Hi lovely readers,
Thank you so much for all of the reviews on the last chapter. I can't believe you all still love reading these stories, it really means a lot.
This was requested by wanderingcrossroads, I did change a few things so I really hope it's okay for you. I kept this with the children that I already have in this little series so this focuses on Emily's graduation. I also don't really know all that much about the education system in the US so this is just how things work in the UK, you're 21 when you graduate from uni so that's how old Emily is in this.
Enjoy!
"I can't believe our baby graduates tomorrow" Amy beamed, as she pulled back the duvet and climbed into bed next to Sheldon. Tomorrow was a huge day for the Cooper family, another huge milestone that they would take on as parents. Their daughter, their beautiful first born was finally graduating.
When they became parents, they made a conscious decision on how they were going to raise their children. All they wanted was the very best for them. Amy didn't want her children to feel the pressure that she felt to be an academic success, she didn't want them to suffer socially the way both she and Sheldon did as children. And there was no way, no matter how gifted, talented or exceptional her children were that they were going off to college at just eleven years old like their father did.
Of course, they had brought them up to understand how important education was and how lucky they were to receive such a great one. Although it was important to both of them that their children were success and achieved great things, the most important thing in the world was their happiness and allowing them to fall in love with whatever took their fancy.
There were moments when the kids were younger when Amy would often have to pull Sheldon to one side and tell him that he was going a little too far with the whole physics talk. She had to occasionally remind him that they had agreed to let the children find their own paths. There was nothing that they loved more than simply watching their children find their own interests and passions.
At sixteen, Emily developed a love of psychology, not a real science in her fathers eyes but he would never tell her that. Similarly to her mother, Emily was fascinated by the brain and why and how people made decisions. She was captivated by human behaviour, thoughts and feelings so much so that she naturally fell into the career. Throughout her degree, she had started to delve deeper into child psychology which seemed to fascinate her.
Arthur had been the one who had simply fallen in love with science and fulfilled his fathers wishes. Just as his sister was graduating he was due to begin studying physics at Caltech in a few months time. As a child Arthur would sometimes go to work with Sheldon and watch his father carry out research or create a theory of some kind. The whole process fascinated him, Sheldon would tell his son what to write on his whiteboard and although his father had relayed the information to him, Arthur always felt so proud of himself. Little did either of them know that those moments would lead to a career in the field.
"I know" Sheldon responded. "Where has the time gone? She was just this big yesterday," he made a measurement with his hands showing how little she was when she was a baby.
"We did pretty good, didn't we?" she cuddled close to him. There was suddenly a gentle tap on their hotel room door, they checked the time, it had just left 11pm and they were both a little worried as to who might be on the other side.
"Mum, dad it's me" they heard a voice whisper.
"Oh lord, she isn't drunk is she?" Sheldon asked. They had arrive in Massachusetts that morning and as a family they had spent the day together, all going out for a nice family dinner. Emily had informed her parents that she and a few friends were heading out that evening to have a few drink before their graduation tomorrow.
"I doubt it" Amy climbed out of bed to let their daughter in, no matter the time or the situation, they would always be there when she needed them.
"Hi" Emily smiled sweetly as Amy pulled back the door. "Sorry, I didn't wake you guys up, did I?" she asked, still whispering in an attempt to not wake the other guest. She looked gorgeous, still in the beautiful green dress that she has worn for their dinner, her long, dark hair curled, half of it up and half of it down flowing past her shoulders and down her back. Her make up was minimal, most of what she had worn for dinner now faded.
"No, you're fine. What's wrong? Are you okay?" Amy stood back, her eyes scanning over her daughter to see if she was indeed okay. Once satisfied, Amy stood back to invite her in, closing the door behind her.
"I'm okay" she nodded, perching herself on the edge of the bed as Amy climbed back into bed. She could feel her parents watchful gaze on her, knowing that she was lying and needing answers. "Actually, I'm not okay. I'm just feeling really nervous about tomorrow" she admitted.
"What are you nervous about?" Sheldon asked.
"I don't know" she shrugged. "Messing up, letting you guys down"
"Oh" Amy reached forward and took hold of her hand. "How could you ever think you could let us down" she squeezed her hand. "You're here, you've made it here and we couldn't be prouder."
"Your mother's right. We are very proud" Sheldon commented, he was never good in situations where his daughter was upset but he felt like he needed to say something.
"Are you sure you're not just saying that because you're my parents and that's what you're supposed to say" she asked. Growing up, Emily had always felt a pressure to be just as successful as her parents as soon as anyone found that her parents were the Nobel prize winning Sheldon and Amy Cooper, they suddenly expected great things from her.
"Of course not" Amy was quick to dismiss her daughters thoughts. "Tomorrow is going to be the best day" she squeezed her hand. "You're going to graduate, we're going to have a lovely evening together," she had to stop herself from revealing too much, there was more to the story but she had to stop herself there.
Penny was planning a surprise garden graduation party for Emily. It was something she had decided to take on all by herself as her own little way of showing her niece how proud she was of her. All of Sheldon's family from Texas were due to be there as well as Amy's parents and family friends. Emily was none the wiser to the whole thing.
"I know" she had a tendency to be quite the worrier, it was a trait she had obviously inherited from her father.
