A/N: Okay here it is chapter 6. I know I am slow to getting these out but I have been super busy with work and home life. I am trying to work on one story at a time and when I get in a rut I turn to another one. I have lots of ideas in my head for stories especially after this wonderfully filled Shamy season. I need to finish the ones I have going before beginning another but you never know, my muse may strike before chapter 7 comes out.
thanks to all of you who are sticking with my crazy schedule to still read these, I know the numbers have fallen but those of you who are still with me thanks so much.
I don't own the characters...they belong to Chuck, Bill and Steve. Enjoy!
The two got ready and headed out of the apartment. They arrived at Seibert's house just before six. Amy was nervous as she knocked on the door.
"Come on in." Joe said as he opened the door. "Dinner will be ready in about 20 minutes. Why don't you make yourself at home in the family room. The kids will be down in a moment. I am going to get Monica."
Amy and Sheldon went into the family room and sat down. About five minutes later, two tall teenagers walked into the room and sat down across from them. Sheldon noticed the boy looked a lot like Amy. He hadn't noticed it until then but he realized just how much she looked like Joe.
"Hello." The young lady said to Amy and Sheldon. "I'm Jackie. Are you really my sister?" She asked.
"I believe I am. At least that is what your father, well our father, tells me. My mother also confirmed that he is my father." Amy told her. "My name is Amy."
"It wasn't always Amy though was it?" The boy sneered. Amy could tell he had a bit of an attitude while Jackie seemed to be warming to her well.
"No it wasn't but I have always known my name to be Amy."
"Why did it change?" Jackie asked.
"Because her mother was trying to hide from dad." The boy told her.
"What does that mean?" She asked.
"It means…" Amy started but was interrupted by the teenage boy.
"Her mother claims that dad was abusive to her."
"You mean like hit her?" Jackie asked.
"Yeah like that. But I don't believe it. I think her mother is just a bitch who kept his daughter away from him."
"Samuel Joseph that is enough!" Joe yelled as he came into the room followed by his wife. Amy was shocked by the turn of events. "I think you need to go to your room and think about what you just said to your sister."
"Fine! I didn't want to be at this dinner anyway." He said and he stomped out of the room.
Joe's wife looked into the room. "I am so sorry about him, Amy. He is going through a lot. Joe told us all about you a while ago and Sam had accepted it. We left out the details of why you had not been in his life. He overheard Joe and I talking one night and demanded to know what had happened. I had no idea he didn't believe what he heard."
"So what Sam said was true?" Jackie asked. "Did dad hit Amy's mom?"
"I am afraid so sweetie." Joe said. "I was going to wait until you were older to tell you both the truth but Sam found out accidently. I warned him not to tell you anything but I guess meeting Amy tonight brought it all out. I truly am sorry Amy you had to deal with him like that. I am afraid he may have inherited some of my anger issues. We have been working with him and a councilor trying to get to the root of the problem but nothing seems to change."
"Not a problem." Amy said. "I can understand his confusion over everything. And Jackie, I am sorry you had to find out this way."
"It's okay. I am so happy to have a sister, I don't care why you haven't seen each other. Besides, I have never seen a violent side to my dad so he must have gotten some serious help before marrying mom."
"How old are you?" Amy asked.
"13, I will be 14 next month." Jackie said.
"That is a very mature attitude." Amy commented. Sheldon was still sitting on the couch but he was nodding his head in agreement.
"She has been very mature about everything since we told her." Joe said. "She takes after her mother. She is mild mannered, gets along well with others…"
"Dad!" Jackie said, turning red as he was praising her.
"Well I tend to agree with your dad." Sheldon said, finally speaking up. "You are really taking all this news well. You are so different than the girl I encountered two years ago."
"Sheldon you came to our house at 2am and you wonder why we were upset?" Joe said to him.
"That was you?" Jackie asked laughing.
"Yeah not one of my better moments. But your father called me into his office for a time that was inconvenient to me."
"You go to the bathroom!" Joe said. "It is not like you were in the middle of a crucial project, like curing cancer." Amy laughed at Joe. She could see he didn't take any of Sheldon's excuses either. In many ways she was very much like him that way.
"What are you laughing at?" Sheldon asked Amy.
"The fact that Joe said almost the same thing I did earlier about this same topic." She turned to look at Joe and Monica. "I thought he was nuts to come to your house in the middle of the night."
