Sheldon smiled at Amy, sitting next to him on their flight to Texas to spend the holidays with Texas. Since returning from Sweden for the Nobel ceremony a week earlier, it was like something had changed in the man. "What?" She asked, suspicious of her husband.

"Nothing. I'm just excited to be going home for Christmas this year. Missy texted me this morning saying Levi and Theo keep asking when we're getting there. They're joining us at mom's house for dinner tonight."

"I've never seen you this excited about spending time with your nephews. We didn't even see Levi when we were there for Christmas three years ago." Amy leaned over to rest her head on Sheldon's shoulder.

"I know. Levi just turned six and is really inquisitive, Missy didn't use that word, but that's what he is. Theo has been going nonstop since he learned to walk. Missy claims he skipped over walking and went right to running. I guess I'm looking forward to seeing them because I've been thinking," his thought trailed off.

Twisting her neck to look at her husband, Amy inquired, "What have you been thinking about?"

Initially, Sheldon shook his head, trying to brush it off, but knew Amy wouldn't let this go that easily so he shared, "I've been thinking what our kids might be like. I want us to discuss having a baby. We're done with our super asymmetry work and neither of us has started on something new. I was just thinking the timing might be perfect for us to start a family. We don't have to talk about it right away."

"Okay," Amy simply replied.

"What does that mean? Okay?" The questions came spewing from Sheldon's lips before he had a chance to process Amy's tone or the look on her face.

Amy offered Sheldon a small smile, "It means, I want to have a baby, too. You have a schedule for everything. Do you have a timeline for when you want this to happen?"

"No set timeline; I'll be happy whenever it happens. I can't wait to start a family with you. In fact, there's nothing I want more now that I have a Nobel," Sheldon noticed Amy glancing at her phone. "Is that Penny texting you? What does she want? She knows we're on our way to Texas."

"It was your mom, actually. She was letting me know that something came up and she's sending Georgie to pick us up at the airport. We need to call him after we get our luggage."

"Ugh. Why aren't we renting a car? We're going to be stuck at my mother's house the entire time. What's if she upsets us again and we want to leave? Surely, you remember what happened the last time we went home for Christmas?"

Reaching for her husband's hand, she rubbed her thumb across the back of it. "We only decided to make the trip last week. There weren't any rental cars available when I looked, except for the ones that were double or even triple what I was willing to spend for a car that's going to sit in your mother's driveway for a week."


Georgie honked, pulling his truck to the curb of the arrivals area. Jumping out, he hugged Amy before reaching for the suitcase in her hand, "Here, let me take that. Hi, Sheldon. Mom's sorry she couldn't pick you up, but she asked me to drop you off to see her right away. Something about she doesn't want to wait hours to hug you."

"What's going on?"

"Just get in," he motioned towards his truck.

Sheldon was quiet most of the ride, only interjecting when he wanted to know where his brother was taking them. "Just relax. Mom doesn't want me to say anything till we get there."

"She better not be throwing us a party for winning the Nobel," was the last thing Sheldon said before he saw where Georgie was pulling into. "Why are we at the hospital? Is mom okay? It's not Meemaw, is it?"

Shaking his head as he parked the truck, Georgie answered, "No. Mom and Meemaw are both fine. It's Missy. She fell this morning and has to have surgery. It's bad, Sheldon. It happened just before your flight was supposed to leave. Mom asked Amy and me to not tell you until we got to the hospital."

"You knew?" Sheldon whipped around to see Amy in the backseat.

"Your mom texted me just before we boarded that Missy was being taken to the hospital. She didn't want me to tell you before we got on the plane. She knows you're already nervous about flying and didn't want to add anything to that. We figured you'd want to be here and since we were already on our way, it'd be best to wait to tell you."

"When you say it's bad, what does that mean?" Panic rose in Sheldon's voice. "Did Missy break her leg or is it something worse than that? She was just texting me this morning about Levi and Theo being excited we were coming."

Now it was Georgie who turned around to look at Amy. "Mom's been texting you more updates and you understand all that science-y brain stuff better than me."

"Brain stuff? Did Missy hit her head? Why aren't we going inside yet? I need to see Missy. Is mom in there alone?"

"Meemaw's with her," Georgie hoped that would help calm his brother. "We can go in at any time, but yes, Missy hit her head and is having surgery."

Amy opened her phone to look at the texts she had received from Mary throughout the morning, while also sharing what she knew from studying the brain for as long as she has. "She fell outside her apartment and hit her head. She has a subdural hematoma. That's a build-up of blood on her brain, under the dura layer, which is just below the skull. The pooling of blood results in an increase in pressure, which can cause brain damage. They're doing surgery to relieve that pressure and hopefully avoid any permanent damage. I'm sure Mary has more details than what she's told me. Let's go find her and find out what's going on."


Georgie directed his brother and sister-in-law to the waiting room where he'd left his mother and grandmother two hours earlier. "Mom," Sheldon rushed to Mary. She wrapped her arms around him and held him close, rubbing his back for a minute before he pulled back. "What happened? They said Missy's having brain surgery."

"She is. I'm so sorry for not telling you sooner, baby, but I didn't want to be in a panic while on the airplane when there's nothing you could do," Mary apologized. "Yes, Missy's having brain surgery, a crani-something."

Meemaw jumped in, "Craniotomy."

"What exactly happened? Georgie said she fell outside her apartment. How does Missy's being clumsy and tripping over her own two feet lead to a craniotomy?" Sheldon unconsciously reached for Amy's hand as she sat next to him.

"I don't have a lot of details. Anything I do know is what Levi told me when he called me after it happened. She was getting the boys in the car to go to daycare. She had just gotten Theo in his car seat when she fell & wasn't waking up. Levi found her phone in her purse and called me, crying. I told him to see if any of their neighbors were home and could help. I called 911 and raced over there. Thank goodness they only live two minutes away. Missy was awake by the time I got there, but was complaining her head hurt. We decided it'd be best for her to go to the hospital to get checked out." Mary noticed how tightly Sheldon was squeezing Amy's hand and rested her hand on his knee. "We got here and she was getting more and more confused. They did a bunch of scans and stuff and decided she needed surgery."

As Mary was explaining what happened to his sister, Sheldon pulled his phone from his pocket. "It says here that people with subdural hematomas frequently have permanent brain damage, even after treatment. Missy is at risk for further bleeding, infections, blood clots, and seizures. There's a thirty-six to seventy-nine percent mortality rate."

"Sheldon," Amy whispered, interrupting Sheldon from sharing his google results with the group. "We're not going to talk about that right now. I'm sure the doctors are great."


Amy stood from where she and Sheldon had been sitting in the corner, "I'm going to find some coffee. Can I get anything for anyone? Tea, or something to eat, perhaps?"

"No, dear," Meemaw replied while Mary shook her head.

"Do you want to come with me, Sheldon?" She was in the middle of asking when a tired-looking doctor entered the room. Amy immediately took her seat again and Sheldon clutched her hand.

"Missy's surgery went well," the doctor started and a collective sigh of relief went around the room.

Mary stood and crossed the room to hug the doctor, but was stopped as he continued. "We were starting to close her up to move her to recovery when she coded."

"What does that mean, she coded?" Georgie asked the question that crossed everyone's mind.

"That means her heart stopped. The stress of the day was too much for her body to handle," the doctor hung his head. "We were unable to revive her. Missy didn't make it. I'm so sorry. I know this isn't what anyone wants to hear, especially two days before Christmas."


Feel free to hate me for Missy dying in the first chapter. Any medical stuff comes from Google and Grey's Anatomy.