"What time is dad getting home tonight?" Max asked Amy as she set a plate in front of him for dinner.
Sitting next to her son at the kitchen island, Amy thought for a moment before replying, "I'm not sure, but I know he'll be home before you go to bed. He's always home before bedtime." Amy glanced at Penny who shook her head, indicating she didn't know what time the guys would be finishing work for the day. "Why do you ask?"
"It's Saturday. That means it's laundry night. Is he going to be home in time to do laundry?" The eight-year-old had been helping Sheldon with the laundry since making the move permanent five months earlier and looked forward to the time in the laundry room with his dad.
"Do you want to call and ask what time he'll be home?" Suggested Amy, sensing the boy's worry. Some of Sheldon's need for routine and schedules had rubbed off on him. Seeing Max nod his head in agreement, she passed him her phone. Max quickly unlocked it and scrolled to Sheldon's contact info before pressing the call button.
Over at CalTech, Sheldon stepped back from the dry erase board when his phone began to ring, "Hello? Oh, hi Max. I'm sorry, I don't think I'll be home in time for laundry, but I'll definitely be home before you go to bed."
Max slumped against the island, "Oh, okay. I'll let you get back to work. See you later," he started to pull the phone away from his ear to end the call when he heard Sheldon call his name. "Really? You mean it? Thanks, dad! I'll let mom know."
"What will you let mom know?" Amy questioned when Max handed her the phone back.
"Dad said he won't be home for laundry night, but since I've been helping him every week, I can do it this week, but I need you or Penny to help me carry it downstairs so I don't trip and get hurt. Can I start it now so I'm done by the time dad gets home?"
Taking note of her son's still largely untouched dinner plate, Amy stopped him. "You need to eat a little more dinner first. How about four bites of chicken, three of salad, and two of potatoes?" Max quickly shoved Amy's suggested number of bites in his mouth, plus a few more, and ran down the hallway to collect the laundry from the hamper in the bathroom.
"I've never seen a kid so excited about doing laundry before," chuckled Penny. "He really does take after Sheldon with things like that, doesn't he?"
"Yeah," Amy smiled, "But it only makes me love both of them even more."
Penny finished her food and set the plate in the sink. As she turned around, she shared, "I can help Max take the laundry downstairs."
Narrowing her eyes at her best friend, Amy shook her head, "You just don't want to clean up dinner."
"How does Sheldon carry all of this downstairs and back up every week? Does he make two trips or something?" Penny huffed while struggling with carrying the large laundry basket down three flights of stairs.
Max laughed at Penny's over-exaggeration. "He makes me carry the detergent bottle since that's heavy, especially when it's new like it is now."
"Then you're carrying the detergent," she set the basket down on the second floor landing for the boy to take the plastic jug from the top of the basket.
The pair arrived in the laundry room and Max's eyes lit up. "It's empty. That means I can use as many machines as I need. I think I need three. One for the white stuff, one for colored clothes, and one for towels. Does that sound right?"
"You're the brains of this operation. I'm just the muscle. You do what you need to do. I'm just going to sit here and wait until this stuff needs to be carried upstairs."
Half an hour later, the washers buzzed and Max opened the lids of the first two and moved those items to the dryer. when he opened the third one, his jaw dropped. "Penny. I need help. I don't know what happened." Standing from the chair next to the sink, Penny crossed the small room to look in the washing machine.
"I can't believe I'm about to touch Sheldon's underwear, but I think I see the problem," she reached in, moved a few things, and produced a red Flash sock. "I don't know if we can fix this, sweetie."
As if on cue, Sheldon rounded the corner of the laundry room, "Hello. I thought I'd find you down here. How's it going?"
"Okay," Max avoided eye contact. "The colored clothes and towels are in the dryer, but there's a problem with the white stuff. I missed one of your Flash socks. I don't know how, but everything's pink. I'm sorry, dad."
Sheldon peered into the washing machine and discovered that the family's white clothes were indeed a light pink hue. "It's okay. I know how to fix this. Run upstairs and get the bottle of bleach." As the boy ran out of the room, Sheldon began to remove the clothes from the washing machine and placed them in the sink. Turning to Penny, he asked her, "How did you get stuck helping Max with the laundry?"
"I had dinner with Amy and Max. I volunteered to help him carry everything down to get out of doing the dishes. He wanted to sit here to wait for the machines instead of going back upstairs, so I sat here. It's been a while since I've spent this long with him without you or Amy around. I've enjoyed catching up with him. He's like a completely different kid when it's just the two of us," Penny pointed out as Max returned with the bottle of bleach.
"Okay, Max," Sheldon looked at Penny who was watching what he was doing, "And Penny, this is how you fix it if you accidentally turn your white laundry pink. I'm surprised you've never done this before. After putting your laundry in the sink, fill it with water and mix in some bleach. Let it sit for a little while, checking it periodically. Once it's white again, you rewash and dry as normal." Max helped move the laundry back to a washing machine when it was returned to the regular color. "Let's go upstairs and come back for this later."
Making the trip up three flights of stairs to their apartment, Max fell in step next to Sheldon. "Are you mad at me for turning the laundry pink?"
"It was a mistake. You didn't mean to do it and I showed you how to fix it," Sheldon draped his arm over Max's shoulders. "You'll always remember this and double check for red socks before you start the machine."