Chapter Ten: Meeting the 'Rents

~~~Leonard/Penny~~~

Leonard blinked fuzzily, then reached for his phone to stop its ringing.

"Hello?"

"Dr Hofstadter? This is President Siebert. You can guess why I'm calling?"

Leonard glanced at his clock. It was five am. Why was the president of the university calling him at this hour? "Ah... no, I can't. Why are you calling me at five in the morning?"

"Because you didn't answer your phone last night! Who turns off their cell phone?"

Leonard blinked. He had turned off his cell phone because he was on a date with Penny. He hadn't turned it back on until right before he'd gone to bed. "I guess I do. What do you want, sir?"

"Dr Hofstadter, I need you to come see me as soon as you get in."

Leonard tried to remember if he had done anything wrong recently. Maybe someone had found out about the magnet he'd designed to get free sodas from the Coke machine. "What do you mean?"

The man on the line was almost yelling. "I mean come see me as soon as you come to work. No later than eight. Understood?"

Faintly, Leonard stated, "I understand. See you at eight."

The line went dead as Leonard yawned widely. Despite that, he wasn't even slightly sleepy after the call he had just received. Plus, it wasn't worth trying to go back to sleep for one hour. Instead, he got up and began making his bed.

~~~Leonard/Penny~~~

Leonard walked into President Siebert's office, escorted by his personal assistant. He was taken aback by the presence of not just President Siebert, but Dr Gablehauser, the new head of the Physics Department, and Dr Rothman, a theoretical physicist who'd been tenured since before Leonard was born. He'd barely made it in the door before Dr Gablehauser pounced on him.

"Dr Hofstadter! So good to finally meet you. I'm Eric Gablehauser. Please, sit down."

Leonard sat in the indicated seat after exchanging a nod with Dr Rothman. He nervously asked, "What exactly is going on? I mean, good to see you all, but what's all this." Gesturing around with his hand. "About?"

President Siebert cleared his throat. "Dr Hofstadter... Leonard, if I may use your first name?"

At Leonard confused nod, he continued, "Yesterday, you emailed not only myself and Dr Gablehauser, but also several publications, a paper that is frankly... controversial. I brought you in to discuss this matter and to manage how this is presented."

Leonard stared. Tentatively, he asked, "Controversial? What do you mean? Controversial how?"

"Well, Leonard, both Dr Gablehauser and Dr Rothman have reviewed the math of that amazing equation of yours and they, to be frank, can't make heads or tails of it."

Dr Gablehauser interjected, "That's not what I said. What I did say was that the nature of the math was such that there are only three or four people on earth who could out the deeper meaning. One of them works right here at CalTech. I see the general direction he's going, but he lost me on the dimensional modeling. Dr Rothman?"

The elderly physicist spoke up, "It's beautiful. Just beautiful. I don't understand it all, but it's just so lovely. You've seen the face of God, Dr Hofstadter. You've seen the face of God."

Leonard watched President Siebert give Dr Rothman a look of disbelief. He, on the other hand, knew what Dr Rothman was saying. In many ways, he felt the same way. He was also starting to feel a little impatient with what was not being said. "I don't understand the issue. I've submitted papers before. I followed all of the protocols. I even cc'd you, President Siebert, on the off chance any of this would affect the university. Even though I didn't need to. I wish you would stop beating around the bush and just tell me what's really going on."

President Siebert looked nervous as he stated, "Leonard, the issue in question is the reputation of the university."

Leonard was starting to see where this was headed. Trying to keep any cynicism out of his voice, he said, "I think I get it. You don't think that what I've written is correct and you don't want this to somehow spill onto CalTech. What I don't get is why any of you care? God knows, there have been literally dozens of papers advancing theories that didn't pan out. I don't remember any of those people brought afterward, most certainly not beforehand."

Dr Gablehauser explained, "Dr Hofstadter, we are currently trying to recruit Dr David Underhill, a prominent physicist. Your paper is more or less a direct refutation of some of his best work. Unlike President Siebert, my biggest concern is whether the equation in your paper is correct. If so, it makes me question the decision to recruit Dr Underhill. If it isn't, he would likely see this as a direct attack upon his reputation. He would also be reluctant, at best, to become a member of this faculty."

Leonard had had enough. He stood up. "I'm done talking. My math is right. If you don't understand it, I recommend you send it to someone who can understand it. For God's sake, the experimental evidence is right there, put up for anyone to review on the university's server. So get your sh- crap together. As for me, I'm going on vacation starting five o'clock on Friday. You can let me know when you've figured out that I'm right. Goodbye."

