Disclaimer (credits to XMarisolX): The Big Bang Theory is an American sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, and is produced by them along with Lee Aronsohn. It is a Warner Brothers production and airs on CBS. All characters, plots and creative elements derived from the source material belong exclusively to their respective owners. I, the author of the fan fiction, do not, in any way, profit monetarily from the story.
Chapter 1
Her Shelly bean
"Shelly dear, wake up." Mary knocked softy on the door. She waited for a while, straining to hear if there are movements coming from inside. There was none.
Again, she knocked. "Shelly, are you up?"
"No, I'm not."
She let out an exasperated sigh. With a turn of the knob, she opened the door and went inside.
There in front of her is Sheldon, lying on his side with half of his body still covered in bed sheet.
"Come on now, dear. Church will start in an hour and you'll need to eat your breakfast so you won't faint during Pastor Ben's sermon."
"Mom, I told you a hundred times," he pulled the sheet over his head, "I don't want to go to church."
Her voice sounded lower than usual. "Now you listen to me young boy and you will listen to me clear," she cleared her throat before she continued. "The Lord doesn't like it when people do not celebrate his son Jesus Christ's day of birth and none of my children will displease Him by doing something he doesn't like."
"But Mom," Sheldon whined, shoving out the cover off his head. "Jesus was born during the summer, not on a winter season. Everyone knows that they only moved his birthday on December so that it could coincide with the pagan tradition that was held during the winter solstice. In fact, we should be calling it Newtonmas since it's actually Sir Isaac Newton's birthday." He raised his eyebrows at his mother. She didn't look pleased.
Glaring at him, she pulled the covers off the rest of his body and pointed a finger at him, barely centimeters from his face. "Don't you sass me boy, not even on Christmas. Get up. Now."
Swallowing hard, his eyes shifted from the finger pointed at him to his mother's face. Her eyes were like narrow slits, and it was as if smoke was about to come out of her nostrils. "Fine."
She lowered her hand and closed her eyes. She tried to control her breathing, mentally counting from one to twenty. The sound of Sheldon slamming his bedroom door drove her out of concentration.
Truth be told, she was getting tired of her son's shenanigans. Sitting down on his bed, she looked up aimlessly and closed her eyes once more. "Lord, thank you for the blessing that is my boy, Sheldon. But right now I'm not sure if you actually gave him as punishment for accepting strawberry wine from strangers."
Breakfast was unusually quiet between the Coopers, with George clearing his throat every time he turned the page of his newspaper, and Missy and George Jr. smirking at their glaring brother. Amidst this, Mary was still all-smiles and pretended none of this was taking place.
"Dad, may I be excused?"
"Ask your mother." With that, he stood up and headed to his shed, probably to drink again away from his wife's sight.
As soon as he left, Sheldon looked at his mother. "Mom, may I be excused?"
She turned to him and saw that her youngest was looking at her with less haughtiness than he usually had whenever he had the nerve to sass her. At least he still had the decency to be respectful. Thank you, Jesus. "Sure, baby."
He stood up from his chair before she continued, "And no shortcut by the Christmas tree. We all agreed to open the presents after the mass."
He continued to walk away, muttering under his breath, "By 'we' you mean 'you'."
"What was that, Shelly?"
"Nothing, Mom."
Missy, who was watching the exchange, spoke up. "Mom, may I please be excused too?"
"Nobody else will leave this table until they've finished their plate."
"But Mom—"
"Now eat your breakfast, Missy or we'll all miss church."
George Jr. leaned closer to his sister and whispered, "I beg you, sis. Please, don't you ever eat that last bacon."
Suddenly, a stomping 12 year-old Sheldon made his way back into the dining area and stood beside his sister, towering her.
"What did you do to my Mr. Spock action figure?" He furiously placed the toy on the table.
"Boy, aren't you screwed right now, Missy." George Jr. stood up from his seat to avoid the apocalypse that was about to take place. "I'll just be with Dad and work on… whatever he's doing."
"Me? I didn't do anything!" Missy defended.
"Yeah Shelly, what's wrong?" Their mother asked.
He accusingly pointed at his sister. "That… that girl took my Mr. Spock action figure in the middle of the night, brought it to her room and covered it with make-up!"
"You went into my room?" she said in disbelief.
"How else do you think I got my Mr. Spock back?"
Mary slammed her hand on the table, rendering the twins silent. "Alright!" She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Counting to five and exhaling, she continued. "That's enough from you two. I want you," she pointed at her daughter, "to finish that last piece of bacon. You," now shifting her finger towards her youngest, "are going to rinse you Spock doll—"
"Action figure," Sheldon interjected.
"Action figure and get dressed. Missy, once you finish that I want you to go find you brother and your father and tell them to get ready too. It's Christmas for Pete's sake. Where is the spirit?"
