Thank you again for all of your kind reviews! I am having so much fun writing this story and am so glad I can add to the Lenny fanfic because there really isn't enough out there — especially stuff that takes place post finale. If you have any suggestions or ideas or prompts, please let me know in the reviews or PM me.
Again, I own nothing, but I would love for Chuck Lorre to knock on my door and hire me!
"Hey sweetie?" Penny called from the couch, looking at the calendar on her phone. She was late, she wasn't ready to freak out because she'd been late before and she was stressed and they had a lot going on and she didn't think it was something to worry about. Also, they weren't trying to get pregnant but ever since Leonard decided not to go through with the sperm donation to Zack, they weren't trying not to get pregnant.
"Yeah?" He called back, walking out of the bedroom and into the living room.
"I'm uh late and I don't think it's anything but I kinda wanna take a pregnancy test just to be sure because I have this migraine and…"
"Do you have any here?" he asked, knowing she kept them around because she'd taken her fair share and especially lately since they weren't trying not to get pregnant.
"No, can you please go out and get some?" she asked, and just like that he was out the door.
"Be back in 30!" He exclaimed as he ran out. She laughed, then she saw Sheldon through the one second of open door and he took that as an opportunity to let himself in.
Knock, knock "Penny?"
Knock, knock "Penny?"
Knock, knock "Penny?" He opened the door, "he's gonna get an asthma attack running around like that, you better count the days until you're a widow."
"What do you want?" she asked, she didn't have the patience for any wild Sheldon's right now.
"Well, I saw how excited he was and thought I'd come see what it was all about, plus I was on my way to the train store and I was gonna take an uber because Amy's out, but since you're home…"
"No buddy, I have a migraine." she said, hoping that would be enough.
"Very well, I'll just go with Antonio in 6 minutes." Sheldon said, as he ordered the Uber on his phone and Penny closed the door on him, shocked that he left her alone so easily. She laid down on the couch waiting for Leonard to return, putting her hand on her stomach and imagining him with a baby. She had grown fonder and fonder of parenthood, but she would never be as eager as he was. Her dad's visit really made her realize that maybe she should have kids, maybe she did want kids, maybe this was the last commitment she had to make to get over her commitment issues. She scrolled on her phone for a bit while she waited for him to arrive and dozed off in a few minutes. Shortly after, Leonard walked in with a bag from Target with ten pregnancy tests.
"Penny, wake up," he said, playing with her hair as he sat on the empty part of the couch. He was eager for her to take the tests. He was also happy she was including him in the process, it wasn't like there was any reason for her not to, but he appreciated that he would be there for her literally every step of the way.
"What?" She opened her eyes groggily. Then she smiled when she saw him, bag in hand.
"Time for you to pee." he grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the bathroom.
"I don't have to." She said, laughing at him. He ran back to the kitchen and grabbed two water bottles.
"Chug." he handed them to her.
"You're insane" she said, taking the water bottle and chugging. She was eager to find out too, but she wasn't going to let it show.
"Ok now?" he asked, his puppy dog eyes looking at her as they sat on the edge of the bathtub.
"I don't think it works that quickly." she said, grabbing one of the test boxes and starting to take it out, "run some water maybe that'll make me have to pee." And so he did. She sat on the toilet and took the first test. He set a timer for 3 minutes and she joined him back on the edge of the tub.
"This is so nerve wracking," he said, excitedly. His voice was high pitched which Penny found both annoying and endearing.
"Well imagine how I feel." she said, half jokingly.
"How do you feel?" he asked her.
"Scared mostly, but I really feel like I am pregnant this time. You know I've taken a billion tests, but none of them really felt like this. I think we're ready, I mean we did a bang up job with Sheldon right? We raised a Nobel prize winner, that should count for something" she said.
"And a difficult one at that." he said, patting her leg, "It's ok to be scared, this is really really scary. I'm scared."
"You don't seem it and you're not one to hide your anxieties."
