The Family Formality – Part Three
Today was a good day already, Penny woke up feeling better then she had in weeks and her parents would be here in the afternoon.
She was taking advantage of her burst of energy, Sheldon had told her she might have that from time to time before it would fall back into the overall drab of early pregnancy but for now, she was using her good mood to clean her apartment.
The sounds of Kelly Clarkson's Stronger blasted through her living room as she used her little duster to swipe all her counter tops and anything she could find, occasionally using the handle as a makeshift microphone.
Everything was going so well, this unexpected pregnancy was suddenly the best thing about her life. She woke up every morning and stood in front of her full body mirror once meant for checking the curve of her dresses and used it now to stare at her growing belly. Sheldon was still Sheldon, but he had developed a strange habit of needing her around to start every single night of his routine. They couldn't play Halo until she came home, Vintage Video Game Night wasn't the same unless Penny was adamantly watching him as he played and he had even let her pick the restaurant that would replace Chinese food while she was pregnant.
She catered to his love of Quiznos and made Friday night sub sandwich and Vintage Video Game night. He was quite pleased.
Slowly but surely, the group was accepting that Sheldon Lee Cooper now came with a side of Penny and in a strange way it was making things easier for all of them. Sheldon was still a pain, still anal as ever and had to have his way or the rest of the world suffered. But for the most part he sought out Penny's company more than theirs (and vice versa) and it allowed the guys a bit more freedom to do what they wanted. Though the group was splintering just a bit, with Leonard and Amy's budding romance and Sheldon and Penny's blatant attachment, they still all made sure to get together on certain nights for Sheldon's routine.
All of them were growing up, but making sure to stay close.
Penny was lost in the rhythm of the song and completely missed the sound of her door being opened. She had a grip on the ends of the counter, shaking her butt to the beat and laughing out loud at herself as the song faded.
"Uh," a voice called and Penny jumped in embarrassment. She turned to see Leonard staring at her wide eyed and grinning. "Having fun?"
She blushed. "Oh, just… dusting."
"Right, you're gonna be the fun mom aren't you?" He said, shuffling to her couch and sitting on the arm.
"God, I hope so,"
Leonard laughed. "Paired with Sheldon, you'll have to be the fun one."
"Sheldon can be fun." Penny defended her boy, she found herself doing that a lot, even if it was jokingly as this was. "You just have to know what buttons to push."
Awkwardly, Leonard pushed the glasses up on his face as he cast his eyes to the floor. "Yeah well you haven't been in our apartment recently."
"Oh no… is he on a rampage?" Leonard nodded. "It's not physics related is it? Cause I can't help you there."
"No," Leonard said, standing slowly. "It's not physics… it's you."
"Me?" Penny was genuinely surprised. It was hard for her to believe that Sheldon gave her any extra thought outside of the time he was actually with her. She knew Sheldon was an interior person and that his mind constantly raced of so many things. But she never imagined that a girl would be one of them.
Her friend nodded. "Yeah, and he's driving us all insane!"
"But—"
"Just… tell me what you want him to buy you for your birthday so I can suggest it to him and we can stop looking at things on Amazon, please."
Penny let out a soft laugh at the image of Sheldon making all the guys pour through Hello Kitty merchandise and shoes. "Sweetie, I can't tell Sheldon what to buy me for my birthday. I didn't expect him to buy me anything. You know how weird he is about gift giving."
"Yeah but Howard told him it was social protocol to buy the mother of his child a gift."
She eyed him dubiously. "Howard did not say 'mother of his child'… did he?"
"Uh," Leonard stammered. "Well he said you have to buy your baby mama a gift or else she'll start straying on you. Howard seems to think that because you're pregnant that your sex drive is elevated."
"Remind me to kill him later." She said darkly.
Leonard nodded. "Right, now… the gift, please?"
"Sorry Sweetie, if Sheldon's gonna buy me a gift then he's gotta figure it out himself. I like the surprise and he could stand to figure this one out on his own."
"But Penny—"
"Nope, besides he'll leave you alone for a while with my parents coming."
This brought an odd smile to Leonard's face. "True, and your dad always did like me."
