"Can I go over to Penny and Leonard's? I asked Penny and she said it was okay," Max asked as soon as his parents walked in the door after work. "I'll ride my bike so you don't have to drive me."

Amy and Sheldon exchanged a look before Amy answered, "I guess that would be alright. Can I ask what you need to go over there for?"

Packing his backpack, the thirteen-year-old replied, "I need to talk to Penny about something that you won't understand."

"Okay. But let us know when you get there and call me to pick you up if it's already dark by the time you're ready to leave." Even though it was under a mile to his best friend's house, Sheldon worried about his son making the trip alone, despite the fact he's made it numerous times in the almost two years since they moved out of the apartments.

Katie watched Max sling his backpack over his shoulder. Realizing her big brother was leaving without her, she ran after him as Max moved towards the back door. "No," the one and a half year stated while wrapping her arms around Max's legs.

Max knelt in front of the toddler. "I have to go. I promise I won't be gone long and I'll definitely be home before you go to sleep. How about I read your bedtime story tonight?"

"Otay," the small child answered before turning her back and running to find something to play with until it was time for dinner.

Sheldon followed Amy into the kitchen to help prepare dinner for the family. "What do you think he's up to? He's never asked to go over to Leonard and Penny's last minute before. What could he possibly want to talk to Penny about that we wouldn't understand?"

"I don't know," shrugged Amy while keeping an eye on Leo playing on the floor near the doorway of the kitchen. "I'll text Penny later to ask her what's going on."

The couple moved around each other, cooking dinner, setting the table, and momentarily playing with Katie until their meal was ready. Sitting at the table, Sheldon watched Amy cut the toddler's food before speaking. "We didn't settle on a name for Katie until a little less than two months before your due date. We're approaching that same point with our son. We need to discuss picking a name for him and I think now would be the perfect time to do it."


Across town, Max was sitting on the opposite end of the couch from Penny while Leonard finished making dinner for his family and their guest. "What's going on, Max? I'm a little worried if I'm being honest. You refused to tell me why it was so urgent that you talk to me today. All you would say is that your parents wouldn't understand and that I'm the only one who could help." Penny looked across the room to confirm the door to the kitchen was closed and Leonard couldn't hear them. "I need you to be honest with me, Max. I know you're only thirteen, but did you get a girl pregnant?"

"Gross! No! Absolutely not!" yelled Max, causing Rory to look up from where he was playing next to the couch. "How could you even think that?"

"You said your parents wouldn't understand. It's the first thing I thought of. Sorry for even suggesting it."

Leonard poked his head through the kitchen door, "Is everything okay? I heard Max yelling"

"We're fine," Max rolled his eyes. "Can you please let me talk to Penny alone?" Watching Leonard retreat back into the kitchen, Max unzipped his backpack and pulled a paper out, which he passed to Penny. "I got a D on my English test. Mom and dad are always saying how smart I am. I've never gotten a grade lower than a B+. Dad was almost done with college by the time he was my age and mom said she got straight A's since sixth grade. My teacher makes anyone who gets lower than a C have their parents sign their test."

Penny looked over the paper for a minute before saying anything. "I think I understand why you're hesitant to tell them about this and why you wanted to talk to me first. I know I'm not nearly as smart as the rest of our friends, and I got my fair share of bad grades in school. You've never been in this situation before and aren't sure how to tell them?"

Nodding his head, Max confirmed Penny's suspicions. "Yeah. What if they're mad at me for getting a bad grade?"

"I think they'll understand and help you figure out what happened so it doesn't happen again. Do you know that both Sheldon and Amy have helped me before? When I was taking classes at the community college, I wrote a paper that Leonard read and decided to rewrite for me. I was determined to get a good grade without his help, so I asked Amy and Bernadette to help me write my paper," reminisced Penny. "And there was a time not long after Leonard and I got married that Sheldon and I would quiz each other in the mornings. He would ask me science questions; I would quiz him on pop culture stuff. Both of them were willing to help me."

"Really? You think they'll be okay with this?"

Accepting the toy Rory brought over, Penny played with it for a minute before the toddler took it back. It was only then that Penny answered the teenager's question. "I think they'll be shocked since this is so out of the norm for you, and they might punish you by saying no video games or something, but I really do think they'll be understanding. You just have to sit down and explain to them what happened. Don't try to hide this from them. Hiding this kind of stuff from my parents is what got me in a lot of trouble when I was your age."

Leonard returned to the living room, announcing "Dinner's ready."

The group ate dinner, with Max chattering about school, withholding the information about his recent English test from Leonard. "I should go home. Thanks for letting me talk to you, Penny. It really helped."

"Anytime, kid," smiled Penny.


