Michael was true to his word, and called in to check up on Amy before he started his rounds the next morning. He examined her thoroughly and checked her chart for her blood pressure results during the night.

"Any further outbreaks of nausea or anything else unusual?" He asked as he sat near the bed, Amy shook her head.

"No, I actually felt hungry this morning and managed to eat my whole breakfast. I feel quite extraordinarily well on the whole."

"That's good, I've made you an appointment in the clinic for a few weeks' time so that we can check your levels again. Something tells me that they're going to be coming down to a normal level now that you've come to terms with everything; you almost seem like a completely different person this morning."

"I do feel different, ever since Sheldon left I've been feeling a little distant…as though he was the only reason I felt accepted." Amy held out a hand to Bernadette, who took hold and squeezed back in response. "I now know that isn't true, and that I'm always going to have them around, we're family now…and I hope that you will be paying me a nice home visit in the not too distant future so that you can meet them all yourself."

"I'd like that a lot…Now, I'm going to sign your discharge papers on one condition…you need to take a couple of weeks just to get your energy levels back up. I want you to try and eat four small meals a day, nothing too heavy; but you need to get your weight back up a little so that you can provide the best start for that little one." Michael waved the papers under Amy's nose and Bernadette grabbed them, giving Amy a warning glare.

"Michael, you can be certain that Amy will follow your instructions to the letter, otherwise she'll have me to deal with; and…"

"No one wants to deal with an angry Bernadette…" Came a voice from behind the small woman; Howard had snuck onto the ward, taking the chance that Amy would be released that morning.

"I'll leave you to get dressed, Nancy will be over with your information sheets before you go…I'll see you soon." Michael smiled at the ladies and left them to greet Howard.

"Howie!" Bernadette walked over to greet her husband with a warm kiss and a hug before pulling back to frown at him. "Shouldn't you be at work? I was gonna call Penny to come over and pick us up in a while."

"Nah, we all arranged to take a few days off to get Amy settled at the apartment. Leonard spoke with President Siebert and he gave us all the time, no questions asked."

"Ooh crapsticks! I'd better call my boss as well!" Bernadette grabbed her phone out of her purse and strode out of the ward to place her own call. Howard moved over to perch on the edge of her abandoned chair and leant over to talk with Amy.

"How're ya doing, Ames? Feeling any better?"

"Much better, thank you Howard. I just wanted to let you know…well, I…" Amy started to crease the fabric of her blanket up in her fingers, and Howard leant over to still her movements.

"Amy, you don't have to thank me…or any of us for that matter…we love you, and we're gonna love that little baby too. I'm pretty excited about the whole thing to tell you the truth, I'm gonna be Uncle Howie!"

"I'm sure that you're going to make a great uncle, too." Amy turned her hand over to clasp Howard's tightly. "After all, we both love Neil Diamond and so it stands to reason that we're clearly the only sane ones in this whole bunch."

"Speaking of Neil Diamond, how do you feel about 'Caroline' for a girl's name?"

"Ooh, or 'Jess' as in Jess Robinovich…I like the way you think Mr. Wolowitz! I don't like 'Neil' for a boy though, I was once tormented by a boy of the same name at kindergarten and I'm afraid that it's rather tainted the name for me."

"You making sweet talk with my old man, Amy?" Bernadette snuggled next to Howard on the chair, their small frames fitting easily in the same space.

"Just throwing out a few suggestions for baby names." Howard kissed Bernadette swiftly on the lips and turned to face Amy once again. "Leonard spoke with the Head of your department, and just extended your leave by a couple of weeks, saying that you were moving houses. He didn't tell her anything about the baby; he thought that you'd want to fill them in on the particulars yourself."

"Good, I'm not sure whether I want to be starting another new trial now that we have more important matters to deal with. I just want to focus on getting myself together again, and maybe I'll take up the offer of writing that text book that the Dean keeps asking me for…I can easily work from home for that. Speaking of home, can we get out of here now please?" Amy looked over at Bernadette who jerked her head at Howard.

"Come on short stuff, clear the way… Amy needs to get dressed and I don't think she particularly wants an audience…" Howard blushed as he took in her meaning, and shuffled out of the way as Bernadette drew the curtains around the bed.

