T e n
Sheldon had already finished brushing his teeth when he noticed the note on the bottom corner of the mirror. He felt a bit silly for having missed it but he was still coming out of his REM sleep and hadn't all his faculties yet.
Something we need to talk about in morning
didn't want to bring it up tonight and ruin our evening so just (the next word was scratched out)
we can talk in the morning okay.
I love you.
He frowned at the note; conversations that worried Penny worried him more. He began to wonder what they had done last night that had been so special that she couldn't have brought this up then. Why she was being so sneaky and leaving him notes.
All they'd done last night was go up to the roof and watch the stars through his telescope. They made a small picnic, despite his protests of eating outside as the insects and dust particles invaded his meal. He had enjoyed their close proximity on his Thundercats blanket, but it was nothing so unique that she couldn't talk to him.
It was her day off and it was well before her preferred time to be woken. Despite the nagging in his head and the constant questions of what she could be holding inside, he knew she needed sleep and wasn't about to take that from her just yet.
So he went through the rest of his Saturday morning, which consisted of a decent cereal and early episodes of Dr. Who. Just as he was about to turn on the television, he heard the sound of clipping footsteps in the hallway. Turning his head, he watched as Penny scurried into the bathroom. He listened for a moment to hear if she was vomiting, she wasn't.
Debating on whether to go to her or let his cereal grow soggy, he opted to stay with his cereal unless she called for his assistance.
When the toilet flushed he looked back to the hallway and watched as she stepped out with ragged hair and her eyes half shut. She didn't look his way at all before stumbling back to her room and closing the door.
She was awake now; he could ask her if she was awake enough to talk, but her disheveled state from the bathroom to the bedroom was reason enough to allow her more sleep.
He was only into the first commercial break of his show when he heard her door open again. This time she didn't rush to the bathroom, just stomped angrily and shut the door with more force.
Again on her exit she didn't look at him, no doubt she knew he was there, no one knew his routine better. Still, she looked half asleep as she returned to her room.
Ten minutes later, she shouted from her room. "Son of a bitch!" Suddenly her door was open again. Sheldon stood up this time and paused his show. He shuffled down the hall but she was in the bathroom before he could reach her.
He thought about knocking but her outburst earlier deterred him. So he waited, hands behind his back and watched the door.
When she came out again, she wore frustration on her face and looked at him sharply. "What?" She asked and he looked away. "I am NOT awake yet." She groaned, pointing a finger at him as she shuffled down the hall again, her slippers squeaking against the floor
"Penny?" He called before she could shut her door.
"Not awake!" She called back and shut her door.
Sheldon moved to her room and stopped. He went through his knocking ritual and listened.
"I am not awake yet, Sheldon."
He sighed. "You've been urinating more frequently than normal this morning, Penny."
"Yeah, I noticed! Sleep please!" She cried out her beg, but Sheldon's mind was already moving too fast.
"Abnormal urination patterns can sometimes be a sign of kidney failure or early onset diabetes. Are you feeling ill? Your stomach distress the other night may be related." There was genuine concern in his voice.
Penny's sigh from the other side of the door was loud enough for him to hear. After a few moments, her door opened just enough and he knew it was a sign to step inside. When he did, she was sitting on her bed and tying the strap of her robe together. "Sit." She offered and patted the spot on the bed next to her.
"Is this about your note?" He asked before taking a seat on the edge of her bed. "I've been racking my mind trying to come up with something, Penny if this is another serious illness I'm not sure we're capable of handling it."
Her smile did what it was built to do, it calmed his nerves and he settled a bit more comfortable on the bed. "It is serious, Sheldon… but it's nothing bad. You know that I would never keep anything from you or lie to you. I also want you to understand that if you're scared or worried or…," she swallowed the lump in her throat and fought off the troubles in her mind. "If you're not okay with this… I won't be mad."
"Penny, you are, as they would say, beating around the proverbial bush here. What is it?" His tone was soft and much like her smile for him, it soothed the knot in her stomach.
She closed her eyes and looked to her fidgeting hands. "I—I'm pregnant." She whispered and then looked up into his eyes. "We're pregnant."
The silent moment that fell between them seemed like an eternity to Penny. She watched him look away from her to the wall but really he was looking at some sort of images or numbers in his mind. She worried that he was trying to calculate how this could have happened, that he was trying to figure out the best possible way to tell her that he wanted nothing to do with a child.