At their stunned silence, Leonard walked out, gently shutting the door behind him.

~~~Leonard/Penny~~~

Gerald Siebert looked over at Eric Gablehauser. "What do you think?"

Eric shrugged. "I think we should send this to someone who can make heads or tails of it."

Gerald stared at him. "How can you be so flippant? This could be a huge deal and I don't just mean losing Dr Underhill."

Eric smiled. "Gerald, you're not seeing the bigger picture. Or even the smaller one. First, Dr Hofstadter is one of the absolutely last people who I would expect to put something out there that is incorrect."

The head of the university glared at him. "I remember a paper with an arithmetic error on it."'

"Silly mistake. Not the same thing at all. Second, there's absolutely nothing we can do at this point. The paper's been submitted to a half dozen journals. Their editors will choose to include it at their discretion."

Brooding, Gerald grumbled, "And the bigger picture?"

Eric's smile grew into a grin. "If Dr Hofstadter is right, as I suspect he is, we could be looking at the next Richard Feynman. We could be looking at millions, if not tens of millions, of dollars of research money and grants, not even including private donations. Compared to a minor chance of recruiting David Underhill."

For the first time, Gerald Siebert looked speechless. It didn't last long, though. "Well, that's not a bad thing at all." Then there was a look of consideration on his face. "What about this man here at the university who would be able to follow Dr Hofstadter's math?"'

Eric's smiled turned into a frown. "It's actually Dr Sheldon Cooper. I'd be reluctant to send it to him, not only because of his relationship with Dr Hofstadter, but because he's a bit... eccentric."

Gerald looked like he'd just swallowed a lemon. "Agreed. I've had dealings with the man. Suggestion boxes, indeed."

Eric glanced over at Dr Rothman, who looked half asleep and nothing nothing like the brilliant man he knew him to be. "What do you think of Dr Hofstadter, Dr Rothman?"

Faded blue eyes looked his way. "Well, I think the young man's on to something. His equation is just beautiful. I've never seen anything more edifying since Feynman's theory of quantum electrodynamics. He'll for far. Mark my words, Eric. That young man will go far."

~~~Leonard/Penny~~~

Leonard spent the remainder of the day putting together the proposal for the Air Force for the proposed changes he could make to the failed rocket fuel. He even explained the oxidizer errors and how he proposed to fix the problem. If was a relatively simple set of experiments that he could run on a relatively tight budget. The biggest issue would be the purchase of a Tandem Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer to analyze samples.

Leonard sent it off to his contact at the Air Force Research Laboratory who would decide if it was worth their time. If it was, he would kick it upstairs to his superiors who would grease the way for the money. It was a short cut Leonard had figured out early in his career.