"Well, it's really scary, but also let's not get ahead of ourselves," he paused and picked up his phone, "we still have 15 seconds."
"Wait, I don't wanna look." she said, freaking out.
"You're gonna have to face it somehow," he said, patting her leg.
"Yeah, but these might be our last 15 seconds, just us." she said, looking at him.
"Ok, well why don't you pee on another stick just to be sure and we won't look at either of them until that one is done?" he suggested.
"Fine, buys us three more minutes of alone time." She grabbed another box and peed on it, "Hand me another, I wanna really make sure." He obliged and she peed on the third stick. They both knew that it was positive, they had the strongest intuition, but she couldn't bear for her hypothesis to be proven true, not yet. "Come here," she said, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him. She stood up, holding Leonard's hand, grabbed the three tests, without looking, and placed them faced down on her dresser. They laid on the bed and just held each other in silence until the timer went off. And then the timer went off.
"Ok I can't wait any longer, let's look, let's look!" he said, taking her hand. She reached behind her and grabbed the first one.
"Positive" she said, with wide eyes. He kissed her and they laughed.
"Ok, look at the next one before we throw a party" he said, grabbing the first positive test and looking at it with his own eyes.
"Positive" she said, smiling and holding back tears.
"Oh my god." he said, pushing her hair behind her ear and grabbing the second test, "okay, one more for good luck."
"Leonard, it's positive. I'm pregnant." she said, now the tears were falling. She grabbed all three and looked at them with excitement, fear, and relief.
"And you're absolutely sure?" Leonard asked, looking at Penny sitting on their bed with three pregnancy tests in her hand.
"Yes, by the third one I was sure" she responded, rolling her eyes. He cracked a smile, "oh god don't be smiling your little smile." She looked at him, trying her hardest not to smile too but the smile formed.
"We're going to have a baby!" He jumped around. She'd taken dozens before, but she knew they would be negative and she'd be relieved. With this one (or three) she didn't know what she wanted. If they were positive she would be having a baby and if they were negative she would've felt like she failed in trying to have a baby, like she failed Leonard. She smiled finally, looking at how happy he was.
"Yeah we are," she said, then he just started bawling. He cried like he did when she told him she loved him for the first time — he cried because it felt right. She wrapped her arms around him, he was going to be a good dad, the best dad. He squeezed her tight and put his head on her shoulder.
"I love you so much." He said, kissing her cheek.
"I love you too." She replied, she was touched. She knew how badly he wanted to have a baby, but she didn't know how happy he would be to find out that they actually were going to have one.
"So, now what do we do?" Leonard asked.
"Hmm. I don't know, we have to be at Howard and Bernadette's in an hour." She said, looking at her phone.
"When are we gonna tell everyone?" He asked.
"Not tonight, it's too early." She said.
"Tomorrow?" He asked.
"No, I think I should go to a doctor first and really confirm it before we say anything."
"Right, right. Let's make an appointment for tomorrow." He said, she rolled her eyes.
"Maybe let's wait until after we go to Stockholm," she said.
"It's gonna be really hard for me to keep it a secret," he said, the smile wouldn't leave his face, "but, we should still make a doctor's appointment just to confirm everything."
"Oh you will be keeping it a secret, Leonard." Penny said, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Send me your gyno's phone number." He said, and she texted it to him right away. He pressed on the contact and called, putting it on speaker.
"Pasadena Gynecology, how can I help you?" the voice on the other line said.
"Hi, I'm Dr. Leonard Hofstader and I want to make an appointment for my wife, Penny Hofstader. I believe she sees Dr. Chen, she took a few positive pregnancy tests so we just wanted to come in as soon as possible to confirm," he said, as Penny looked at him with both annoyance and admiration.
"We just had a cancellation for tomorrow morning at 10:30, is that ok for you?" the receptionist asked. Penny looked at Leonard and nodded.
"That works for us!" he said.
"Great," the receptionist said, "we'll see you then."