Finally, when he looked at her again, he simply nodded. "This is very good news, Penny." He said with a smile on his face and she fell over into his arms with a relieved chuckle and wiped the stray tears from her eyes. "I always assumed that once we began to engage in sexual congress that we would eventually reach this point."
"But we've always used protection, Sweetie." She said softly before wrapping her arms around his waist.
He shook his head and laid an arm over her shoulder. "Not true, our first time we didn't use protection or remove our shirts, I remember it being very spontaneous." He pursed his lips slightly. "I was quite nervous."
Penny looked up at him and grinned softly. "So your first time and you get the girl pregnant, you really are an overachiever aren't you."
"Quite the contrary, Penny," he started boastfully. "I am simply superior in a number of ways, apparently my seed are as well."
She laughed and swatted his arm and told him not to be so technical when talking about their intimacy.
"So…," She smiled. "You're happy?"
Sheldon nodded simply. "On the bordering point of ecstatic, though there is much work to do." He said simply and she nodded. Having a baby was a big deal and there were so many unanswered questions about the both of them and the way they lived, where they lived.
It wasn't the right time to think about that now; she just wanted to be with the boy she loved and revel in this moment.
"Sweetie?" she said to fill the silence that had encompassed their moment. "Would you want to… I don't know… celebrate?"
He gave her a confused look. "It's a little early to make a cake, Penny and I don't believe that our frie—" His sentence was cut off as she rose up and captured his lips with her own.
Sheldon froze for only a moment before applying his own pressure to her.
Just as he was staring to lay her back onto the bed, she pushed him off and rose to her feet. "Hang on!" She called as she exited the room and raced to the bathroom.
He watched her leave with frustration and physical discomfort. Reaching over, he grabbed one of her pillows and laid it across his lap.
When she returned, she was without her robe and her sleep shorts had been removed as well. She stood in nothing more than his red Flash T-shirt and her beautiful smile.
Sheldon carefully placed her pillow back on the bed. "I thought you'd abandoned the situation."
"No, I've just been peeing all morning."
He nodded. "Ah yes, a routine symptom of the human pregnancy."
Penny shook her head and took a slow step towards him. "So… do you wanna?" She asked before kissing him softly once more.
Sheldon's response was to hook his arms around her back and stand, lifting her in the process and gently sitting her on the bed. Making love brought out a different side in him, he was precise and sweet; he aimed to please and was always seeking approval.
Discarding his robe, Sheldon ran his hand up Penny's bare leg and continued to kiss her with intensity. She hooked his neck with her arms and tried to coax him onto the bed. He refused and pulled away from her, ignoring her pouted lip.
She sat on the edge of the bed and he positioned himself between her legs, still in his pajamas. He grasped the bottom of her shirt and lifted it over her head. Her eyes were shy, they always were when she was naked in front of him. It was his gaze, so affectionate and passionate.
He adored her and she knew it.
Sheldon started at her jawline, a soft kiss. He then moved to the sweet spot of her neck and gently kissed her skin. He hit her collarbone and shoulder before finally stopping at her breasts. He cupped one gently and suckled on the other while she laid her head against his shoulder and clutched onto the back of his head.
"Mmm… that's nice." She cooed and he looked up at her with gleaming eyes.
He reached up and touched her cheek with the back of his hand and ran it down her jaw. "I am a man of absolute meticulousness."
Penny smiled. "You are..."
Holding the back of her head, Sheldon coaxed her onto her back and dropped a kiss between her breasts and all the way down her stomach. He was digging well into his box of tricks from all her soap operas that featured far cheesier dialogue, overbearing music and much less nudity.
He kissed her hip bone and Penny let out three sharp breaths and opened her legs for him.
Slowly, he ran his tongue over her mound and she quivered but smiled as he glanced up at her from his position. He wasn't sure what he was doing, it was hot down here and his legs were shaking but he tested out spots on her that made her cry out more than others and found that sweetest spot and drew it between his lips.
"Oh!" She whimpered and grasped his hair with her hand.
The motions continued and with each smack of his lips, Penny could feel the heat rising in her stomach and threatening to boil over. Just as she was about to release, she called to him.
"Sheldon, sweetie…." He looked up with concern.
