Spoilers: Anything up to and including the season five finale.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.

A/N: I have no good excuse for the length of time it's taken me to update. I just wasn't all that inspired and I have a hard time writing when I'm not inspired. Not to mention that whatever I write when I'm not really feeling the plot always sucks horribly. So here's the newest chapter; I hope you guys enjoy it because I'm well aware that it's a little weird. This chapter's lyrics are from 'Firework' by Katy Perry. I would like to thank my reviewers: Jislane, rkday, Lucy36, MixItUp, BreathlessFaith, Kim, ms. rosey cheeks, LANIKI, Phosphorescent, maipigen, Maggie1903 (x2 – one for each review), and Guest. I do love hearing what you guys have to say about my writing. Please read and review! Thanks!

Chapter Four: Plans and Pep Talks

You don't have to feel like a wasted space
You're original, cannot be replaced
If you only knew what the future holds
After a hurricane comes a rainbow

"Dear Lord, Penny, what is that?!"

The panic in his voice and the way that he didn't use proper wording for once made Penny snicker.

"Oh, Sheldon. I know that your people skills are only average at best but surely even you can recognize a baby when you see one. And shouldn't you be asking who this is?" she questioned, taking great joy in finally having a chance to pick on him the way he always insulted her intelligence.

Was that immature of her? Of course. Would that stop her, though? Definitely not. While he scowled at her, she smiled innocently up at him.

"Although I am sure you believe that you're being humorous, I can assure you that you are not," he stated. "Who is the infant, and who in their right mind would leave their child with you?"

The smile slipped off Penny's face. Did he really think her completely incapable of taking care of a baby? Maybe she wasn't a mom or anything, but she had babysat a lot during junior high and high school. It was one of the only ways that she could make money before she turned sixteen. Plus, kids liked her and she liked kids, even if she wasn't ready to have one yet.

"Believe it or not, Sheldon, I'm actually a pretty awesome babysitter. I'm really good with both kids and babies," she declared. "And this is Layla." Hefting the baby in her arms and turning her around to face Sheldon, she cradled her against her chest and said, "Layla, this is Dr. Sheldon Cooper."

The crying infant let out a particularly loud scream at that point, causing Sheldon to clap his hands over his ears. Penny just sighed.

"Yeah. We all have that response to him at one point or another," she stated, bouncing Layla in an effort to calm her down.

"Make her stop," Sheldon demanded, raising his voice to be heard over the crying.

"I was trying to before you interrupted me!" Penny informed him just as loudly.

Leaving him standing in the doorway, she carried Layla to the pallet of blankets that she had built on the floor and deposited her. Heading back into the kitchen, she resumed making the bottle she had started before Sheldon knocked. She was glad that Molly still had the baby on a diet that was mainly bottles with the occasional solid mixed in. It was a lot less messy than if she had to try to force baby food into the infant. She was scooping formula into the water when her neighbor let out a sound of dismay that she heard even above Layla.

"What, Sheldon?" she asked, swinging around to look at him.

He stared around her apartment in horror, his mouth gaping slightly, before his eyes landed on her.

"You can't have a baby in this apartment, Penny. It's dirty."

Capping the bottle, she shook it to mix the formula in. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"It's not dirty; I cleaned last night. It's just cluttered. Besides, I moved everything up out of Layla's reach, and it's not like she can even walk," she pointed out. "She's only seven months old. Hell, Molly says she can't even pull herself up yet. So I'm sure she's not about to get into anything on the kitchen counter."

"Even so, it's still inappropriate to keep an infant here without at least attempting to make the place more suitable," he argued and then heaved a loud sigh. "I'll be back with my cleaning supplies."

Rolling her eyes, Penny set the bottle on the coffee table. Leaning down, she picked up Layla and carried her to the couch. After settling the baby in her lap, Penny picked up the bottle and slipped the rubber nipple into her mouth. Layla immediately quieted and reached up, holding onto the bottle as she drank. Penny smiled. She definitely preferred babies when they weren't screaming.

Turning her head, she looked out the two front doors that Sheldon had left open. She could see him moving around his apartment gathering items and mumbling to himself. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that he was griping about how awful her cleaning skills were. Biting her lip, she tried not to smile. As much as he annoyed her at times, she was actually pretty happy that he cleaned for her without her asking. Maybe she was using him in a way, but she refused to feel guilty since she cleaned to her standards. She couldn't help it if he wasn't happy with the state she kept her apartment in and felt the need to fix it.

Layla had already finished half the bottle by the time Sheldon shut his door and crossed the hallway to her apartment. Entering, he stared around the room before finally setting the bucket of cleaning supplies on an empty corner of the kitchen counter.