"Thank you so much," Leonard said, hanging up the phone. He sat back down on the bed next to Penny and grabbed her so they were both laying down on the pillows.
"You didn't have to do that, you're not my assistant," she said, laughing.
"Oh yes I am," Leonard said, putting a piece of her hair behind her ear. He laid there and smiled, placing his hand on her stomach.
"Leonard," she said, sweetly.
"I am going to be your assistant for the next nine months and then also the rest of my life." He said and with so much pride.
"I am perfectly fine, you're my partner, not my assistant" she said, cuddling in closer to him. They laid in bed for another ten minutes, Leonard wanting to talk about everything baby related and Penny just wanting to enjoy the moment. They eventually got up and got ready for a chill dinner at the Wolowitz house.
"Sweetie, can you get Sheldon and Amy? I'm just finishing up my hair." Penny yelled from the bathroom as Leonard sat on his phone in the living room.
"Yeah one sec," he got up, walked across the hall, and banged on the door "be ready to leave in 3 minutes!" Then he went right back to his spot on the couch and took out his phone. Penny walked out, now ready to go.
"Did you really not get them?" she asked, rolling her eyes.
"I literally just got up and knocked on their door, I'm quick." He replied, whining a little. Then, Sheldon and Amy burst through the door, "see" he said. Sheldon walked right in and began to analyze he and Leonard's new project of rebuilding his superhuman DNA model.
"Sheldon, what are you doing?" Penny asked, walking toward the door.
"Just making sure no grabby little hands touched this, '' he said, walking away from it slowly.
"Nobody wants to touch it, let's go!" Penny said, opening the door and waiting for everyone to walk out before closing it.
"Someone is in a mood today, I hope you packed extra tampons, Amy." Sheldon said, as he pressed the elevator button.
"Sheldon, ew!" Penny said, then the elevator arrived.
"Point proven." he said.
"Who wants to drive?" Leonard asked.
"I'll drive." Penny said, as they walked out of the elevator to her car.
"Are you sure?" Amy asked, "I wasn't planning on drinking tonight, I'm happy to."
"It's fine, I'm doing this new diet and you don't drink for the first week of it." Penny said, looking at Leonard with a little bit of stress.
"Yes, because you need to diet." Amy said, sarcastically.
"I mean, look at those broad shoulders!" Sheldon said.
"Sarcasm, buddy," Leonard said.
"Sheldon, I am going to kill you." Penny said, as she opened the driver's seat and got in.
"Well the odds of that are actually quite high now that I'm in a car with you behind the wheel," he said.
"I'm sorry, would you like to walk to Howard and Bernadette's?" Penny asked.
"No." Sheldon said from the backseat.
"Then shut up and let me drive." Penny said, taking a deep breath. She turned the car on and headed to Howard and Bernadette's, driving much more carefully than she usually did. She remembered that now she was responsible for more than just her own life, she had a baby to consider. A baby who needed two parents. Now she was anxious about being in the same car as Leonard. She thought about leaving her baby an orphan, but then she went back to focusing on the road.
"Shall we play a driving game?" Sheldon asked.
"No." Penny said, stopping at a red light.
"You are no fun today." Sheldon said to Penny. She took another deep breath, she knew that when the baby came, she would be leaps and bounds ahead of other new mothers in the patience department. Soon, they were pulling into the driveway of their friends' house. The four of them got out of the car and Leonard put a protective arm around Penny as they walked in. Raj was in the kitchen cooking, while Howard and Bernadette sat with their kids in the living room.
"Raj is just finishing dinner, I'm gonna go put the kids to bed." Bernadette said, lifting Michael.
"Wait," Leonard said, looking over at Penny, "you guys should relax, we can put them to bed." Bernadette was shocked to see him step up.
"If you want, but they're in this new phase where they can't stop chit chatting before they fall asleep."
"Don't worry, we've got this," Leonard said, taking Halley's hand and motioning to Penny to follow him.
