"I'm here!" Penny announced her arrival at the Cooper house, having let herself in. Spotting her best friend in the living room with Levi and Theo, she asked, "You ready to go?"
Amy struggled to stand from the couch, with Penny rushing across the room to offer the woman a hand, "I feel like a cow. These babies need to come out now. Leonard should be here with Sheldon in a few minutes. Then we can go. Thanks again for offering to drive us to my doctor's appointment today. I'm hoping she says I'm able to do more than move from the bed to the couch all day. I'm bored, Penny."
"I know. Let's get you in my car so we're ready to go as soon as Leonard and Sheldon get here."
Stopping halfway to the door, Amy stopped and turned to face the boys who were still playing on the floor. "Be good for Leonard. How does spaghetti and hot dogs for dinner sound?"
"Ok," Theo was the first to respond. "Can I color?"
Amy nodded, answering, "Sure. Levi, can you please help Theo get his crayons and paper out?" The seven-year-old silently reached for the box of crayons that were just out of reach of his younger brother. Hearing a car pull into the driveway, the neurobiologist reminded the boys, "I love you. Sheldon and I will be home as soon as we can."
The couple returned home just over an hour after leaving; their friends left and Amy set about preparing dinner for the family. "I can make dinner, why don't you relax?" suggested Sheldon, watching his wife silently move about the kitchen.
"No," she shook her head, not turning around to face her husband. "I want to make dinner. I don't know what's going to happen when we go to the hospital tonight and I need a distraction. Please let me make a meal for my family."
Sheldon approached Amy and slipped his arms around her, resting his hands under her stomach, supporting the weight of their babies. "What do you really think about what happened at the doctor's this afternoon?"
"You heard her. The likelihood of a complication or needing a C-section is higher with twins. The risks are higher with needing to be induced. I'm terrified of what's going to happen when we get to the hospital."
"I'm scared, too," Sheldon quietly admitted. "But everything will be okay."
Amy turned around to face her husband, "You don't know that."
"But I do. I know that because you're an amazing mother and this is what's best for our children. The doctor wouldn't be having us do this unless she felt it would be better for you and the twins than to wait until your due date or for you to go into labor naturally."
"I don't understand how you can be so calm about this."
The physicist shrugged. "Leonard and Howard told me that no matter what I think is going to happen or want to happen, won't. They said to throw any expectations out the window and do what's best for you and the babies. Don't tell them, but I listened and it seems as though they know what they're talking about." Amy let out a chuckle at that. "Our daughters are going to be here before we know it. Let's have one last meal with our boys as a family of four before we have two more mouths to feed."
"I like that. Let's enjoy dinner with Levi and Theo and tell them we're going to the hospital tonight to have the babies."
"Look!" Theo interrupted the moment, waving a piece of paper in his hand.
Dropping his arms from around his wife, Sheldon accepted the paper and looked at the crayon image before passing it to Amy. She studied it for a moment before asking, "Is that a cow with a baby?" Theo eagerly nodded, reaching to point at his picture. It was at that moment that Amy let out a chuckle. "Is that supposed to be me?"
Theo nodded again, stating, "Mommy feels like cow. Babies come now."
"Go tell Levi dinner's ready. We're going to talk about the babies coming," Amy shooed the three-year-old from the kitchen. Adding Theo's drawing to the refrigerator, she explained to Sheldon, "He must've been listening when Penny got here and I said that I feel like a cow and that the babies need to hurry up."
Sheldon was dishing up their meal when the boys ran into the kitchen, each climbing into a chair at the table. "Babies?" Theo inquired even before there was a plate in front of him.
The adults exchanged a look, neither saying anything until they joined the boys at the dinner table. Amy was the first to speak, "Remember how we said that my dad is going to stay with you when Melissa and Sadie are born?" She was met with a nod from Levi and continued, "He's on his way over so we can leave as soon as finish dinner. Sheldon and I are going to the hospital for them to be born tonight."
"When can we see the babies?" Levi's attention was fully on the adults seated across from him.