"Do you remember what I used to say when you were little?" Amy asked, a gentle smile on her face and she had to fight back the urge to not cry at the sudden nostalgic memory.
"We used to pretend to blow up a big balloon" Emily laughed as she remembered. It was something that always used to make her feel better. Whenever she was worried, Amy would climb into bed with her, stroke her hair and tell her to pretend to blow up a big balloon until all of her worries had been blown away. Emily promised herself that she would do that with her own children. "It did always used to work. I might have to try that tonight."
—
It was two days later when they returned back to Pasadena after Emilys graduation ceremony. The whole day had gone perfectly, Emily soon realised that she had nothing to worry about and all that mattered was that the people who mattered the most to her were there to celebrate such a momentous occasion.
Of course, she had done all the cliche things. Posed with her certificate for the photo that Sheldon was adamant he would frame and hang proudly in the hallway. She had stood with a group of her girlfriend and cheered loudly as they threw their caps into the air and she probably had drank a little bit too much champagne.
"Why are there so many cars?" Emily asked as they pulled onto their driveway, noticing that their seemingly quiet street was busier than usual.
"Maybe there's a party going on" Arthur chimed in from the backseat, earning himself a glare from his father in the rear view mirror. If anyone was going to give the game away it would be him. For someone so intelligent, he was useless at keeping secrets and loved to push his parents as much as possible.
"There's probably something going on nearby that we don't know about" Amy quickly answered as she opened her passenger door. "Arthur, come and help us with the bags."
Emily knew something was going, she was incredibly observant and could tell from her brothers comments and her parents glare that something wasn't quite right.
"Why are we going through the back yard?" Emily asked as her father, pushed open the gate. Surely, it would make much more sense to open the front door and head in that way. Sheldon didn't respond, he didn't really know how to. He was worried that as soon as he opened his mouth, he would say too much.
"Surprise!" everyone called as soon as the Cooper family walked into the back garden. It was only now that Emily saw it all. All of her family and friends some of whom she hadn't seen for quite some time. Balloons stood proudly, weighted down and blowing gently in the breeze, a huge table laden with food and drink stretched across the garden and as Emily turned she saw a large banner hung from the back of her house that read 'Happy Graduation Emily!'
"Oh my god" she cried, clutching her hand to her chest. "I knew something was going on" she laughed as she pointed at her brother. "You're rubbish at keeping secrets" she slapped his chest.
"I didn't tell you. I didn't say anything," he held his hands up.
"This all looks amazing! Thank you, thank you so much!" Emily gushed. She threw her arms around her parents and squeezed her tightly.
"Oh don't thank us" Sheldon told her. "This was all Penny's idea" he gestured to where Penny was stood.
"You really did all this?" Emily turned to ask her the woman who she had grown up to call her auntie but who really was like her older sister. Emily could remember before Arthur was born when they were still in the apartment and how she would toddle over to Penny's apartment where she would spoil her rotten.
"I'm super proud of you Em" she beamed before embracing her.
—
The little graduation party was proving to be a success, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and having such a good time. Numerous people had told Emily how proud they were of her, it really was the most heartwarming feeling knowing that the people you loved were proud of you. She figured that was all she had ever wanted.
Mary had spent the whole time going round and showing everyone pictures of Emily on her graduation day. They were photos that Sheldon had sent her but that still didn't stop her from showing off her granddaughter to anyone that would listen.
"You okay over here?" Sheldon asked as he approached Emily who had slipped away from the party and taken refuge on the swing chair at the back of the garden.
"I'm good" she looked up and smiled at her dad. It was starting to go dark and from where she was sitting she could make out the shadows of all of her loved ones, sometimes taking a step back made you realise what was really important and this was one of those moments.
"Can I join you?" he asked, already starting to sit down.
"Sure"
"Are you enjoying all of this?"
"Yeah, it's been lovely" she smiled. "I can't believe Penny put this all together by herself and I can't believe you and Arthur managed to keep this quiet" she laughed.
"Well, Arthur did nearly let it slip in the car"
Emily laughed and let her head rest upon her fathers shoulder. She felt so safe here, she missed moments like this whilst she'd been away at university. The comfort of home was something she had missed greatly.
"Can I tell you something?" Sheldon asked, as he wrapped his arms around her. As well as going dark, it was starting to grow a little colder.
"Sure"
"When you were born, I was terrified" Sheldon started as Emily laughed. "You were so small and I was so scared of doing something to hurt but when I held you for the very first time, I felt so proud" he smiled as he recalled the memory. It really did only feel like two minutes ago. "Like unbelievably proud, I couldn't believe that this tiny little thing was mine and yesterday when you were on that stage, I felt exactly the same way. That pride just hit me."
"Dad" Emily breathed. "You're going to make me cry"
"I just thought you'd want to know that" when he became a father, he wanted to never leave anything unsaid, he never wanted her to wonder how he felt. He never wanted her to wonder how he felt on the day she graduated.
"Thank you dad. For everything. I love you to bits you know that"
"I love you too" he kissed the top of her head.
She looked up to see her auntie Missy, beckoning hetover. "Em, come on, we're about to pop the champagne!
Thank you so much for reading. As always reviews are always welcome and so appreciated. Like I said in the last chapter, I have quite a few prompt requests to get through so if you do have any requests, they might take a little longer than normal for me to get round to.
Stay safe
Lots of love