"If mass is the measure of its energy content, and I hope you came prepared," Sheldon read. "Then Einstein's theory of mass-energy equivalence is e equals mc…"
"Squaewed," Amelia answered around a thumb in her mouth.
Sheldon smiled down at his daughter, seated in his lap. "Right! Okay, let's turn the page."
The girl reached forward with little one-year-old hands to flip through one of her favorite picture books, Baby's First Guide to Basic Physics, before turning her head to stare up at her father expectantly. She looked just like him, all limbs and chestnut hair pulled back by a tiny barrette, but with Amy's green eyes. Perfection incarnate.
The physicist cleared his throat dramatically as he continued his tale. "Now if you can get this next one, you're clearly very bright: c equals three times ten to the eighth meters per second is…"
Amelia grinned, the same face he would make when he knew just what the right answer was. "The spee' of ligh'!"
"That's my girl." Sheldon dropped a quick kiss to her head. "Keep it up and you'll be in college by the time you're six. Your Uncle Leonard may think that his son is all that, but we both know the smartest toddler in the world is…"
The girl plucked her thumb from her mouth with a resounding pop. "Amewia Coopah."
It was amazing how from the mouth of an obnoxious coworker a speech impediment was positively grating on the ears, but from that of one little girl it was nothing short of precious. "You're three for three, my dear."
Just then the door swung open, and upon sight of the person who entered Amelia's face lit up like a sunbeam. "Mama!"
The moment that Amy glanced up from removing her purse, Sheldon knew something was off. Her eyes couldn't seem to focus on anything, only sparing the two on the couch a quick look before shifting to something else.
"Hey, baby," She said, looking like she was far, far away from the here and now, rather than devoted to giving her undivided attention to their daughter like usual. "Did you, uh, have fun today?"
Amelia nodded vigorously before returning to the herculean task of turning to the next page of the storybook. Sheldon, however, kept his gaze focused on his wife. "Amy?"
But the biologist didn't even reply as she turned and headed into the kitchen to set the kettle on the stove, her shoulders rigid and tense as she reached into the cabinet to retrieve their box of assorted teas.
Hot beverage. Not a good sign.
Gently removing Amelia from his lap and settling her back on the couch with her book, Sheldon rose and followed his wife to the kitchen.
"How was your appointment?" he asked, trying to deflect the situation for now by distracting Amy from whatever was bothering her. Hopefully she would come to him in her own time.
But his question seemed only to distress her further, freezing her in place a moment as she was retrieving her favorite yellow mug, before she shook herself out of it and continued on as if everything was fine. So it must have had something to do with the doctor's visit she had just come from, even though Amy's medical record had always been stellar…
All at once a host of reasons it had gone horribly wrong invaded Sheldon's head like an army taking the citadel, each wave worse than the last. Was she ill? Did she have a heart condition? Did she have cancer? Had she contracted premature Alzheimer's?
In two long strides Sheldon had rounded the kitchen island and swung his wife around, clutching her shoulders desperately. "Are you dying?!"
Amelia's head shot up from the couch at her father's alarmed tone, face scrunched up in puzzlement. Amy quickly sent her a tight smile in reassurance before taking her husband by the arm and pulling him further into the kitchen. "No Sheldon, I am not dying." She was clearly irritated, but Sheldon didn't even care because anything was better than the stiff lack of emotion from before. "And tell me, how else do you plan on traumatizing our child?"
He made a face at her, but upon sight of her hunched posture and arms wrapped protectively around her it quickly dissolved to true concern. He ran his hands down her arms soothingly. "What's wrong, Amy?"
"Nothing's wrong." She blew a heavy breath from her mouth. "At least, nothing should be wrong. In fact, everything should be just right. But what do you do when something right happens, but you're afraid it's the wrong time? I mean, you were happy when this right thing happened before, but that had been with extensive discussing and planning, and it had… felt right. The right time. But what if you don't know if you're ready for two right things at once? What if you're terrified someone you love isn't ready for two right things either? What if-"
"Amy." His breath was coming up short, his heart pounding a staccato beat like his bongos. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"
She bit her lip, shifting her weight to her other leg, and then for the first time since she walked in the door looked straight into his eyes. "I'm pregnant."
Sheldon could do little more than stare at her, wide-eyed and deathly still. "What?"
Amy sighed. "In the words of the great Dr. Sheldon Cooper, 'My uterus has come down with a baby.'" Her gaze flitted away again nervously, and her next words started coming out in a jumbled rush. "And I know it wasn't planned, heck we haven't even talked about having a second child yet, and Lia's not even two years old yet so we'll have to somehow manage raising two kids under three, and eventually we may have to talk of moving out of this apartment and I know how much you dislike change and anything that will interrupt your schedule-"
She was cut off by her husband surging forward and throwing his arms around her so suddenly she was knocked back a step, kissing every spot on her head and face available to him.
"Do you mean it?" he asked against her ear as he pulled back to look at her, feeling a grin of childlike excitement smear across his cheeks. "We're having another baby?"
"If the tests are to be believed, then yes." A tiny smile graced Amy's face, and Sheldon realized how much he had missed it in just these last few minutes. "And we both know science never lies."
He kissed her deeply then, arms tightening around her body as he leaned back to lift her off her feet. Of course, physical strength had never been his strongest attribute so he was soon forced to place her back on the ground, but the beam on his face hadn't lessened an inch.
He was just about to go in for another kiss when he felt a sudden tugging on his pant leg. They both looked down to settle on a pair of wide green eyes glancing first to the owner's father, then the mother, a question in them as plain to her parents as if she had shouted it.
With a bright smile Amy detangled herself from Sheldon's embrace and bent down to lift Amelia into her arms, automatically shifting her to one hip so her free hand could go to her middle. "Don't worry, sweetheart." Her eyes met her husband's, the stereotypical pregnancy glow already making a reappearance. "Everything's all right."
