A/N Still own nothing – just borrowing for fun. To BFM - I had forgotten that they mentioned Penny's nephew. Luckily, this is AU so Jeremy is not that guy. He is younger.
Leonard worked to get himself comfortable, took a deep breath, and began.
"Howard proposed to Bernadette a couple months after you left. They were bummed that you weren't there because you were the one that introduced them."
Penny felt a moment of sadness and a little guilt, but pushed it away; realizing she would probably have similar feelings several times.
"Bernadette finished up her studies and then got her doctorate. She went to work for a big Pharmaceutical firm and as she put it, is making a butt load of money."
"Good for her." But then Penny had to smirk, "So Howard is really the only one not to have a doctorate. But I am sure you're nice enough not to point that out."
Leonard faked an angelic smile, "Of course, but he was about to have his moment."
"They had planned to have a normal wedding, but then Howard's space flight was moved forward so he would be leaving for Russia before their planned wedding day."
Penny stared and blurted out, "Howard went to space, Howard Wolowitz?"
Leonard smiled, "Yeah, they were going to launch a satellite that he worked on and they wanted him there on the Space Station."
Still a little stunned, Penny continued, "So he was an Astronaut!"
"Yep, Howard Wolowitz, Astronaut, who would have figured? To be honest he didn't really have the Right Stuff but he had enough stuff to go, do his job, and return. We were really proud of him."
"Then Bernadette decided she wanted to be married before Howard left and we all went down to the Courthouse to get them married, but there were too many couples waiting and they wouldn't have been able to be married until Howard left. Then Raj suggested they get married on the Sunday Howard was due to leave because the Google Satellite would be over Pasadena and could photograph the wedding. He also remembered that someone told him anyone could be ordained online. So, all four of us got ordained and performed the ceremony on the roof of our apartment."
Penny remembered she had been the one to tell Raj that; but she just said, "That sounds awesome."
He smiled and continued, "They have talked about kids, but still don't have any."
"I bet Mrs. Wolowitz isn't too happy, I'm sure she wants grandkids."
Leonard face clouded and he said, "Mrs. Wolowitz died about two years ago."
Penny, sadly, "Oh no, that must have been devastating for Howard."
"Yeah, I don't know how he would have coped if he didn't have Bernadette. He was still pretty depressed for a long time."
Hesitating for a moment to give Penny some time, he went on, "About six months after Howard and Bernadette got married, Raj got news from home that his father was ill. Being the oldest male in the family, he returned to India. After his father died, he stayed with his mother and eventually married an Indian woman. They have twin boys. He has talked about returning permanently to the States, but he has an important job in their science program and his wife is against it. He has come back on a few occasions and I visited them during one of my breaks."
Penny wanted to ask him about that, but decided she could wait for his story. She was glad that Raj had finally found someone, but was sad he was no longer with the group.
Leonard had gone on, "Amy finally persevered as Sheldon came to realize how much he loved her. They were married about three years ago. As soon as the honeymoon was over, Amy quickly informed everyone that the marriage had indeed been consummated!"
Penny's eyes widened and she put her hand to her mouth, "Crap on a Cracker, out little boy grew up and had sex!"
Leonard chuckled and said, "I'm pretty sure he had it on at least one more occasion, because they have the cutest two-year old boy named Isaac Leonard Cooper."
Penny excitedly, "Amy must be in seventh heaven. Wait a minute, they named him after you?"
Leonard just beamed, "I was so surprised and honored." Then he gave a sweet smile, "Sheldon and I had a long, hugging, hippy-dippy moment."
Penny felt herself tearing up so Leonard quickly said, "Don't do that, you know if you start crying, I will too."
Penny smiled and said, "You're right," and dabbed at her eyes.
Leonard hurried on, "Even though he's only two, it's apparent he's going to be super intelligent."
Penny smirked, "Maybe he will be the benevolent Overload that Sheldon envisioned when he and Amy first started going together."
"Yeah, Howard may have been right; the world will regret we didn't kill Sheldon then."