Both left the dining area and she was all alone by the table. Last night, she was up late trying to marinade chicken cutlets so that once they get home from church she could just coat them in flour and garlic powder, then leave them in the fryer while they open the presents by the Christmas tree. To her, last night was no different with this morning. She felt like she was alone, like she was the only one who bothers to celebrate Christmas—to celebrate anything. But she guessed it's her job to encourage them. This was what she signed up for—to take care of her family and remind them that there's more to everything.
She looked back at the table in front of her, still filled with empty plates and mugs. As she started to clear it up, Sheldon's Spock toy caught her attention. Shaking her head, she picked it up and headed for the sink.
"Lord, we thank you for this day that we were all able to celebrate the birth of your son, Jesus. I hope that even after this glorious mass, we are still going to remember that this season is not just about the gifts—the material things that everyone awaits to be given to them, but this season is about being thankful for the best gift of all that you have given us. It is about being thankful that you have given us Jesus Christ to save us from our sins. Again, we thank you for the most wonderful gift any of us has received."
"Amen." The whole church echoed.
"Again, before we all leave, I would like to remind everyone that this season is not about the gifts, but of the eternal blessings he have given us. Let us at least be thankful for our family, that we are able to celebrate with them,"
"Full twelve hours of celebrating in the church, with them." Sheldon muttered mostly to himself.
Mary turned to look at her son and glared at him. He suddenly went quiet and bowed his head.
"Merry Christmas and may the glory of God be with you all."
With that, the sound of the choir once again filled the place and everyone started to leave. Missy was pushing George Jr. who was at the far left their bench, followed by their father and their mother.
Sheldon, who was behind Mary, felt something hit the back of his head. He looked down and saw a piece of crumpled paper that was thrown at him. Reaching down to pick it up, he felt another one bounce off his head.
"Ow!" He reached up and rubbed the top of his head.
"Merry Christmas, Smelly Pooper!"
Mary turned and saw Sheldon crouched down with his hand on his head, looking at a girl a few rows from them, poking out her tongue at her son. She walked back towards him, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Is there something wrong, Shellybean?"
As soon as Mary came into view, the girl immediately looked away and walked towards the exiting crowd.
"That girl threw pieces of paper at me!"
"Oh, honey. Just ignore her. Have you forgotten what Pastor Ben just said a few hours ago?"
"Since I have an eidetic memory, of course I haven't. Although the ambiguity of your statement makes it difficult to pinpoint which of the things he had discussed you were referring to."
"I was referring to what he said about kids being naughty even on Christmas day. They won't get their gift once they're back at home."
"Oh. The concept of Karma." His eyes widened at the recollection. "Well, I do hope she doesn't get even an allowance once school is back."
The church is nearing empty and they started to walk back towards the exit. "Why, has that girl been naughty the whole year round?"
He snorted at his mother's question. "Mother, she's a bully so she's 'naughty' ever since she was born. I tell you, she's worse than Missy. Sometimes I wish she gets eaten by a dog on her way home."
Placing a hand on her chest she retorted, "Sheldon, watch your language! We're still in the church."
"But it's true, Mom. I hate her."
"Well, I must say Shelly, from what I've seen, the feeling seems mutual."
"That's the point! I don't understand why they hate me in the first place. I'm obviously far more brilliant than them and they should be bowing down to me. I'm already in college which is an achievement they're far off from getting at."
"Darling, you know what the problem is? Just because you are smarter than them doesn't mean you're above them. People don't like it when you point that out."
"Point out what? That I'm far more evolved than those gorilla-heads?"
She looked back at him with such intensity that could make a jungle cat cry. He looked away and bit his bottom lip.
They remained quiet until they reached the exit where George and her two children were waiting for them.
"What on Earth took you two so long?" George asked his wife.
"Oh, I'll tell you once we're back in the car." She started to walk ahead of them. "Well come on now! Those chicken cutlets don't fry themselves."
"Yes!" George Jr.'s face brightened.
"Oh, wow! We're having fried chicken!" Missy cheered.
Sheldon crossed his arms and remained quiet. His brother noticed his lack of enthusiasm. "Why so sad, Smelly?"
He rolled his eyes. "Will you please stop calling me that?"
"Never." He gave his brother a mischievous smile. "Again, why so sad, Smelly Pooper? I thought you like Mom's chicken."
Opening the door to the back seat, he sighed. "I'm just not in the mood. Not even for your silly little games." He forcefully threw himself inside the vehicle and sat beside Missy.
Once dinner was done, they all sat by the Christmas tree. Missy crouched down the tree to grab the gift with her name on it. George Jr. did the same while Sheldon remained seated on his spot on the couch, his arms folded on his lap.
"Wait… wait." Mary commanded her children before they started to rip off the gift wrap. "Have you kids forgotten something?"
