This is a continuation or sequel if you like of "The Road to Commitment"
The usual disclaimer I own none of the characters, except for the ones I made up and you all know who they are
Whereas the previous story was Shamy and Lenny heavy, this will be more of all the characters
Story starts in October 2015, 2 months after Penny gave birth to Archie
It was Monday morning and Sheldon and Alex were having a meeting about her work, she had come to the end of working through all of his journals and while she still had the "Sheldon after dark tapes" to go through, Sheldon was concerned that there wasn't much else for her to do.
"Alex I would like to thank you for going through all of those journals, it can't have been easy and even though there may not of been anything that would of got me a Nobel Prize, it was still worth going through them, now I have been to see President Siebert and he has requested a meeting with you in 10 minutes to talk about your future here, would you like me to join you?"
"Of course" replied Alex
"Right let's get going then shall we?"
Sheldon and Alex left the office and walked towards President Sieberts office, they were called in straight away and Alex was surprised to see Raj already in there
"Ah good morning Dr Cooper and Miss Jensen, please take a seat, I will explain what I have decided for your future Alex, unfortunately there are no permanent positions available within your chosen field at the moment and what I have decided and I have already spoken to Dr Cooper and Dr Koothrapalli and they have agreed with me, that you shadow Dr Koothrapalli for a year and learn from his field, you will get paid of course as Dr Cooper says there are still some things for you to do with him, how does that sound?"
"That sounds great President Siebert, how many days a week will I be working with Dr Koothrapalli?
"For now I will say 3 days a week with him and 1 with Dr Cooper, I understand you have a weekend job so obviously you will need a day off during the week"
"Oh thank you very much, I appreciate it" replied Alex
"Well thank Dr Cooper, he has been very happy with your work the last 2 years and he convinced me to keep you on, Alex I believe in time you will be an asset to the University, so it would be silly to let you go" replied Siebert
"What days am I to work here then? Asked Alex
"That will be for you to decide between yourselves"
"Alex we can have a chat in my office later if you like" said Raj
"Sure"
"Ok you can all go now" replied Siebert
The three of them walked back to Raj's office, where once they were seated Alex thanked them both
"Can I take you both out to lunch to say thank you, you have both been so great and Dr Cooper you didn't have to do what you did and for that I am grateful
"Alex, I have told you before, just call me Sheldon, we have been part of the same social group for a long time now and I don't think we don't need formalities in the office and yes I will accept your invitation"
"Yes me as well" replied Raj
Meanwhile at Penny's house, she was getting restless, since giving birth to Archie she hadn't had time to sort out a childminder and she had a list of people who wanted her personal shopper services, she was having lunch with Amy who had come home at lunchtime to check on Marie and was complaining about it, Amy's mother Barbara who was Marie's babysitter had an idea
"Penny I am already here looking after Marie and I would be happy to take care of Archie if you wanted to go back to work"
"Barbara are you being serious because I would only need you two days a week, I cant risk losing my clients, they obviously know my circumstances but I hate letting people down"
"Yes of course Penny, just let me know the days you want to go in and I will do it"
"Will Wednesday and Thursday this week be ok?
"Of course, just bring him over whenever you need me"
"Mom that's a very nice thing for you to do for my bestie" said Amy
"Its not a problem, Marie is very good and Archie isn't that much different" replied Barbara
"Oh Sheldon text me earlier, he and Raj were able to get Alex a job shadowing Raj's field of work at the University and they have all gone out to lunch together" said Amy
"You know its funny how things work out, I really didn't trust Alex when she first came to work for Sheldon, on account of her being over friendly with Leonard but now I would consider her as one of my closest friends" said Penny
"How are the stores going Penny? Asked Barbara
"Yes they are both good, I will be using some of my time to check on both of them, I know I need to start on the spring range soon, I am so glad I have Raj dealing with all the finances, I wouldn't be able to cope with that"
"Drat I have to go back to work now, bye Penny" said Amy giving Marie a little kiss on the head as she was sleeping and leaving Barbara and Penny to discuss further childcare arrangements
Later that evening Raj had returned home and found Kelly his wife of 2 months anxiously awaiting his arrival
"You know I've been thinking Raj, I think we will need to get a bigger place than this apartment" said Kelly
"Why what's wrong with here?
"Well for one it doesn't have a nursery" said Kelly, she was trying to drop a hint and Raj took it
"Are you pregnant?
"Yes! It's strange because I have had no morning sickness and it was only because I realised I missed my last cycle that I could have been, how do you feel about it? Asked Kelly
"This is fantastic, I'm going to be a daddy! Raj was over the moon with happiness and hugged and kissed Kelly
"So it's a good thing then, I think we should tell our parents soon though" said Raj
"Of course and our friends" replied Kelly
Just then as arranged previously Howard and Bernadette arrived with Rose for dinner, they took one look at the happy couple and asked what was going on
"We are having a baby" said Raj
"Congratulations, when are you due?
"If I go by my calculations then I would say May or June, I will need to get it confirmed by the doctors" said Kelly
"Also I haven't discussed this with Kelly yet and I hope she approves, but I hope you two could be godparents
Kelly nodded in approval as Howard and Bernadette both said yes
Ok chapter two will be along shortly and will follow the theme of the 1st chapter with a bit of mix of characters
I thank you in advance for the reviews