"Are you okay?" He asked, it was the simplest question he'd ever asked her.
Penny nodded and used her feet to push down his pajama bottoms and gestured that he should remove his shirt. He did and she looked him in the eyes and beamed. "I love you."
He nodded. "You are my love as well, Penny." The words made her float and she watched as he stepped in close to her. "May I?" He asked and she nodded gently.
In a moment, he was inside of her and Penny was arching her back off the bed as he clutched her hips and slowly pulled himself in and out in that steady rhythm he'd gradually been mastering over the last few weeks.
"Oh, Sheldon…," Penny moaned but looked a bit distressed. "We forgot the condom again." She said and his eyes went wide but he was in his cadence and couldn't stop.
"Do you wish for me to remove myself?" He asked and she shook her head. She was so close.
"No." She said before lungs let out a heavy cry of pleasure. "Don't stop, Sheldon… don't stop." She began to thrash a bit and he leaned down to cradle her in his arms.
Penny came furiously as she bit into his shoulder and nearly broke the skin. He would chastise her for passing bacteria to him later, but for now he was in the thralls of pleasure and lost in the moment.
"I'm about too—," he panted and she clenched herself around him as he rode out the wave of his orgasm and slid carefully to the floor, bringing her along with him.
They were a mess as they lay on the carpet. Penny atop him, Sheldon still inside of her with his arms covering her sweat laced back.
For a good three minutes they just laid there like this, together and in love. Celebrating what was coming in their lives, not paying one thought to the horrors that still plagued them. It was the truest moment of happiness that Penny had ever felt in her life.
"Sheldon," she said and he offered a soft 'hmm' into her ear. "I have to pee."
Penny and Sheldon lay together on her bed, the day washing away as Penny drifted off to sleep and Sheldon made shapes out of the drywall on her ceiling.
All of this was so new to him, love and the feeling of her in his arms. It was startling how good it made him feel. It immensely challenged the feeling of any new discovery that he made in physics and far outweighed the excitement of new comic book day or any new video game.
He had always assumed that entering into any sort of emotional relationship would be the demise of who he had become throughout the years of his life. That he would have to give up his passions and the things he enjoyed, that he would have less time for science and comic books.
With Penny, it was nothing like that at all. She just accepted him, as no one, not even his own family had accepted him before.
He loved her; she was his favorite thing in the world. His sister used to tease him that if he ever found a girl he might actually be normal. Penny didn't make him feel normal, she made him feel extraordinary.
The sound of his cell phone ringing disturbed his quiet moment and drew a soft mumble from Penny as she awake and removed her sticky palm from his chest and let him roll over to answer.
"Hello." He said softly into the phone. Penny watched him as he took in a few words. "Yes, hello Dr. Hathaway."
Penny felt her chest tighten, it was his oncologist.
Sheldon shifted himself away from her and sat up in the bed. "I understand, so you're saying that the progress is not significant enough for any sort of continuation." His voice was stoic and solid as he licked his lips and continued to listen. Penny was desperate to hear the voice on the other end, but couldn't make out anything. "New York City? That is quite a distance for a hunch you are carrying Dr. Hathaway."
"What?" Penny whispered, unable to control herself. He looked at her and then back to the phone.
"Very well, I'll talk with… I'll be sure and respond to you promptly about whether or not to set up the appointment. Goodbye." With that he hung up the phone and sat it on the nightstand.
Penny was holding him, her arms laced through his as he let out a heavy sigh and looked back to her. "That was Dr. Hathaway."
"I know that, Sheldon!" She grumbled. "What did he say?"
His features fell a bit and she wilted. "The treatments, while doing their respective job, aren't shrinking the tumor at a rate that is viable for surgery in time, with this resources, to remove the ailment before it could potentially spread. He stated that if we continued what we were doing that we could reach seventy-percent survival rate of surgery by next summer, but he informed me that by then the tumor could spread to other regions of the brain, including speech and cognitive thought process."
Tears threatened her as she held him tighter. "So he can't help us?"
"Not personally, but he seemed very optimistic about a Dr. Scott at the New York Presbyterian Hospital. He is supposedly well advanced in the field of cancer removal and a close friend with Dr. Hathaway, he said he could set up a meeting."
Penny's face lit up as the tears that had filled her eyes spilled over. "So set it up, Sheldon!"
