A/N: So here I am posting this one after two weeks after all. I'm almost finished with chapter 5 and have a hard time refraining from posting so... That being said, the next one could be posted in three weeks, depending on my progress with chapter 6.

Thanks to all who read, follow, favorited and reviewed. I really mean it. I love reading reviews so if you have anything on your mind when reading let me know. Special thanks as always to my great beta reader joyteach.

I only own my 7 OCs and to some extent this story's versions of Halley and Michael, but hey that's something! The other characters, settings, etc. belong to Chuck Lorre and Bil Prady.

Chapter 4: Most suitable

January, 2030.

[Leonard.]

"Are you done there, Princess?" I asked Sophie, who had been arranging the family pictures on my office desk for the last 15 minutes.

"Almost, just a little to the left…" she answered, moving one of the picture frames for what I believe was the ninth or tenth time. She then took a step back, carefully examining the result. After about half a minute she turned to me, apprehensive, "How's that?"

"Absolutely wonderful!" I grinned and picked her up for a hug and a kiss on the cheek, getting her sweet giggles in return.

Stephen, Sheldon's eight-year-old son, who was standing by my side, inhaled deeply, closing his eyes with a contented smile on his face. "Ah, the sweet air of organization."

The boy does appreciate organization, which is a point for his friendship with my perfectionist daughter. If you want to have something perfectly organized Sophie is your person. That is, if you have a lot of time and patience.

Today was the day I officially started my job as vice president of Caltech, and officially moved into my new office. I've been learning the job for months and have been gradually doing more and more of what it entails, to the point you could say I've already been doing it for about a month or two. Still, this was my first official day.

I sat in the big,comfortable chair that was now mine and opened the drawer where I kept the name tags they gave me for events. 'Professor Leonard Hofstadter, Vice President of Caltech'. It would sure take time to get used to that. You'd think that after being chair of the physics department, getting promoted wouldn't be such an incredible shock, but it was very hard to believe, even six months after the announcement. I still have the feeling that every minute they're going to tell me they'd made a mistake and I'm not the one they actually chose.

As it turned out I was so absorbed in my thoughts that I hadn't noticed the head of human resources, Mrs. Davis, had entered my office. The door was open since I have a policy of keeping it open, unless I'm in a meeting or otherwise busy. And when Penny's there. She always locks the door. "In case I can't resist the charms of big boss Pop-tart", she jokes (on the not resisting part, not on making out).

Mrs. Davis apparently noticed I was distracted and was talking to the children, who were watching a live-stream from one of the chemistry labs.

"Doctor Jacob's lab," she noted. "They do interesting experiments. Do you guys know what they're doing now?"

"They're testing the new ammonia synthesis device they've just finished developing," Sophie said, her eyes glued to the screen in deep concentration. She then glanced quickly at Mrs. Davis and turned her eyes back to the screen, blushing and nervously adjusting her glasses. Being this focussed, she forgot she was talking to someone who wasn't very close to her, which would usually be hard for her. I couldn't help but smile.

"Wow, you really know your stuff, Sophie!" Mrs. Davis said, genuinely impressed.

Sophie looked at her with a shy smile.

"Do you like chemistry?"

"Yes," she answered quietly, playing with her long blond hair.

"Mrs. Davis, do not take the volume of Sophie's voice to indicate her level of enthusiasm about chemistry," Stephen said, "Sophie is shy. She speaks quietly with people she is not comfortable with."

Another point for Sophie and Stephen's friendship - his bluntness does help sometimes when she is being shy. Stevie has ASD, which means that, like his dad, he has social deficits. Reading social cues is not as instinctive for him as it is for others, so he has to learn this explicitly. Since many times he also doesn't realize that other people have perceived the cues, he tends to straight-out tell them his conclusions. This and not understanding well what is and is not appropriate to say makes for him being blunt.

"By that he means people who are not in her close circle," I added, "Please do not take offense."

"Oh no, I got that, I'm not offended," Mrs. Davis answered and smiled at the kids.

She then stood up and walked to me, adding in a low voice, "Don't forget I know his father all too well. Frankly, he's a clear improvement. He hasn't called me a slave, 'dirty mouth' or a cultural appropriator, due to wearing 'Coca Cola colors' for Christmas, so he's far above my expectations."

"We really shouldn't have let him watch that multi-culture show without guidance," I nodded solemnly.

Mrs. Davis nodded in agreement.

"Well, Leonard, I just stopped by to wish you congratulations and good luck. We may have met in not all favorable circumstances in your early and not-so-early years, but I knew those were drops in a sea of excellence and devotion. You have proved yourself in your former role and throughout all of your time here. You truly deserve this," she said, with a smile on her face.

"I don't kn-" I started, but then heard my wife's voice in my head, telling me not to doubt myself in front of university seniors. "I don't know what to say to this," I corrected, "Thank you very much Mrs. Davis." I smiled and shook the hand she offered.

About an hour later Howard came in, looking exhausted, with a beaming Max running in front of him.

