I decided to write this after The Mommy Observation aired and I didn't like the idea of the gang not all coming together again in twenty years. I think I've come up with a plausible reason that Stuart was the only one there that night. Thanks to Brit and smoguntia over at Fanforum for the language translations - all sentences spoken in French and German are also given - either exactly or in paraphrase - into English, so no one has to worry about looking up meanings! All times given are the current time in the location where the characters are, so one or two might be slightly out of order (it doesn't matter).
Hope you guys like it, I'd love to know what people think!
Pasadena, California
March 13, 2034.
8:28 pm.
Stuart had written it clearly on his hand. March 13, 2034, 8pm, out in front of Leonard, Penny, and Sheldon's old apartment building. He hadn't spoken to any of them, apart from Sheldon and Amy, in ten years, with them all scattered about the world, just as Leonard had predicted they'd be. Three of them weren't even in the country.
He checked his watch again – 8:37. They could have told him. They could have…how could it be that none of them would show up? They numbered seven, seven people, four groups. Did they plan to not show up? Or were they never thinking they would?
Stuart leaned up against the wall. He hadn't been doing too badly for himself…he'd even been married for a while. And she did leave him the golden Labrador when she'd taken off with the chemist. Stuart supposed he should have known that yet another woman would choose a scientist over him.
He stood up straight again, looking to his left. He didn't think he looked too badly for fifty eight. Not that anyone cared. He'd been divorced for three years, there had never been children, and although he had thought otherwise, a part of him – a little part of him – always believed that the group would come back. It's what had gotten him through the past few years.
He looked at his watch. It was a quarter to nine.
"I knew it."
He walked away at a brisk pace, hoping no one would notice the disappointment on his tired face.
Paris, France
March 13, 2034
9:45 am.
Raj smiled as he put his carry on in the overhead compartment and settled down in the seat. He selected the seat temperature and his meal order on the touch screen in front of him, and turned, still smiling, to greet the woman who came to sit next to him. She gave a small, polite smile back, and settled into the chair next to him.
Raj leaned over slightly. "Vous iriez au Etats-Unis, oui? J'habite la un fois. Je va retourne la pour manger supper avec mes amis anciens. J'irai seul. Mon epouse n'aime pas de voler."
She turned and raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh, I'm sorry," Raj said. "I was saying that we're going to the United States. I used to live there, and I'm going back to have dinner with my friends." He shifted his weight. "I'm flying alone because my wife doesn't like flying." He gave a little laugh as a new thought occurred to him. "It's a wonder I got her across the ocean in the first place." Raj leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes.
After a moment, they flew open again as he remembered something else. "I wanted to bring the dog, but she's never been on a plane before and this is a rather long flight for the first time."
The woman shook her head. " Je m'exucse…"
"Oh, so you speak French!" Raj cleared his throat. "Je desire d'apporter la chienne, mais elle n'avait jamais dans un avion et c'est une longue voyage pour sa premiere temps."
He got raised eyebrows back, and then the woman sighed. "J'ai ete ecoute votre histoire, mais j'oubliee la partie ou j'ai demandee."
I'm sorry. I've been listening to your story, but I seem to have missed the part where I asked.
"Well," Raj said in English. "You actually remind me of one of the friends I'm going to see. She's got the same sarcastic way of speaking to people." He leaned back and put his headphones in. Somebody's been taking bitchy pills.
Boston, Massachusetts
March 13, 2034
8:47 pm.
"Are you sure you don't need anything else?" Penny asked, slinging her arm over her oldest daughter's shoulder.
Savannah shook her head. "No, Mom. You've packed enough food in the fridge to last a month. Ada might manage to finish the cod, but we'll at least be able to survive on the cranberry sauce and hot dogs."
"Alright, then," Penny said, kissing the girl's head. "You call me every night before you guys go to sleep, okay?"
"Mom, I'm sixteen years old, and you're going to be gone two nights."
"Still. Your brother's still a baby. Call me."
"He's not a baby," Savannah said. "The sooner you realize that…"
"The sadder I will be," Penny finished.
Right on cue, the kitchen door opened and a boy in a football uniform raced inside. "Mama!" He said, throwing his arms around her. "I thought you guys would leave before I got back!"
"You're such a baby," Savannah said.
"Did you see your father, Kirk?" Penny said, ignoring the teenager. "He was getting ready in our room."