"New York is a tremendous journey, and you're pregnant now Penny, can we really afford it?"
Her face scrunched up and she shook her head violently. "Who cares about that, we're going to New York to meet with this man, Sheldon. We have too."
"I don't like to fly."
Her laugh was sad and it confused him. "I know you don't but… we can do this, Sheldon. We can afford this and I'll be okay… we have to try."
"Very well," he nodded and smiled again though he wasn't allowing his hopes to rise. "I'll call and set everything up. We'll have to inform Leonard and Koothrapalli so they'll keep tabs on our residence."
A thought suddenly struck Penny. "Oh, my sister's coming to town!" She squealed and gave him a bright smile that he did not match.
"And you're informing me of this now?" He said shortly.
Penny opened her mouth to defend herself but couldn't, she'd known for a couple days but had simply forgotten to tell him. "I—I… yeah." She finished lamely.
He glared softly at her. "Penny, you know I don't enjoy surprises. Is your sister planning on staying with us?"
"Yeah, just until she finds a place of her own."
Sheldon nodded. "So she's going to be living in Pasadena permanently then?" Penny nodded. "I have yet to meet your sister; she isn't like your mother is she?"
Penny laughed incredulously. "Oh… God no. She isn't anything like her."
"I see," Sheldon said, a bit more settled now. "I suppose that if it will make you happy, I will comply with her arrival accordingly."
The blonde next to him beamed before reaching across his body and grabbing his cell phone. "Good," she said before shoving the phone into his hand. "Now call Dr. Hathaway back and set us up a trip to New York."
Penny wrung her hands for the thousandth time since she'd arrived at the airport. She sat in her car, the windows up and the air conditioning blasting as the heat of the day bellowed in.
It felt strange to be this nervous about the arrival of her own sister, but in a lot of ways Abby felt like she was from some other life Penny had only dreamt about. The person she was in Nebraska was a part of her but it was rare for Penny to ever think of her childhood. She wouldn't allow herself to remember being called stupid by her father or trying to explain to her mom that she was groped at a school dance only to have her mom go off on her own stories of childhood trauma and end up running to her own room crying.
Sheldon never asked Penny about her life before him, she had told him things certainly and when she did he was always attentive and listening. Still, she appreciated the fact that he didn't have to know her past in order to enjoy who she was now. The things she did growing up, the boys and the parties were all just a part of her figuring out that she wasn't that person. That she wasn't her mother and that she wanted to be better than her father ever thought she could be.
There was a little bit of worry in Penny that she might not recognize her sister, it had been over four years since she'd actually seen her. The concern was all for not, Abby hadn't changed a bit. She wore a t-shirt that was too big and hung over her jeans that wore like sweat pants. She had her hair down and it was jet black, with her sunglasses on you could barely see her face.
But Penny knew her sister and as she stepped out of the car, she watched as Abby took of her sunglasses, sat down her two big suitcases and two smaller bags that hung over each shoulder. She smirked. "Still blonde?"
"Still goth?" Penny countered and Abby rolled her eyes .
"I told you, I am not goth, I'm original."
Penny scoffed. "You're thirty-four and you're wearing a groupie rock t-shirt."
Abby cocked her head to the side and looked her sister up and down. "You're a mother to be and I can guarantee your sweat pants say 'Juicy' on the ass. By the way, you wore sweat pants to pick me up at the airport? "
The words made Penny flush with embarrassment and a coy grin. Her sweats were red and yellow and certainly didn't say 'Juicy' on the ass.
Though they did have a little yellow lightning bolt on them, of course Penny turned around to display that proudly. "Oh God, what happened to my little sister who would rather buy new clothes than do laundry?"
"I found someone who loved me for who I was and not what I looked like. Plus my boy totally thinks I'm sexy in these." Penny said simply and her beaming smile actually surprised Abby. She had to admit, she was a bit skeptical. Penny was never one for real feelings; she jumped through a lot of boys in high school and always found just the right kind of asshole to break her heart.
It was when she saw her now that Penny realized how long it had been since she'd actually seen her sister smile that genuinely.
"All right, don't get corny. Give your wonderfully original sister a hug." That was all it took and Penny swiftly took Abby into her arms. Penny's hair was overgrowing and nearly covered Abby's face as she spat out bits of it and laughed softly. "Shit Rapunzel, do you ever cut your hair?"
