A/N: Thanks to all who read this little story and to those who take time to write a review.

Here's chapter 11. I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction using characters from The Big Bang Theory. I don't own any of the characters.

CHAPTER 11

For the first time in weeks, Penny's backaches were forgotten and she really could sleep well. And the need to pee during the night was magically gone for the moment. Leonard's presence alone was enough to make this possinle.

It was eight o'clock in the morning when Penny woke up from a wonderful dream, in which she and Leonard sat on a lush green meadow, surrounded by vivacious flowers, the air filled with beautiful birdsong and in the distance a child was playing with a ball.

She slowly opened her eyes and reached behind her. But she grasped at nothing. Turning around, she saw that the place in her bed beside her was empty. Where was Leonard? Was everything that happened since yesterday just a dream? Penny was about to get a panic attack. The room around Penny began to spin and she started to hyperventilate. "Leonard! Leonard where are you?" she panted, her voice full of despair.

Leonard, who just came out of the bathroom, saw her distress and immediately ran towards Penny and jumped into bed. Grasping her hands, he looked straight in her eyes. "Penny, I'm here. Everything's okay. I'm here."

It took a few moments until Penny realized that Leonard was talking to her. "Oh my god Leonard," she exclaimed on the verge of tears. "I thought you were gone again. I thought everything was just a dream."

"I was in the bathroom. I had to pee. I'm here, Penny." Leonard engulfed her in a tight hug and gently rubbed her back, which calmed Penny down quickly. "I promised, I will never leave you again. And I hold my promise."

Penny turned her head to look at Leonard. "I know. I overreacted. I'm sorry I scared you."

Leonard smiled. "No, I'm sorry, for scaring you. I won't happen again." He started to plant little kisses on Penny's face. The last one was placed on her neck below her ear, one of her most sensitive spots. It elicited a little moan from her. "Did you sleep well?" he asked.

"I have slept really well. In fact it was the best sleep I had in ages. Thanks to you." Penny smiled and gave Leonard a gentle kiss on his lips.

Leonard stroked Penny's baby bump. "How do you feel?" he wanted to know.

"Well, apart from this near panic attack, I feel really great. Again, thanks to you." She winked and gave Leonard another gentle kiss on his lips, which lasted a bit longer than the preceding one.

"Always at your service! Leonard chuckled. "What are your plans for today?"

"Hmm, first let's have breakfast. And at eleven o'clock I have an appointment for a prenatal yoga class. How about you come with me?"

Leonard frowned. "A prenatal yoga class, you say? I don't know."

"Come on! Pleeeeeeease!" Penny begged, making puppy eyes.

"Okay, okay," he chuckled. "I come with you. But I don't have to participate, right?"

Leonard's strained facial expression made Penny laugh. "No, you can sit on the side and watch your pregnant girlfriend doing funny exercises. Isn't this exciting?"

Leonard nodded. "Absolutely! I can hardly wait!" he said with a little too much enthusiasm.

Penny raised a brow and looked sternly at her boyfriend. "Leonard Hofstadter!" she exclaimed in a mock offended tone. "Are you being sarcastic?"

"Me? Never!" he grinned.

Penny grinned back at him. "Good!"

Leonard smiled. "No, seriously. From now on, I will never leave your side. I want to be there for you and the baby. Around the clock. To love, care and protect both of you. Now and forever. And I want to be part of everything that belongs to prenatal care and the preparation for the birth. Yoga classes, visits to the doctor, everything."

"Aww, Leonard. You are the best. I love you."

"I love you, too."

Penny leaned over to Leonard and kissed him deeply. "And now let's have breakfast," she said after breaking the kiss, wanting to climb out of bed.

Leonard laid a hand on her shoulder. "Not so fast, young lady," he smiled. "You stay here in bed, and I'll make us a delicious breakfast meal. What do you think of that?"

Penny joyfully clapped her hands. "That sounds great. But don't stay away for too long, or I will start to miss you terribly."

