So the previous chapter had been a tumblr oneshot that I decided to expand upon, because one Shamy baby story simply isn't enough. And because of that, double update this time! I'm hoping to update this often, but no guarantees.

Also, this fic takes place a few years in the future, hence the references to Star Wars movies yet to be released. What I've put below is absolutely NO indication of what the actual new films will be like, just came from my own wacky imagination. Enjoy!

As they began the harrowing four flight trek up to their apartments, Leonard turned to face his taller friend. "So have you seen the trailer for Episode IX yet?"

Sheldon gave him his signature snort of derision. "Have I seen the trailer… have I heard of Einstein's theory of relativity? Have I earned a record number of nine restraining orders from various washed-up celebrities?"

"Okay, okay, I get your point," Leonard muttered irritably. "What did you think?"

"Well, apart from the special effects, I still don't see any reason why Disney had felt that they could improve upon the original series in the first place," Sheldon began. "Mark Hamill is no Yoda; his lightsaber skills do not improve with age. And resurrecting Darth Vader? Seriously? Much as I love James Earl Jones, in what universe does that make sense?"

"Could be worse," his friend reasoned. "They could've recast Hayden Christensen in the role."

Sheldon stopped dead in his tracks, daring a glance over to Leonard. The two shuddered in perfect sync.

Once they reached their floor, Leonard sighed and pulled his key from his pocket. "Well, see ya." He crossed the hall and was in the process of unlocking when he realized Sheldon had not yet moved. Turning around he saw his friend staring at the door to his apartment like it was the entrance to Mordor. Then recalling who was within those walls, perhaps that wasn't far from the truth. "Something wrong?"

Sheldon whipped back to stare at him, then back to the door, then back to him again. "Nooooo," he began shakily. "I just… realized your home is probably in an atrocious state of chaos right now, given Penny's previously endless infractions to the laws of cleanliness." He made a beeline for Leonard's door. "I'll just help tidy up a little-"

"Wait, wait, hold on," Leonard interrupted with a hand pushing Sheldon back. "You're scared to face her, aren't you?"

The physicist looked as if he wanted to argue, but knew that it was fruitless lying to the person who knew him better than anyone save for one. He slumped forward. "Last night she threw my collector's edition model Batmobile at me because I said she looked tired."

Inwardly Leonard sighed at his friend's lack of understanding the female mind even after three years of marriage, but outwardly he winced in sympathy. "She didn't hurt you, did she?"

"Oh I didn't even have to duck, she has terrible aim." He glanced surreptitiously back at his door, as if afraid she could hear them. "She's a scientist, not a softball player."

"And right now she's a new mother on maternity leave with no one to keep her company all day but a temperamental infant," Leonard told him. "That's bound to put anyone on wit's end."

"I know, and I applaud her perseverance. But," he sighed heavily, looking again to the door but this time distinctly in longing. "I miss my wife."

Melting a little at his buddy's forlorn expression, Leonard walked past him to the other side of the hall. "Well then," he opened the door, gesturing inside. "Go find her again."

Sheldon peeked through and gulped nervously, but obliged. He got as far the doorway when he began to falter yet again, looking like when someone was in his spot, not quite sure where his place in the world was anymore.

Leonard breathed gustily through his nose, looking to the ceiling. "Want me to come along?"

His friend immediately perked up. "That would be perfect!" and no longer hesitated to enter his home.

The bespectacled homunculus reluctantly trailed behind. I am so going to regret this.

Making their way to the back of the apartment, the two scientists halted in front of the bedroom that had once belonged to Leonard. Miles more confident with his best friend at his side, Sheldon opened the door while simultaneously performing his usual ritual.

Knock, knock, knock. "Amy."

Knock, knock, knock. "Amy."

Knock, knock-

"SHELDON I SWEAR I AM GOING TO RIP APART YOUR MAN BITS UNTIL YOU CAN NEVER SIT DOWN AGAIN."

Yep, already regretting this.