"Well we all know how Sheldon is about schedules." Joe pointed out. "It took him a week before he could finally commit to the project in the Artic."
"And we all know how that turned out." Sheldon said.
"You did jump the gun in sending the email out." Joe said.
"I may have but my friends still tricked me." Sheldon said.
"What are you two talking about?" Jackie asked.
"Sheldon thought he discovered something while he was at the North Pole and he sent an email out bragging about how he proved his theory. Well it turned out that his friends had fudged the results." Amy told her.
"That sucks." Jackie said.
"It did." Sheldon told her. "I was so embarrassed I turned in my resignation and moved back to Texas."
"For all of two days." Joe told her. "His friends, for some reason, went and brought him back. I guess they felt guilty about messing with his experiments."
"They did and I retracted my email and forgave my friends. I should have waited to make sure all the data was verified before sending the email but I was too excited. I was mortified but eventually someone else did something just as dumb and the university forgot about the whole thing."
"Almost everyone." Joe pointed out.
"Barry Kripke doesn't count." Sheldon said. "He hasn't done any meaningful work in all the time he has been there. I think he spends his grant money on women."
"Oh I doubt he does that." Joe said. He then let out a hardy laugh that even Amy and Sheldon joined in on. "I don't know how I even said that with a straight face." And he continued to laugh.
"Well on that note," Monica said, "dinner should be ready. Should we head to the dining room?" She said.
"Of course." Joe said. "Before we do though, I forgot to formally introduce you to my wife. Sheldon and Amy this is Monica."
"It is of course nice to meet you." Monica said.
"Same here." Amy said.
"Okay now that that is out of the way, let's eat." Joe said.
The group headed into the dining room and ate dinner. They had a nice conversation about Amy's work.
"So when the study is over are you going back to UCLA?" Monica asked.
"I guess I hadn't really thought about it. I was told that the biology department would have an opening soon. Dr. Hopkins was telling me about the opening the other day."
"This is true." Joe said.
"Well I think you have the perfect candidate." Sheldon pointed out.
"I am aware." Joe said. "The truth is, Amy was going to be offered the full time job after her study was complete. Dr. Hopkins told me that she works well with everyone in the department. She even recommended Ms. Robinson stay on and work on her doctorate if she so chooses."
"Oh wow, Hannah will be so excited. She has been debating going back to UCLA or even going back east to finish her studies. She didn't want to leave Raj though." Amy said.
"Are you telling me Ms. Robinson and are an item?" Joe asked them.
"Um, well…" Amy said. She had no idea if Hannah was allowed to be dating someone in Raj's position.
"Amy it is okay, they don't even work in the same department. Now if she was dating Gunderson that would be an issue."
"Isn't Dr. Gunderson married?" Sheldon asked.
"That would be even more of a problem. But I am pretty sure he was talking about dating the boss." Amy said to him.
"Oh." Sheldon said. He still had not gotten the hang of sarcasm.
After dinner they went back into the family room for coffee and dessert. Jackie and Amy were having a conversation about her school work and boys. It turned out Joe and Sheldon had a lot in common when it came to their preferences in movies. They were talking about the release of Captain America and how Joe thought Chris Evans was going to make the perfect superhero.
"He was good in Fantastic Four, I will give you that. Do you really think he can take on a bigger roll like Steve Rodgers?" Sheldon asked.
"Absolutely." Seibert told him.
"I guess only time will tell." Sheldon said.
"Well I was skeptical about Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man but I like him." Joe said.
Monica overheard their conversation. She rolled her eyes and went over and tried to rescue Sheldon.
"Joe don't you think Sheldon has heard enough?" She asked.
"Actually I am enjoying the conversation. My friends always tell me not to worry about a particular actor and that they will be fine. I remember when they cast Zachary Quinto as Spock and I was worried. My friend Leonard told me to give him a chance. I thought no one could play the role as well as Leonard Nimoy but he turned out to be pretty good. Joe here is trying to reassure me in a bit of a different way. I have to admit I am less worried now."
"As long as he is not boring you. He tends to get stuck on one topic and never lets it go. And Amy," She said looking over at the two on the other side of the room. "If Jackie is bugging you, I can send her upstairs to work on her book report."
"Not at all." Amy said. "I have never had a sibling before and I am having a good time getting to know her."
"Me too mom. And my report isn't due until next Monday." Jackie said.
