Placing Levi's lunchbox in his backpack, Sheldon reminded the kindergartener, "Aunt Amy packed an extra snack for after school. Remember, she's going back to work today, so she won't pick you up right away. You'll go to the cafeteria for the after-school program and we'll pick you up when we're done at work."

"I know. Can we go?"

"Soon. You won't be late. Let me check if Aunt Amy and Theo are ready yet." Sheldon made his way upstairs to check on his wife and younger nephew. "Oh, there you are," he nearly ran into Amy in the hallway.

"Yep. We're both ready to go. I think I've got everything Theo might need for daycare in the diaper bag. Extra clothes. Plenty of diapers and wipes. His lunch is on the counter. How did Missy manage to get herself and two kids out the door every morning on her own? There's two of us and I feel like I'm forgetting something."

Tapping his finger on the end of Amy's nose, Sheldon smirked, "It's a good thing you married someone with an eidetic memory. I don't forget anything and I know you're not forgetting anything, either. Levi is waiting. We'd better go so we have time to drop him off before going to the university and still have enough time to take Theo to daycare."

"Okay. I'll take your word for it, but I can't shake the feeling that I'm forgetting something."

Quickly finding her husband and their friends at their regular table in the Cal Tech cafeteria, Amy pulled over an extra chair and joined the group. "Welcome back, Amy," Raj greeted her as she settled at the table. "How is it being back?"

"Not bad," she shrugged her shoulders. "The morning has been mainly going through my email and the department head catching me up on the research they want me to work on now that I'm no longer working on super-asymmetry." Quickly finishing her sandwich, Amy excused herself from the table, "I know I only sat down a few minutes ago, but I want to check on Theo at the daycare before I head back to the lab. Thai food night is at your place tonight, right Leonard?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "See you then."

Sheldon watched his wife exit the cafeteria before turning back to his friends. "She loved being home with Theo all the time and picking up Levi from school every day. Actually, I think I'll catch up with you later. I'm going to join her in checking on Theo."

"You know the daycare will call you guys if Theo's not okay, right? The daycare is clear across campus. If you go over there every day, you'll spend more of your lunch hour walking back and forth than eating lunch or seeing Theo," Howard pointed out from experience with Halley and Michael. Sheldon ignored the engineer's comment and scurried after his wife. "It's weird seeing them with kids, right? It's not just me that thinks that, is it?"

Shaking his head, Leonard agreed, "No, it's weird. Not them taking care of Levi and Theo, but how comfortable Sheldon is with taking care of those kids. It's been like three months since Missy died and you'd think they'd been with Sheldon and Amy a lot longer than that. Howard and I get nine months to freak out about becoming a parent. Sheldon and Amy go to Texas for Christmas and come home a month later with two kids and act like it's the most natural thing."

"Really? Sheldon hasn't freaked out about Levi and Theo living with them?" Raj questioned, skeptical that everything was as easy as Leonard was making it sound.

"Oh no. Sheldon's freaked out plenty, but he's so good with the boys. It's just hard to believe they've only had them for three months."

Amy and Sheldon retrieved Theo from the university daycare at the end of the day, loading him in the car and making the short trip to Levi's school. Waiting in the car while Sheldon went inside for Levi, Amy smiled to herself when she saw them heading towards her, Levi skipping a few paces ahead of Sheldon, chattering and turning back every so often to check if his uncle was still following. "Here comes Levi!" She remarked to Theo in the backseat. "He looks like he had a good day. Are you excited to see him and tell him all about daycare?"

"Yeah!" The toddler replied, waving when his brother opened the door across from him. "Hi!"

"Hi, Theo," the kindergartener answered. Before Amy could ask how his day was, he began talking, "It was so much fun after school. I have a new best friend. His name is Jackson and we played the whole time. He said he can teach me to play soccer when we go to the gym tomorrow after school."

Glancing over her shoulder, Amy could see how happy her nephew was, talking about his new friend. "Is Jackson older than you?"

"No. He's in the other kindergarten class. We go on the playground together, but we never played together before. He asked if I can play at his house sometime?"

Sheldon took over the conversation, "Aunt Amy and I need to talk to his grown-up, but I don't think that'd be a problem."

"He lives with his mommy and daddy. I told him I live with you and Aunt Amy," the boy volunteered from the backseat.

"Okay. We'll talk to his mom and dad. I'm sure we can work something out for you to play at his house or he can come over to play with you at our house."

"I think this might be the happiest I've seen you in a few months. Did something happen today?" Amy noted her husband's pleasant demeanor throughout the evening.

Sheldon crawled under the blankets of their bed, a smile spreading across his face. "He has a friend, Amy. Levi finally has a friend here. A real friend. Someone he's excited to see at school every day."

Pausing from joining her husband in bed, Amy looked at him, "Did you think he wouldn't make any friends?"

"I was starting to worry about it. After all, everyone kept saying he makes friends so easily, yet he didn't click with anyone until today. I didn't have a real friend until I met Tam. Having a friend made being in high school at nine a little easier," the physicist quietly admitted. "I hope Levi having a friend makes school easier for him. He doesn't want to be late for school, but he never seems very excited about going. He talks about what he learns when we ask, but never about the other kids."

Amy rolled on her side to be facing her husband. "I didn't know you were worried about that and I'm sorry you felt that way when you were in school, but I'm happy you found Tam and that Levi making a friend takes a little weight off your shoulders."

"I'm just happy to see him settling in a bit more."

This will probably be the only update for this week. I'm going to New York the middle of the week through the weekend. I get to see Jim Parsons in A Man of No Importance. I've got a front row seat, so I'll be super close! I'm hoping to snag a picture with him after the show, but not getting my hopes up too much. Just being in the same room as him will be more than enough. I'm sure I'll be posting all about it while I'm there and when I get back.