On Monday Amy made an appointment for the following day with her doctor. She texted Sheldon to let him know.

You are going to need to see if Leonard can drive you home from work tomorrow. I made an appointment. - A

Can I come with? - S

If you want to. - A

Amy thought it was peculiar that Sheldon wanted to come with. He had never been with her to the doctor's, but she wasn't going to stop him.


The next day, Sheldon showed up at Amy's lab at two. He was ready to go with her to her appointment, so they left together. Sheldon wanted to make sure that he had a handle on this baby thing before they even started. Part of him had been trying to learn that it meant losing control sometimes. Sheldon was sure that would never be easy for him, but he was working towards it. Leaving work early without a week's notice seemed like a way to continue that.

They went into the office and signed in before they sat down. Amy played with Sheldon's hand while they waited. Sheldon looked over at her.

"Are you nervous?" Sheldon asked.

"A little. I want this so badly, but what if it doesn't work out?" Amy told him. She was expressing a fear that had been living in her brain for a while.

"We'll figure it out if we come to it. We aren't even trying yet," Sheldon said.

"Yeah. That's true. We've made it this far," Amy said.

Then they were called to the back. After they weighed Amy and took her blood pressure, they left her with a gown to change into. She changed and then sat on the table and waited for the doctor to come in.

"Hey, guys. What brings you in today?" the doctor asked when he came in.

"Well, we are interested in starting a family, and I guess we just wanted to know what we need to know and do before that can happen," Amy told him.

The doctor looked at the chart. "Okay. Well, according to your chart you are currently taking birth control pills. We recommend at least being off those for at least two months. Some other things that we recommend include cutting back on caffeine and alcohol," he explained. Then he handed them a list of things to do. "I also recommend you start prenatal vitamins now," the doctor said. Then he leaned Amy back so that he could start examining her.

Sheldon held Amy's hand. There was no reason to be particularly nervous, but they both were. "We can run some blood work if you would like, but I don't see any reason you shouldn't be able to conceive," the doctor said with a smile. "However, if you have any concerns, please don't hesitate to come back to see us."

"Yes. We would like the blood work," Sheldon said.

"Go ahead and answer for me. You're the one who doesn't have to get poked with a needle," Amy said.

"Sorry," Sheldon said sheepishly.

"We will take the blood work though. I want to be sure that everything is okay before we do this," Amy said.

"Okay. I'll write the orders. Any other questions?"

"Not that I can think of," Amy said.

"Great. Good luck," the doctor said before he left Amy to get dressed again.

"That wasn't too bad," Sheldon said as they left. He had the orders for Amy's blood work in his hand. They had to go to a different location to get that done, and it required a fast, so Amy was going to do it the next morning before she went into work.

They were almost home when Sheldon's phone started ringing. He looked at his phone, but didn't recognize the number.

"Hello. Dr. Cooper speaking."

"Hi. Dr. Cooper, it's Katherine McConnell. I don't know if you remember me, but you and your wife were interested in purchasing my house about a month ago," the voice on the other end of the line said.

"Oh, of course. The brown house," Sheldon said. Amy turned to look at him. She pulled the car over to try to find out what was going on.

"Yes. Well, I don't know if you are still looking, but we've lowered our asking price, and I wanted to contact you first. Technically, we've lowered it by $20,000, but my husband and I were speaking, and we are willing to drop it another $5,000 if we can close the deal before the holidays. We are going to move at the beginning of January, and it would be great if we had all of this settled before then," Katherine said.

"How long do we have to think about it?" Sheldon asked.

"We can give you two days before we start giving that offer to other people. Derek and I really liked you guys. You really did remind us of ourselves when we were just starting out," Katherine said.

"Let me talk to my wife, and we will get back to you soon," Sheldon said.

"Okay. Have a good day, Dr. Cooper. I hope to hear from you soon," Katherine said.

"Thank you so much for calling," Sheldon said.

Sheldon hung up the phone and turned to Amy. "That was Katherine, the woman who owns the brown house. It seems that if we are willing to buy the house by the holidays, they will bring the price down by $25,000, which is more than I ever hoped. Still, I've been over those numbers again and again, and we still another $10,000 in addition to our loan to make that."