Now all he had to do was write up that list of all possible research avenues he knew would be triggered by his paper. With a sigh, he set to work.

~~~Leonard/Penny~~~

Leonard work up early on Friday morning having already decided he wasn't going to work that day. He'd count it was another vacation day. After dropping Sheldon off and telling him he'd need to find another way home, he decided to go see Penny and take her to breakfast.

It was just after nine, so Leonard figured she would still be asleep. Grinning he decided to play on prank on her. In his best Sheldon voice, he began.

Knock. Knock.

"Penny."

Knock. Knock.

"Penny."

Knock. Knock."

"Penny."

Abruptly, the door swung open and an irate stormed out. She was swearing, "Goddammit, Sheldon, I am going to karate chop you right across the throat. I'm..." Penny's voice trailed off as she finally registered just who was standing in front of her. "Leonard, where's Sheldon?"

In the meantime, Leonard was grinning for an entirely different reason as he enjoyed the sight of the beautiful blonde girl standing before him. Penny had answered her door in her sleep shorts and a while tank top, her hard nipples clearly visible beneath.

Casually stepping forward, Leonard pulled Penny into a kiss. After a second, she kissed him back. When he finally ended it, he left his hands resting on her slim hips. There was a suspicious look on Penny's face as she asked, "There never was a Sheldon, was there?"

"Sorry. It was me."

Penny smacked him hard on the butt to Leonard's surprise. "Bad Leonard for waking me up. I was having such a nice dream, too."

He gave her a mischievous grin. "Was it about me? Because I was dreaming about you last night."

Leonard's eyes widened as Penny blushed from the roots of her hair to the neckline of her tank top. Her eyes avoided his as she blustered, "Your ego is getting too big if you think that all I do is lay around dreaming about you."

He tipped Penny's chin up so that she had no choice but to meet his eyes. Softly, he said, ″Penny, it's okay to dream about me. God knows, you star in far too m any of mine. My dream last night was of the two of us at Comic Con. You were wearing the Princess Leia slave girl bikini and I was Han Solo. We were just about to get into the George Lucas Question Panel when I woke up.″

Penny's eyes were now filled with mirth as she questioned, ″What is this fetish you have with dressing up as Han Solo? Should I be worried?″

″Only if you don't think you'd look good in a chain mail bikini.″

Penny's expression grew flirty. ″I would totally rock a chain mail bikini.″

Leonard's expression and voice grew reverent as he whispered, ″Please let be something that I get to see before I die. I'll be such a good boy. I promise.″

She blushed slightly as she teased, ″Perv.″

He smiled. ″You bring out the perv in me. I never wanted to dress up anyone as amazingly sexy movie characters until I met you. Now I keep imagining you in everything from that chain mail bikini to a fur bikini like the one Raquel Welch wore in One Million, BC.″

Penny threw back her head in a laugh that came all the way from her belly. ″Well, at least I'm in good company since they're all beautiful and famous.″

Leonard smiled tenderly. ″That's going to be you someday, Penny. You'll be as famous as you are beautiful and when I tell people you're mine, no one will believe me.″

Her smile faded, replaced by an indecipherable expression. She asked, ″You still still see us together when I'm a famous actress?″

Leonard spoke from the heart as he confidently stated, ″I see us together when we're old and gray with servants waiting on us hand and foot. You're still sitting there looking beautiful and having to beat me off with a stick because I can't keep my hands off of you.″

Penny stuttered, ″Y-you s-see us married in this future of yours?″

Leonard knew how gun shy Penny was about marriage, if not the reason why. He reassured her. ″I see us together. Maybe we're married. Maybe we live together. It doesn't matter. The key term is together.″

Penny leaned in and rested her forehead against his. She whispered, ″Together would be nice.″

They stood there a moment longer, but finally Penny stepped back, a frown creasing her brow. ″Why aren't you at work? I thought you were going in today?″

Leonard shrugged. ″Something came up. I thought I'd tell you about it over breakfast.″

Penny turned around and headed back toward her bedroom. As Leonard admired the rearview of her walking away, she called over her shoulder, ″Fine. But it had better be IHOP, especially if you're staring at my ass!″

~~~Leonard/Penny~~~

Penny yawned as she waited with the bags while Leonard picked up their rental car. She was still annoyed on Leonard's behalf from when he had told her about the university's reaction to his paper. It sucked that he hadn't gotten the kudos he deserved. Her train of thought was interrupted as a bright red Mustang drove up.

Astounded, Penny watched as Leonard jumped out after popping the trunk. ″Leonard, what did you rent?″

He gave her a jaunty wave. ″It's a Mustang GT with a V-8. Do you like it?″

Penny gave him a lazy smile. It was a sexy car. She teased, ″It's a hot car. Do you think you can handle it?″

Leonard straightened, his eyes on her. ″I can handle a lot of things, hot or otherwise. Why don't you get in and I'll show you just how well I handle this.″

She gave him a doubtful look, although her eyes were sparkling. ″Are you sure? It takes a lot of man to handle something so fast.″

″Okay, now I am going to have to show you. I wonder if we can both fit in the back seat. It is kinda small.″

Penny started giggling as she tossed her bags into the trunk. ″Leonard! I'm not getting into the back seat with you. What kind of girl do you think I am?″

Leonard slammed the trunk on their bags. He opened the door for her, but capture her lips in a hungry kiss before letting her sit. ″Gorgeous.″ Kiss. ″Sexy.″ Kiss. ″Wonderful.″ Kiss. ″Exciting.″ Kiss. ″Adventurous.″ Kiss. ″Gorgeous.″

Penny broke free with a laugh and slipped into her seat. She teased, ″You started repeating yourself. I think it's time to go.″

