Again, a short and quick read ^^

Little side note: I was asked when and how I would create drama in this story. I don't really plan on it. I like the idea of L&P having a harmonious life after all the crap these two went through before they got together for good.

Enjoy :)

Disclaimer: Do I really have to write here that I don't own these characters, except those I created? Apparently yes, but it's still stupid.


The present - 1 year, 6 months old:

"Cheers!" Penny said happily and clinked her glass with the others at the table.

It had been a long time since they had all been together for dinner and Penny had a great time preparing for tonight, despite the fact that she made Raj do all the cooking. His girlfriend Emily wasn't attending due to work, something Penny was grateful for since she and Raj's girlfriend still weren't seeing eye to eye despite Penny being married and a mother. Also, that woman freaked her out somehow.

"Cheers." the group replied and drank their wine.

"I have to admit, that was a great idea." Bernadette said, setting her glass down.

"Yes." Howard agreed. "And a special thanks from me and my department for the part in that military grant."

"WHAT?" Sheldon shouted and turned to Howard. "You were included in the grant?"

"Yes." Howard returned, stretching the vowel.

"Leonard, you were adamant about not including anyone else in your grant, how come Howard is now part of it?" Sheldon asked indignant.

"I never said about no one coming into the grant." Leonard explained. "It's you they don't need. And by they, I mean the military."

"Why wouldn't they want a superior mind like mine? I simply don't understand it."

"Sheldon, you need to accept the fact that your qualifications don't extend to this field." Amy counseled.

"My qualifications extend to every field." Sheldon stated defiantly.

"Really? What is Motörhead." Penny asked, watching his face starting to twitch as it always did when confronted with an intellectual shortcoming.

"My qualifications extend to every field that is important." Sheldon corrected.

"I'm having a flashback to a few years ago." Penny laughed. "Only then it was Radiohead I asked about."

"But..."

"So, how is the project going?" Raj interrupted Sheldon, before he could start making even more of a fuss.

"Well, me and my team managed to give the laser a fixed range , so it doesn't burn through any obstacle until the energy runs out." Howard started.

"You did?" Leonard asked. "How did you finally manage that?"

"Actually, I got the idea from Star Wars." Howard smiled.

"For real?" Leonard was shocked. "How?"

"Lightsabers."

"You're kidding me."

"No. I took curved pieces of negatively charged tungsten, so when the beam hits, it curves back after a certain distance. The problem is, that the range can't be changed without exchanging the tungsten lenses with others that are curved in a slightly different angle. We're talking fractions of fractions of degrees here." Howard explained.

"But the laser burns too hot even for tungsten, the lens would meld." Leonard argued. "I've seen it happen in my tests with the composite armor they gave me."

"Actually no." Howard smiled. "And the solution is thanks to your brilliant idea, Leonard."

"Uh... which one?"

"Your death star idea."

"My what?"

"Oh, that's what me and the guys in engineering have begun to call it." Howard laughed. "Your idea to shoot several smaller laser beams at the focus gem and let that gem concentrate the beam, like we see in the first death star. The smaller beams aren't hot enough to melt tungsten. We'll later try to use other materials with a lower melting point as well."

"Wow, that really worked?" Leonard asked surprised. "I threw that idea out there in frustration."

"Wait, is that something we should be discussing here?" Penny asked. "You know, clearance? Top-secret?"

"Actually, since the grant was extended, they softened the classification. As university employees, we're bound by the confidentiality anyway, a confidentiality that extends to spouses." Howard explained.

"What about Sheldon, the human sieve?"

"I resent that." Sheldon interjected.

"Sheldon won't tell anyone since he's an anti-social narcissist, so few people event want to listen to him. He doesn't socialize, so outside of work, he rarely meets anyone." Leonard said. "Also, even he knows that he will go to jail for the rest of his life if he talks. And one thought of a rimless toilet bowl that he has to share with several other people..."

