Chapter 38

After Susan left for Nebraska, the couple found it hard to adjust in taking care of their two-month old baby. It was particularly difficult for Penny during the day when Leonard is at work and she has to balance doing all the chores around the house and looking after her son who would always want to feed every two to three hours, not to mention when his diaper needs to be changed which Penny hated the most. Leonard would arrive at home around five-thirty or six already exhausted form work. He would often find Penny in the living room, sometimes asleep with the baby on it's carrier being entertained by the noise and images coming from the television. He would then scoop up his son from his carrier and rock him in his arms, letting his wife take her much needed rest.

After dinner and feeding the baby, the couple would retire to the bedroom, too tired to even hang out in the living room to watch TV or even drink some wine which Penny couldn't do because she was still breastfeeding William. At around eleven or midnight, William would wake up either to feed or change his diaper. Penny would hear the baby monitor and wake Leonard to take care of the baby. This would often result in the couple bickering on whose turn it is to get the baby from his crib.

"Leonard." she said as she rocked the baby back to sleep.

"Hmmm" he uttered as he laid on the bed, face down.

"I hate you for ruining our honeymoon." she said. Leonard didn't respond.

"I hate you when this one was being born." she added. Her husband still didn't react.

"But now I hate you the most for taking away my sleep!" she yelled scaring the baby, making William scream and cry.

Leonard turned and growled at his wife. "What is wrong with you!? You're scaring our son?" he said standing up, taking the baby from her. Penny then jumped on the bed, covering herself under the covers and pushing her face against a pillow. "Can you take the baby to the next room so I could get some peace and quiet here!?" she said making Leonard huff in annoyance at his wife's sneakiness. Leonard would then go to the next room, rocking the baby back to sleep. Once the baby is back on his crib, he would return to their bedroom and sleep beside his wife, pulling the blanket to himself.

This has mostly been their nightly routine for the next month with Penny becoming more irritable and fatigued from taking care of the baby and doing all the house chores and Leonard sometimes being caught taking a nap at work by either Sheldon, Howard or Raj. This coupled with the fact that they haven't had any 'alone time' because they were too tired all the time plus Penny would always brush Leonard off whenever he attempted to get frisky with her which made him grunt in frustration.

Their situation somewhat 'normalized' when William was four months old. By this time, the baby would not cry as much during the night which was a huge relief for the couple. Their pediatrician also told them to start giving William some baby food so he will not rely on being breastfed by Penny too much. Thankfully, William was not picky when it comes to food as he was always happy when being fed with baby food.

Every morning before going to work, Penny would always find Leonard in the backyard carrying William to catch the early morning rays of the sun. She would sometimes hear him sing to the baby while cradling him on his arms. Penny felt a tug in her heart every time she sees her husband and son bond in the morning. Her husband would always talk to their baby as though he was an adult. William would always utter whatever sounds he could muster in response to his father's words. One morning, Penny heard Leonard teaching his four-month old son some mathematical principles.

"Okay William, I'm gonna teach you the foundation of all Trigonometry. Without this, you won't get anywhere in math alright?" he said as the baby muttered in response. "good, here it is, in all right triangles, the longest side is called the Hypotenuse. If you square the hypotenuse, it will be equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. This has been proven countless times and I'll show some of the proofs to you when you're old enough, alright?" he said to his son. William looked at him, giggling and laughing. "good job son….I can already tell you're going to be smarter than me or your uncle Sheldon." he said rocking his son in his arms.

Penny decided to chime in. "Did you just taught my son math?" she asked.

Leonard turned around and faced his wife. "Yeah….the earlier the better." he said kissing her cheek.

Penny took the baby in her arms. "Look at my baby…so handsome…and so smart!" she said as the baby laughed. Penny kissed her son and the baby laughed even more. "Mommy and daddy loves you so much." she said as Leonard put his arm around Penny's waist while they play with the baby.

"Honey…you know it's been almost four months since this one was born!" he winked at her.

Penny glared at him. "I told you Leonard. No!" she said.

"Even if I put on...you know?" he asked.

"No!" Penny almost yelled, scaring the baby.

"Aw come on Penny!…and besides, you're breastfeeding which is nature's birth control." he teased her.

Penny kissed his cheek. "I'll think about it…aren't you supposed to be getting ready for work?" she said.

"Oh right." he said kissing her and the baby before going back to the house to take a quick shower to get ready for work. Leonard got a quick breakfast and kissed his wife and son goodbye before going to work.

After Leonard left for work, Penny would feed the baby and give him a nice warm bath before putting him back on his crib for a nap. When the baby is already asleep, Penny would eat breakfast and either do the laundry or clean around the house. Sometimes she would take William to the supermarket to buy groceries. Leonard would always call her during lunch to see if she and their son are doing okay.

One night, Leonard came home and Penny was in the living room looking at her laptop. He kissed her on the cheek and put his bag on his desk.

"Where's the baby?" he asked.

"I just put him in his crib." said Penny.

"What are you reading?" he asked.

"It's an email from the producers of the TV show. They want me to come back for the second season." she said.

"What about our baby?" he said.

"Well they said that since my character is pregnant on the show, they'll write that I already gave birth and they asked me if we would be willing to bring William in for some of the scenes." said Penny.

"Wait, are you telling me they want our baby to appear on the TV show?" asked Leonard.

"Yeah...I mean my character already gave birth so it's only natural to have a baby on the show and what better baby to hire than my own." Penny said. "...and they're gonna pay us extra for bringing him with me." said Penny.

"What about your other scenes where there is no baby involved? Who's gonna look after him?" asked Leonard.

"They said that most of my scenes will be with the baby anyway…but I suppose we could get a temporary baby sitter on set?" Penny asked.

