Cooper-Swanson Chapter 4
Disclaimer: I don't own Young Sheldon
Just another normal family at the Cooper's house, George entered the kitchen to get some coffee. Found out in surprise that there's no more.
"Aww, no more coffee?" George said in disappointment.
"I have the last cup." Meemaw said while watching newspaper.
"Well, do you mind making more?" George said.
"I just sat down." Meemaw said.
"But you are the one who finished the pot." George said, "The one who finished the pot has to make new ones, that's the rule."
"George, if I want to make my own coffee, don't you think I'll just stay at my own house?" Meemaw retorted.
George looks at the empty pot, sighed. Meemaw give him a smug smile while drinking her own coffee.
"You know, one day I'm going to sent you to the nursing home, by then, I'll smile to you just like that." George said.
"Don't care." Meemaw said, "I wouldn't remember who you are by then."
Mary entered the kitchen, said: "Guess who is getting divorce?"
"Oh, it's finally happening? Good for you!" Meemaw said.
George rolled his eyes, his mother-in-law will find any chance she got to humiliate him.
"It's Barry and Linda." Mary said.
"Who's that?" Meemaw asked.
"You know, Barry and Linda Swanson?" Mary said again.
"Not ringing any bells." Meemaw said.
Mary sighed, said: "They're Paige's parent."
"Oh, I remember her," George said, "The little smart girl, Sheldon's friend, right?"
"Yeah," Mary answered, "Apparently, Paige is taking a lot right now, and Linda think spend some time with Sheldon would help her."
"Hmm…" George said, "She wants her kids to spend more time with Sheldon, well… I don't know what to say to that."
Sheldon is in his room, working on his computer. Missy is sitting on the bed. Just then, Mary walks in and said: "Guess who is coming to visit, Paige!"
Sheldon turned around, looking at his mother in shock. During the past, he has a very complicated relationship with her. At first, he views her as a competition; then he begins to change his view, viewing her as a more friendly figure; then before he realize, he begins to care about her as a friend. He stares at his mother, don't know how to react.
Missy's reaction on the other hand, is much more simple. "Yeah!" She cried happily.
"What about you, Shelly?" Mary asked, "Are you happy that Paige is coming?"
"Ehh…" Sheldon stutters for the first time in his life.
Sheldon is doing his homework on the desk, Mary walked to his side, takes out a box, said: "Hey, Shelly, look what I've got for you, Professor Proton Science Kit!"
"Wow!" Sheldon said happily, but he suddenly frown and said: "Wait a minute, the last time you got me present for no reason, I had to get a booster shot."
"Nothing like that!" Mary answered, "I just thought that Paige is coming over, and you can play this with her, help her to cheer up."
"Why me?" Sheldon asked.
Mary sighed and said: "Paige is having a rough time at home, and her mom, Linda said that she likes to spend time with you, so you can help her."
"Well, a crocodile would want me as its lunch, but that doesn't mean I should jump into his mouth." Sheldon said.
"Sheldon, I'm asking you to do this for me." Mary said to him.
Sheldon stares at his mother for a second, sighed and said: "And into the mouth I go."
"Thank you," Mary said in smile. Then she left.
After Mary's gone, Sheldon tried to do his homework again, but he couldn't focus on it anymore. He'll be lying if he says he doesn't like to spent time with Paige, she's the only person Sheldon knows that could understand anything he says, for the first time in a long time, he begins to bonding with someone on emotion level, he learned that after the last time she visits, and this letting out of emotion scares him.
Several knocks on the front door, Mary opened the door, "Welcome!" She said. "Well, thank you." Linda and Paige walked in.
"Hi, Missy, hi, Sheldon." Paige greeted.
Sheldon noticed a strand of her hair is now pink, "What did you do to your hair?" Sheldon asked in shock, "Did you dyed it?"
"Yeah." Paige answered.
"And your mother is okay with it?" Sheldon asked.
"Well, she just really want it," Linda said, "and under these circumstance, I think why not."
"Well, I think it looks great." Mary said.
"Mom, lying is going to hell." Sheldon reminded her.
"I'm not lying." Mary answered, "Why don't you kids go and play."
Paige is braiding Missy's hair, she said to her: "This is great, now we can be hair twins."
"Paige, you should be doing experiment with me." Sheldon said to her.
"That's boring." Paige replied, "I want to do something exciting."
"Well, this is exciting." Sheldon answered, "We don't have emergency eye washers."
"Well, still no." Paige said, "I want to go to the mall."
"Mom hates the mall." Sheldon said.