"Like a few years ago when he insulted that judge." Penny grinned.

"I'm not a narcissist!" Sheldon protested.

"Of course you are." Penny shrugged.

"Uncle Sheddon." Chris cooed while walking into the room.

"Hey sweetie." Penny smiled at her son and lifted him onto her lap.

"My name is Sheldon!" Sheldon protested and stood up to walk towards the bathroom while Chris giggled.

"He really gets irritated when you call him Sheddon Copper." Amy sighed.

"I know his name is Sheldon, it's more fun to call him Sheddon." Chris said slowly, causing the entire assembly, except Leonard and Penny, to sit in stunned silence.

"What?" Penny asked.

"I thought your boy was only eighteen months?" Bernadette asked shocked.

"He is. Why?" Leonard returned.

"I have never seen or heard an eighteen-year old talking in long sentences like that."

"It started last week." Penny explained. "Was kinda surprised myself when he asked us directly to play with him, instead of using just two words like 'Mommy play'."

"Though his vocabulary is still limited." Leonard continued.

"But it increases every day." Penny finished proudly.

"It's so cute when you finish each other sentences." Raj gushed.

"And a little weird." Howard winced.

"It's not weird, it shows how in sync they are." Bernadette argued.

Howard went quiet, unwilling to remind his wife that they weren't in sync like their friends and waited for the conversation to resume. Sheldon returned from the bathroom and Chris greeted him with his new name, causing the lanky physicist to grumble again. They watched Chris walk out, marveling at his coordination at his young age. Penny and Leonard smiled proudly after him, knowing that they could let him go without problems since they managed to teach Chris some time ago not to take anything small into his mouth.

"I must say, he's really far advanced for his age. Any chance for me to cut his head open and look into his brain?" Amy asked, receiving a look from Penny. "I'm waiting for the answer."

"No!" Penny replied indignant. "Like I would allow anyone to put a scalpel to him if it wasn't medically necessary."

"Bummer." Amy sighed.

"Leonard, did your parents ever visit?" Bernadette asked.

"No." Leonard replied. "My dad came by after the Nobel announcement and my siblings congratulated over the phone but ever since we lived in this house none of them reached out, not that it's anything strange."

"What about your mom?"

"Nothing since my call to her to tell her about my engagement to Penny."

"Really, nothing?" Bernadette asked again. "No congratulation for the Nobel or the marriage or her grandchild?"

"No."

"Aren't you mad at her?" Howard asked. "If me and Bernie had a kid, my mother would have never left us alone if she were still alive."

"Am I a little disappointed? Sure, but not mad. My family has always been emotionally distant, thanks to my mother." Leonard told them.

"And I envy you for that." Sheldon mused.

"I know, you didn't like that your mother was overbearingly caring." Leonard sighed.

"How about we get the evening started." Howard interrupted.

"Yes." Sheldon agreed. "It's been forever since we played Star Wars Online as a team."

"You guys go to your playroom." Penny grinned, referring to the basement. "I'll put Chris to bed."

While the guys went downstairs and Amy got comfortable in the living room with Amy, Penny went upstairs and into Chris' room. He smiled at her and moved into the bathroom by himself, allowing Penny to wash him and doing some of it on his own. After brushing his teeth, they moved back into the bedroom and Chris climbed into his little bed, getting down and pulling the blanket over himself. Penny tucked him in and gave him a goodnight kiss before moving away.

"I love you mommy." Chris said from the bed.

"I love you too sweetheart." Penny sniffed, smiling brightly at her son who closed his eyes and promptly fell asleep.

She walked back down the stairs, being insanely proud of her son and his quick development. If that continued, he might become a college kid in a few years. But for tonight, there was a glass of wine waiting for her, along with a lot of gossip about other people.


2 years and 2 weeks ago:

"Uh, that's cold." Penny shuddered as her OBGYN spread the cold gel on her stomach.

