Hi everyone, I just want to say a huge thank you for all of the reviews on the last chapter. It means so much and I'm thrilled you all still seem to be enjoying these.
This one was requested by BigBangFan and is the prequel (I'm not too sure if that's what you call it) to a previous prompt request I wrote called 'A Change of Heart' so if you haven't already go and read that after this.
I had all of this pretty much written out and then changed my mind, deleted it all and started from scratch haha! I really hope this is what you were after and I really hope you all enjoy.
Usually, Sheldon never really cared too much about how he looked for date night, of course, if they were going out he would dress for the part but this time he felt different. This would be their first date night in months, having been so busy with work recently, the newly married couple had left zero time for one another. Sheldon wanted to make an effort, even though they had decided it was only going to be take out at their place, he still wanted to push the boat out a little.
He stood observing the two shirts he had hung up, would it be the crisp white shirt with blue pinstripes or the crisp white shirt with purple pinstripes. He couldn't make the decision himself so decided to head across the hall to get some advice from the one person he could really trust in this department. Penny. Even though, she had been ridiculing his fashion choices since the day they met, he actually really appreciated and valued her opinion. Although, he would never say that to her face.
Having seen Penny's car outside the building, he knew she was home and therefore knew he could just waltz straight in to her apartment. When he moved out, both couples adopted an open door policy, meaning that they could simply walk in and out of each other's apartments. In the beginning, it was a huge thing for Sheldon to let go of the fact that apartment 4A was no longer his so in his own way, this made the adjustment easier. There were of course times, where simply out of habit and to the annoyance of Leonard and Penny he found himself knocking.
Pushing the door open to 4A, he instantly felt his heart begin to race as he took in the view before him. Penny was stood in the small kitchen, her hand placed on her stomach with the other braced against the kitchen surface, she was clearly in pain, her breathing so heavy Sheldon was surprised he hadn't heard it from the other side of the door.
"Sheldon" she spoke through her pants of breaths, puffing air out of her cheeks as she looked up at him. Although, he had never been around anyone in labour before, he was more than aware that this was what was happening. At 37 weeks weeks, he knew her baby boy was due soon.
Upon seeing Sheldon, Penny felt all of what was left of her composure go out of the window, maybe it was because it was a familiar face, someone she felt comfortable around or simply just someone that meant she was no longer alone.
"I'm in labour" she let out a low moan before returning to take deep, shallow breaths.
Sheldon had surprised everyone with how well he had coped with Penny's pregnancy. Although, reluctant to admit it, he found watching his two best friends embark on their journey into parenthood very heart warming. Penny was like a sister to him, she was a sister to him and it threw him with how protective he felt towards her. He had made some incredibly sweet, very un-Sheldon like gestures towards her throughout the pregnancy so far and despite so far not seeming very interested in her unborn child, everyone around him knew that he was excited and would fall into the role of uncle Sheldon rather well.
However, this was something he had never planned or prepared for. He had never envisaged being there when Penny went into labour, let alone being her only support, that thought alone caused his heart to race.
He met her eyes and even he could see how much pain she was in, how much pain and panic was etched across her face. Without thinking, he discarded the shirts on the couch and made his way over to her. Seeing her like this, caused something to click in his brain and he knew that despite not having a clue what he was doing, he had to do something.
Anxiously, he placed a hand on her back, he didn't know if this was the right thing to do but Penny didn't snap at him like he expected or shrug him off. He waited until she had breathed through the remainder of the contraction before even speaking.
"How long has this been going on?" he asked, hoping that that was a good starting point.
"All day" she sighed, pulling herself upright and placing her hands on the bottom of her back. She already looked exhausted. "They've been on and off all day" she started to explain, saving Sheldon from lecturing her about how she shouldn't have ignored them. "They weren't too bad this morning. I called the hospital and they told me to wait until they were five minutes apart. They're now at seven and really painful" she was still trying to even out her breathing, the last contraction had really taken it out of her.
"So we just stay here until they're five minutes apart?" Sheldon asked, trying to keep his cool. He could only hope that it didn't take very long, he needed to have someone else here, someone who knew what they were doing.
"I guess so" she began pacing the length of the kitchen, not wanting to be too far away from Sheldon in case another contraction hit and she needed to grab on to some part of him. "Why did you bring shirts over?" she asked, despite her pain and the worries circling her head she found herself smiling and was grateful to have something else to think about.
