Here's the next chapter – I still only own Benny.
After Howard and Bernadette had left, Raj had stumbled toward the door drunk, leading Leonard to jump up and guide him back to the couch for the night. Amy had said her good – nights, kissed Benny's forehead, and left the baby in Penny's arms. And so began one of the nights that the waitress cherished beyond anything else in her life.
"I'll see you guys tomorrow," she said, rising and smiling at Leonard, Sheldon, and the now passed out Raj.
"Bye, Penny," Leonard said, smiling over at her. She knew he secretly loved the fact that she had remained so close to Benny these past three months – either he loved it, or it amused him, but she chose to believe that he really liked (at the very least) the way that she was keeping up with all of her previous decisions. It made her feel very grown up.
"Peace out, blondie," Raj mumbled from the couch, raising his hand in a peace sign. Penny shifted the baby in her arms. "Drinking in front of the Shamy baby?" she said to Raj. "Really?" The astrophysicist didn't answer her, so she glanced around at the three men again before turning and heading across the hall.
Once there, she put Benny in the baby seat that she'd bought for him and dropped to her knees in front of the infant. "Derrrrrrivative!" she said in her baby voice, running her finger around the baby's face. Benny giggled and waved his arms, his face stretched in a baby grin as far as his features would allow. Dear Cow, he looked like Amy. It was almost terrifying how much of the neurobiologist that Penny could see in the woman's son. "Now, this still isn't…" she wracked her brain for the right word, "conclusive evidence that you are indeed a Shamy baby," she said. "If you looked like Sheldon, then I'd believe that he…" Benny couldn't understand her, but Penny still wanted to make all their "conversations" G – rated. "…actually had the capabilities to be a Daddy." She wrinkled her nose. Sheldon was a lot of things. Sheldon was not a Daddy. "You don't know what I am talking about," she said to Benny. "So it doesn't matter how I word things, does it?" The baby made a face. "Okay, maybe you are Sheldon's son," she said, laughing.
She stood up. "I got you something," she told Benny, who was looking up at her with his big eyes. "I'll be right back," she said, moving around the baby seat and toward her bedroom.
Benny's anxious sounds reached her ears as she opened her closet. "I'm not gone, sweetie, just one minute!" It both warmed and broke her heart whenever she left the room and he cried. She hated that he was discontent, but at the same time, she loved that Benny was content only when he could see her. Well, her or Amy or almost any of the guys, but she was the only one aside from Sheldon or Amy that spent any one on one time with the three month old.
"Look, Benny," she said, moving around the couch and kneeling by the seat again. "It's a stuffed animal! A penguin! See the penguin?"
Benny had his fist in his mouth, and when the penguin came into sight he grinned and waved his hands again. Penny tucked the penguin in next to Benny, and pulled her phone out for a picture. Setting it on timer, she propped the phone on the coffee table and dropped down to be in the picture. "What a photogenic little guy you are," she said, touching Benny's nose with her finger. She remembered rough housing with her little nephew, and a part of her wanted Benny to be a little older so she could play with him, too. But for now, they could cuddle, and cuddling was very popular with Penny, especially when it came to little Benny.
She went to the fridge and took out one of her containers of milk, heating it, testing it on her arm, and then took him out of the baby seat and sat on the couch, her feet on the coffee table, and lay Benny out on her lap. He was about the distance from where her lap began and her knees, and Penny found that ridiculously adorable, but as cute as he was, she didn't want him lying on his back on her upper legs. She wanted him nearer to her than that.
Penny scooped the baby up and reclined the best she could, holding Benny close to her chest and offering him the bottle. He took to it immediately, his little mouth working the nutrition from the bottle to himself.
"Efficient little bugger," Penny said, kissing Benny's head. "So, how long do you think it'll be before you need glasses?" she asked him. "Sheldon doesn't; maybe you'll take after him. But your Momma did from a pretty young age. I don't, but…" she trailed off, "but you didn't get anything from me."
Penny looked down at the baby again. Screw horseplay. She wanted him to stay just like this. Forever.
Benny finished eating, and Penny burped him and changed his diaper before returning them to the couch. "You gonna sleep?" Penny asked Benny, whose eyes had been closed prior to her speaking, but opened them momentarily to look at her. She rested the baby against her, feet touching hers, head on her chest, and rocked him gently. "Oh often at night, when the heavens are bright, from the light of the glittering stars, have I stood there amazed and asked as I gazed if their glory exceeds that of ours. Home, home on the range, where the deer, and the antelope play…" she trailed off. That song had lulled her to sleep countless times as a child (despite it belonging to Kansas), and she'd always thought she'd sing it to her own kids, but for some reason, she couldn't remember the rest of the words. Maybe it was because Benny wasn't hers. Or maybe – and more likely – it was because she'd somehow been suckered into watching Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco the other day, and all she could remember this point forward was Sassy's version.
Aw, Hell. Benny wouldn't know the difference, it was the sound of her voice that mattered. So Penny continued.
"Where no traffic is heard, and I can maul birds, and sleep in the sunshine all day."
Sorry it took a few days to get this up, guys! And remember, reviews are always appreciated!