Denise looked at the mountain of stuff in Sheldon and Amy's living room in disbelief. "You're sure you don't mind letting Stuart and I use all this stuff?"
"For the hundredth time, it's fine," Amy smiled at the woman. "Sheldon and I aren't having any more babies and this stuff has just been in bins in the garage. We won't miss it. Besides, most of Katie's stuff was Halley's and Leo got a lot of stuff from Michael and Rory. It's only right that we pass on what's still usable."
As Denise was sorting the clothes into what she wanted to use and what she wasn't interested in, Sheldon returned home with Katie and Leo in tow. "Denise!" Katie exclaimed, running across the room to greet the woman.
"Hi, Katie. How are you?" Denise asked, returning the girl's hug.
"We went to the park with Rory. I went down the big slide. Daddy had to help me." The three-year-old noticed the piles of baby clothes on the floor. "Are these for my doll?"
Amy smiled at her daughter before answering, "No, sweetie. These are some old clothes from when you and Leo were babies. Since you're too big for them, I thought Denise and Stuart might like them for their baby."
Sheldon picked up a onesie from the pile closest to Denise. "This was Katie's first Flash outfit. I hope this is the keep pile."
"Actually, that's the pile of what I'd like. But if you want to keep that, it's okay. Amy just told me to go through the bin and I could take whatever I thought we'd like," Denise replied, knowing if Sheldon felt that way about a onesie, he'd probably have thoughts about other items in the pile.
"Sheldon, can you help me get the kids a snack?" Amy stood and motioned for Sheldon to follow her into the next room. Silent as she prepared the snack, Amy could sense her husband's tension. "I asked if you were okay with giving Stuart and Denise the stuff we weren't using. You said you were okay with it."
Picking up one of the dishes from the counter, Sheldon shrugged his shoulders. "I was okay with it. I didn't realize you were going to let them have everything. I know you kept a few of Max's baby outfits. I thought you and I were going to choose a few things of Katie and Leo's to keep. You said you kept them for Max to have for his kids. Don't you want to keep some things for Katie and Leo?"
"I do, and I did set a few things aside for them. I'm sorry, I didn't realize you wanted to keep The Flash onesie for her. I'll talk to Denise. I'm sure she'll understand," Amy wrapped an arm around her husband.
Returning his wife's hug, he kissed the top of her head. "Thank you."
"I have to run to the comic book store for something. I won't be gone long," Sheldon announced after dinner a few days later.
Max perked up at the mention of the comic book store. "I finished my homework earlier. Can I go with you?"
"Uh, actually, uh," stammered Sheldon.
"It's okay. I don't have to go," the recently turned sixteen-year-old changed his mind.
"This is something I need to do alone. How about we hit up the train store this weekend? It's been nearly a month since we've been."
"Sure," the teenager agreed.
"Sheldon," Stuart looked up at the sound of the door opening. "It's not Wednesday. What are you doing here?"
Sheldon glanced around the store. "Is Denise here? I have something for her. I should have checked if she was working tonight before coming down."
"It's okay, Sheldon. She's in the back. I'll let her know you're here," Stuart walked around the counter and returned a few minutes later with Denise.
"I got to thinking about the other day with the baby clothes. I could tell how much you liked Katie's Flash onesie that I wanted to keep. Since you were considerate of how I felt and said it was okay for Amy and I to keep, I got something for you. Actually, it's for both of you," Sheldon held out the small bag he'd been doing his best to conceal behind his back.
Removing the tissue paper from the top of the bag, Denise peered in before Stuart reached to remove the item. Watching him hold it up, Denise had a confused look on her face. "I thought you wanted to keep this for Katie."
"It's not Katie's. I got to thinking about it. Your baby should have as many comic book outfits as possible. After all, their parents own a comic book store that they met at. I'm sure there's going to come a day you want to keep his or her baby outfits and will understand why I didn't want you to have Katie's onesie."
Stuart quickly hugged the physicist before backing up. "I'm sorry, Sheldon. I know you don't like being hugged. I just thought that was a really sweet thing to say. Thank you. You're a good dad, Sheldon. I hope I'm as good of a dad as you are."
This is the last one shot I've got written for now. The last chapter of Max Family Addition will be posted tomorrow, but I'm not going to mark the one shots as complete in case I get an idea for another one in the future. Thanks again for following along.