"This is going to be a time-consuming project," he announced, once again surveying the room. "How does one person even produce so much mess?"

Penny offered him a cheeky grin. "What can I say? I guess I'm just special."

His quick glare showed his opinion of that statement. Penny almost laughed. She couldn't help but annoy him; he was just so funny when he was frustrated with her. While he started cleaning up, she finished feeding Layla. As soon as the bottle was empty, she stood up and placed the baby back on the blankets on the floor. When she reached the sink, she nudged Sheldon with her shoulder, causing him to startle and look down at her.

"What?" he asked, irritation in his voice.

"I just thought you might want a little help with the dishes," she offered, holding her hands up in surrender. "But if you'd rather do them on your own..."

His eyebrows shot up. "Why, Penny, that's actually polite of you. I would appreciate the assistance, although I believe that I should do the actual washing. I'm not sure you would get them clean enough."

Glancing over her shoulder, Penny saw that Layla was playing with one of the toys surrounding her. Satisfied that she would be entertained for a while and that she couldn't actually go anywhere anyway, Penny took her place next to Sheldon at the sink as he started running soapy water.

"Why do you have that infant in your apartment today?" Sheldon questioned after several quiet minutes. "That certainly isn't part of your normal Saturday routine."

"I know," Penny acknowledged with a small nod. "I'm babysitting for Molly. She's one of the other waitresses at work and also one of my friends. She has a midday shift today and then she and her boyfriend want to go out tonight, but her regular babysitter is on vacation. I agreed to take Layla for her. I need the extra money, anyway."

"Do you intend to pay your cable bill so that your service will be restored?" he asked with a sidelong glance in her direction.

Penny quietly rinsed the glasses he had placed on her side of the sink. Deep in thought, she adjusted the temperature of the water so that it was warm but not hot enough to scald. How much should she tell Sheldon? She kind of wanted to talk to someone about her family and after the whole hangover prevention thing, she thought he might understand better than any of her other friends. Then again, it was still a very touchy subject and Sheldon wasn't exactly known for his sensitivity. Rather than go into the entire thing, she settled for focusing on her nephew and his upcoming visit.

"No, actually," she finally admitted. "My nephew Scott will be visiting me for the week of the fourth. He can't afford a plane ticket, at least not the whole thing, so I'm trying to earn a little extra money to pay for it."

"Why are you paying?" Sheldon questioned logically, scrubbing a stubborn bit of cheese off a plate. "Why aren't his parents?"

The question strayed closer to the true nature of Scott's visit (escape from his family) than she was comfortable with. Checking that Layla was still in place to buy herself time, she considered her answer, finally settling on a half-truth.

"I'm a little better off than they are."

Even if they were pretty equal money-wise, it wasn't a complete lie. She wasn't in a mutually abusive relationship that would probably end in a murder-suicide. In her mind, that put her worlds ahead of her sister and brother-in-law.

"I can loan you the money," Sheldon offered. "As long as your nephew agrees to follow our usual schedule, doesn't touch any of my things, and stays out of my bedroom."

Penny smirked. "I can't promise any of those things." When his eyes widened in panic, she bit back her laughter before amending, "Well, okay, maybe I can keep him out of your room, but I can't say that he won't touch your things. If I tell him he can't touch any of your stuff, then where do I draw the line? Does that mean he can't sit on the couch? Will he have to bring his own fork if we eat at your place?"

"He can touch anything that you can," Sheldon said primly. He frowned and then added, "However, he can't sit in my spot or touch me. Since you don't seem to have comprehended those rules, I clearly need to clarify them."

Unable to hold it back any longer, Penny bent forward and gripped the sink, her shoulders shaking as her repressed laughter burst out of her.

"I don't see what's so funny," Sheldon stated crossly, just making her giggle harder.

"See, sweetie. This is why I love messing with you. Playing with the Sheldon makes the Penny happy," she declared.

Her cheeks blushed red when a completely different meaning to that sentence popped into her mind, and she silently cursed the way that her thoughts spent way too much time in the gutter. It was definitely a disadvantage of being a big ol' five. Luckily, there was no way that Sheldon would come up with the same innuendo. She quickly rushed the conversation forward before he could notice her odd reaction.

"Seriously, though. I don't know that we'll stick to the usual schedule - this is Scott's first visit to California so I'm sure he'll want to see the sights - but I will keep him out of your room and away from anything of yours that isn't a common use item," she promised, the heat in her cheeks dying down.

"I suppose those are acceptable terms," Sheldon finally agreed, running the washcloth over a fork. "As such, I would be happy to lend you the money that you need."

