Luke

Penny could say that she was one of those women who loved to lounge. A good lounge in the middle of the day when she had dropped the twins off at the lovely downstairs nieghbours with the promise to pick them up in a few hours was exceptionally wonderful. With Sheldon once again happily deposited at Caltech for his work hours and their living room blissfully clean thanks to a very productive morning Penny felt like she could just close her eyes and sleep for the first time in months. Then the door opened.

She couldn't say she was surprised to see Leslie Winkle standing in her doorway. After all, since she had moved in with Leonard and progressed in her pregnancy she had been a closer friend to Penny then the blonde haired woman had thought possible. So Leslie being there wasn't odd. What was odd was the somewhat crazed look in the brown haired woman's eyes and the way she was clutching the doorframe. Penny rolled into a sitting position.

"My water broke." Leslie stated.

"You're early." Penny responded immediately, "You have at least two weeks to go. Leonard's not even here, You can't be early."

Leslie gave her a look she usually reserved for Sheldon but Penny didn't react to it. Memories of her own labour and the twins came to mind and soon she slipped into that deep calm reserved for people who have faced a crisis situation and lived to tell the tale. Raising two little Coopers while dealing with their King was a war zone if she knew one and by God she was a veteran. Leslie in labour, nothing she couldn't handle.

"Okay, do you have a baby bag?" Penny asked as she got up and moved to get her keys in the little bowl Sheldon kept near the door.

"Oh like those overnight bags all the moms have?" Leslie smiled.

Penny nodded.

"Nope." she answered, the smile still present on her face.

Penny sighed and pushed past her into the hallway, stopping a moment to grab her coat otherwise she'd never hear the end of it from Sheldon.

"So how far apart are the contractions?" she asked.

The brown haired woman was pressing her hands against the wall, her entire body hunched in pain. Penny bit her lip and nodded. So pretty close. She moved to Leslie's side immediately, taking the small woman by the arm and leading her through the winding staircases. About halfway down the stairs another contraction seemed to hit them and they were forced to ride it out. Penny felt her heart drop. It had been less then ten minutes to get here there. She had felt a tightness spread in her chest. Moving quickly she ran to Mrs. Vartabedian's door and began slamming her hands against the greenish wood in desperation.

Marcus answered the door, his eyes brightening as he saw Penny, then narrowing as he looked past her to where Leslie was puffing on the staircase.

"She's in labour." Penny blurted out.

"Either that or she's decided to start holding lamaze classes in the third floor hallway." Marcus replied, narrowing his eyes at the smaller woman who had just given him the finger. He turned his and yelled over his shoulder, "Gran if you could call an ambulance that would be great."

A loud groan forced both Penny and Marcus to Leslie's side.

"Marcus dear, what's all this commotion about?" Mrs Vartebedian asked as she toddled to the doorway.

Penny's eyes caught the older woman's form. She was wearing a rather nice long dress and overcoat and her white hair was wrapped up in a pretty french twist. Penny had never gotten a really decent look at the older woman who had developed a bond with her children and now that she had the woman's grace surprised her. The woman looked at her grandson the at Penny and then at the panting Leslie on the stairs before she let a small smile cross her features.

"My dear I believe you should come inside. There is no way you are going to be going to a hospital anytime soon." Mrs Vartabedian smiled and waved her hands in a motion that simply commanded them to enter her apartment.

Penny shrugged her shoulder's helplessly and moved with Marcus towards Leslie. The larger man simply waved Penny off before reaching and and lifting Leslie bridal style in his arms. The smaller woman had the presence of mind to whistle at the action before another contraction seemed to drag it out of her. Marcus shot Penny a look that she knew immediately as "what the hell are we going to do?" She tried to push ti all out of her head as she entered the room.

The first thing she noted was that the twins were decidedly quiet, following their sitting around like two small puppies clamoring to be fed. In her arms Marie was holding a clean white towel and was followed closely by Leo who was holding a portable phone. Her children soon rushed over to meet her, holding onto her knees. Marie soon moved off as Mrs. Vartabedian called to her but Leo stayed at her side, holding the phone up to her expectantly.

"It's Daddy, he wants to know why I am calling him." Leo stated.

Penny could do nothing but stare at her son for a moment before taking the phone from his outstretched little hand.

"Hello?" she asked tentatively.

"Penny, It's Sheldon." his voice was decisive, as if he was not amused, "Penny, why is Leo calling me at work? And why did say you are with him? I was under the impression Leonard and I were to stop at Mrs. Vartabedian's apartment before coming home, if there a significant reason you are with Leo?"

"Sweetie, you and Leonard need to get here as quick as possible okay? Leslie's in labour." she sputtered out.

"She's in labour?" he asked, his voice rising with each word, "Why are you in the apartment building? Why are you not in the car? She's two weeks early, leave it to Leslie Winkle to ..."

"Sheldon sweetie, I can't argue with you right now, you just have to get here." She snapped into the phone before closing it and moving towards Marcus.

The man was running his hand nervously through his short dark brown hair, his vibrant green blue eyes were narrowed and his brow was furrowed. He was obviously worried. Moving quickly Penny put a hand on his arm, motioning that if there was something he wanted to tell her they should move to the hallway.