Leonard leapt out of bed, slipped into his house shoes and put on his robe, they had newly bought. "I'll be back in the wink of an eye."

Leonard went downstairs to the kitchen, whistling a tune. It was still like a dream for him and he couldn't believe his luck. He was reunited with Penny after a seven-month ordeal on an uninhabited island and he was going to be a father. In a few weeks he and Penny would have a family. And now he would make the best breakfast ever for his girlfriend.

When Leonard entered the kichen, Wyatt and Susan sat on the table. Wyatt was reading a newspaper and Susan was writing something down on a piece of paper.

"Good morning son", Wyatt greeted him. "Did you sleep well?"

"Umm...Yes. I had a really great night," he answered, not realizing how ambiguous his answer was.

"I quite believe it," Susan winked, which made Leonard blush heavily.

Wyatt glared at his wife, who just grinned. Turning his head in Leonard's direction again, he cleared his throat. "Umm...Where's Penny?"

"She's staying in bed," Leonard replied. "With your permission I'd like to make a breakfast for Penny and bring it upstairs."

Susan nodded. "Sure! Go ahead. The kitchen and everything in it is at your free disposal."

"Thanks, ma'am. That's so nice of you!"

"Leonard, you don't have to call me ma'am. My name is Susan," she smiled.

Wyatt looked over his newspaper. "You're gonna pamper my lil' slugger, right?"

Leonard nodded. "Yes, sir. That's my intention. Oh, and thanks for letting me stay here. Of course I will help with all the chores in and around the house."

Wyatt smiled. "No problem, son. We are more than happy to have you here. But first and foremost the father-to-be should be there for the soon-to-be mom. Everything else can wait."

While Wyatt and Susan got up from the table, Leonard started to prepare his special breakfast for Penny.

A few minutes later, Leonard had finished his breakfast. He was about to clean up, but Susan shooed him away, saying she would clean up the kitchen and he should quickly go back to Penny. Leonard thanked Penny's mother and put everything on a big tray, that Susan got out from the kitchen cupboard.

Holding the big tray in his hands, Leonard walked upstairs and returned to Penny's room. "Honey, I'm back. Breakfast is ready," he happily exclaimed when he entered the room.

Penny, who had fallen asleep again, raised her head and slowly sat up. She was all smiles, when she saw Leonard with his tray.

Leonard placed the tray in front of Penny, who sat cross-legged on the bed. "Here's a little treat for my two babies," he smiled and sat next to Penny.

Penny eyed the extremely good looking stuff, whose luscious scent let her mouth watering. "Wow, this looks great. And it smells so good." She pointed at the plates. "What do we have here?"

Leonard shoved a plate from the middle of the tray to the side where Penny was sitting. "Okay, let's see what we have here for us to eat. These are baked eggs with tomatoes and chilli. This is exactly the right thing for a wake-up kick," he chuckled. Taking a fork, he cut off a piece of the eggs, sticked it on the fork and held it out to her. "Please try, and tell me what you think."

Penny took the fork and ate the piece of baked eggs."Oh my god. That tastes so good. How is that done?"

"Well, I slowly cooked drained tinned tomatoes, garlic and chilli until it was thickened," Leonard explained. "Then I added chunks of wholemeal bread so that they started soaking up the tomato juice. After that I cracked a couple of eggs on top and sprinkled it with pieces of feta cheese. Of course the cheese is only on your portion. Then I placed the pan under the grill until the eggs were cooked through. That's it."

Penny took another bite and spoke with her mouth full. "Honey, this is so good. You're a master chef."

Leonard smiled. "Thanks for the compliment. Oh, by the way. The tomatoes are rich in vitamin C, which is needed to absorb iron and vital for helping our baby grow."

Penny was delighted. "That's great. You also think of our baby, when you're cooking." Penny took the glass of the beige-colored fluid that also stood on the tray. "What's this? It looks fantastic and it smells great."

