Sheldon was trailing behind Leonard on the way to the car following his first day back to work when his phone rang. "Hello, Dr. Cooper. This is Mrs. Russo, Levi's teacher at Hamilton Elementary."

"Is everything okay? Amy should have already picked up Levi. Is she not there yet?" Sheldon wasn't sure what the protocol was when the teacher called.

The voice on the phone quickly reassured him. "Nothing like that. I wasn't able to speak with your wife during pick-up, though. Levi's only been with us for two days, but I'm concerned about him. He was very excited when you dropped him off Friday morning, but he didn't talk to anyone the rest of the day. I thought it was from the nerves of getting acclimated to a new school and hoped things would improve today."

"He didn't stop talking about Friday all weekend. He was up at five-thirty this morning, asking if it was time to go to school. Did things not go well today?"

"I'm sorry, but they didn't. Some of the kids tried playing with him during recess and he walked away. I called on him a few times during class, but he refused to answer. I checked the worksheets we'd been doing and his were completed perfectly. He's extremely bright and I understand he's been through a lot recently, but I'm also concerned about him," the teacher explained.

Shaking his head to himself, Sheldon thanked the woman, "Thank you for letting us know how he's doing. Please keep us updated with any further concerns."

Leonard was silent, listening to his former roommate's side of the conversation. When Sheldon didn't share, he inquired, "What was that about?"

"Levi isn't talking at school. He's walking away when the other kids want to play with him at recess and he's ignoring the teacher when she calls on him. It was only his second day of school, so I'm sure he's still getting acclimated."

"At least he's just ignoring everyone and not acting out or getting sent to the principal's office," he tried to put a positive spin on the situation. "You and Amy got lucky in that sense. Levi and Theo are good kids."


Letting himself into apartment 4A, he found Amy with her computer on the couch. "How was your first day back?" she greeted him.

"It was fine. Where are the boys?"

"Playing in their room. They've been there ever since we got back from picking up Levi from school. It's only been two days since we swapped apartments, but I love the extra space. I started looking at listings for houses. A few are saved for you to look at later," Amy closed her laptop and set it on the coffee table. "I thought I could go see a few of them that we both like during the day and let you know if there are any I think you should see in person. It will give me something to do with Theo while Levi's at school."

Sheldon nodded, "Okay. I got a call from Mrs. Russo as Leonard and I were leaving the university. She wanted to let us know that Levi isn't talking at school. He's refusing to answer when she calls on him and he walks away when the other kids try to play with him." He dropped into his spot. "We haven't had many problems with him. I didn't give it a thought that might start when he started school. We can't ignore this, but what are we supposed to do? He's six years old and his mom just died."

"We try to find out why he's acting this way at school. Maybe we need to find a therapist for him?" she suggested. "Do you want me to try talking to him first? See if he wants to talk to someone besides us about everything?"

"No," the physicist shook his head. "I mean, no, I think I should talk to him. After all, my dad died when I was a kid. We've talked about how I felt after. A therapist might be a good idea, though."


Talking about the phone call for a few more minutes, Sheldon excused himself to talk to the kindergartener. "Hello, Levi. How was school today?"

"Okay." The boy replied without looking up from the cars he and Theo were playing with.

"Your teacher called me this afternoon."

Levi's eyes shot up. "Am I in trouble?"

"No," Sheldon sat on Leonard's old bed and pat the empty spot next to him, "Come here, let's talk." He gave Levi a minute to climb onto the bed. "Mrs. Russo said you aren't talking at school. When she calls on you, you refuse to answer. If the other kids try to get you to play with them, you walk away. You're so excited before school and you didn't stop talking about how much you liked it over the weekend. What's going on that you aren't talking at school?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Levi replied, "I don't know."

"It's scary starting a new school after everyone knows each other, isn't it?" Levi slightly nodded his answer to his uncle's question. "Is there anything you like about school?"

"My teacher is nice. She looks like mommy. The kids are different from my friends at home."

Pondering for a moment, Sheldon agreed, "Your teacher does look like your mom, doesn't she? Can we make a deal? My mom and dad made a similar one with me when I was just a little older than you." Levi tilted his head, curious what Sheldon was about to propose. "It's okay if you don't like the other kids, but you can't be rude to them. Walking away when they talk to you is rude. If someone wants to play with you on the playground or asks you a question, you can't ignore them. It's okay, but you have to tell them you want to be alone or don't feel like talking."

"So, I don't have to play with them or talk to them?"