Over the past few weeks (and the numerous drop offs and pick ups) she had gotten to know Marcus pretty well. Enough to know that he was an ex military man- he had done two tours of duty in Afghanistan but didn't like to talk about it- was not currently working but wanted more then anything to be an actor on a classical stage. They had talked about it a few times and gone out for coffee more then a few times. All in all Penny considered this man a good friend and the look on his face was crystal clear. She had seen him annoyed and upset before, this was bigger, so when she pulled him along he gripped her hand.

"The ambulance is on its way." he said evenly, "But they are saying that there was a bad accident on one of the main roads, traffic is wall to wall right now. They don't know if they'll get here in time, they said it might take an hour."

"WHAT?" Penny screamed before Marcus shot her a look that told her to lower her voice, "What the hell are we going to do?"

"Well you had two kids right?" he asked, she could see the desperation in his eyes.

"Yes, in a hospital. With Sheldon on one side of me and a team of nurses and a doctor on the other. Plus I was in labour for like, ten hours and I had an epidural. Leslie's been in labour for like an hour, this thing is going super fast. There is no Leonard, there is no Sheldon and no one here knows what the hell were doing!" Penny cried, tears appeared in the corners of her eyes.

Immediately Marcus moved forward, hugging her tightly and whispering for her to settle down. It took her only a moment to calm down, take a few deep breaths before he gently pushed her away to arms length and bent his head low to look at her critically. She felt her tears well up again under his gaze but immediately his voice stayed them.

"Stop it. You need to stay calm and help your friend. I know this is terrifying but this isn't about you. We need to focus." he stated sternly.

Her mouth snapped shut and a hardness entered her eyes. She watched as he seemed shocked at his own words, realizing that he had said them out loud before trying to take them back. She shushed him by a simple wave of the hand. Two years ago she probably would had thrown a fit but living with Sheldon had hardened her to the honest truth and hearing it more of a comfort then an insult. Penny felt the sudden sense of shame of her reality check was followed quickly by determination to see this through. He was right. This wasn't about her. this was about Leslie. This was about Leonard. This was about helping her friends the same way they had helped her all those months ago. She moved to where Mrs. Vartabedian had set Leslie up against the couch. The brown haired woman looked frightened which surprised Penny. She had never seen Leslie look anything but confident but now, with her hair wet with sweat and her eyes watering with the pain she seemed very small and fragile. It was hard not to feel her breath catch in her throat. People died in Childbirth when there was no one to assist them. This could be horrible. This could end badly. She shoved the thought from her mind violently.

"Leslie we called the ambulance but this is going to try to get here in time but this is going really fast." she whispered to the other girl, Leslie's face grimaced but her jaw tightened in determination as she nodded through her tense breathing. She should call the hospital and get them to walk her through this.

She turned to see that Marcus was on the phone again, maybe he was capable of reading her mind. If he was all the power to him.

"Kay we're going to get through this together." she said gently, keeping her voice even and calm, "Don't worry."

"How can I not be worried? For God's sake Barbie I've studied this backwards and forward, there is less then a one percent chance that this can happen with first time mothers, LESS THEN ONE." she screamed.

"But it does happen!" Penny cried suddenly, holding onto her tight as she winced through a contraction, " And people live through it and the babies are healthy. We are going to do this. We are going to have this baby together and then we are going to celebrate my twins first birthday in a week and then we are going to spend the rest of our lives trying to figure out how to force our kids to get married to one another while they talk about how insane we are."

Leslie turned to face her, her dark, teary brown eyes boring into Penny's green. In the background she could hear Marcus calling out, telling his grandmother to gather items whoever on the phone was demanding they needed.

"There is nothing logical about this." Leslie groused suddenly, wiping at the trailing tears "I am a strong, independent woman. Crying is completely unnecessary."

"But it makes you feel better doesn't it?" Penny laughed and wiped at her own eyes, "Come on, we're going to get through this and then you can Lord it over Leonard for the rest of his life."

Leslie smiled herself, "That would be nice..."

Penny nodded authoritatively, "So we're in this together then. You and me."

Leslie nodded as well, reaching forward and taking Penny's hand in a rare moment of physical contact. It was strange but she felt more intimate with Leslie in that moment then she had with Leonard, Sheldon or even her children in ages. They were united in something so base, so primal that it was easily greater then all of them. Penny felt something in their relationship shift and when Leslie looked into her eyes she felt like everything was going to be okay. She didn't know how and Sheldon would later tell her that it was merely a combination of fear, adrenaline and Penny's own brand of hokum but she knew better then to think it was merely coincidence. She furrowed her brow, grabbed a wet cloth and bunkered down next to her friend for the long haul.

Penny would have liked to say she was calm and collected throughout the entire ordeal. That Marcus, Mrs. Vartebedian and the kids watched as she single handedly delivered Leonard and Leslie's first born with her bare hands. It would have been an amazing story. However no one was more relieved then Penny (with the exception of Leslie) when the Paramedics flew through the door and loaded the very, very close to giving birth Leslie into the ambulance heading for Huntington's. Marcus stayed with the twins as Penny rode alongside her friend, holding the curly haired woman's hand throughout the ordeal and snapping out a play by play to Leonard over her phone.

Lucas Leonard Hofstatder was born at 3:07 pm in the back of an ambulance on its way to Huntington Hospital. The first person to ever hold him was his honorary Aunt, Penny Cooper. His father heard his first cry through the telephone and immediately received a picture of him as Penny balanced the new born in her arms. In Luke's entire lifetime Leonard would never throw away his phone or delete that picture.