"We don't know how long it will take for them to be born," Sheldon started, "but we'll let Larry know as soon as they're here. We'll have him bring you and Theo to meet them as soon as they're born. We want the two of you to be the first ones to meet them."
Late the next afternoon, Sheldon smiled at Amy, who was resting in the hospital bed, holding one of their newborns, while he held the other. "What?" she asked, noticing his glance.
"I love you," was his only response before sitting on the bed next to her. "And I am so proud of you."
"I love you, too. And you, and you," she said, touching the top of each infant's head. "How do you feel now that they're here?"
Sheldon was silent, pondering his response, "I've never been happier than I am right now. I know we decided months ago that the first baby to be born was going to be named Melissa and the second would be Sadie, but how do you feel about switching them?"
"Um, okay," Amy stared at Melissa's face, silently sleeping in her arms. "Do you mind if I ask why?"
"I don't know. I've been holding Sadie, but I keep getting this feeling that this baby is supposed to be Melissa, not Sadie. I don't know if it's that this baby looks more like Missy," explained the physicist, not looking away from his daughter in his arms, "But it's just a gut feeling that this baby is supposed to be Melissa."
Amy outstretched her hand, resting it atop Sheldon's forearm. "They're identical twins, they look the same. But, okay, we can swap their names. You've got Melissa and I've got Sadie. I'll call the nurse to let them know so they can fix all the paperwork. We also need to call our parents and have my dad bring the boys so they can meet their sisters."
"They're going to be so excited," he quietly replied, his mood suddenly much more solemn than it had only moments earlier.
"Is everything okay? What are you thinking? It's just us, you can be honest with me. If you're terrified of being responsible for two newborns, a toddler, and an elementary schooler, I am too. But it's okay, we'll figure this out together."
Shaking his head, Sheldon shared, "No, well, yes, but that wasn't what I was thinking about. I was thinking about Missy and how much she would love these babies. She would have been on the first flight out when she'd heard they were on their way. She would spoil them rotten, especially Melissa. She would also be the first to answer her phone in the middle of the night when I have a question about the babies. Missy and I were always at such different places in our lives. Being parents is the first time we would have been doing the same thing at the same time."
Amy sat up, leaning her head against her husband's shoulder. "I know, but she raised two awesome kids we get to learn from every day. If these girls are half as great as Levi and Theo, we'll be so damn lucky. And just as soon as we can, we'll take them to Texas and you can have some time with them with Missy, just the four of you. Sadie and Melissa will always know their Aunt Missy, I'll be sure of it."
"Let's call the boys and tell them to get over here."
Amy's parents didn't take long to arrive at the hospital with Levi and Theo. Amy was holding both babies when they entered the room. "Babies!" Theo shrieked upon seeing them. Quickly reminding both boys to keep their voices down, Sheldon lifted Theo onto the bed to get a better view, while Levi climbed up on his own.
"They're so little," Levi stated, reaching his hand to touch one of his sisters.
Amy smiled, the love she had for her family growing exponentially at that moment. Motioning to each bundle of blankets, she introduced them, "This is Sadie and this is Melissa. Melissa is named after your mom."
Theo crawled up the bed, forcing Amy to look to Sheldon to take one of the babies from her. "You're not our baby anymore," she said to the boy. "Are you going to be a good big brother to Sadie and Melissa?"
"Uh-huh. Like Levi," Theo nodded, snuggling into Amy's embrace. "Miss you."
"We missed you, too. Do you want to hold one of them, Levi?" Sheldon asked the older boy. When he excitedly smiled, Sheldon pointed at the couch under the window. "Sit over there and I'll help you." It took a few minutes to adjust a pillow on Levi's lap to help support the newborn, but he was soon holding Melissa. "You've got Melissa. What do you think?"
"Lissa!" came Theo's response from across the room.
Levi studied the infant in his arms, "She's so small. Was I this little when I was born?"
"You were," Sheldon confirmed, sitting next to his oldest child. "Your mom called me and said she wanted me there when you were born, so I made Leonard drive me to the airport and I made it just in time for you to be born. Did you know I was one of the first people to hold you after your mom and gramma? Let's take a picture of you with her to send to gramma and Meemaw."