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Space/Time-Coordinates: (September 13th 2005 [7:30 pm] -The Cheesecake Factory)

Same location, ten minutes later

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Finally.

Ten minutes of waiting and Penny finally came back.

I like this girl, but damn, I was hungry. Hitting the gym up 5 days a week had boosted my metabolism to crazy levels. That, and I'm sure the rapid cellular growth and regeneration burnt calories like crazy.

"Oh my god, I'm soooo sorry guys." Penny said finally at our table. "But guess what? I've got good neeeews."

We'd drank all our water waiting. Sheldon was off tinkling in the bathroom. Leonard's glasses fogged up seeing Penny saunter over to our table, and Raj was suddenly mute.

"What's the good news?" Leonard asked, taking his glasses off and taking a microfiber cloth out of his button up shirt pocket to clean his glasses with.

"The bartender just quit!" Penny said, almost squealing and bouncing up and down. "I mean it's not good news right now, because my manager Andrew has taken over bar duty and he's piiiiissseed at everyone, but I got promoted!"

She squealed a bit and clapped her hands. "Oh! And I definitely have Saturday off, but Andrew says I should practice mixing drinks."

"That works." I said. "I've got a small combination microbar and coffee/tea bar built into the living room."

"You did?" Both Penny and Leonard asked at the same time.

"Yeah." I said, and then felt like I had to explain. "I don't drink too much, but I do like caffeine when I'm working. It would actually be more trouble to build a coffee area than it was a mini bar so I just went for that."

"What else have you had built?" Leonard asked.

"Come over on Saturday and find out." I said wryly.

The house would be great when it was finished, and the biggest thing, practical. Knowing what the guys thought of Previous Howard they probably assumed I'd have a sex dungeon or just make the inside full of collectible comics. Not that I didn't have a interest in those things, but again, I was striving to be practical.

Well, let them think that. They'd be in for a surprise.

"Oh! I suppose I should get your food." Penny said suddenly. Getting over the initial jolt of excitement, remembering she still had 5 more tables to bounce between.

"Sheldon and I will both have the Barbecue bacon cheeseburger, bacon, barbecue, and cheese on the side." Leonard said. "I'll have a sprite and he'll have a Diet Coke."

"Okay," Penny said and turned to our half of the table. Looking to Raj she asked, "and what about you hun?"

Raj predictably couldn't say anything. He turned and whispered in my ear, "Rib eye steak, mashed potatoes, and asparagus as a upsided side. Oh and can you make sure she knows the way I like it cooked?"

"Yeah I got you buddy." I said and turned to Penny.

"Two 6 oz rib eye steaks, mashed potatoes for both, asparagus for one side, cheddar broccoli for the other, and an appetizer of mild boneless buffalo wings with ranch sauce and tortilla chips with queso sauce for the table."

Penny, Leonard, and Raj looked at me. "Okay," they were still looking at me, "And a small bowl of salsa for Leonard."

"That's a lot of food Howard." Leonard said.

"Yeah, going to the gym has boosted my metabolism like crazy."

"Oh." Leonard looked surprised. "I didn't know you've been sticking with it."

"I get that though," Penny said nodding, "when I started being more active I was hungry all the time." She was finishing scribbling all our orders down.

"I didn't know you go to the gym." Leonard stated..

"Oh I don't." Penny closed her notebook with a snap. "I meant when I started dating and having marathon sex."

Leonard didn't know what to say. "Oh yeah. Uh huh."

"Anyways I'll be back with your food soon." Penny said cheerfully before walking away, a pep in her step.

"You don't think she's done a lot of that do you?" Leonard asked.

"What? Marathon sex?" I said. "With her figure and the amount we've seen her eat I'd have to say yes."

Leonard deflated glumly. "...Great…."

"Cheer up," Raj said, able to speak now that Penny had left, "maybe that one lunch we ate together was a statistical outlier and she actually controls her figure through diet alone."

"Do you really think that?" Leonard asked hopefully. After all, of Penny wasn't having marathon sex burn outs then more of a chance she'd be okay with dating him. Right?

"As if," Raj scoffed, "if I had a ass like that I'd be getting laid every other day of the week."

Leonard, distraught with the news, deflated even more glumly.

"Don't worry about it," I said. Shuffling my papers with vague bullet points and parts of a equation for ideal slope distribution I started clearing space for food, "I'm sure it will all workout someway."

"Thanks." Leonard said. He started shuffling his papers a bit and twisting his pen between his fingers.

Seeming to come to a internal decision, he nodded to himself, repositioned his clipboard, and started doodling equations for multi variable terrains.

We settled into a comfortable silence working. I was playing with various degrees of incline in sketches for off world bases. If got the right degree down, at least for gradual incline ramps built into the sides of the tunnels, during a emergency all supplies could be rolled into the gate.