Penny chuckled but didn't let go of the hug. "I've been a little busy."
"Right," Abby said, pulling Penny back to arm's length. "Dammit Queen Penelope, I missed you kid."
The blonde nodded slowly and lowered her head. "Missed you too."
They broke the hug, gathered up Abby's four suitcases and climbed into Penny's car. Well after they'd left the airport and were driving back to the apartment, neither had said anything to one another but it was a comfortable silence. Penny would look over from time to time as her sister took in the sights of the city. She wanted to see that her sister really was here, that the first eighteen years of her life hadn't been a failure.
"I'm not going to jump out of the damn car, Penelope." Abby says flatly but doesn't take her eyes away from the scenery out the window.
The blonde and stopped staring. "Sorry."
Abby finally looked to her sister again. "Now, I'm hoping to avoid a whole gushing monologue here but… I'm going to ask anyways. Tell me about this boy of yours."
Penny smiled almost immediately and Abby rolled her eyes but the corners of her mouth twisted up slightly.
"Well, he's a physicist, a brilliant man and if he doesn't win a Nobel Prize soon I'm going to figure out who decides that sort of thing, then hogtie and castrate them all. " Penny took a breath and Abby used the small break to chime in.
"All right, he's crazy smart, I already knew that… tell me what he looks like, what he acts like."
This made Penny laugh. "He can act like a child sometimes, with his rules and rituals. He collects comic books and action figures and his DVD collection puts Blockbuster to shame. But he's sweet and caring; he supports me in whatever I do. He found me a job and is pushing me to pursue a career in art and—"
"Wait, art?" Abby cut in with confusion. "Since when do you do art?"
"I've always drawn, Abby. I just never showed it to anyone because I thought it was a silly hobby." Penny's voice was shy as she turned onto the next road and pulled down her visor to block the sun.
Abby was quiet for a moment, looking at this stranger in the driver's seat. Penny was never this… deep before. She was the popular girl who wanted to be a cheerleader. The girl who could ride rope and reassemble a tractor engine by herself, she was so different now, so complete.
"—kinda skinny but has nice arms and these blue eyes that look at me like I'm the most important thing in the world and he's got me on this crazy diet for my pregnancy, well It's not really a diet cause he has me eating all the time but it's good food for the babies development and—," Penny looked a bit sheepishly at her sister and blushed. "Sorry, I'm rambling. You'll know more about him when you meet him."
"Your life sounds pretty perfect. In love and a baby on the way, all you have to do is beat this cancer thing and you'll be in a happily ever after montage." Abby said with a slight smirk before squeezing her sister's hand and missing Penny's pensive eyes. "I'm glad you're doing good, Mom always thought you'd fuck it up."
Penny nodded and licked her lips, fighting the tears in her eyes and the taste of vodka on her tongue. It was one sip, one little drink before she left… it won't hurt. It can't hurt.
Abby presence must be rubbing off on her because she can only think one thing.
Fuck… it hurts.
"Okay seriously…," Abby groaned as they started up the next flight of steps. Penny was carrying one suitcase and a bag, Abby was doing the same. "How long have you lived here? Eight years."
Penny smiled. "Nine in February."
"And all this time the fuckin' elevator has been broken?" Abby asked bitterly and Penny answered with a nod and a laugh. "Shit, no wonder you're in such good shape. My bow legged, seventeen year smoker ass isn't built for this."
Once they finally reached her apartment, Penny placed the key in the lock only to have the door open for her. There stood Sheldon, his eyes scanning over the girls as they stood in the doorway. "Hello." He offered to Abby who nodded shortly.
"So you're the rat bastard that got my sister pregnant?" Abby said in a hot tone that made Sheldon draw away for a moment. Penny's eyes went wide in shock but when she looked to her sister, the brunette was smirking. "Kidding man, better you knocking her up than some dumbass weightlifter."
Abby stepped into the apartment and sat her bags down on the floor as she stood face to face with Sheldon. She looked him up and down and turned back to Penny. "Nice arms and eyes, you were right. The shirt is a little lame but so are your sweats I guess." Sheldon glanced down at his batman shirt and leveled a glare on Abby. "Oh he doesn't take shit from people, I like that." That was when Abby pulled Sheldon in for a hug. Of course he kept his arms at his sides and looked at Penny over his shoulder.