"Sorry, can't be helped." Doctor Kersh smiled apologetically and spread the gel over her stomach before taking the wand. "Okay, here we go."

For the next few minutes, Doctor Kersh moved the wand slowly over Penny's stomach, like the hand scanners of old, getting a grainy picture on the screen that filled more and more. Leonard strained his eyes to see some proof of the baby inside his fiance's stomach but could only make out static. Doctor Kersh took the wand away and cleaned Penny's stomach before standing up.

"And there's your baby." he smiled. "I'll give you a minute."

"Isn't it beautiful." Penny said, tears in her eyes.

"I can't see it." Leonard admitted. "Where is it?"

"It's right there." Penny pointed at the screen. "See it now?"

"Oh yeah, sure." he hesitated.

"Really?"

"No, I don't see it." he sighed as Penny started to laugh. "What's so funny?"

"We're reliving that Friends episode we watched last week with the roles reversed. Rachel couldn't find the baby on the screen and Ross had to point it out several times." she grinned. "Look, bottom right, that shape that looks like a big peanut or small potato."

"I see that." he said. "That's it?"

"What did you expect?"

"I don't know, something more baby-like. I can't believe that this tiny thing is causing you to throw up almost anything you used to like to eat before."

"I told you, while that happens, stop making me elaborate breakfasts, simply put a bowl of cereal in front of me." she admonished and got up to get dressed again.

"But I don't want you to throw up every breakfast. We need to find something that you can actually keep down." he argued as Doctor Kersh returned into the room. "Hey Doc, any advice on how to find out what Penny can eat without throwing it back up?"

"Go to a breakfast buffet and see to what she is drawn to. Her cravings should lead her to take what she can stomach." Doctor Kersh shrugged, making Penny and Leonard look at each other.

"Could it be that simple?" Leonard asked.

"If that works, we can do the same with a lunch and dinner buffet." Penny suggested.

"Yeah, maybe you can keep something down for a change."

"Don't worry, the morning sickness should be gone in a few weeks." Doctor Kersh tried to assure them. "Okay, you can make the next appointment for next month with my assistant."

"Thank you Doctor." Penny said and they left the room.

After making the next appointment, they drove home to their block. Leonard looked up at the building and realized that they'd have to find a place to live at some point since it wouldn't be a good thing to raise a child in a one-bedroom apartment where he wasn't even living in with his then wife. Unfortunately, due to the wedding planning, finding a new place now had a lower priority.

"There you are." a familiar voice greeted them, when they came around the last corner.

"What is it now, Sheldon?" Penny asked.

"You have a visitor."

"What? Did you break into my apartment again to let him or her in?" she asked.

"I'm not talking to you, homewrecker." Sheldon grumbled. "Leonard has the guest."

"Homewrecker?" she deadpanned.

"Yes. You and your overactive uterus cause way too much change."

"For crying out loud Sheldon, be quiet." Leonard sighed and went into the apartment he still shared with the lanky physicist.

"Hello Leonard." a voice shocked him out of his anger at his roommate.

"Dad?" Leonard asked shocked upon seeing the person sitting on the couch.


The present - 1 year, 6 months old:

After having a few glasses of wine, Penny convinced both Amy and Bernadette to come with her into the pool. Since they had done this a few times now, both women had stashed a bikini in Bernadette's case and a bathing suit from Amy that reminded Penny of the Victorian era, with its long sleeves and leg parts going below the knees.

"If you girls to some naughty girl on girl action out there, wait for us." Howard's voice interrupted their giggling.

"Pervert." all three laughed and splashed water at the direction of the basement window where Howard's head was sticking out of.

"Why don't you guys join us?" Bernadette shouted.

"Nobody is joining the girls, it's video game night." Sheldon said loudly.

"I agree this time." Leonard said.

"Oh, come on Leonard, I let you hold me." Penny grinned at the picture of the four heads looking out of the basement window.

