New chapter! I figured with the 100th episode being about Leonard and Penny (and it's freaking TOMORROW, people! *parties*) my every other day pattern would give you a chapter of this, then The Recombination Hypothesis, and then a chapter of this. Hopefully this fic can at least sort of contribute to the high that the 100th episode will quite likely give us. *woot*

Okay, I'll stop fangirling over an episode that won't even be aired anywhere for another thirty hours and let you get on to this chapter. :D

Aaaand just read the disclaimers in previous chapters, believe me, if I ever were to own this show you all would know about it.

"So," Penny said later, rolling over to face her boyfriend. Fiancé. Wow, that was going to take quite a bit of getting used to. She never really liked that word, it just sounded odd, but now that she had one it was seeming kind of nice. "What comes first now?"

"Hmm?" Leonard asked, looking confused.

"Most people get married before kids, right?"

"Yeah," he said before understanding where she was going with it. "So we should probably not try to have any kids until we're husband and wife, huh?

Penny grinned. "Husband and wife…I'm liking the sound of that."

"Me too," he said pulling Penny closer and giving her a kiss on the forehead.

She smiled before moving on to what was her original point, or, as Sheldon would say, her thesis. "But if we get married…weddings are expensive."

Leonard looked slightly to the side. "That's true. What are you saying?"

"I'm saying," Penny said slowly, feeling her stomach twist nervously, "that don't take this the wrong way, but maybe we should start a family first."

Leonard looked slightly hurt. "Not get married?"

"Leonard Hofstadter," Penny said firmly, "I will have this ring surgically attached to my finger if you think I'm trying to get out of marrying you – I'll also seriously doubt the credibility of anyone who has ever called you smart, because I'll marry you if it's the last thing I do. I'm just suggesting that we stay engaged-that doesn't cost anything-and live together, and have a baby, but then we can get married when we have the money. Or we could elope, but that's such a quick, no-big-deal thing. I want marrying you to be planned out, first degree."

Leonard smirked. "First degree marriage? Is that even a term?"

"If 'emotional chafing' is a term, then yes, I feel like I can claim 'first degree marriage'." Penny said, smiling.

Leonard smiled, then sucked in a breath and bit his lip. "But you know, 'shotgun wedding' is also a term…and unless Howard's really creepy, there's no way to prove we had this conversation."

"So we announce our engagement. Even if I'm pregnant now, timing will work out that they'll know that that isn't why we were getting married; we haven't been trying long enough for us to know I'm pregnant if that is so, so anyone who says that clearly does not have a measurable I.Q."

"Okay," Leonard yanwed. "And you're starting to sound like Amy, just so you know." Penny grinned as Leonard continued. "You're right, we haven't told anyone to set a date yet…or even told our families anything, even the fact that we're engaged, so we could work this out. But a baby is a lot more of a…physical commitment than marriage. At least it is – will be – for you. And it's a lot of responsibility, too, for the both of us. Are we ready for that? Are you ready for that?" He looked down at their hands. "I mean, if that's what you want to do, well, to be honest, I would love to have a child with you. I've wanted that for longer than it's logical to admit. But I don't want you to go through something you're not ready for, mentally, physically, or emotionally, and while you wouldn't be alone, there's a lot of stuff relating to having a family that I couldn't relate to."

Penny was confused. "I thought we already decided we were ready."

"I think I am," Leonard said. "But it's going to be harder on you than me. And now that we've actually been talking about this…we never really had an in depth discussion on whether now is a good time. And I know I overanalyze everything, but when it comes to a baby, isn't it…I don't know…better to overthink it than have to look back at things and be like 'oh crap, we didn't think this through'?"

Penny was silent for more than a minute. She was thinking, looking down at their twenty fingers intertwined with each other, watching her ring glint in the light from little light near her bed. She'd once been afraid to say "I love you". Was she really ready – now – to make a lifelong commitment? A larger commitment, arguably, than marriage?

Penny decided that she was now the one doing too much thinking. Of course she was ready. It was Leonard, for God's sakes.

She looked back up at him. "I want to have a baby with you, Leonard Hofstadter." She leaned forward and down slightly, so their lips met. "And I'm officially ready. Now."

He kissed her back, sliding his arms around her waist to tug her closer, but she pulled back, craning her head up and away from him. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I'm sorry," she said, looking uncomfortable. "But your comment about Howard…"

Leonard frowned, then cocked his head. "Take your tank top off." Penny frowned, but pulled the tank top over her head, revealing her bra, and Leonard put a finger to his lips. "Did you hear anything?" he asked after a minute.

She shook her head. "No camera zoom sounds, if that's what you mean."

Leonard nodded. "So if we knock these stuffed animals down to where any webcams could only record the ceiling…"

Penny reached over and swept her Care Bears off the bedside table. "Okay," she said, lowering herself down next to him again. "Now I'm ready." Leonard was smirking, and Penny feigned hurt. "What?"

"Just..." he collected himself. "Just the way you swept them off the night stand, like they do all dramatically in the movies. Only, of course, it's usually the guy doing it, and then that's where they end up...doing it..." He was about ready to trail off anyway, but Penny didn't let him make that decision himself, putting her mouth on his and sliding her hands around his jawbone.

"You've always wanted to do that, haven't you?" Penny asked, looking amused as she pulled back.

"Sweeping things off of a table?" Leonard shrugged. "A little bit."

She grinned. "Next time, then."

He smiled back. "Sounds like a plan."

I'm definitely going to add in more of the other little subplots in the next few chapters, and we're very close to meeting the Big Bang Theory character that, unfortunately, wasn't.