She smiled brightly and gestured that he hug her back. Hesitantly, he touched the small of her back with his hands and offered a quick squeeze.
After a short moment, Abby pulled away and smiled. "Good to meet you, Dr. Cooper."
"And you Abigail." Sheldon said as politely as possible.
Penny cringed, she knew it was coming. "Please God don't call me Abigail, your lucky Penny's mother used to call me that whenever I cut into her drinking time."
Sheldon was intrigued by the statement. "I apologize… Abby. So your mother was a drinker?" He asked, avoiding Penny's eyes.
"Like a fish in water. Now get those bags away from the pregnant girl, it's bad enough I made her drag them up here." Abby ordered and Sheldon hastily rushed to take the things off Penny's shoulders.
"Hello." He said and she looked at him shyly.
"Hi."
Abby had moved down the hallway with her things when Penny kissed him. "I missed your presence this morning, you left before I was awake and… that was strange." He pulled back and licked his lips. "You taste of… beans?"
Penny offered him a small smile as the relief washed over her. She insisted that they stop for food as she claimed her hunger and cravings, but truth was she needed something to hide the vodka. "Yeah, I got a burrito at a gas station outside of town."
"You ate that horrendous filth? Penny that sort of food can cause great stomach disorder, things you cannot have during the baby and… it looks like gooey excrement."
Her hands are on her mouth just in time to hold back the vomit that's lurched in her throat. She jumps over the suitcase and bounds down the hall past Abby who's reentering the living room.
"Whoa, is it always like that when you two reconnect?" Abby asked teasingly.
Sheldon was not amused. "No, but it is like that when Penny haphazardly eats gas station burritos. You should not have allowed her to do such a thing." He said accusatorily.
Abby leveled a hard stare on him, the one she used at the bar to keep the losers away and the one she used at her old bartending job when she made someone sober drive the drunks home. It was her go to 'back the hell off' move and Sheldon Cooper didn't flinch.
"Okay," Abby said, her face shifting into a respect filled smile. She'd been worried about Penny dating someone who collected figures and comics not being able to stand up for her or take care of her. She was clearly mistaken. "I assume you're the kind of person who makes lists. Do you have one of what Penny should and should not be eating."
That settled Sheldon immensely as he nodded with a grin and moved to his computer table. "Yes, right here with this indefinite guest waiver I'll need you to read and consider carefully before signing."
Her eyes went wide as he handed her first the thick set of foods for Penny and then the seventeen page waiver. "You're crazy as hell aren't you?" She said with a chuckle.
"No he's not, his momma had him tested." Penny said with a hand on her head as she returned to the living room. "You can cross burritos off the list." She said, flopping down in Sheldon's spot.
"Burritos aren't on the list." He countered.
"Well then put them on there and cross them off with a big, red X okay?" She said, lying her head back on the cushion as it smelled of Sheldon's shampoo and she happily smiled and closed her eyes.
A silence fell over the room as Abby looked at her new documents and Sheldon went to the kitchen to make Penny some herbal tea and snacks.
"So…," Abby chirped, rolling the papers up and putting them in the pocket of her jeans. "What do you guys do for fun around here?"
Of course, Sheldon was quick to respond. "Oh! I got the new Mass Effect game, Penny."
She looked at him as he handed her the mug of tea. She smiled. "That's cool, sweetie."
"Yes it is." A little disappointed in her lack of excitement, then again, not many were as excited as he was. "Shall I play?"
Penny nodded and scooted over as he put his game in the turned on the TV. He sits down happy and the game fires up, Penny sipping her tea and picking at the snacks while Sheldon loses himself in the game.
Abby stares at them blankly, as if she's waiting for them to jump up and shout that they are joking.
They don't, Penny pats on the couch next to her. "Sit, you can be my cushion while I sleep."
"I—I thought California was supposed to be fun?"
Sheldon glared at Abby as she moved to sit next to her sister. "In what universe is Mass Effect 3 not fun?"
"Watch out for the Batarians, Sweetie!" She said mostly to distract him. He returned his focus to the television with a 'Dear Lord!' and a mass pressing of his controller buttons. "We'll do fun later, just do sleep now." Penny whispered before she rested her head on Abby's shoulder.
"Penelope, it's like 10:30 in the morning."
