A/N: This fic is a sequel of The Doula Recurrence. In terms of the timeline, this story picks up right where the previous story ended with Leonard telling Penny about the daughter he unknowingly fathered with Joy. In all fairness you probably need to have read Doula Recurrence to follow this new story, although I will try to detail the back story for those who haven't. As always your feedback and reviews are appreciated.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Big Bang Theory. I just love and am intrigued by the characters.

With a face exuding fierce determination Penny barged her way passed the receptionist at Zangen, marching her way defiantly towards the director's office. At forty-seven she was still youthful in appearance, having retained her wavy blond hair and toned physique, for those who didn't know her, she could conceivably be mistaken for the sister of her eldest daughter rather than the married mother of three that she was. Throwing the door to the office open she found Bernadette seated at her desk engaged in a Skype conference call.

"You knew about Lauren!...How dare you keep it from us?!" Penny yelled, jabbing her finger accusingly at the woman who for as long as she could remember had been one of her closest friends. After meeting while waitresing at the Cheesecake Factory, Penny and Bernadette had had formed a friendship which spanned more than two decades. Unperturbed and with an air of calm professionalism, Bernadette apologised to her client on her screen. Promising to call him back, she got to her feet and moved toward the window which looked out onto a large open plan office.

"And how dare you burst into my office and yell at me while I'm in the middle of a very important meeting!" she seethed after drawing the blind, affording some privacy from the prying eyes of her staff who had abandoned their work in favour of watching the drama unfolding in their boss's office. Just then the door opened and Tiffany, the receptionist who Penny had successfully eluded in the downstairs foyer appeared.

"I thought I made it perfectly clear that I wasn't to be disturbed today!" Bernadette barked. The years had certainly not mellowed the blond microbiologist, who had managed to work her way up to the position of Chief Executive Officer of Zangen Pharmaceuticals. Her fiery temper had gained her a reputation as being a fearsome boss who had no tolerance for staff who underperformed or failed to tow the line.

"I'm sorry Dr Rostenkowski...she ran right passed me," she apologised, "Shall I call security?"

"Thank you but that won't be necessary," Bernadette answered curtly, "Please go back to work now."

Nodding obediently, Tiffany closed the door leaving the two friends glaring at each other across a large oak desk.

"Look, why don't we just sit down so we can talk?" Bernadette suggested in the hope of breaking the deadlock. Penny was furious and in truth Bernadette didn't blame her. It had been a secret which had weighed heavily upon her conscience for months and in many ways she was relieved that it was finally out in the open. "Penny can you please just give me a chance to explain?" she urged.

Letting out an infuriated sigh, Penny lowered herself into a brown leather upholstered chair. "I just can't believe this is happening." she cried, simultaneously dissolving into tears.

Nodding sympathetically, Bernadette passed Penny a tissue from the box on her desk. "I know. And I am sorry." she said quietly.

Penny wasn't ready to forgive her just yet, but having calmed down substantially after her outburst, she was now at least willing to hear what she had to say.

"Did Leonard tell that you how I found out?" Bernadette asked as she watched Penny dab at her mascara streaked eyes with the tissue.

"I guess I didn't exactly give him the chance." Penny admitted, feeling mildly ashamed. Convinced that Leonard was having an affair, she had confronted him on the roof of their old apartment building in Los Robles Avenue before running away upon hearing his confession affording him no time to explain properly.

"It was after Joey and Grace's engagement," Bernadette began, recollecting the dinner party which Leonard and Penny had hosted at their house and to which on her suggestion they had extended an invite to Joy. Following a particularly acrimonious divorce, Bernadette had felt sorry for her and had thought that she might enjoy an evening in the company of her friends. "I was at a restaurant after work and I saw Joy sitting at the bar alone. She seemed to be drinking heavily, I was concerned so I went over. She was drunk and making a fool of herself so I took her outside to try and sober her up." Bernadette recalled, omitting from her story the part where Joy had vomited over her favourite pair of designer shoes. "Joy started to get hysterical. I tried to calm her down and then all of a sudden she came out with it. She told me that Lauren was Leonard's daughter and about how Lucas had agreed to marry her and raise Lauren as if she were his own."

"And you just took her word for it?" a disbelieving Penny exclaimed.

"I didn't want to believe her, but somehow I just knew that she was telling the truth. the thing is Joy started dating Lucas a few weeks after she went to her cousin's wedding with Leonard," Bernadette explained, "When she announced that she was pregnant and getting married I just naturally assumed that the baby was Lucas's."