All three kids looked at each other and then at their dad. He shrugged before drinking again from his flask.
"Y'all forgot to pray." All of them rolled their heads in annoyance. "Lord, thank you for these blessings that we are about to receive tonight. Also, thank you for your loving guidance and that you always keep us safe no matter what. I hope that we will never forget what we've learned today and that these kids appreciate whatever they are to receive tonight no matter what. Amen."
Barely a second passed and the sound of gift wrappers being ripped filled the living room. Mary sat beside Sheldon who was watching his siblings open their gifts.
"Honey, why aren't you opening your gift?"
"I already know mine." He said while looking at his brother who was peeling off the pieces of tape still stuck on his football.
"Haven't I told you to stay away from the tree before Christmas?"
"Yes."
"Then why did you disobey me?"
"Mom, without even looking at the contents, I already know it's the Lieutenant Data action figure I was asking from you three months ago."
"Then are you not happy that we got you what you were asking for?"
"Oh, no Mom! It's not that. Quite the contrary, I'm thrilled."
"Really?"
He looked up at her and nodded. "Yes."
"Then why that face, honey?"
"I just…" He looked at his brother who was talking to his father and his sister who was happily brushing her new doll's hair. "I just don't feel celebratory right now."
"My poor Shelly." She leaned closer and hugged her youngest. "Was it because of that girl?"
"No."
"Don't lie to me boy."
He huffed. "They won't stop bullying me, Mommy. They won't stop. I don't go to school with them anymore but they still target me. What's wrong with me?"
"Nothing!" She ran her hand on his forehead through his hair. "There's absolutely nothing wrong with you, Shelly." She looked up at the ceiling before she spoke again. "Well, besides your condescension, there's nothing wrong with my sweet, special Shelly."
"Then why do they hate me?" His voice faltered.
"I don't know, dear. I don't know." She placed her chin on top of his head when she heard him sniff. Then, she pulled away from him and stood. "Wait here."
She went to the kitchen to retrieve and came back with his Spock toy. "My Mr. Spock action figure! I was looking for it before we left!" He gleefully took the toy from her.
"You left it on the table after you ranted on your sister. Don't worry, I already washed and sanitized it for you."
"Thanks, Mom." He took his gift under the tree and went for the stairs. Halfway up, he paused and went back down a few steps. "Merry Christmas, Mom."
"Merry Christmas, Shelly."
He smiled at her before running back up to his room.
Mary gave a loud groan as she laid herself onto their bed beside George, who was snoring lightly.
"George?" She shook her husband's arm. "George, you're snoring again."
"Huh? What?" He forced himself into a sitting position, looking very alarmed. "Where's the robber?"
"Calm down, George," she placed a hand on his shoulder and coaxing him to lie back down. "There ain't no robbers."
"Then why on Earth did you wake me up?"
"I said you were snoring so loud! Even the neighbors can hear you."
"Ah, who cares about them?" She rolled her eyes.
He lied down back onto his side of the bed and closed his eyes. He was about to get back to his sleep when he heard a loud sigh from the other side of the bed.
"Alright." He turned to his side, facing her. "What's troubling you?"
She closed her eyes and gave one last huff. "Your son, Sheldon. I feel bad for him." She smoothed out the bed sheet with her hand before she continued, "Can you believe it, George? Even on Christmas, he got bullied. By a girl."
"Oh, I know our boy. He'll just shrug those bullies off."
She turned to look at him, shaking her head. "Doesn't seem like it when we were down opening the gifts. Have you seen his face?"
"You seem to be forgetting our boy is a Cooper. You just have to take your time with him, Mary. You have to take your time with Sheldon."
"I hope you're right, George." She reached out grabbed his hand.
Silence filled their room for a moment before George started snoring again. She squeezed his hand, and smiled.
Looking up the ceiling she whispered, "Lord, thank you for everything that you have given to me and my family. But if you would allow, I have one last wish for this Christmas. No, not for me—for my son, Shelly." She was interrupted her husband's loud snore. "I just wish that he'd be able meet someone who would finally make him happy," she let go of his hand and reached up to caress his cheek, "and treat him with all the love and respect he deserved. Amen."
Closing her eyes, she drifted off to sleep.
Author's notes: Hello. This is my "first" fanfic. This is my failed submission for Big Bang Big Bang this year, but was only able to produce THIS chapter. I'll try my best to finish this fakakta story this year or have it until January or February. I am posting this now because it's only a month before Christmas and this is my sort-of gift to y'all Shamy shippers. As far as I can see, this seems to be the 300th story in the Amy Farrah Fowler All fics filter here in ffnet, so... Yay me!
I promise there won't be any car accidents or even character deaths in this story. I'm not that mean, unlike some people...
Oh, and thank you to my wonderful beta, kbcountry37!