I'm sorry to those that requested I go on after the baby is born, but if there's one thing I hate when it comes to Fanfiction is when authors go on and on per reader request, and they get to a point where they have no more story to tell but keep trying to drag it along. I've told myself that I will never to that, and as in my initial planning for this fic I intended to end it when the baby came, this is the final chapter. I will not compromise the quality of my fics to give people more chapters.

I own the baby, I guess.

"Are we ready to go?" Howard asked, peering into Penny's room.

"You are so lucky that I wasn't changing," Penny said, sliding her feet into her shoes.

"Well, I almost made that mistake an hour ago," Howard said. "But Bernadette warned me. Hey, question, how do girls always know when each other are changing?"

Penny rolled her eyes. "Well, when a girl tells another girl 'hey, I'm going to go and change' then it's a pretty good indicationthat that's what they're doing."

Howard made a face. "Fine. But going back to my question, are you ready to go?"

Penny shrugged, putting her hands on her stomach. "No, but…I guess I kinda have to be, don't I?"

"Hey," Howard said, going to sit on the bed next to her. "I don't really understand; I'm a guy, and apparently that makes me unable to understand stuff, but you know that you'll be able to see this little guy whenever you want. And once you explain all this, I guarantee you'll be his or her favorite aunt."

"Are you sure?" Penny said. "This might all creep him or her out…"

Howard gave a little laugh. "Maybe," he said. "But seriously, you're doing a good thing, and I mean, for Sheldon and Amy…what a sacrifice!" He and Penny laughed. "Come on, let's go."

"Where's Bernadette?" Penny asked.

"Right here," said the microbiologist, entering the room. "No more Braxtons this morning?"

"Nope," Penny said. "It's all good." She smiled, getting to her feet.

"Okay," Bernadette said. "Sheldon and Amy are going to meet us at the hospital…"

"Hi Bestie!"

"Sheldon is going to meet us at the hospital," Bernadette amended as the neurobiologist entered the room and gave Penny a hug. "And we said we'd call when we get there, so…" she trailed off, realizing that she didn't have an ending to that sentence. "…we'd better not call now, since we're…not there."

Penny raised an eyebrow. "I think we'd better go and get there before you overthink something else."

"Okay!" Amy clapped her hands together once. "Let's go have a baby!"

"I think we should teleport it to your uterus and have you do it," Penny said dryly.

"It would still be a CPD," Amy said. "And it's much cheaper than teleportation, considering that a caesarian is in fact possible."

"What's CPD?" Penny asked.

"Cephalopelvic disproportion," Amy said. "It's medical terms for the baby is too big."

"I think I might even like that way of putting it better," Penny said. She thought about it for another moment and then shook her head. "No, that one's just as scary."

"I hate this hospital" Penny said. "They stick me with needles and they gave me a catheter."

"You're going to wish that they would do those things after today," Amy said. "Because they're going to cut your lower stomach and staple it shut when they're done."

"Yeah, I got that," Penny said, stretching. The baby did a somersault, and she bit her lip, realizing it could be the last time that she felt that. "I got that."

The four of them walked into the hospital and up to the front desk, where Penny gave her name and information. "Julia will take you to the room," said the lady at the desk.

"Penny, wait!"

She whirled around to see Sheldon, Leonard, and Raj jogging toward her. "You guys," she said, feeling choked up all of a sudden. "I didn't think I'd see you before!"

Leonard got there first and hugged her, and Howard and Raj piled on. "Don't squeeze me so hard," she joked. "If you do, you might squeeze that baby down there, and then the C – section is going to become an emergency."

"Sorry!" The guys jumped back. "Howard, what are you doing?" she asked, laughing, "you've been with me since this morning!"

He shrugged. "They were all doing it."

She laughed. "I'm so glad you guys are here," she said, grabbing their hands one by one. "You can't come in with me but I promise you I'll ask to see you as soon as possible afterwards, okay?"

"Sounds like a plan," Howard translated for Raj. The astrophysicist smiled and nodded, giving Penny a thumbs up.

"Good luck," Leonard told her. "Not that you need it."

"Maybe you should go and wish the doctors…" Howard started, and then trailed off when Penny, Leonard, and Raj glared at him.

"Are you ready?" she asked the Shamy. They glanced at each other and nodded. "Okay," she said, reaching out her hands. Amy took it right away, Sheldon hesitated. "I carried your baby for more than eight months."

Sheldon hesitated. "Fine." He took her other hand, and they walked into the designated room.

