'No matter how long the rain lasts,

There will be a rainbow at the end.

No matter how sad you may be,

Believe, that happiness is waiting.'

Chapter 4: Mix Up: May

"So, Penny. Another month down, meaning another month closer to this baby." Doctor Perry smiled, looking up from his desk.

I breathed loudly out from my nose and continued to listen to him, whilst looking down at my feet.

"Now, you have now got twenty-four weeks and five days until your due date, which is about 173 days." He laughed.

"Or 47.40 percent of the year." I smiled, as Penny stared at me.

I quickly looked down at my feet again. Howard chuckled before returning his concentration on the folder.

"Here, I'm just guessing, but we are going to have to do an ultrasound to make sure everything is okay, and we can search for something so we can start using pronouns rather than calling this baby an 'it' all the time." He suggested as I looked back up, whilst still embarrassed about my previous speech. "Well?" He asked, pushing his head forward as Penny stared me in the eyes.

Me and Penny both nodded simultaneously, but yet didn't say anything. Doctor Perry smiled before leaving the room.

Penny looked over and smiled as I felt anxiety again, just as I had done at every ultrasound.

"Hey, this is great." I persuaded, noticing that she was looking a little nervous too. "We're gunna find out if we've got a little boy or girl!" I smiled, pushing away my own anxious feeling.

The heartbeat filled the room as I blew a sigh of relief, as I did with every time I heard it. Doctor Perry was silent for a second as he examined the screen.

"Everything looks fine to me." He smiled, eyes still glued to the screen.

Even though she had heard the words we were hoping for, Penny was still holding pressure on my hand pretty tightly, but I was doing the same.

"Okay, I think I've found it." He smiled, turning the screen toward us. "Oh, Come on!" He grunted after the baby moved out of the shot.

"It obviously don't want to be seen today." I laughed.

"It's had enough of the appointments!" Penny beamed, as we both watched Doctor Perry's struggles to find the baby again.

"Okay," He started again.

He quickly smiled as me and Penny both struggled to see what he was pointing at.

"It looks like you two are having a baby boy." He beamed.

I swallowed hard as the words repeated in my head. Was I ecstatic? Yes. But was I terrified? More than ever..

The whole car ride home, I could stop thinking about Bentley, the baby, and how hard it would be to lose it. I was also thinking about the miscarriage two years ago, all of which, turned out as boys.

Penny was silent on the way home too. I wasn't sure if it was because I didn't talk, or because she didn't feel up to it.

Penny traced through into the living room as I locked the car, before following her.

As I entered the door, Penny had already disappeared out of eyeshot. I looked around the ground floor with no sign of her. I slowly walked up the stairs to notice the ladder crawling into the attic and I immediately knew she was up there. I slowly climbed the ladder, to check if she was okay.

I peered my head over and saw Penny sitting, with her back toward me, by the box of Bentley's things that we had finally managed to get up there, with help from Bernadette and Amy.

I deeply swallowed again as I put my feet to the attic floor. Penny turned to face me as I saw her eyes filled with tears.

I sat by her as she lifted one of the onesies out of the box. I smiled as it was The Flash one that Sheldon had bought.

"At least we can get to use these." I said, trying to get some positive things out of this.

Penny slowly nodded before returning the onesie into the box. I smiled over, before scurrying my hand around the box, yet not pulling anything out.

2021:

"So, Leonard, how's the baby making going for you?" Howard asked as I glared up at him.

"Great! I have a baby at home right now." I answered sarcastically.

"You can't give up hope." He persuaded, as I sighed loudly.

"Howard, you've got two kids, that you won't admit, we're accidents." I snapped,

"Well, Ryder was..." He answered slowly,

"But we've been trying for a year, or twelve months, and we've had a total of eleven negative tests."

Howard looked over at me a second time as my phone rung in my pocket. Sheldon glared at me as I refused to answer it.

The people at the table behind me turned and asked me to answer the phone. I pulled it out of my pocket and turned my back to my friends.

