A/N - Okay, so this is a little collaboration between me and Molly. I've put the prompt at the end, so you get to read the story itself first and then see the inspiration behind it. It was really fun to write but strange not knowing what was happening once you'd written your part. Anyway this was the end result, so enjoy the joint crazy creativity!
Peering down at the shopping list, Leonard located 'soy milk' and ticked it off. "Okay, soy milk; check. Next..." He scanned the list to find the next food item in their current or closest aisle. "Olive butter." He began to push the cart, but Penny rushed past him and stopped abruptly in front of the cart, preventing him from going further. "What?"
"Chocolate milkshake." Penny stated, reaching up to grab two liter bottles of what he could see was of the priciest range, and apparently made with 'rich, Belgian chocolate'. It looked incredibly thick and, if he was honest, fairly sickly.
"Oh, is this for your plan to 'go easy on the chocolate'?" Leonard joked, watching her place the bottles into the cart carefully.
"Yeah... umm." Penny frowned. "Well, it was going well for a week. But, now I want chocolate milkshake, so... we're buying chocolate milkshake. Oh my God you know what else we should get? Pickles!" She announced this as though it was the best idea in the world, her eyes lighting up.
Leonard scrunched up his face, slightly repulsed by this strange combination. "Chocolate milkshake and pickles? Really?"
"Hey!" Penny swiveled on her heel ninety degrees and pointed her finger at him. "Pregnancy cravings. No judging, remember?"
"I know, I know, but... are you going to drink chocolate milkshake and eat pickles at the same time?" Leonard frowned.
"Yes." Penny raised her brows at him pointedly, before going back to walk next to him as they continued down the aisle towards the butter.
"You better brush your teeth before you kiss me." Leonard muttered quietly, only half joking.
"I heard that! And the other night you kissed me after eating garlic bread, that was gross." Penny accused, pulling a face at him.
"Well I didn't know you were having your aversion to garlic!" Leonard moaned. "Your cravings and aversions have no logical links to each other."
But Penny was no longer listening. Heading over to pick up a tub of olive butter, she placed it in the cart and turned her head to him. "You know what I'm having an aversion to right now? Whipped cream. I was going to buy some, but if you can't have it, there's really no point."
"Huh?" Leonard raised a brow, ticking off 'olive butter' from the list.
"It's just no fun if it's just me having the whipped cream." Penny sighed. "What's next on the list?"
"Ch- hey, where are you going?" Leonard frowned as Penny started walking back.
"Banana milkshake." Penny called over her shoulder.
Leonard rolled his eyes at her. "Seriously?"
"What?" Penny stopped and reached up to the top shelf to retrieve a bottle. Returning to Leonard, she frowned. "If I spend so long in the fridge section of the store, is the baby gonna get cold?"
"I think the baby will be fine, it's me that's gonna get cold."
"Oh stop pouting." Penny replied, slapping him playfully on the arm before tugging him towards her, resting her chin on his shoulder as she looked down at the list in his hands, her free hand gently caressing the sizeable bump in front of her.
Scanning the scribbled writing on the crumpled paper, her eyes hit something that caught her attention and her eyes lit up again. "Ooh, be right back!"
Leonard barely had time to question her before she had scurried off down the aisle as fast as her bump would let her. With a smile and a shake of his head he concentrated on his list again, continuing to pick out what items he needed from the shelves and crossing them off.
It was almost five minutes later, when he had made his way to the juice aisle that he heard his name being called behind him. "Where have you be-" He began as he turned around, stopping as soon as he spotted his pregnant girlfriend with her arms wrapped around a load of groceries, resting quite conveniently on her bump. "Oh my God," He couldn't help but chuckle as he stepped away from the trolley and walked towards her, reaching out to take some of the products from her, "Are you planning on spending all of our money on junk?"
Penny raised her eyebrows, placing one hand on her hip after dropping her groceries in the cart. "Oh so me and your unborn child aren't worth spending this money on?"
"That's not what I said."
"That's what you're implying!"
"Penny, stop," He rolled his eyes as he put his bundle of stuff in the cart, "I'm not having this argument with you again, not after the pizza incident."
"I couldn't decide what pizza I wanted! It only made sense to buy a whole bunch!" She protested as Leonard walked on with the trolley. "Fine, I'll stop." She mumbled, knowing it was just her hormones trying to start the fight in the first place, as she walked beside the trolley, one hand resting loosely on the metal. "Anyway, it's not all junk… see," She said, pointing to an item inside the cart.
"Aubergines?"
"Yeah. Aubergines aren't junk, they're healthy." She grinned.
"I suppose, but since when do you eat aubergines?"
"Since your baby decided he or she wanted them." She shrugged, before letting out a gasp, hitting Leonard on the arm as she walked away again, pointing up to the top shelf, "Dr Pepper!"
"Penny, wait let me get it."
"It's fine, I can reach!" She insisted as she stood on her tiptoes, clutching one of the lower shelves with her hand to steady herself as her other reached up to take the plastic bottle. "Ooh," She said suddenly, grimacing as her hand moved away from the shelf and down to her bump.
Leonard rushed over to her, his arms reaching out to her, "Are you okay?"
Penny nodded, her hands rubbing where she felt the discomfort. "I think so it's just… Ow!"
"Is it the baby?"