Penny glanced over her shoulder to see Layla banging a block on the floor. Shaking her head at how easily entertained babies were at that age, she turned her attention back to Sheldon's offer. While it would certainly make everything easier, she knew that there was no way she could take him up on it. The last time she had borrowed money from him, she had felt like every last cent she spent was being judged. Not so much by Sheldon, oddly enough. She had actually felt like it was Leonard putting the pressure on her in addition to herself. She knew there was no way that she wanted to spend the next however many weeks feeling that worried. Plus, she had to admit that there was a certain sense of pride in knowing that she was working hard to achieve her goal.

"That's a kind offer, sweetie, but I can't," she denied with a second shake of her head. "I want to take care of this on my own."

He paused in his washing and looked over at her, drawing her gaze to him in turn. She could see the skeptical lift to his eyebrow, and she was pretty sure she knew exactly what he was thinking.

"How do you expect to earn enough for a plane ticket on such short notice when you can't even pay your cable bill each month?" he asked in an incredulous tone.

She rolled her eyes. Yeah. That was exactly what she had thought.

"I have a plan," she asserted. Ignoring his disbelieving snort, she continued, "I'm making money from watching Layla today, but there's more to it. I'm putting penny blossoms back into production."

Rinsing a glass, she avoided checking for his reaction. He had helped her when she had tried to turn her hobby into a legitimate business last time. It hadn't been pretty, and she knew that he would think it was a bad idea. She just didn't need to see his face and confirm it.

"I know that it's probably a bad idea," she rushed on in hopes of stalling his negative comments, "but I already have an order. Laney - you've met her, she's the hostess at work - well, her family's having their big reunion on the fourth. They always take a family picture. I gave Laney a penny blossom for Christmas last year, and I guess her grandma really liked them. She told Laney to ask me if she could buy one for every girl in their family to wear during their picture. They apparently always do something so that they'll all match."

Eyes shining with excitement, Penny finally stared up at Sheldon although she was careful to avoid actually taking in his expression.

"Sheldon, their family is huge since it's the whole extended thing. That's like fifty blossoms. And she's paying me five dollars for each one. That's..."

"$250," Sheldon finished for her.

"Yeah," she agreed, smiling at the thought of the cash.

Between that, her money for babysitting today, and putting off her cable bill for another month, she'd have enough for Scott's plane ticket. It was just a lucky thing for her that Laney's grandma had already paid upfront for the blossoms thanks to her granddaughter's reassurance that Penny was trustworthy. It also worked out nicely that she had all the extra supplies from her first failed venture into the business stored in her closet so that she didn't have to cut into her desperately-needed earnings.

"So, like I said, I know that I failed really horribly the last time I tried the whole penny blossoms thing, but this is only a one-time venture back into it and I have enough time to finish the order this time," she quickly defended, hoping that he wouldn't be too hard on her idea.

"Penny, Penny, Penny," Sheldon said with a sigh and she felt her heart fall a little at the thought of the oncoming lecture. "You weren't the problem in the penny blossom venture. Your idea was perfectly viable once your production process became more efficient with my expert guidance. The venture only failed once we allowed less intelligent beings to join us."

Penny peered behind her at Layla briefly to hide her confusion. Sheldon wasn't reacting the way she had expected him to. He seemed almost...supportive. But that simply didn't add up given her terrible failure last time.

"What do you mean?" she questioned in as even a voice as she could manage.

"While your knowledge is less than satisfactory in regards to physics, you do have a certain intelligence when it comes to social and female-specific issues. Your idea was a good one as, obviously, was my advice to use an assembly line. The problem was that we allowed Leonard, Howard, and Raj to join in the venture."

Surprised at the clear compliment, Penny glanced up at him. He looked almost aggravated as he spoke.

"I should have known that they couldn't even handle a simple task like setting up the website for your business without failing. If I had simply taken on that portion myself, you would probably still be in business. For that I apologize," he said sincerely, draining the soapy water as Penny rinsed the last dish.

Unsure how to handle Sheldon when he was being so sweet and apologizing without so much as a twitch of his eyebrow, she fidgeted slightly. This wasn't the whack-a-doodle neighbor that she was used to. He was supposed to annoy her until she kicked him out of her apartment. His compliments were supposed to leave her questioning whether he had actually insulted her. By breaking character, he had left her completely confused for totally different reasons. How in the hell was she supposed to deal with a nice Sheldon? Those two words didn't seem like they should even go together!

"Penny!" Sheldon gasped in panic. "The baby's under the coffee table! The baby's under the coffee table! Babies don't belong under the coffee table. I haven't even cleaned under there yet! I can only imagine how filthy it is."

Penny grinned. That was much more normal. Comfortable once again, she patted Sheldon's arm, causing him to flinch away.