"She says all the mannequins don't have clothes on," Missy said, "But I just think that we're poor."
"We are indeed poor." Sheldon said, "I did our taxes."
"Don't worry, I'll ask her." Paige said, "After my parents got divorce, people can't say no to me."
"My mom promise me that she will take me to the mall," Paige said in a soft tone, "But she was so busy cleaning my dad's stuff out of the garage, I think she has forgot about this."
"Oh, honey," Mary said, "Of course I'll take you, anything you need."
"Thank you, Mrs. Cooper." Paige said.
On the way to the mall, Sheldon is tidying his backpack. "Why did you need to pack a bag to the mall?" Paige asked.
"This is my emergency backpack," Sheldon replied, showed her the stuff in the bag, "This is the compass, this is a map of the mall, this is the earplug, and this is a whistle incase I get lost."
"You want to stuff him in there, don't you." Missy asked her.
"No." Paige said. "Well, a little bit." She whispered to Missy.
They arrived the mall, "Okay, Paige." Mary asked, "Where should we get your backpack?"
"The Hello Kitty store." Paige answered.
"Okay, since we're here," Mary said, "I'm going to buy some food for tonight, you kids have fun at the Hello Kitty store, I'll come back later."
Paige and Missy are walking to the elevator, "Where are you going?" Sheldon asked, "The map says Hello Kitty store is that way."
"We're gonna check out the other store first." Paige said.
"My mom said we can only go to the Hello Kitty store." Sheldon said.
"Don't worry; she won't be back for some time." Paige said to him.
"I'm not comfortable with this." Sheldon said.
"Don't mind him," Missy said, "He doesn't know how to have fun, like I said before, he's an old man."
"I'm not an old man!" Sheldon said annoyed.
Paige sighed and said: "You're right, you're not an old man, you're a baby, a big, childish baby."
Sheldon stares at her, said: "Are you trying to provoked me to manipulate me again?"
"No." Paige said, but the sly showed in her eye is saying yes I am.
"We're going, so are you coming or not, big baby?" Paige said, specifically accentuated the last two word.
Sheldon stomps the ground angrily, finally followed them, and said: "Just so you know, this scheme you're using won't always work on me."
They've arrived at a store at the third floor, it contains gothic clothes, accessories, and other stuff.
"What is this place?" Sheldon asked in shock.
"It's called Hot Topic." Paige said to him.
"What's the topic?" Sheldon asked, "Devil's worship?"
"You know, they have a bowtie section in the back." Missy said to him.
"Why on earth would they put that in the back." Sheldon said, walking to the back of the store.
Paige and Missy wondered around the store, "Ooh, check this out." Paige said. Grabs a little bottle from the shelf.
"What is it?" Missy asked.
"Body glitter." Paige replied.
"Wow," Missy said, "This is so much cooler than the regular glitter."
"Let's have this." Paige said.
"How? We don't have any money." Missy said.
Paige looked around, saw no one is looking at them, whispered: "Then we stole it."
"No," Missy said, "my mom would kill me if she knows."
Paige sighed and said: "Fine, your mom can't punish me." Put the glitter in his pocket.
Sheldon walked out from the back, said: "I don't see any bowtie, just… Wait a minute." He saw Paige put the glitter in her pocket, "What are you doing?" He asked, "Did you trying to steal?"
"No." Paige denied.
"Yes, you are." Sheldon said, "Okay, if you're going to steal, I'm going to literally blow the whistle on you." He opened his backpack, getting the whistle he carries.
"Okay, fine." Paige give up, takes out the glitter, put it back to the shelf, "We're just messing around."
"Let's just go." Missy said.
"Gladly," Sheldon replied, "I'm not comfortable spending one more second in here."
When they're leaving, Paige grabs the glitter and slipped it in Sheldon's backpack when he wasn't noticing.
They got home a few hours later, when Sheldon is taking his stuff out of his bag, and then he find out the glitter that Paige slipped into it.
"Oh, dear." Sheldon mumbles, "This is bad."
He called in Paige, takes out the glitter, "What is this?" He said angrily.
"How should I know?" Paige answered.
"You stole this!" Sheldon said, "You made me an accessory of a crime!"
"Fine, I did it." Paige said, "Go tell on me for all I care."
Sheldon looks at her, feeling deeply confused of what he heard, why is she acting like this? She was a smart, chattering young girl when he first met her. When did she become like this.
"Why?" Sheldon asked, "Why are you acting like this?"
"Why do you even care?" Paige said.