The blonde nodded half asleep. "Mmm… and I had wake up to pick you up from LAX at five this morning. Shh… sleep now."
Penny curled her feet up to press at Sheldon's side while she lay heavily against her sister.
Abby had clearly fallen into domestic hell.
The thunder clapped loudly outside as the lightning splashed through the apartment. Penny turned her gaze to the window and listened as the rain continued to fall. It was late and the rest of the world around her was asleep.
When she turned her eyes back to the task, she saw that the bottle was nearly empty, the clear liquid pouring down the sink. It was all too much; she couldn't help herself from looking up what happens to a child when the mother drinks. Penny knew it couldn't be good but the articles had put the fear of God into her. She had to quit, she had to be strong and she had to do it on her own. Sheldon couldn't rescue her from this. He was far too touchy on the subject of alcohol as it was and her drinking didn't help that one bit.
Her throat was dry and she wanted to drink, she was desperate for one but she couldn't. She had to be strong for her baby.
Once the vodka was gone, she tossed the bottle into the trash and shuffled some of the fast food boxes and empty paper plates around to bury it.
It wasn't even midnight yet but she couldn't sleep. Her head hurt and her stomach was in knots. She took solace in Sheldon's spot and curled herself up.
It was ten minutes later when she heard the footsteps down the hall. She knew the sound of their shuffle and didn't have to look back. With Abby here now Penny had moved into Sheldon's room, his bed wasn't very big though but it did the job for now.
She didn't move from his spot and was thankful when he didn't ask her too. "Why are you awake, Penny? A good night's rest is imperative for someone in your condition."
"I know, it's just a little insomnia, Sweetie. You can go back to bed." She said in her most comforting tone.
He looked back to the clock and then to her. "I spoke with Dr. Hathaway while you were away; we've got an appointment in two weeks. Though I don't know how we'll manage it financially."
Penny smiled. "We'll figure it out."
"I've already began a rough draft of a housesitting contract for your sister." He hesitated off her look. "Just to give her an idea of what's expected, there are no consequences or outrageous demands." Her eyes were still leveled on him and he shrugged. "You must know I am a man of structure by now, Penny. You are the only aspect of my life that goes forward without a written document. The unknown variable, if you will."
Her head slid to the side of the cushion and landed on his thigh. He reached down and stroked the side of her face with the back of his hand. "Do you like Abby?"
"She's acceptable. I'll need more time to evaluate a true opinion of her but… for the time being, her presence is tolerable." It wasn't much, but for Sheldon it was a good sign. "I—I had a bit of an idea, Penny, that I wish to run by you." She offered a soft hum in response as his gentle fingers across her skin was putting her to sleep. "I believe we should invite both of our families over here for Christmas."
Now she was awake. "What?"
"The task of telling them of the results of our copulating is a difficult one, one that I believe will be much easier to tackle in one swift movement. Like the swing of Luke Skywalker's lightsaber."
Penny looked up at him with desperate eyes. "Sheldon, you don't want my family here. I'll tell them over the phone or… you know… with a text message or something."
"Penny," he sighed. "You must try and mend the fence with your parents, I—I am aware of the distress it causes you. I can see it in your expression at times."
"Sheldon, Sweetie," she pulled him closer and he knelt down to look into her eyes. "I would love to be okay with my parents but it's not going to happen. They'll come and they'll ask me to come home and demand that I leave you and it'll only make things worse."
Again he touched her face, cupping her jaw in the palm of his hand. "Perhaps if they could see the life that you and I have built here they would then be more lenient in the idea of you living here."
Penny closed her eyes and let out a long breath. "All they'll see is your tumor and an unborn baby. That'll be all the ammunition they need, honey. I—I don't want them here."
"Very well," he conceded though she could tell he was sincerely hoping she would reconsider. "I would still like to bring my parents here, if that would be okay. If we're already going to be traveling to New York than a trip to Texas for Christmas may be a bit harsh on our financial situation."
She grinned tiredly. "I agree."
"Would you care to return to bed? You know I don't enjoy the sound of thunderstorms at night." He asked as he stood and offered his hand to her.
Penny accepted it gently and rose to her feet. Sheldon entwined their fingers and she followed him down the hallway.
Her eyes lingered on the sink where she'd let her last bottle of liquor wash away.
She was strong enough, she could do this…
Please God let me get through this…