"So our son is not even a year old and he's already a TV star?" said Leonard kissing her cheek.

"I told you he's gonna take after me!" Penny said wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing his lips.

"Hmm…I like where this is going." he winked at her.

"Are you prepared?" she teased him.

"Are you kidding me? Of course!" he said.

"Come on….I think you've waited long enough." she said teasing him.

Leonard nodded. "Oh yes!…lets hurry before the baby wakes up." he said pulling her into their bedroom. They hurriedly removed their clothes and jumped onto the bed, excited in making love again under the sheets.

They laid on the bed smiling after almost an hour of intimacy when they heard the baby cry through the baby monitor. Leonard got dressed to tend to the baby while Penny puts on her robe to go to the kitchen to prepare dinner. Leonard came down to the kitchen carrying the baby. He opened the fridge and took one of Penny's stored milk to warm up for the baby.

"That was fun right?" he said while cradling the baby.

"Yeah…good thing this young man didn't disturb us." Penny said kissing Leonard and the baby. She went back to preparing the table while Leonard tested a few drops of the milk to see if it is ready. He lightly shook the bottle and fed it to the baby.

"That's right son…you just eat and sleep so your mom and I can have some peace and quiet okay?" he said to the baby. The baby smiled at him. "That's my boy." he said while holding the bottle. This has been the couple's life for the next several months, taking care of their son and from time to time, sneaking around to have some time for themselves.

Penny hired one of their neighbor's teenage kid, Kelly to come with her on the TV show's set to babysit William while she films her scenes. Kelly was glad to babysit Penny's baby since she gets to see the actors working on the TV show. Penny felt lucky that William was easy to take care of and only cries when he's hungry or when his diaper needs to be changed. The cast and crew were also smitten at how cute and adorable Penny's son was, easily brought to laughter with a simple peek-a-boo or by almost anyone who would talk to him.

Amy and Bernadette made sure to visit Penny in their house as often as possible to catch up on things and to play with her baby. The two would always bring something for the baby, either baby food or toys to help stimulate Williams cognitive abilities.

"I gotta tell you Penny, your son is one smart boy." Bernadette said as she holds the baby on her lap.

"Yeah…he seems to be very attentive when it comes to his toys especially those with shapes and colors." said Amy while playing with William's hands.

"Yeah, well I won't complain if he takes after Leonard." said Penny. "and my babysitter Kelly would sometimes have nothing to do while we're on set because almost everyone wanted to play with William. He's not like the other kids who just cries all the time…I mean he still cries when he's hungry or needs a diaper change but other than that, he just plays with his toys and looks at everyone." said Penny.

"Well aren't you an angel huh William?" Bernadette said while bouncing the baby on her knees. William won't stop laughing as he looked at Bernadette, touching her face and trying to grab her glasses.

"So Amy, how's living with Sheldon like? Does he still come up with those out-of-this world excuses and alibis?" asked Penny.

"It's getting better now if you can believe it. He just started asking me about my day, he takes an interest in my work, I mean he even told me to drive safe the other day." said Amy.

"Was it because he was in the car too?" asked Penny.

"No. I was gonna buy us food the other night and before I went out the door, he told me to drive safe…isn't it wonderful?" said Amy.

"Wow…that's something you don't hear everyday." said Penny.

"Yeah. So what's your plan for this young man's first birthday party?" asked Bernadette.

"The usual I guess. I mean he's too young to even remember it anyways but Leonard's mother and father are gonna be here, and so is my mom and dad so good luck if we get through with it without any drama." said Penny as the door opened and in comes Leonard, Sheldon, Howard and Raj.

"Hi honey!" said Leonard as he kissed his wife and taking William from Bernadette. "Hi there buddy! Did you miss me huh!?" he asked his son. William laughed and giggled as Leonard bounced him up and down in his hands. "So what are you girls talking about?" asked Leonard.

"We're talking about William's first birthday party." said Penny.

"Ah!? What are you thinking of?" asked Leonard.

"I'm not sure yet." Penny said.

"Well if you want we could make it into a superhero theme…like Batman, or Superman?" said Leonard.

"Oh how about Star Wars?...or Star Trek?" Sheldon quickly added.

"Or Lord of the Rings or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!" said Howard. The girls looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

"Nooo!" the girls said together.

"Aw come on honey, we didn't have a theme during the baby gender reveal! Are you gonna deprive our son a kick ass birthday party with a superhero theme? I mean, what is he gonna say when he grows up and finds out that his birthday party could have been awesome and kick-ass but instead it's just some run-of-the-mill birthday party!?" said Leonard.

Penny folded her arms and just stared at her husband quietly. Leonard realized he was now walking on thin ice.

"Okay honey, let's start over. Do you want to say something?" he asked his wife.

Penny sighed. "Raj, is it okay if you plan William's first birthday party?" said Penny.

"Wah!…really? Of course! I'd be happy to!" Raj exclaimed. "Uh...what theme are you thinking of?" he asked Penny.

"No theme Raj. Just make it simple. My son's not gonna remember it anyways." said Penny. Leonard hung his head low and sighed. Penny looked at Leonard. "Do you have a problem with that?" she asked her husband.

Leonard gave Penny a smile. "Nothing honey. I love you so much!" he said kissing her while the whole gang looks on.

Author's note: I've decided to end this story with this chapter and the next. I'm currently working on a 'second book' of sorts that takes this story far into the future. It was a 'creative' decision on my part to set the two stories many years apart in order to make room for a lot of 'one shots' between them. Thank you to all of you who viewed, read and commented on all my stories. I really enjoyed writing them as much as I did reading all your feedback.