″Fine, fine. Let's blow this Popsicle stand!″

Penny just laughed raucously as he got in and they drove off.

~~~Leonard/Penny~~~

Wyatt Sanders looked out the window one more time. Behind him, his wife Elizabeth called, ″Wyatt, they're not going to get here any faster with you staring out there.″

Wyatt waved his hand dismissively. ″I know. But I just want to see what kind of loser Penny's dragging along with her this time. That way, I can get the drop on him.″

″Wyatt Sanders! How dare you say that! I know that Penny's shown questionable judgment in the past, but this time's different. She's dating a doctor. And you're not threatening him with a gun. That's final.″

He turned from the window, sitting back down in his recliner. ″I know what she said. But who knows who'll actually show up? I mean, it hasn't gone well in the past.″

Elizabeth shook her head sadly. ″You looked him on the internet thing. He sounds perfectly respectable.″

Wyatt shook his head, growling, ″Maybe.″

Just then, they heard the sound of a car driving up. Like a shot, he was out of his chair, looking out the window really quickly before dropping the curtain back down. ″They're driving up in a fancy red sports car. I told you it was too good to be true.″

Elizabeth got up as well and pulled him back from the window. ″Get back. They'll be inside in a minute and you can decide then.″

Less than a minute passed before Penny pushed the door open and walked in with her usual exuberant style. ″Mom! Dad! I'm home!″ She rushed over to give them both big hugs, something which Wyatt admitted that he cherished.

A short, young man a few years older than Penny wearing stylish glasses and expensive clothes walked in behind her. Penny stepped back from them both and latched onto his left arm. ″Mom, Dad, this is Leonard Hofstadter. Leonard, this is my mom, Elizabeth, and my dad, Wyatt.″

Wyatt looked Leonard in the eye as he shook his hand, noting the steady eye contact and firm grip. If he was nervous at meeting his girlfriend's parents, he concealed it well. Not taking his eyes off of Leonard, he said, ″It's nice to meet you, Leonard. Or is it Dr Hofstadter?″

Leonard gave him a grin. ″Only if you're the Tenure Board. It's nice to meet you, Mr Sanders. Mrs Sanders.″

Elizabeth stepped up and gave him a quick hug. ″Oh, Leonard, please call us Elizabeth and Wyatt. It is so nice to meet you. Won't you sit down?″

Wyatt watched as his wife set out to be the perfect hostess, a position that she seldom bothered with, but had assumed tonight because their visitor was a doctor, even if not of the medical variety. He almost scoffed at the idea, but pretty much anything would be a step up from Penny's usual guy. He turned back into the conversation as his wife started asking questions.

″So what exactly do you do, Leonard? Penny said something about you being a physicist?″

Leonard sounded self deprecating as he stated, ″I'm actually an experimental physicist at CalTech.″

″That sounds complicated. Penny said you're also a doctor?″

Wyatt tried to find fault as Leonard answered his wife's question. ″Yes, ma'am. I got my doctorate a little over four years ago from Princeton. Since then, I've taught a few classes, but mostly work on confirming through experimentation various theories on the state of the universe proposed by theoretical physicists.″

Penny chimed in, ″He was just at a conference giving a talk about a paper he wrote on the superfluidity of solids.″

All three of them turned to stare at his daughter at that one. It was Leonard, though, who said, ″I didn't know you knew anything about my work.″

Penny shrugged. ″I don't, not really. I didn't even understand one percent of what you were talking about. What I just said was pretty much the extent of what I remember.″

Wyatt was flabbergasted that she remembered that much, his own memories of his daughter's grades in high school less than pleasant. He was even more surprised though when Leonard asked, ″Oh really? What's a superfluid?″

Penny's brow furrowed as she tried to remember. ″Uh... matter than behaves like a liquid with zero viscosity and zero... uh... zero entropy?″

Leonard hugged her and said, ″And you say you're not smart? Well, phooey to that.″

Elizabeth exclaimed, ″That was amazing, Penny. It sounds like you've learned a thing or two since community college.″

Next to Leonard, Penny stiffened slightly. In a strained voice, she said, ″Maybe. Or maybe Leonard's just a good teacher.″

Wyatt knew that remark wouldn't go over well. Penny had been extremely sensitive to even implied criticism regarding her intelligence ever since she was a child. He knew his wife didn't mean anything by it and would feel bad about upsetting their daughter later. He was just about to say something to try to defuse the situation when Leonard beat him to it.

Beaming at Penny, Leonard said, ″I give full credit to the student in this case. Penny, you're amazing.″

Wyatt watched in amazement as Penny literally glowed at the boy's words. She turned a soft smile on Leonard, while he slipped an arm around her shoulders, her leaning into his touch. He had never really seen Penny act that way before around a boy. He needed some time to think about it. But that could wait until later.

Getting to his feet, he said, ″The two of you must be exhausted. Why don't I help you with your bags and we can head up to your room.″

It was Leonard who asked, ″Our room?″

Wyatt shrugged uncomfortably. ″Leonard, I gave up years ago trying to separate Penny from her boyfriend. Even here. So we set the two of you up in her old room. Just be discreet. Please.″

~~~Leonard/Penny~~~

Leonard put the last of their bags in Penny's room and sat down on the bed, ears still ringing with Wyatt's words. He looked up when Penny walked in. She gave him an amused look.