"It's okay, sweetie. Apparently Layla can roll. I'll just fish her out and let you clean while we play."

Leaving him sputtering about her incompetence as a babysitter, Penny went to retrieve her charge.

ooooo

Shortly after eight that night, Penny rushed into apartment 4A, her arms full of baby, iPod, and portable speakers. She watched Sheldon jump as the door slammed shut behind her. He was standing in front of his whiteboard with an uncapped marker in hand, so she knew that he had probably been concentrating on his work. She felt a little bad for interrupting him, but she had to show someone and since he was the only person nearby...

"Dear Lord, Penny. What is the emergency?" he asked in an irritated tone as he turned to face her.

Ignoring the question, she sat down on the floor in front of the coffee table where he could see them. She placed Layla on her butt in front of her. She had quickly learned that the baby was capable of sitting unsupported while they were playing. Twisting to the side, she set the iPod and its speakers on the coffee table before looking up at Sheldon. He was staring down at her, his expression a mix of annoyance and restraint. She guessed the second one was his attempt not to kick her out and frankly she was surprised that he was even bothering. Normally, he wasn't shy about telling her to get out when she busted in without permission.

"You have to see this," she said excitedly.

She flipped on her iPod, and LMFAO's 'Sexy and I Know It' blared out of the speakers.

"This is terrible," he complained loudly.

She glared up at him.

"Just shut up and watch Layla, Sheldon," she commanded, turning her attention back to the baby.

Smiling hugely, she watched the infant bounce in time to the music and giggle. She had been playing the song earlier in her apartment while she worked on her penny blossoms while Layla played. When she had noticed the baby's reaction to the music, she had immediately laughed and known she had to show someone.

When the song ended, she clapped for the little girl, who was still giggling, and then looked up at Sheldon. He had stayed silent throughout the whole thing. She was curious to see if the man who seemed to know nothing about human affection was at all swayed by the cuteness of a baby. She was disappointed to find his expression as blank and unimpressed as ever.

"While that was a waste of time," he began, "it was admittedly mildly entertaining. It certainly wasn't worth interrupting my work, but I can see where you would think it was." He checked his watch. "However, I'm not upset because I needed to pause in my work anyway. It is nearly 8:15, so it is time to prepare to do my laundry."

Let down by his unenthusiastic response to something that she found utterly adorable, Penny climbed to her feet and gathered up Layla and her iPod.

"We'll just get out of your hair then," she announced, starting toward the apartment door.

"Yes. I will meet you in five minutes," he stated.

"Wait. What?" she asked, confused.

Sheldon paused at the entry of the hallway and turned around.

"It's laundry night. We always do our laundry together at 8:15 on Saturday unless you are out. As you are not, in fact, absent from the building, I expect to see you for our scheduled shared chore," he explained as if she were all of five years old.

"But I have Layla tonight," Penny protested. "I have to watch her."

"I trust you are clever enough to find a way to do both," he said imperiously before disappearing down the hallway.

Sighing, Penny headed to her apartment. Once inside, she dropped the iPod and speakers on her kitchen counter. Crossing to the chair in the living room, she picked up the carrier sitting there. When Molly had dropped off Layla, she had left the carrier in case Penny had something that she needed to do. It was one that would hold Layla against her chest and by using it she would be able to do her laundry and ward off Sheldon's whining.

The problem, she quickly discovered as she surveyed it, was that she wasn't sure she could put it on by herself. As much as she didn't want to ask, she would need Sheldon's help to secure it properly so that she wouldn't risk dropping Layla. Groaning, she crossed back to apartment 4A.

"Where is your laundry?" Sheldon questioned.

Penny rolled her eyes as she straightened from placing Layla on the floor.

"I'm getting to it. I need your help putting on the carrier. I can't reach far enough behind me to cross the straps like Molly told me to," she explained.

Sheldon took the carrier from her and studied it for a moment. After seconds of careful consideration, he slid his arms through the straps.

"Sheldon?"

Penny was positively bewildered by this turn of events.

"Help me secure this properly," he instructed her.

"What are you doing?" she asked instead.

"I am putting on this device in order to carry the infant around."

"But...why?"

She knew that she had to sound stupid to him, but she couldn't help it. She was completely baffled by his actions.

"We both have to carry our baskets, and one of us has to carry the baby. I am much taller than you, however, so I can carry both much easier than you could. If you tried, your basket would rest against Layla. This is the only logical solution."

His tone was back to that I-can't-believe-I-have-to-explain-this one that he used frequently when talking to, well, everyone. Realizing just how pointless it would be to try to argue against him, Penny instead stepped behind him so that she could cross the straps over his back and then fasten them to the front loops. Once that was done, she picked up Layla and handed her to Sheldon. He had a distasteful expression on his face when he took her and he held her like she was a live grenade, but he did quickly settle her into place.

