"Hello, Penny," Sheldon greeted his neighbor without turning around as she entered the laundry room a few days after Leonard drove her for the appointment she didn't go to.
"How do you do that?" she asked, dropping her basket of laundry atop a washing machine.
Shrugging his shoulders while pressing start on the dryer, Sheldon reminded her, "I have Vulcan hearing. I could hear you before you reached the bottom of the stairs. Your flip-flips also give you away. No one else in the building wears flip-flops. I hate that sound."
"Oh, okay," Penny replied, closing her eyes and holding a hand against her stomach, fighting back a wave of nausea, which tended to present itself whenever she ate a large meal.
"You're not sick, are you? I can't be in the same room as you if you're sick."
Penny shook her head while attempting to formulate a story Sheldon would believe, "No, I'm not sick. I think I just ate too much at dinner."
Concern still crossing the physicist's face, he continued his questions, "You'd tell me if you sick, correct?"
"I wouldn't lie to you about being sick, Sheldon. Now, I've started my laundry so I'm going to go back upstairs, take something to settle my stomach, and find something to watch while I wait for my laundry to finish."
Watching Penny step into the hallway, Sheldon stopped her, "Would you like me to make you some ginger tea? You took care of me when I was sick. Social convention dictates I repay the favor. I understand an upset stomach is not the same type of illness as the flu, but ginger tea has been proven to help settle upset stomachs."
"That sounds nice. Thank you, Sheldon. Is Leonard home?" she asked as the pair made their way to the fourth floor.
"No. He's on a date," he shared, opening his apartment door. Immediately busying himself in the kitchen, Sheldon kept an eye on his neighbor out of the corner of his eye. Returning to the living room with a mug in each hand, he cleared his throat, prompting Penny to open her eyes after having closed them upon settling in the armchair. They sipped their tea, each keeping their thoughts to themselves until Sheldon broke the silence, "You're pregnant, aren't you?"
Choking on her tea, Penny looked like a deer in headlights. "Did Leonard tell you?"
Sheldon shook his head, "No. I've noticed you haven't been drinking alcohol when you've joined us for dinner in recent weeks. Wolowitz wanted to order sushi on Anything Can Happen Thursday and you declined, which I've never seen you do. You haven't been coming over to steal milk for your morning coffee for almost a month. Plus, you've been crankier than normal at times that wouldn't coincide with your menstrual cycle."
"You track my moods based on my period?" Penny was shocked by this revelation.
"I take it since you didn't get angry at my question and storm out of here, that I am correct in my assumption. Given you asked if Leonard told me, I'll assume that he knows as well. Is that why he took Tuesday off to drive you to a doctor's appointment?"
Penny replied with a small nod of her head, "Yes, Leonard knows, and yes, that's why Leonard took the day off to drive me to the doctor. Before you get any ideas, it's not Leonard's. I needed a friend who wouldn't go telling everyone in town I'm pregnant, and I knew I could trust Leonard. Since you've figured it out, I need to know I can trust you to do the same?"
Shaking his head, Sheldon explained his concern over keeping this to himself, "You know I can't lie. My face gets all twitchy no matter how hard I try to keep my face still, it never works."
"I'm not asking you to lie. I'm just asking you to not tell Howard and Raj or anyone else for a few weeks. I'll tell them when I'm ready, okay?"
Sheldon took a sip of tea as he processed what was being asked of him. "Alright. I'll do my best to not tell anyone. Can I at least discuss it with Leonard?" Penny nodded in response. "I don't know your situation with the baby's father, but it can't be any worse than when my nephew was born."
Tilting her head, he was questioned, "Was your sister still in high school or something when he was born?"
"Not my sister, my brother, Georgie. He dropped out of high school and got a thirty-year-old pregnant when he was seventeen. That caused so many problems. My parents both lost their jobs. Missy was more emotional than ever, and for being twelve, she was already pretty emotional, but it got worse. Georgie was working at the laundry mat all the time, and when he wasn't working, he was always whispering about it with my parents and Meemaw. They tried to keep it from Missy and me, but we were effectively outcasts once the news got out. That was when my parents' marriage really began to fall apart. They'd bicker before, but it was bad after Mandy got pregnant with Kyle."
"I'm sorry. Why haven't you mentioned having a nephew?"
Shrugging his shoulders, Sheldon answered quietly. "You never asked. Leonard knows about Kyle, but he's never asked about him much, either."
Penny leaned over and patted Sheldon's leg. "I'm sorry for not asking about your family before. Did things get better after Kyle was born?"
"Yes and no. It took a few years, but my mom was eventually accepted at the church again. My parents' marriage never recovered. My dad died about a year after Kyle was born, but he loved getting to be a grandpa. Mandy moved to Houston not long after my dad died. She said she didn't want to burden Georgie with more than what he was already dealing with. The last I heard, Georgie sees Kyle a few times a month. He's fourteen now. I haven't seen him in years, but I send him a card for his birthday every year. He'll email me every so often, telling me about school. He's much smarter than Georgie, thank goodness," the physicist revealed.
Processing what her neighbor told her, Penny gave him a small smile, "It sounds like that was hard, but I'm glad everything has worked out for your family."
"I'm sure everything will work out for you, too."