Sheldon snuck out of Levi and Theo's room early the next morning. He was unsurprised to find Mary and Amy awake with coffee, sitting at the kitchen table. "Good morning, Shelly. How'd you sleep?" his mother quietly greeted him. "Have a seat. Do you want some coffee?"

Shaking his head, he declined the beverage, but answered Mary's first question. "It was a little rough. Levi mostly slept through the night, but his bed is much too small for me, let alone both of us. I think Theo woke up a few times, but that's normal, right? He's only sixteen months old. He doesn't understand what's going on, does he?"

"He might not understand what we said yesterday, but he can sense that something is different in his world. I couldn't sleep, so I was looking online to see if there were any good ideas to help both of them process this. Everything said to do what we've been doing. Answer Levi's questions in a way he'll understand, and provide stability for both of them," Amy shared, having prepared a cup of tea for Sheldon. "Here, I know you didn't want coffee, but you might like this."

Accepting the mug, Sheldon toyed with the string hanging over the side. "Thank you. I think at least one of them is awake."

The door at the end of the hall creaked open and a disheveled Levi slowly made his way to the kitchen. "Theo is awake but he needs help getting out of his crib," he sleepily said, climbing onto the empty chair at the table.

Mary and Amy stood at the same time, "I've got him," volunteered Amy.

"How does some breakfast sound kiddo?" Mary asked, brushing Levi's hair from his eyes.

Mary poured a bowl of cereal and placed it in front of the six-year-old when he asked, "Are we still having Christmas?"

"Of course, we are. We'll all go over to my house for dinner and Santa will come tonight. You'll wake up and open presents. Then, we'll go to church and have lunch together, just like we always do," Mary laid out the plan for that evening and the next morning.

"Okay."

Sheldon made his way to the living room and motioned for Mary to join him, "What are we doing for presents from Santa? I'm sure Missy has them hidden away somewhere, but we've never had to do this before."

"The presents are in the back of her closet or under her bed. I'm not sure where she stashed them this year. Once the boys are asleep tonight, we'll put them under the tree. We can't forget to eat the cookies and drink the milk I'm sure Levi and Theo will want to leave for him. You and Amy can stay here with the boys or come back to my house, but I'll need to leave in a little while to have dinner ready in time."

It wasn't long before everyone was gathered at Mary's house, including Meemaw and Georgie. Georgie and Sheldon were on kid duty, keeping Levi and Theo occupied and out of the kitchen while Meemaw and Amy were unsuccessfully trying to help Mary prepare their meal. "Can you grab that?" Mary motioned to her phone, ringing where it lay on the table.

"Hello?" answered Amy. "No, this is her daughter-in-law, but she's right here. Can I let her know who's calling? Okay, just a second." Holding the phone down, Amy shared who was on the line, "It's a social worker. She's checking on Levi and Theo."

Mary quickly accepted the phone and the woman on the other end began speaking, "Hello, Mrs. Cooper. This is Amanda Benson. I'm a social worker at the hospital. First of all, I'd like to say how sorry I am to hear about Missy. I'm calling because I heard Missy was a single mother to two young children. I wanted to check on them and refer you to someone if they need help processing what has happened."

"I think we've got that under control so far, but would be able to help us with something?" Mary waited for the social worker to respond. "Missy's divorced and hadn't heard from her ex, the boys' father, in months. It's my understanding he is several months behind in child support payments. My son has been trying to reach him to tell him about Missy and come up with a plan for the children, but no luck. Is that something you can assist with?"

"It might take a few days due to the holidays, but we definitely send someone to follow up with him. Are the children safe and being cared for in the meantime?"

Nodding her head to herself, Mary explained, "My son and daughter-in-law are in town for the holidays. They apparently had an agreement with Missy to take care of the boys if she were unable to. They're staying with them until we figure out something more permanent."

Dinner had a somber tone to it compared to previous years, but everyone enjoyed spending the day together. Suddenly, Georgie pulled his phone from his pocket, announcing to the table, "It's Ricky." Having excused himself from the dining room, he answered, "Hi Ricky. You have no idea how glad we are to hear from you." Sheldon followed his brother into the living room, wanting to hear as much of the conversation as possible.

"I'm sorry for not calling you back sooner. I haven't been getting my voicemails, but I could see you called me several times. All your texts just said to call you. Honestly, I thought you'd heard I was behind in child support and was calling to cuss me out over it. A cop just showed up at my brother's door and told me I needed to call because Missy died and Levi and Theo are staying with you," Ricky explained what he'd been told.

"No, Sheldon and Amy are here for Christmas, so they're staying at Missy's apartment with the boys. They thought it'd be best for them to stay there instead of coming over to mom's house."

Silence passed over the call for a few moments until Ricky spoke again, "When's the funeral? I know things weren't the best between us recently, but she was my wife for five years. What's going to happen with the boys?"

"I guess she and Sheldon had some sort of agreement that he and Amy would take care of the boys if the two of you weren't able to. I don't know how it all works, but I'm guessing you have to decide. I'd assume you'd get them unless you want something else. Let's not talk about this right now, though. Do you want to talk to them? I'm sure Levi would love to hear from you," suggested Georgie, motioning for Sheldon to get their oldest nephew.

Georgie passed his phone to the boy and returned to the dining room, but Sheldon remained close. "I miss you, daddy. When are you coming home? Mommy isn't coming home." They spoke for a few more minutes, mostly about what Levi wanted for Christmas.

Unbeknownst to Sheldon, the discussion around the dinner table had become a bit more serious while he was listening to his brother and nephew's conversations with Ricky. "We can head back to Missy's apartment as soon as I get dinner cleaned up. Levi and Theo know it's Christmas Eve, so they probably won't want to go to bed and they'll definitely be up early to see their presents. It'd be best to get them home and ready for bed as soon as possible. They also need baths tonight."

"Actually," started Amy, hesitant to bring this up without Sheldon, "Sheldon and I were talking earlier. While we appreciate you being there last night, if we're going to be staying with them until we figure out what's going on with Ricky, it might be best for us to get into a routine with them. We think it should be just the two of us with them tonight."

Mary's face dropped, but Meemaw agreed with the younger woman, "That makes sense. I'm sure we'll get all this figured out soon enough and not have to keep wondering what's going to happen next for the boys. They need stability more now than ever. I think having only Sheldon and Amy stay with them starting tonight will give them that. If you go, they'll start to get used to you being there when that probably isn't what's going to end up happening long term."

"All right. But you can call me anytime. It takes less than five minutes for me to get over there. I'll drive over in my pajamas if you need me," offered Mary.

"Thank you. I'm sure we'll be fine, but I'll let Sheldon know you said we can call anytime."

Sorry for the longer than usual wait between updates, but I started working on a new show last week, so it was very long days & I was pretty much only home to sleep.

In between work (it was a lot of sitting around, waiting for them to rerun a scene, but not needing anything from wardrobe), I was able to read an advance copy of The Big Bang Theory book by Jessica Radloff. It was so good! So many new stories. You all are going to love it when it comes out next month. If you haven't pre-ordered it, what are you waiting for?