"Get your laundry," he directed as he adjusted the settings of the straps to provide the best support for the baby.

Eying him nervously because she was pretty sure that Dr. Cooper had little to no experience with kids, she sped out of his apartment and through the process of collecting her dirty clothes and soap. She made it back to him in record time.

"Let's go," she offered.

He focused on his watch.

"Not yet."

"But we're ready now," she pointed out.

"It's only 8:14. We have to wait until 8:15."

Gritting her teeth, Penny tapped her foot impatiently. It seemed silly to wait just because it wasn't the exact right minute. After what felt like an eternity of nothingness, he finally squatted down to pick up his basket and led the way down to the laundry room.

Once they had their washers started, Penny offered to take Layla. To her great surprise, Sheldon denied her.

"This is a public room. The surfaces here are hardly sanitary enough for a baby."

Okay, so maybe she shouldn't be surprised.

"Anyway, this is good practice for if we should ever have children."

Penny, who had been sitting on the closed washer kicking her legs so that her feet bounced off the machine, froze. Rubbing her fingers over her ear, she just knew that she had to have heard him wrong.

"I'm sorry. I think I just heard something crazy. What?"

"I said that carrying Layla is good practice for if we ever have children."

And there it was again!

"Okay," she said, forcing herself to remain calm. "What the hell, Sheldon?!"

So much for calm.

Looking positively scandalized, he placed his hands over Layla's ears.

"Really, Penny. I must ask that you watch your language. The speech center of Layla's brain is currently developing and I doubt that your friend would appreciate it if her first word was a four-letter one," he scolded.

Penny rolled her eyes but said, "Fine. What the beep are you talking about? Why on Earth would we ever have kids? I thought Amy was the perfect choice for you!"

Dropping his hands, Sheldon nodded.

"In our current world, where success is dependent on academics and intelligence, she is the ideal choice to help produce my progeny, at least until someone perfects the cloning process."

Penny couldn't help but laugh at that. Of course Sheldon would see his own clones as the best choice to carry on his legacy.

"However, I have several contingency plans in place for events like the zombie apocalypse that wipe out large portions of humanity, leaving behind an extremely dangerous world where mankind must essentially start over. In each of those plans, you are the best choice as the mother of my children," he explained.

He was talking as if that wasn't the most batshit crazy thing to ever come out of his mouth. And given that this was Sheldon, that was really saying something.

"But why?" she asked, emphasizing the word in the hopes of getting an actual explanation that made sense.

"In a world where humanity is endangered, the people with the best chance of survival will be those who possess both intelligence and strength. I possess the first quality in such excess that it's almost unfair to the lesser beings around me, but I must admit that I lack the physical strength that your Neanderthal ex-boyfriends all seemed to possess. When you broke Howard's nose..."

Penny grinned at the memory. She had felt so good when she had punched him; it had released a year of frustration with his behavior. It really showed how much he had changed thanks to Bernadette that Penny actually missed him now that he had been gone for so long.

"...I realized that you are in fact a corn-fed Nebraskan who possesses the physical abilities that I lack. Our children would be intelligent, strong, and beautiful."

"I get the first two, but what does beauty have to do with anything?"

She was just going to ignore that whole part about her being corn-fed because that really sounded like an insult. Still, she had to admit that she was highly curious about his logic.

"Beauty has very little to do with personal survival," he conceded easily. "But it would help the survival of our genetics. Human nature dictates that those with attractive appearances will draw attention from the opposite sex. One need only examine the parade of men in your life to see the truth of that statement. Our children's beauty would help ensure that the more important traits of intelligence and strength would continue to exist in the new world."

"First off, there was not a 'parade of men'. Geez, you make it sound like I'm a whore or something. I mean, yeah, I like sex, but I do have some standards. Secondly, you know you're crazy right?" She held up a hand to forestall his protest. "This whole thing is crazy from the fact that you have plans for a zombie apocalypse to the fact that you've actually considered why our children would have the best chance of survival in a world like that."

They were both quiet for a moment. Sheldon was standing beside the table that they always used to fold their laundry, looking strange with a baby strapped to his chest. His face was twitching slightly, no doubt because of her words. He never did like when anyone called him out on his crazy.

Tilting her head back, Penny studied the ceiling. As her eyes traced over the pattern of water spots left from when one of the first floor apartments had flooded, she tried to absorb his words. Sure it was just a hypothetical situation, but Sheldon never considered even those if he didn't see them as possible. While the thought of having kids with him was just plain weird, she had to admit that she was a little flattered at the idea that he saw her as the ideal mother to his kids in such a dire situation. Plus, she had to agree that he was right. With his intelligence and her strength, their kids would be a force to reckon with.