"Daddy I saw a robot playing video games!" Maxi said as he ran to me, his brown curls messier than usual.

I sat him on my knee. "Really? Video games?" I wondered, looking from Max to Howard.

"Space navigation simulator," Howard corrected, "No need for special inspection mister boss man, we're doing serious work. You know, when we're done making adult robot movies."

I laughed with him, but given that the guy once had his penis stuck in a robot's hand, I wasn't sure he was joking. I mean, he doesn't do things like that now that he's married and has two kids, but I've heard from his 11-year-old son that he can turn every video game into a flirting lesson.

"Also, by 'saw' he means watched from a reasonable distance and still managed to almost trip and pull out the cables, which would cause a loss of three hours of data," Howard added, sitting down after Maxi joined Sophie and Stephen, "That was after dropping a tablet carefully placed in his two hands, which yours truly saved at the last second, and bumping into Bert while he was carrying a tray full of cups of coffee. Thankfully it was Bert, so all it did was slightly move the bottom of his jeans. Seriously, Leonard, the kid's a walking hazard. Are you sure he's not an infiltrator from a rival species?"

I chuckled, looking at Maxi. He was clumsy indeed. Somehow things would always fall out of his hands, sometimes hitting other things, making for weird domino-like accidents, like the one that started with a card tower and ended with our kitchen sink being half yellow. There's also a lot of catching Maxi or stopping him from spinning around in our house.

Taking Maxi on a tour in the engineering labs was doomed to be an exhausting mission, but Howard said he was willing to do it. Maxi's excitement upon seeing Uncle Howard making the equipment for 'space heroes' like himself proving itself a strong motivator for the man who came to be known as 'Fruit Loops' on his space journey.

Fortunately, Maxi was satisfied with watching the lab stream with Sophie and Stephen for the next hour. This being only his second visit to the university (excluding ones when he was a baby and his daycare), he was very excited about every little thing there. Generally, I let my kids come to Caltech whenever they want, from roughly the age of four, which is Maxi's current age. Riley and Sophie love it there and have never caused any interruptions. Maxi might require more supervision. With their mom working there too they also have a place to go when I'm in a meeting.

Although soon this won't be the case anymore. We've decided that she'd quit if I became vice president. We just thought it would be weird and frowned upon, even though the university seniors tried to convince her that they'd make sure it'd be fine. I asked her if it was okay with her repeatedly, until she threatened to lock me in the attic, and repeatedly ask if it was okay with me. She does like her job here but she, we, are excited about other plans we have. We're planning to open a fund to teach important and useful science principles and discoveries to the general population. Penny would be the main person to take care of its operation after she finishes her work here. She originally planned to quit a month or two after I was chosen for vice president but finally relented to her superiors' requests that she'd stay six months longer.

Penny wasn't there today, actually. She was being chaperone on Riley's school trip to the Natural History Museum. Being a very attached mother, she goes on every school activity the kids have that allows parents. She could write a book on chaperoning. Well…she could make a video.

This time, however, it was more important to her than usual. Some months ago, at the beginning of the school year, we found out that Riley was practically attacked by most of her grade. They claimed she thinks she's better than everybody, being a genius, and threw her out of their gathering. They couldn't be more wrong. Our Cub is such a humble girl. And, like Penny, She's got a good heart and is very caring and accepting of others.

When Penny found out, she was beside herself. While it may have come off as intense anger, yelling that she wanted all the kids who were involved, and their parents, to pay, I know that a lot of it was deep fear, hurt and anger at herself for not preventing it. Riley may have cried that day, but Penny cried that and the two following nights. Since Riley had begged us and her principal not to do anything too obvious about it, and had refused to tell the names of those who initiated the whole thing, there wasn't much we could do. But ever since, Penny was extra vigilant around the kids in Riley's grade, trying to see if anybody threw a funny look at Riley and also glaring at those she 'caught'. I know Riley doesn't like it, but given Penny's feelings, I believe this is the most subtle she can be.

I found myself with quite a lot to do today, all the bureaucracy involved in officially entering the job adding considerably to my usual tasks. Thankfully, after Sheldon finished his work he took the kids for another tour of the university. This tour focused on the 'great achievements' he had made through (dozens of) complaint letters to relevant divisions. Stevie and Sophie have already been through this tour various times, but thanks to Sheldon's incredible skill at being a pain in the ass, there were always additions to it.

It was about an hour after Sheldon and Stephen left that my kids and I left the university. We got home about ten minutes before Penny and Riley. We were sitting on the couch in the middle of our living room, thinking of what we wanted to eat for dinner, when we heard the sound of keys rustling.

"Daddy!" Riley shouted, running into my arms at the moment Penny opened the door, beaming. With a hat, a t-shirt and two stickers on her pants with dinosaurs, butterflies and the logo of the museum, she looked like a walking gift shop.

"Hey, Cub" I chuckled, kissed her cheek and hugged her. I snickered at Penny while doing so, in response to Riley's clothing. Penny shrugged and snickered.

