"Max, do you want to hang out with Sheldon while I go out with Penny and Bernadette tonight? Or should I ask grandma and grandpa if they can come over?" Amy asked Max about a month after he learned Sheldon is his father.

Max's eyes lit up. "Really? I can hang out with Sheldon? Just me and him? And you won't be there?"

That was the response Amy had been expecting. "Yes, just you and Sheldon. If you want to, you don't have to if you don't want to. But I'm guessing you want to based on your reaction just now?"

"Yes! Is he coming here or am I going to his apartment?" The seven-year-old excitedly asked.

"We were thinking you could go to his apartment. I'm meeting Penny and Bernadette at Penny's apartment, so I can drop you off with Sheldon before I meet them. Sheldon was the one who suggested I ask if you want to hang out with him tonight," shared Amy. "He also suggested you bring a few books and a DVD or two so you have options of things to do tonight."

Grinning, Max ran across the living room to the DVD shelf. "I know exactly what movie I'm going to take. Do you think we can play with one of his trains?"

"You'll have to ask him," answered Amy, smiling while watching Max gather the items he wanted to take with him. "I think he was ordering pizza for dinner, so start thinking about what kind you want. We'll leave in a little while."

An hour later, Amy and Max had arrived at Sheldon's apartment. They weren't there for more than five minutes before Max was opening his backpack to show Sheldon what he brought for them to do. As he was spreading the contents of his bag across the coffee table, Amy reminded Sheldon, "I told him I'm going out with Penny and Bernadette tonight. We're really having our regular girls' night at Penny's. I know the two of you will be okay, but I'm just across the hall if you need something."

"We'll be fine. Enjoy your evening with the girls," Sheldon practically pushed Amy out the door before turning to his son. "You hungry, Max? What kind of pizza should I order?"

Max looked up from the coffee table. "I like sausage pizza. Can we play with one of your train sets? Yours are bigger than mine. Momma said I had to ask if we could play with one of them."

"Sure. I'll order the pizza, then we can pick one to set up for the evening." Sheldon quickly placed the order and led Max to his room, "I keep all of my train sets under my bed," he stated, flipping the edge of the comforter up to reveal the boxes underneath.

This was the first time Max had been in Sheldon's bedroom and was taking it all in. "You put our picture next to your bed."

Sheldon smiled at the boy, "You and your mom are the most important people in the world to me. I love waking up and seeing the picture of the two of us from my first father's day."

The pair returned to the living room just as the pizza was being delivered. They enjoyed dinner as Max told him the things he wanted to do that summer now that school was out. "Can we put on Toy Story while we set up the train?" Max asked as they cleaned up their dinner.

"Sure," nodded Sheldon. Sheldon let Max set up the train tracks how he wanted, resisting the urge to show him his way of laying out the track. Nearing the end of the movie, he noticed Max's frequent yawns. "If you're getting tired, we can put your other movie in and you can lay down on the couch until your mom comes back."

"You won't play with the train without me, will you?" the boy asked between yawns.

Standing from where he'd been sitting on the floor, Sheldon answered, "No. Here, I'll sit in my spot and you can use my lap as a pillow if you want. I'm sure your mom won't be gone too much longer."

"Sheldon?" Max twisted his head to look up at Sheldon. "I had fun tonight. Thank you for letting me come over."

"I had fun tonight, too."

Penny sipped her glass of wine while silently debating if she should ask the question that has been on her mind since Amy arrived. Bernadette was the one who noticed Penny was quieter than usual. "What's going on, Penny? You seem kind of out of it tonight."

"There's something I want to ask Amy, but I don't know if I should," Penny hesitated while continuing to sip her wine.

Glancing between her friends, Amy suspected what Penny wanted to ask about, but was fairly certain Bernadette didn't know what she was talking about. "You can ask. It's been a few weeks since we told Max."

"Told Max what?" Bernadette questioned.

"You didn't tell her?" Amy remarked.

