'Take the first step in faith.

You don't have to see the whole staircase,

Just take the first step.' - Martin Luther King Jr.

Chapter 7: Home Remedies: August

I could feel the fluttering movements of my daughter as I kept my hand placed on Penny's belly, whilst being comforted by her warmth against my chest.

The house was finally silent. No argument coming from downstairs. No flushing of the toilet every twenty seconds. You could hear a cricket chirping in the garden.

I immediately lifted my head up as I felt the first kick. I nudged Penny's shoulder as she moaned loudly.

"Penny, come on!" I urged, sitting up as I felt another.

"What's going on?" She asked, still half-asleep.

"I felt the baby!" I laughed.

Penny looked over at me as I continued to smile at her.

"Leonard, haven't you felt her before."

"No, She always gets shy and stops whenever I try."

"Oh, okay." She stuttered, before yawning. "Good for you." She added, turning back to the pillow.

I laughed silently as I waited for another kick. I laid my head back on my pillow, still keeping my hand cupped around Penny's belly.

"Leonard, she now knows you're waiting, so she isn't going to do it." Penny smirked behind her pillow.

I waited a second before responding, "You're right."

I removed my hand and turned to face the other direction.

"Okay, thank you." Penny said, before hanging up her phone. "Doctor Perry's sick, so we've got a extra, supply person." She sighed.

I looked over at her and shrugged my shoulders. She glared at me and I smiled.

"What's the big deal. As long as they are qualified to do it, then I don't know why you're looking so annoyed." I explained, gazing into her eyes.

"I'm annoyed, because we don't know anything about this person, and they don't know anything about us." She moaned.

I placed my hand on her arm to calm her. She smiled over at me.

"There is a folder." I added.

"Mr and Misses Hofstadter, Doctor Perry will see you now." The receptionist called, placing the phone back down.

I looked over at Penny as she did the same. A man appeared at the doorway, who had a striking resemblance towards Howard.

"It's not just me right? That guy looks a lot like Howard." I whispered, leaning in to Penny.

She didn't answer, she just nodded. We cautiously followed the guy into the same office we had been in since March.

"I'm sorry my father couldn't be with you today, but I can reassure you that I have spent the last twelve-years in medical school, so I believe I can handle this today."

Me and Penny both nodded.

"That probably answers the question why you look so much like Doctor Perry." Penny smiled.

"Ah, yes. I get that a lot." He laughed. "My name is Kieran Perry, and I will only assist you today. Have you got any questions?" He asked.

"Actually, only one." Penny started, before looking over at me.

I nodded at her, before finishing the sentence, as it was mine. "Penny has been feeling the baby for a while, but whenever I go to feel, she always stops. Like she's shy or something."

Kieran nodded at us, before humming to himself quickly.

"Okay." He mumbled.

He looked down and started scrambling through Howard's desk.

"There are some tactics to use if you want the baby to move, like eating a snack, moving around in quick fashion and singing to the baby. That can sometimes get them moving."

"By them, you mean lots of different pregnancies, right?" I questioned.

Kieran nodded as both me and Penny sighed with relief.

"Leonard, you've been doing this for ages." Penny complained.

I chose to ignore her, and kept my hands on her belly. Penny sighed loudly over the music I had blurting from my phone.

"If she didn't do it during the last one, what makes you think she'll do it now?" She questioned, whilst trying not to laugh.

I didn't answer, as not to intervene with the music. Penny continued to laugh to herself as I tried to push it away.

"What is he doing?" Bernadette asked, leaning against the back of the couch.

"When did you get here?" I wondered, looking up at her.

"We've been here for ages." She insisted, looking strangely at me.

"Well, Bernadette, to answer your question, Leonard is trying to feel the baby, and it's hilarious!" She laughed.

"You still haven't felt her yet?" Howard questioned, whilst holding a small stuffed animal that his son had left with him.

"I have. But it was minor." I sighed, removing my hands and placed them on my legs.

Penny quietly squealed and looked away. I moved to face her to notice she was smiling.

"What's going on?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at her.

"She kicked." Penny laughed.

"Of course she did." I exasperated, collapsing into the couch.

Penny was on the phone with her mother for the third time in the same day. But I wouldn't blame her for it. On this day, one-year ago, her father passed away from a heart attack.

I was trying to be as supportive as I could be during the time, but losing Wyatt was hard on me too, as he was my father-in-law.

She smiled over at me as I gazed into her eyes, noticing that she was still hurting about it too. That's why you can't take anyone for granted, cause they could be gone within a matter of seconds.

"Okay, thanks mom. I'll speak with you later... Bye." Penny smiled, before hanging up her phone.

"How is she?" I asked, looking up at her as she joined me on the couch.

"She's doing okay." She insisted, rubbing her eye.

"How are you doing?" I questioned.

"I'm doing okay." She sighed, slightly repeating what she had previously said.

I pulled her towards me, and rested her head on my shoulder.

"I just can't believe it's been a year since he passed." She cried, choking up under her breath.

I rubbed her arm, comforting her. I breathed loudly, as I had to stop myself from tearing up.

"It's a shame he won't ever meet his granddaughter." She added.

I remained silent, not knowing what to say. There wasn't much I could say that wouldn't make this harder.

