After a long day of work that resulted in being late to pick up Max from daycare, Amy was struggling to keep Max out from underfoot while preparing a quick dinner. "Here, you can play on my phone while I finish making dinner," Amy passed her phone to Max in an attempt to get him out of the kitchen.

Amy finished preparing their simple meal and set the plates on the table before calling Max over to join her. "Momma?" The little boy asked as he climbed onto a chair. "Who's that man in the pictures on your phone?"

"That's Sheldon. You met him before. Remember when I wasn't feeling well and he helped tuck you in bed again?" She reminded her son.

Taking a bite of the sandwich in front of him, he nodded his head, "He was nice. I liked him. Why doesn't he come over more? He liked my train set but told me I couldn't play with them because it was past bedtime. We could play trains together."

"He does like trains. Sheldon is a new friend and I like to make sure my friends are good people before I let them come over more," explained Amy. "I want to keep you safe, that's why he hasn't come over since the night he helped take care of me."

"Well, he was nice to me. Can you ask him if he wants to play trains with me?" Max pleaded.

Changing the subject, Amy pointed at their empty plates, "Go put your plate on the counter. You need a bath tonight. It will have to be a quick one because it's already almost bedtime."

Following Max's bath and bedtime routine, Amy sighed at finally having a few minutes to herself after a long day. Settling on the couch, she noticed her laptop on the coffee table and pulled it onto her lap. Selecting the Skype icon from the desktop, she clicked on Sheldon's name and waited for him to answer. "Hello, Amy. This is unexpected," he stated as he answered the call.

"I'm sorry for calling you on new comic book night, but I was hoping we could talk about something?"

Sheldon tilted his head, questioning what his friend wanted to discuss, "Alright. What's on your mind?"

"I understand if you say no, but I need to ask anyway," started Amy. "As you know, we have been friends for nine months. During that time, I have kept our friendship, as well as my friendships with the rest of your friends separate from my son. Aside from that night a few weeks ago, you have had no interaction with Max. I appreciate you helping him back to bed that night and thought things could continue as they had since the day we met, but I don't think that's possible."

"Are you ending our friendship because of Max? Should I not have read him another story that night? Did I do something wrong?"

"No, you did nothing wrong," she quickly tried to calm him down. "Quite the opposite actually. I had a long day today and in an attempt to get Max to let me make dinner without being underfoot, I gave him my phone to play on. He found the camera roll and asked who the man was in the pictures. He was looking at the pictures we took the night we went out with Penny and Bernadette. I reminded him that he met you. He asked why you haven't come back over since then to play trains."

Pausing for a moment to process what Amy was saying, Sheldon replied, "His train set is fairly impressive for his age. I'm quite a fan of Thomas the Tank Engine myself."

"He loves his trains," smiled Amy. "I've never had friends like you and everyone else since I had Max, or even before I had Max, but that's beside the point. I've been hesitant to introduce him to everyone because I was afraid something would happen between us and Max would be the one who ends up getting hurt. Given that we have been friends for nearly a year, I think it would be alright to begin introducing him to my new friends."

"Are you asking me to meet your son again?"

Amy nodded in response, "I know you've already met, but I'd like to reintroduce you when I'm sober. You can come over to my apartment this weekend if you'd like. That would give me a few days to let Max know. I think it would be best if he were to meet everyone one or two at a time, rather than meeting everyone all at once. He tends to get overwhelmed meeting a lot of new people at once."

"Who is it?" Questioned Max upon hearing Sheldon's three knocks on the apartment door.

Amy let her son help open the door before answering, "Max, this is my friend Sheldon. You met him before, but it was late and I wasn't feeling well that night."

"It's nice to officially meet you, Max," Sheldon waved at the almost three-year-old.

"I remember you. Do you want to see my room?" Max was already running towards his bedroom.

Sheldon glanced at Amy, who encouraged him to follow. "It's okay, Sheldon. I'll come with you. He probably just wants to show you his toys or something."

Before he knew it, Sheldon was sitting on the floor of Max's room, watching him show off his favorite toys and books. Amy stood in the doorway, watching her two favorite people interact for the first time. Before she knew it, Max was lying on his stomach, flipping through a picture book as Sheldon read the words on the pages. She allowed them to finish the book before interrupting. "Hey, Max, do you want to take a nap? You're looking pretty tired."

"No," he stifled a yawn. "I want to keep playing with Mr. Sheldon."

"How about one more book, then you lay down for a little while? You don't have to fall asleep, but I'd like you to at least lie down. You can play more with Sheldon later."

Max moved towards his bookshelf and selected another book, which he handed to Sheldon before climbing onto his small bed. Sheldon read the book and found Amy in the hallway outside Max's room. "He'll be asleep in a few minutes. I'll let him sleep for an hour or so. You don't have to leave before then, do you?"

"I can stay. I just have to leave by seven to start my laundry by eight-fifteen. It is laundry night, after all," shared Sheldon.

Amy motioned for them to sit on the couch. "Thank you for being so willing to play with him and read to him. To be honest, I was a little worried this afternoon wasn't going to go well. He can be a bit shy around new people."

"You've got a good kid, Amy. I was a little worried about meeting him again, but it was easy to be comfortable with him. Max is lucky to have you."

"Thanks, Sheldon. That means a lot, especially coming from you," smiled Amy. "I guess since you've met Max, I don't have an excuse to keep Penny and Bernadette from meeting him anymore. They've been asking for months about meeting him."