The Smart and Beautiful Baby Journey

chapter 07

Penny lifted Megan's car seat into the car, she was going back to the hospital to take Leonard's phone to him, and for him to see his daughter. It had been less than twenty four hours since the most scary time of her life, and she knew she'd have to speak to the police about it. She didn't know what else she could say though, she hadn't seen anything, and they'd already spoken to Leonard. She was grateful to Howard, he had taken Amy's car to be washed and they had jet washed the parking lot so there was no remnants of what had happened. When Penny got to the hospital, she pulled into a parking space and put the stroller together before putting Megan in and pushing it into the main entrance. She looked up at the signs and followed them to where she had been told Leonard was moving too. She pushed the buzzer on the hospital door, and gave her name before being buzzed into the room. As she walked into the ward, she saw Leonard being pushed by a porter along and into a cubical which was surrounded by five other beds.

"Penny" he smiled, using all of his energy to try and sit up on the bed "you brought Megan?"

"I did" Penny answered, "she wanted to see her Daddy"

"oh, Daddy's missed you" Leonard cooed, pleased to see them both "is she okay?"

"she's fine" Penny smiled, "Amy did a really good job of looking after her"

"she's a good friend"

"she really is"

"they're saying I might be able to come home this evening" Leonard smiled "if I can managed to get myself to the bathroom and back without help, I can come with you"

"that's wonderful" Penny answered, a little apprehensive to have to look after him and Megan "have you done any walking yet?"

"no" Leonard answered "but I'm determined to do it, I need to get home and help you with Megan"

"you need to get well" Penny reminded him, she knew his heart was in the right place "don't stress yourself out"

Leonard insisted in making his own way from the car to his apartment when they got home. He was still hooked up on painkillers, sore and weak, but he had managed to convince the doctor to let him home. Leonard staggered through the door of their apartment and collapsed onto the couch, he looked around, grateful for the familiarity that it brought.

"I need to make you a hot beverage" Sheldon reminded everyone in the room, including himself "excuse me"

"you don't have to, buddy" Leonard answered, secretly pleased by this familiarity as well and scrambling to lift himself off of the couch "I can do it"

"no" Sheldon scolded Leonard, making him sit down almost immediately "it's social convention, I need to make you a hot beverage"

Amy and Penny watched Sheldon walk briskly across his old apartment, into his old kitchen and pulled out a 'English breakfast' tea bag from the wooden box that lived in a cupboard. They exchanged worried looks, Sheldon hadn't been this attentive with anyone since his and Amy's honeymoon. They could see he wasn't coping very well, they weren't sure exactly what it was that was causing them to act this way. Was it that he thought he was going to lose Leonard and therefore he was making the most of this time? Was he still deeply worried about Amy having a miscarriage again and was using this as a distraction? Was it both of these things?

It was late in the evening before Penny managed to get everyone to leave and let her and Leonard have some time alone. They were both exhausted, it had been less than 48 hours since he had been injured, and the tiredness was finally catching up with them. Penny took Megan to the bedroom before coming back and helping her husband. As he tossed and turned, trying to make himself comfortable she could see the look on his face, grimacing as his stitches pulled, obviously stinging him as they did.

"Comfortable?" Penny asked after he had tossed and turned for around 5 minutes

"for the moment" Leonard sighed, unsure if she was trying to be funny or not, "I'm sure it'll hurt again soon"

"how long until you can have more painkillers?" Penny looked at the clock, she had two times in her mind, but she was unsure which was the time for Megan's next feed and which was Leonard's pain killers.

"thirty minutes" Leonard answered hopefully "maybe I'll be able to get some sleep then"

"until Megan wakes up" Penny rolled her eyes "which won't be much longer"

The night passed in a restlessness blur of feeding, wincing and painkillers. Penny hardly got any sleep between Leonard and the baby. This wasn't what she signed up for, she knew that her marriage vows had included 'in sickness and in health', but she didn't realise that all of this would be thrown at her at the same time, both a new baby and her husband being stabbed, she was really being tested now

"what you thinking about?" Leonard broke her thoughts for the umpteenth time that night "you okay?"

"just how much I love you both" Penny answered, smiling as sweetly as she could muster, what with the circumstances "you and our daughter"

"I know this is a lot for you" Leonard must've read her thoughts "but I'll be better soon"

"I don't want you to rush" Penny rubbed her hand on his leg, the way she always did when she needed to reassure both of them at the same time "I don't want you to do too much and then go backwards"

"I won't" Leonard promised her "but you need to let me do some things with Megan, I can hold her for you, I can burp her, I can rock her in the bassinette, I can help"

"okay" Penny sighed "but you'll tell me if it becomes too much"

"of course"