"Um, we haven't unpacked any of your things yet at the apartment Amy. We weren't sure whether you'd want to take Leonard's room or Shel...the other one." Howard nearly bit his own tongue off as he realised that he'd nearly said the name that Penny had told them specifically not to mention in Amy's presence until she brought it up herself.

"It is okay, Howard, you can say his name…I'd prefer to stay in Sheldon's old room. Could you ask the guys just to box up his clothes and move them into the closet for now…I don't mind his collectibles being around. I find them quite comforting in a way, they'd have to be moved once the baby's here of course." Amy's voice floated out from behind the curtain, sounding quite comfortable with the fact that she was finally going to be moving into Sheldon's room…but without Sheldon.

"Sure, I'll text them now and they can get started." Howard whipped out his phone and sent a text to Leonard and Raj. They both confirmed that it would be done before Amy made it home. He looked up as Bernadette opened the curtain to reveal a fully dressed Amy, who was practically glowing with excitement.

"Let's blow this pop stand!" Bernadette giggled at the sudden transformation, the depressed and fragile looking woman from yesterday had been replaced by a buoyant, expectant mother who was more than ready to get herself whipped into shape for the months ahead. They collected copies of Amy's paperwork from Nancy and extracted a further promise to meet up again with them soon, and Howard led them out into the car park where his shiny mini was sitting in the sunshine.

"Bernie…how are we gonna fit a baby in this contraption?" Howard looked over at his wife in dismay. "I'm never gonna get to drive the baby about in this tiny little thing…I knew I should've got the BMW instead!"

"Howard, don't worry. I'm going to need to choose a new car myself when the baby gets here. My car is eight years old now, and I will need to research the safest vehicles for transporting a child…you may help me choose if you like, and then you can drive my car whenever you want to play Uncle Howard." Amy patted Howard's arm consolingly, and he whirled around to enfold her in a hug.

"Thanks Amy, you really are the best!"

"Howie, you might wanna think about loosening that grip – or are you trying to make her yack all over your pants?" Bernadette tapped on Howard's shoulder as she saw Amy's face pale a little at how tightly Howard was hugging her. He immediately stepped away and looked over in concern.

"Sorry, Ames…guess I just got a little carried away there for a moment." He held open the passenger door and tipped the seat forward so that Amy could climb into the back. Bernadette cleared her throat and gave him a slight shake of her head, as she climbed into the back herself, leaving the front seat for Amy.

"God, the poor woman's barely out of her hospital bed and you'd have her folding herself like a pretzel to get in the backseat." She muttered as she fastened her seatbelt. Amy gave her a smile of thanks as Howard pulled the seat forward so that Amy could get in. He made sure that her seat belt was securely fastened before closing the passenger door and walking around the car to get behind the wheel.

"So, ladies…any stops you'd like to make along the way? Drive through…Babies r us…? Anywhere at all?" Howard started the engine and hoped that he didn't sound too eager when he mentioned the baby store.

"Home for now, thank you, Howard. I'm feeling a little tired and I need to carefully look through the dietary requirements in the leaflets from the hospital. I'm going to have to make some changes in my eating habits…too many take away meals could be harmful to the baby, and I've always thought that having four take outs a week was a little excessive anyway." Amy leant her head back in the seat and looked over at Bernadette who was already reading through the leaflets and scribbling down notes in her jotter.

"Drop Amy off at the apartment…grocery shopping…pack suitcase…cancel cable subscription…" Amy heard Bernadette muttering from the backseat and craned her neck around to see what she was writing.

"Bernie, cancel cable subscription really?"

"Leonard has cable, we're over there most nights anyway…so yeah, cancel cable subscription…" Bernadette's tone warned Amy not to make an issue out of it and she turned around to face forward, sharing a smile with Howard at how much she sounded like his own Mother when she was riled up.

"I guess I shouldn't tell her that we lost the toss over who gets to stay with you first then…"
"Howard Wolowitz, you'd better not be telling me that! I've just booked a whole week off work to get Amy settled in and we don't even get to spend a single lousy night?"

"I'm sorry honey, but we lost. Let's face it, when have we ever won a match against Penny anyway? She's still miffed that you got to spend the night with Amy in the hospital, I had to let her have something…You can still go over during the day; she's got a couple of auditions coming up this week and so won't be there the whole time…Raj and Leonard will though, when I left they were trying to work out the optimum location for the rocking chair, crib and changing table…oops…forget I said that…you didn't hear anything!"

