Hi lovely readers!
Thank you all so much for the reviews on the last chapter. It means so much!
This prompt was requested by ThatAwkwardPotato, I absolutely loved this idea and really hope I've done your prompt justice. It was really nice to write Sheldon in this way and have him have a little heart to heart with his daughter. I really hope it's okay.
Enjoy reading!
Sheldon felt the chill from the outside drift through the house, making its way down the hallway before hitting him in the kitchen as he heard their front door open and then proceed to be slammed shut. He knew it would only be one person, his daughter Emily. Over the years, he had learnt the footsteps of his family, how they moved and did particular tasks around the house, the slamming of the front door was a very signature Emily move.
"Hi" he looked up and smiled as she entered the kitchen, no matter what time she arrived home she would always go straight to the kitchen, pull a bottle of water from the fridge and grab something from the fruit bowl. Today was no different. "It's just us for dinner tonight, I was thinking spaghetti" he held up the pepper he was about to start chopping.
Although very rare, Sheldon always hated it when Amy worked away. The house always seemed so quiet and out of sorts and he always felt a little lost without Amy by his side. She would be home soon, just two more days, he took comfort in that.
"Where's Arthur?" Emily asked, her dark ponytail swishing from side to side as she spoke. She took a bite from the green apple in her hand.
"He's over at Max's tonight, he's getting dropped off home later" it was very rare that it was just the two of them, in fact he couldn't recall when the last time that was. Now she was sixteen and thought she was the most grown up person in the world, it definitely wasn't seen as cool to be hanging out with your parents, even when at home.
"I'm not really hungry" she shrugged, taking another bite out of the apple. "I might just heat it up later" she shrugged again, this time pushing her bag back up on to her shoulder.
"Okay" Sheldon nodded. He felt a little disheartened, he was looking forward to having something quality time with his daughter but clearly she had other ideas. Sheldon had spent his life being surrounded by strong, independent women, his mother, meemaw, sister, Amy and Penny but nothing in the world could have prepared him for having a daughter and a teenage one at that.
The hormones and mood swings, up until recently were the things Sheldon had only heard about now it was very much his reality. A simple question or task could have the stroppiest answer, a joke could make her cry and god forbid if he ever asked her anything about her day. Parenting was hard but nobody had warned him about this stage. He had learnt a lot from Amy, often turning to her for advice or simply watching how she dealt with situations, often it was just as simple as leaving it and letting her come round in her own time.
Sheldon would be the first to admit that he had struggled with Emily growing up. She was still and always would be his baby but she had suddenly turned into a young woman over night. It really had been that quick. It was like he had blinked and suddenly she was no longer four.
As she turned to leave the kitchen without another word, Sheldon glanced up and caught her appearance. The evidence that she had been crying was still very much there on her face, just like her mother, there was no hiding such a thing. Her eyes were red rimmed and her cheeks were still a little blotchy, he wanted to ask her if she was okay, but by the time he found the right words she was already stomping up the stairs.
Sheldon didn't need to be the genius that he was to know why Emily was so upset. She was currently experiencing her first break up, her first heart ache and the fact she was so distraught hurt Sheldon's heart more than he could ever say. The romance had been brief but being Emily's first, she had fallen head over heels. She was in love, she had never felt this way before. What started out as partners for a project quickly became something more and although at first Sheldon didn't want to know anything about it even he couldn't deny how happy this guy was making his daughter.
Yet just a few days ago Emily returned home a blubbering mess and revealed to Amy that her and Will were no longer together. Of course, Emily wouldn't talk to her dad about such matters so Sheldon had heard everything through Amy. He was sure there were still some parts of the story that were being kept from him but what he did know is that since that very day, Emily hadn't been herself.
She had lost her spark, lost her smile and this amazing energy that she possessed. In its place was suddenly a shell of her former self, someone that Sheldon didn't recognise. He knew that heartbreak was hard and although very different from his own life, he understood it was all part of growing up. Not everyone was as lucky as him, how many people could say they had married and made a family with their first love.
—
It was later on in the evening when Sheldon finally heard some movement from upstairs. He had been tempted to check on Emily, desperate to know if she was okay but he knew if Amy was here, she would tell him to leave her. Interfering often made things worse and that was the last thing he wanted to do.
The living room door creaked open and there she stood. Emily was already in her pyjamas, this was often her go to when she felt like she needed to be comforted. Her hair was slightly damp and set in plaits that drifted down past her shoulders. His little girl suddenly looked just that, little.
"Dinner is in the kitchen if you want it heating up" he had already eaten, alone at the table a few hours earlier.
What happened next shocked him and warmed his heart in equal measure. Emily sat on the couch and wrapped her arms around her fathers middle, her head resting against his chest, the way they used to cuddle when she was little. "Hey, what's all this for?" he asked glancing down at her but really all he could see was the top of her head.
"I just really need a cuddle that's all" it made him smile to know that when she felt like that, she still felt as though she could come to him. The truth was no matter what she would always be able to come to him.
"Are you okay?" he asked, he began stroking her arm, gently moving his hand up and down. He felt her body start to shake and he knew she was on the verge of crying, if not crying already.
"No" she mumbled.
"Is this about what I think it's about?" he asked, he wasn't too sure how to broach the subject. He felt her nod against his chest.
