Penny glanced over at Sheldon. He was sitting next to her on a folding chair in a darkened auditorium with dozens of other parents. Caleb's daycare had decided to put on a "educational progress showcase", basically an excuse to put the kids up on a stage so their parents could take pictures.
"You have the camcorder, right?" she whispered, leaning in toward her fiancé.
He snorted and gave her a superior look. "I don't need a camcorder. Howard installed a few custom upgrades on my phone. I now have thirty-two terabytes of memory."
"As long as we don't miss anything."
He sighed heavily. "I still don't know why you insisted I had to come subject myself to two hours of audible torture." He tugged at his collar. "Or why I had to wear a suit."
"We're here because you love your son, and you're supporting him. I'm sure your mom came to all your science fairs and stuff, right?"
"Yes," he answered a bit sulkily.
"And whose mom didn't support him at all and messed him up for life?"
"Leonard."
"I'd much rather have Caleb turn out like you than Leonard, wouldn't you?"
"Good Lord, yes," he said with a slight shudder.
"And about that suit…" She leaned close again and whispered, "I think you look so sexy in it. I can't wait to get you out of it once Caleb's in bed."
His eyes widened, and Penny stifled a giggle. They were already getting glares from other parents for talking, even though the curtain hadn't even gone up yet. But she loved turning him on, loved the little flicker of his eyelids and the betraying twitches that said his attention had suddenly been diverted. She liked to imagine that with his eidetic memory, once he started thinking about her in that way, he had a hard time thinking of anything else.
A smattering of applause began as the curtain rose. Penny glanced again at the program, although she knew Caleb's group would be the fourth one on stage. One of the teachers led her students out. This class was an older group, and a few of them waved or called out to their parents. She grinned, but felt a pang of sadness as she watched the antics of the kids.
She had changed so much in the past months, but her subconscious apparently still had a few surprises in store for her. She'd grown to love Caleb more than she ever thought possible. Most of her days off were spent taking the little boy to the park, or the aquarium, or to the mall that had the kiddie train in the center. But she was aware, more and more often, of how much of his life she had missed. His first steps, his first word, tiny finger and toes, and a helpless infant that would fit in the crook of her arm. She was beginning to think she was going a little crazy, because she wanted all that. She wanted a baby. It was hard to even imagine how much Sheldon might freak out if she told him. He'd almost suffered a mental breakdown when he first found out he had a son.
But he's such a good father now, the other voice in her head argued. She'd never imagined she would get to this point. Unlike Bernie, she didn't hate kids, but before Caleb, she'd never been very enthusiastic about them either. But people could change; Sheldon was proof of that. So were most of her friends, actually. Shortly after Sheldon proposed, Leonard had borrowed his rooftop idea and finally convinced Mandy to make their engagement real. According to Sheldon, Howard had gone with Leonard to pick out the ring for Mandy and had asked a number of pointed questions himself. So even Howard, the perpetual pervert, had proved himself capable of growth. So wasn't she allowed to change her mind, too?
Sheldon shifted his son's limp weight against his shoulder. His son exhaled a sugary-sweet breath against his neck and barely stirred as they began to climb the stairs to their apartment.
"He did great, didn't he?" Penny asked, glancing at the little boy with a smile. "I can't believe he stood up in front of that huge crowd and sang songs with his class. He was so well behaved. He didn't cry or run off or anything." Both Penny and Sheldon had been impressed by his confidence. It may have led them to allow him more sweets than usual at the reception afterward, and now he was slumped in a sugar-induced stupor on his dad's shoulder.
"Or faint," Sheldon added. "He must get his aplomb from his birth mother… or perhaps he learned it from you somehow. You exert a significant influence on his development."
She smiled back at him. "Want me take him? Four flights is a lot of steps to climb when you're carrying a toddler."
"Carrying him isn't difficult… not anymore, at least. I suppose I've built up some endurance," he answered.
"You've built up some muscle, too," Penny answered, running her hand along his bicep. "Don't think I didn't notice."
He glanced at her with a shy smile hovering around the corners of his mouth. She responded by batting her eyelashes at him in return, and suddenly, he was impatient to get upstairs to the privacy of what was now their apartment (Penny had moved in a few weeks after the engagement). They climbed another half flight in companionable silence.
"Imagine the muscles you'd build if you were carrying two kids," Penny said suddenly. She was giving him a look he couldn't quite decipher.
"Fortunately, thanks to modern birth control, we don't have to contemplate such a possibility."
Penny was silent for a few more steps. "Would it be such a bad thing?" she finally asked.
He jerked to a halt halfway between the second and third floor landings. "Carrying two children?" he asked cautiously.
"Having two. Having another one," she said without meeting his eyes.
