Hello again.

Twice in one night, but that's because I won't be able to update again until after Christmas.

Thanks again for the love. :)

I don't own the characters, but I own Alex.

Side note: The story about Bear in the last chapter was what happened to my mother when she was pregnant with me, and she had to give up her beloved dog Bear because he bit my dad.

Snoogans and Snoochie Boochies!

"You guys go without me." Penny said as she walked in to the living room of 4A, plopping down in her spot on the couch, wearing her sweatpants and a lose fitting t-shirt.

"But Penny, it's the mall." Leonard said. "You love the mall. We can go shoe shopping." he said, trying to bribe her.

Penny gave him a nasty look. "I said, I'm not going."

"Technically you said for us to go without you. Implying that you would be traveling alone. You never said you weren't going." Sheldon said, and the three other men waived at him to shut up before he really pissed Penny off. She was already giving Sheldon the look. The one that said she could hog tie and castrate him before he even knew what was happening.

"Whatever Sheldon. I'm saying it now, I'm not going." she snapped back.

"Buy why? You're the one who suggested we go to the mall in the first place." Sheldon said. "I've rearranged my schedule today to accommodate this trip. You implied that it was a necessary outing that required my presence."

He nearly sounded like he was whining. In fact, if Sheldon did whine, that's what it would sound like. Penny was already irritated, and her whining man-child of a fiancé was making it worse.

"Well then stick to your re-arranged schedule and go!" she practically growled at him. She gave each of them a look that said she'd hog-tie and castrate them if they didn't go right now. Sheldon and their three friends all took a tentative step back, all nodding as Penny flipped on the television.

"Just think man, you've got five more months of that." Raj said as the four men made their way down to Leonard's car, all heading to the mall, even though they had no reason to.

Sheldon did as Leonard and Howard suggested, not knowing the relationship obligation he needed to stick to when your soon to be wife practically kicks you out of your own apartment and makes you go to the mall when you hate the mall to begin with, and were only going to accompany her in the first place.

They'd told him to bring her home some flowers, which they'd stopped to help him pick out, and told him to tread carefully. Sheldon took their advice, as he had no prior comparison to this sort of situation, and even if their prior experiences were failures, they at least had more data on the subject than he did. He walked slowly in to the apartment and found that Penny was not in the living room nor the kitchen. He placed his keys in the bowl, set his messenger bag down on his desk chair, and with flowers in hand, a sweet little bouquet of daisies, headed to their bedroom. He opened the door slowly, peeking his head in, and dropped the bouquet with what he saw.

It appeared that every single piece of clothing Penny owned, (which was quite a bit) was strewn around the room. Good Lord he thought to himself. He was scared to enter. His room. His sanctuary. It was in shambles. His entire body nearly shook at the chaos.

He opened the door a little further, and took a hesitant step in to the room. He almost didn't notice Penny laying in the middle of the bed, surrounded by clothing, she nearly blended in in the dimly lit room.

"Sheldon?" she said, and he could hear that she'd been crying.

"Penny?" he asked, searching for her figure where her voice had come from. "What did you do?" he asked, finally snapping out of it and starting a mad pace around the room, picking clothing up from off the floor, draping it over his arm. He'd hardly even looked at her. His main focus was cleaning at the moment.

"I'm fat." she groaned, and started to cry again. "Nothing fits." she said between sobs. "I'm sorry I made such a mess." she continued as she scooted off the bed, knocking some clothes on to the floor as she did.

Sheldon straightened up for a moment, watching her bending over to pick up some of the clothing. "Fat? Penny…" he started, but she cut him off.

"I'm fat. Don't try to rationalize it. I know I'm pregnant, but I'm still fat."

Something clicked in his beautiful mind. He really was getting good at this whole pregnancy thing he thought to himself. "Is that why you declined the trip to the mall today?" he asked, and she nodded.

"I couldn't get any of my jeans to button." she told him as she wiped a tear from her cheek. "I need to get some maternity clothes."

"We could have done that today." he told her. He was still upset about the room, but he also wanted to comfort her, without showing any signs that in any way reinforced that her leaving their room in this state was in any way acceptable behavior. Perhaps if she helped clean, he'd give her a chocolate?

No, no. He couldn't. Leonard had warned him about that.

Sheldon laid the items that he had collected from the floor on the bed and took Penny in his arms. She was a bit hesitant, but finally let her body rest in to his.

"Will you still love me when I'm huge and disgusting?" she asked, a little smile creeping on her face. She knew the answer, but she needed to hear it.

"You will not become 'fat and disgusting' Penny. You're pregnant. Weight gain is expected and a sign of health for you and the baby as long as it is within the standards set forth by your physician."

She snorted. "You know just how to make a girl feel special."

"Sarcasm?"

She just looked up at him and smiled.

"Oh, and get the good hot mustard." she told him, licking her lips just thinking about it.

"But Penny. It's Friday, pizza and vintage video game night. Not Thai night. What in the world would you need hot mustard for?" he asked. She'd done something she hardly ever did. She called him at work. Not since her Age of Conan addiction had she done that.

"Exactly. I want it for the pizza." To her, this sounded completely rational.

"We just picked up a new bottle last week. There should be plenty left." he said, not wanting to make the detour on the way home with Leonard.

"Nope. All gone."

Sheldon grimaced. She'd really taken a liking to the hot mustard after Thai night the prior week. He hadn't realized that she'd been eating it with everything.

"Fine. Then expect a slight delay in our arrival." he told her. "Good bye Penny."

"Later Moonpie." she smiled on the other end of the line.

Raj leaned over and whispered in to Howard's ear as they watched Penny douse her slices of pizza with the hot mustard Sheldon had brought home. She was practically salivating by the time she took her first bite, and then added a little more of the spicy condiment to her slice.

Howard chuckled at Raj's comment. "Totally."

"What?" Penny asked, a mouth full of half chewed pizza.

"Nothing. It's just, that's an awful lot of mustard. And why are you putting it on your pizza?" Howard asked.

She gave them a slight look of annoyance. "Because I felt like it. Mind your own business."

"I believe Penny is experiencing 'pregnancy cravings'." Sheldon said.

"Am not." she retorted.

Sheldon sat his plate down. "Are to. You've been adding it to nearly every meal. May I remind you that two mornings ago you contemplated adding it to your French toast before I advised you against it. Noting that it would only increase the likelihood of you experiencing heartburn much earlier in the day than usual."

The other three men looked at Penny, unable to hide their slight disgust.

"Shut up Sheldon!" she said, pouring a little more mustard on her next bite.

"Dude, I wouldn't want to be Sheldon tonight." Raj whispered to Howard, waiving his hand sideways in front of his nose. Howard snickered.

Penny caught the gesture and threw a pepperoni at him.