Sheldon nodded, "That's right, but if your teacher calls on you, you have to answer her. You're really smart. You want her to see just how smart you are, right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. I'll email your teacher and let her know what we agreed on. Aunt Amy or I will check with her at the end of the week and if we get all good reports, maybe we can go to the zoo this weekend. Does that sound good?"


"Is that Uncle Sheldon?" Levi yelled out the moment he heard the door to the apartment open Friday afternoon. He raced to his uncle before he had a chance to set his bag at his desk.

Levi slammed into him, prompting Sheldon to let out an "Oof." He caught his breath, then questioned the child's behavior. "What's going on?"

"Aunt Amy talked to Mrs. Russo today. She said I was good. That means we can go to the zoo, right?"

"Yes," Sheldon nodded, returning his nephew's hug. "We can go to the zoo tomorrow."

"Um, can Halley come too?"

Giving Amy a look from across the apartment, he saw her smile and nod, prompting him to agree, "Sure. I'll ask Howard if they can come, too."


Sheldon was setting up the stroller and loading it with everything they might need for a day at the zoo while Amy unloaded Levi and Theo. Making her way to the back of the car, Amy moved to sit Theo in the stroller when he started fighting it. "You have to go in the stroller. I know you want to walk. You can walk once we're inside. Just a few minutes in the stroller," she pleaded with him, eventually strapping him in. Her phone chimed halfway to the main entrance, "Howard and Bernadette are already inside."

The friends quickly found each other, Amy and Bernadette each holding the hand of the youngest members of the group. Halley and Levi were running ahead of the group, getting a reminder to wait for everyone every few minutes. That left Howard and Sheldon on stroller duty, pushing the empty strollers at the back of the group. "Howie, can you take Michael?" Bernadette approached the men with her son.

It didn't take long for Theo to grow tired and be placed back in his stroller. Again following the rest of the group, Howard commented, "Who'd have thought we'd be the ones to end up taking our kids on zoo play dates?"

"They aren't my kids," the physicist flatly stated. "I made an agreement with my sister. I'm following through on that until Ricky can get his life together."

Howard was stunned into silence at the response he got. "I'm sorry. I know they aren't your kids, but you are taking care of them and they are living with you. That kind of makes them yours."

"We're going to stop for lunch. The kids are starting to say they're hungry," Bernadette made her way back to the men as they approached one of the zoo's picnic areas.

Noticing Sheldon was uncharacteristically quiet for being at the zoo, Amy leaned over to him during lunch, "Is everything okay?"

"Theo's looking pretty tired. Maybe we should go home so he can take a nap."

"Will you talk to me when we get home?" Amy quietly whispered back. Her husband nodded, prompting Amy to turn her attention to Bernadette "Sheldon thinks we should get the kids home. Theo's starting to fall asleep."

Bernadette eyed her husband suspiciously after Amy's comment, "Okay. I think we're going to stay a little longer. We should do this again, though. Levi seems to really like Halley."


Correct in his assumption that Theo was tired and needed a nap, Sheldon carried the sleeping child from the car up to their apartment. He did not return to the living room after putting the boy in his crib. "Can I watch Disney Plus?" Levi questioned the second he sat on the couch.

Amy passed him the remote to find their newly acquired streaming subscription. "I'm going to see if Uncle Sheldon needs help with Theo. Come get us if you need anything, okay?" Engrossed in the show he was already watching, the kindergartener silently waved his aunt off. Amy approached the end of the hallway, finding her husband sitting on Leonard's bed, watching Theo sleep in the crib next to it. "Hey," she quietly said. "Did something happen at the zoo this morning? You were so excited to be taking the kids, then you hardly said a word for most of the morning."

"Howard referred to them as our kids," he made air quotes around the last two words. "They aren't our kids, though. They're Missy's." Of course, Howard's mouth was responsible for Sheldon's change in mood, Amy thought to herself before hugging her husband. "It's been just over a month since she died. I can't think of them as our kids, Amy. The minute I do is the minute Ricky calls and tells us he found a job and a place to live and can be a dad to his kids."

"I know," she agreed with him. "They're great and it's hard to not love them and think about them being here forever."

Sheldon squeezed his wife. "This is both the easiest and hardest thing I've ever had to do."

"Same. But knowing they're going back to Ricky someday doesn't mean we can't love them and spoil them every day. Do you want me to talk to Bernadette? Have her remind Howard this is just to give Ricky some time?"

"I told him that at the zoo. He apologized, but I needed to not be around him anymore today. That's why I wanted to come home."