Still a weird idea though.

"What if I don't survive the zombie apocalypse?" she asked, dropping her head back down to meet his eyes.

"You will," he said simply.

The fact that he would have such complete confidence in her abilities made her feel strangely warm. He didn't even seem to question that she might not survive an apocalyptic situation. The warmth working its way through her chest was strange and uncomfortable so she opted to distract herself.

"Aren't you afraid that I'll hurt our kids or something? You sure freaked out over the idea that I was babysitting this morning," she pointed out.

He waved a dismissive hand.

"I would be present to instruct you on proper child development, and I know that you would never hurt a child on purpose. I must admit that you seem better with Layla than I would have expected," he admitted in a reluctant tone. "Today has only confirmed that you would be the ideal mother to my progeny in a dire situation."

She wasn't sure what to think about his confession, so she expressed the one thought that had stuck with her since he had started explaining his apocalypse plan.

"You really are crazy," she declared, a grin tugging at her lips.

"I am not. My mother had me tested," he answered predictably.

"Maybe she should have gotten a second opinion," she pointed out causing him to let out an indignant gasp. She shook her head. "And maybe I should get tested too because this whole thing actually makes sense to me."

"Of course it does. My logic is impeccable," he stated smugly.

The machine below her came to a jarring stop. Penny jumped down to put her clothes in the dryer.

That was definitely the oddest conversation she had ever had, and she was a little glad that it was over. Now if she could just get the idea of little blue-eyed blondes that spouted physics out of her mind.

ooooo

"How long have I been working nights?"

The sound of Leonard's voice caught Penny's attention. Looking up from the white penny blossom she was working on, she saw him standing in the entry of the hallway taking in the sight before him. The confused expression on his face was so funny that Penny had to stifle a snicker.

She could definitely understand why he was baffled. Once their laundry was done, Penny and Sheldon had come back to the guys' apartment. Penny had settled on the couch to work on her penny blossom order while Sheldon went back to his work on his whiteboard. The sight wouldn't be odd at all if weren't for the fact that Sheldon still had Layla strapped to his chest.

The baby had fallen asleep while they were downstairs. When they'd finished, Penny had offered to take Layla back to her apartment, but he had refused. He was afraid that she would wake up if they moved her and then they'd have a crying baby on their hands. Since neither of them wanted to deal with the ear-splitting shrieks of that morning again, they had agreed to just leave her where she was. It wasn't like Sheldon couldn't work easily with her there anyway.

So, yeah, she could definitely see why Leonard was confused. She still had a hard time believing that Dr. Whack-a-doodle wasn't freaking out about the baby herself.

"Hi, sweetie," Penny offered her boyfriend with a smile.

She hadn't seen him since the day he told her he would be working nights and that had been a week and a half ago. Funny, but it didn't feel that long. In fact, she hadn't really missed him that much. Between her worry about Scott's plane ticket and keeping Sheldon entertained, she hadn't even thought about Leonard as often as she would have expected. She hadn't even considered that he might be in his room sleeping today. Looking at him now, she felt kind of guilty about that.

He crossed the room to drop a kiss on her lips.

"Hi, Penny," he greeted her, a grin of his own in place. It quickly turned into a frown as he faced his roommate again. "Why is Sheldon carrying a baby?"

The man in question had turned back to his whiteboard, apparently oblivious to their conversation although Penny knew better. He had his Vulcan hearing, so she was sure that he was listening to every word they said even if he wasn't particularly interested in the conversation.

"That's Layla. I've been babysitting her today. She fell asleep while we were doing our laundry and we didn't want to wake her up, so we didn't move her," she explained, leaning forward to grab a red gem.

"But why did he have her to start with?"

Penny shrugged as she arranged the gem on the flower.

"I was going to wear the carrier, but then he attacked with Sheldon logic and well..." She gestured at the man who had let out a soft, gaspy laugh at her words even though he hadn't turned around. "...you can see the result."

"My logic isthe only correct logic," he admonished Penny, finally looking over his shoulder and acknowledging the conversation behind him.

His voice was stern but the small smile on his face showed that he was amused by her description of the event. She couldn't help but grin back.

"Sure, sweetie. Whatever you say."