"So Joy was willing to let her daughter grow up not knowing who her real father was." Penny concluded in disgust, "How could she do something that?"

"Penny I tried so hard to convince her to tell the truth," Bernadette continued after noticing fresh tears glistening in her eyes, making her evermore fearful for the future of their friendship. "I drove Joy home from the bar. We talked for hours, but she literally begged me not to say anything. She made me swear that I wouldn't tell you or Leonard... She was so convinced that if Lauren were to find out after all this time that she'd wind up losing her.."

"Well she got that right," Penny snorted bitterly. "I just don't get it. If Joy was so determined to keep it a secret, why tell her now?"

Bernadette gave a bemused shrug. She didn't know how Lauren had come to learn the truth about Leonard. Her best guess was that Joy had blurted it out whilst drunk or during one of their many mother-daughter fights. Shifting uncomfortably in her chair, she fiddled with her star-shaped pendant necklace that had been a gift from Howard many years before.

"There's something you're not telling me, isn't there?" Penny said, eyeing her friend with mistrust. "Bernadette, if you know something you have to tell me."

Bernadette had no intention of holding anything back, clearing her throat she answered,"On the the night of Grace and Joey's wedding Joy tried to commit suicide."

"Oh my God. How do you know?" Penny gasped.

"Jake told me. I think he just wanted to confide in somebody.."

Jake Cunningham, a mutual friend, had discovered Joy on a bridge late that night. Threatening to jump, he had managed to coax her to safety. "Apparently Joy said something about how she'd been lying to Lauren all her life and how she was never going to forgive her for it."

Bernadette had first met Jake when she had hired him as her doula while pregnant with her son Joey some twenty years ago. Now divorced from his second wife and living in LA again, Jake worked part time as an emergency medical technician to supplement his income. Penny herself had never forgotten the story he'd told about how he had been inspired to pursue a career as a doula after a patient had given birth in his ambulance. "Now I think about it that could have been the night Lauren found out about Leonard being her real father." Bernadette hypothesised.

"Leonard did tell me that Lauren showed up at our house the day after the wedding." Penny remembered. Like pieces of a complicated puzzle, everything was suddenly beginning to make sense. "Does Jake know about Leonard being Lauren's father?" she questioned.

"No, only I know." Bernadette confirmed.

There was a silence while a dazed Penny reflected upon all that she'd come to know that day.

"Penny, do you think can you ever forgive me?" Bernadette began sounding almost childlike and pulling Penny away from thoughts of her own three children and how they might react to the news. "I'm so sorry. I know I did a terrible thing in not telling you, but please don't hate me for it." She begged.

As angry as she was in that moment, Penny knew she could never bring herself to hate Bernadette. "I don't hate you." She said softly.

Before Bernadette could reply there was a knock on her office door. Fearing another tongue lashing, Tiffany poked her head gingerly inside. Speaking in a hushed tone she said, "I know you said you didn't want to be disturbed Dr Rostenkowski, but Mrs Hofstadter's husband is here. He seems pretty upset."

After holding Penny in his arms for a long time, Leonard drove them both back to their home in South Arroyo. It was mid afternoon and Bobby their eleven year old son was still in school, while Madelyn, their newborn daughter was sleeping upstairs in a newly converted nursery. "Leonard I'm sorry I ran out on you earlier," Penny apologised after they'd sat down at the kitchen table with the intention of talking about what had happened that day. "When you told me about Lauren I just freaked out. I really wasn't not ready to hear that."

Curled up at Penny's feet, Albert the Hofstadter's pet Labrador was staring up at her with sad dark eyes. Refusing to leave her side, he even failed to show any interest when Leonard tossed his favourite ball the length of the kitchen for him to retrieve.

"Honey, believe me I was just as freaked out as you when I found out about Lauren," Leonard confessed, " I'm just glad that we're talking instead of yelling at each other." he added.

At fifty-three Dr. Leonard Hofstadter still had curly brown hair, although it had thinned over the years and was tinged with strands of grey. Many times he had been tempted to dye it, but Penny insisted that she preferred it that way, according to her it made him look distinguished. As the head of the experimental physics department at Cal Tech, he no longer dressed in casual attire for work, having long since swapped his nerdy T-shirts and Converse sneakers for tailored suits.

"Can I ask you something?" Penny said after a pause to gather her thoughts.

"Sure, anything."

"Did you ever have feelings for Joy?" she asked quietly.

Finding Joy to be obnoxious and uncouth, Leonard remembered telling Howard how the date which Bernadette had set up after he'd invoked the 'girlfriend pact' had been the worst he'd ever experienced.

