"Giving up so early?" Leonard asked, as Penny poured herself a glass of wine.

"Giving what up?"

Leonard explained, "Last night we made a wager that you couldn't last a week without alcohol."

"Sure I can," Penny answered, her voice cracking with uncertainty.

Leonard moved to her side of the island. "So you wouldn't mind if I...poured it all down the drain?"

"Of course I would; I paid good money for it, and a week doesn't last forever."

"Well, you could always forfeit the challenge and prove yourself an alcoholic."

Penny considered. "Is there a prize for winning?"

"Yes. And there are a bevy of consequences for losing."

"Really? What?"

"Well, you wouldn't get the reward. You'd be called a loser. And in your case, there might even be an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in order."

Penny squinted. "And if I win, I wouldn't have to go to AA."

"With Sheldon," Leonard added.

Penny paused, considering. "Aw, I make good money; pour that sucker away."

Leonard picked up the bottle of booze, uncapped it, and poured it down the drain, shaking out the last droplets.

"You realize that when I beat your ass, and don't have to go to a single meeting - "

"Oh, Penny." Leonard smiled. "You won't beat me."

Penny put her hand on her hip. "Maybe not at the challenge."

Leonard averted his eyes.

Then the apartment door blew open and Sheldon lurched in. "Bernadette's in labor."

Penny grabbed her purse and Leonard followed them out, locking up 4B; and the trio hurried down the stairs. "I just got a sense of deja vu!" Leonard said.

-0-0-0-0-

Bernadette was red-faced and doing a deep breathing exercise when they got there. She sat in a wheelchair, holding Howard's hand. Amy sat next to him, completely stone-faced.

Looking up she smiled. "Hi, guys," she panted.

A nurse came and grabbed the wheelchair, and began to push it toward the hall. " 'Bye, guys!" Bernadette trilled.

Penny walked a few steps after them, then stopped and looked at Sheldon and Leonard. Sheldon was looking at Amy, who appeared oblivious to the world around her. Leonard gave Sheldon a push toward her.

Sheldon approached Amy and sat next to her. "Amy?"

She didn't respond. She didn't even look at him.

A white blur in his peripheral vision made Sheldon look down. "What happened to your foot?" he asked.

"I stepped in glass." Still she wouldn't look at him. "Cut through a vein, bled all over the place. My own damn fault."

Sheldon tried to relax in his seat, watching Leonard and Penny talking quietly in the corner. Looking back at Amy, who was totally ignoring him again, he said, "Are we still together?"

"Why wouldn't we be?"

"Well, I kind of have this sense that you're mad at me. And I don't know why, if you are."

"I'm not mad at you. I'm just overwhelmed with a crushing sense of loss." She looked impassively at him. "My friend is having a baby. And I can't even share in her joy."

"But, we're still together?"

"Yes, Sheldon, we're still together. For God's sake, we're engaged. Why are you fixated on that?"

"Because you said if you weren't pregnant by the time Bernadette had kids, you'd leave me."

"A.), I was drunk out of my skull; and B.), even if I did leave you, I couldn't have kids with someone else. It doesn't matter what I do or where I go."

Sheldon placed his hand on hers. "Get the cure."

"Why? So I can bring into this world a person with some kind of disability, to be teased and mocked until that child has no self-esteem and curses me for having a kid?"

"Wouldn't you still love said kid?"

"Of course I would! But I would want 'said kid' to have a better life."

Sheldon sat back in his seat, his hand still on hers. "Well, there are plenty of kids at the adoption centre who want a better life."

Amy looked at him.

"If you took one home, at least he or she would have two parents," he continued.

Emotion passed suddenly through her eyes. "Really? You'd raise a kid with me?"

"Amy..." He turned to look at her. "Having kids is your dream."

She nodded.

"Well, you're mine."

Her eyes filled with tears, and she raised his hand to her lips.

"So is that a yes?" Sheldon asked.

She nodded.

" 'Kay. One question; should it be a boy or a girl?"

Amy searched his eyes. "Are you open to adopting more than one?"

Sheldon didn't have to consider long. "I want what you want."

She raised her brows.

He shrugged. "What would really be different? I'm teaching everyone everything all the time."

Amy nodded and bit back the response that everything he did and loved was already perfectly compatible with what a child would do and love. Instead she stood, pulling him with her. "Come on. Let's go tell our friends we're adopting children."

He squeezed her hand, smiling cordially and walking by her side to where Leonard and Penny stood. As they neared, the front door blew open and Raj walked quickly in. "Did I miss it?"

"No, she's in the delivery room now," Leonard told him.

"Oh, crap, I'm missing it!" Raj exclaimed, and hurried to the front desk.