Plaintively, he asked, ″Why didn't you tell me that we were going to be sharing your room? And your bed. In your parents' house.″

Penny sat down next to him. Gently bumping him with her shoulder, she quietly said, ″Because I wasn't one hundred percent sure Dad would go for it. I had him trained from before, but it's been a while since I brought a boy home.″

Leonard teased her back. ″Well, he seems quite trained to me. He practically handed your virtue to me with only the admonishment to be quiet while doing whatever with you.″

Penny gave him an exaggerated look of astonishment. ″Well, aren't you a bad, bad boy.″

Leonard wagged his eyebrows. ″What? The car didn't give that away?″

She giggled. ″The next thing you know, you'll be buying a red Mustang for real.″

Leonard gave a thoughtful pause at that. Penny poked him hard in the side, breaking his concentration. ″I wouldn't get red. But I really like the way that car looks in bright blue.″

She goggled at him. ″Seriously?″

He shrugged. ″I only kept the Volvo because Sheldon likes its safety record. I've been wanting a new car for a while. If I get one, you want the Volvo? It's a good car.″

Penny shook her head. She protested, ″Leonard, I can't afford to buy your car. And I won't let you give it to me.″

Leonard gave her a knowing look. ″Penny, you're car is on its last legs. Sheldon told me about the check engine light.″

She gave him a stubborn look. ″It will last me just fine.″

He winked at her to defuse the tension. ″We'll talk about it later.″

Penny's eyes narrowed dangerously as she looked back him. Leonard gave her his best puppy dog eyes, which soon melted her expression into one of confusion. He grinned internally, making a mental note to remember how to do that in the future.

Abruptly, Penny stood up and said, ″Turn around.″

″Huh?″

″I need to get changed for bed and I'm not going all the way down to the bathroom at the end of the hall with my nightgown just to do it.″

He got up with alacrity and turned around while interesting sounds occurred behind him. Then Penny spoke again, ″You're safe.″

Leonard turned around, aware that he was gaping at the vision before him. Penny had changed into a silky looking mid thigh length nightshirt that clung to every curve. Not quite sheer, her hard nipples were still outlined beneath the thin, dark blue material. Eyes shining, he quipped, ″But are you safe. I wouldn't place a bet on that!″

Penny slid into her bed and tugged the comforter up to her chin in a protective gesture. With one hand, she made a gesture for him to get undressed, clearly with zero intention of not looking. With a mischievous smile, Leonard did a slow striptease with exaggerated gestures until he was down to his undershirt and boxers. Then he leaped onto the bed as Penny giggled hysterically.

~~~Leonard/Penny~~~

Wyatt stopped in his tracks as he heard his youngest giggling like mad behind her closed door. He turned around and walked back to his room. As he walked in, Elizabeth looked at him and asked, "Did they need any extra blankets?"

He blinked once, before acerbically saying, "If they do, Penny can get them herself."

Elizabeth gave him a knowing grin. "Heard something, didn't you?"

Wyatt slid off his robe and sat down and slipped into bed. "I head Penny laughing. She sounded really happy." This last was said in a wistful tone.

His wife gave him an uncertain look, as if unsure of what was bothering him. "That's good, right? I mean, Leonard clearly cares about Penny. Don't you think so?"

He gave her question some thought as he relaxed into the comfort of their bed. Finally, he admitted, "It sure looks that way. Certainly, she likes him."

Shrewdly, his wife zeroed in on him with her next comment. "And that worries you."

Wyatt sighed. "Leonard is certainly an intelligent and educated man."

"So?"

"What's a guy like Leonard doing with a girl like our Penny? Liz, I love our daughter, but is she really the kind of girl that someone like him would settle down with?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "Wyatt, you fool of a man. You might as well ask what a girl like Penny is doing with a guy like Leonard. He's nothing like the guys she usually dates. He's not tall, dark, or tattooed. He's not a musician. But somehow, she still likes him. Enough to remember some presentation he gave on some crazy subject which she probably doesn't know or care about except that Leonard gave it. I think it's sweet."

He wasn't convinced. "I hope you're right. Penny needs a good guy. She deserves one, especially after all of those losers she's wasted years dating."

Elizabeth patted him on the shoulder comfortingly, saying, "Well, we have over a week to get to know him. That should be plenty of time to find out how he feels about Penny. Plus, he has to meet Sweetie. If no one or nothing else does so, she'll sort him out."

Wyatt chuckled at his wife's words. They were most certainly true. Sweetie would most definitely sort Leonard out. If he stayed after meeting her, then maybe, just maybe, he was the man for Penny.

~~~Leonard/Penny~~~