"Not yet," the boy said. "Mama, Ada wants to know if you bought cod."
"I bought lots of cod," Penny said. "Where is she? We have to go soon, Ada!"
She met the twelve year old coming into the living room. "Don't yell at me, Dad isn't even ready yet."
"Yes I am!" Leonard came out of the master bedroom with two suitcases. "Will you three behave while we're gone?"
"I'm just planning on working on my ACT prep," Savannah said, shrugging.
"I've got that paper on Priya Kapur to write," Ada said. "I'm debating whether or not to mention that my father once dated the lead prosecuting attorney in the Robert Appleton case."
"I'd prefer if you left that out," Leonard said.
"Mention it," his wife argued. "He could have had the lead prosecuting attorney in the Robert Appleton case, and he picked me!" She put a hand to her chest and put on her best flattered expression.
The kids laughed.
Berlin, Germany
March 14,
2:02 pm
"Ich weiss, dass das sehr kurzfristig ist!"Bernadette said angrily. As of now we're getting into Los Angeles after seven, like I'm unaware it is short notice! "Wenn Sie jemandem zum anschreien brauchen, können wir meinen Mann herrufen. Er versteckt sich gerade bei der Gepäckausgabe."
Or at least she thought Howard was still hiding by the baggage claim so the lady at the counter couldn't yell at him about the irresponsibility of trying to get a flight last minute. He'd had the damn date in his phone for twenty years, she told him a month ago to get plane tickets…
"Hey babe, got the tickets?" Howard appeared next to her with a smile. It faded quickly. "Still mad?"
"Ich habe zwei Sitzplätze auf einem Flug nach Los Angeles verfügbar, mit einer Stunde Aufenthalt in NewCity," the woman said to them.
"They have two seats to L.A. with an hour layover in New York City," Bernadette told Howard.
"I know. I've lived here for thirteen years."
"It'll get us there late…"
The woman held up a hand. "Aber die Sitze sind nicht zusammen."
"Oh no," Howard said, looking distraught. "The seats aren't together." He looked at Bernadette. "Is this really the best we can do?"
Bernadette smiled and looked back at the woman. "Das klingt perfekt."
Pasadena, California
March 14, 2034
7:49 pm
"Amy," Sheldon said, "It is not time to go yet. It is seven forty nine. We are supposed to meet at eight o' clock."
"We are supposed to meet outside the apartment building at eight o' clock."
"It does not take eleven…ten," Sheldon corrected, looking at the display on his laptop, "minutes to walk down four flights of stairs."
"You could be early," came a voice from the chair.
"Marie," Sheldon said, "the last time I was early was back in the early years of your mother and my relationship, when I waited outside her door for twenty minutes. That was over twenty years ago."
"So it's probably time for you to be early again," the girl suggested, pushing her glasses farther up her nose. "You were anxious to see Mother, wouldn't you be even more anxious to see all of your friends? I've only been here for thirteen years, I can't imagine going that long without all of my friends being together."
"It has been twelve years since we all hung out together," Amy said. "We all flew to Boston when Kirk was born. Well, aside from Stuart but we Skyped him in."
"I am anxious, excited, however you want to put it," Sheldon said, addressing his daughter, "but the way to calm my nerves is to remain in a familiar environment. If I go outside, I will become anxious."
"Oh, you know Raj," Amy said. "He's probably already out there waiting."
Sheldon considered this for a moment. "Good point. Let me grab my jacket."
Pasadena, California,
March 14, 2014
8:06 pm
"Bernadette called," Penny said, "they're about twenty minutes away."
"We're about five still," Leonard said. "I didn't realize how bad L.A. parking has gotten."
"Well, the car you rented for us seemed to imply that you'd forgotten the kids weren't coming," Penny joked.
He smiled and took her hand, and she rested her head on his shoulder as they walked. "It'll be nice to see everyone again," Penny said.
"You really want to put your head on my shoulder?" Leonard joked. "You were complaining about being too hot a few minutes ago."
The two of them smiled in unison as they approached the apartment building, nostalgia rushing over them when Sheldon, Raj and Amy turned, spotted them, and waved. Penny let go of Leonard's hand and ran to them, throwing her arms around the closest person. Raj lifted her off the ground and spun in a circle. Penny moved on to hug Amy, then Sheldon.