There was a long, pregnant pause, rife with tension, before-

Knock. "Amy."

The woman in question wheeled around, five feet and four inches of such utter menace that both men recoiled in fear. She was still in her robe, hair in disarray and glasses slightly askew, bouncing little Amelia in arms as she chewed on her fist like her mother's rage was the most ordinary thing in the world. Leonard shuddered at the thought that maybe to her, it was.

Amy's stance relaxed a bit at the sight that they had company. "Hi Leonard."

The experimental physicist approached her in the exact way that Mary Cooper had taught him to deal with her son: like a skittish faun. "Hey Amy. How are you?"

"Frustrated. Defeated." she threw a scathing glare at her husband. "Tired."

Sheldon dared a step forward with his arms in the air, already prepared to protect himself from the onslaught that was certain to come. "Listen-"

"No you listen, hotshot." She whirled around to grab something from the changing table, waving it in his face. "What is this?"

Sheldon blinked. "Amy, you have a doctorate in biology. I'd hope that you're intelligent enough to recognize our daughter's pacifier in your hand."

"Well, I most certainly did recognize it on the floor this morning. Honestly, you disinfect yourself when you're forced to touch a suspicious looking doorknob, yet you didn't think to pick up the thing that would be in your child's mouth?"

"It was two in the morning!" Sheldon cried. "You know my brain doesn't function to its highest standard when my REM cycle is disturbed."

"Oh, I'll give you something that'll disturb your precious cycle right now-"

Almost as if she could sense the discord between her parents (and perhaps she could, Leonard thought; she was their child, after all), Amelia's face began to screw up just before the first of her cries resounded throughout the tiny room.

Both mother and father halted all disagreements at the sight and sound of their baby upset. "Oh honey, no," Sheldon soothed, his Texan drawl bleeding through as he took the little girl and cradled her to his chest. "It's alright, Lia. Mommy and Daddy are fine."

"Not so sure about Mommy," Amy said, collapsing into the nearby rocking chair. She pushed her glasses up her face as she ran a hand over her haggard eyes, and when she removed it there were tears glistening in them. "I'm a failure."

Sheldon, lips against the crown of Amelia's head as she started settling down, looked up with eyes aching for his wife. "Amy-"

"I've been trying to get her to nap for hours, couldn't do that. Before that I tried nursing her, couldn't do that either. Now I even make her cry, while you're the one who has her feeling safe and loved." She removed her glasses and put them on the nightstand, weeping in earnest now. "It hasn't even been three months and I can't manage being a mother."

Leonard made a move to go to her, but surprisingly Sheldon beat him to it. Taking a step forward, he crouched down beside Amy so that he was looking up at her, his eyes shining and serious. "You're right."

Leonard didn't even try to hide his groan. Sheldon ignored him.

"It has been almost three months," he clarified. "In fact, it'll be three in exactly nine days. And you know what happens then?"

Amy nodded, expression blank and vacant despite the watery eyes. "My maternity leave will be over."

"Exactly." His gaze turned with fondness to his daughter as he nuzzled the baby's head. "Then it'll be my turn to care for our little genius."

Sometimes Leonard looked at his best friend like he was the eighth wonder of the world. In all their time together Sheldon had hugged him a grand total of four times, but when it came to his daughter he dished out his affections like penny candy. Even now he was staring down at his girl with a look of pure love meant particularly for her, dubbed by Penny as his "megawatt koala face."

The biologist chuckled quietly as she swiped a hand under her eyes. "You sure you won't mind working from home?"

Sheldon rolled his eyes. "Please. A few months and Lia here will be smarter and more engaging than half the University staff. She's already beat out the geologists."

Amy grew quiet for a long moment, staring at nothing once again. "Am I a horrible person for wanting to go back to work?"