"Howard…" Bernadette growled, she hated being kept in the dark about anything but this took the biscuit. "What have you been up to?"

"It wasn't me…well, it wasn't just me…You'll see when we get home, and speaking of home – here we are!" Howard pulled over into a visitor's space and hopped out of the car to open the door for Amy, he guided her to the curb before going back to the car to help Bernadette out of the back. "Amy, shall we?" He offered one arm to Amy and the other to his wife, as they made their way up the four flights of stairs to the fourth floor. He stopped just as they reached the final turn before the landing and asked Amy to close her eyes and trust him.

"Okay, but I'm really not that fond of surprises…"

"Then you're really gonna hate this one…" He muttered as he carefully guided Amy up the last few steps until she was standing just outside the door of her new home. Howard tapped twice on the door and Penny opened it up and took his place at Amy's side.

"You can open your eyes now…and if you hate it, please tell us…" Penny whispered as she held Amy's hand and watched the gamut of emotions flicker across her best friend's face as she took in the sight of the now transformed apartment. A huge 'Welcome Home' banner was draped across the ceiling and there were pink and blue helium balloons floating everywhere. The large dining table had vanished from the raised area at the back of the living room, where Sheldon and Leonard's desk now were placed back to back. The armchair had been moved to the spot where the desks had once stood and in it's place was a large, padded rocking chair with a soft cushion for support on the seat and draped over the back was a soft, white woven shawl; perfect for cradling a new-born. In between the rocking chair and the leather couch was a white wicker Moses basket heaped with a ton of tiny baby clothes in soft pastel colours. Amy followed the trail of balloons along the hallway into what used to be Sheldon's room; she pushed open the door to see a beautiful pine crib and changing table set up against the far wall, but in essence it was still as she remembered it – that lovely smell of talc in the air; mixed with a faint tang of citrus from his shaving foam. Amy sank onto the edge of the bed and breathed the scent deep into her lungs as she tenderly placed a hand over her abdomen.

"This was your daddy's special place, I guess it's going to be our special place now. I'm sorry he's not going to be with us, but you're going to have a whole heap of Auntie's and Uncle's to make up for it…"

"Ames, can I come in?" Penny tapped on the open door and Amy looked up to see her best friend hovering in the doorway.

"Sure, bestie…come and say hello to your little niece or nephew." Amy held out her hand in welcome and Penny sat down next to her on the bed. She gently placed her hand over the top of Amy's and leant her head on her shoulder.

"I'm so glad you're gonna be okay…you really scared me for a while."

"I scared me too," Amy admitted as she continued to rub her still flat tummy. "I brought something back for you…could you ask Bernie to come in for a minute and to bring her purse with her?"

"Sure thing, little mama." Penny walked over to yell from the doorway. "Bernie, Amy wants you to bring your bag in…she says she has a prezzie for me; although I can't think what you could have brought back from the hospital unless she's snuck someone else's baby in there."

"Almost bestie…but better." Amy drew her legs up on the bed and gestured for Bernadette and Penny to join her. They made an Amy sandwich as Bernadette handed Amy the small white envelope with a smile. "I asked Nancy to run off a few extra copies…Meet the new addition to the family." Amy pulled the ultrasound pictures out of the envelope and handed one each to Penny and Bernadette. There were at least ten copies in the envelope with a little note attached saying that she could get more if she needed them.

"Oh My God! Leonard!" Penny was crying as she took in all of the details of the little image. Leonard came racing down the hallway, closely followed by Raj and Howard expecting the worse, only to come to a crashing halt at the sight of the three weeping women lying on Sheldon's bed.

"What? Is there something the matter? Amy, are you okay?" Leonard felt a tightness in his chest and he grasped his inhaler tightly.

"I'm fine, Uncle Leonard." Amy passed him a copy of the picture. "Uncle Howard." Another copy, "Uncle Raj." All three men looked down at the image, the proof that Sheldon Cooper had done the impossible…it seemed that he wasn't a robot after all.

"Look, he has tiny hands and feet already…" Howard smiled as he looked over at Bernadette, she blushed and shrugged her shoulders in a 'maybe one day' expression. Leonard tipped his copy sideways and then realised that he was holding it upside down; he felt a prick of tears behind his glasses and discreetly wiped them dry as he pretended he was pushing his glasses up his nose.
"He? No, it's definitely a little girl…oohh think of the Princess parties we could have…" Raj cooed at the image and tucked it away into his shirt pocket. "I think I'm going to start a scrapbook with mine…when's your next ultrasound and do we get another copy?"

