Next chapter! Sorry for the wait.

Penny laughed as Benny dropped back down to his knees, looking surprised. "Does Benny want help?" she asked, kneeling beside the soon – to – be toddler.

Benny looked up at her and grinned. "Hee…" he said.

"Does Aunt Penny look silly like this?" she asked, wiggling her head. She'd put her hair in two ponytails because it was a way to make the boy laughed that both parts of the Shamy approved of. She crawled toward Benny and took his hands. "Up you go!" she said, rising and helping Benny to his feet. She took a step back ward, keeping her hands up to support Benny. He looked at the ground and took two steps toward her. "Good boy!" she praised, wiggling her head again. Benny giggled, and Penny laughed along with him. She knew that Amy was working with Benny on walking as well, but it definitely couldn't hurt to help out, especially when Benny was so eager to try it.

He moved forward a few more steps before stumbling. Penny's hands holding his prevented him from falling, but the shaky moment was too much. Benny bit his lip, and then started to cry.

"It's okay," Penny said, gathering him into her arms. "It's okay. Shhhh…" she rocked him gently, blinking hard to prevent any potential tears from forming when Benny put his arms around her neck. She noticed that her bottle of alcohol was still on the counter, and she mentally kicked herself for not putting it away. She wasn't drunk; she always made sure that all alcohol was out of her system before receiving Benny for the day, but she still wished she'd remembered to put all her stuff away. It was impossible that Benny get to it, but she still didn't like it.

On the plus side, Benny had stopped crying. "There you go," Penny said, setting him on the couch. "Your mommy's gonna be here soon to pick you up." She sat next to him and smiled. "Do you like all your birthday presents?" She asked him.

"Eeee – aaaah," Benny said.

Penny wasn't sure if he was trying to say "Eeyore" or if his response was an affirmation. She decided to assume that Benny was aware that he didn't get his Eeyore stuffed animal for his birthday and go with an affirmation. "You do? That's good," she said. "Your mommy is going to take you to Grandma's house for a week. How do you like that?" Benny put his finger in his mouth and felt along his gums "Are you getting another tooth?" Penny asked him, and he frowned, staring at her intently. Then he giggled.

"I just don't understand you," Penny said. "Everything is funny. You didn't get either parent's sense of humor."

There was a knock at the door. "It's open, Amy," Penny said.

"Can I come in if I'm Leonard?"

"Oh." Penny smiled. "I suppose."

"Hey," he said, entering the apartment. "You okay?"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Oh," Leonard stopped and looked at the baby. "Hey, Benny."

Benny grinned.

"So?" Penny asked.

"Just…" Leonard shrugged, walking toward her. "You seemed really upset after the party last week, and I know you'll be away from Benny for a while so, I was just making sure…" he trailed off and smiled. "I'm still not good at this, am I?"

"It depends on what you are trying to do," she told him, smiling. "And yeah, I'm going to miss him," she said, leaning over to kiss Benny's head. "But you know, he's not mine, he doesn't need me, Amy can take him to her mother's house for a while. It's fine. It's fine."

"Are you sure?" Leonard asked. "You haven't been acting right."

"How would you know," Penny said, "you aren't good at reading people."

"I dated you for almost a year," he said, dropping down onto the arm of the couch. "If I can't read you, that's pretty pathetic."

"I suppose you do know me pretty well," she said, looking up at him and smiling.

Their eyes locked for a few moments, disrupted by a knock at the door. "Where's my Bestie and my Benny?" Amy asked, letting herself in. She let out a fake gasp of happiness. "There he is! Hi, Penny," she added in her normal voice.

"What up?" Penny asked, smiling politely.

"I'll go," Leonard said, nodding to the two women and moving toward the door. Penny's eyes followed him briefly, and then turned to the neuro…something or other. "How was work?"

"Busy. Lots of brains. I like the ones I get to cut into better, they don't make comments about my clothes." Amy smiled at Penny and then turned her attention to her son. "Benny," she said. "Benny with a B. Are you ready?"

"Are you going to go and see Grandma?" Penny asked. "Are you excited to see Grandma?" She clapped her hands together twice, and Amy followed suit. Benny looked at the two women and then burst into laughter and clapped his hands. "All right," Amy said. "Let's get you in the car." She looked at Penny. "How about a week from Wednesday? We'll be back Monday but I also have Tuesday off."

"Maybe I could spend time with you guys then?" Penny asked.

Amy nodded. "I may be writing a report on our rhesus monkey breeding patterns with the new stimuli, so I won't be much of a conversationalist."

"Doesn't matter to me," Penny said. "Tuesday?"

"Sounds good," Amy said.

"Okay," Penny said, "well, have a good trip Drive safely."

"Thank you," Amy said. "Ready, Benny? Ready to go with Mama?" She reached out and lifted him off the couch.

"Mama."

Penny and Amy froze, Amy with the boy held at nearly arm's length. "What?" Amy asked him.

Benny moved his arms. "Mama. Mama."

Amy's jaw dropped. "Did you hear that?" she asked. "He said 'Mama'!"

Penny heard. "Are you sure it wasn't more of his babbling?" she asked.

"No," Amy said. "He's never said anything remotely sounding like "Mama" in context before. Oh, Benny!" She hugged him. "I have to tell Sheldon. He might not care, but I'm going to tell him! Bye, Bestie." She held Benny to her and moved toward the door.

Penny stood alone in the empty room. Mama. She hadn't realized it would hurt this much when Benny spoke that word. She hadn't realized how good it felt to know that Leonard was worried about her until she was hit with this awful, awful feeling just now. Emotional whiplash sucked.

Then she realized that she wasn't alone. She turned toward the kitchen and headed over, picking her friend up off the counter and finishing it off. Then, she looked at the fridge. Multiple other friends were waiting for her on the top of the appliance. Penny reached for them, desperate to feel any other way than how she felt right now.

We've been noticing Penny drinking more and more on the show, so I thought I'd address it here-Benny being the catalyst. There will be more than one chapter more to this fic, but we're into the final bit-more than likely, at least.