What if the Leonard/Penny and Howard/Bernadette double date in 3.5 didn't go as well?
A different slant on what happens in season 3 after we first meet Bernadette. Everything belongs to Chuck Lorre and friends.
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One day later.
Dressed in her Cheesecake Factory uniform Bernadette went into the university administration building. With trembling hands she handed over the precious Ph.D thesis and then signed some forms.
Bernadette said "that's it, finally submitted."
All the administration person said was "good day to you."
Next stop was the biology department where she went to see her supervisor, who gave Bernadette a hug when she told her she had submitted the thesis.
"Congratulations Bernadette, you have travelled a long hard road to get here."
"So what happens next?"
"I have already arranged for 3 examiners, two are from the microbiology department, the other one will be from the biochemistry department. They will all need to read the thesis before your thesis defence. We will all need to arrange a suitable date but this will probably be around the end of next month. You will have an oral examination that should take 2-3 hours, I can't see you having any problems. The examiners will then decide if your thesis is worthy of being awarded a Ph.D degree. They will almost certainly find some corrections to be made in your thesis, I had to make loads of corrections in mine. After you make the corrections you resubmit the thesis and a university committee will rubber stamp the decision of the examiners. Then you can call yourself Dr. Rostenkowski!"
"Great I can't wait."
"So how is your postdoctoral job search going?"
"Zangen pharmaceuticals are still interested in me. As soon as I get my Ph.D finished they want to call me for an interview. Then I can stop being a waitress."
"Excellent news."
"I had better get going, I am doing the lunchtime shift at the Cheesecake Factory today."
"I will be in touch about the examination day, congratulations Bernadette."
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Bernadette's friends were very happy to find out she has submitted her thesis. Leonard and Amy told her about her how nervous they were for their thesis defence examinations. Sheldon said he wasn't nervous for his examination.
Amy, Leonard and Sheldon acted as examiners for a practice thesis defence exam. This was mostly Bernadette explaining some aspects of biology they weren't familiar with but Sheldon did ask some probing questions.
Then Zangen invited Bernadette to a job interview a week after the thesis defence. She was getting more and more nervous as the examination got closer. Penny sent her an email wishing her good luck. Amy spent the day before the examination with Bernadette going over the thesis with her and helping her get ready. Bernadette didn't get much sleep the night before the examination.