Penny sighed. "You're not the one I'm worried about. My dad is… judgmental. If he likes you you're golden, if he doesn't... well."
"You're worried he's going to have a problem with my lunatic roommate?" He asked, watching her shuffle from side to side.
"No, I'm worried he's going to hate the guy that knocked up his little girl." She sighed and laid a hand across her stomach. She noticed the look of shyness that passed over Leonard's face. "Could you help him, I mean, my dad liked you.'
"Yeah but I'm not crazy."
She glared at him. "You're not exactly an ex-quarterback."
Leonard laughed with a nod. "I know, but I can talk to people without being a neurotic mess. You know I care about Sheldon, God why else would I have put up with him as long as I have... but you can't expect him to become best friends with your dad. Your farm hand, roughneck dad who earned everything he's ever had."
"Why are you doing this?" She asked, suddenly hurt and her good mood ruined. "Why can't you just support us?"
Quickly, Leonard stood and moved close to where she was standing. "Penny, I'm not trying to upset you and I am working my ass off to be supportive and understanding and everything but you have to know that Sheldon is not going to connect with your dad, we're still not sure why he connects with you so well!" Penny nodded sadly and let her growing blonde hair fall over her face. "But he does, and you love him and in some way he is falling in love with you too, even if he doesn't understand it. And I know your dad… if he sees how happy you are, if he sees you the way you were when I came in here dancing and singing, without the slutty butt shake," Penny flushed as he chuckled. "He'll be happy for you; just… don't expect him to become best friends with Sheldon."
Smiling at him sweetly, she stepped back and wiped her eyes. "Thanks, I just want it all to be good, you know? I want everyone to get along."
"I still can't believe you're carrying Sheldon's baby." Leonard said, though he held a smirk on his face. "Maybe you were wrong about who the Whack-a-doodle really was." His face then turned extremely grim. "But seriously, what do you want him to buy you?"
Penny wore the exact same outfit she'd started out with in the bowling alley the day before, different shirt but the same jacket zipped at the bottom to cover her stomach. It wasn't that she was hiding, well she was, but mostly because she wanted to tell them she was pregnant, not have them see it.
She stood at the airport alone, Sheldon was still working and would be home at his normal time but he wasn't going to be deterred from Vintage Video Game Night or his new Quiznos routine so her parents would be dropped right into the crazy, nerdy adventures and get the chance to see exactly what her life had become.
The only hope she had was that they would appreciate it and accept that she belonged here.
Of course, now that she was pregnant, anytime Penny saw a baby or a toddler she felt her heart swell and tears always came to her eyes. She loved the idea, she loved seeing little boys, little girls and their smiles and curiosity to absolutely everything. Her entire world was becoming centered on babies.
When a little boy came passing by her, his hands full with a soft pretzel and his little cup of cheese sauce and a huge grin on his face, Penny started to tear up.
"Pull it together, Penny." She said, mimicking the old mantra Abby used to give her when she was upset. Abby never put up with crying and drama. She had a buck up or shut up attitude that served her well.
Penny still cried when the cat fell down the waterfall in Homeward Bound.
The first thing she saw was her dad, his graying hair and flannel t-shirt, jeans lightly stained with dirt from the work he was no doubt doing right before their flight. Her mother was smiling brightly, freshly dyed blonde hair and a bright red shirt with flower print. Seeing them was so different now, after losing her brother Penny felt an odd need to be close to her family, but she had to leave them and come back to Sheldon. She was torn between two wants and so happy for this week to have them put together.
She was suddenly nervous of her stomach and laid her hands to rest over it slightly, smiling much to bright as her dad's eyes met hers.
"Hey, Slugger!" He called out and started to move faster. Penny moved up to him just as he dropped his bags and pulled her in close. "Look at you," he said, pulling back and staring into her eyes. "Missed you honey."
Penny gave a watery smile. "Missed you too, Dad."
"Alright, don't hog her," Kathleen said, all but shoving Wyatt out of the way and pulling her slightly taller daughter down to kiss her cheek. "You're so tan, you must live at the beach."
"You get this just from walking down the street, Mom."
Her mother snorted. "Yeah well all we get on the farm is rotting cow carcasses cause the damn heat is cookin' em."