Sheldon cleared the dishes from the table and prepared two cups of tea before returning to the conversation surrounding their son's name. "Alright. I like Elliot. Do you have any that you really like?"

"Okay, hear me out before you say no," Amy paused, unsure of how he might react to her suggestion. "Leonard."

Sheldon's eyes lit up at the suggestion. "Like Leonard Nimoy. Leonard Nimoy Cooper. That sounds like the perfect name for our son."

"We are not naming our son Leonard Nimoy Cooper. I was thinking like Leonard Hofstadter. I've always liked the name Leo, and think it would be a nice gesture to name him after Leonard."

"Hmm," Sheldon was quiet for a moment while he thought over his wife's suggestion. "Leo Cooper. I guess that would be alright. I mean, Leonard is my best friend and we wouldn't be here if it weren't for him. I only met Raj and Howard because he brought them home and I only met you because they put me on that dating site."

Lifting Katie onto her lap, Amy asked the toddler, "What do you think? Should your little brother's name be Leo?"

"Lee," was Katie's only response as she examined Amy's necklace.

Surprised at how receptive Sheldon was towards her suggestion, she decided to include the name he mentioned, "How do you feel about naming him, Leonard Elliot Cooper? We can still call him Leo. We don't even have to tell Leonard his full name unless you want him to know."

Shaking his head, Sheldon didn't like Amy's suggestion. "When you told me Max's full name, you mentioned you chose Finn as his middle name because you liked the alliteration with Fowler. Since his last name is Cooper now, he doesn't have that alliteration anymore. Is that something you would like to do with this baby's name?"

"Sure," Amy agreed. Picking up her phone, she pulled a list of names starting with the letter C. She scrolled for a minute before stopping, "How about Leonard Caleb?"

Sheldon smiled at Amy, "Leonard Caleb. I can't wait to meet our son, Leonard Caleb Cooper."

Sheldon reached across the table to grab the pen that was in front of Amy and wrote at the bottom of the paper they'd been using to make their list of names on. "You know, by naming him Leonard, but calling him Leo, that would give all of our kids a full name that's seven letters, but they would all go by a shorter derivative of it."

Max walked in the back door before Amy could reply to Sheldon's comment. "I'm home. Hi, Katie. Still want me to read your bedtime story tonight?" The toddler ran towards her brother after Amy set her on the floor. "I take that as a yes. I'm going to read her a bedtime story, then I need to talk to both of you about what I talked to Penny about."


Max returned downstairs twenty minutes later to find his parents now in the living room. "She's asleep. She kept asking to sleep in my room, so I told her we could have a sleepover this weekend."

"What's going on, Max? I tried asking Penny what you needed to talk to her about, but she would only say we might be shocked, but it wasn't anything too bad," shared Amy.

Momentarily leaving the room to grab his backpack, Max opened it and passed the paper he had shown Penny earlier to his parents. "I need you to sign my English test because I got a D. I wanted to talk to Penny before I told you because I know both of you have only ever gotten straight A's. I wasn't sure how you would react."

Amy and Sheldon were silent as they took a turn looking over the paper they'd been handed. Amy was the first to speak. "Everyone has off days. Did something happen before the test? Were you distracted or have something on your mind?"

"No," Max shrugged. "I thought the test was tomorrow. I didn't finish reading the last two chapters of the book last night. I can't blame anyone but myself for getting a bad grade."

"You didn't finish the reading," Sheldon repeated. "You went to the comic book store with us last night. You said your homework was finished before dinner. Did you forget to finish the reading or did you lie about finishing it, thinking you'd be able to finish it when we got home?"

"I really forgot about it. I swear I didn't lie to be able to go to the comic book store."

Max watched his parents exchange a look for several seconds before Amy was the one to speak. "Okay, here's the deal. No comic book store for three weeks. Sheldon can pick something up for you, but he won't give it to you until Friday night. You still have to keep your homework list for your classes, right?" the eighth-grader nodded in response to Amy's question. "I'll go over your homework list with you every night to make sure you didn't forget anything. Does that sound fair?"

"Very. I thought for sure you guys would be upset that I got a bad grade. Here's a pen to sign my test."

Sheldon accepted the pen and leaned forward to sign the paper that was now resting on the coffee table. "Before I sign this, I have one thing to add to what your mom came up with. You'll finish the last chapters of the book, then redo the questions you got wrong on the test. It won't improve your grade, but you'll know you know the material."

Replacing the test in his backpack after Sheldon signed it, Max started to leave the room, but turned back. "Thanks for not being too mad at me for this. Katie kept saying 'baby Lee' as I was putting her to bed. What's that about?"

"We picked the baby's name while you were gone," explained Sheldon. "His full name will be Leonard, but we're going to call him Leo. I don't know if I want to tell Leonard what his full name is, so please don't say anything until I make that decision."