Shaking his head, he went back to his work. Penny watched him for a moment, grin firmly in place, before reaching for her hot glue gun. She had gotten to know Sheldon a bit better while Leonard was on nights, so she was finally starting to figure out his sense of humor. It was something that everyone thought he didn't possess, but she was learning that he was actually pretty funny. It was just so subtle that she had never noticed it before, instead focusing on his annoying tendencies. Plus, his wit always got drowned out by the others when they were around since they were much more obvious in their humor. In fact, given the support he had given her on the penny blossoms thing today, she was also starting to wonder if she hadn't underestimated his character when it came to his belief in others' abilities. Feeling surprisingly lighthearted, she glued the gem into place, not noticing the confused slide of Leonard's eyes from her to Sheldon and back again.

"You're making penny blossoms again?"

There was a strange note in Leonard's voice that immediately set Penny on edge.

"Yes. I received a rather large order," she responded.

She already knew what was going to come next, so she wasn't at all surprised by his following words. Disappointed but not surprised.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" he asked, worry in his voice. "The last time you tried selling those, you failed terribly."

Even though she had known he would say that, it didn't stop the ache in her heart. She had hoped her own boyfriend would have more faith in her than Sheldon, who had absolutely no reason to believe in her, did.

"I know," she agreed quietly, looking up at him. "But this is just a onetime order and the money was too good to pass up."

He frowned but nodded. "I guess I understand. I just don't want you getting your hopes up and failing again, Penny. I don't want you to get hurt." He leaned down to kiss her on the top of the head. "Well, I'm off to work. I should only have to do this for another week or so and then things will get back to normal. Goodnight, Penny. Sheldon."

As the door clicked behind him, Penny placed the final touches of gold glitter and set the finished flower aside. Her earlier happiness gone, she sighed softly before picking up a plain yellow flower. Lifting the artificial bloom to her nose even though she knew there was no scent, she blinked back sudden tears. If he didn't want her hurt, then why did he insist on hurting her?

"Would you like a hot beverage?"

Sheldon's question drew her from her thoughts. He was standing in front of the coffee table and staring down at her with concern on his face. Determined not to cry in front of him although she feared he had already seen the tears, she took a deep breath and shook her head.

"No, but thank you for the offer, sweetie." She set the flower down and stood up. "I should probably take Layla and head back to my apartment. I'm not sure when Molly will be by to pick her up and it's getting late."

The next few minutes were silent as he carefully handed the baby over. Layla stirred briefly at the movement but quickly fell back asleep once she was settled into Penny's arms. After Sheldon draped the carrier over her shoulder, Penny crossed the hall to her own apartment. She would collect her penny blossom supplies tomorrow.

Once inside, she placed Layla down on the blanket pallet on the floor and hurried into her room to change into her pajamas. As soon as she was comfortable in her shorts and tank top, she returned to the living room and sat down on the couch. She really wished that her cable wasn't disconnected. Her conversation with Leonard had left her heavy-hearted and she could use the distraction. Instead, she leaned her head back on the couch and closed her eyes, leaving her ears tuned for any noise from her charge.

Half an hour later, Layla was gone and Penny was $72 richer, having been paid $6 for each of the twelve hours that she had the baby. Exhausted from the long day, she considered going to bed but she wasn't sure that she could sleep. Leonard's words weighed on her, and, despite having spent several hours with him today, she missed her Scrubs time with Sheldon.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Penny."

Knock, knock, knock.

"Penny."

Knock, knock, knock.

"Penny."

Surprised to hear the familiar pounding on her door given the late hour, Penny answered, worried that something was wrong.

"What is it, Sheldon?"

He was standing in front of her door in his robe and slippers, clearly ready for bed. He looked a little unsure of himself and Penny found the vulnerability absolutely adorable.

"I can't sleep," he blurted out. "Will you watch Scrubs with me?"

"Sure, sweetie."

Brushing aside the odd sense of relief that flowed over her at his request, Penny padded barefoot across the hall to his apartment. They took their normal spots on the couch and he turned the DVD (he had finally just purchased the entire series) to the next episode in their lineup. As the opening song ended, he reached down and picked up the finished white penny blossom and the yellow one that she hadn't yet started.

"You took this and you made it into this."

He held up the yellow flower and then the white for her to see. Confused, she nodded.

"I did."

"You created something that others buy," he said.

Again she nodded. She was uncertain about where he was going with this.

"Well, yeah. Penny blossoms were an idea that I came up with for myself. Other people just happened to like them. I was lucky that way. But Leonard's right: taking any jobs beyond this one would probably result in failure and..." she paused, unsure if she wanted to explain. But this was Sheldon and she'd been honest with him so far today, so she continued, "I don't think I can handle adding yet another disappointment to a list that's already pretty frakkin' long."

"Penny," he said and his voice was so serious that she listened closely. "You can't listen to Leonard. He doesn't know anything about creating. He just copies previous experiments so even if they fail, it's not his work that suffers. But you and I create new things, and while your penny blossoms are nowhere near as important as my work, they are yours. Others like and want them, and since that's the entire point of a sell-able product that makes them a success. You should take pride in that."

