Disclaimer: I do not own The Big Bang Theory and no profit is being made from this story. This chapter has not been beta read. If you are interested in being my beta reader, message me! I'm sorry about the long delay between between updates; I have a lot of stuff going on in my life including family in the ICU.
While Sheldon did not enjoy the bus ride home, he still found it preferable to going home with Leonard. He was slightly relieved that Leonard hadn't even sought him out when it was time to leave. However, he was marginally upset that neither Howard nor Raj offered to give him a ride home since they both knew that he didn't have his bus pants with him.
When Sheldon got to the fourth floor landing of his building, he nearly went into his apartment but then, on a whim, decided to knock on Penny's door first and see if she was home. After all, they were going to eat dinner together. He did his usual knocking routine but, much to his disappointment, didn't get a response. He was just about to turn around and head back toward his apartment when he heard the sound of crying coming from inside Penny's apartment.
Sheldon quickly came to the conclusion that since Penny was crying and did not answer her door than she must be experiencing some form of distress. The thought of Penny in distress overwhelmed him with sadness. He felt like his heart was aching. He was surprised that he was more distraught about Penny crying now than he was when Penny dislocated her shoulder. Without another thought, he tried Penny's doorknob.
Sheldon was happy to find that Penny's door was unlocked. There were two reasons that he felt this way. The first reason was that he could get to Penny faster than if the door was locked. The second reason was that the emergency key to Penny's apartment was in the bowl where he kept is keys in his apartment and he didn't want to go into his apartment and see Leonard. Right now Sheldon wanted his sole focus to be on Penny and did not want to have yet another fight with Leonard.
Sheldon entered Penny's apartment to find Penny sitting on her couch in her work uniform, holding an unframed photograph, and crying. On the coffee table in front of Penny was an empty ice cream container. He saw Penny look up, but Penny didn't say anything. Sheldon quickly closed the door, stepped over a pair of flip-flops, and sat down on the couch next to Penny.
As Sheldon made himself comfortable, Penny snuggled moved closer to him. He wrapped one of his arms around her and asked, "Penny, what's wrong?"
Penny just started crying harder and handed the picture that she was holding to Sheldon. He took the picture with his free hand and looked at it. It was a very nice photo of a baby girl. Sheldon didn't understand what was upsetting about the picture at all. The baby was fully clothed and wasn't even drooling. In fact, the baby was, in Sheldon's opinion, rather cute.
Sheldon was brought out of his thoughts by Penny hiccuping. He gave the photo back to Penny and gently said, "Tell me what's wrong."
Sheldon heard Penny sniffle twice before saying, "This is my friend Jessica's baby. Her name is Aubrey and she's so cute."
Sheldon was further confused by this statement. Why would a cute baby named Aubrey make Penny this sad? He decided that rather than interrupting, he would just let Penny tell him at her own pace.
"Now that I've broken up with Leonard," continued Penny, "I will never have this. I don't even have any vodka either to help because I dumped all my booze down the sink."
Penny's sobs returned with vigor. Listening to Penny cry made Sheldon confused since she was holding the picture so how could she never have one. "Of course you have the picture," said Sheldon. "You're holding it."
"Not the picture! The baby. I've never told anyone this, but I would like to have a baby but now that I've broken up with Leonard there's no hope for that! I'm almost twenty eight years old! I want a baby before I'm too old!"
Despite Penny being so upset, this cheered Sheldon up a little. He decided to share something with Penny that he had never shared with anyone. "I'm in the same boat, so to speak. I would like progeny but now that I'm no longer dating Amy, I'm not sure that will ever happen.
"Maybe, if, like in one of those boring romantic comedies that Raj likes to watch, we could make some kind of a deal. Like if neither of us find anyone who would be a suitable mate by the time you are thirty five than we could have a baby together. The specifics could be negotiated, the age was just an example."
Penny placed the picture on the coffee table and looked at Sheldon with what he thought was an incredulous expression. "You want to have a baby? With me? What if the baby comes out like me and not a genius like you?"
Sheldon thought for a moment about how to best answer Penny before saying, "Yes I want to have a baby. On the day we met, Leonard and I tried masturbating for money at a high-I.Q. sperm bank. We reneged before we finished filling out the forms, though, because I thought that what we were doing constituted generic fraud. After all, there would be no guarantee that the child would even be able to solve for the area under a curve as a toddler. Leonard was sure that the parents would still love the child. However, at that time, I was incapable of loving a child that wasn't a genius and thus we reneged.
"I must tell you, though, that I have since grown as a person since that day. Now, I believe that I would love any progeny of mine, be it with you or with another genius. I have grown as a person. As I pointed out to Leonard at the sperm bank, there are no guarantees. After all, my sister, who has the same basic DNA mix as I do, hostesses for a living at Fuddruckers. So even if I were to have offspring with, for example, Amy, there would be no guarantee that said offspring would be a genius. Ergo, if I have offspring with you, there is no guarantee that the baby won't be brilliant. I would love any child of mine, genius or not."
"Okay, I didn't understand all of what you said," he heard Penny say, "But I think I get it. The baby may or may not be a genius and you don't care. Okay, I take you up on the deal."
"Really?" Sheldon was shocked, to say the least, that Penny had accepted his offer. He had been certain that she would offer at least a little resistance to the idea. She did think he was crazy and he had to keep reminding her that his mother had him tested.
"Yes, you whackadoodle. You're my best friend, you're brilliant, and although you don't like to show it, you really do care and are full of love. Now lets get dinner."