"Oh I'm coming with you?" Penny asked as Bernadette handed Michael to her. They walked up the stairs and went into the kids' room. "Leonard, what are we doing?" she asked, freaking out at him as she held Michael. He pulled her out of the kids' room and closed the door.
"There are baby monitors in there so they can hear us, but it would be nice to get some practice." He said, and he was glad he noticed the baby monitors before he and Penny talked about their little secret.
"Good catch." She whispered and then they headed into the kids' room and placed each child in their respective bed.
"Mommy and Daddy read to us." Halley said, "Can you read Auntie Penny?"
"Yeah, I know how." She said, which caused Leonard to laugh, "What book do you want to read?" Halley motioned to be taken out of her bed and Leonard grabbed her and placed her on the floor. She ran over to the bookshelf and picked Pinkalicious.
"Brother doesn't like this one, but I do." Halley said, "And he can't talk."
"Do you want to pick a book you both like?" Leonard asked, as he and Penny sat on the floor.
"No." Halley answered, sitting on Penny's lap and opening the book to the first page, "Read please." she said, and Penny began to read the book. Leonard grabbed Michael from his crib and placed him on his lap so he could look at the pictures. "Daddy does voices," she said, and Penny started to read each character in a different voice.
"All those years of acting class really paid off," Leonard commented, which caused Penny to shove him. She finished reading the book and helped Halley into bed, while Leonard tucked Michael in.
"Goodnight," Penny said, looking at them, and then Leonard who went to turn on the nightlight.
"Night night Auntie Penny and Uncle Lenny." Halley said. Penny turned off the light and shut the door and she and Leonard walked out to meet their friends downstairs. In the hallway, Leonard stopped her to give her a high five.
"We're pretty good at this," he said, very sure of himself. She laughed and grabbed his hand and walked down the stairs. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, everyone was sprawled out in the living room with homemade pasta and salad.
"Did Halley give you any trouble?" Bernadette asked, eating her dinner.
"No, she's a perfect angel." Penny said, grabbing a spot on the couch and gesturing for Leonard to sit next to her. He grabbed them plates of food and joined her. Usually, they weren't so desperate to be close to each other, but after the news of the day they felt closer than ever and had to live that physically. The rest of the evening was uneventful, but Leonard couldn't wipe his little smile off of his face.
"It's almost Sheldon's bedtime, we should go or he'll be cranky in the morning." Amy said to Penny. She tapped Leonard on the shoulder while he was deep in conversation with the guys about some comic book to tell him it was time to go.
"5 more minutes?" he asked with his puppy dog eyes.
"The sooner we leave, the sooner Sheldon goes to sleep and the less annoying he is tomorrow at work," Penny said and Leonard stood right up.
"Sheldon, buddy, we're going home." Leonard said.
"5 more minutes?" he asked.
"No buddy, it's almost your bedtime." Leonard responded.
"Amy please?" He looked at his wife.
"You'll have more time to play before bed if we leave now," she said and he got up and followed her.
"You're right." he said, and the four of them said their goodbyes and thank yous and walked out of the door and into Penny's car. They had a mostly quiet ride home on account of Sheldon being tired and ready for bed, but it was one of their most pleasant rides with him in the car.
"I can't believe we're going to be in Sweden in a week," Penny said, as they walked into their building and pressed the button on the elevator. Even after almost two months of the elevator working, they still had to fight the urge to start climbing the stairs up to their apartments.
"I know, it's so exciting." Amy said, as the elevator doors opened and they walked in. Sheldon then started to explain how excited he was about the particular plane they would be flying in and the train they would take into the city center to get to their hotel.
"Okay that's enough," Penny said when they arrived at the fourth floor, all of them getting out and splitting up to walk into their respective apartments, "Night." she said as she opened the door and she and Leonard walked into their apartment. She then locked the door and wrapped her arms around Leonard to give him a kiss.
"What was that for?" he asked, his arms around her waist.
"You're gonna be such a hot dad." She said, as she took his hand and giggled as she guided him to the bedroom.