He couldn't move, just stood there staring at his fiancée. They'd been engaged for slightly over five months and hadn't even seriously discussed setting a date. Surely, she couldn't be suggesting that she wanted to conceive a child. "How… how would we accomplish that?" he asked in a voice that shook a little.
She grinned. "Your mom did have that talk with you at some point, right?" Then she dropped her gaze. "It doesn't have to be right away. That would be… crazy. But do you think some day, you might want another kid? Caleb could have a little brother or sister to play with. His teacher says he gets along really good with the rest of his class."
Sheldon started moving upward again, although his thoughts were in a whirl as he mounted the steps.
"Sheldon!" Penny had to run to catch up with him. "Okay, fine. I'm sorry I sprung this on you. I won't bring it up again."
They reached their apartment, and he fumbled for his keys with shaking hands. She took them from him and unlocked the door without comment. He walked into the living room and looked around his home with a fresh perspective. The tiny kitchen, the bookshelves filled with textbooks and superhero figurines, the desk taking up the space intended for a dining room table… it was definitely a bachelor pad.
With a frown, she hauled the sleeping toddler out of his arms and walked off towards Caleb's room. When she returned a few minutes later, he hadn't moved. He was staring off into the middle distance, and he startled when she took his arm.
"Honey, you're scaring me now."
He gazed down at her, and the overwhelming emotion that he felt caused a shudder to run through his thin frame. With trembling hands, he framed her face, bent down to her and kissed her as if he would never let go. Her squeak of surprise turned into a throaty purr as she melted into his arms. He was kissing that delicate spot behind her ear that made her legs go weak when she gasped, "Not that I'm complaining - oh, right there – but what did I do to turn you into – ahhh – Mr. Love Machine?"
He laughed at that while still kissing her throat, and she arched against him as the vibrations traveled along her skin. He pulled back to look at her, but could barely quell the urge to keep kissing her. His hands caressed her curves, traced the line of her back while he slowly unzipped her dress.
"You want to have my child," he explained, pushing the straps of her colorful frock down to expose the graceful lines of her shoulders. "Not because I am a genius, but almost in spite of my brilliance. No one has ever made me feel so loved." He turned his attention to the sheer black lace of her bra, rubbing his thumbs across the tight buds of her nipples. She cried out, clinging to him for support. "I could spend the rest of my life worshipping at your feet, and we would never be even." He reached down, placed his hands behind her thighs, and with a sudden movement, lifted her. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he staggered a few paces until she was trapped between the wall and his body. He pushed the sheer fabric out of his way and lowered his head. Her inarticulate moans were all the aphrodisiac he needed.
Hardly able to contain himself any more, he slid a hand up her thigh and gasped when he found no cloth barrier in the way. "You're not wearing any…"
"Took you long enough to figure that out," she panted. She had his belt undone and his fly unzipped in one swift move. His pants fell down around his ankles, and he couldn't even spare a thought for them as she wrapped her hand around his length. He did swear, but only in private, only when Penny touched him that way.
"Take me, now," she demanded, and he obliged. She rode him until they both lost themselves in mindless pleasure.
When it was all over, he lowered her and touched the wall with a frown. "I should not have allowed my ardor to override my concern for your well-being. You could have developed contusions from your collision with the hard surface."
"Hell, no. That was the best sex of my life," she said with a laugh. He looked at her, with her golden hair tousled around her face and her skin rosy and glowing in post-coital bliss.
"Sweetie, you're staring," she laughed again.
"I can't look away. You're so beautiful." He picked up their clothing, since they were a tripping hazard. Taking her hand, he led her back to their bedroom. By the time he had carefully hung up his suit and her dress in the designated closet area for dry cleaning, he turned to find her stretched out on the bed, watching him. He left his Friday pajamas, neatly folded, on the night stand as he reached for her once again.
"I want you to be my wife," he said into the darkness as he held Penny against his chest. He slid his hand down to rest on her abdomen. "Before you conceive," he added. "I have no right to demand anything of you, but it would mean a lot to me."
She shifted, turned to face him. "What if I'm not ready?"
He was silent for a moment. "Then you will still be the queen of my heart, and I, your loyal subject. I will lay all that I am at your feet and hope that you deem it worthy of your notice."
She sighed. "When did you get so romantic?"
"When I fell in love with you."
She began laughing. "I hate you, you know. How am I supposed to say no to that? Fine, pick a date, any date. Just give me at least a few months to plan. As much grief as you've given me over this whole marriage thing, you can bet I'm only going to do it once."
She had her own way of obfuscating, and he was familiar enough with it by now to decipher what she was really saying. He pulled her into his arms, rolled with her until he ended up on top and kissed her breathless. "So you'll marry me on any day I choose, after two months' notice?"
"Three months – don't push your luck," she grumbled.
He linked hands with her and pulled her arms up over her head. "I love you," he whispered in her ear. She felt his thumb caress her ring finger as he pushed inside of her again.