III.

This is sometime in the future:

"Bestie, not that I don't love having you around…but don't you think it's time for you to go home?"

She's exhausted, and the light shining in from the window is burning her eyes. Amy had come into the (her) room (his room), with a frown on her face. She hated being sympathized for, she wasn't a charity case. So, she mustered up all her pride and pulled the covers back, her stomach was rounded out –not completely, but still noticeable. She would be three months now. She left Sheldon when she was just a month and a half.

Sheldon, it broke her heart even thinking about his name.

"Don't worry, I'm going to find my own place and be out of your hair soon," her voice was coarse partly from sobbing all the time, and never really speaking, "I get it, you don't want your friend who's also your baby daddy's ex living with you. It's a girl thing, despite being friends. And despite the fact you and I are on the exact same boat. You know, with both of us going behind the other's back with our exes and getting knocked up," Her voice sounded bitter, and she hated herself for it because Amy had been nothing but accommodating for the last month and a half, she had no right to be upset.

The brunette bristled, "That's not true at all. I don't mind if you stay with us permanently, it's just I think it would be better for you if you either went home or started to get back on your feet." She argued, "I see on TMZ they're running rampant with stories, make believe stories, they've even got Sheldon ambushed at NYU one time. He looked devastated and confused. You either need to handle this or call your manager, I don't know how it goes in the Hollywood world!"

She knew her friend was right.

"Well, Sheldon didn't come look for me so he must be fine. Why should I be the one to come see him and rescue him when he didn't care to go do the same? He clearly made up his mind, he doesn't want me or his unborn child. I'm not gonna put myself on the line for a guy who couldn't put down his books for a weekend or even a day, to come see me."

Amy frowned deeply, "He's called everyone nearly every day asking about you, Penny."

It makes her head hurt, why hadn't she known this? "Well he hasn't called me."

"Because he knows you, we all know you. You're stubborn."

She goes to argue, but Amy cuts her off, "Would you have answered?"

She closes her mouth.

"Exactly. He's called Howard, Raj, Bernie, Leonard, me, and even your parents. He doesn't know where you are," she tells her friend with a sad look on her face, "And he's worried. He's so worried about you and your child. He says he can barely sleep knowing you're out there somewhere and he has no idea where to look. Nobody besides Leonard and I know where you are, and I obviously will hold your secret to my heart and I've leveraged sex for Leonard to do the same, but I'm starting to rethink this choice."

"You can't make my decisions for me, Amy!"

Amy moved to walk about but then looked back at the crying blonde in her apartment, "No? So, when are you gonna start making them for yourself? You have a man who loves you so much," she hesitates, "We both know Sheldon, and you for longer than me, when does he ever show this much emotion and vulnerability? You've got him doing things he has never done before. Yes, he made the stupid mistake of running out on you, but he came back Penny…he came back."

She watched Amy leave and apart of her heart broke, she couldn't help but feel like Amy still had these harbored feelings for Sheldon, or this hate towards her. She got Sheldon to love her and commit to her without a contract or tactfulness. All she had to do was smile at Sheldon, and he would hang the moon for her. It made her feel worse, knowing she had left him to his own devices. She did the same thing she got angry at him for doing.

She hears Amy say goodbye to Leonard as she leaves for work, Wesley taking a nap, so she's confused when she hears Leonard knocking on the door and walking in. She stares at him from the bed, and he stares at her from the foot of it. He speaks first.

"So, you're really pregnant, huh?" He gestured to her stomach that's poking out. She glares at him and then hastily covers her stomach. Leonard had been nothing but a creep since she was here, and she would've left sooner if she had somewhere to actually go. Ever since she came back, all he kept doing was trying to sleep with her or ask if there was a chance they can get back together.

He walked a bit closer, "Do you remember when you were dating Kurt? You were different, I don't think you ever cheated on one of your boyfriends, but I know back then is when you were the most capable of doing it," he told her in a matter-of-fact tone, and she didn't know where he was going with this so she stayed silent but alert.

"I wish you were the same you back then, not the Hollywood star Penny, or the smarter Penny, or Sheldon's Penny," he gritted out the last one, "I know we've all changed, but damn I wish you didn't. You were so much easier to please back then."

Her mouth hung open at his words, "What the hell Leonard?"

He looked her in the eye, "The point is, if you're not going to let me have sex with you, then you have to leave my apartment. You can't stay here rent free," he told her seriously. He wasn't shocked when Penny slapped him in the face. He did shock her though, when he gripped her wrist a little to forcefully, "So I take it that's a no, you have until the end of the day to get out. I know you're getting paid enough to make last minute choices, so don't make me find you here when I get back from work." With one last squeeze he was gone.

She just sat there crying, when did her life come to this?

This is realization:

She's going home, to New York. To Sheldon.

Amy was right, there were things she and Sheldon had to work through if they were ever going to give their unborn child a chance at happiness. She refused to let her child grow up in a broken home, she knew what that was like. No, her parents weren't divorced, but they might as well be. They were both unhappy, and both turned to their own substances to drown out their own sorrows. At this point she only believed they stayed together because it was cheaper than getting a divorce. Not really the best foundation for a marriage.

Meanwhile, she knew Sheldon also knew what it was like to be in a broken home. His parents had a turbulent relationship. His mother was a devote Christian and his father was the exact definition of an alcoholic. If George Sr. hadn't died so many years ago, she had no idea what kind of man Sheldon would turn out to be today.

She didn't want the same thing for her child.

She wanted to give her child the life she didn't have.