"Honey, when the others are gone, I gladly skinny dip with you." Leonard winked.

"Can I join?" Raj asked.

"No!" Penny and Leonard replied at the same time.

"I want to skinny dip too." Howard pouted.

"Then maybe you should get a pool." Penny smiled and winked to Bernadette as the guys retreated back to the basement and the sounds of their video game came out again. "So, Amy, how's the plan going?"

"It's going good." Amy grinned. "Sheldon doesn't suspect a thing."

"What plan?" Bernadette asked.

"Oh, Penny devised a cunning plan to get Sheldon to invite me to live with him." Amy replied.

"Really, how?"

"I told her to screen out the viable candidates and let only those get to Sheldon's tests that will fail them while at the same time spend more and more time with him in the apartment." Penny laughed. "At some point, Sheldon either accepts to live alone or he makes her stay officially permanent."

"And how is it working out so far?" Bernadette inquired.

"Well, I got him to admit offhand that it would be easier if I lived there instead of a stranger." Amy said. "As per Penny's advice, I didn't press him on it and let the comment stand, since he doesn't forget what he said."

"Penny, that's very insightful." Bernadette looked impressed.

"Thanks. My psychology training comes in handy."

"Your psychology training?"

"Oh, I never told you. I enrolled back into the course, though it's the extended version, since I work full-time and am a mother. So it might take me longer to get my degree but I plan on having one at some point." Penny explained.

"Aren't you happy at your job?"

"I am but I don't know if I can do this pharmaceutical rep stuff forever. I mean, in many cases I know that what I advertise isn't really good stuff and it bugs me sometimes."

"But your sales are through the roof." Bernadette argued.

"That's the acting." Penny chuckled. "I'm acting as if those pills are the cure for cancer and most Doctors believe me."

"And it helps that you always wear shirts that those people can look down into when you bend over." Amy said creepily.

"That doesn't work for female doctors unfortunately." Penny mused. "Except if they are lesbian."

"Well, as long as it sells our products, you could do a striptease."

"Bernie!" Penny said shocked. "There's only one man I get naked for."

"Relax, I was kidding."

"Frankly, sometimes I'm not so sure when it comes to you."

They continued their evening in the refreshing liquid, sipping wine until the bottle was empty while the guys yelled out from time to time, probably because they managed to achieve some goal they set themselves. Chris was sleeping soundly, the baby monitor giving no indication that anything was amiss.

When the sky got dark, he girls got out of the pool and dried themselves off. Penny pulled the foil back over the pool so the water wouldn't get dirty or evaporate, while the other two went back into the house to get changed. Penny followed them in and walked into the master bedroom to change out of her bikini and back into some real clothes, using her pajamas as underwear.

The guys were still playing in the basement and Penny decided to let them continue as long as they liked. Leonard had been a little stressed the last few months due to the demands of the military grant despite the fact that it had been extended to other departments, causing the workload to decrease drastically.

Leonard's own research into fusion energy was also ongoing, keeping him busy when the military things ran into a wall. Since the technology still wasn't able to keep up with the premise, the experiments continued to run for a millisecond before burning everything out.

"It's getting late, we should get the guys." Bernadette said.

"No, let them play, they haven't done it in months." Penny said.

"I concur. Sheldon might be easier to endure when he's happy." Amy agreed.

As if to underline Amy's point, a loud and joyful cheer was heard from the basement when the guys probably did something successful. Penny smiled at her husband's childish side, even though he was an amazing father too.

"But how will we get home? We all had wine to drink." Bernadette argued.

"You could sleep here. We have plenty of room." Penny suggested.

"Oh, okay." Bernadette readily agreed.

Penny handed her friends some of her old but clean jerseys for the night and showed them the rooms they would sleep in. After a quiet checkup on Chris, they walked back down and got back onto the couch, drinking some more wine.

"I find it fascinating how the guys can immerse themselves in computer games to that degrees." Bernadette mused.