After exchanging hugs and kisses we all settled down, Riley, me and Sophie on the middle couch and Maxi and Penny on the one to its left.

"Wanna tell us about your trip?" I asked Riley, already knowing the answer.

With her big green eyes opened wide, her eyebrows raised and with a big grin not leaving her mouth for a second, she went on talking for almost 20 minutes straight, recounting all the fascinating things she saw and heard at the museum.

"Wow that sounds awesome!" I said with a grin after she finally finished.

Riley nodded, grinning, while taking deep breaths to compensate for barely taking a breath when talking.

"Ooh I forgot to tell you about the lizard statues!" she suddenly said, her eyes wide at the realization.

"How 'bout putting your backpack in its place first, Cub?" Penny stopped her. Riley was so excited that I think she didn't even notice she still had her backpack on. "Daddy and I are going to make dinner, meanwhile you kids can think about everything you want to share when we eat."

"So…how was your trip?" I asked Penny as we walked to the kitchen, the kids walking upstairs.

"It was fine," she shrugged, "I put my sunglasses, jacket and purse on some prehistoric animals when the teachers and guide weren't looking," she smirked.

I chuckled and shook my head.

"Hey, they looked sophisticated and fancy," she smiled, satisfied. "And I didn't get caught. Although you should have seen that 'Seriously?' look Riley gave me. I think we should exchange roles, next time I'll be the kid and she'll be the chaperone," she laughed.

"Yeah, that sounds more fitting," I laughed.

"So how was your first day as vice president, mister big-shot?" Penny asked while she started heating the cooking water for the pasta.

"First, it's Professor big-shot," I grinned smugly.

Penny smiled, narrowing her eyes with mock anger.

I went out and got some basil leaves from the yard, making for a brief pause in our conversation.

"It's just weird, you know?" I said after washing and starting to cut the leaves, my back to Penny, "I already got used to the job itself, but now I'm officially the vice president of Caltech. They had enough time to regret it, and they didn't. They had months to say 'Hey Leonard, you know it turns out we have made a mistake, you were not the one we thought was most suitable for the job, you were the least suitable.' But here we are."

"You're still not over them choosing you, are you?" Penny asked, a hint of frustration or tiredness in her voice.

I sighed. "I'm sorry. I just can't believe they said I was the most suitable. I guess choosing me as chair of the department was kind of like saying I was the most suitable, but then the announcement was..smaller, and there weren't such good candidates. And immediately after that announcement Siebert told me he hoped I could keep that 'madhouse' under control. So it felt like I was given charge of the problem kids, which was nothing new to me. It was still a shock, but not like this time. It's just… I.. No one had ever deemed me 'most suitable' before."

"Excuse me?!"

I turned around to see a now definitely upset Penny, looking at me with her eyebrows up, blinking, her mouth slightly open.

"What is all of this, then?!" she asked, gesturing around her, "What is this?!" she lifted her hand and pointed to her ring, "What are those three little ones upstairs?!"

I didn't respond, knowing the chances were high that I'd just piss her off even more.

Penny sighed, leaning on the counter next to me, her forehead in her left hand. "Sorry," she said after a short moment, and then looked at me. "I know you can't help yourself doing that," she looked ahead of her, "It's like a reflex or something. I mean, you've gotten better so it doesn't happen all the time. But you just can't believe you're worthy, even when there is so much, what you'd call 'evidence', to show that you worth a great lot. You're not the best scientist when it comes to yourself, you know?" she looked at me, smirking. She got up and took my hands in hers.

I caressed her hands with my thumb, relieved and thankful at her dissipating anger and increase of closeness.

"It's like nothing is enough, ever. Like nothing can fill that hole you've got there. Sometimes it's just so frustrating. Not just because you stick to yours, but mostly because it hurts me that you can't see how great you really are. Leonard, I chose you, I thought and I still think you're the most suitable for me. And I don't regret that for a second, even when you're driving me crazy." We smiled at each other. "Honey, the people at the university love, respect and appreciate you. They know what an incredible scientist, teacher and boss you are. I know this. Not just because I like to eavesdrop," we chuckled, "but because I see it in the way they treat you. Some of them also told me that directly, some right in front of you. Just like me, they don't and are not going to regret choosing you. Although they might not be as forgiving of your 'Toy Story' foreplay as I am," she smiled, that mischievous sparkle in her eyes. "I chose you and look how amazing my life turned out. I'm absolutely sure Caltech will get so much better with you too. And, you know, I chose you for a friend, then a boyfriend, then a fiancé and then a husband. They chose you for a researcher, then a chairman, then vice president... it may take some time but you know what the next step is…"

"Vice president doesn't guarantee-" I started but stopped at my wife's eye roll.

We smiled at each other and leaned in for a kiss. God I love this woman.

"Mommy, did you burn the food again?" we heard Max shouting from upstairs.

That's when we noticed the burning smell. Separating, we looked at each other and started laughing, going into '(Mom's) burned food mode'.

She may not be that suitable for a cooking job, but I think Penny is definitely the most suitable for me.