So, she's coming off the plane, and she's collecting her luggage, and the New York bustle of the streets greet her. Sheldon doesn't know she's coming home, and she rather he be surprised by her arrival opposed to giving him time to prepare. Something inside of her just wants to catch him in the act of anything.

She opens the door to their house and is immediately hit with the scent of pine and bleach, he had been cleaning. It immediately tears at her heart strings because he was always a clean person, but he only ever went into a cleaning frenzy when he was absolutely bothered over something. All around their living room are whiteboards and papers, equations fill each surface and she can't read it, but she knows it's important. Everything he does is important.

"Sheldon?"

She doesn't get a reply, and she starts to wonder if he's even home. But then she hears the creaking of the front door and it opens, he's standing there. He looks taller, and his eyes look duller, and his chin is littered with stubble, and she starts to cry because she has been so selfish. All this time she was focusing on herself, and what pain she had gone through and what he has done to her. She hadn't stopped to think what she was doing to him.

Yes, maybe he did deserve to be left alone for a week or so, because honestly how dare he walk out on her. But a month and a half was far too long, she had robbed him of that part of her pregnancy development.

She doesn't get to think much longer because he has crossed the floor in two long strides, and he's grabbing onto her for dare life. He's crying, he's honest to god crying in her hair. Apologizing for everything, he was so stupid to walk out on her. He was so stupid to not chase after her when he realized she had left. Please don't leave me again.

She pulls away and looks up at him, his disheveled appearance alarming to her, but still she had things she needed to say.

"You left me, Sheldon."

He looks away, ashamed.

"I never walked out on you. You left me first, and I waited for hours for you to come back but you didn't," she explained to him slowly, "I texted you and you ignored me. I am pregnant, and your fiancée and you left me on my own, I need you to understand how that made me feel."

He looks at his feet and then at her, her green eyes fresh with tears, "I am so sorry, Penny. I know I have an issue with running, I know I'm a flight-risk, and it's only because I get scared. Every time something big happens, I get scared because all of these scenarios go through my mind of the many ways, I can lose you and I can't bare it. I can't bear the thought of losing you again, not like last time back in Pasadena."

She steps away from him slightly once she sees him come closer, "Running away will make you lose me, Sheldon. You can't do that anymore. You're a grown man, and you're going to be a father. I know you've improved on your habits from years ago, but it's about time you drop them all together. You need to start setting a good example for your child, and that starts with taking responsibility for the things you cause."

"I just didn't think we'd end up have children so soon," he admits.

Her face kind of darkens, and he wonders if he said something wrong, "Newsflash, Mr. Science-Guy," she knows he hates it when she calls him that, "People are more inclined to have kids and get pregnant when they sleep together, and you and I tend to have a lot of sex."

Sheldon just looks at her, he knows how the anatomy and reproduction works.

"Like I said, it's time to grow up. You could've messaged me any time since I been gone, and you didn't."

He furrowed his eyebrows, "Yes I did. I called you, and you let it go to voicemail and then you texted me saying you'd be ok if you never saw me again," it hurt him all over again as he reached into his pocket and showed her the offending message.

Her eyes widened in shock, that was her number, but it wasn't her who typed that. She had to think hard about what she was doing that day so long ago, and why a message like that was sent from her phone. It was like it all clicked as she reached for the device.

Sheldon gripped just below her wrist and his face darkened, he examined her wrist and she silently cursed, "What's this? Who did this?"

She pulled her wrist back and out of his steel grip, "It was an accident."

"Aren't we talking about growing up and no more running away from problems?"

She sighed deeply, "It was Leonard," she hurried as she saw the anger flash on his face, "It was an accident…I'd like to say. He's not completely over me, and he made some passes at me while I was staying with, he and Amy, he propositioned me basically. Told me to sleep with him or get out." She never realized the intensity of the situation until she spoke about it, "I said no, obviously, and he got mad and grabbed my arm. I didn't realize it bruised."

She never really witnessed angryprotective!sheldon and as she watched him sidestep her and go to his laptop, she was curious to know what he was doing. He hesitated for a moment before turning to her and holding her arms, keeping her eye contact.

"I love you so much, Penny. I swear I never knew what love was, I never knew it was possible until you came into my life. And knowing you're carrying my child; it only intensifies my love for you. Not only that, my protectiveness. Like you said, it's time for me to grow up and with that entails protecting what's mine, and you and our future child are mine," his speech brings tears to her eyes and she nods. For the first time in what feels like eternity, he kisses her so passionately she doesn't know what to do with herself.

This is happiness, again:

Leonard gets fired.

Sheldon had no tolerance for abuse since he came from an abusive household himself. However, his tolerance was even lower when it came to others harmfully touching his wife. Yes, wife. They agreed to get married in a small ceremony two months after she came back to New York, it was everything either of them ever wanted.

He knew his status held power over Leonard, but he needed more than that. He emailed Gablehauser and exposed Leonard for what he did in the Arctic. He had written apologies and admittance from Raj and Howard already, so all he had to do with attach those with his email and the proof was in the pudding. Leonard was fired not even two days later. He made it known that it was him who was the culprit behind this. Understandably, Leonard was angry, he had a son to feed.

Sheldon didn't care.

His last words to Leonard was to never come around his family again, and never place his hands on his wife again.

Penny gives birth, it's a girl.

Brown curly hair, big green eyes. She's the perfect mix of both of her parents, and they both feel their hearts melting when Rowan Aurora Cooper smiles for the first time.

As the years go by, neither Sheldon nor Penny could believe the arguments they faced and the time they wasted being stubborn. It all seemed so trivial now that they were finally at peace. They were happy, and their lives were complete. This was all that mattered.