"Yeah. During my first year as Leonard's neighbor I played Halo with them while Howard was hooking up with my friend Christie from Omaha. A week later I went dancing with some of my friends and when we came back, I told them that my neighbors wouldn't even hear us. So I opened the door and told them that we got tired of dancing and came home to have sex with them. Not one looked up." Penny laughed.

"Just out of curiosity, if they had looked up, would you have done it?" Amy asked.

"What? Have sex with them? Probably not." Penny replied.

"Really? No temptation at all to let loose?"

"I can't really say. I knew that Leonard had a crush on me then, and I can admit now that I was already falling for him but I honestly don't know if I would have acted on it."

"How did you know you had a crush on him?" Bernadette wanted to know.

"I was jealous when he hooked up with Leslie Winkle. I mean, really jealous. When Sheldon knocked on my door to get information on how to behave and then I heard her say 'Oh Leonard, you magnificent beast' through the door, I felt as if someone had punched me in the gut." Penny told them. "And then the next day, when they were eating at the Cheesecake Factory and Leonard told me that he and Leslie wouldn't work out, I was relieved."

"And yet you still paraded numerous guys in front of him." Bernadette returned. "Don't look so shocked, you told us several times."

"Alright, I admit it. I couldn't bring myself to put my heart out there again because I knew Leonard wasn't a one-night kind of guy." Penny sighed. "But hey, despite everything, it worked out. He's my husband, the father of my first child and my best friend. I can't ask for anything more."

"You said first child." Amy grinned.

"What?"

"You said first child." Bernadette repeated, also grinning wildly. "That implies that you want a second."

"Don't tell Leonard." Penny whispered conspiratorially. "I do want another one, in a year or two. Hopefully a girl this time."

"That's so great." Bernadette squealed.

"And maybe you will have your own then too." Penny said to the small blond who paled.

"Don't say that. I still don't know if I want a kid myself." Bernadette shuddered.

"Why are you so against it?"

"I'm not. But I saw Howard's reaction when it came to actually care for it. You've seen how his mother doted on him and I fear that he would want me to care for our kid and not do the work himself."

"Is he that bad?"

"We talked about it once and then I said he should care for it since I make more money than him. His facial expression said it all." Bernadette replied serious.

"Well, maybe you can kick his scrawny butt into gear when you have that bun in your oven."

"That's the other thing. I really don't want to experience that pain."

"There are drugs for that. And once you get past the vomiting, the back pain, the cravings and the mood swings, it's great to be pregnant." Penny said.

"Easy for you to say, you have a husband who did everything for you."

"Not everything. When I woke up at two in the morning and asked him to drive to the store to buy me ice cream, he grumbled and went back to sleep. Then I argued a little more until I suddenly fell asleep again."

"I remember him telling us that you send him out once to buy onion rings at four in the morning." Amy said.

"Yeah. From then on, we had everything I could possible want to eat in the house." Penny laughed.

The evening went on for a couple more hours until they realized that it was past midnight. While they usually had no problems with staying up past that time, Penny had a young child that would wake up pretty early and demand attention so she bid the girls good night and headed upstairs. Amy and Bernadette didn't want to stay downstairs by themselves and came up with her, each going into the assigned guest room and brushing their teeth and changing into the jersey for the night.

As Penny lay in her bed, she let her arm fall over Leonard's side, hitting nothing but air and making her aware that her husband wasn't next to her. A minuscule moment of panic and fear of him leaving her later, another cheer from the basement reminded her that the guys were still down there, playing their games. Another smile later she was fast asleep, her dreams filled with a a little girl in her arms, calling her mommy.


Stopping point. Tired and hot, still 30° Celsius and more in my apartment. Tomorrow another excruciating day at work in 40°C and then my birthday on Saturday (where I also have to work)

But hey, next week it's cooler ^^

Review please :) (Or I will throw a hissy fit and delete the story :D kidding)