Penny Hofstadter blew gently on her freshly made cup of tea and sighed. Her husband's snoring had become so loud that night that she'd had to spend the night on the sofa. This had been going on for a few nights now and her neck was aching from the surprisingly uncomfortable sofa that had been in the apartment longer than she had even lived in the building. She stretched again, trying to shake the pain, and the problem that was niggling at her.
Leonard Hofstadter woke up with a start. He rolled over to say good morning to his wife, but she wasn't there. He wasn't sure what was wrong with Penny at the moment. Her normal jokey personality had been replaced with a somewhat dreary one. He kept asking what was bothering her, but was always met with the same response 'I'm okay, don't worry about it'
Penny was glad it was Saturday. She'd had a hard week and spending the last few nights on the sofa hadn't helped. Her phone beeped a message and she picked it up, scanning the words that were written on the screen, she wasn't sure whether she wanted to answer or not. It was from her best friend, Amy Fowler
You know where I am if you need a chat xxx
"Damn it" Penny exclaimed out loud "she always knows when something's wrong"
Come in and have a chat then xxx
"It didn't take long for Amy to walk through Penny's door. She lived with her husband, Sheldon, just across the hall in Penny's old apartment
"Morning" Amy looked sympathetically at her friend "you need to tell me what's wrong, is there anything I can do?"
Leonard had heard the commotion of Amy coming into the apartment and decided to see if he could hear. He crept out of the bedroom and stood just out of view in the hallway. He didn't normally snoop on his wife. Amy always had a way to get Penny to listen.
"I don't know really" Penny dropped her head into her hands and felt a single tear running down her face "I think I might be pregnant"
"What" Amy was so shocked by what Penny had said, she needed a second to let it sink in "say that again"
"I think I might be pregnant" Penny said, much louder this time "and I don't know what to do"
"Wow" Amy still wasn't sure what to say "but I thought you didn't want children"
"I didn't" Penny shrugged, remembering how upset Leonard had been when she had told him this a few weeks ago "but it looks like Mother Nature has other ideas"
"Have you done a test?"
"Not this month" Penny rolled her eyes; she swore she kept 'Clear Blue' in business "I've been in this position before, but never this long"
Amy looked at her "well, don't you think you should get one, I'll be here when you do it if you want"
Penny shrugged "But I don't want to know, Amy, while I don't know I can pretend it's not happening, and I can carry on with my lovely life with Leonard, not worrying that my body is going to change, and my boobs are going to sag, and my life is going to be unrecognisable"
"Okay, okay" Amy ran straight over to her friend and hugged her tight "but you need to know, Penny, you can't sit there and pretend it's not happening, I mean have you told Leonard?"
"No" Penny could feel her eyes filling with tears again "I don't want him to know yet, he's going to get so excited and I don't know if I can cope with that right now"
Leonard turned and walked away. He had heard the whole thing and it had upset him. Why didn't Penny want him to know? Why had she told Amy first? Why was she so upset about the whole thing? He slipped quietly into the bedroom they shared to get dressed and think about what he was going to do.
"You're just overwhelmed" Amy reassured her "you need to do this test and then, whatever the result, you need to talk to Leonard"
"Penny took a sip of her now cold tea and pulled a face. She threw it all down the sink and walked into the bathroom. She knew she had a test in there somewhere, from last time. As she looked through the drawers the tears carried on falling silently down her face
"What are you looking for?" Leonard interrupted her thoughts
"Penny stopped immediately and tried to wipe the tears away from her face "oh, a spare toothbrush" penny responded quickly "I dropped mine"
"Okay" Leonard responded, not really believing her "that was a bit silly"
"I know, right" Penny forced a smile "don't think I'm with it today"
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I will be, just tired"
"Come on" Leonard smiled at his wife "tell me"
"There's nothing to tell" Penny was starting to get frustrated with her husband, he just wouldn't leave her alone "can I have some privacy please?"
"Sure" Leonard walked away, a little annoyed "I'll leave you to it"
As he walked away from his clearly upset wife, Leonard hesitated and turned to say something, anything, but he couldn't get the words to come he just hugged her and let her sob on his shoulder. He didn't know how long they had been stood there for when she pulled away and looked him in the eyes. Her face was all puffy from the crying and the mascara from the day before had started to run down her face like roots of a tree
"I'm pregnant" Penny whispered to him, so quietly that he wasn't sure what she had said
"You're pregnant?" Leonard asked her softly, he couldn't stop the smile emerging from the side of his mouth
"I think so" Penny responded, half a smile appeared on her face too, "I haven't done a test yet"
"Wow" Leonard couldn't believe it "is that what you were looking for?"
"Yes, sorry I didn't know how to tell you"
"Well you've told me now" Leonard's smile had now turned into a beam "and I'm really happy"