"If we had some more time, we could come up with that," Amy said.

"That's the thing. They are giving us two days to get back to them before they give that offer to other people. Then the price goes up another $5,000 if they still haven't sold it by the holidays," Sheldon said.

"So, best case scenario is that we can come up with $15,000 before they sell it?" Amy asked.

"I guess," Sheldon said.

"I have an idea, but you aren't going to like it," Amy said.

"What is it?" Sheldon asked.

"My parents could probably loan us the $10,000. My mom would probably just hand it over if I told her that we were just at the doctor's office talking about having a kid. No questions," Amy offered.

Sheldon groaned. "I really don't want to borrow that kind of money from your parents."

"Do you have another option? I really want this, Sheldon," Amy said. Then she started the car and finished driving home.

"Let me go over the numbers again," Sheldon said.

"Okay," Amy said. She knew that he hadn't made a mistake and she knew that he wouldn't be able to fix it and make it work. He'd been trying for the last few weeks, and he hadn't had any luck so far. Still, he needed time to think about it. If it were just up to Amy, she would go to her parents, but it hadn't been just up to her since the day she said, "I do."

Sheldon went over those numbers again, but he knew he couldn't make it work. He hated it. Math had always been his friend, but it was failing him. Sheldon didn't know what to do, so he called Leonard.

"Hey, buddy," Leonard said.

"Hello," Sheldon said. "If you could get the house of your dreams, but it required you to go to Penny's parents and ask for a five digit sum of money, would you?"

"I don't know. That's a lot of money," Leonard said.

"The owners of the house that we love lowered the price, but we are still $10,000 short. Amy is sure that her parents will be happy to lend us that, but I don't know if I can do it. What if it makes them believe I'm not suitable for their daughter?" Sheldon said.

"You guys are already married. I don't think they have a lot of say in it. Maybe you should talk to them, and make it clear that it's a loan, not a handout. Or could you go to your own mother? Maybe you would feel more comfortable taking her money," Leonard suggested.

"My mom doesn't have that kind of money easily available. I'm not sure I could take it from her either," Sheldon said.

"Maybe the best way to take care of Amy is to listen to her," Leonard said. "She's a smart woman, and she knows what she's doing. Wouldn't it be better to listen to her and get your dream house by putting your own pride to the side than to just let it go because you are worried about how you'll look?"

"I hate when you're right," Sheldon said.

"I know, but I think I am this time," Leonard said.

"Thanks, Leonard."

"You're welcome. Good luck," Leonard said before hanging up.

"Amy," Sheldon yelled to the bedroom.

"What?"

"Call your parents. We need to talk to them," Sheldon said.

Amy walked out into the living room. She smiled at him and went over to sit on his lap. "Okay," she said as she pulled out her phone.

She dialed the phone and waited. Sheldon had his arms around her waist. "Mother, it's Amy. I was wondering if Sheldon and I could come over tonight. We have a big favor to ask you and Daddy," she said.

"Of course, Amy. Have you two had dinner yet? I'm making meatloaf, and you two are welcome to join us. I'll set a couple more places," Mrs. Fowler said.

"That sounds wonderful. Thank you, Mother," Amy said. "We'll be there in under an hour."

"Okay, see you soon, dear."

Amy sighed and leaned into Sheldon's chest. "Okay. They are expecting us for dinner. I'm sure this will go just fine," she said.

"The worst they can do is say no. Then we'll be back to hoping that we can raise the money before they sell the house. We are still a lot closer to owning that house than we were yesterday," Sheldon said. He knew he was faking optimism for Amy, but they both needed good things in their lives.

"Change is scary," Amy muttered. "You had it right before. Maybe we should just live like this forever. In this apartment with no children when we are 85."

"No. Don't do this to me. You are the one who pushes us forward," Sheldon said as he pulled Amy closer to him.

"I'm tired of pushing us forward," Amy said.

"Fine. I'll push us forward for a while. First up, we are going to talk to your parents. You're still going to have to drive. Just because I'm going to pretend to be the grown up for a while, doesn't mean I can drive," Sheldon said.

"Okay," Amy said with a smile. "You don't need to pretend to be a grown up. You are one."

"No one has accused me of that before," Sheldon said.

