"I'm afraid I have bad news."

The short duo looked in concern at the doctor.

"I'm afraid it was a false pregnancy."

"A false pregnancy?" Howard repeated, glancing at his wife's belly.

"Yes. Dr. Wolowitz exhibited symptoms which were similar to pregnancy, but were not a result of carrying a child. I'm very sorry."

"So, I was never pregnant?"

"No."

"Oh. Right."

Howard cupped Bernadette's hand in his own. She lightly rubbed his thumb with hers and sighed sadly.

"Thank you, Doctor." The microbiologist whispered in a very small voice. Trembling, she got up and walked out of the office. There was silence in the drive back home. When they got back, that changed rapidly. She walked into the apartment and nearly collapsed. Howard supported her, but he wasn't the strongest of men and wound up kneeling on the floor, holding her as she sobbed on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Howie!"

"Don't. You can't help it."

"It's just...I know it never existed, but it feels like we've lost a baby."

"I know." He rubbed his head against hers and held her closer. "I know."

She hugged him tightly. The knowledge that he was feeling pain over this too comforted her. At least they had each other for support.

"I love you."

"I love you more. We'll be OK, honey."

"I know."

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"I thought you said Bernadette took like 5 pregnancy tests?" Raj asked.

"She did. Two came up negative, one didn't show a result up at all and the last one was positive."

Leonard touched his shoulder sympathetically.

"I'm sorry, buddy."

"It's alright. I mean, it sucks, but at least it wasn't a real baby, you know?"

"Yeah."

"You guys can always try again." Raj told him, trying to cheer his best friend up.

"Yeah, I know..."

"You know, false pregnancies are pretty common in women with hormonal imbalances." Sheldon informed him helpfully.

"Bernadette does not have imbalanced hormones. Look, she's really upset, so don't tell her that." Howard replied.

"Alright."

Somehow, he was the first to arrive at the apartment complex. He'd gotten a text from Leonard about Sheldon being a crazy jackass, which explained why he wasn't there , but he didn't know where Raj had gotten to. He walked in, surprising Penny, who clutched a carton of milk to her chest in alarm.

"Hey. It's just me." Howard told her, jokingly holding his hands in the air."

"Sorry. I thought you were Sheldon." She took a slurp from the carton.

"He would flip out if he saw you doing that."

"Yeah. Leonard texted me about the baby."

Howard didn't answer. He didn't like thinking about the baby. He would never admit it, but losing that little shred of hope was killing him inside. He'd always wanted a kid.

"Howard?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry. It must really suck." She rubbed his arm. Then dropped the carton.

"Oh, crap!"

Squatting beside Penny to help her clean up the mess, he focused on the white liquid slowly expanding around the carton. He'd read about breastfeeding in an article and it had a fact in it. He racked his brains trying to think what it was and suddenly it hit him.

"Some animals will breastfeed young that isn't theirs if the mother is dead or can't do it herself."

"I know. You see a lot of weird stuff growing up on a farm."

" I spent an hour talking to Bernadette's stomach, cos I loved it so much."

"I know. Leonard told me."

She put her wad of tissue to one side and looked at him. She didn't really know what to say. Her sister and brother had had kids without a hitch. He sat back and crossed his legs.

"It really sucks. Feels like I've been cheated out of a baby. It's so wrong."

"I know. I'm sorry."

He sighed. He looked so damned miserable, Penny couldn't stand it. She shot forward and crushed him into a hug. He was quiet until,

"What are you doing?"

"What do you think? Apart from pity sex, nothing comforts people better than a hug." Penny replied knowledgably.

"Or a hot beverage."

"Shut up."

They stayed hugging for a while, until the door flew open and the others came in.

"Why are you hugging in a pool of...Our milk!" Sheldon gasped.

"Sorry!"

"It was Penny."

"You jerk!"

He laughed a little bit at her expression. She smiled and grinned up at Leonard who offered her a hand in standing up. Sheldon was still fuming about the milk.

"I'm sorry. Howard'll buy you a new carton."

"Why me?"

"I hugged you."

Howard smiled and answered the door to find Bernadette, beaming up at him.

"Hi, honey." He greeted, kissing her on the cheek. Penny rushed over to give her condolences about the baby.

"How do you know?" Bernadette asked. She had not told Penny of her suspected pregnancy.

"Leonard told me." Penny replied.

"Who told you?"

"I told him." Howard explained, apologetically.

"Oh."

"Sorry..."

"No, it's fine." She gripped his arm tightly and smiled up at him. He winced slightly at her hold, but was relieved that she wasn't upset at him.

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Or so he'd thought. When she got in, she glared at him for what seemed like an eternity. until he meekly tried to apologise again.

"I can't believe you told! Do you tell him everything?!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't think..."

"You never do! You drive me crazy!"

"I'm sorry. But, Bernie, I bet you tell Amy and Penny all kinds of stuff about us."

"Don't blame this on me, Wolowitz!"

Howard decided that he'd better not mention that she was a Wolowitz too. He wished he'd not said anything to anyone now. It had been stupid, to tell without asking her if she'd be OK with it.

She took a few steps towards him, glowering up into his eyes. He reached for her hand, to try and let her know how he regretted not holding his tongue about the baby, when she shot forward and pushed him. He knocked into the telephone, pressing several digits accidentally and looked, terror-struck at his wife's livid face...

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It was peaceful. Amy had come over and was sitting next to Sheldon, holding onto his hand when she thought he wouldn't notice. Penny was sitting on Leonard's lap,playing with his hands as she absent-mindedly watched Summer Glau. Amy was leaning against Sheldon, who was pointedly ignoring this in a hope to get her to stop. The phone rang suddenly, making all four jump. Penny seized the phone, glad to be able to get her eyes away from the Terminator.

"Hey." She greeted

"Ow!"

Penny stiffened. Oh God, no..

"Bernie, stop! Stop it, it hurts!"

A sound of a kick. Penny gasped. Leonard took the phone off her, looking concerned, and pressed it to his ear, before paling.

"What's the matter?" Amy questioned, seeing their expressions.

"Everything's the matter." Sheldon smirked.

"She's hurting him again." Leonard explained, helping Penny off his lap before standing.

"What?" Amy asked, looking appalled.

"Who's hurting who?" Sheldon quizzed.

"Bernadette's hitting Howard again. Come on, we have to go there." Penny told him.

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As Bernadette threw her fist at him again, Howard concluded that he really had to man up. He caught her hand and yelped as her foot connected with his knee.

"Shut up!"

"Why are you so mad?!"

"I don't know!" She roared.

"Stop hitting!"

"Let me go!"

"No, you'll hit again."

"Good!"

Howard looked into her fiery blue eyes. He loved her but he didn't want to fight anymore. He turned sideways and pulled himself to the safety of the couch.

"Where are you going?!"

"I'm leaving."

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Oooh! :O. Looks like Howard's been pushed too far now. But will he stay with Bernie or will he leave her forever? The last chapter was pretty crap, so I made this one as a (hopefully better) replacement. Reviews and constructive criticism are very welcome and always will be. BTW, animals will adopt orphaned young if they have none of their own and false pregnanices are very real. So no bashing for getting facts wrong! Unless I did. Then bash away. Thanks for reading, dudes and dudettes!

Love from Shania. xx