"Okay, here's what's going to happen," the doctor said. "We're administering the anesthesia, and then we're going to string this drape over your ribs so you can't see what we're doing. Then we're going to make a transverse cut – or a bikini cut – of about three or four inches in your skin. Then we'll do the same thing in your uterine wall and remove the baby. This should take about a half an hour."

"A half an hour?" Penny said.

"It's not an emergency operation," the doctor said. "So we don't rush. Don't worry, you'll be conscious, but it'll be over before you know it. Are you ready?"

Penny gave a small nod, readjusting her position on the table. "Amy?"

"Yes?"

"Can you fix the pillow? It's falling off the back."

"Oh, I noticed that," Sheldon said.

Penny and Amy looked over at him. "When you 'notice' something amiss with the little one," Amy said tensely, "you just fix it."

Sheldon looked at her for a moment, then lowered his eyes. "Yes ma'am."

"Okay," said a nurse, approaching Penny. We're just going to put this oxygen tube under your nose, okay?"

"You've already hooked me up to a million different things," she said in mock protest.

"Okay," said the obstetrician. "Looks like we're ready." He stepped beyond the curtain. Penny grabbed Amy's hand when the neurobiologist moved within reach of Penny's strapped down arms, listening to the steady beeping of her heart on the monitor."

Sheldon and Amy heard the monitor's beeps speed up rapidly just as Penny's eyes widened and she let out a shriek.

The obstetrician and nurses were working rapidly. "It's okay, it's okay, the numbing took an extra second," the doctor said comfortingly. "You only have a quarter inch cut," he said. "We stopped."

"Bestie," Amy said, her eyes wetter than anyone had seen them before.

"Are you crying?" Sheldon asked, looking terribly confused. "I'm sorry," he said, looking down at Penny. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," Penny said, sucking in a quick breath. "It's numb now."

"We're going back to work," said the doctor gently. "Now I assume you cannot feel that?"

"No," Penny said.

"We sincerely apologize for that," the nurses said.

"It's okay," Penny said.

"No it isn't!" Sheldon said. "That is hospital negligence."

"No," Penny said. "Honestly, it wasn't that bad, I was just surprised.

"Okay, try not to talk," said Amy. "Just let the oxygen flow."

"For some odd reason that doesn't calm me down," Penny said.

"Shh!" Amy put a finger to Penny's lips. "No talking."

"It's a boy," said the doctor seconds preceding the little cry that pierced the air and reduced Penny and Amy – to a certain extent – to tears. Penny wanted to put her hands up to her face, but she couldn't, so she tipped her head back and choked on her own tears.

The doctor moved over so Penny and the Shamy could see the baby. "Parents care to hold before we take him to recovery?"

"Absolutely," Amy said, nudging Sheldon.

He looked panicked. "What?"

"You're closer."

He cleared his throat. "Right." Awkwardly holding out his arms, the doctor transferred the newborn to his father's arms. Sheldon looked down at him for several seconds before speaking. "Hello." He rocked his arms ever so slightly. "That's a boy. Amy, do you want him?"

"Yes!" she said, beaming and taking the baby. Sheldon looked at Penny. "Ten pounds my Texan ass. Nine point eight at the most. I haven't spent time looking at your hips, but I think you could have done this the regular way."

"Always nice to have your opinion, Shelly," Penny said sarcastically.

Amy looked over at Penny, and silently stepped closer and leaned down. Penny ran her hands through the thin dark hair on the baby's head and leaned over to kiss his forehead. "Thanks," she said to Amy.

"We should be thanking you," Amy said.

Sheldon looked confused again. "We did thank her. Seventeen times. The last this past Saturday shortly after two p.m."

It was nearly an hour before Penny was stitched up and in a recovery room. The nurses watched her to make sure she didn't get the shakes, and when it became clear that she was okay, they allowed Leonard, Howard, and Raj to come into the room.

"Where is he?" Howard asked after the three guys had gently given Penny a hug.

"Shamy is with him. Then they said they'll bring him to me. They said if I could hold him in my womb for eight months, then I could hold him in my arms."

"That was sweet of them," Leonard said, brushing her hair back.

"It was nice of Amy," Penny said. "Sheldon agreed, but I know Amy was standing on his foot."

Raj laughed.

"How are you feeling?" Leonard asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"I'm sore," she said. "And it's going to get worse, but they'll put me on medication if it gets too bad. I feel good though, knowing I did this for them, but…" she shrugged. "It makes me really want one someday." She grinned at Leonard. "In a year or two I may have to take you up on that offer."

