Sheldon Cooper was a funny sort of fellow. He never really understood the idea of relationships, friendly or romantic, until one day. One day everything changed for him. He managed it really well, that was something he was really good at, but gradually over the years he had found a way to let it out, knowing by this time that he wouldn't get hurt. Amy Farrah Fowler had totally changed him. He had lost his virginity to her and now they were married. His mom couldn't believe it and, if he was honest, he couldn't believe it either. But now he was hit with another dilemma. Babies. Howard and Bernadette had two, Halley was now two and Michael's first birthday was rapidly coming their way and now Leonard and Penny were going to have a baby. He was so happy for them. He knew that this baby would't change things, just like Halley and Michael hadn't.

Amy rolled over in bed and sleepily looked into the living room. It was six thirty on a Sunday morning, but Sheldon was already up and eating his breakfast. She knew life was about to change again, what with Penny's baby on the way, and she knew that Sheldon found change difficult. But this time seemed different. Normally he would have his big boy tantrum and then life would be okay as Sheldon found a way to deal with it but they had known about baby Hofstadter for over a week now and he still seemed different.

The last week had been difficult for Sheldon, he didn't like not being the centre of attention at the best of times, but now he had to deal with both his dilemma and Leonard being the number one man in their clique. Everyone at CalTech had been really excited about the news, even Lesley Winkle, one of Leonard's ill-advised hookups from years ago had taken an interest and Burt couldn't stop talking about the baby. Now Sheldon started to think about whether Amy would like a baby too. Shame it wasn't that easy. He wanted to give her all she wanted, but wasn't sure if he could cope with being a father right now.

Amy quietly got out of bed and got dressed. She knew that Penny wouldn't be up yet, morning sickness had kicked in over the last week and it had forced Penny to take some time off from work, unheard of for the number one selling pharmaceuticals saleswoman to her company, and had left her exhausted. Amy heard Leonard moving around in the apartment and smiled, neither she nor Sheldon could remember a time when he had been so happy. Every time he saw someone new, he told them and some of them he told more than once.

Penny rolled over, took one look at the clock radio that was sat on her bedside table and sighed. She couldn't remember the last time sh got out of med after ten in the morning. She could hear the television on in the living room and the tapping of keys on a keyboard. She knew that Leonard would be using the time to to his advantage before the baby was born and he didn't have any time for things like that.

Penny managed to pull herself onto the edge of the bed and waited for a while for the sickie feeling and dizziness to pass. She hoped that this wouldn't go on for too long, she hated feeling sick and felt guilty about not going to work. As she staggered out of the room, she just about managed to get to the arm chair before she threw up again in one of the buckets that had been placed strategically around the apartment

"You feeling any better?" Leonard regretted the question straight away and could tell from her face that she wasn't, and that she wanted to kill him "sorry"

"it's okay" Penny responded as sarcastically as she could manage "it's not like this is your fault or anything, right?"

"In my defence" Leonard smiled "you let me do it to you"

"yeah" she responded "remind me not to do that again"

"What are you going to do about work tomorrow?"

"I don't know, I'm supposed to be going out with Bernadette at lunch time but I can't see that happening"

"No"

"I'm worried about Amy" Penny told him, wondering where it had come from

"I think we're all worried about Amy" Leonard laughed "I mean, come on, she married Sheldon, on purpose"

"True" Penny laughed "but no, I mean I think she's a bit upset about all of this"

"You mean the baby?"

"yeah" Penny wiped her brow with one of the towels that had also been strategically placed around the apartment "I'm worried she's a bit jealous"

"Possibly" Leonard thought for a moment "but can you imagine Sheldon wanting to have a baby?"

"No, but then I never imagined he'd want to get married either" Penny yawned "maybe I should speak to Amy"

"Speaking of which" Leonard took the opportunity to change the subject "did you tell Amy or Bernadette about the fact that you didn't think you could have children?"

Penny shook her head "I didn't want to burden them, they didn't need this"

"Did you tell anyone?"

"Yes" Penny closed her eyes as another wave of the sickie feeling passed over her "I told my dad"

"That's good" Leonard felt relieved that she had had someone to talk to "that also explains his reaction when we told him"

"Yeah" Penny managed to not be sick that time "when I told you I didn't want children and then spoke to my dad, that's when i told him"

"Well" Leonard smiled at her "I'm glad you could unburden yourself on someone"

"I'm sorry" Penny shook her head "I just didn't want to hurt you until I had gotten my own head around it, I felt like it was my fault that I couldn't give you the child you wanted"

"I wouldn't have blamed you" Leonard assured her, a little hurt that she would think that of him "I would have been upset but we would have got through it, hey, you and me can get through anything, surely we've proved that"

"Well it doesn't matter now" Penny smiled and then grabbed the bucket to throw up into

"Good job the romance is still alive" Leonard chuckled to himself as he rubbed her back