The bile threatened to lurch up Penny's throat. She had been battling her morning sickness all day. It had to be going away soon… right?
After gathering their things and getting their bag from the baggage claim, Penny led them to her car and felt like a jerk as she stood there and watched her father loading the bags into the trunk without offering any help. Her dad's body was old and tired, he wasn't nearly as strong as he used to be but he would never ask for help.
Penny was usually there trying to push him out of the way and do these things for him. Now, she couldn't lift heavy things, Sheldon had berated her about that when he caught her trying to move one of her end tables to the other side of her bed.
As she climbed into the car and her mother moved into the passenger seat next to her, Penny looked over and smiled.
Kathleen stared at her daughter, eyeing her face for a moment before reaching across to touch her cheek. "Are you feeling okay?" She asked, worried.
"Yeah, it's just hot," which was true, the temperature was in the mid-nineties. But really Penny was now fighting a bit of a stomach cramp and the nerves of the situation were actually starting to catch up with her.
The ride home was nice enough, her mother kept watching her but for the most part Penny just sat in silence and listened to stories about the farm. She heard about Abby's horrible marriage and how much she was dealing with. Apparently her husband accused her of cheating and they had a big fight where Dad woke up one morning to find Abby sleeping in her diesel pickup in the driveway. Wyatt offered her a place to stay but Abby, stubbornly, declined and went home to try and patch up her marriage.
Abby's husband was an idiot, absolutely no threat to her, if there's one thing about Abigail that everyone knew, you do not mess with her. Don't even try and hit her, she had a boyfriend who did that once and he ended up in the hospital with a fractured pelvis.
She rolled over him with a riding lawnmower.
That didn't stop Penny from worrying about her sister, they weren't exactly close but it was still her sister.
By the time they turned onto the road for Los Robles, Penny was letting her mind race with the what, where and when of how to go about telling them she was pregnant. She thought about just taking off her jacket, lifting her shirt up a bit and seeing if they figured it out.
Yeah, her dad would love that.
She was going to have to say it, the words the emotions and the heart of it all. She wanted her parents to see that she was happy about it, hope that maybe her happiness would bleed over to them. She knew that Sheldon needed to be there, they needed to see how important this was to him. That she hadn't just met some random guy and was having his baby. No, she knew the father, she loved the father.
It was a quarter to four when they finally made it to her apartment. Sheldon would be home in about twenty minutes and he knew to come knocking on her apartment door. His plan, of course, was to get past all of this explaining in time to make the trip to the video store for his game, then hit Quiznos and have his perfect little schedule fall into place.
Penny wasn't nearly as hopeful of this happening. If her parents freaked out, they would have to spend the rest of the night explaining themselves, their actions and their future.
She knew she wasn't being a great host as the made their way into her apartment. It was her mother's first visit and she was asking a billion questions that Penny was barely able to answer.
"So, that apartment across the hall is that where those boys of yours live?" Kathleen asked innocently enough, clearly wanting to divulge into Penny's attraction to Sheldon. The same boy she'd told her mother she loved the last time she saw her.
"Yeah," Penny answered easily. "Leonard and Sheldon, but the others are always over there too."
Wyatt spoke up. "I liked that Leonard, he was a good man. A little squirrely but those are the ones you can trust. How are you and him gettin' along, Penny?"
The blonde went wide eyed for a moment. "Fine, friends…"
"I told you Wyatt that she has feelings for that other one. Sheldon right?" Kathleen said, making her daughter blush and oddly cross her arms over her stomach.
"Y—Yeah that's the one, I—I've got a thing going with him."
Her father eyed her suspiciously. "Is he a doctor too?" Penny nodded. "Like Leonard then, one of those really smart doctors?"
Penny shrugged. "Kinda, I mean Sheldon is a theoretical physicist and Leonard is an experimental. They work together but not doing the same stuff. Sheldon is smarter, I think, but Leonard is more…"
"Sane?" Kathleen said with a giddy little smile. "Penny says this boy of hers is just packed full of wonderful crazy."
"Mom, he's not crazy,"
Her mother raised her hands up in defense. "I'm not condemning him dear. I have never pictured you with a normal guy, one of those big muscly idiots you used to run around town with. No you needed some crazy to fight back your own damn lunacy."
