Marie and Stephen age 5

Amelia age 2

"Stay right here with your brother and sister, Lia. Momma and daddy are going right in there to talk with that man" Amy said pointing behind her, "Make sure she doesn't wander off" Amy said to the twins who nodded.

"I wonder what he wants to speak to us about" Amy said as they sat in the office waiting on the principal, "You don't think they did anything wrong do you? Because sometimes they could be a handful"

Sheldon reached over and squeezed her hand, "I'm sure everything is fine" he said giving a smile, even though he was slightly nervous as well.

"Mr. and Mrs. Cooper, thank you for coming in on such short notice" the principal greeted them as he walked in the office.

It still irked Sheldon when people referred to him and his wife as Mr. and Mrs. and not Drs. but Amy had warned him many times to just leave it alone.

"Did the twins do something wrong?" Amy asked as soon as he sat at his desk

He laughed, "Oh no, quite the opposite actually. Their academic performance is leaps and bounds ahead of the class"

Sheldon sat back in his seat with a knowing smirk, 'I always knew Amy and my children would be exceptional' he thought

"I asked for you guys to come in today to discuss moving them to a higher class, we couldn't possibly keep them in kindergarten any longer. We're only two months into the new school year and they have already finished their teacher's lesson for the semester."

Amy chewed her lip, "What class will you move them to?"

"We'll take an entrance exam for every class and let them stay in the class that challenges them the most."

"Okay, that seems acceptable" Sheldon started

"I don't want that" Amy blurted out

Both men turned to look at her, "What do you mean Amy?" Sheldon asked

"Mrs. Cooper I understand your hesitation, but I promise we wont force them to do anything."

"No you don't understand my frustration. What if the class that challenges them the most is 4th grade? What will you do then? Have two 5 year olds in a class with 9 and 10 year olds? What about their social needs? How will they cope socially being moved up all those grades?"

"Mrs. Cooper" the principal tried, "the school is well facilitated to handle these types of-"

"First of all it Dr. Cooper" Amy said cutting him off, "Secondly, the school will never be 'facilitated enough' to handle the amount of pressure that comes from skipping classes. The furthest you skip them to is 2nd grade."

"Dr. Cooper" he tried again

"No. I believe that's the end of our meeting" she said before leaving the office. She walked out and lifted Amelia onto her hip, "Come on. Get your bags lets go" she said to the twins.

"Are we in trouble?" Stephen asked, "Because we didn't mean to do it"

Amy didn't even try to figure out what he was talking about, "No, you're not in trouble, we're just leaving"

"What about daddy?" Marie asked

Amy turned and only then realized Sheldon wasn't behind her. She peered through the glass and saw him still talking to the principal. "Daddy would meet us in the car" she said before turning to walk away.

Sheldon left the office a few moments later and saw Amy holding open the front door for the twins to go through "Amy wait" he called out, but either she didn't hear him or pretended not to. He semi-jogged in her direction. By time he caught up to her, she was strapping Amelia in her car seat. 'She could sure move fast when she's upset' Sheldon thought. He reached out to touch her hand, "Amy, maybe we should consider-"

"Not now Sheldon" she snapped, cutting him off. She climbed into the driver's seat and he wordlessly got into the other one. The drive back home was tense and silent, with Amelia's occasional word or sentence being the only noise.

The silence continued all the way to the front door until Amy said, "Go up to your room and play, take your sister with you. I need to talk with daddy"

As soon as she was sure that they were out of earshot she turned to Sheldon, "Why were you still in there talking to him after I made my point explicitly clear?"

"I just wanted to hear what he had to say. He gave excellent options. Which you would have known had you stayed. But instead you chose to storm out like a child throwing a tantrum" Sheldon snapped

"I'm the child?!" Amt asked incredulously, "Says the man who still plays videogames and whose favorite drink is strawberry quik!"

Sheldon rolled his eyes "What I do and drink in my free time has nothing to do with this conversation. All I'm saying is that you could have listened to his options!"

"My children will not be used as that school's guinea pigs!"

"I'm sorry, are they not my children as well?! And no one was using them as guinea pigs. It was just a couple of tests to see where they're at academically!"

"We already know where they're at Sheldon! That's why we did that stupid test before they went to school"

"And that's why I said to have them in appropriate classes, but you decided just to send them to private school, with their ridiculous fees"

"Because they didn't need that kind of pressure. It wouldn't be fair to them to do that at this age!"

"What pressure are you even talking about. I went through the same things they did at that age!"

Amy scoffed "Yeah. And look how you turned out"

Sheldon stared at her wide eyed. He opened his mouth to talk but shut it. "Sheldon wait, I didn't mean that" she said reaching for his hand. He pulled back and shook his head. Without saying a word he turned and left the living room and went towards the back door. She ran after him trying to apologize, but he just slammed the door behind him. She turned when she heard someone sniffle, and saw the kids standing near the bottom of the stairs.

"Guys" she sighed, "How long have you been there?"

"Lia wanted juice" Stephen said, pointing to his younger sister who had tears in her eyes.

"Where did daddy go?" Marie asked

"He's probably right outside" Amy started but stopped talking when she heard the car start and leave the driveway. She couldn't help but sigh. Amelia's lip started quivering as tears poured out of her eyes. Amy bent down to pick her up and rubbed soothing circles on her back. "I'm sorry you guys had to hear that." Amy said

Marie shifted from one foot to another, "Were you fighting about us?" she asked while looking at the floor

"No baby. We just had some decisions to make that pit us on edge"

"It sounded like it was about us" Marie sniffled

Amy didn't have a good answer, "Let's go watch a movie. We could even watch Star Wars" Amy said with fake enthusiasm. Marie just shrugged and moved towards the living room and Stephen followed her.

She sat on the couch with one twin snuggled into her side and Amelia on her lap. Halfway through the movie Marie turned to her, "Momma when is daddy coming back home?"

Amy ran her hands through her hair, "He should be back soon."

That seemed to satisfy Marie as she nodded and looked back at the screen. About an hour later, Marie and Amelia had fallen asleep and Stephen was almost asleep. "Momma" Stephen whispered, "are you and daddy going to get divorced?"

Amy turned to look at him, "Why would you ask that?"

"My friend Justin said his parents used to fight and then his daddy left and they got divorced"

"I promise Stephen, daddy and I are not getting a divorce." She said, "He would be back soon. He just needed to clear his head" Amy glanced at the clock; it was getting really late now.

She woke up when she felt Amelia moving. She tightened her arm around her and heard Sheldon whisper, "Its just me. I'm carrying her to bed" Amy relaxed her grip. She opened her eyes to realize the tv was off and the twins were gone. Sheldon came back to the living room

"Where were you?"

"I just drove around aimlessly for a while, then I went to Leonard and Penny"

"Oh"

"Sheldon" Amy said as the same time he said her name

"You go first" he offered

"I didn't mean what I said. There's nothing wrong with how you turned out. I was just really frustrated and I just don't like the idea of them being moved so far up at such a young age."

"I know. Leonard helped me realize that there are some social cues I may have been better at if I was allowed time among peers my own age, and Penny called me a whack-a-doddle. I don't know what that means. But I'm sorry I didn't listen to you. We don't have to move them past 2nd grade, we don't even have to move them from kindergarten"

"We have to move them from that class, but thank you." Amy said standing from the couch, "I think we scared the kids. They think we're getting divorced" She put her face in her hands as tears flowed, "I couldn't even convince them that everything was fine."

Sheldon wrapped his arms around her, "I'm sorry I left you to deal with that alone. I promise it would never happen again, no matter how bad the fight was."