"Sheldon and Amy have a baby. I would love to see him."
Leonard, shaking his head, said, "I haven't been thinking, I have his picture and tons of other pictures including Howard's wedding on my laptop. It's back at the hotel, but I could bring it out so you can see them. Let's see, I can't do it tomorrow because I have to meet about the project; but I could bring it out Saturday. I don't leave until Monday morning."
Penny felt a sudden moment of sadness as she had allowed herself to forget that he probably would not be staying long. Who knew when she would see him again? But she ignored that and answered, "That would be great, I am sure my folks, especially Dad, would love to see them too."
"All right, it's a date, I'll bring them out Saturday." Then shyly, "Maybe we could do something on Sunday as well. Is there anything like a theme park, we could take Sara and Jeremy."
"There's a Six Flags over Omaha, but let's wait and see on that, okay?"
"Okay, said Leonard, but he looked a little disappointed.
Penny changed the subject by asking, "How are everyone's parents and family?"
"Well, my parents got divorced. My Dad ran off with a younger woman; a waitress. Kind of ironic, huh? Guess he wanted someone to hug him back."
"Oh, that's too bad, but I don't know if I blame your father. How did your mother take it?"
"She didn't let on, but I think it bothered her. Maybe because she was just a waitress." Smirking to Penny, "No offense." Penny just gave him a glare. "She is currently working on a book about her grandchildren, scaring my brother and sister to death."
"How are your brother and sister?"
"Hayley has never had the breakthrough on Diabetes she sought, but her experiments have provided treatments for aiding those with the disease. Michael just argued a case before the Supreme Court, he won of course."
"Sheldon's mother is still going strong. She remarried about a year ago. It was traumatic for Sheldon for a while but since he got married and had a kid, he is a lot more adaptable. Missy had a little boy with the man she lives with; although her mother is not thrilled with the situation, she has come to accept it, albeit still pushing them to get married. Sheldon's brother is evidently a confirmed bachelor and acts like he is still a kid."
"They had a scare with Sheldon's Meemaw about a year ago but she is doing fine now."
Leonard paused, trying to think of anyone else Penny had known and might be interested in hearing about. "Leslie Winkle and Kripke are the same. Neither has had a breakthrough idea."
They Penny spoke up, "How about Stuart? Did he ever find anyone; is he still running the Comic Book Store?"
"Penny, Stuart's dead."
"Oh my God, what happened?"
"There was a fire at the store and the circumstances made the authorities and the insurance company think that Stuart set it on purpose to collect the insurance." Leonard lowered his head and looked guilty, "I have to admit, we even wondered at first. Then we were ashamed of ourselves and had started to look into a way of getting financing. But, with the insurance company holding up payment and the police still suspicious, Stuart went into a deep depression. He Od'd on some of his pills. It was ruled a suicide."
"How horrible." After a moment, "Did you ever meet any of his family?"
"His mother and brother came out to take his body back home. Oh, when they were going through his stuff, they found a picture he had drawn of the whole group together and gave it to us. We have the original hanging in Sheldon and Amy's apartment but I have a copy on my laptop. I could print it out for you."
"That would be great, thank you."
Leonard hesitated and Penny realized he was about to talk about himself. She shifted slightly to prepare herself. Ever since she had seen him at the Mall, she had fought against the realization that she still had feelings for him. She selfishly didn't want him to be married or with someone. But she also faced the fact that there was little or no chance for them. She doubted if he still felt anything for her. Hell, she didn't even know if they still could be called good friends. Besides, they couldn't make it work when they lived down the hall from each other and she was five years younger and a waitress slash actress. Now they were a thousand miles apart and she was a thirty-year-old stripper with a four-year-old daughter. Closing off those thoughts, she sat back to listen.
"About four months after you left, Priya decided to go back to India. Neither she nor Raj told me and I only found out when I overheard her talking to her parents on Skype. When I confronted her, she was angry that I had let her parents know she had been with me and said she didn't want to deal with it."