"What?" Penny cried. "I'm not crazy, Mom." She looked at her dad for backup, he was shaking his head with a chuckle. "You think I'm crazy?"
Wyatt laughed harder. "Honey you've never been normal, I think that's what Kathleen is trying to say. Your motor is always running and you never sit still. I don't know much about anyone else's kids but I do know that you're the only sixteen year old girl I've ever known who would get up at four in the morning, help me with all the farm work and then spend the next three hours in your room getting ready for school only to completely ruin all of the work on your makeup and hair just to help me again when one of the cows got stuck in the milking machine."
"That's not crazy," Penny defended. "We were all raised to help on the farm whenever we needed too."
Kathleen grinned. "Hon, your sister stopped helping when she was eleven."
"Well yeah cause one of the chickens pecked a hole in her hand." Penny said slowly, her mind drifting back to that day and the scream of horror Abby had wailed.
"Penn?" It was her dad. "You broke three ribs when that horse kicked you, missed that big dance you had been looking forward too and still worried more about whether or not I was going to put the damn horse down."
Penny looked down. "Carson didn't mean it, he just got spooked and you didn't put him down."
"Of course I didn't, Slugger. You asked me not too and I can't say no to you." Wyatt smiled at his daughter. "But still, we had other kids," his voice was soft for a moment, though Billy wasn't brought up directly, his presence lingered in the statement. "We have friends who run their own farms and have kids and none of them are like you. You're unique, you've got a huge heart and you are crazy. But my mom always used to say that if a person isn't crazy then they're just boring."
Knock, knock, knock…
"Penny?"
She watched as her parents turned to the door. "Well then this should be fun." She moved to the door and stood in front of it, listening as the knocks continued.
"Are you going to answer—" Her mother started.
"Not yet." Penny said with a shake of her head as he finished his third round of knocking.
Glancing back one more time at the expectant eyes of her parents, Penny opened the door and there stood Sheldon. He was still carrying his bag, still wearing his shoes and looking oddly shy as he felt three pairs of eyes on him.
"Hey you," Penny said sweetly, hoping to draw him out a little.
Sheldon smiled at her meekly. "Hello."
Penny stepped aside and touched the back of his arm to guide him inside. "Mom, Dad… this is Sheldon."
"Hey Sheldon!" Kathleen chirped and moved in to give him a hug. Sheldon took a step back and merely extended his hand. "Oh," Penny's mother smiled awkwardly and accepted the handshake.
"Hello." Sheldon chorused again. He eyed Penny's dad eerily, the older man was leering at him.
Ready to dissolve the discomfort, Penny smiled brightly. "Sheldon's a little uneasy about touching, it's nothing personal." However, her statement was made useless a moment later.
"You're touching him," Wyatt stated flatly and Penny looked to see that she was still holding onto his arm.
Sheldon sighed. "Yes, Penny has a very strict policy on ignoring my demands for cleanliness and personal space." Penny looked up at him wide eyed. He glared at her a bit. "Well you do, you're constantly touching me."
"Well," Kathleen looked to her husband for a moment, her cheeks reddening. "You two make a cute couple."
"We're not really—" Penny swatted Sheldon's arm to stop him from talking. "Penny!"
She sighed, desperate to lay all her cards on the table. She hated dancing around anything, life wasn't mean to be treaded lightly. Penny closed her eyes and held onto Sheldon a little bit tighter. "Okay, Mom… Dad, I have to tell you something." When she opened her eyes, her parents were looking at her with perplexed worry, still oddly shifting their gazes from Penny to her crazy doctor. "We're pregnant."
No need for formalities.
Sheldon went completely rigid against her.
"What…" her mother whispered, looking back to Wyatt for his response. He was just standing still, a blank look on his face as his gaze turned from Sheldon to his daughter.
A few minutes passed in silence and Penny felt herself going insane. "Well?" She asked, expectantly. "Talk to me, please. Yell at me or… something, just tell me how you feel." Tears were forming in her eyes, the entire moment overwhelming her.
Sheldon still hadn't moved a muscle under her touch.
Kathleen let out a long and ragged breath before burying her face in her hands. When she looked back up, she was smiling, Penny started to cry.
