"Alright, we're home. You two can go play for a little before dinner and bath time!" Amy told their toddlers as the 4 of them returned to their apartment after a trip to the doctor.

"Can I hav 'nother wowipop?" Laura asked them, waving the stick from the lollipop she had been given by the doctor and promptly eaten on the way home.

"It's "Can I have another lollipop?" and the answer is no young lady! You have enough energy as it is you don't need added sugar in your blood to run laps around the living room." Sheldon told her as he neatly hung her coat for her while Amy helped Stephen out of his jacket and mittens. Laura pouted slightly before dashing to her dollhouse and forgetting she had ever been upset.

"Honey you can go play with your Lego and your plushies for a little, I'll come sit with you in a little bit. Would that be ok?" Amy asked their son.

"Yes." The little boy replied and calmly walked to his room, leaving the two adults alone in the living room.

"So, what do you want to make for dinner tonight?" Amy asked nonchalantly.

"Are you seriously talking about dinner after that doctor's appointment?" Sheldon asked terrified.

"We could get takeout just this once?" Amy tried to joke.

"I don't understand how you can be taking this so well!" Sheldon threw his hands in the hair and plopped on his spot on the couch in defeat.

"Sheldon…" She began as she sat down on the couch right next to him. "… it wasn't really news to either of us, it wasn't even the first opinion we got on the matter, I went in 99% sure that was what we were going to be told."

"That our son is on the spectrum?"

"Before the first consult I wasn't sure where exactly, but I've suspected he was somewhere in it for a long time, yes." Amy replied.

"You never said you had been suspicious for so long…" Sheldon wringed his hands in his lap.

"To be quite frank, I had assumed you were suspecting it too. You agreed to have him checked out as soon as I suggested it."

"I was hoping I was wrong." Sheldon admitted sadly.

Amy felt her heart break a little. "Sheldon-"

"When my mother had me tested it was a very longtime ago and I don't think that doctor had the best credentials to begin with…" He theorized. He had noticed the curious look one of the experts had given him during the first consult they'd taken Stephen to and had been thinking about it for weeks.

"It doesn't matter Sheldon, even if you had that diagnosis you would still be with me and the kids and be an amazing scientist, it wouldn't take away from all those things." Amy placed her hands over his to stop his wringing.

"But those things cost me years of confusion, pain, isolation and if I am being honest some anger." He admitted. "I wanted them to be an evolved version of me, not only smarter but also more adaptable I guess. It's not like I want them to be like Penny but I would feel so much at peace if I knew they weren't going to struggle with the same things I did, at least not as much." He declared sadly.

"Oh Sheldon!" Amy threw both arms around him in a boa constrictor hug and he let himself be comforted before continuing.

"Growing up is awful Amy. And despite how great our progeny may grow up to be, they will be forced to undergo a lot of dreadful experiences."

Amy broke their hug and let him lean his head on her shoulder, sinking further into the couch cushion due to their difference in height. "Well, I prefer to think of it as us guiding them through life hopefully a little better than our parents did for us." Amy proposed. She felt Sheldon scoff against her.

"Well that would be a piece of cake." Sheldon rolled his eyes.

"Times are different now; educators and families understand these things a little better than they did in the 80s." Amy pointed out. " We have plenty of resources to help them grow up in the best possible way and an advantage our families didn't have."

"What?" Sheldon asked.

"We know what it's like to grow up as the kid who was different. We can relate to our children much more easily than our parents could relate to us don't you think?"

"Stephen doesn't speak to me." He replied.

"He doesn't speak to almost everyone he knows. He understands everything we say just fine, but at this stage he doesn't see much value in communicating so he doesn't see why he should chat just for the hell of it. He is more comfortable talking to me because he got used to having to ask me to be fed when I was beginning to nurse them only when they asked. He talks to you and Laura when he really needs to, don't take it to heart. He will most likely grow out of it."

"Easy for you to say, you're the Stephen whisperer…" He moped.

"You have your ways with him too." Amy pointed out. "He will only eat what is on his plate if you are the one who fixes it for him and doesn't let anyone else clip his toenails. It may not seem like much right now but he trusts you."

"You really think so?" He asked, feeling slightly fuzzy in his heart without the need for medical assistance. Years before he might have interpreted the feeling as and alien parasite but since Amy and their progeny had become fixtures in his life he'd accepted that in those circumstances love was a much more logical conclusion. Unconditional, undying love to be more precise.

"We can handle this." Amy stated almost like a mantra. "We will have him followed by a specialized therapist as he grows to help him make sense of the world, research all we can on the topic and come up with fun family activities we can all do together without demanding too much from either child at a time. There is nothing wrong with our son Sheldon, he will just need a little help with some things as he grows and that is where we come in." She told him, tapping his hand and getting up from the couch to go rummage the kitchen for dinner ingredients.

"I guess we have some homework to do…" Sheldon said, following his wife behind their kitchen island and giving her a kiss on the cheek. The gesture had become his way of saying "what would I do without you?" in recent years, something he would have never imagined possible back in the days of contractually mandated hand-holding at the movies.

"Lucky for our children their father excels at that." Amy winked at him making him blush.

"Amyyyy…"

"It's true! When Stephen needed glasses two months ago you spent days narrowing down the best selection of frames for him to try on. And when Laura had to get orthopedic shoes to help with her mild club foot-"

"I know, I know, I'm a devoted father to our exceptional progeny." He waved off.

"And always so humble too." Amy smirked before stealing a quick kiss from him.

"Do you really think the kids will be alright?" He asked and they pulled apart from each other.

"You really know how to keep romance alive don't you?" Amy joked as she walked to the fridge.

"Amy I mean it! The children are half you, therefore my concern for them can also be interpreted as love immense love for you…" Amy smiled at him from behind a stack of produce she'd retrieved from the fridge and Sheldon automatically closed the door for her in a familiar choreography.

Amy set the items on the island and took a deep breath. "I hope they will. I want them to have long fulfilling lives doing whatever it is they turn out to love and I want to have you by my side as I watch them become extraordinary adults. And to help out in whatever way we can along their paths."

"Even if Stephen continues to be intensely interested in botany?"

"Sheldon!"

"It's his interest I know! As long as he is happy and I can learn to be happy about it, I promise." He added reflexively. He still however, blamed his son fascination with plant on the time they asked Stuart and Raj to babysit the twins and came home to find them watching Little Shop of Horrors. "I think we should add something along the lines of using our lived experiences to aid them in navigating a sometimes very confusing world." Sheldon proposed, not needing to specify to what document the addition would be made.

"Article 3 then?" Amy asked approvingly.

"I may be a few more ahead actually…" He admitted.

"Sheldon!"

"But now that they are aging out of certain stages it no longer seems useful to have articles regarding how many tantrums one can throw per day during potty training or how many episodes of Teletubbies they can watch in a row…" Sheldon conceded.

"Can I add a clause in there about how many episodes of Star trek in a row you are allowed to watch with them?"

Sheldon gasped. "But Laura loves them!"

"I think she loves to sit on your lap with her doll and blankie no matter what's on TV…"

"Fine, I'll delete the petty articles I wrote in when I was craving order and today's idea can be article 3."

"Thank you." Amy kissed him again and returned to meal prepping. Sheldon stood next to her and wordlessly began peeling some potatoes.

"Amy?"

"What?"

"I don't think I could have found a better mother for our children."