"We tried to keep it going long distance, but then I met a girl at the Comic Book Store and went to her apartment intending to cheat on Priya. We went as far as kissing, but then I realized I couldn't go through with it. I was so pompous I actually felt proud that I had stopped. When I told Priya via Skype, she admitted she had been sleeping with her ex-boyfriend. We both knew it was over. She later married him and they have a little girl. When I visited Raj, she and I sat down and came to a good closure."
Penny was stunned. They had only lasted a few months. What if I had waited, how would my life have gone then? But then she had an epiphany. In an alternate life, she wouldn't have Sara. She knew she would never want that.
"With what happened with Priya, you gone, and Amy and Sheldon hoping she could move into my room as a next step, I decided it was time for a change. I heard that Stephen Hawking was considering a new series of expeditions, so I decided to contact him and see if there was any chance I could get involved. I was surprised that he did have an opening and he invited me to join his team."
"For the next two and a half years, I spent my time at sea and other countries; returning only occasionally, as for Sheldon and Amy's wedding."
"Then one day, during one of the breaks, I was thinking back over that paper that Sheldon and I wrote together. You remember the one; you went to the presentation that Sheldon didn't want to attend."
Penny snickered, "You mean the one where you and Sheldon ended up on the floor like two spoiled brats; nerd fighting?"
Leonard, looking defensive, "Yeah, that one."
"The best part was it finally got you to get rid of that ridiculous corduroy jacket."
"I wouldn't call it…"
Penny repeated emphatically, "Ridiculous!"
"Anyway, I was thinking about it and had one of those breakout ideas that you really don't believe happen. I saw a whole new path of research growing out of it. The more I examined it, the more excited I became. Finally, I went to Dr. Hawking so he could help me with two questions. First, did he agree it was worth pursuing and second, I wanted to be sure that my idea didn't grow out of any of the research we were doing as a team. He agreed with me on both points and suggested I move forward. I had planned to take a break and return to the States to be there when Sheldon and Amy were having the baby. Now I decided to leave for good. I resigned after the next expedition and returned to Pasadena."
"After the excitement of the birth and the baby was home and everything had settled down, I showed Sheldon my idea. I was thrilled when he became excited over it and even pointed out another result I had not seen. In fact, he was so impressed that he agreed with me that we should put our full energies into pursuing it."
"We took the idea to Caltech and without revealing precisely what our path was, we were able to have them agree to let us contact donors to obtain funding and use facilities at Caltech to move forward. The final selling point was when Dr. Hawking strongly endorsed the potential of our work. I decided to approach Mrs. Lathrop."
When Penny rolled her eyes, Leonard quickly added, "And no sex was involved."
"In the end, she became our primary donor and she persuaded other donors to contribute as well."
"We quickly discovered that the science and math would require an enormous amount of work. We found ourselves working eighty-hour weeks. Needless to say, Amy quickly objected to it, telling Sheldon he needed to spend more time with her and his son."
"Sheldon and I immediately agreed and reached the following arrangement. Sheldon would work from home and spend his time exclusively on the math proofs involved. I would continue to do the grunt work, performing experiments and massaging the huge amount of data generated by the equations."
"For the next six months, I averaged about ten hours a day working on the project. But then we were finally ready to publish. It may seem that I did the brunt of the work, but Sheldon's math was profound and elegant; plus, he participated equally in the writing of the paper. There was no doubt he contributed as much or more to the success of the project even considering the number of hours I put in."
"Although we knew we had produced something extraordinary, the response was amazing. There came a tremendous amount of demand on our time, giving speeches and preparing papers further expounding on the project. Since Sheldon hated to give speeches, hated to travel by plane, and wanted to be home with Amy and Isaac, I once again became a traveler. For the next six months, I gave speeches all over the world, while Sheldon handled the production of follow-up papers."
Then came the first announcement which demanded more speeches and clarifying papers delivered to the Committee. Then came the presentation, which was followed by months of dealing with the Press and everything else involved. It was only a couple of months ago that I finally had some time to myself."