Shaking her head, Penny explained, "No. You asked me to not say anything. Leonard didn't say anything to the guys, either."

"What is going on? Did something happen between you and Sheldon?" Bernadette was growing more agitated with each passing moment.

Amy set down her glass as she began to speak. "I'm impressed. I was sure everyone would know by now. Nothing against you, Penny, but you aren't exactly the best at keeping something like this to yourself." Penny smiled at having kept this news to herself as Amy continued. "Last month, Sheldon and I were talking after Max was in bed. He overheard us and asked me about it the next morning. I don't know if you know this, Bernadette, but Sheldon once donated sperm at the same clinic I went to when I had Max. He told me this last year before he left on his train trip. I asked if we could get him and Max tested to see if he was the donor I chose. Sheldon wasn't ready until after the car accident. We got the test done and found out Sheldon is Max's father about six weeks ago. We told Max a few weeks later."

"You told Penny and not me?!" Bernadette practically screamed at the brunette.

"She wasn't the one who told me," Penny defended her friend. "She took Max to the university and asked Leonard to keep an eye on him while she talked to Sheldon. Max told Leonard what he overheard, who told me. I called Amy and she confirmed what Leonard told me, but asked us to not say anything until they were ready to tell everyone. I was respecting their wishes. I didn't want to ruin their news. It's bad enough Max overheard them talking about it before they actually told him."

Bernadette got up to grab the second bottle of wine and began to fill the glasses on the coffee table. "No more for me," Amy stopped her from adding more to her glass. "Max is across the hall with Sheldon. I can't stay too late tonight; I've got to get him home for bed at a decent time." The blonde women exchanged a look that didn't go unnoticed, prompting Amy to explain, "Sheldon wanted to spend time with Max without me right there, so we decided to start with short times while I'm nearby but Max doesn't know. He thinks we went out for dinner and that I'm not just across the hall. Tonight's the first time Sheldon's alone with him."

"So, is Sheldon going to tell Howard and Raj tonight? Cuz you know Howie's going to ask what we talked about and I can't say nothing without raising suspicions," pointed out Bernadette.

Sighing, Amy answered, "I guess I should text him and let him know to tell the guys. I'm sure they're going to end up across the hall after their movie."

Across the hall, Leonard was letting himself, Howard, and Raj into his apartment. They entered the living room to find Max asleep on the couch as Sheldon packed his train set back in the box. "You weren't kidding when you said you were watching Max tonight. Never thought I'd see Sheldon babysitting," commented Howard as the group observed the room.

"I'm not babysitting, Howard," Sheldon defended himself.

"Um, you're watching Max while Amy is at girls' night," Howard pointed out. "That's babysitting."

Leonard noticed the look on Sheldon's face, as well as the slight twitch. "Leave him alone. I think it's great he's spending time with Max."

"Thank you, Leonard, but I should explain why I'm not babysitting. Amy told Penny and Bernadette earlier. It's not called babysitting when it's your kid you're watching. Max is my son."

The men exchanged a look similar to the one Bernadette gave Penny earlier. Raj was the first to speak. "May I ask what you're talking about?" Sheldon explained the story of how he and Amy learned this, after which, Raj spoke again, "That's exciting! Who'd have thought Sheldon would be the first one of us to become a parent?"

"Technically, Amy is the first one of us to become a parent, but if you were only referring to us guys, then yes, I'm the first one to become a parent." Sheldon pointed out.

Leonard grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and took a drink before saying anything. "Sheldon, you may have only recently found out you're Max's father, but Max has looked up to you the way most kids look up to their dads for a long time. Think about it, he's always excited to see you, you enjoy listening to him tell you about his day, you can spend hours playing trains and reading with him. You've been his dad for a lot longer than you think, even if you never thought of yourself that way."

Sheldon looked at the sleeping seven-year-old on his couch and smiled at his friend. "Thank you, Leonard. That means a lot."