"Would it be possible for me to visit the boys sometime soon?" Sheldon glanced at his phone, holding it out for Amy to read the message from Ricky on his screen.

Amy smiled, "That's fine with me. He can stay in the guest room. We don't have anything scheduled for the next few weeks, so I guess whenever works for him."

"Really?" Sheldon seemed surprised by his wife's response.

"Yeah. He mentioned at Theo's birthday that Levi asked if he could visit and we told him that was fine," she shifted closer to Sheldon on the couch. Resting her head against his shoulder, she sighed, "He wants to see his kids. We can't keep them from him."

Lifting his phone, Sheldon typed out a response and quickly got one in return. "He wants to come this weekend. He's looking at flights to arrive Thursday afternoon and leave Monday morning. I can take off on Friday so Theo can spend the day with him. I don't know if I'm quite comfortable with him being completely alone in our house while we're at work all day."

"Okay. Let's wait to tell Levi, just in case he doesn't make it."

"I'll be back in a little while," Amy announced after the group arrived home after work and school later that week.

Levi looked up from where he and Theo were playing in the living room. "Where are you going? Can I come with you?"

Nodding, Amy held her hand out to him, "It's a surprise, but yes, you can come along." The pair quickly got in the car, with Levi questioning their destination most of the way, Amy finally telling him after parking the car at the airport, "Someone is coming to visit for the weekend. Do you want to see who it is?"

"Is it gramma? Is it Uncle Georgie? What about Meemaw?" each of the first grader's questions was met with a shake of Amy's head as they waited at the arrivals area. Suddenly, Levi's head snapped up when he heard a voice calling his name, "Daddy!" Amy dropped the grasp on her nephew's hand for him to run to his father.

She smiled, watching Ricky lift Levi into his arms, hugging him tightly before he approached her. "Hi, Amy. Thanks for agreeing to this." Ricky turned his attention back to his son, "Where's your brother?"

"At home with Uncle Sheldon. He's making dinner," answered Levi as Ricky set him on the floor.

"Theo's making dinner?" Ricky grinned. "I don't know many two-year-olds who can cook."

Levi giggled, "No. Uncle Sheldon is making dinner. But sometimes we help."

"Maybe you can show me your cooking skills this weekend. I'm here until Monday."

Sheldon spent the next day working from home, while Ricky spent time with Theo until Levi was done with school. Sheldon walked with Ricky and Theo the few blocks to retrieve Levi from school. As they were returning home, Theo called from his stroller, "Park!"

"Theo wants to go to the park. Can we go? Please?" Levi looked back at the adults trailing behind him.

"I need to get home to finish up a few things for work, maybe when Aunt Amy gets home? You can show your dad the swing set at home until then."

The boy's face fell at his uncle's response, only to quickly perk up again. "Can daddy take us to the park? And you can go home?"

Sensing Sheldon's hesitation, Ricky replied, "Let's wait until Amy gets home, then we can all go together."

"No, it's okay. I don't see a problem with you taking them if you're fine with it. If you'd rather not, we can wait for Amy to come home."

Ricky glanced at his sons, both of whom were watching the interaction between their father and uncle, before answering, "I guess that would be fine with me. How do we get back to your house from the park?"

Leaving Ricky with directions back to the house, as well as Theo's stroller, Sheldon made his way home. Amy pulled into the driveway as he approached the house from the end of the street. She waited next to the car for him, "The boys wanted to go to the park. Ricky was okay with taking them by himself. I doubt they'll be there long. Levi has already asked to go to the zoo tomorrow. I told him we could probably make that happen. While today was okay being home with Ricky all day, I think having an activity tomorrow would be best."

Following a full day at the zoo on Saturday, Levi and Theo quickly went to bed after dinner, leaving the adults to not worry about little ears overhearing any conversation they might have. "I asked to visit to help me make a decision about the boys," Ricky broke the ice as the trio sat in the living room.

"What are you talking about?" inquired Amy.

Ricky took a breath before explaining the reason for his trip. "Our agreement is for them to be with you until the end of the year. That's just over two months away and I've been having mixed feelings about what the right decision to make is. I asked to visit because I thought I could get a better feel for how they're doing with you in your home versus seeing them for a few hours at your mom's house."

Sheldon glanced at Amy before asking, "Has being here and seeing Levi and Theo helped you decide anything?"

"It has. First of all, I will never be able to thank the two of you enough for everything you've done. Not only for them, but also for me. I hate to think what would have happened to Levi and Theo if we didn't have you," the man started. "I've been able to see that they're doing really well and seem very settled in here. I think it would be best if they don't come back to live with me in Texas and stay here with you permanently. I don't want to take them away from their school, and daycare, and friends, and the family you've given them here. I don't want to take them away from you and the life you've built with them. I've got a full-time job, but it's working nights, so I'd need to find someone to stay with them while I'm at work. I'll never be able to give Levi and Theo the life you've given them since they've been with you. You can say no and I'll figure something else out, but I think it would be best for Levi and Theo if I were Uncle Ricky and the two of you were mom and dad."

"Are you sure?" Amy asked before Sheldon could process what Ricky had suggested. "We can keep them longer and maybe you can get on a day shift? We don't have to make any decisions now. What if we keep them until Levi is done with school for the year?"

Shaking his head, Ricky turned down the idea. "They'll have been with you for a year and a half by then. The two of you are the only parents Theo has known for most of his life. Every day they're here, they get more attached and more settled. Every day is going to make it harder to uproot them again to move them back to Texas. I'm not a good dad. Them staying here with you is what will be best for them."

"You're not a bad dad. You just haven't been around the boys much. I was terrified when we first brought them home, but you'll figure it out. You just need time with them," Sheldon attempted to calm the other man's nerves.