"Why did you invite him?" I questioned, looking ahead at Raj.

"He needed to get out of his apartment." Penny smiled.

Raj pulled at decorated, yet broken, pink frame of one of the shelves and threw it into mine and Penny's faces. We both shook our head in disgust as we saw how badly made it was.

"How could you say not to that?" He asked, placing it back where it was.

"Raj, did you not see it? It was horrifically designed. It was practically hanging off the back." I sighed.

Penny nodded with agreement as Raj continued to walk ahead. I looked over at Penny and glared at her.

"Okay, maybe inviting him was a mistake." She sighed.

I slowly approached Raj, as he was scattering around the isle. I turned him to face me and I grabbed his attention.

"Raj, has it ever occurred to you, that we might not be buying anything? We might just be looking." I explained.

"But you haven't got that long left. You need to start getting something ready." He insisted, as he continued to look at the shelf behind my shoulder.

"And we will. That's why we're here, to look." Penny butted in, not allowing me to finish.

I nodded with agreement, as the rest of the conversation that they had became a blur, because I stopped paying attention.

"Leonard?" Penny asked, zoning me back.

"Huh?" I wondered.

"Aren't I right about that?"

"Uh-huh." I hesitated, not knowing what I was getting myself into.

Raj continued to look through the shelves, as it was obvious Penny had annoyed him in a way.

"I love it when you act like you've listened." She smiled, before kissing my cheek.

I beamed over at her as there was not point denying that I wasn't listening, as it was so obvious.

She grabbed the cart that I had left in front of me, and leant up against it.

"Penny, I can take it." I offered, trying to be the nice guy.

"No, I've got it." She insisted, "Anyway, my back's hurting, so it's nice to lean on something."

"Why's your back hurting?" Raj questioned, turning around.

"I'm seven months pregnant." She pointed out.

"I know that." Raj scoffed.

"That's why it's hurting." I added.

Raj slowly nodded his head once, before he put his hands in his pockets, leading me and Penny through the remain of the isle.

"Penny, are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital?" I asked, handing her a bottled water.

Penny shook her head as she took a sip from the rim of the drink as I quickly joined her on the couch.

"No, it will be fine." She insisted, hiding the fact that her back was killing her.

"I love how you're so brave." I smiled.

Penny giggled before I leant in and kissed her.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" She exclaimed, pulling away.

"Is it your back?" I questioned.

"No, I think I felt a contraction." She wined, grabbing her belly.

"What?!" I yelled, jumping up from the couch again.

"Well, it was either that, or I'm just having really bad stomach cramps."

Penny grabbed her belly again and moaned. I started leaping around the room, with either excitement or fright.

"Leonard, this really hurts." She cried.

"Okay, do you want to go to the hospital?" I asked, quickly calming myself down to look after her.

"No... I just want to stay here and live through the pain." She answered sarcastically.

"Come on, lets go." I sighed, helping her up.

I grabbed the keys from the bowl by the door, and lead Penny through to the car.

She leant up against the side of the car and moaned again. I rubbed her back to see if that helped with the pain, only to have her repel it.

"Hey, this may be it. We might have a baby." I smiled, tying to make it a positive thing.

"Yeah, two months early." She cried, lifting her head up slightly.

2018:

"How do we know this guy is legit?" Penny asked, folding her arms against her chest as I was hesitant on going in.

"He predicted mine and Sheldon's engagement, he must be good." Amy insisted.

"He got lucky. Psychics are just playing with a glass ball." Sheldon scoffed, obviously angry to be back outside the building. "And predicting the so-called 'future'." He added, using his hands for air quotes.

Bernadette pushed me and Penny through the door covered in beads. The strong smell of incense tickled my asthma, making me cough.

"Are you dying? Can we get out of here?" Penny asked, turning to face me.

I pushed her forward, as I ignored the incense, which did work.

We both sat across from this guy, who I wasn't getting a good vibe from. He smelt like an ashtray, and he looked extremely tired.

"Okay," He began, as he stared right into the round glass ball in front of him. "I see... A dark future, with a little ray of sunshine at the end. A loss of someone important towards the two of you, yet something unplanned, should turn everything around.-"

"You mean like a.. Baby?" I interrupted, looking over at him.

"Exactly." He smiled, as I looked over at Penny. "Something unpleasant. A dark, dark road ahead of you." He finished.

I sighed loudly, before getting Penny out of the room. Everyone greeted us when we exited.

"What did he say?" Howard asked, as the beads covering the door clashed against each other.

"Really, Really weird stuff." Penny responded, as I stood in silence.

"Penny, as it appears, you are not having proper contractions." Howard sighed, looking at the chart.

I looked over, before I remembered about Penny having the same things when she was pregnant with Bentley.

"They're called Braxton Hicks. They're just practice ones, getting the baby, and the mother, ready for the real thing." He explained.

Penny slowly nodded her head. Doctor Perry left the room, leaving me and Penny alone.

"And you were worried." She smiled, hitting her palm on the bed.

"Me?! What about you?" I asked, trying not to raise my voice to much.

"I did not freak out..." She stated.

I raised my eyebrows at her as she looked away.

"... A lot.." She mumbled.