"I've got another one at twenty weeks I think, but I'd have to pay for the extra copies…we only got extra ones this time because we made friends with the doctor."

"Tell me how much and I'll pay for a copy for anyone that wants one…"

"Me!"

"I do!"

"Yeah, okay…Of course, I do!" Leonard sounded as if he didn't care either way, but then excitement got the better of him and he wanted the same thing as everyone else did. "I'm going to pin this one up on the fridge."

"I'm gonna do the same over at my place…I can't wait for the next one! When was that again?" Penny bounced off the bed, and caught Amy's slight groan as the sudden movement made her stomach lurch again.

"Urghhh…No, we're good, although you might want to tone the excitement down a little. I think the baby likes things on the smooth side, no sudden moves – just like his daddy. The next ultrasound is at twenty weeks, I'm a little over sixteen weeks now, so in around four weeks. I have an appointment at the clinic next week, as they need to perform more tests on my elevated hormone levels…and then I'm not sure after that until I properly read the leaflets."

"The leaflets!" Bernie said as she took a flying leap off the bed and tugged Howard along with her, "We need to go grocery shopping, Amy needs to eat four small meals a day…and no take outs. Too much sodium and all other sorts of nasties. Back soon, everyone!" Amy looked around the suddenly empty room and rubbed her stomach again.

"I guess it's just you and me, baby…shall we go and see what your new chair feels like? Maybe it's gonna be just as comfortable as daddy's spot on the couch…" Amy shuffled over to the edge of the bed and made her way back into the living room. Leonard and Raj were arguing over where the best spot was to display the photo; the fridge or the notice board.

"We could take down all of this junk and make it into a sweet little baby board instead." Raj suggested and Leonard tilted his head to one side as he tried to remember what exactly was on the board in the first place.

"What the Hell, I never did understand that equation anyway. It was something Sheldon was tinkering with… let's take it down and throw it in his desk drawer." Leonard started to clear off the board and heaped the papers together on the counter ready for moving later. He noticed Amy walking into the room and standing in between the rocking chair and Sheldon's old spot on the couch…he nudged Raj as the stood watching her trying to decide where to sit. Leonard smiled as she finally decided to sit in Sheldon's spot and watched as she sank back into the cushions with a little sigh.

"You know, I can see now why he always wanted to sit here…it really is very comfortable." Amy said as she wriggled herself into the corner, shifting the stripy cushion until it was in just the right position in the small of her back.

"I guess Sheldon's spot has now officially become 'Amy's spot'." Raj muttered, and then brightened up when he realised that the rocking chair would now be free. "Yay, I get to sit in the rocker…this is a good day indeed!" He raced over to plop himself in the rocking chair and gave a little hum of appreciation as he felt the cushion mould itself to the shape of his body.

"Amy, can I get you anything? Tea, cocoa, water?" Leonard hovered behind the counter, feeling the need to do something.

"I'd love some tepid water please, if it's not too much trouble." Amy murmured sleepily from where she was nestled snuggly on the couch, resting her head on the arm.

"Of course, it's not too much trouble; you live here now, remember?" Leonard carried over a glass of tepid water and set it down on the small side table near the telephone and took his usual seat at the other end of the couch.

"I'm sorry, I guess it will take a little getting used to that's all." Amy apologised again, and Leonard reached over to pat her arm gently.

"Don't worry about it, I'm gonna switch on the tv; we'll watch some mindless drivel and it will be like you've always lived here. Trust me, it's how Sheldon got me to stay…" Leonard stopped talking as he realised that Amy had drifted off to sleep mid-sentence. "Or…if you wanna just go to sleep then that's okay too…" Leonard reached over to tug the blanket thrown over the back of the couch and draped it over Amy's sleeping form. It was the same blanket that she'd had on the back of her couch in her Glendale apartment and Raj had thought it made a nice touch to the brown leather couch. Leonard looked over at Raj rocking gently in the chair and smiled faintly…it was already feeling like they were getting the hang of this situation fairly quickly…until a familiar sounding voice coming across the hallway had him looking over to where Penny had left the apartment door open, and his jaw fell open in shock…