"Mom!" Katie yelled through the house, as soon as she heard the front door open, indicating her parents were home from work. "Mom! I've got a problem!"
Amy raced to the top of the stairs, with a look of panic on her face, "What's wrong? Are you okay?"
Bouncing from foot to foot, the seventeen-year-old grinned. "Levi finally asked me out! He asked me to the dance at school on Saturday."
"That's wonderful, sweetheart. What's the problem?" Amy knew her daughter had been interested in the boy for several months.
"I already told Max and Gabby I would watch John Saturday night. They asked yesterday if I was free, and I was, but now I'm not. It's Gabby's birthday and they want to go out to dinner. I don't want to mess up their plans, but I don't want to tell Levi I can't go to the dance with him. Are you busy Saturday? Could you watch John for them?"
"They already asked if I could, but your dad is going to a conference with the other guys, so Penny, Bernadette, and I were planning a girls' night. It's been months since we've all been free the same night. Let Max and Gabby know the situation. Maybe Gabby's sister is able to watch him?" suggested the neurobiologist.
Max and Gabby let themselves and their son into Sheldon and Amy's house for dinner later that evening. "Hey, Leo," the man greeted his brother. "Where is everyone?" He asked, noticing the teenager was the only person downstairs.
"Dad's in the office. Mom is helping Katie look for a dress for the dance on Saturday. Levi finally asked her out. She's been yelling about it since we got home," the fifteen-year-old replied, not looking up from his tablet. "She's going to tell you at dinner that she can't watch John on Saturday. She asked mom if she could watch him, but she's having a girl's night with Penny and Bernadette. I can babysit John so you can still go out for Gabby's birthday."
"That's very sweet of you to offer, Leo," Gabby replied. "Max and I will think about it."
It was only then that Leo noticed the almost-three-year-old was looking for something to play with, "I got a new dinosaur. Wanna see it? It's in my room. I can get it if you want to see it."
"I come too," the toddler replied, following Leo upstairs.
Turning to his wife, Max shared his thoughts on his brother babysitting their son. "We should let Leo babysit. He loves John. I think they'll be fine for two hours while we go to dinner."
"I was in the middle of solving an equation. I only realized what time it was when I heard Leo and John come upstairs," Sheldon interrupted the couple.
"I don't know, Max," Gabby shook her head at her husband, not acknowledging her father-in-law. "He's never done it before. Do you really think this is a good idea?"
"How old was Leo when you and mom started letting him stay home alone?" Max questioned Sheldon. "I was twelve, but didn't know if you and mom did something different for him? How does Leo do when he's home alone?"
Sheldon looked between the two. "What's going on? Leo started staying home alone when he was eleven if Katie was home and he was thirteen when we let him be home completely alone. We've never had any problems with him when he's been home alone. We're not home, so I don't know exactly what he does, but he probably spends most of the time watching TV or playing on his phone. He follows whatever rules we give him."
Sighing, Gabby explained the situation they were facing. "Katie was supposed to babysit for us on Saturday, but she got asked to the dance at school. Leo said he could watch John for us. I'm not sure about it because he's never watched him by himself before. Max thinks we should let him."
"I think he should have the chance," Sheldon finally said after a moment. "I remember mine and Amy's hesitancy towards letting Max watch Katie. It's scary leaving your kid with someone new, but Leo isn't new. He loves spending time with John. They've been upstairs playing with Leo's dinosaurs for fifteen minutes and we haven't heard anything from either of them. Leo's spent tons of time at your house. Just remind him of what the rules are; I doubt there will be any problems."
Four nights later, Gabby kissed the top of her son's head as he sat at the kitchen table, eating his dinner. "Bye, sweetie. Be good for Leo. Daddy and I will be home before bedtime."
The boy waved at his mom, not looking up from the food in front of him. Max crossed his arms and stood next to his brother. "You've got mine and Gabby's numbers. We can be back in less than fifteen minutes if you need us. Any last-minute questions?"
"No. We're going to play Play-Doh and maybe have a snack. I'll help him get his PJ's on, too," Leo proudly shared his plans for the evening. "Can I sleepover tonight?"
"If everything goes well, sure. I'll call mom when we get back and let her know," Max smiled at the teenager. "We should be back in two-ish hours, but we really need to get going. I'll text you if it's going to be longer than that."
The couple returned just under two hours later to the sounds of laughter from John's bedroom. Entering the room, they found John running his toy cars across Leo's back as Leo lay on his stomach on the floor. "Sounds like you boys are having a fun night," Gabby made their presence known to the pair.
"Hi, mommy. Hi, daddy," John ran to hug his parents. "Played Play-Doh and cars. Ate strawberries."
"Hi," Leo scrambled to get up from the floor. "We came in here to get his PJs and he asked to play with his cars. He said you let him race them on his back and wanted me to do that, too. We cleaned up the Play-Doh when we were done with it and I checked there wasn't any on the floor. I don't like how it feels when I step on it. John wanted strawberries for his snack and ate nine."
Max draped his arm around his brother's shoulders. "I'll call mom and tell her you asked to sleep over."
"Leo, I had my doubts about you babysitting John, but I was wrong. You had a good night with him. We'd love for you to watch him again and with Katie going to college next fall, I'm sure we'll be looking for someone," Gabby stopped Leo as he began to follow his brother out of the room.