"Amy and I are having date night tonight. I wanted to make an effort and came over for advice" he explained, he too was grateful for the change in subject.
"I like the purple stripes" she told him as she continued to pace back and forth. He smiled to himself, if date night did go ahead, he'd be sure to wear that shirt.
"Do you need me to call Leonard?" he asked, suddenly realising that her husband was four hours away in another city participating in a lecture.
"No" she answered quickly shaking his head. "He'll be in the middle of his lecture now"
"But he's four hours away" he was trying to reason with her, surely she would want him here as quickly as possible, before things really progressed. He had no idea how much things had progressed already.
"This is really important to him" she starting to breathe a little heavier, Sheldon had picked up on that. "Oh god, here comes another one" she resumed the position that Sheldon had walked in on, he couldn't be sure but maybe there was something about this that brought her comfort. "Give me your hand" she demanded thrusting hers in his direction.
Hesitantly, he gave it up to her and braced himself for the squeezing that he would endure. He always knew Penny was strong, they would often joke in their social group over how she was much more suitable to take on the jobs that required a lot of physical strength but Sheldon never knew she had this in her. The grip around his hand was so strong, he had to bite his lip to stop himself from crying out with her.
"Oh god" she groaned loudly, he didn't know it was possible but she managed to squeeze his hand even tighter. "Sheldon, this really hurts" she whimpered, her voice held an edge to it that made it sound as if she was crying.
"I think that's normal. Having a baby isn't supposed to be painless, the muscles in your uterus are tightening and…."
"Sheldon, shut up" Penny snapped with another tight hand squeeze. She could tell he was nervous and was relying on the one thing that could help him get through this. Science. The very last thing she wanted to hear was him talking about her uterus.
"Okay" he nodded. He was only trying to help her see that this was all normal, he was glad he hadn't quite managed to voice the part where he told her woman did this every day. "You have to breathe. Breathe through it" he found himself saying, he had no idea where the words came from but he knew she needed to breathe and from the noises she was making, it didn't sound like she was breathing much at all.
"That doesn't help" she whimpered. He was at a loss now, not really knowing in what direction to take the conversation. He just stood there, feeling a little useless as she squeezed his hand and tried her best to get through the rest of the contraction. "Can you go and get the ball from the nursery?" Penny asked once the contraction was over, Sheldon was just relieved she had let go of his hand and he could now restore some feeling to it. "It's a big yoga ball in the nursery" she told him.
He knew that the nursery was his old room. The last time he had been in there was when Leonard and Penny cleared it out and began decorating for their new arrival. Begrudgingly on Sheldon's part, Amy had volunteered them both to help out with the painting. It was strange to be stood in that room, the years he spend there, the majority of his adult life so far he never once imagined his room being used as a nursery. Seeing the crib, changing table and all the cuddly toys dotted around, left it hard for him to imagine what his room actually looked like.
After a moment of reminiscing, he saw the pink ball Penny was talking about. He didn't know how this could be helpful, he didn't even dare question Penny on the matter.
"Place it on the floor" she instructed when she saw him coming into view in the hallway, the ball so big it was almost blocking his vision. She was now stood in the living room and though he couldn't have been sure, he was certain in the time that he had been gone she had moved some furniture to make space.
He followed her instructions and watched her carefully sink down to her knees and lean her body across the ball. As soon as she was in position she started to rock herself back and forth. Sheldon had no idea what this would achieve but it was the calmest he'd seen Penny since he entered the apartment.
"This is comfy?" he asked, it certainly didn't look comfortable.
"So comfy" he was pretty sure he saw her smile. "Come down here, you towering over me is making me nervous" she patted the space on the floor where she wanted him to sit. He quickly observed the floor, ensuring that it at least looked clean before sitting himself down. As soon as he was in reach, Penny reached for his hand, although this time, she didn't squeeze or attempt to break it like he had been anticipating. "Thanks for not leaving" she muttered. He had never really seen her like this before, fragile and vulnerable throughout their whole friendship, she had always been the strong one, the one that got him through anything and everything, now without realising, the roles had been reversed.