"I think so... but it can't be, it's a little early and I haven't got my Dr Pepper yet!" Penny moaned.
"We need to go to the hospital." Leonard said quickly, as Penny grimaced again.
"But the food-"
"Penny, we need to go to the hospital."
"I know, but it's not - ow - too bad, can you at least get the Dr Pepper... and the chips? Please?" Penny pouted at him.
"Fine," Leonard said quickly, grabbing a bottle of Dr Pepper and the crisps out of the cart, knowing there was no point in trying to argue with her. "Come on, let's go."
"What about the rest of the food?" Penny asked, looking back at the cart as Leonard put an arm around her back and led her towards the checkouts, locating an empty one. "That's a lot of food back there! Ow! We can't just have no food!"
"It's okay, we'll get food, but right now that's not the priority." Leonard placed the two items down carefully and moved across slightly, taking his wallet out so he was ready to pay.
"O-kay." Penny scoffed, before quickly grabbing a chocolate bar from the stand over the till and handing it over to the cashier.
He paid the cashier quickly, throwing the items into a bag and then taking Penny by the hand. He felt more nervous and worried than Penny looked; in fact, she was still complaining about all the food they had left behind when he helped her into the front seat and was sat in the drivers seat.
"I really put a lot of thought into - ooh - those things in the cart." Penny complained, as Leonard began to drive off. "What if I forget something next time? You're going to have to pick up some milkshake and pickles later. Oh man, that's what I should have picked to take! Damnit."
"How are you still thinking about food?"
She could hear the panic in Leonard's voice, which made her giggle. Placing her hand over his, she gave it a squeeze. "Relax, sweetie, it's not that bad."
"But the baby-"
"I know. But it could just be Braxton Hicks contractions. The doctor said those thingies could happen." Penny reminded him, bringing her hands to her stomach. "Mm, it's not too bad." She assessed, moving her hands to different areas of her stomach every few seconds. "Quite want that chocolate bar though. Oh man I should have gotten the one with nuts!"
"I'll get you the one with nuts at the hospital. Are you still okay? Has it gotten worse?"
"Ooh. Oh, I think that was just my stomach rumbling actually. Because we didn't get any food." Penny glared at Leonard for a second. "You better have a real good dinner prepared for me tonight."
"Yes, I got it, pickles and chocolate milkshake." Leonard nodded at her. "You sure it's just Braxton Hicks and not actual contractions? Should I ring up the hospital right now?"
"Oh, Leonard, baby, relax. Whatever it is, I'm sure we don't have to be fretting right now. It's not like my waters have broken or anything." Penny said, before her eyes widened.
"What?" Leonard asked in a panic, spotting the sudden look in Penny's face and feeling her grab on to his arm, his eyes darting from her to the road. "What is it?" He asked again, desperate to know why she had that look of fear in her eyes. Surely her waters hadn't broken here, not in the passenger seat of his car. He was barely keeping it together as it was, add that to the mix and he was certain he would need to pull out his inhaler.
Penny's wide eyes focused on Leonard's. "The aubergines! We didn't bring the aubergines! I was so looking forward to those!"
Leonard let out a breath as his shoulders dropped with relief. "Jesus Penny you scared the crap outta me, I thought your waters had broken."
"What? No," She said with a hint of laughter, "don't be silly, trust me if my waters had broken you would have known about it. Remember what happened with Bernadette?"
Leonard cringed, "Oh yeah," He nodded and took a breath, his brow still furrowed with concern as he looked at her, "you're right. So you're okay."
"Yes sweetie." She smiled reassuringly, "Eyes on the road."
"Crap," He quickly snapped his head to the front. "right, yeah."
"And relax," She soothed as she rubbed his arm, "Ooh." She grimaced and breathed, gently stroking her stomach. "It's probably just those Hickey things." She said with a casual shrug, making Leonard chuckle.
Almost an hour later, Leonard was pacing the floor outside of the room Penny had been taken into with the doctor. The bottle of Dr Pepper – that he blamed for them being here in the first place – was sitting on one of the chairs beside Penny's purse, jacket and packet of crisps and chocolate bar.
When the door eventually cracked open, Leonard instantly rushed towards it, "What happened is everything okay?" He asked, his eyes jumping from Penny to the doctor.
"Braxton Hicks," Penny said, shrugging as she walked over to her belongings, instantly opening the packet of crisps.
Leonard looked over to the doctor, who simply nodded his agreement, "Braxton Hicks, no need to worry yet Dr Hofstadter, she's still got some time to go."
After thanking the doctor Leonard looked over at Penny, sitting happily on the chair, her hand in the packet of crisps, "Told you." She said with a smug grin as he walked over to sit on the seat beside her. "Crisp?" She held the packet out to him.
"No thanks." Sitting back in the seat, he sighed as he rested his head on the wall and closed his eyes.
"Oh sweetie," Penny cooed as she reached her hand out to hold his jaw, "You look exhausted."
"I am."
"Aww." She leaned across and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "I hope not too much cos we gotta go back to the store and get the rest of our stuff. I'm not going home without my aubergines."
A/N - Here was our prompt from imagineyourotp on Tumblr: "Imagine your OTP doing some general shopping while one of them is pregnant and has cravings so they start putting extra items in the cart as they go." Let us know what you think! :)