"No."

"So it was just about.."

"Sex," Leonard cut in, "Yes, nothing more than that."

"And Joy? Was it just about sex for her too?" Penny persisted.

"I thought so."

"You thought so?"

"After her cousin's wedding I didn't think I wouldn't hear from her again, but she called me wanting to go on another date. I had to tell her that I didn't think it was going to work out for us." Leonard admitted.

"And she was upset?"

"I guess...but then I heard from Bernadette that she was dating some guy called Lucas. After that I never heard from her again." Leonard said. Although not something she was proud of, Penny had engaged in her fair share of one night stands after their break up, but hadn't had the misfortune of getting pregnant. "Sweetheart I really am so sorry," he whispered, "What I did was really stupid and right now I'm having a real hard time forgiving myself for it. Not least because of everything you've been through this year.."

Reaching for her husband's hand, Penny reassured him that if anyone was to blame it was Joy and her husband for withholding the truth. As she saw it, he was as much a victim of their deceit as Lauren herself. Curious to know more about Leonard's newly discovered daughter she said, "Tell me about Lauren. What's she like?"

"Erm.. well she's a little shy when you first meet her, but after you get to know her she's funny and really smart. She plays guitar in her spare time, although she insists she isn't very good. Right now she's studying for a masters degree in chemical engineering. She's only twenty-two, but academically she's already made some very impressive achievements...Hey what's so funny?" a bemused Leonard questioned when Penny began to chuckle.

"Sweetie, she sounds just like you!" she laughed.

Leonard hadn't really considered it before, but there were indeed several similarities between himself and his daughter.

"You know I'd really like to meet her." Penny said.

"You would?"

"Sure of course. She's your daughter and half sister to our kids."

Penny's kindness and humility despite extraordinarily difficult circumstance never failed to impress Leonard and to remind him why he fell in love with her all those years ago. "Have I ever told you how totally amazing you are?" he breathed huskily.

"You have. But I don't have a problem with you telling me more often." Penny answered with a rueful smile.

After talking for a while longer, Leonard urged Penny to take a nap while Madelyn was still asleep. Without protest Penny got to her feet.

"What will we tell the kids?" she asked as she reached the kitchen door. They had already discussed telling Grace in person when she and Joey returned home in a couple of weeks for Raj's birthday party.

Leonard simply replied, "The truth."


On Sunday evening Leonard accompanied Penny to the annual soap opera awards. Seated beside her in an auditorium buzzing with nervous anticipation, he squeezed her hand and listened as the names of the nominees for the life time achievement award were read out.

"And the winner is... Penny Hofstadter for her role in Matters of the Heart."

Penny's jaw dropped in amazement, mouthing "oh my God" she turned to Leonard to find him grinning proudly. The houselights dimmed and a montage of clips featuring depicting Penny's character Paige McIntyre played out on a big screen. As the lights came back up Penny rose to her feet and made her way toward the podium to the sound of thunderous applause where she made an emotional acceptance speech, thanking her former co-star Daniel Harrison and the show's producers. Finally she thanked Leonard, describing him as her soul mate and expressing her gratitude for his unfailing support. Later that evening Daniel too received an award for best actor along with several other members of the cast. After the ceremony Leonard and Penny posed together for photographs on the red carpet and although ordinarily Leonard would shy away from the lime light, that night he found himself reveling in his wife's achievement and enjoying every moment.

"Sweetie, are you coming to the after show party?" Penny asked. Several members of the cast had picked up awards and were keen to continue the celebrations at a beachfront nightclub in Santa Monica popular with celebrities.

"I have an early start tomorrow so I think I'm going to head home, but you should go," Leonard encouraged, "Tonight's your night honey. Have fun."

Joining other members of the cast, Penny rode in a limo to the Beach Comber nightclub where she hit the dance floor, spending the next two hours showing off her numerous dance moves.

"So this is where you're hiding out?"

After managing to make her escape unnoticed, Penny had sought refuge outside on the roof terrace which looked out over the Pacific Ocean. Turning towards the voice she saw Daniel Harrison. Dressed in black tuxedo suit, holding a bottle of champage. Ten years her senior, Daniel had played the part of Penny's love interest and philandering husband. After years of working together, she and Daniel were the closest of friends who had gone on to develop an on screen chemistry which had been nothing short of magical.

"Not that many years ago I could have danced all night," Penny said, smiling wistfully, "Sometimes I have to remind myself that I'm not twenty seven anymore."