"I've seen you grow up a lot in the last year. You and I are good for each other," Amy said. She curled into Sheldon.

"No. You need to get up. Let's go," Sheldon said.

Amy sighed and got off of Sheldon's lap. He stood up and they left to go to her parents' house. Amy drove, but hesitated after she parked.

"Let's go," Sheldon said as he grabbed her hand. He could play the grown up for a couple of days. It would be worth it if they could get the house.

They went up to the door and were hugged and kissed by Amy's mother. Then they were ushered into sit at the table.

"I hope this is about the pitter patter of little feet," Amy's mother said in a singsong voice.

"Not directly," Amy said. She had been planning to wait until after dinner to ask about the money, but she didn't want to get her mother's hopes up. "We actually have another thing that we would like to get settled first. As you know, we've been looking for a house. Well, we found one. It was perfect and we loved it so much. However, it was more than we could afford, so we kept looking. Only, today we got news that they lowered the price, and it's still a bit too much for us. We...," Amy paused and grabbed Sheldon's hand.

"We need another $10,000 to get it. The price will go up by another $5,000 if we wait until the new year," Sheldon finished.

"And you want the money from us?" Amy's father asked.

"It would be a loan, sir," Sheldon said.

"Why is that exactly?" Mr. Fowler said.

"I'm sorry?" Sheldon asked.

"You two insisted on paying for your own wedding. You haven't let us help you out in anyway," Amy's father said.

"I wanted to prove that I'm capable of taking care of your daughter, sir," Sheldon said.

"Amy's a strong independent woman. She doesn't need you to take care of her that way. However, this is the first time I've seen you humbled enough to ask for help, and I appreciate that, Sheldon."

"You do?" Sheldon asked. He felt relieved that Amy's father wasn't kicking them out. He didn't even realize the implications of what Amy's father was saying.

"Daddy, are you saying that you want to just give us the money?" Amy asked.

"Yes," Mr. Fowler said.

"Don't you need to discuss it?" Amy asked.

Amy's mother shook her head.

"That's it? You are just giving us the money?" Amy asked again.

Sheldon laughed a little. "We didn't even have to tell them that we went to the doctor today," he said.

"Sheldon!" Amy admonished.

"Are you going to have a baby?" Amy's mother squeaked.

"No," Amy said before giving Sheldon a dirty look. "I'm okay. Everything is okay. We just went to the doctor today to see what we should do to start trying," Amy started. "No. Don't look at me like that, Mother," she added when her tears started streaming down her mother's face.

"I'm sorry. I'm just surprised is all. You've been saying that you two aren't ready for so long now," Amy's mother said. "You two are so stubborn, but here you are, asking for help and talking about having a baby."

"Mother, please stop crying," Amy said. She looked at Sheldon for help, but they were both confused. They thought that her parents might lend them the money, but something had taken a left turn and they were both befuddled about what to do next.

"I'm okay, Amy. Let's just get you that check," she said as she got up.

Sheldon just shrugged and kept eating his meatloaf. Amy got up and followed her mother, leaving Sheldon and her father alone at the table.

"This is really good. Does Amy have this recipe? I'll have to make it sometime," Sheldon commented.

Amy's father just laughed. He didn't think he would ever understand his son-in-law, but Mr. Fowler knew that his daughter married a good man.

"Please don't read more into all of this than there is. I still need to be off my birth control pills for a while and as you pointed out, I'm not exactly young. This might take a while," Amy told her mother when they were alone. "And you know Sheldon, he might decide he needs more time tomorrow."

"You don't have to have a baby to please me. I... I just can't believe how grown up you are, Amy. My little girl is so grown up," Amy's mother said as she hugged Amy. "It seems like it was just yesterday that I was bringing you home from the hospital."

"Mother, I'm in my 30s with a doctorate. I've been married for over a year. Why is this the thing that is upsetting you?" Amy asked.

"I'm not upset. I'm just so proud of you. It's all of those things. I've raised a beautiful woman who seemed like she was so wrapped up in her academic pursuits that she wouldn't ever find love. I underestimated you. You've done it all. Maybe not the way I would have, but you have such a beautiful life," Amy's mother said as she sobbed into Amy's shoulder.