"This is a mango and wheatgerm smoothie," Leonard replied. "For this, I chopped up a mango, added a cup of plain low-fat yogurt, one tablespoon of wheatgerm and two tablespoons of orange juice and blitzed it in a blender. It's great how your kitchen is equipped. The mango contains enzymes which aid digestion, while the yogurt provides calcium to help our baby's bones grow strong. And wheatgerm helps increase stamina and builds muscle for energy."

Penny was stunned. "Why do you know all this stuff?"

"Well, Google can be really helpful at times," he winked. "In many aspects, if you know what I mean."

Penny chuckled. "I do. And you put your Google knowledge to a good use." She took a sip of her smoothie through a straw. "Wow! That tastes great."

"What's your drink?" she asked after taking another sip.

Leonard smiled. "Well, your lactose intolerant boyfriend has a cup of coffee."

Penny took another bite of her baked eggs. It were the best eggs she ever had. "Thanks for this wonderful and delicious breakfast, Leonard."

Leonard was happy. "You're welcome."

They continued to eat, savoring their first breakfast together for more than seven months.

Two hours later Penny and Leonard entered the room, where the prenatal yoga class took place. While Penny did her exercises, Leonard sat on a chair at the side, and watched his girlfriend. The other women at the class were quite curious about the man that sat there, so Penny had to introduce Leonard. She also had to send out a few glares, since some of the women openly tried to flirt with Leonard.

"I think it's better you stay at home, when I have my class," Penny said after the class was finished. "You attract too much attention," she grinned.

"Huh? What gives you that idea?" Leonard asked astouned.

Penny had to chuckle that Leonard was so oblivious of the women's flirting attempts. "Haven't you noticed that some of the women in the class tried to flirt with you?"

Leonard had a questioning look on his face. "Really? I haven't noticed anything."

Penny looked at Leonard with an incredulous facial expression. "C'mon!" She wanted to give him a few examples, but then a certain person came to her mind. "Yeah, you're right. You did not even recognized those flirt attempts from that girl Alex."

"That's because I only have eyes for you," Leonard said and leaned forward to give Penny a kiss that was a little bit too passionate for a normal public display of affection. The hot kissing didn't go unnoticed to the other women who were about to leave the room of the yoga class.

"Get a room!" one of the women shouted over to Leonard and Penny, who both blushed a little at first, but then had to laugh heartily.

As soon as they were back on the farm, Leonard had a long talk with Caltech. He spoke with President Siebert and his boss Dr. Gablehauser, the head of the Physics Department at Caltech. First of all they were happy and delighted that Leonard was alive. When Leonard brought up the topic of a one-year sabbatical to Gablehauser he was understanding. Subsequently it didn't took very long to grant Leonard this break from his scientific work to recover from his ordeal and to be with Penny and his child, whose birth was just a few weeks away. The necessary paperwork would be sent to him via email. Despite the sabbatical, Leonard was assured that he would still come into consideration in regard to the open tenured position after Professor Tupperman's death.

Leonard was relieved that everything in this case went so smooth. When he told Penny about his agreement with Caltech she was over the moon, since it meant he could be here for her and the baby twenty-four-seven in the following twelve months. The sabbatical would also give them enough time to find a solution for their living situation in Pasadena, once they would return to California.

Leonard and Penny spent the remaining afternoon underneath a blanket, snuggled up to each other on the couch in the living room. Outside it has started to snow in the meantime. Thick snowflakes came down from the sky and covered everything under a white layer. Three days before Christmas, and with a weather forecast that predicted hard frost, it was safe to say that Christmas 2013 would be a white Christmas. But for Leonard and Penny the most important thing was of course they could spend Christmas together, a thing that seemed highly unlikely for both of them just a few weeks ago.