"Well I like to think that what we lack in stamina we make up for with experience." Daniel said.

"I'll have to remember that." Penny giggled as they clinked glasses.

"Would you like some champagne?" Daniel offered as he settled himself beside on a raffia couch beside her.

Currently breastfeeding, Penny replied that she was sticking to drinking soda and for a while the two former co-stars sipped their drinks in silence while listening to the distant tinkling of a buoy and the muffled thud of music filtering from inside the club.

"You know I meant what I said the other day," Daniel began, "About you being a class act. Seriously you have more talent in your pinkie finger than some of these new kids on the show."

Ever since Penny's character had been cut in favour of bringing in several younger actors, Daniel had become increasingly disillusioned with the show. He hadn't yet confided in her, but he was thinking about asking the producers for a sabbatical to allow him to pursue other acting projects. While speaking on the phone with her he had joked about a Bobby Ewing style storyline which would bring Penny's character back to life.

"Wow, thank you. I really miss working with you." Penny confessed, feeling herself blushing at his compliment. "I just don't know where the last twenty years had gone." she added with a faraway look in her eyes.

"Hey, do you remember your first day on set?" Daniel asked, feeling reminiscent all of a sudden, "You were nearly half an hour late."

Chuckling to herself Penny took a sip of her champagne. "Actually, that isn't quite true. I wasn't late." She said.

"What do you mean you wasn't late?" a puzzled Daniel questioned. He'd been on set that day and remembered very clearly how infuriated Bruno the director had been by her lateness. "He was so mad I thought he was going to spontaneously combust!" he laughed.

Penny drained her glass and set it down on the glass top table. "Ok, can you keep a secret?" she asked, her eyes twinkling mischievously. "I've never told anybody this. Not even Leonard."

"I'm listening."

"I wasn't late. In actual fact I was early, but after I parked my car in the parking lot that morning I just froze."

"You froze?"

"Yeah, I was so afraid I literally couldn't move. It just hit me that how close I was to finally realising my dream, what if I screwed it up? And then there was you. Truth is I was so in awe of you that the thought of working with you petrified me."

"Wow..." Daniel exclaimed. "And all these years I just thought you were a terrible timekeeper." he grinned, earning himself a playful wack with one of the cushions on the couch. "But you did make it."

"Yeah, I realised I was about to blow what was probably my one and only chance of making it as a successful actress and so I pulled myself together, grabbed my script and got out the car."

"And the rest as they say is history," Daniel concluded, pleased that after so many years Penny had finally shared her secret with him. "And I'll always be so glad that you did."

"Hey what are you guys doing out here? "

Penny and Daniel turned to see Gabi, a long standing actress on the show beckoning them enthusiastically to return the dance floor. Filtering out from inside the club they could hear the opening bars of Eric Clapton's 'Wonderful Night', the song which had been the first dance for their on-screen wedding.

"Shall we?" Daniel said, extending his hand toward Penny, "For old time sake?"

"I never could say no to you Troy McIntyre." Penny smiled as she let him lead her to the dance floor.


At home Leonard had said goodnight to Amy and Sheldon and after they left checked in on Bobby and Madelyn who he were sleeping soundly. After getting ready for bed, he headed back downstairs to his study where he switched on his laptop with the intention of reading through a paper co-authored by one of his colleagues. He had only read the first few lines when the phone on the desk beside him began to ring.

"Daddy?

It was Grace his eldest daughter who had recently married Howard and Bernadette's son Joey and moved to Chicago where she was completing her studies to become a nurse. "Sweetheart, is everything ok?" a concerned Leonard asked. It was 11pm which made it after midnight in Chicago.

Making the call outside the entrance to the emergency room in the chill of a late September evening, Grace had been studying in the hospital library when an alert popped up in her social media feed. What it revealed had shaken her to the core.

"Is it true?" she cried, "What they're saying about you and mom?"

All at once the colour drained from Leonard's face. "Is...is what true?" he stammered.

Just then an ambulance pulled up, its siren drowning out Grace's reply. "Grace darling I can barely hear you."

Turning back to his laptop Leonard minimised the paper on the screen, brought up Google and typed Penny's name into the search box. "Shit.." he cursed as within seconds countless pictures of Joy originating from celebrity gossip websites appeared on the screen. Some were even speculating that Penny had moved out of their home and had filed for a divorce.

"Daddy, are you still there?" he heard Grace demand in a strangled voice, "Is Lauren your daughter?"

Wonderful Tonight written by Eric Clapton, 1977, Warner/Chappell Music Inc.