"You were so smart when I met you for the first time." Sheldon said to her, "What changed?"
"Well, maybe I don't want to smart anymore." Paige cried, a tear dripped down her face.
"What?" Sheldon asked in shock, not believing what she just said.
"You heard me!" Paige said, "I don't want to be smart anymore."
"Oh," Sheldon mumbles, "Understand, now if you excuse me." He puts down the glitter, walked out of the room. His mind is thinking about a lot right now, why did Paige said she doesn't want to be smart anymore, and is he going to lose Paige as a friend? He can't sort all this out by himself, so he decide to find help from someone that has helped him a lot of time during the past, Dr. John Sturgis.
Sheldon dialed the phone to Dr. Sturgis house. "John Sturgis, at your service." Dr. Sturgis said on the other end.
"Hello, Dr. Sturgis, this is Sheldon Cooper." Sheldon said.
"Well, hello, Sheldon." Dr. Sturgis said, "How are you doing lately?"
"Well," Sheldon said, searching all of his emotions, "Confusing, upset, annoyed, sad, disappointment and potentially in trouble with the law."
"Oh, and in which order you want to handle these problems?" Dr. Sturgis asked.
"Well," Sheldon answered, "I think we should start at confuse, but if we hear siren approaching, we'll jump to the last part."
"Very well," Dr. Sturgis said, "What's on your mind?"
"Do you ever wish you're not smart?" Sheldon asked.
"So I'll be short, lonely and stupid?" Dr. Sturgis said, "No, that seems only worse. Why do you ask?"
"Do you remember Paige?" Sheldon asked.
"Yes, brilliant little girl." Dr. Sturgis replied.
"Yes, she said she doesn't want to be smart anymore." Sheldon said.
"Well, maybe she's going through some identity crisis?" Dr. Sturgis asked, "Is she going through something heavy lately?"
"Yes, her parents' divorce." Sheldon said.
"Oh, that could severely do damage to a child." Dr. Sturgis said.
"How do I make her realize that being smart is the best?" Sheldon asked..
"Well, I suggest instead of trying to solve her problems, just listen." Dr. Sturgis.
"So, I do none of the talking and she does all the talking?" Sheldon asked in surprise.
"Yes, what I learn during the time I spent in the psychiatric hospital is people who are struggling emotionally often just wants to be listen." Dr. Sturgis said.
"Okay," Sheldon said, "I guess I can try, okay, thank you, Dr. Sturgis, this is helpful."
"You're welcome." Dr. Sturgis said.
Sheldon hung up the phone, went back upstairs.
In the bed room, Paige is fixing Missy's brows, "Missy, I need to talk to Paige alone." Sheldon said.
"Okay, sure." Missy exits the bedroom.
Sheldon sits down, looks at Paige. "What?" Paige said in confuse.
"I'm listening." Sheldon said.
"To what?" Paige asked.
"To you." Sheldon said.
"I'm not saying anything." Paige said.
"Well, if you want to say anything, I'll be listening." Sheldon said.
"But I don't want to say anything." Paige said.
"And I don't want to hear you say it, but here we are." Sheldon said, "Are you feeling better?"
"You're being weird," Paige said, "And not in the usual way, I guess this is my life now."
"What do you mean?" Sheldon asked.
"Everyone around me is being weird," Paige said, tear dropped down her face, "My mom is going on dates, my dad is acting like a child, my sister cries all the time, my grandmother yelled at my dad with the worst words possible, everything that matters so much to me, and now I just don't care about any of them, so I guess I just feel alone, I just want everything go back to the way it was, but I don't think it will."
Sheldon, while listening, can stop feeling sympathy towards Paige, "I'm sorry, is there anything I can do for you?" Sheldon asked softly.
"I don't think you can." Paige said in bitter smile.
"How about a hot beverage?" Sheldon asked.
"Well," Paige said, "I guess that couldn't hurt."
"I'll be right back," Sheldon said, walks to the door, he suddenly stops and said, "Just so you know, you're not alone, if you need someone to talk to, I'm your friend and I'm here for you."
"Thank you, Sheldon." Paige said in smile.
Sheldon then walked down stairs to make some tea.
Sheldon don't understand why he chose that moment to admit to Paige that he is her friend, but he glad that he did.
AN: Alright, fellas, this is it, new chapter after a month since the last update, god, you guys must all hate me right now, this chapter may not be very well, I'm very sleepy right now, it's 12 p.m. at my place, but I just want to finish it anyway, hope you fellas could enjoy this, and remember to R&R. Okay, AAMF out!