going to be a he or a she yet,' Leia sniffed. 'You're really smart, but sometimes really stupid, uncle Shelly.'

Sheldon sighed, feeling irritated. It should be different with their own child. Otherwise it's all just pointless.

'So, what do you prefer, uncle Shelly: us whistling for two hours straight or us telling auntie Amy you're a great babysitter?' Leia asked with a smug smile. Wyatt giggled. It's not like they were getting along great, but when it'd come to unite against someone, they stood together to the very end.

'Ugh,' Sheldon groaned. 'Did your mother teach you that?'

'Life taught us that, uncle Shelly,' Leia answered philosophically.

'Just… go to your room.'

The girls gave each other celebrating high five and stormed to their room. Leia picked up her phone, sneaked into their parent's bedroom to lay down on their big soft bed while chatting with friends, and Wyatt finally returned to those exhilarating equations, enjoying the rare silence in her and Leia's room.

When everything was discussed and all the local gossips reached her ears, Leia came out of the parent's bedroom and peered into the living room. Uncle Sheldon wasn't there. She then looked at the kitchen island and saw him making a camomile tea – a sure sign of his bad mood. She hesitated, but returned to the parents bedroom and decided to call her mom.

'Hey, sweetie, is everything alright?' Penny answered almost immediately, sounding worried. She was okay with leaving the girls on both Sheldon and Amy, or just Amy, but it was their first time with just Sheldon. Although Leia and Wyatt were pretty independent and smart for their age, she was still a bit stressed and waited for a call to leave everything behind and return home.

'Yes and no,' Leia said, not making it easier for her mom. 'Me and Wyatt are good, but I think uncle Shelly is really sad.'

'What?' Penny sounded surprised. 'Why would you think that?'

'Well… he wanted to show us that stupid movie that he and daddy really like. Star-something.'

'Star Trek?' Penny smiled.

'No, the other one.'

'So, Star Wars then?'

'Yep, that's the one!' Leia answered cheerfully. She wasn't good at remembering stuff, especially those she wasn't interested in. She could name all the little ponies without a hitch and, to her own amazement, could memorize replicas at the drama class easily. But when it'd come to some serious preschool things, she was hopeless and envied Wyatt, who could commit to memory basically anything. 'But we ditched him, cause you know… had a lot of stuff to do.'

Penny contained laughter, listening to her very busy five-year-old, and asked seriously:

'Well, have you done everything you wanted?'

'Yep!'

'So, you have some time for your uncle Sheldon then?'

'Yes, but I don't want to watch his stupid movie. Tried once with daddy, didn't like it at all.'

'Have you tried to compromise with him? Offer to do something else, but still together?'

'No, he sounded very firm, and we really wanted to do our own stuff,' Leia confessed.

'How about you try that? Uncle Sheldon loves games and he can read to you. Try to find something you all are interested in, okay?'

'Okay,' Leia agreed. 'But when you and daddy are going to be home?'

'Just another hour, and we'll return,' Penny promised.

'Okay then!' Leia sounded more happy this time. 'Love you, mommy, bye!'

'Love you too, baby,' Penny answered before hanging up the phone. She looked at Leonard, who was staring at the screen of his own phone intently, and touched his arm. 'Leia called, Sheldon got upset the girls didn't want to watch Star Wars with him.'

'I'm aware,' Leonard chuckled, looking up and catching his wife's blank stare. 'Wyatt texted me for advice.'

'Really?' Penny wondered. Usually Leia was the one who worried about everyone else's well-being, while Wyatt didn't care that much (or maybe at all).

'Well, to be honest, she texted me because she couldn't solve that last equation I left for her,' Leonard smiled. 'But then I asked if everything was alright, and she texted that Sheldon's not very happy with their current behavior.'

'Current behavior?' Penny frowned. 'She wrote it like that?'

'Yeah, she's been talking to my mother a lot lately,' Leonard sighed. Penny squeezed his palm and smiled encouragingly.

'It's great that she's interested in science. We shouldn't interfere.'

'You know it's not science that's bothering me, right?'

'Yes, but Beverly is… fine. I mean, even I communicate with her almost every week, and nothing's wrong,' Penny said.

'Let's wait for another ten to twelve years and talk then,' Leonard grinned, feeling a light punch on his shoulder. 'Okay, okay, let's forget about my mother for a while. Do you think the girls will like it here?' He looked around, still trying to comprehend the fact that they were going to move in their own house in a few months. So many things happened in 4A and 4B at North Los Robles Avenue. They met, they started dating, they had some awkward encounters in the hall while broken up, they proposed a lot, they've been over the moon happy in those apartments. They loved and they told each other really hurtful things. They fought and they compromised, had some pretty great surprises (like when she threw a party on his birthday) and some awful ones as well (like when she told him he's never going to be a father).

'They are going to love it here,' Penny smiled, scooting towards her husband, feeling his hands resting on her waist. 'But it's so weird… so weird, that 4A is not going to be our home anymore, right?' They lived there for seventeen years, ate so much takeout food they could probably buy this house on all the money they'd spent on it. They were babysitting Sheldon, babysitting their friends' kids, babysitting sweet little Cinnamon. Had hours of serious talk and years of banter. They loved, they had doubts and met their scariest fears. They comforted and confronted each other, sometimes tried hard to understand, but still failed. They had some great realizations (like when she finally understood she just needed him to be happy) and some awful ones as well (like when she told him the real reason she didn't want to have kids).

'It is,' Leonard agreed. 'But it's also time for a new start.'

'Wyatt,' Leia was standing at the threshold of their room. 'I feel bad for uncle Shelly.'

Wyatt rolled her eyes:

'You feel bad for everyone on this planet.'

Leia hang on their doorknob, frowning.

'Come on, he's really trying this time. Maybe it's important for him. Let's play with him or something?'

Wyatt sighed, putting away her tablet.

'Okay, okay, let's go.'

The girls came out of the room and found uncle Sheldon sitting on his spot, drinking camomile tea and watching Star Wars for a thousandth time. He didn't look as content as always when watching his favorite movie, and Leia suddenly felt really really bad for him. She climbed on the couch, putting her arms around her uncle's neck and kissing him on the cheek.

'Uncle Shelly, we are really sorry,' she mumbled apologetically. 'Don't be mad.'

'I'm not mad,' Sheldon answered automatically, putting his cup on the table and hugging little Leia reflectively in return.

'Are you sad?' Wyatt asked, cocking her head to the side.

'Yeah, I am,' he confessed. 'Just thinking what am I going to do with my own kid, if he's like you two,' he chuckled.

'You'll be lucky then,' Leia grinned. 'Daddy always says we're the best thing that happened to him and mommy.'

'Well, your dad's a natural,' Sheldon shrugged. 'I'm obviously not.'

'You'll be fine,' Leia waved aside. 'Just don't force your kids to watch that Star thingies every time you're alone with them.'

'And let them have a choice,' Wyatt advised. 'Because little doesn't mean stupid.'

'I know that, smarty pants,' Sheldon sounded offended.

'Good, I was just checking!'

'Okay,' Sheldon sighed. 'What do you want to do?'

Leia and Wyatt exchanged glances and suddenly smiled to each other.

'Let's watch your Star thingy, uncle Shelly,' Leia said softly.

'Really?' Sheldon smiled.

'Yeah,' Wyatt agreed. 'But we're doing this for your future kids.'

'For my kids?' Sheldon was surprised.

'Maybe if you show us this stupid movie, you'll finally find your piece and won't torture your children with it!'

Sheldon laughed. He knew he was still going to torture with it not only his kids, but also his grandkids, and even his grand-grandkids, if he's lucky enough.