"Yes but you have to read the book first." Monica told her.
"I have three more chapters." She said. "Come on mom, Amy and I are getting to know each other. So can I have ten more minutes?"
"Okay ten minutes then upstairs and reading." Monica said.
"Thank you." Jackie said and turned back to her conversation with Amy.
"So what book are you reading for your report?" Amy asked.
"I am reading Divergent by Veronica Roth." Jackie told her.
"Oh I have been meaning to read that." Amy said.
"It is so good. I started reading it about a week ago. I can't put it down."
"Well I am glad you are enjoying it and I will be sure to check it out." Amy said. "Now I am going to ask Joe if we can go out for lunch in a couple of weeks and then we can get our nails done. Maybe my friend Penny can come too."
"That is great. I am sure he will say yes." Jackie said excitedly. "Amy can I ask you a question?"
"Sure." She told her.
"Why do you call our father Joe?" She asked seriously. This had been bugging her all night.
"Well I grew up with a man whom I called dad my entire life. And I just found out about a month ago that Joe is my biological father. For now I think I will call him Joe and maybe once I get to know him better, I will feel comfortable calling him dad."
"Okay that makes sense." Jackie said. "Well I gotta go read. I have your number in my phone. Hopefully dad says yes."
"I am sure he will but I will talk to him before we leave." Amy told her.
Jackie gave her a big hug and then left the room. Amy went over to where Sheldon and Joe were talking and sat down.
"You two seemed to be hitting it off." Joe said to her.
"She is a good kid and so mature." Amy told him.
"That she is." Joe said.
"She wants to get together every once in a while if that is okay with you." Amy mentioned.
"Of course it is. I want you two to get to know each other. I only wish Sam felt the same way." He said.
"He may in time. I think he probably needs to really grasp what he found out about you before he can truly accept it." Amy said.
"I suppose you are right. I just don't want him to blame you for us never seeing each other. And I don't want your mom blamed either. She was protecting herself and you." Joe said.
"I know." Amy said.
"Speaking of your mother, does she know you are here?" He asked.
"Oh yeah and it caused a bit of drama. She came over this morning trying to stop me but in the end she trusted my judgment." Amy told him.
"I believe it. She is still trying to protect you. She has no idea what I did to make myself a better man." Joe said. "She only remembers the monster I was."
"Yeah well I will tell her what I witnessed tonight. I can't say that she will ever trust you again but I want to get to know you just like I do with Jackie and Monica and hopefully one day Sam. She is going to have to accept the fact that I want my father in my life." Amy said.
"Thank you." Joe said. "I can't tell you what that means to me."
"Well you deserve a chance." Amy said. "Now it is getting late, Sheldon and I really should get going." She said.
"I will walk you out." Joe said.
Sheldon and Amy said goodnight to Monica and Joe walked them out to their car. Joe bid them goodnight and watched as they pulled out of the driveway.
"Well that went very well." Sheldon said to her, once they were on the road.
"You are right. I am so glad we did this. Thank you for coming with me." Amy said.
"Anytime." He said. "Joe is a really good guy and he loves the same movies I do."
"I heard." Amy said. "I guess what they say is true."
"What is that?" He asked.
"You fall in love with someone just like your father." Amy laughed.
They drove the rest of the way home chatting about the evening and how they would like to have the family over their apartment for dinner some time. Sheldon agreed that they should. As they pulled into the parking lot of the apartment building, Sheldon checked his messages. There was one from his mother.
"Hi Shelly. I just wanted to let you know our cruise came in a few nights early due to some bad weather. I am staying in a hotel now since when I stopped by Leonard and Penny told me you were out for the evening with Amy. I will stop by tomorrow to see you. We are going to church. Make sure to invite Amy over as well. I can't wait to see her." Mary said in her message.
"Uh oh." Sheldon said, ending the message.
"What is it?" Amy asked.
"My mother is coming tomorrow." Sheldon said.
I swear this isn't a cliffhanger. I just decided to end it there because I could have written another thousand words with conversation about Mary so I thought I would save it and her visit for chapter 7.I hope you like what I did with Joe, his wife and kids. I wanted one of them to not be on board with Amy so I made it the oldest. I think he will come around.
So Mary next, then some nasty rumors at work and finally a San Francisco trip...with a wonderful ending. Stick with me and I promise it will be worth it.
If you liked please be so kind as to leave me a review. Thanks again!