"I'm not sure Amy and Leonard would have ever forgiven me if I'd left you" although throughout all of this he just wanted to run away he knew being here with Penny was the right thing to do. "Plus you're one of my best friends and you needed me" it was moments like this, when he really didn't have a clue how much his words would mean to someone that meant the most to Penny. "Do you think we should head to the hospital soon?" Sheldon asked.
"I think so. I don't think the contractions are too far off five minutes now" since Sheldon had arrived, she had kind of lost track of timing them, she had found herself being distracted by his company. She took a deep breath. "I'm really scared Sheldon" she admitted. "I don't feel ready to be a mum" since marrying Leonard she had toyed with the idea of having children, she had gone through phases of being open to the idea and then times where she really couldn't see it happening however, it turns out that none of that really mattered because rather unexpectedly she fell pregnant.
She was so excited to be a mum, she couldn't wait to meet and hold and just completely love her little boy but the thought of suddenly being responsible for someone, having this tiny little person depend on you so much was terrifying.
"I think you'll be great" Sheldon told her gently. "I mean you took care of me for all these years" over the years Penny and Leonard often joked that Sheldon was like their practise child.
"I guess you turned out okay" Penny laughed. Her laughter was cut short when she felt another contraction on the heels of the last one. This had be less than five minutes. "Ohhh oww oww" she cried out, gripping on to Sheldon's hand, her cries of pain seemed to be getting louder.
"Try and breathe" he told her. She alternated between long low moans that terrified Sheldon and trying her hardest to take deep breaths. It was becoming far too much, she really couldn't cope with this amount of pain and was dreading things getting worse which inevitably she knew they would.
"I can't" she frantically shook her head from side to side. "Sheldon, I can't do this"
Sheldon was just about to respond, he didn't really know what he was going to say but he was going to offer her support in some way however, he was suddenly cut off from saying anything when his phone started to ring in his pocket. With one hand, he managed to pull out the device, seeing Amy's name upon the screen, he was suddenly reminded of their date night.
"Amy" Sheldon started as he answered the phone.
"Hey, where are you?" her tone was light and cheery, she was clearly excited about their night together. "I've got Chinese food here going cold"
"Oh um…I'm across the hall" he was watching Penny carefully as she hauled in a deep breath and let it go. "That's it, keep going" he told her, nodding his head, hoping he was being supportive.
"Who are you…"
"Amy, Penny's in labour" Sheldon told her quickly cutting her off from asking anymore questions. He didn't even have time to acknowledge that she hadn't responded before the front door was pulled open and Amy came rushing in.
"Why didn't you call me earlier?" Amy asked rushing over to them and crouching down on the other side of Penny. She was so relieved to see her best friends she could have cried. "Amy, I can do this" Penny cried, turning her attention to her best friend and placing her hands on her shoulders. Again, Sheldon was grateful that his hand was now out of the vice grip.
"Yes, you can. You can" Amy instantly knew what to say and do unlike Sheldon, everything just flowed naturally. "You can. Deep breaths, come on, you can do this" Amy encouraged breathing along with her, she kept this up until Penny began to relax as the contraction finally eased.
"I'm so glad you're here" Penny sighed, resting her head on Amy's shoulders. Sheldon was pretty glad his wife was here too.
"We need to get you to the hospital" Amy told her, there was no asking whether she thought it was okay or whether it was time, she just instantly took control and knew what to do.
"No, no" Penny shook her head. "You have to your date night. It's important."
"Date night can wait" Amy told her gently. "This is far more important" Amy turned to her husband, "Sheldon, you need to go and get the hospital bags from the nursery and call Leonard"
"Okay" he nodded quickly and jumped straight into action, grateful for anything to do. When he returned, bags over his shoulder and the phone pressed to his ear, he saw Amy helping Penny to her feet. For a moment he just quietly observed.
"Amy, please don't leave me" Penny begged as she clung onto her arm.
"I won't. I promise, I'm here for as long as you need me. I promise"
Sheldon had never really observed his wife in this situation before and the rush of feelings he felt were overwhelming. He absolutely loved everything about her, her sheer kindness, calming nature and self-less behaviour in that moment made him fall even more in love with her than he ever thought possible.
Thank you all so much for reading. As always reviews are so welcome and always appreciated! Thanks for all the support.
Lots of love. xx