A/N - On my way home from work last week I was waiting for my train and this waitress was suddenly struck with inspiration so I started writing it on my phone. God bless the phone charger beneath the bar meaning I have enough battery to both use my phone during and after work! Anyways, I thought I'd publish this tonight since we have a new episode and... why not, huh? Hope you all enjoy :)

"Here you go," Leonard grinned as he placed down two large glasses of red wine - the finishing touch to the dinner he had prepared for them both.

Penny stared vacantly at the glass he had placed beside her plate before clearing her throat and answering with an audibly forced "thank you."

"What's wrong?" Leonard asked as he sat down, placing his napkin on his lap. "Is this the red wine that reminds you of that time you went to Las Vegas and threw up all over the place?"

"No, it's okay, it's not." Penny tried to smile at him before deciding to change the subject instead. "Dinner looks good."

"I though I'd try a spaghetti recipe so we can have non-crunchy spaghetti for once." Leonard joked, attempting to lighten the mood. He could tell something was bothering her and not quite right - she'd been slightly off with him since coming in from work but only now was she clearly struggling to pretend that she was okay.

"Sure." Penny nodded, picking up her fork and swirling it around on the plate to gather some of the spaghetti. She placed it into her mouth and despite the fact that she wanted to spit it back out - not because it didn't taste good, but because apparently anything remotely containing dairy no longer agreed with her - she chewed on it. "Mm. Tastes good. But this definitely has dairy in it."

"I know. It's Carbonara. I can handle this much; it's okay. I know you liked it at the restaurant we went to for my birthday."

Penny smirked. "Are you planning on using up all my air freshener again?"

"You want me to sprinkle cheese on top of my spaghetti? Because I'll do it. Just to get back at you for that comment, I'll eat the cheese. It's not my air freshener."

Feeling herself gag at the mention of cheese, Penny shook her head and her brief playful mood disappeared again. "No, no cheese."

Leonard watched as Penny reached for her glass of wine before placing her hand back down and look awkwardly at her food and releasing a surrendering sigh. He raised a brow as he shuffled forward on his chair so he could reach his hand across to cover hers. "Are you sure you're okay?"

What started off as a nod quickly turned into a tearful headshake as Penny scrunched up her face. "No!" She whined, gripping his hand.

"Well what's wrong?"

"I'm pregnant and dairy makes me want to be sick and both of those things are all your fault!" Penny's voice rose in pitch so by the end her voice was merely a squeak.

Mind going blank, Leonard blinked as he stared at his quiet girlfriend. "Uh... what... why is that my fault?"

"Because it takes two people to make a baby, dumbass! And you probably gave me your lactose intolerance while you were at it!"

"You can't give someone lactose intolerance..." Leonard trailed off when Penny glared up at him through teary eyes.

"You're missing the entire point of what I just told you! We are having a baby!" Penny exclaimed, retracting her hand from his as Leonard stared at her, the words stunning him into shock. "And this is not the time for a baby. I'm still working at the freakin' Cheesecake Factory, you're at your lab like... all the time, all the money I do have is gonna be spent on diaper bags and baby food and we don't even have room in here for a baby, I mean you don't even live with me and now I'm gonna have two of you whining about my left boob and-and-and oh my God how am I supposed to carry a baby and a pram up all of those stairs? And then there's-"

"Penny," Leonard said suddenly as he came to his senses. "Calm down."

"That's easy for you to say; you don't have a tiny human growing inside you!"

"Okay, yes, that is true." Leonard agreed, getting up from his chair to crouch beside Penny. "But we can figure this out. Right? Do you want this baby?"

Penny's voice and tone softened instantly as she grasped his hands. "Of course I do." She whispered earnestly.

"Then we can do this." Leonard assured her with a smile. "Maybe we'll have to make some adjustments to our lives but we can totally do this. Oh my God, we're having a baby." His final sentence made his eyes go wide as though the thought had only really sunk in at that moment.

Giggling, Penny slid down onto her knees in front of him. "You bet we are. And babies are not something you can just beta test... I mean, technically, you could, you just have a second one and you'll know what to do by then so it'll probably be a bit better-"

"A second one?"

"Hypothetically!"

"Right, right." Leonard nodded with a nervous chuckle.

"I think we need to make a different dinner." Penny said.

"Wanna order Chinese?"

Penny took Leonard's arm and turned her head slightly to read the time on his watch. "Good shout. If we order now that gives us thirty minutes to celebrate. Maybe forty five if we cut out the middle man and just stay on the floor and the King of Foreplay goes faster than the speed of light."