"Amy, I really don't think this is necessary" Sheldon whined a few days later. He had been really excited when Amy had suggested a trip out, hopeful that time spent together recently was making her see he was trying. But now he reluctantly tagged along as she walked across the car park at Caltech. "Why could this not have waited until tomorrow when we are here for work?"

"Because you will be busy and so will I" Amy pointed out sensibly. "Also even I hadn't thought of trying this until the other night when we were with Issac."

Sheldon softened his glare when he thought of his nephew. He really had ended up enjoying the time spent with him. Missy had of course looked far too smug when she was leaving. He knew she would be telling his mother and meemaw he was ready to start a family. What was it with women the minute they saw an infant. It was this kind of nonsense that had caused all the upset with Amy in the first place.

Shaking off the thought Sheldon refocused his gaze on the monkey now before him. He noticed that at the sight of Amy Ricky had moved close to the cage door and was watching her quietly.

"Hey Ricky" Amy greeted him. "Seat!" she commanded and to Sheldon's surprise Ricky moved without a sound and sat on a block away to the left. "Have a seat yourself." Amy called over her shoulder pointing to a desk chair.

Sheldon grabbed the chair, sat down and watched. Amy entered the cage and held out her hand. Ricky reached out and took it, jumping onto her shoulder. Amy exited the cage and walked towards the desk Sheldon was sitting at.

"Ok," she smiled "let's start with the easy stuff." Sheldon was reluctantly impressed as he watched Ricky sort and match shapes and colours just as he had done with Issac. Amy then built a tower with blocks and Ricky copied her. Sheldon watched fascinated as he saw the trust Amy and Ricky had in each other. When Amy then asked Ricky to find a bug in a crowded picture Sheldon was convinced he would fail but instead Ricky found it quickly and Amy increased the level of difficulty again.

Amy looked up grinning and was surprised to see Sheldon frowning. "What's wrong?" she asked crestfallen as she had been so sure he would have been impressed.

"Issac couldn't do that!" Sheldon stated baldly, "I tried showing him 'where's waldo' and Missy got it quicker!" Affronted his nephew was going to be outsmarted by a monkey Sheldon decided he needed to put more time in where Isaac was concerned.

"Sheldon Issac has not done anything like that before, I have been working with Ricky for a while on these."

"I thought you said you hadn't thought of it until the other night." Sheldon accused.

"Oh," Amy grinned, "what I want to try next is the game you were playing trying to get Issac to build the same as you just by giving him instruction but not being able to see what you were doing."

"He did do quite well at that," Sheldon conceded. "All hope is not lost."

"Sheldon, he did really well! For a little boy who, by his mother's own admission, spends a lot of time in front of a television, he did far better than average."

"But he was still bested by a monkey!" Sheldon pouted.

"Come one" Amy grinned moving to return Ricky to his cage deciding now was not the time to try new things, for Sheldon's sake as much as Ricky's. Adding some treats for his hard work she said "Let's go get some lunch and you can work on a selection of games for Issac that Missy can do with him."

Deciding Amy made a good point and he could now work out tests for his nephew to prove he was able to outsmart any dumb monkey Sheldon grabbed his coat and headed to the door throwing Ricky a final glare for shattering the illusion he had about his nephew and their combined gene pool.

~73~

"So did you enjoy having Missy visit?" Amy asked after they had settled on a restaurant for lunch and had received their order.

"I did," Sheldon conceded reluctantly. "It seems she is easier to live with when I know she will be leaving shortly!"

Amy laughed. "She is very protective of you. She seems to think you need protecting from me!"

Sheldon snorted. "It is her I need protecting from! She is as and as mom and Meemaw thinking I am still a child and treating me like one. But she has gone now and I can plan how to make sure they don't ruin Issac like they tried to ruin me!"

"They didn't try to ruin you Sheldon, they love you." Amy pointed out gently. "But I am sure they would also love you helping with Issac too."

"Maybe Issac would like my comic book?" Sheldon suggested tentatively.

"I am sure he would love it!" Amy grinned. "He maybe wont understand all the stories yet but he will be very proud his uncle has written a comic book I am sure."

"I didn't tell Missy" Sheldon admitted sheepishly "I thought she would mock then tell mom who would just disapprove!"

"I told her." Amy admitted nervously.

"You did? Why?" Sheldon demanded.

"Well, we were talking about clothes then shoes and Penny mentioned my boots and before you know it I was showing her my costume… it just sort of happened." She trailed off.

"She will have told momma and she will call…" Sheldon put down his fork and checked his phone as if expecting it to ring immediately.

"I think that would have happened by now" Amy pointed our reasonably, "Missy has been home a few days and you haven't had a call, maybe you are wrong. Maybe instead of mocking she hopes you will have success with the new comic book."

"Did you tell her we won and how many people we beat and how stupid Leonard raj and Howard looked?" asked Sheldon suddenly eager to make sure Amy had told the story properly now the news was out.

"I just said there were important people judging and you won easily."

"We won Amy!" Sheldon corrected much to her surprise. "We won together."

"But it is you who came up with the concept and wrote the story they loved!" Amy conceded, quietly thrilled he had given her credit also.

"Well I could have done it without you." Sheldon stated firmly. " you will come with me wont you, when I go to new York?"

"You want me there?"

"Of course! For one thing you know New York and I hate big cities and for another your knowledge of Ricky is going to be invaluable to stop them turning our idea into some far-fetched commercial money spinner."

Amy grinned "I don't know anything about super heroes Sheldon that is all you. And I am sure they will have a car to collect you to take you to the hotel they have arranged and to the offices."

"Amy please!" Sheldon's voice was not his normal whining plea to get his own way Amy noticed but a quiet almost shy request which made her look at him closely.

"Sheldon are you nervous?"

"Yes," he admitted quietly "its not science Amy, I know science, and this is different."

Detecting the vulnerability in his voice and tried to reassure him. "Sheldon, you know comics! You spend a lot of time reading and discussing them."

"But these are people that make them Amy they might say the idea is silly."

"Sheldon, you won! Surely the others told you how impressed the marvel people were?"

"No" Sheldon said looking confused.

Amy frowned "well lets change that right now!"

~73~