Huge amounts of manpower could be saved if you speed up the rate of things positioned into the wormhole. Huge.

Idly when was experimenting with the difference between a 5 and 6 degree difference of slope, my phone buzzed.

A text message?

From who?

Most of my friends were sitting at the table next to me.

Oop. Looks It was the construction company I'd hired. They were all done.

Well, this would give me a few days to pick up, get new furniture and whatever.

"Hey Raj."

"Yeah?"

"Check it." I showed him my phone.

"Oh nice, they finished early." Raj looked sorta sad.

I was supposed to be staying over at his place the next couple of days to give Sheldon and Leonard a break, but it was a straight shot to Home if got on the highway from the Cheesecake Factory.

"Hey, can I come with and see it?" Raj asked. I couldn't tell if he was offering from the viewpoint of a concerned friend wanting me not to be alone walking into my moms old house, or selfishly not wanting to not be alone.

"Nah, I got it- I really want to surprise everyone Saturday."

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Space/Time-Coordinates: (September 13th 2005 [9:11pm] -The Wolowitz House)

Howard by himself on the driveway, about to step inside.

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Dinner was good.

Seeing the new and improved place was better.

There was still a lot left to do on my end, but the construction work got all the heavy labor over with.

The Wolowitz house was in eastern Pasadena California. Raj's parents paid for his apartment in western Pasadena, close to los angeles. Sheldon and Howard lived downtown from the university.

It was a two story house in a quiet neighborhood. No basement. Three bedrooms, one and a half bathrooms, a kitchen, dining room, living room, and a few assorted odds and end closet and pantry.

After my father left, mom let herself go. She moved upstairs into what used to be dads office and turned the larger bedroom downstairs into a pantry. Not suddenly mind you, it gradually happened after years of emotional eating and hoarding.

Things had gradually fallen into disrepair, and so much dust and stains have built up in the carpet.

Which is why that was the first thing I had the construction crew rip out.

The tacky wallpaper too.

Walking into the door I looked into the living room.

Before it almost looked like something out of that 70's show. Shag carpet. Old floral wallpaper. The works.

Now it was one open concept area not including the stairs. The living room had long stretches of tile that looks like wood stretching all the way to the kitchen.

The formal dining room had its walls ripped down, as was the dividing wall to the kitchen. Parts of the kitchen were relocated. A peninsula stretched into what used to be the dividing wall. A table meant to six was stretched out horizontally in where the formal room used to be.

A small Bar made of reclaimed wood was jutting off where the entertainment stand used to be. The tv was mounted on the wall behind it.

The walls were a soft grey color. The trimmings and baseboards white. Modern looking furnishings and appliances were sprinkled through the kitchen. Most notably a new chrome fridge freezer combo with a water dispenser built in.

I'd need to go out and buy new bulbs, furniture, and give the place a good solid clean tomorrow. But all of this was mine. Not quite a bachelor pad, and definitely a far cry from what Old Howard could be expected to own.

Maybe someday this could be a good house to live with a significant other in?

I haven't really thought about that before.

I was Howard.

And provided nothing went wrong, I'd be safe on earth for the rest of my natural life.

Would I want to get married or be in a relationship? Was it even fair?

Odd things were happening with my body and brain, the reality is I could end up so smart it could be alienating. Like Brainiac in Superman. It could end up with me becoming a villain bent in some heinous quest to find someone worthwhile to communicate with on a intellectual level.

Or, the flip side. I could be like Gear in Static Shock. A genius when it comes to tinker tech, incredibly smart, but still able to relate to people because communication was so much more than just raw intelligence. That would be preferable.

Either way, I was different from past Howard as I liked smart girls. Actually someone like Leslie or Amy was perfect. Where before, Howard just cared about how hot someone was, tits and ass. I preferred having some deeper connection. Both heartfelt and of the mind.

I was still down for kinky things, if anything I was more kinky than previous Howard used to be, but I more so craved a deeper relationship without a one dimensional facet.

I signed tired. There was so much left to do.

The upstairs to scope out, for starters.

I should sleep on this. Sleep and mull over my feelings on the matter and plan out what to do. If I would ask out Leslie Winkle tomorrow.

Authors note:

More details on the house later, plus setting stuff up for his party later in the week.

In any case, Howard now has the space, time, and some of the resources needed for working on private projects. That's not to say he will start building Tony Stark level tech in a garage soon (just isn't that smart yet), but small scale things are visible on the horizon.

Considering I strive for scientific plausibility- if not accuracy it might take me a little while until I can bullshit something that seems revolutionary enough, yet would be possible to make.

Why make it difficult for myself?

Apparently I suffer from wanting-to-make-accurate-science-fiction-isis

It's a terrible disease. Ends up with you doing hours of research into particle physics and quantum mechanics. Fun, but a weird way to spend a Tuesday.

Please leave reviews, I'd like to get some feedback before writing the next chapter.