The theoretical physicist stopped her. "I'm not going to twirl you."
"I don't care," she said, putting her arms around him. He smiled and returned the embrace.
Leonard was planning on a more dignified reunion with Raj, but the two ended up hugging anyway. "How's the missus?"
"Probably as lonely as the dog is without me," Raj said. "At least they have each other."
Leonard smiled in response as Amy hugged him from the side. Then he turned to his old roommate. "Sheldon?"
Sheldon looked at Leonard, unblinking, for a moment. Then he burst into tears and flung himself at his friend, curling his long arms around the shorter man and sobbing audibly. Penny put an arm around Amy and the other around Raj.
The chatter began, all of them talking over one another, but it seemed to Amy that everyone was absorbing each thing that was said. Amy was simultaneously listening to Sheldon brag about how easily he'd come up with his Nobel acceptance speech from the previous year, Leonard gush about his oldest and youngest children's abilities to write, and Penny talk about how amused Ada was when she discovered that Priya Kapur is, in fact, Raj's little sister, when she suddenly zoned out at the sight of a little blonde head appearing around the corner, dragging by the hand a skinny, pale man.
"They're here!" Amy shouted, and the rest of them turned to look up the street. Penny screamed and jumped in the air, waving, as the rest of them briefly turned to watch the forty seven year old woman act like a child before looking back toward the approaching couple and jumping as wildly as the actress was.
Howard and Bernadette melted into the small gathering of people, hugging anyone close – Bernadette lost track of the rounds and ended up hugging Leonard twice – and then they all found themselves standing in a circle, not three feet away from anyone else.
"We're all here," Amy said, tears in her eyes.
"It really happened," Raj said, shaking his head, a smile on his face.
"Together again," Sheldon said, his arm around Leonard's shoulders.
"Wait," Bernadette said, looking suddenly upset. She looked at her phone. It was 8:41 pm. "Where is Stuart?"
Comic Center of Pasadena
March 14, 2034
9:01pm
Stuart turned off the cash register and was reaching for the keys to the store when the bell jingled, signaling a customer. "I'm sorry," he said, wondering why he was planning on rejecting business, "we're…"
He trailed off when he turned and saw who was in front of him. Howard and Bernadette, graying and jet lagged. Sheldon and Amy, much as he remembered them from January when they'd stopped for one of their infrequent "we feel guilty for always going to the other store" visits. Leonard and Penny, looking as if they'd forgotten how warm it was this time of the year in Southern California – Penny had to be coloring her hair, because it was just as blonde as ever. And Raj, looking…looking as if he was also coloring his hair.
"I…I…what…"
"Did you forget?" Leonard asked. "About our deal?"
"No, I…" Stuart cocked his head. "You guys…I waited for almost an hour yesterday."
"Yesterday?" Bernadette said. "We agreed to meet today."
"No, it was March 13th, I remember. The next day, Sheldon made a 'happy pi day' status on Facebook and forgot to tag me."
"Oh my God," Amy said.
The group looked at her. "What?" Raj asked.
"We were hanging out on the thirteenth. Well, all of us but Howard and Sheldon. But by the time we put it into our phones…"
"It was already the fourteenth!" Bernadette said. She pulled out her phone. "This data was entered into my old phone at 12:08am on March 14th, 2014."
"So when we filled Howard and Sheldon in on the plan, we told them the date that was in our phones!" Leonard said.
"But Stuart didn't realize it was after midnight," Raj said, "and wrote the 13th on his hand!"
"Oh Stuart," Penny said. "You must have felt like we collectively decided to stay away."
Stuart cleared his throat. "No, I…" He was surprised at how much his voice was insisting on cracking. "No, I thought…it's been a rough couple of years." He put a hand to his face.
"Stuart!" Penny ran the distance between them and crushed the older man in a hug. The rest of them followed suit, the eight of them ending up in a group near the edge of the counter.
"I really missed you guys," Stuart said.
"So did I," Raj said. "France is so exciting, the astrophysics programs there are incredible, but…"
"But it's not here," Howard said. "It's not the same."
"It'll never be the same again," Leonard said, playing with his hands.
"Well…" Sheldon shifted his weight as he blinked tears away. "It can be tonight."
Penny smiled, wiping her own eyes. "Cheesecake Factory?"
Seven heads and fourteen wet eyes nodded in agreement.
"Cheesecake Factory."