Sh+Am

Sheldon lie in his bed reading a book (adult) Leonard had recommended him about a young man and his cat adventuring around an intergalactic reality show that sounded a bit like a D&D campaign when his wife came in. The book was silly, but Sheldon was still having fun reading it. The next book in the series was already lying next to him on the nightstand for when he finished the current one.

“He go down okay?” Sheldon asked Amy about Leonard as she crawled into the bed next to Sheldon.

“Yes,” she muttered as she rolled over and pulled the blankets up over her shoulder to go to sleep.

“Amy? Is everything okay?” Sheldon asked Amy. It wasn't her tone or anything else that caught his attention. It was the fact that she didn't kiss him goodnight. They did that every night, so he didn't think she just forgot. He thought back to the early days of their relationship when they didn't kiss. When they were supposedly just friends as if Sheldon hadn't fallen head over heels for his wife the first day they met.

Amy just sighed and settled down into the bed a bit more. She didn't want to get into it right now. She was too tired to fight, but she was also frustrated that her husband was so standoffish with the kids. He almost never put them down to bed if she was around. She just wished that he'd be a more involved father. He did his fair share of the cleaning, but sometimes it was almost like he was afraid of the children.

“Amy?” Sheldon tried again. He put down his book and started rubbing Amy's back. She loved physical touch in a way he didn't understand, but that didn't mean he couldn't provide it. In fact, this was a move he often went to when he wanted to make love with his wife. Right now, he was just trying to bring her comfort. It hadn't been more than three weeks since the last time they made love. He would be satisfied for at least a few more weeks yet.

Amy couldn't read his mind, so she didn't know that. She thought after all of the rest of her rough day, he was now asking for sex.

“Sheldon, I'm not in the mood right now,” Amy snipped at him.

“Why are you mad at me?” Sheldon asked. Her tone left no mysteries as to her attitude.

“I'm not mad at you. I just don't want to have sex right now,” Amy told him, which wasn't quite true. She was mad at him, but he wasn't going to pick up more of the child care duties. It wasn't worth arguing about. Not when Amy was exhausted and just wanted to go to sleep.

“Yes, you are,” Sheldon argued. He didn't like being lied to. Even by his wife who was usually the exception to his list of rules.

“Okay. It would've been nice if you had put Leonard back to bed. I've had a headache all day, and I just really wanted to go to bed, but I knew I couldn't because I knew you would just wake me up to put the kids down. Well, they're down now, and I still can't go to bed because you have your hands all over me, and I'm not in the mood.”

Amy felt a little bad about snapping at Sheldon. He was a good husband and father even if he didn't always do everything perfectly.

Sheldon was shocked by what she was saying. He would have absolutely put their toddler back to bed if he had known. Wouldn't he? Though he couldn't remember the last time Sheldon had put his son to bed. Had it really been over six months? It couldn't be.

“Oh no,” Sheldon said in a panic. “I've become my father,” he added quietly after another moment. It was something that he'd never wanted to do. Or at least this element of his father. Sheldon wanted to be an engaged father. He'd sworn it to Amy when Leonard was born. Now he'd broken that promise. Actually, he'd broken his promise months ago. It was just so easy to let Amy take care of the kids. She was so much better at it than he was. But that was no excuse. He felt like a failure.

Sheldon climbed out of bed and went to the kitchen. It was too late to put the kids to bed. They were both asleep in their bedrooms, but Sheldon could still take care of his wife. He grabbed a couple pain killers and a glass of water to take back to the bedroom. He set them on the table next to Amy's side of the bed.

“I'm sorry,” he admitted.

“I'm just having a bad day,” Amy assured him. She didn't think Sheldon was a bad father by any stretch. He was just used to putting himself first. Amy knew he was like that when she married him. She still knew it when they had Leonard. And she really understood that when Mary Elizabeth was born. It was who Sheldon was, and she didn't think she could change it. Any change in Sheldon usually took years and lots of effort. Since the kids were born, Amy just didn't have it in her to put the work into her husband anymore. It was usually just easier to take care of the kids.

Sheldon climbed back into their bed, though he nearly decided to go sleep in his office to give Amy space. She didn't ask for it, so he stayed, but he kept his hands off of her to allow her to go to sleep. Maybe they could talk in the morning, but right now he just wanted to make sure she had what she wanted.

When Amy woke up the next morning, Sheldon wasn't in bed with her, but that didn't seem suspicious to her at all. It wasn't like he just usually lie around in bed all day. He was probably off trying to win his second Nobel. She decided to go grab the kids and make them breakfast.

Only that's where Sheldon was. He was in the kitchen with Leonard sitting at the table eating a bowl of cereal half spilled all over the table and Mary Elizabeth was in her high chair babbling at her father who was feeding her oatmeal. He was currently telling their daughter to open up for the choo choo train with chugga chugga choo choo noises. Mary Elizabeth still dodged the spoon, but Sheldon just wiped her face and tried again.

“Hey, Mommy,” Sheldon said when Amy walked in. “How's your head?”

“It's fine. Want me to take over?” Amy asked her husband as she walked over to them. She reached out for the spoon in Sheldon's hand.

“Nope. I have it,” Sheldon said to his wife with a smile despite the fact that Mary Elizabeth was turning her head away from yet another oncoming train. At least this time about half the spoonful made it into the eight month old's mouth.

“Uhh,” Amy said in confusion. It was Saturday morning, so if the kids were taken care, she was a little lost in what to do. That had mostly been her Saturday mornings for years.

“There's coffee in the pot,” Sheldon told Amy. He never drank the stuff, but he started the pot for Amy every morning all the same.

After Amy poured herself some coffee, she grabbed some fruit off the counter, and wiped up the spilled milk before sitting at the kitchen table. Leonard climbed out of his chair and into Amy's lap. She helped him hold his cereal as he did. Then Amy wrapped one arm around her son to hold him close to her while he ate.

“Thanks for getting them up, Sheldon,” Amy said.

Sheldon looked at her for a minute without saying anything. He then looked down at the ground. If Amy didn't know any better, she'd say he was embarrassed. “It was no problem,” he said without looking up.

“And it will continue to not be a problem,” Sheldon added after he looked up. He was renewing his promise that he would be an active father in his children's lives. He knew he might not always understand his kids, but he made a choice to make them with Amy. He needed to step up and help take care of them.