My heart raised as Penny's overwhelmed voice came through the phone. I smiled as I turned back to face Raj.

Penny hung up the phone as I continued to beam. Howard glared over at me before smiling.

"Who was that?" He asked, still eating his lunch.

"Penny's pregnant!" I laughed, not answering Howard's previous question.

Penny shook my shoulder as I refused to open my eyes. I could tell it was still dark, and when it's dark, it's time for sleeping.

"Leonard?" She asked, her voice a little high.

I moved my head deeper into my pillow, hoping she would give up.

"Leonard?" She repeated, her voice choking up. "I think we've lost the baby." She cried.

I immediately sat up and grabbed my glasses from the bedside table.

"What?" I asked,

Penny collapsed into my chest, sobbing.

"I think we've lost the baby." She repeated.

I rubbed her back, whilst trying to look her in the eyes.

"Let's get changed, and we'll go to the hospital." I suggested, jumping out of bed, and walking backward toward the closet.

A nurse walked through the door as she smiled over at us. I glared over at her before Penny punched my arm.

"Ow! What was that for?" I asked, holding my shoulder in pain.

"Don't stare then!" She snapped, obviously scared out of her mind.

"Anyway, I'm Nurse Cindy Whitley, and I will assist you this evening." She introduced herself, as my leg was shaking uncontrollably. "First, we are going to do an ultrasound to see what's going on, and make sure everything is okay."

I sat in silence as Cindy got the machine working. Penny squeezed down on my hand harder than she did when she was in labor with Bentley.

Penny looked in shock as the heartbeat shot through the speakers. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"It looks like what you experienced was completely normal during pregnancy." She smiled, as Penny's hand relaxed. "Just a little spotting of blood. That is completely expected, especially after sexual intimacy." She explained as I looked bug-eyed at her.

She started clearing up as we heard the incredibly strong heartbeat. Penny smiled over at me as I kept sighing with relief.

"Your baby girl is doing just fine." She smiled, finishing up the ultrasound.

Both me and Penny stared over at her as her eyes were glued to the screen.

"Baby what?" I asked, disbelieving what she had just said.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did you not know?" She politely asked,

"Yeah, but we were told a boy." Penny stammered,

"Well, whoever told you that got it wrong, cause that baby is definitely a girl."

I blinked uncontrollably as I lifted my glasses up my nose again.

"I'll go and check your record." She sighed, leaving the room.

Penny smiled over at me as she was stopping herself from crying.

"We have a little girl!" She beamed, as I still didn't believe it.

"Yeah." I answered back, making sure I smiled.

"Leonard, I bet your super bummed you have to work on your birthday." Howard sneered, as I glared up at him.

"Well, I get to spend the evening with my wife and daughter-to-be." I smirked, before returning to my work.

"How are you keeping the sex of the baby a secret towards Sheldon? He has a right to know." He asked,

"Sheldon doesn't have the right to know, nor does he have the right to have a second opinion."

Howard sat in silence until Sheldon and Raj came to the table, and of course, they were arguing.

I hadn't spoke to Sheldon much since the fight at the end of last month, so he sat casually in the empty seat next to me and continued to pretend I wasn't there, which I was okay with.

"You can continue your argument with Raj." I confessed as Sheldon nodded slightly.

"Sheldon, there is no way you are right on this!"

Sheldon scoffed under his breath as I found it impossible not to join in.

"Okay, presume I am wrong-"

"Doing it." Raj interrupted.

Sheldon rolled his eyes slightly before continuing. I then payed no attention to the argument, because it wasn't important towards me.

"Leonard, don't you have anything to say?" Howard asked, grabbing my attention again, whilst interrupting Sheldon.

"Huh?" I mumbled.

"You told me something about the baby." He said, pushing the conversation forward.

I looked around the table as I noticed Sheldon's head down, like the baby was nothing toward him.

"Nothing. Nothing happened." I sighed, getting up from my seat and walking away from the table.