"When do you want to tell Max?" Sheldon questioned Amy as they got ready for work the morning after Amy's doctor's appointment.

Amy buttoned her cardigan while replying, "I was thinking we could tell him tonight. Maybe during dinner? It should be just the three of us tonight."

"Would it be bad if we asked Max to not say anything to anyone else yet? I don't know when you want to tell everyone else, but I think we should wait a little longer," shared Sheldon while sitting on the side of the bed to put on his shoes.

"Penny knows, but I asked her to not say anything to anyone about this. I think she'll be able to keep this quiet, especially after she and Leonard wanted to keep her pregnancy to themselves for a while. I'm going to ask you something, Sheldon, and I'd like you to be honest with me. Don't avoid the question for my sake," Amy sat on the edge of the bed next to her husband. "Are you still scared about what the doctor told us yesterday?"

Sheldon nodded slightly before Amy reached for his hand. "Honestly? Yes, I am. I'm terrified of something happening to you or this baby."

"You're going to go crazy if you don't relax. I know, you're not crazy, your mother had you tested," joked Amy, trying to lighten the mood. "Maybe you should talk to Leonard, see if he's been feeling the same way. After all, Penny is only about two months further along than me, so I'm sure he's had some of the same feelings."

"I guess you're right. I don't know if I want to talk to Leonard just yet, though. I think we should wait to tell everyone else."

We can wait to tell everyone else, but we better get going or we're going to be late," Amy gave Sheldon's hand one last squeeze before dropping it and standing from her spot next to him. "You can always talk to me if you're not comfortable talking to Leonard. I have done this before."


"I was the only one in my class who didn't get any questions wrong on our history test today," Max shared during dinner that evening. Noticing his parents had been unusually quiet, he asked them what was going on. "Did someone die or something? Neither of you are saying anything, but you keep looking at each other weird."

"No, no one died. Your mother and I have something we need to tell you, though," Sheldon set down his fork and reached for Amy's hand under the island where Max couldn't see them.

Max also set down his fork as he grew concerned about what his parents were about to say, "You guys aren't getting divorced, are you? That would suck to be like all the other kids at school. My parents were finally getting married at the same time a lot of their parents were getting divorced."

"No, we're not getting divorced, Max. I found out last week that I'm pregnant," Amy shared. "I went to the doctor yesterday and they confirmed everything. I'm due on September second."

Glancing between Sheldon and Amy, Max was silent for a few minutes before he opened his mouth to speak. "May I be excused? I'm full and I have to read three chapters of my book tonight." Amy nodded and Max briskly walked to his room.

"You're just going to let him leave without saying anything? I thought he'd be at least a little happy about this," Sheldon pushed the food around on the plate in front of him.

Amy turned to her husband. "I'll try talking to him in a little while. I'm sure he's happy about this, but also a little shocked. He just needs a little time to process. This is the biggest change that we haven't discussed with him first since we told him you're his dad. For as long as we've been together, we've always talked to him before anything major, like moving in with you or us getting married. He asked after Halley was born if we were going to have a baby, so I know he's thought about the possibility of us having a baby."


An hour after telling Max their news, Amy knocked on the sixth-grader's half-open bedroom door. "Hey, can we talk?" Max set his book next to him on the bed and motioned for Amy to enter. She hesitantly sat near the foot of his bed while facing him. "One of the things you take after dad with is that you don't always like to talk about how you feel when something big is going on. You've been that way for as long as I can remember, even before we knew Sheldon is your dad. Most of the time, I leave you alone because I know you'll eventually come to me about whatever is going on."

"Mom, do we have to talk about this now?" the boy whined. "I still have a lot of reading to do for tomorrow."

"This won't take long and you'll have plenty of time to finish your homework. Max, you've only known I'm pregnant for a little over an hour. While I wasn't sure how you would react, I was hoping you would be at least a little happy about it."

Rolling his eyes, Max smiled slightly. "I am happy about having a little brother or sister, but I'm kinda grossed out at it, too."

This revelation confused Amy. "Why would you be grossed out about it?"

"In my health class at school, we've been talking about things that happen as you grow up. One of the things we learned was how babies are made. The teacher only talked about eggs and stuff, but one of the other kids told us how the guy gets his stuff in the woman. It's gross to know that you and dad did that."

"Oh, sweetie," Amy chuckled. "There are some things that kids shouldn't be thinking about and that's one of them."

Max smiled at his mother again. "I'm sorry for not acting more excited about this, but I promise I am."

"I know, and even if you aren't very happy about this, you've got plenty of time to change your mind," commented Amy as she picked up the book Max had abandoned next to him. "The Call of the Wild. I read this when I was about your age. It's not my usual genre, but I remember enjoying it."

"Do you want to read it with me? Like we used to?" the eleven-year-old suggested.

Amy remembered the hours they would spend with Max curled up next to her while she read to him, often until he dozed off. "Sure, scooch over." She moved to sit next to Max at the head of the bed. The pair read Max's required chapters and spent the rest of the evening chatting quietly. Eventually, Max fell asleep, but Amy remained on the bed, with her firstborn tucked against her. She picked up the book again and continued reading from where they left off, not wanting to get up, knowing that as Max continued to get older, these moments would keep getting fewer and further between. She was interrupted from her thoughts and reading by Sheldon clearing his throat while standing in the doorway.

"Is everything okay?" the physicist asked, taking in the scene before him. Seeing Amy nod, he whispered to her, "It's getting late. Let's go to bed." Amy shifted and laid Max's head on the pillow while Sheldon pulled the blanket from under him to tuck their son in. Turning off the light and closing the door behind them, Sheldon reached for Amy's hand as he led them into their bedroom. "How is Max feeling about us having a baby?"

"He's excited about it, but also grossed out by it. His health class at school learned how babies are made recently. They focused mainly on the biology aspect and didn't go into detail about the mechanics, but one of the other kids explained it and he was grossed out knowing what we did."

"Can you blame him?" Sheldon exclaimed. "I was grossed out at the idea of coitus, as well."


Thanks for continuing to read. I've got this story nearly completely outlined, & it's looking like it will be around 30 chapters, but that could turn into more depending on how I'm feeling. I had a guest review ask how Max could have been in the NICU when in the first chapter of The Max Factor, Amy was holding him in her room 2 hours after he was born. It's possible- my niece wasn't taken to the NICU until she was a few hours old for the same reason Max was. They took care of her after she was born & thought she was fine, but realized she needed a little extra help. (She's a bubbly kindergartener now who loves all things unicorn & going to the zoo, so no lasting side effects for her, either.)