Penny was confused, "The Press? What committee? What presentation?"
Leonard gave her a strange look like she was pulling his leg. Then apparently seeing nothing but confusion, said quietly, "Penny, Sheldon and I won this year's Nobel Prize for Physics."
Penny's eyes widened and her hand went to her mouth as she screamed, "Oh my God!"
Then she impulsively went to him and gave him a huge hug. After a moment, he returned it.
Penny pulled back, recovering her voice, 'That is so fantastic. I suppose Sheldon was all, it's about time. He didn't begrudge sharing it with you, did he?"
Leonard gave a small smile, "Sheldon has really changed since he got married and especially after Isaac was born. When we first heard we were among the finalists, he told me, 'Leonard, all my life my goal was to win the Nobel Prize; I knew it would be the crowning achievement of my life. Now that I have had a son, a Nobel Prize pales in comparison.'"
Penny felt herself tearing up, "That is so sweet. I guess our little boy has finally become a man."
Suddenly Leonard started crying with her. After a few minutes, they both managed to get control back.
To get back on track, Penny asked, "What exactly do you get when you win?"
"Well, there's the medal, the recognition, and of course the prize fund."
"How much is that?"
"The total prize is equivalent to about 1.2 million dollars. So, after taxes, Sheldon and I each got about five hundred thousand dollars."
Penny found her eyes widening once again, "You won half a million dollars?"
He smirked, "It is a big deal you know, even if you didn't know anything about it."
"Hey, the only news I get is what's discussed at home and that I hear at work. The Nobel Prize in Physics just doesn't rank with what's happening with the Kardashians."
"I suppose your right. Well, that's about it. I think you're all caught up. Unless you have some questions?"
Penny definitely had some questions, especially one big question. She thought she had the answer but wanted to be sure. Her problem was asking without revealing something she didn't want to. Finally, she decided to just go ahead. Leonard would just figure she was curious, right?
Keeping her voice light, "Well, there is one thing; you have talked about romance and personal stuff about the others. How about the loves of Leonard Hofstadter?"
He looked at her for a few seconds and she inexplicably felt warm. Then he answered, "There is really not much to tell. As you probably gathered from what I said, I have had very little time to form a relationship. Oh, there were a couple shipboard romances, but since we didn't see each other afterwards, nothing really developed. About the only reasonable serious relationship I had was with Carrie, a woman from Australia. We were on two consecutive trips together and it was starting to get rather serious. Then I made the mistake of going home with her; when she saw how inept I was at any type of surfing, and how out of place I looked on a beach, she decided it was a deal breaker."
Penny couldn't help but smile, "Yeah, I have to admit, you are definitely not Surfer Boy material."
Leonard looked embarrassed, "She called me the Little White Guppy."
Penny puzzled, "Why?"
"Well, you know, like from 'Moby Dick', the Great White Whale."
Penny couldn't help it, she broke out laughing. Seeing the look on his face, she said, "I'm sorry, that was cruel," but continued to laugh.
Leonard tried to look hurt; but it was so good to hear Penny's laugh again, that he quickly broke down and laughed with her.
When they settled down, Penny said, "I am sorry, but it is really funny."
"I suppose it is, now."
Suddenly Leonard stood up. "I'm really stiff, I need to walk around. Also, I need to relieve myself. Is there a bathroom in here?"
"Afraid not, but you can go over there where the straw is."
Watching Leonard walk away, she marveled again how amazing he was, how much he had to overcome, and how far he had gone. She also realized that if they had stayed together, he probably wouldn't have accomplished what he did. Maybe everything was for the best, he had become famous and she had Sara. But even as she thought that, she knew she didn't want it to be over; that she still wondered if they could be together. Sighing, she got up, stretched, and waited for him to return.
A/N Thank you again for all your reviews. I really appreciate them. I know I copied the names Bridget and Hayley from something I read and apologize I cannot remember specifically so I can give credit where credit is due.