"We're gonna have a grandchild?" She asked, her own voice breaking. Penny nodded. "Did you hear that, Wyatt?" Again he was stoic, his eyes however looked away from his daughter and to the floor, he was lost in thought.
Penny didn't have time to wonder about her father's response because Kathleen was gathering her daughter into her arms and Penny let herself get lost in that feeling.
Pulling away, Kathleen held her daughter by the shoulders. Both of them were crying, Sheldon was shifting awkwardly, uncomfortable at the sight of Penny's tears, happy or not.
"This is amazing, a gift." The older woman looked back to her husband. "Wyatt, can you believe it?"
Finally, he looked to his daughter again. "Where are the keys to your car, Penny?" He asked, his tone bring back memories of the day she told him she was moving to California.
Penny noticeably paled. "Uh… in the bowl by the door." She sniffled a bit. "Why?"
"We need to go for a ride." He said, walking past her towards her key bowl.
Going for a ride with her father was one of Penny's least favorite things growing up. It always meant that he had something important to say. Her dad was not a good face to face talker, he hated bringing up anything serious or important. He could sit in a chair all day and talk about football or the farm or how much he hated the current president (no matter who it was). But if he ever needed to talk about something meaningful, he had to be driving, he had to be focused on something else and then he could go there.
Looking to Sheldon, who was visibly concerned, Penny smiled gently. "I'll be back, okay? Keep my mom entertained."
"Wyatt, is this really necessary?" Kathleen asked desperately.
Wyatt looked at her with stubborn eyes. "We'll be back, I just need to…" his sentence lingered there and he guided Penny out the door.
They rode down the elevator in silence, climbed into the car in silence and made their way down Colorado Boulevard in silence. After what felt like an absolute eternity and Penny having gone through every possible scenario of what he might say first, he spoke to her.
"Are you ready for this?" He asked, not looking at her as they turned onto another road. Her dad always had an amazing sense of direction. He was going places he'd never been before in a city that was foreign to him, but he'd find his way back.
She sighed. "I'm getting there."
"Do you have any idea—"
"Dad, I'm not sixteen, I can do this." Penny pleaded, she truly believe that. She had doubts about herself, sure, but she knew in her heart that she could be a mother. "I want to have this baby."
"This boy,"
"Sheldon."
Wyatt gave her a quick glance. "Sheldon, he's not going to run away, is he?"
Penny shook her head vigorously. "No, absolutely not. He has been so great to me through all of this, he's helping me with things and… no dad, he's not going anywhere."
"You two should be married." He said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Penny groaned in frustration. "No!" She cried. "We are not ready to get married, Dad. We're not even close."
"Penny," he started in a tone that sounded oddly familiar to Sheldon. "You are having a baby together, you can't get much closer than that!"
"I love Sheldon, Dad… but we can't get married. I know we're not ready for that and I don't want to risk what he and I have." She was crying again and could tell by the fidgeting he was doing behind the wheel that it was bothering him. Reaching across the space between them, she grabbed his forearm. "Daddy?"
"It's not right, Penny." He returned weakly.
She shook her head with a sweet smile. "It's not going to make us love this baby any less."
Pulling into the parking lot of a department store, he put the car in park and let out a long, heavy breath. "So… you're really pregnant?" He asked with the tiniest of smiles threatening on his lips.
Tears streaked down Penny's cheeks. "Yep," she lifted her shirt just a bit, her belly peeking through. "I figured we could use a new member of the family."
"Yeah," he said sadly, reaching out to touch Penny's cheek. "You think that boy will be a good father?"
"Absolutely," Penny answered quickly, easily. "I really do love him."
Wyatt nodded. "I need to talk to him."
"I know, just… go easy on him okay? He's not like other boys I've dated."
Her father laughed sharply. "Thank heavens for that."
"Dad!" Penny cried, swatting his arm.
There was silence between them for a moment, he was staring at her dashboard in deliberate thought. "Penny?" He said a minute or so later.
"Yeah?"
"The check engine light is on, that usually means you should check your engine." He said in a frustrated voice, pointing at the offending light.
Penny buried her face in her hands. "Oh God."