Seeing Leonard and Penny in this intimate togetherness in their living room shortly before Christmas was heartwarming. It was a joy to behold, and had Penny's mother Susan on the verge of tears of emotion more than once. Even Wyatt was very touched by the displayed affection and love between his daughter and Leonard. What could be more beautiful than seeing their daughter so happy after the torturous uncertainty in regard to Leonard's whereabouts and the mental suffering she had endured in the last seven months.

After a nice dinner and a little bit of watching TV in the living room, Leonard and Penny went upstairs for the appointed Skype session with Sheldon, Amy, Howard, Bernadette and Raj at 9 p.m.

Penny went into her room and grabbed her laptop. Then she walked into another room that served as little second living room. It was equipped with a small two-seater couch, a coffee table, a cabinet and a TV stand. There she put her laptop on the table, turned it on and sat down on the couch. Her pleasant anticipation was huge. "They will be so excited to learn you are alive and here with me." She smiled at Leonard who was still standing in the hallway.

Leonard was a bit nervous, but also excited to see his friends again after such a long time. "I really can't wait to see them again."

Penny waited until her computer had booted up and was connected to the internet. "Sweetie, can you please wait at the door, until I call you over to join me on the couch?"

Leonard nodded. "Of course. It's supposed to be a surprise," he smiled, leaning against the doorjamb.

Penny logged into Skype and clicked on her contacts. Then she double clicked on Sheldon's name, since it was apartment 4A in Pasadena where all were supposed to come togeher. Sheldon's profile appeared in a new window. Now she clicked the video call button next to his profile picture. A ringing sound came out of the speakers while Skype attempted to get in touch with Sheldon's computer. A few seconds later Sheldon had picked up and appeared on Penny's computer screen. He sat in his spot on the couch in apartment 4A with Amy next to him. Behind Sheldon and Amy stood Howard and Bernadette, while Raj sat in Leonard's armchair.

"Hi Penny!" they all greeted in unison and waved at her.

"Hi guys," she exclaimed happily and beckoned back.

"How are you Penny? Is everything okay with you and the baby?" Amy asked.

"I'm fine, thank you. And the baby is doing well," Penny answered with a beaming smile. "I hope you guys are doing well too."

"That's great to hear," Bernadette smiled. "On behalf of us all I can say, we're all doing fine. But you seem extra happy today."

"I am," Penny replied. "And the reason is, I have a special guest tonight."

Sheldon shook his head and sighed. "Oh Penny! Have you replaced Leonard with another man?"

Penny rapidly blinked her eyes. "What? No!" she exclaimed flabbergasted, which made Leonard chuckle, who was still leaning against the doorjamb. She looked over to Leonard and beckoned him over.

Leonard slowly walked over to the couch and sat down beside Penny, who joyfully grasped his right hand. He held up his left hand and waved, a radiant smile on his face. "Hi guys! How are you?"

Leonard and Penny could see how their jaws dropped and literally fell to the floor. No one was able to say a word. Blank astonishment was on the faces of Sheldon, Amy, Howard, Bernadette and Raj.

Bernadette was the first who find her voice again. "Oh my god, Leonard! You are alive."

In the next moment the voices in apartment 4A in Pasadena exploded. It was boundless joy. Everybody jumped up. They were all in each other's arms. Amy and Bernadette had tears in their eyes. Howard and Raj couldn't stop to high five and Sheldon just stood there with a big smile on his face.

Leonard and Penny looked at each other, rejoicing over their friends reaction. In the next two hours Leonard told his story again plus the new developments regarding the sabbatical and his intention to stay in Nebraska for the time being, to be with Penny and his child. As expected Sheldon wasn't happy about this and he was almost about to ruin the evening with murmur of disapproval, that included words like 'roommate agreement' and 'obligations that had to be revived'. Fortunately Amy was able to save the evening eventually, but only after a great deal of coaxing.

It was midnight in Nebraska when Leonard and Penny ended the Skype session and went to bed. Outside the landscape had turned into a winter wonderland.

Leonard and Penny lay happily and snugged in bed beneath the blankets. A great Christmas lay ahead of them.

To be continued...