Apparently finished, Sheldon handed her the blossoms and turned back to the TV. Staring down at the finished white blossom, she contemplated his little speech. Although he had predictably managed to sandwich an insult in there, she had the feeling that he was actively trying to comfort her. The fact that he would even make the effort was so amazing that she would have felt better even if the entire thing came off as an insult. Once again blinking back tears (happy ones this time), she smiled softly and tucked the white blossom behind her ear.

She was going to keep it as a reminder of his words.

ooooo

Her phone's ringtone woke Penny the next morning. Groaning, she reached blindly for it, knocking several things, including her alarm clock, off the nightstand.

"Hello?" she asked blearily.

"Hello, Penny."

The familiar Texan twang on the other end of the line surprised Penny and she cracked an eyelid open.

"Mrs. Cooper?"

"Just Mary, please," the older woman corrected. "I apologize if I woke you up, but I wanted to talk to you."

Fully awake and a little worried about Sheldon (because why else would his mom call her?), Penny opened her other eye and sat up.

"Is something wrong? Sheldon was okay when I left him last night."

"Oh, Shelly's fine. How are you?"

Her tone was full of concern and Penny didn't have a clue why.

Confused, she answered, "I'm okay."

"So Shelly was able to help you then?" she asked.

"What?"

How did Mary Cooper know that she was upset last night? Had Sheldon called her? That didn't seem like the sort of thing he would do, but how else could his mom know?

"That boy of mine called in the middle of the night last night all worried about you. He said that roommate of his made you cry and he offered you a hot beverage. He didn't understand why you turned it down. So he called and asked me what he should do to make you feel better," Mary explained in a slightly amused voice.

"Oh."

That was all Penny could get out because she was officially speechless. That wasn't something that she expected. The unfamiliar warmth that Sheldon was causing on a more and more regular basis flooded through her. She just couldn't believe that he had been worried enough to wake his mom up.

"Well, he did make me feel better," she admitted finally.

"Can I ask what he said?" Mary questioned curiously.

One corner of Penny's mouth quirked up as his words came back to her.

"He told me that I should be proud of my work even if it's not as important as his," she summarized.

She wanted to keep the specifics to herself. She knew Sheldon well enough to know that a pep talk from him was a very rare event, so she kind of liked that last night's was hers and hers alone. Out in Texas, Mary Cooper burst into laughter.

"That does sound like something my Shelly would say," she agreed in an amused voice before turning serious. "Penny, when God blessed my son, He gave him an extra helping of brains but forgot social skills. I never thought I'd see the day where he worried enough about someone else's happiness to call me for help."

She was quiet for a moment and Penny took the time to absorb her words. She still couldn't get over the fact that Sheldon had called his mom for help making her feel better.

"I don't know what your relationship with my son is since I know he's still involved with that Amy girl. Whatever it is, though, you're clearly one of his most important people if he's willing to ask for help to make you happy. So I'm gonna ask you to stick by him no matter what happens between you and Leonard. I know he can be difficult, but you've clearly shown him patience and kindness to earn your place in his life. The two of you have come a long way from the first time we talked."

Penny winced when she remembered her first conversation with Mary. It was right after Sheldon had catapulted her panties onto the electrical lines outside of his apartment. Penny had been crying when she called Mary and she was pretty sure that she had called the whack-a-doodle a bunch of horrible names, but she was so angry at the time that she still couldn't remember for sure. Either way, it hadn't been a pretty way to introduce herself since she was an adult taking the grade school tactic of tattling on him to his mom. Luckily Mary had been willing to get to know her after that and now Penny called her on the rare occasion when she was having a hard time dealing with Sheldon. His mom was full of good ideas for handling him at his worst.

"I don't plan on going anywhere," Penny reassured the other woman.

"That's real good to hear," Mary said, the twang in her voice happy. "Do me a favor: don't tell Shelly I called. That would only embarrass him and undo any progress he's made."

Penny laughed. "Don't worry. There's no way I'd want to have that conversation with him; I'd be the one to suffer his wrath."

Mary let out a chuckle of her own.

"You're probably right about that. Well, goodbye Penny. Have a good day."

"You too."

Once the call was disconnected, Penny dropped the phone on her nightstand and sank back down into her bed. She couldn't really explain it, but she felt like something in her friendship with Sheldon was shifting.

And that scared her.

Baby, you're a firework
Come on, let your colors burst
Make 'em go "Oh, Oh, Oh"
You're gonna leave 'em all in "awe, awe, awe"