"Hey now," Howard said to Penny as Bernadette walked into the room. "Why can't I get in on the…absolutely nothing at all," he finished upon seeing his wife. She playfully rolled her eyes at him.

"Hello!" said Amy brightly as she and Sheldon entered the room, their son in Amy's arms. "I brought him to you, Bestie!" she said, grinning.

"Hey there," Penny said, reaching out her arms. Amy lowered the baby onto Penny's hands and the surrogate drew him in against her for security. "Hey, little boy."

"The last time I said that in the park I almost got arrested," Sheldon mumbled. Penny saw Amy rearrange the position of one of her feet, and Sheldon shut up.

Penny looked down at the baby's pink face. He opened his eyes and looked at her, and she smiled. "Hey there, sweetie," she said, feeling herself tear up. "I'm going to be your favorite aunt," she told him. "Okay? You have to promise, because I was your first home and you never stop loving your first home, you know?"

"Even our child can't understand metaphors at ninety minutes old," Sheldon said. "It took me well, months to figure that one out."

"How's the sarcasm coming?" Penny asked.

"Oh, that reminds me," Sheldon said, "I expect you to teach him about that. It's terribly inconvenient not to have a sarcasm – radar."

"I bet," Penny said. She glanced back down at the baby. She knew this was going to be hard; she'd known since the day she agreed to do this. But she hadn't expected to feel this much emotion – not this much. She leaned down and kissed the baby's head again. "Here, Amy," she said, letting the boy's biological mother take him back.

"Have you decided on a name?" Bernadette asked.

The Shamy nodded. "Yes," Amy said. "Sheldon wanted to name him Newton, but I disagreed. Newton had nothing to do with this child. If we had had gravity be the surrogate, or have had the laws of motion take care of gravity during the final days of the pregnancy, then Newton would be the correct choice."

Penny and Bernadette glanced at each other, confused. "So…" Bernadette asked.

"So I never thought I would name a child anything that sounded this informal," Amy said, "but the son of Sheldon and I is Benny. Benny Newton Fowler Cooper."

"That's a mouthful," Howard said.

"He'll get over it," Amy said. "We are sure he'll be incredibly smart." She looked at Penny and Bernadette. "Do you get it? Bernadette, Penny…Benny…"

"Which I might add is not particularly creative," Sheldon said, "but she did agree to Newton as a middle name, and she was putting quite a bit of weight on my foot."

Penny smirked. "Amy?" she asked in a quiet voice, her smile gone an instant after it had been there.

"Hmm?"

"I can come and see him…right?" Her voice cracked.

Amy sat down on the edge of the bed so Penny could see Benny's face. "We'll both be his mothers," Amy said in deadpan. "Sound good?"

Penny smiled again, reaching over to put her hand on Benny's stomach. "Yeah. Sound good."

Bernadette dropped down onto the bed beside Leonard, Howard beside her. Raj sat at the foot, and Sheldon, uneasy about being the only one standing, dropped down beside Amy.

"Benny is going to have a weird extended family," Bernadette noted, giving a little laugh.

Amy looked up, genuinely confused. "What are you talking about?" She asked. "You are the most normal people I have ever willingly spent time with." She smiled at Penny. "Right?"

Penny cocked her head. "Well…you, yeah, I can believe that. Not me."

"Most definitely not you," Leonard said, laughing.

"Can I just say one thing?" Penny said.

"That would be the day," Sheldon said under his breath.

"That's not sarcasm, no matter how much you try," Howard said.

"Drat."

"Did you want to say your one thing?" Leonard asked.

"Right," Penny said. "Just that…and I may be overemotional right now, but…while you guys aren't nearly the most normal group of people I've ever met, no contest, but…" She felt the tears coming again. "But…" she put a hand to her mouth, and then brought it down to grab Leonard's, her other hand still touching Benny's stomach. "But you guys are the best group that I've met. And that part – that part is no contest either."

This fic was inspired by a conversation on another site about how awesome it would be if Amy and Sheldon had a baby and Amy named it Benny after her two friends. So I knew the name and gender of the child before I even wrote the fic – apologies to those who wanted it to be a girl. :/ I may write follow up oneshots, but again, only if I have a story to tell. Also, I'm sorry to those who wanted me to get Penny and Leonard together. You all know how much I adore them, but that wasn't my intention with this fic. It was to make the group realize how close they all are as friends.

Hope you enjoyed this!