"My heart hurts dad, like it actually feels broken" he kept his hold tight on her. When they first met, Emily this tiny, helpless baby and Sheldon this nervous first time father who was so overwhelmed with love and in complete awe of his daughter, he made a promise to her. He promised that he would always protect her, that was now his job, his role as her father was to keep her safe. As she grew, he began to realise that that wasn't always possible, you couldn't stop your child from falling over at school and grazing their knee, you couldn't protect them from disappointment or friends that were unkind and as Sheldon was realising right now, you couldn't protect them from a broken heart.
Sheldon didn't know what to say. For once he had no words. Amy would have been so much better at this, she would have instantly known what to say and do to cheer up their daughter and stop her crying. That's all he wanted for the tears to stop, he hated seeing her like this.
"I saw him at school today" Emily spoke, she pulled herself away from her father and sat cross legged beside him, facing him. Now he could really see her, see the pain on her face and all he wanted to do was take her in his arm and take all of this away. "We passed in the hallway. He didn't even speak to me dad, it was like we didn't know each other, he just looked straight past me" her shoulders were shaking and she reached up to swat the tears away from her cheeks.
"Can I tell you something?" he asked.
She nodded. "But if it's going to be about how my studies are more important than…."
"It's not" he interrupted placing his hand on her knee. "I think it might be helpful." Talking about relationships and feelings really wasn't his strong suit nor was it something he felt one hundred percent comfortable talking about with his daughter but right now she needed him and he had to at least try. "When your mother and I broke up…"
"When did you and mum break up?" Emily asked quickly, her head snapping up from the spot on floor that she had been staring at.
"Oh a really long time ago. Before you and Arthur came along, before we were even married" he explained, reassuring his daughter that the event he was speaking of was very much in the past.
"I didn't know that."
"It was just a little blip in our relationship but I guess what I'm trying to say is that I understand how you're feeling" Sheldon hadn't looked back on that moment in a very long time, maybe it was a conscious choice and without realising he had pushed it to the very back of his mind however, even though it had been years how he felt in that moment was so clear, still so fresh and raw.
"You do?" Emily had never really seen this side of her father before.
"Yeah" he nodded. "Back then I was even worse than I am now at dealing with emotions" he laughed, recalling how he pushed everyone away and initially tried to brush off the break up as nothing when inside he was falling apart. "But it felt like someone was stamping on my heart, I'd never felt like that before, it was a lot. I remember this sinking feeling in my stomach and thinking that I'd never be able to love someone like that again nor at the time did I want to love anyone else."
"That's how I feel" he never imagined being able to find anything that he could relate to his sixteen year old daughter about but here they were sharing their stories of break ups and heartache. "Did you still see mum? When you were broken up, did you still have to see her? You know, because of Penny and Leonard."
"Yeah, I saw her quite a few times," Sheldon nodded, recalling the first time he saw her after the break up. They had managed to avoid each other for the first few weeks but a chance passing on the stairs caused a huge tidal wave of feelings to hit Sheldon, again, it was a feeling back then that he had never felt before.
"What was that like? Did you just ignore her like Will did with me?" she looked down picking at a loose thread on her pyjama bottoms.
"It was hard" Sheldon answered honestly. "We spoke but I couldn't look at her. I didn't want to look at her because I was worried about how it would make me feel so I just stared at the floor." His memory for information and detail never ceased to amaze him, it didn't surprise him that an event like this was so easy to recall but what did surprise him was the emotions that he felt still talking about it now. The worry of looking into her eyes and falling deeper in love with her, the worry of taking a million steps back if she smiled at him, the knife in the heart when he heard that she was dating. He'd never been forced to relive those emotions before.
"Do you think that's what Will was doing?" Emily asked hopefully, there was a glimmer of hope in her eyes, in her tone of voice. The last thing Sheldon wanted to do was shatter that.
"I really don't know" Sheldon shook his head. He really didn't know the thought process of a sixteen year old boy, he couldn't even relate it to himself as he was never really your average sixteen year old. He could only imagine what sixteen year old boys thought about but his mind really didn't want to go there where his daughter was concerned.
"When does all of this stop hurting Dad?" the look on her face was one that absolutely broke him. He couldn't provide her with an answer so instead wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his chest. The truth was it only stopped hurting when he and Amy got back together, he knew he was lucky in that respect and that that might not be the case for Emily and Will.
"You know people say that it gets better in time" Sheldon didn't know if that was the case but it was a cliched response that he had heard before.
"It doesn't feel like it" she sighed heavily. Sheldon felt her body move up and down.
"It won't right now but it will" he wasn't sure how true those words were but he knew he was saying all of the right things, all of the things that she needed hear. Although he knew it wasn't possible, he just wanted to take all of her heartache away.
"Thanks Dad" she pulled away from him, returning to her previous position and for the first time since their conversation she gave him a small smile.
"Anytime. I know I'm not mum but I'm glad you can talk to me" he reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. He knew that even though she was growing up, deep down, in some way, she would always need her father.
Thank you so much for reading. As always your reviews are always welcome and so appreciated. I love hearing your thoughts.
I just also wanted to say a huge thank you to all of the guests that review too. I always try and reply to all of my reviews but unfortunately I can't reply to guests so I just wanted to take the time now to say thank you to all of the guests who review, your messages are always so lovely!
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