The physicist tilted his head in thought. "No. You've been working hard at being a mother, and doing a wonderful job of it, may I add." Rising to his feet he took Amy by the hand and pulled her into a one-armed embrace, nose buried in her hair, and Leonard wondered if perhaps their Shelly knew more about this husband stuff than he had originally been given credit. "You're just worn out right now, but give it a few weeks in boring old biology and you'll be begging for Fridays to come, when we switch places and it'll be my turn to deal with the Neanderthals of the science world."

Leonard tried really hard not to take issue with that comment. Really, really hard.

Amy stared up at her husband before standing on tiptoe to press a kiss to his cheek. "I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"I'm sorry I didn't pick up the binky."

"Forgiven."

"Likewise."

Clearly overjoyed at seeing her parents make up, Amelia broke into a toothless smile and began waving one tiny hand enthusiastically through the air. Amy caught it and smoothed her larger palm over the baby's, pushing back against it Tarzan style.

Sheldon looked on in awed fascination. "Her hands look more like yours every day."

All this Leonard observed with nothing short of amazement, having trouble believing this was the same man he had met over fifteen years prior. He had been certain the man would die alone, shouting the quadratic equation at kids from his front porch (or the window of his psychiatric ward), and yet here he was, a girl in each arm.

Having seen enough, Leonard quietly bowed out and finally made his way to his own apartment. He reached the hallway just as Penny was coming up the stairs from work.

"Hey, what were you doing at the home of Whackadoodle and company?" his wife asked.

Leonard said nothing, only staring straight back at the beautiful woman, the exact kind he had been told his whole life he would never be able to get. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he pulled her forward and planted a sweet, heartfelt kiss to her perfect lips.

Penny smiled up at him when he pulled away, practically glowing. "Any particular reason for your good behavior today?" She narrowed her eyes teasingly. "Did you buy another time machine?"

"No," Leonard replied with a shrug. Then he grinned again, placing a hand over Penny's middle, where if you looked close enough would notice the slightest bump. "Just can't wait 'till we get our own little genius."

Penny put her own hands on top of his, returning the smile before grabbing it and pulling him into their apartment. She glanced back, just as radiant as the day they met. "Smart and beautiful, right?"

"Absolutely."

~0~0~0~0~0~

"Well, Miss Amelia, you've caused quite a stir in your brief time on this earth," Sheldon murmured as he swung rhythmically back and forth in the rocking chair, his little girl half asleep in his arms. "I would expect nothing less from my offspring, but why don't you go easier on your mom, alright? She tries so hard for you and me, so the least we can do is allow her to catch up on the recommended eight hours a night of sleep."

His friends would deny the verity of his claim, but he would swear to the God he refused to believe in that he saw his daughter nod in agreement, her eyes focused on his but drooping more by the minute.

Sheldon was still marveling at how much a baby can change in just a few short months. She had gotten bigger, obviously, but also a bit pudgier as well (which he, of course, found just adorable). Her hair had grown enough to reveal that it shared his sandy hue, but her eyes were shaping out to be all Amy's, beginning to shift from newborn blue to the soft spruce green he loved so much.

He watched quietly as said eyes fluttered lower and lower until they at last shut completely. A small sigh escaped the baby's lips as she finally drifted to sleep, but Sheldon still spent a minute more in the chair, simply rocking and holding and gazing.

When he eventually brought himself to stand, he placed a feather-soft kiss to her forehead and set her down in her crib. "Sleep well, little lady."

Sheldon stealthily padded his way from the room, and after softly shutting the door behind him just about bounced to his and Amy's bedroom, giddy with the gratification of having just spent time with his daughter and the excitement of the imminent time about to be spent with his wife.

But when he reached the threshold he found Amy dead asleep, having tumbled into bed without a care in the world. She was very much invading the sacred space that was his side of the bed, yet for once Sheldon didn't mind in the least, stopped in his tracks as he took a moment to study her.

Amy was sprawled across their bed, one arm slung across her forehead and the other dangling just barely off the edge of the bed. She hadn't even bothered removing her robe, the half of her face not concealed by her unkempt hair still blotchy from her recent crying, and there were bags under her eyes from lack of sleep as well. Her mouth hung open, and her snores sounded akin to a jackhammer ripping through a thick layer of concrete.