"Did Missy ever tell you why we were separated or why it had been months since I'd seen the boys?" Ricky changed the course of this conversation.

Sheldon tilted his head, confused at the turn this had taken. "No. She only said that you were separated and it's what was best. I knew better than to get involved in Missy's relationship."

"The first time we were separated was while she was pregnant with Theo. She'd heard from someone that I was cheating on her. I wasn't, but she didn't like how much I was talking with a woman from work. Missy told me I could only talk to her at work and about work. I told the woman that, but she kept texting me. I usually ignored it, but the one time I didn't was the time Missy happened to pick up my phone when it went off while I was out of the room. She took Levi to your mom's house that night. We were apart for about a month. It took me switching work locations and blocking the other woman's number before Missy came home. Theo was born a few weeks later and things seemed like they were going well for us."

"What happened that you separated again?" Amy was invested in this story.

Shrugging his shoulders, Ricky stated, "I lost my job last January. Finding a new job wasn't a priority for me. I started spending all my time at the bar or with my friends, getting high. Missy made occasional comments, but mostly ignored what I was doing. She kicked me out the day she came home and some of my friends were at the apartment. We'd been drinking and they were smoking. Levi and Theo were there. Missy didn't want them to be raised around those things. She filed for divorce and said I couldn't see them until I got clean. The judge gave me visitation, but I stopped showing up for it after a month or two. It was too much of a hassle."

"When we talked at the bar on my birthday, you said you've been a bad dad since before Levi was born. Why did you say that? It sounds like things only started going downhill for you last year?" Sheldon was trying to piece together what happened between his sister and the man sitting in front of him.

"Missy and I only got married because she got pregnant and that was mostly to appease your mother," confessed Ricky. "We'd only known each other three months when that happened. It was more of a casual hook-up situation than a relationship. I was twenty-two. She was ten years older than me. Once Levi was born, I didn't have a clue what I was doing. I know a lot of new parents say that, but I was bad. I felt like I never formed any kind of bond with the boys, even as Levi started getting older. Most parents would miss their kids when they aren't with them, but I didn't feel that."

Ricky opened his mouth to continue, only to be cut off by Amy. "Do you miss them now?"

"They're my kids. I love them, but I also know I can't be the kind of parent they deserve. The two of you can. I don't want you to feel like I'm dumping them on you and running from my responsibilities. All I need to do is call that lady from children's services and tell her I want to give up my rights. I'll sign a bunch of paperwork, then they can be yours. You'll be able to adopt them if you want."

Sheldon and Amy's hands had found one another between them on the couch. Amy squeezed Sheldon's in hers as he asked, "Do you mind if we discuss this privately? Please don't do anything yet. I think Amy and I need a little time to process everything you told us."

"Yeah, of course," Ricky quickly agreed. "I can watch the boys tomorrow if you guys want to go out for dinner or something to have some time to yourselves."

Amy and Sheldon left Ricky with Levi and Theo the next afternoon and made their way to the coffee shop they met at. They each ordered a drink and were silent until they'd finished them. "How are you feeling about what Ricky said last night?"

"This isn't what we originally agreed to," Sheldon stated, staring into his empty cup.

Reaching across the table, Amy took his hand in hers. "But it is. We agreed to take care of the boys to give Ricky time to get his life in order so he can be a good dad to Levi and Theo. Sometimes, being a good parent means realizing you shouldn't be a parent. He wants to do what he thinks is best for Levi and Theo. If I'm being honest, I'm proud of Ricky for the work he's done and for coming to this decision."

"What if he signs whatever paperwork and regrets it later? What if he tries to get them back? It sounds like he's rushing into this decision. His life is finally turning around and he wants to offload his responsibilities to start over."

"If Ricky didn't have a job or an apartment and came to us and said he wanted to give up his rights to the boys and we could adopt them, would you be thinking that?"

Sheldon pondered his wife's question for a moment before replying. "I guess not. I want what's best for Levi and Theo, but is it best for them to possibly never be with their dad again?"

"Ricky said he would be Uncle Ricky. To me, that sounds like he still wants to be involved in their lives, but he is acknowledging he can't give them the upbringing they deserve and that Missy would want them to have."

"Missy would hate this so much," the physicist rested his head in his hand.

Silently, Amy watched her husband from across the table. She slowly stood and pulled him into he arms. "Let's tell Ricky we don't think he should do this yet. Tell him to take more time to really be sure of his decision, but we won't question him when he decides this is what he needs to do." Amy felt Sheldon nod his head in agreement against her. "Let's go home and have dinner with our boys and their dad."

The couple returned home and enjoyed the evening with Ricky, Levi, and Theo. Once the boys were in bed, they invited Ricky to join them in the living room again. "We don't want to rush into anything," Sheldon started the conversation.

"Sheldon and I talked, both last night and this afternoon," continued Amy. "We want you to take more time to think this over before making any permanent decisions. We think it would be best for everyone if we don't make any changes for a while. Wait until at least the end of the school year. That gives you seven months to really think this over. If this is still what you want then, we'll fully support you and the boys."

Ricky's jaw dropped, not expecting this reaction. "I guess I can live with that. But you'll keep them when I do give up my rights?"

"Of course," nodded Sheldon. "They're my nephews. Missy would haunt me until the day I die if we didn't. We'll adopt Levi and Theo and love them every day. We want you to be sure of this and not regret it months or years from now."

This chapter was a lot. I'm pretty sure it's the longest chapter I've written and it was also one of the hardest I've done in some time.

I'm not sure when I'll be posting it, but I will be posting a Christmas story sometime this weekend.

If you happen to be in America and are getting hit with this snowstorm, please be careful. I have to work this weekend because my theater "doesn't cancel shows due to inclement weather" & I guess doing A Christmas Carol is more important than making sure everyone is safe at home.