So thanks to the poll on my profile page, I've started to clean up what I've written for the sequel to The Surrogate Paradox. I've got the first chapter ready to post now, so here it is! I can't guarantee when updates are going to occur, but they shouldn't be more than a few days apart. Feel free to vote in the poll if you haven't, no need to vote for this one anymore!

I don't own anything that you see on television. I do own Benny. :D

"Penny, I've told you this many times before and I'll say it again, your breasts should be able to do better than this," Amy said, shaking her head slowly as she eyed the containers.

Penny glanced down at her chest, and then back up to the brunette neurobiologist, raising her eyebrows ever so slightly in mock annoyance. "Amy, I'm a woman, not a machine."

"Still," Amy said, holding one of the containers up, "considering the size of your breasts, it's amazing that Benny can live off of such small amounts of milk.""

"Sheldon told me he doesn't even use all of it. And he's gaining weight. What's the problem, exactly?"

"Nothing to do with Benny," Amy said, "I just don't know that you're fulfilling your production potential."

"We're not selling it," Penny said. "Anyway, you just have your own baby next time and then I'll be able to go about my day not being told repeatedly that my breastmilk production is low. Not to mention, your comment about Benny being able to survive 'considering the size of' my chest, implies that baby's survive based on proportion, isn't it?"

"Oh, I'm not intending to offend," Amy said. "We're very lucky that the woman who carried that our baby is willing to feed it, too. And yes, you're right. Very good."

"Damn right you're lucky," Penny said, "and don't you ever forget it." She had always assumed that the Shamy would bottle feed Benny, but after he had been born Amy had brought up the possibility of them continuing to use Penny for Benny's nutrition. She had agreed, partly because it was the best way to feed a baby and partly - mostly, if she was being totally honest with herself - because wanted Benny to still need her somehow. Three months into his life, the Shamy baby's survival still depended on Penny, and she loved that. She chose to ignore the fact that he'd technically be able to survive on formula, too, and he wouldn't need the Vitamin D supplements he currently was on. It didn't matter, Shamy preferred their little experiment be fed the natural way, and long story short, Penny was happy to comply, as strange and unusual as their arrangement was.

"How long do you have to work today?" Amy asked.

"I'll be home by seven," Penny answered. "Then I'm going to go over to Leonard and Sheldon's. You'll drop Benny off?"

"Yes," Amy said. "Are you aware that each time you have a day off you ask if you are going to get Benny, even though our schedule that allows this has not changed once in the past three months? It implies a lack of faith in either my honesty or your memory."

"I'm just making sure," Penny said, putting the last of the containers into the cooler – style bag that Amy had brought with her. "Now I gotta go and change; you'll show yourself out?"

"I am certianly capable," Amy said, putting her arm around Penny's neck for a quick and somewhat awkward hug, a hug that Penny had grown quite accustomed to being on the receiving end of these last eleven weeks. While the Shamy was not great at expressing prolonged gratitude, it was getting easier and easier to understand when Amy was trying. "See you later, Bestie."

Penny moved into the bedroom and finished the water bottle on her bedside table; she had to keep hydrated while she was feeding Benny, and then opened her closet and pulling out her Cheesecake Factory uniform. She looked at the ensemble and smiled to herself. It wasn't the most gorgeous of outfits, and she was tired of the same old, same old job, but she could fit in it again, and that was really, really nice.

Penny moved to the bathroom and took off her sweats, tugging the shirt over her head and zipping the skirt around her hips. She tipped her head back slightly to put her hair up, pulling it into her usual work – do effortlessly. She'd bounced back well from the caesarian that had resulted in Benny's birth, and aside from the scar on her lower stomach that she still traced with her finger each time she saw it, she showed no effects from the pregnancy. She was a part of the baby's life, and as much as she did miss Benny being with her all the time, Penny was glad that she was slim enough again to fit into that uniform.

Or maybe she was missing Benny so much she was just trying to find something good about being alone again.

Penny pushed that thought to the back of her mind and buried it, grabbing her purse and heading out the door. As of right now, Penny was still helping Benny to survive. She didn't know what she would do once the baby was weaned, and she wasn't planning on crossing that bridge until she absolutely had to.

Please review! This fic is going to take a different track than "the gang learns that they're like a family." That was the point of my last fic. This one will explore some other directions. Hope you'll enjoy it! This is my first multi-chapter sequel! :)