She was perfect.

Once he was sure he had every detail of this image seared into his eidetic memory, Sheldon quickly entered to room, changed into his pajamas, carefully placed the glasses forgotten in the nursery onto Amy's bedside table, and crossed over to his end of the bed. She turned her head towards him as he did so, drawn to him even in her sleep. Sheldon climbed in himself with a contented sigh after a long day, opting out of his usual sleeping position on his back in favor of his side, one arm tucked beneath his head as he stared across at his wife.

He hadn't been lying when he told Lia about how much Amy tries for them. For him she'd been doing so even from their time as just friends, always putting his needs above her own. Even during the time that he refused to do the same for her out of fear of his own feelings, or in other words (Sheldon gulped at the thought) sheer stupidity, she had remained steadfast in her love for him throughout.

Once he had at last let his mind catch up with his heart he tried his best to make up for lost time, but no amount of flowers and dinners and declarations and lovemaking could erase the look she still got at times, staring at Sheldon like she's waiting for the bazinga and for him to return to his old ways. Having Amelia had helped things some, but right now, overwhelmed with the charge of caring for another human being through the day, on her own, Amy still seemed to be getting the short end of the stick.

Sheldon reached a hand over to gently brush the hair from her face before trailing down and resting it on her cheek, a silent apology for years of a relationship based on a mutual admiration that skewed in his favor, even now it seemed. Amy stirred beneath his touch and slowly cracked her eyes open to meet his own. Sheldon wrenched his hand away immediately.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," he said quickly. "Go back to sleep- but only if you want to, of course. I promise I won't disturb you again."

Even in the dim lighting, Sheldon could see Amy staring at him long and hard, a sad look in her gaze. "Have I been that terrible to you?"

Her voice sounded so small it made him want to say anything to get his Amy back to her old confident self, but he was nothing if not an honest man. "You've thrown things at me. And yelled at me. And threatened to snap the ears off my Mr. Spock vintage action figure if I suggested one more time you condition yourself to acquire Vulcan hearing to listen for the baby's cries."

Amy's eyes shifted away a moment in shame, but soon turned back to him once again. She took his left hand in her right. "You know it's okay for us to fight sometimes, right?"

Sheldon nodded sagely, returning the gesture by grabbing her other hand. Both pairs rested on the pillows between them, intertwined like two branches of the same tree. "I do. Just… not in front of Lia, okay?"

The events of today had proved to Sheldon that his daughter had inherited his fragile heart. And thinking back to all the times he buried himself in textbooks or video games to distract from his parents' shouting match the next room over, and how it had taken years of being with Amy to convince him that he would not follow down the same path, he knew he never wanted to subject sweet little Amelia to the same.

Amy looked at him like she knew just what was going on in his head- as she always did. "Deal. And I hereby concede not to get upset with you as much."

Sheldon grinned at her phrasing, thinking back on the old days of their Relationship Agreement. They still had one (because he still refused to conform to the conventional idea of chaos over order. And besides, the contract had gotten them this far), but it had grown much shorter and less confining as he was changed little by little for the better, by his wife and for her. And he now acknowledged the fact that in some cases verbal agreements were just as binding, especially among two people who trusted each other as much as they did. "Seconded. And I hereby vow to place a more concerted effort into helping you care for our offspring so as to avoid you getting upset in the first place."

"Also seconded."

Sheldon smiled across to his wife, feeling a glow warm him from the inside out as he lifted their joined hands to stroke the downward slope of her jaw. "I love you, Amy."

In lieu of a reply, Amy slipped her arms around his neck to kiss him full on the mouth, knocking him onto his back. Now almost completely on top of him, she broke away to grant him one of her most disarming grins before resting her head on his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat. Sheldon wrapped both arms snugly around her frame, smiling in perfect content.

Maybe in the future Amy would worry about not being loved, but it wouldn't be tonight.